Despite predictions that the domestic box office would take a huge hit in 2024 thanks to the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes that dominated much of the second half of 2023, the movie business has chugged along just fine. As of Dec. 11, total ticket sales currently sit at roughly half a billion dollars less than last year, but it’s projected that 2024 will end up bringing in around $8.3 billion, just like 2023.
Many of the bigger titles that have helped bring that number up have come out in November, including “Moana 2,” which set a new Thanksgiving weekend record, bringing in $225 million. Combined with “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” Thanksgiving weekend 2024 was the biggest at the box office on record, hitting $420 million in sales.
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Sure, there have been some disappointments—we’re looking at you, “Joker: Folie à Deux” and “Madame Web”—but an impressive 20 films have made more than $100 million each at the domestic box office in 2024, as of Dec. 11. “Inside Out 2″ tops the list at nearly $653 million, with “Deadpool & Wolverine” currently holding the runner-up spot with $636.7 million.
Time will tell if any other movies make box office history in 2024, seeing as some of the year’s most anticipated releases—like “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” “Mufasa: The Lion King,” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3″—are still to come later in December. While it’s certainly satisfying to see that Hollywood is still quite capable of churning out some major blockbusters in this new, post-strike world, those big movies aren’t the only ones worth watching in 2024. A slew of films released this year have stood out for their themes, storytelling, and cinematography.
Using data from Metacritic, Stacker ranked the top 25 movies of 2024 so far by Metascore. To qualify for the list, the films must have been released and distributed in the U.S. by Dec. 2, 2024, and have at least seven reviews from critics. Data is as of Dec. 2, 2024. Ties were broken by Metacritic’s internal weighting system. IMDb user ratings were provided for popular reception context.
From documentaries like “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” to Oscar contenders like “All We Imagine as Light,” read on to find out the movies critics have loved the most in 2024.
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#25. His Three Daughters
- Director: Azazel Jacobs
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Run time: 1 hour 41 minutes
Exploring themes of sisterhood, loss, and grief, "His Three Daughters" follows three estranged sisters as they reunite to prepare for their father's death in his tiny New York City apartment. Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon, and Natasha Lyonne, the Netflix original is being touted as one of the best dramas of the year and has even garnered Oscar buzz for Lyonne in the Best Supporting Actress category.
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#24. Sing Sing
- Director: Greg Kwedar
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes
"Sing Sing" is a prison drama unlike any you've seen before. It centers on a man who has been imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit but finds purpose in a theater group composed of fellow incarcerated men. Colman Domingo plays the lead role, while much of the supporting cast is comprised of formerly incarcerated actors who participated in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program—a decision that gives the project an authenticity it may not have had otherwise.
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#23. Youth (Hard Times)
- Director: Wang Bing
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Run time: 3 hours 47 minutes
"Youth (Hard Times)" is the second installment in a documentary trilogy about a group of young textile workers in China. Shot between 2015 and 2019, the film sees tensions increasing between its subjects and the profit-driven managers who run the factories. The project perfectly encapsulates what it's like to struggle to survive on too little despite one's own country experiencing unprecedented economic expansion. Critics, like those at Variety, praise the way "Youth (Hard Times)" explores the downfalls of capitalism, namely the way that the all-consuming grind can force its workers to "[lose] one's sense of the world outside, and the very experiences that make one human."
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#22. Chicken for Linda!
- Directors: Sébastien Laudenbach, Chiara Malta
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 7.1
- Run time: 1 hour 13 minutes
In this animated film, a mother sets out to make amends with her daughter by cooking her favorite meal, despite her lack of culinary knowledge and a strike that has essentially shut down their city. The French project is playful and emotional, exploring themes like grief and memory in ways that will appeal to audiences of all ages.
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#21. Daughters
- Directors: Angela Patton, Natalie Rae
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Run time: 1 hour 48 minutes
"Daughters" made its debut at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won awards from audiences and festival insiders alike. This emotional documentary follows four girls preparing for a father-daughter dance with their incarcerated dads. It jumps back and forth between the girls' lives and their fathers' as they go through an intense 10-week parenting course in preparation for the event. The movie provides a fresh look at the way the American prison system affects all of those it touches.
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#20. The Wild Robot
- Director: Chris Sanders
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Run time: 1 hour 42 minutes
An adaptation of the book series of the same title, "The Wild Robot" is a family-friendly animated movie about a robot named Roz who must figure out how to survive after being shipwrecked on a remote island. Featuring the voices of Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, and Catherine O'Hara, the film has a timely message for audiences about chosen families and what defines a family in the first place. Critics have praised how deftly "The Wild Robot" melds its sincere message with laugh-out-loud humor, noting that, unlike other kids' movies that force some nudge-nudge-wink-wink jokes for adults, the film is truly for everybody.
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#19. Close Your Eyes
- Director: Víctor Erice
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Run time: 2 hours 49 minutes
"Close Your Eyes" is a pessimistic meditation on memory, identity, and cinema from 84-year-old Spanish director Victor Erice. Told across two timelines, it follows the disappearance of an actor in the middle of a film shoot in the '90s and the present-day reinvestigation of the mystery. Clocking in at almost three hours, its leisurely pace won't be for everyone, but those willing to go along for the ride will be rewarded with a touching, thought-provoking ending.
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#18. Dahomey
- Director: Mati Diop
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Run time: 1 hour 8 minutes
"Dahomey" is a documentary feature that follows the return of 26 artifacts that French troops once stole from the Kingdom of Dahomey (in the present-day republic of Benin), following a massive campaign for their reparation. Rather than taking a strong stance on reparations in general—in terms of whether or not they're enough to right the wrongs of the past—the movie elects to, as RogerEbert.com put it, "observe [the process] lovingly, encouraging dialogue on and off screen." That approach is crystallized through the imagined reminiscence of the objects, written and voiced by Haitian author Makenzy Orcel.
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#17. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
- Director: Mohammad Rasoulof
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Run time: 2 hours 48 minutes
Equal parts family drama and political thriller, "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" follows an Iranian investigator and his wife and daughters as they grapple with his political promotion, societal upheaval, and the general paranoia that accompanies both. The fictional story of the film is interspersed with real footage of the protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested for allegedly not properly wearing her hijab—footage that the government went to great lengths to suppress.
Relatedly, the entire film was shot in secret without any official permission in order to provide a more realistic depiction of what life in the patriarchal country is like. Many have praised the bold decision, but it's also one that has made director Mohammad Rasoulof an exile.
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#16. A Real Pain
- Director: Jesse Eisenberg
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Written, directed, and produced by Jesse Eisenberg, "A Real Pain" follows two cousins (Eisenberg and "Succession" standout Kieran Culkin) who embark on a journey through Poland following the death of their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. RogerEbert.com called Culkin's highly emotional performance one of the best of the year, praising its raw and organic feel. Meanwhile, Eisenberg's script won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival, where the project premiered in January 2024.
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#15. I Saw the TV Glow
- Director: Jane Schoenbrun
- Metascore: 86
- IMDb user rating: 5.8
- Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Dubbed "weird and transfixing" by NPR, "I Saw the TV Glow" centers on two teenagers who bond over a supernatural TV series only to have their lives go off the rails years after the show's cancellation. Produced by Emma Stone and Dave McCary's company Fruit Tree, the movie stars Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine and is far more unsettling than the previews may have led viewers to believe.
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#14. Good One
- Director: India Donaldson
- Metascore: 87
- IMDb user rating: 6.7
- Run time: 1 hour 29 minutes
"Good One" follows 17-year-old Sam (Lily Collias), her father, and her father's longtime friend as they embark on a weekend hike in the Catskill Mountains. The journey, which may sound picturesque on the surface, proves to be anything but when the men let past issues bubble to the surface and put Sam in a position that's well beyond her years. Critics rave about almost every aspect of "Good One," from Collias' performance to the cinematography, sound design, and director India Donaldson's absolute refusal to hold audiences' hands through its murky ending.
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#13. Pictures of Ghosts
- Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Run time: 1 hour 33 minutes
In this documentary, filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho revisits his life in Brazil, recalling its glory days through the prism of the various cinemas he frequented as a child. The New York Times praised the film, which combines both new and archival footage, for the way it inspires a "rumination on life, death, family, movies, and those complicated, invariably haunted places we call home." Meanwhile, IndieWire hailed the documentary's celebratory spirit, noting that Filho gives it "a joyful rhythm, full of hope and wonder."
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#12. About Dry Grasses
- Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Run time: 3 hours 17 minutes
This Turkish-language drama centers on a teacher who finds his future threatened after a female student alleges inappropriate contact. As is the case with many of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's projects, the movie is slow and sparse, with a strong emphasis placed on still photography. The New Yorker called it "nimble, alert, and alive," stressing that it "brims with a bitingly melancholy Chekhovian spirit," something that's sure to appeal to certain moviegoers.
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#11. Green Border
- Director: Agnieszka Holland
- Metascore: 90
- IMDb user rating: 6.4
- Run time: 2 hours 32 minutes
Described by RogerEbert.com as "the best and most important film to be released in the U.S. so far" in 2024, "Green Border" examines the ongoing European refugee crisis. Set on the border of Belarus and Poland, the movie is gorgeously shot in black and white and manages to perfectly walk the line between real and melodramatic. It's a must-watch for any politically minded viewer.
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#10. Sugarcane
- Director: Emily Kassie, Julian Brave NoiseCat
- Metascore: 90
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Run time: 1 hour 47 minutes
National Geographic documentary "Sugarcane" looks at the abuse and death that transpired in a Canadian Indian residential school system, following survivors and investigators as they learn what went on behind closed doors in one of the more troubling parts of the country's history. While the movie is a difficult watch, it's also a powerful one, relying not on talking-head or gritty reenactment approaches, but rather inviting audiences to sit alongside those most affected by the program. A must-see, "Sugarcane" won the Directing Award for documentaries at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
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#9. La Chimera
- Director: Alice Rohrwacher
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Run time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Set in the '80s, "La Chimera" centers on a lovelorn archaeologist who unwittingly finds himself as the head of a ragtag gang of grave robbers, stealing artifacts and passing them on to a mysterious buyer. The Guardian called it "uproarious and celebratory," noting that its tone—and the way it teems with life—is one of the best things about it. Meanwhile, Slant loved the way it wrestles with time and its effect on all of our lives.
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#8. Anora
- Director: Sean Baker
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Run time: 2 hours 19 minutes
The romantic dramedy "Anora" follows the ill-fated marriage of a Brooklyn-born stripper and the immature son of a Russian oligarch. Described by multiple outlets as a grittier version of "Pretty Woman," the film won the top prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the coveted Palme d'Or. Relative newcomer Mikey Madison's performance in the title role is a particularly bright spot, as is Yura Borisov's supporting turn as Igor. Outlets like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and others currently list "Anora" as a frontrunner to possibly win Best Picture at the 2025 Oscars.
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#7. Tótem
- Director: Lila Avilés
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes
The National Board of Review named "Tótem" one of the best international films of the year, which is as great of an endorsement as one could hope to receive. The Mexican project is about a 7-year-old girl celebrating her father's birthday and struggling to come to terms with the fact that it will likely be his last. Variety called the movie "lifelike and lived-in" and commended filmmaker Lila Avilés' "generous, open-ended" style.
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#6. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus
- Director: Neo Sora
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Run time: 1 hour 43 minutes
Called "a parting gift from a master musician" by The New York Times, "Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus" is the titular pianist's final performance. There are no interviews or introductions in the film, it's simply 103 minutes of the Japanese artist sitting at his piano playing some of his greatest hits. While it may not sound like the most exciting film the year has had to offer, the space it offers for contemplation is unlike anything else the big screen has given us.
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#5. Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
- Director: Johan Grimonprez
- Metascore: 92
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Run time: 2 hours 30 minutes
This multilayered documentary explores the events that led up to the Feb. 15, 1961 demonstration at the United Nations following the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A compilation of news footage, audio memoirs, essays, and the jazz music of greats like Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie, the film explores how African self-determination was undermined by the world's powers at a time when racial segregation was still a massive issue on the homefront.
"Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat" is certainly not a light watch, but it's absolutely a worthwhile one. As Wendy Ide of The Guardian put it, the film is "thrillingly inventive" and "a breathtaking, ideas-packed journey."
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#4. Here
- Director: Bas Devos
- Metascore: 92
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Run time: 1 hour 24 minutes
Dubbed "a celebration of connection" by The New York Times, Bas Devos' "Here" follows the lives of a Romanian construction worker and a Belgian-Chinese academic who studies moss. Their lives, which have almost no reason to intersect, inevitably do in the most unusual of places. The quiet film is beautifully photographed and captures a sense of connection where "nothing much and everything happens—or could," according to the Times.
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#3. All We Imagine as Light
- Director: Payal Kapadia
- Metascore: 94
- IMDB user rating: 7.3
- Run time: 1 hour 58 minutes
"All We Imagine as Light" follows three women (two nurses and one hospital cook) in Mumbai, India, as they search for belonging and connection. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called it "one of the finest [films] of the year." She added that it's the kind of international movie that features "characters who look and sound like real people," but it's also so quiet that it could "get lost amid the year-end glut of Oscar-grubbing titles."
"All We Imagine as Light" was the first Indian film to compete in the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years, and it took home the Grand Prix. The film is also up for two Golden Globe nominations, including for director Payal Kapadia, whose Best Director nomination is a first for an Indian filmmaker.
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#2. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
- Director: Thien An Pham
- Metascore: 94
- IMDb user rating: 6.7
- Run time: 2 hours 59 minutes
Straddling the line between surrealism and realism, "Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell" centers on a young Vietnamese man navigating the unexpected loss of a family member and grappling with larger questions of faith, god, and the afterlife. At the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, the movie won director Thien An Pham the Camera d'Or, the award given to the best debut feature. Outlets like IndieWire have gushed over the project's unique cinematic style (there are long, uninterrupted shots that run for up to 20 minutes at a time), which has earned praise from critics internationally.
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#1. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
- Director: Radu Jude
- Metascore: 95
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Run time: 2 hours 43 minutes
In this black comedy, a production assistant is tasked with shooting a workplace safety video, only to find their plans upended when an interviewee makes a surprising statement. Completely unique in its form (it's a mix of new footage; edited excerpts of another 1981 film, "Angela merge mai departe"; and the main character's TikTok videos), Variety called the movie a "dizzying, dazzling feat of social critique, an all-fronts-at-once attack on the zeitgeist, and a mischievous, often hilarious work of art about the artifice of work."
Data reporting by Luke Hicks, Rob Powell, and Wade Zhou. Story editing by Jaimie Etkin and Carren Jao. Copy editing by Tim Bruns.
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