From Puss in Boots to The Whale: What’s coming out in cinemas in February 2023?

Virgin Radio

1 Feb 2023, 10:58

We’re finally into the second month of 2023, and as awards season continues, we’re spoilt for choice at the box office!

With half term approaching, there are a number of kid-friendly films to keep youngsters entertained, including Puss in Boots and Marcel The Shell with Shoes On.

Don't worry though, there are plenty of thrillers and critically-acclaimed Oscar nomiees to sink your teeth into as well, so with all of that said, here are the films coming out in cinemas in February 2023.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (3rd February)

Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is getting lots of praise, not just from its young audience, but from critics as well. 

It’s currently nominated for Animated Feature Film at the upcoming Academy Awards, and has also been praised for its portrayal of anxiety and panic attacks. 

In The Last Wish, Puss in Boots, voiced once again by Antonio Banderas, has run through eight of his nine lives, and decides to forgo the advice to savour his remaining life by going on an adventure to find the magical Wishing Star. He teams up with Salma Hayek Pinault’s Kitty Softpaws, and new pup friend Perrito (Harvey Guillén) for his last epic quest. 

The Whale (3rd February)

UK audiences will finally have their chance to see Brendan Fraser’s huge comeback project, The Whale. 

Based on a 2012 play by Samuel D. Hunter, The Whale stars Brendan as Charlie, a clinically obese man confined to a wheelchair attempting to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter (Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink) after leaving his family to pursue a relationship with another man.

Speaking on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch recently, Brendan said of his character: “He’s a man who has been living alone for a certain amount of time, and he’s suffering ill health from overconsumption, and he has certain regrets in his life. He wants to reconnect with his daughter in the little amount of time that he has left.”

Knock at the Cabin (3rd February) 

Harry Potter star Rupert Grint is at the centre of another spine-chilling thriller from M.Night Shyamalan - Knock at the Cabin. 

The flick, which also stars Dave Bautista and Ben Aldridge, follows a family vacationing at a remote cabin, but they are soon taken hostage by a group of strangers who demand they make a difficult choice to avoid starting the apocalypse.

Rupert stars as one of the invaders who captures the family, and while on The Chris Evans Breakfast show with cinch, the actor shared how filming was “brutal.”

He said: “There's a lot to unpick with it, a lot going on. I do love the [horror] genre but this particularly is quite triggering for me. Home invasion is something I really hate and apocalypse, so it puts those two things together.”

Women Talking (10th February)

Women Talking, starring the likes of Frances McDormand, Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley, is based on Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel of the same name, and was initially inspired by the story of the Mennonite community in Bolivia. 

The film centres on eight women in the Manitoba Colony who discover the horrifying secret about the men who control their lives, and the means they use to do so. Do they stay and fight, or risk it all to run for their lives?

Magic Mike’s Last Dance (10th February)

Channing Tatum will hit the dance floor one final time in Magic Mike’s Last Dance. 

In the sequel, Mike flees to Miami following the events of Magic Mike XXL, and soon bumps into a lonely socialite, played by Salma Hayek Pinault, who convinces him to hit the stage for one last hurrah. 

Things certainly heat up between Mike and Salma’s character, who persuades the hunky dancer to up-sticks and move to London, where he can put on the dazzling Magic Mike stage show within the walls of a rundown West End theatre.

Speaking to virginradio.co.uk back in April, Tatum himself shared his enthusiasm for a third instalment, saying: “It’s going pretty crazy, I’ve got to be honest. 

“You’re going to see some stuff that you’ve never seen before in these movies. We were like, look if we’re going to do a third, we might as well go all out and change the whole formula."

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (17th February) 

Paul Rudd is back as the tiny titular superhero, Ant-Man, in the third sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

In the new Ant-Man outing, Scott Lang (Rudd) with Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) will find themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. 

They’ll be bringing their family with them, as the movie will also star some Hollywood big hitters as Hope’s parents. Hank Pym will be played by Michael Douglas, while Janet Van Dyne is portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. Kathryn Newton is Cassie, Scott Lang's daughter, who acquires a suit similar to her father's.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next big Avengers-level baddie, Kang the Conqueror. 

The Son (17th February) 

Hugh Jackman is a father in a crisis in upcoming drama, The Son. 

The new movie follows Peter (played by Jackman), whose life with his infant child and new partner Beth (played by Vanessa Kirby) is hectic, and then it is further thrown into disarray when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) turns up with their teenage son.

Peter and Beth’s son, Nicholas (Zen McGrath), has been absent from school for months and is troubled, distant, and angry. Peter tries his best to take care of Nicholas in the way that he would have liked his own father to have done, but he is also trying to juggle work, his and Beth's new son, and the offer of his dream position in Washington. 

The official synopsis explains: “By reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto the Nicholas in the present.”

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (17th February) 

In the running against Puss in Boots: The Last Wish at the Oscars, Marcel The Shell With Shoes On is a different kind of animated adventure. 

Marcel, voiced by Jenny Slate, is an adorable one-inch tall shell who lives with his grandma Connie and pet lint, Alan. 

When a documentary maker moves into his Airbnb and discovers Marcel, he makes the tiny shell a household name after making a short film about him. But with the fame comes unprecedented dangers and newfound hope and finding his long-lost family. 

Cocaine Bear (24th February) 

Starring Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and produced by Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear could probably win the prize for the most insane real-life story ever put to film. 

Inspired by the real ‘cocaine bear’, the film of the same name follows an American black bear who goes on a murderous rampage after ingesting a duffel bag full of narcotics. 

In order to survive the attack, a group of locals and tourists must band together to take on the giant animal. 

Cocaine Bear also stars the likes of Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Alden Ehrenreich and the late Ray Liotta in what would be one of his final roles. 

What’s Love Got To Do with It? (24th February)

To continue the love of Valentine’s Day, rom-com What’s Love Got to do with It? follows a dating app-obsessed filmmaker as she documents her childhood friend and neighbour’s arranged marriage to a bride from Pakistan. 

Emma Thompson, Lily James and Shazad Latif star in the heartwarming tale, which takes a look at both approaches to finding love.