All the Dance Movies You'll Want to See in Theaters This Year

August 15, 2018

Back in January
, we took a look at Hollywood’s 2018 dance card. While Red Sparrow and the Tiler Peck documentary Ballet Now have been released, several other films that piqued our curiosity are still in various stages of development. (And some have been radio silent, like the Carmen being helmed by Benjamin Millepied.) From Misty Copeland to Carlos Acosta, new trailers to first looks, here’s the latest on the dancing we might just see on the big screen later this year.

The Nutcracker and The Four Realms

We already knew about Misty Copeland‘s involvement, but Sergei Polunin, too? The dance bona-fides in this film are no joke, with Liam Scarlett choreographing (and acting as movement director elsewhere in the film) and Lil Buck (!) providing motion capture for the Mouse King. And we’ll admit that we’re intrigued by the recasting of Mother Ginger (played by Helen Mirren) as the film’s villain. In theaters November 2.

Suspiria

The trailer for the remake of the 1977 horror film, helmed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), pretty much confirmed our suspicions that terror is going to be emphasized over technique in the final cut. But we recently learned that frequent Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui collaborator Damien Jalet choreographed for the film, including at least one major dance sequence. “We felt that dance needed to be part of the process of witchcraft,” Guadagnino told Entertainment Weekly. Star Dakota Johnson added that, as a non-dancer, filming a staged dance performance was in and of itself “terrifying.” In theaters November 2.

The White Crow

Oleg Ivenko as Rudolf Nureyev in The White Crow
Jessica Forde, Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

We don’t know much more about the Rudolf Nureyev biopic than we did back in January, but it was reported earlier this week that Sony Classics has acquired North American distribution rights to the Ralph Fiennes–directed picture. So we’ll definitely be seeing this one in theaters, but whether that happens in time for it to be an awards season contender, at least this year, is up in the air. Tentatively slated for a 2018 release.

Yuli

Still from Yuli

Denise Guerra, Courtesy Janet Stapleton

We haven’t heard any more official news about the Carlos Acosta biopic since filming commenced in November, but IMDB lists December 14 as the release date in Spain. (It’s also where we found this absurdly adorable still, presumably from a scene featuring a young Acosta.) We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the film, based on Acosta’s memoir No Way Home and reportedly featuring lots of dancing, finds its way stateside.