There’s a movie genre, aside from comic-based movies, that’s been gaining more and more popularity over the last decade: I’m talking about musical movie biopics.

Since the early 2000s, we’ve had the opportunity to watch many amazing actors pulling off some of their best performances when portraying musicians with global renown. Think of Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of Ray Charles in the biopic Ray, or the more recent Bohemian Rhapsody, for which Rami Malek won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

As music becomes more and more available, people feel the need to connect with the artists they know and love on a deeper level, learning more about their stories and how they became global superstars. But, more than that, people want to learn more about the human being behind the star: which is why more and more biopics are delving into the musicians’ backgrounds, behaviour and lifestyle more than their stage personas.

There are dozens of biopics currently in production, with scheduled releases either this year or the next, so let’s take a look at what we can expect to watch in cinemas over the coming few months.

Bob Marley

Over time, Bob Marley’s music became the embodiment of cultural and social change, affecting all layers of society and spreading a positive message that reverberates to this day.

Paramount Pictures currently has a Bob Marley biopic in the works, with British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir taking the leading role, despite the abysmal reaction of the Jamaican and Rastafarian community worldwide.

Having seen Ben-Adir in Peaky Blinder, and despite the scepticism, I’m confident he’ll do Bob Marley justice and pull off a portrayal of such a complex personality.

Release Date: 12th January 2024
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Michael Jackson

Co-produced by Bohemian Rhapsody's Graham King and distributed by Lionsgate, the upcoming biopic of the King of Pop, simply titled Michael, is expected to hit theatres in August 2023.

American actor and singer Tristan Wilds is set to depict a young Michael Jackson and his rise to stardom. Written by award-winning screenwriter John Logan (The Aviator, Skyfall), Michael has everything it takes to bring to life a masterpiece of a biopic.

Release date: 29th December 2022
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Whitney Houston

I Wanna Dance With Somebody will depict the life of one of the most commercially successful pop stars of all time: Whitney Houston. Distributed by Sony and starring Naomie Ackie, the biopic will be released around Christmas 2022.

Houston’s powerful and versatile voice became iconic during the 1980s, and her career leapt from one success to the other until her sudden death in 2012, aged 48. Ackie certainly has big shoes to fill by faithfully portraying one of the best-selling artists in the world.

Release date: expected 2022
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Leonard Bernstein

Bradley Cooper must have enjoyed performing as a musician in A Star is Born, given that he's currently in the process of portraying two other musical talents for the big screen, one of them being the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein in the biopic movie, Maestro.

Cooper is starring and also directing this upcoming movie after convincing Steven Spielberg to step aside. After A Star is Born, this will be Cooper’s second directorial feature. However, his transformation to portray Bernstein has already raised some criticism among Jewish communities as the prosthetic nose used by the leading actor appears as an anti-Semitic caricature. We’ll have to wait until 2023 to watch the movie and see it for ourselves.

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Marianne Faithfull

With a career spanning over seven decades and a unique story of success and struggles, Marianne Faithfull’s biopic might well be one of the most anticipated upcoming movies in this line-up. Lucy Boynton is set to star in this movie directed by Ian Bonhôte.

The biopic will depict the early life of the folk singer, from her early success as a teenager to the romance with Mick Jagger, up to the rough life she led in the 1970s as a homeless drug addict in London.

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Bob Dylan

Mr Tambourine Man is getting a new biopic after the 2007 movie I'm Not There. Starring the omnipresent Timothée Chalamet, the movie, titled Going Electric, has yet to begin production, so we won’t probably see it anytime soon.

Produced by Searchlight Pictures, Going Electric will depict the rise of the 1960s legendary songwriter and how he changed the world of folk music forever.

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Amy Winehouse

One of the most iconic and controversial artists of the 21^st century, Amy Winehouse has inspired a whole new generation of singers and created a timeless sound and stage persona that still resonates to this day.

Produced by Halcyon Studio, Winehouse’s upcoming biopic will focus on the artist's final years and will be based on Daphne Barak's book Saving Amy. No release date, or cast, has been announced yet.

Cher

Timeless, versatile, iconic: Cher has influenced generations of pop stars and is one of the very few artists who can truly claim to transcend cultural trends and evolutions.

Produced by Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman and written by A Star Is Born scriptwriter Erich Roth, Cher’s biopic will tell the story of her relentless passion for music and unique vision. The artist herself is very excited about the project and can’t wait to watch it on screen, much like the rest of us!

Madonna

Right alongside Cher, there’s another artist who was able to reinvent herself multiple times and reach a new audience at every transformation. Veronica Ciccone, aka Madonna, is directing her own biopic story and choosing the actress who'll portray her.

There are currently many contenders to play the role of the Like A Virgin superstar, with an all-encompassing selection process led by Madonna herself and her choreographer. Among the potential main actresses are Julia Garner, Alexa Demie, and Florence Pugh.

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Elvis Presley

Perhaps the most-anticipated and ambitious biopic that will hit the theatres this year is Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, a sumptuous movie that explores the upbringing of the king of rock’n’roll and the importance of Black culture in the creation of his sound and stage persona.

Starring Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as his long-time manager Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis marks the return of Luhrmann as a director after The Great Gatsby (2013). The director claims the movie will shed some light on the early life of Elvis Presley while using his image to delve into the contemporary themes of counterculture, women’s emancipation and fame.

Release date: June 24th 2022
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Louis Armstrong

Although Black & Blues: The Colorful Ballad of Louis Armstrong was announced last year by Apple Original Films, we still don’t know when Armstrong’s biopic will see the light of day. Sacha Jenkins (Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men) is set to direct the movie, with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard acting as executive producers.

The documentary aims at providing a definitive portrayal of one of the most influential figures in music history and the first jazz musician to become a cultural celebrity. The Colorful Ballad of Louis Armstrong will also depict the man behind the pop star, showing his passion and commitment to supporting the civil rights movement.

Release date: expected 2022
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"Weird Al" Yankovic

If the biopic is going to be anywhere near as fun and unconventional as the artist it portrays, then Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is going to be an unmissable movie this year. Starring Daniel Radcliffe as the quirky Alfred Matthew Yankovic, the movie will come out on the Roku Channel sometime in late 2022.

With a career spanning five decades, "Weird Al" Yankovic has influenced generations of musicians and comedians with his unique blend of parody and amusing lyrics. He's a talented artist who will finally receive the spotlight he deserves with this upcoming biopic.

Release date: expected 2022
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono

There’s a movie in the works that will depict the most important love story in the history of music: that between John Lennon and Yoko Ono. While this is news we should all be excited about, we still don’t know if the movie will see the light of day anytime soon.

Screenwriter Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rapsody) wrote the script, while the late Jean-Marc Vallée was attached as director before his death in 2021. According to the latest news, the movie will serve as a detailed depiction of Lennon's life, from his childhood, to his time with the Beatles, and finally, the tumultuous episode when he left Yoko Ono for May Pang.

No words can describe the importance of the Beatles and Lennon in the history of mainstream music. The last sixty years of pop and rock music have been defined by the Fab Four, both in terms of sound and in the way artists become pop stars. The legacy of the Beatles—and especially John Lennon—still resonates to this day, so all music aficionados should look forward to learning more about their ground-breaking careers and continuing cultural impact on today's music.

Cover Credit: J-M Quinet/Alamy Stock Photo

 For more biopics, read:

• Travel to Woodstock and Party With Beyoncé: 10 Must-Watch Music Documentaries
• Elvis Presley: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of The King
• Hit That Note: Inspiring Music Biopics With Equally Stellar Tunes

Writer | Marco Sebastiano Alessi

Marco is an Italian music producer, composer and writer. He’s the founder of Naviar Records, a music community and record label exploring the connection between experimental electronic music and traditional Japanese poetry.