The newest Spider-Man film sees the superhero making sense of the new timeline he created after wiping everyone's memories of his civilian identity as Peter Parker. A young title character also creates a new reality in & Juliet, where, to the sounds of 30 hit pop songs, Juliet forges her own path beyond Shakespeare’s original play. Both swinging on high-energy pleasure, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and & Juliet imagine the power everyone has to create their own destiny.

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Classical mythology is in right now, as Christopher Nolan’s gargantuan epic barrels into theatres. The Odyssey follows Odysseus’s trials and tribulations on his return from the Trojan War while contending with the gods and, perhaps more frighteningly, his fellow humans.

Hadestown similarly reimagines ancient Greek mythology, blending the stories of lovers Orpheus and Eurydice and gods Hades and Persephone with folk, jazz, and blues music. It's warm, earthy, and gritty, departing from Broadway's traditional razzle-dazzle.

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The buzzy horror movie Obsession, about a man who gets more than he bargained for by wishing for his crush's unwavering love, is part of a long lineage of stories about the complex and terrifying nature of desire.

Just look at Masquerade, an immersive reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. The audience, wearing masks, is plunged into the deep, dark fantasies — or should we say obsessions — of the Phantom and his muse, Christine.

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Many Steven Spielberg movies question what it means to be human, from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to his newest release, Disclosure Day. It's less an alien movie and more a deep inquiry into the nature of empathy and the future of our relationships with each other, making it a perfect pair with the musical Maybe Happy Ending.

In near-future Korea, androids Oliver and Claire set out to find Oliver’s owner. They map out the meaning of memory, care, love, and loss in sharp and sophisticated terms, making their brief contact with human characters all the more poignant.

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Olivia Wilde’s drawing-room comedy of two married couples' dinner party gone wrong is packed with expressive wit, tension, and comedy. And maybe the connection seems strange, but The Invite and Moulin Rouge!, about forbidden love in a Paris nightclub, share themes of relationships, sexuality, and personal and artistic freedom.

Moulin Rouge! has spectacle to spare and takes loose inspiration from the Puccini opera La bohème, while The Invite owes its caustic comedy to playwright Edward Albee. But both are fundamentally about the contradictions between lovers' dreams and the realities of their lives.

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The Minions wrote a love letter to movies, with two of them, James and Henry, changing Hollywood forever. This charming and daffy movie is packed with references to film history (your parents will surely catch the Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton nods), making it a logical pair with the parody musical Schmigadoon!

It's based on the Apple TV+ show by Cinco Paul (also a screenwriter on several Despicable Me movies), which lampoons Golden Age musicals by the likes of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Meredith Willson. Schmigadoon! is a lively game of “spot the reference” for musical theatre obsessives.

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Anne Hathaway has been everywhere this year, promoting five films including The Odyssey, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Mother Mary, a small two-hander about a Madonna-esque pop star (Hathaway) and her estranged costume designer (Michaela Coel). The women's plunge into personal history, which unfolds across their reunion and Mother Mary’s arena tour, calls to mind the hit musical Six.

Using a pop concert as its frame, the six wives of King Henry VIII each tell their side of the story in the musical styles of Adele, Britney Spears, Beyonce, and more. A clever look at who tells history and how, Six has a propulsive sense of witty fun and a Tony Award-winning score full of bangers.

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The surprise hit from the directors of Minions and The Lorax is a charming small-town murder mystery, featuring a stacked cast including Hugh Jackman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Emma Thompson. The film's willingness to take its simple premise of camaraderie and resilience seriously makes it feel akin to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling, as dynamic and funny as it is tender and earnest. The ensemble musical depicts six spelling bee contestants and three adult moderators vividly and affectionately.

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Disney is reviving its own animated Moana as a live-action flick, giving the Polynesian princess a new look. But the gold standard for Disney reinventions is Julie Taymor’s inventive, exciting adaptation of The Lion King on Broadway. With stunning costumes, puppets, and sets, and terrific music by Elton John and Tim Rice, The Lion King is both imaginative and injected with history, making the classic animated film still feel new 30 years later.

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The Zendaya and Robert Pattinson-fronted dark comedy The Drama is like a Warhead candy, each vicious joke more sour than the last — so much so that they unravel the central couple’s wedding plans. The Drama shares with the latest Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show a lack of apology for its bawdiness and confrontational humor, as well as a zany, gleeful disregard for "good taste."

Rocky Horror is a larger-than-life cult classic, but at its simplest, it's about two people who crash out at a party when faced with the new responsibilities of marriage. Who among us?

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