This year has seen many blockbuster films, shows, events, and many more iconic moments in pop culture. Now with Halloween just around the corner, costumes are on everyone’s mind to make their best references to 2023’s greatest moments.
Every year during Halloween, there have always been references to pop culture, such as movies, shows, and events featured on social media, alongside the classic costumes like black cats, ghosts, and other scary entities. So, it’s no surprise that this year is no different. 2023 has seen many blockbuster movies that have been flooded with praises, popularity, and the title of “iconic.” Here is a list of the top 10 movies to base your Halloween costume on this year.
Of course, the most anticipated costumes this Halloween season are direct or indirect references to Barbie. That could be something as simple as wearing pink and heels or something as extravagant as Barbie’s sequined party dress. In the movie, Barbie goes through many outfit changes, so don’t be afraid to do the same! Barbie goes from a 1960’s beauty, to an 80’s roller-blader decked out in neon, to a pink, bedazzled cowgirl. Following in Barbie’s footsteps, there are many options to choose from for Halloween.
Next, for the history fans out there, is Oppenheimer. Coming out on the exact same day as Barbie, the hype for both movies stood on equal footing, resulting in many debates, arguments, polls, and more to determine which one would be better when they hit theaters. They even combined the two into “Barbenheimer,” creating numerous memes, usually used to mock the debaters. Expect to see many people in brown, oversized suits borrowed from their fathers and Oppenheimer’s iconic pork pie hat.
Just for laughs and giggles, some jokesters participating in Halloween might even take the aforementioned “Barbenheimer” memes and run with them in real life for their costumes. Some might do a half-and-half costume, wear a “Barbenheimer” t-shirt, or even do the iconic outfit tear into another outfit mid-way through trick or treating.
Another movie to take inspiration from is The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey, again bringing the original 1989 film back to life with new and improved characters, visuals, storytelling, and more. With the waves of influence the movie holds over multiple people, especially people of color, of course there has to be at least one person donning a purple and green tail or full outfit based on the aquatic princess’ color palette. Some might even take the extra step to pay for an entire new hairstyle matching the princess’ iconic muted rusty red hair color.
Also making waves this year in the box office was The Super Mario Bros. Movie, bringing back the nostalgia of the iconic Nintendo games and new, hilarious personalities for each character. With Bowser’s scene of his musical number obsessing over Princess Peach, it’s predicted that multiple fans of the movie, and maybe just the meme it has become, will be performing in the streets on Halloween night as the villain.
Alongside the nostalgia-inducing Super Mario Bros. Movie, the long awaited movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse gained a lot of attention and popularity for its new colors, characters, additional plotlines, and improved graphics. Its popularity continued to spread throughout the masses with the help of social media platforms such as TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and more through fanart, edits, and memes. With the numerous universally different Spider-Men making up the entirety of the movie and having each of their own levels of popularity or notoriety, there are many versions of Spider-Man to choose from to express your creativity through a costume for Halloween.
Additionally, Elemental by Pixar released this year to cater to young children and families. With its outstanding message of seeing people for who they actually are and unique angle on the story, it has resonated with many people and has received tons of praise for its awareness and reflection of societal issues. Heartwarmingly, many families might dress up as one of the four elements, fire, water, earth, or air, to represent their own family and how they fit into society as who they are.
Sticking with a classic, John Wick: Chapter 4 was the latest installment of the John Wick series this year, also topping the charts as one of the most popular movies of 2023. Not really needing to get creative with a costume idea to match the aesthetics and outfits of John Wick (as he seems to virtually wear the same thing every movie), all one needs is a nice, clean cut black and white suit to satisfy the fans out there on Halloween night.
Sticking to something even more classic than John Wick, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny turned out to be the last movie in the iconic Indiana Jones franchise, finally ending the series as a whole. For those who go for the nostalgia factor and who are even feeling nostalgic themselves, donning Indiana Jones’ brown fedora hat and his easily recognizable bundle of rope as a costume would surely be a great farewell to the decades old series.
Last but not least, Blue Beetle is the latest addition to the DC cinematic universe. Because of its backig from DC, it shouldn’t be hard to find a costume matching Jaime Reyes’ black and electric blue glowing suit in stores or online. You wouldn’t even have to have his exact suit or something similar to it; like taking inspiration from The Little Mermaid, all you would have to do is distinctly copy his copy palette and apply it to something of your own making.
Despite listing a multitude of options for Halloween costumes based on your favorite movies of 2023, no one is required to take them and run with it just to gain a second of popularity this Halloween season. Halloween is one of the few moments where you could bring out the most creative aspects of yourself and apply them to an entirely different nightly persona. However, if you’d like to continue to spread the iconic image of Barbie or say a brief goodbye to long-running franchises such as Indiana Jones, then I would advise you to follow this list and have a great holiday this Halloween season!