With 2017 quickly drawing to a close, it is time once again to begin looking to the promises of the new year and what is to come. 2017 was rather lackluster for its cinematic outings. There were some great promises from time-tested franchises that quickly fizzled out and grossly under-performed. I can think of four movies that actually did very well and all of them are tied in one way or another to novels and comic books. At the end of May, Patty Jenkin’s ‘Wonder Woman’ was released as the latest installment in the DC cinematic universe and it was a smashing success. At the beginning of July, the world was treated to Tom Holland’s outing as the friendly web-slinger ‘Spider-man’. Stephen King’s novel ‘It’ was adapted once again to film and it was also a huge hit and, most recently was the Blumhouse-produced horror film ‘Happy Death Day‘ which was written by comic book scribe Scott Lobdell. Happy Death Day did not bring in the numbers the others did but it returned over $26 million dollars in once weekend on a movie with a $4 million dollar production and P&A budget.
So what will 2018 bring? Let’s get started and don’t forget to watch the video at the beginning which also highlights the films appearing on this list.
1. GOD PARTICLE: On February 2nd, the third installment in the “Clover-verse” will hit theaters. This movie takes place on a space station as a group of astronauts struggle to survive. While not a direct sequel the movie takes place in the same universe as both ‘Cloverfield’ and ’10 Cloverfield Lane’. God Particle is being produced by Paramount Studios and J.J. Abrams.
2. BLACK PANTHER: The Black Panther movie, another installment in the 22-film+ Marvel Cinematic Universe, will also be out in February and stars Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa – Black Panther. With an all-star cast and beautiful cinematography under the direction of Taika Waititi of Wakanda and beyond, Black Panther is set to be every bit the hit it deserves to be.
3. TOMB RAIDER: This origin story for the Tomb Raider franchise stars Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft – Tomb Raider – and actually fairly closely resembles the latest Tomb Raider video game. This movie will be released on March 16th 2018.
4. PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING: Another franchise installment, Pacific Rim: Uprising takes place ten years after the first film and celebrates the tenth anniversary of when the rift was finally destroyed. The viral marketing for this movie has been great as well as the footage that was released at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. This movie will hit theaters on March 23rd 2018.
5. READY PLAYER ONE: At the end of March 2018, the world will be treated to an adaptation of Ernst Cline’s hit novel ‘Ready Player One’. If you are at all a fan of 1980s pop culture, geekdom, gaming, comic books, dungeons & dragons then you will love this story. There is a teaser trailer out and the amount of cameos from popular characters and objects is astounding. Expectations are high for this Steven Spielberg film.
6. THE NEW MUTANTS: With the trailer for this film just having been released, hype for the New Mutants film is at an all-time high. Set to be a “haunted house horror film starring a team of hormonal teenagers”, The New Mutants should both thrill and scare us a the same time. Watch out for Demon Bear.
7. SUPER TROOPERS 2: It’s been a long time in the making but in April 2018 we will get a sequel to 2001’s Super Troopers movie. The time is ‘meow’ for the Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe to reprise their roles as Vermont Highway Patrolman.
8. AVENGERS INFINITY WAR: This movie will be massive. It is the culmination of everything that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has built over the last ten years and twenty-plus movies. It will star all of the ensemble casts like Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy and countless other heroes and villains as they battle Thanos and his Black Order.
9. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY: This Star Wars anothology movie telling the tale of a young Han Solo just got its’ official title in a recent announcement from Director Ron Howard. The film stars Alden Ehrenreich as a Young Han Solo alongside Emilia Clarke (Kira), Woody Harrelson (Beckett), Donald Glover (Lando Calrissian) and Paul Bettany.
10. DEADPOOL 2: The sequel to the first movie will be released on the first of June. The David Leitch-directed film brings back Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead and T.J. Miller is rumored to reprise his role as Weasel. In addition Zazie Beetz and Josh Brolin have been added to the cast as Domino and Cable, respectively.
11. ANT-MAN & THE WASP: Ant-Man & The Wasp is the sequel to 2015’s surprise comedy hit ‘Ant-man’ and stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-man. Michael Douglas is returning as Doctor Hank Pym. It also stars Evangeline Lilly The Wasp / Hope Van Dyne and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne.
12. THE PREDATOR: Shane Black’s sequel to 1987’s Schwarzenegger hit “The Predator” is scheduled for wide-release on August 3rd of 2018. Again, a group of strangers are stranded in the woods while a Predator stalks them like prey. All indications are that this movie will be equal parts gory and awesome.
13. VENOM: Sony tapped Tom Hardy to star as the Spider-verse villain Eddie Brock, aka Venom. While it is said that the spider-man of the MCU will not star alongside Venom, there is still much speculation around the film and exactly what it will bring to the Sony-verse table. It also stars Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed.
14. X-MEN DARK PHOENIX: In November the latest installment in Fox Studio’s X-Universe will be released and will tell the tale of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and her struggle with the Phoenix Force. Directed by Simon Kinberg, most of the cast is set to return with a rumor that Olivia Munn will reprise her role as Psylocke.
15. AQUAMAN: One of the more technically difficult movies to shoot, the James Wan film Aquaman will hit theaters at the end of 2018. Jason Momoa will star as Arthur Curry aka Aquaman and continue his story began in the 2017-ender Justice League. We will also see Nicole Kidman as Queen Atlanna, Amber Heard playing Mera, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus and Yahya Abdul-Mateen starring as the villain Black Manta.
So here is my list of anticipated 2018 movies! Let us know in the comment what movie you are looking forward to in the next year.
