2016 Movies: looking
ahead
With my 2015 recap
out of the way, it’s time to look ahead and see what’s coming out this year. To
be honest, it’s not as stacked of a year as the last couple have been, but
there are a few heavy hitters, as well as many wild cards. Here we go!
JANUARY
As usual, January looks to be the dumping ground of the
year—mostly PG-13 horror movies with crappy trailers and dumb comedies with
equally crappy trailers. Disney’s The
Finest Hours, which looks like a YA rendition of Titanic, might sink, and Jane
Got a Gun starring Natalie Portman is finally getting released after much
delay, which could be a good or bad thing.
Kung Fu Panda 3 (January 29th): the only thing that
seems to have any potential is this threequel. The first two movies were
surprise hits with both critics and audiences, and though it’s disconcerting to
see the third one getting a January release, it might end up being the Lego Movie of this year and be a solid
animated hit amid a sea of garbage. The best bet will probably be to check out
more award contenders (Revenant, Hateful Eight, etc.) as they continue to
expand to more theaters over the month, or go see Star Wars a second or third or fourth or eleventh or hundredth
time.
FEBRUARY
Though it doesn’t look like it’ll be much better than
January as a whole, there are a couple movies coming out that will likely be
worth keeping an eye on, and one that really stands out to me.
Hail, Caesar! (February 5th): A new movie from the
Cohen brothers with a fantastic cast including George Clooney, Tilda Swinton,
Jonah Hill, and Scarlett Johansson. Do I need to say more? I know very little
about it, but it’s on my radar.
Zoolander 2 (February 12th): I really didn’t like Zoolander, and as we’ve seen with recent
comedy sequels made years after the original (Dumb and Dumber To, Anchorman
2) they don’t often work out, but Zoolander
2 is worth mentioning, because most people have the opposite opinion of the
first movie that I have, plus everyone is returning for the sequel, and it’s
being written by a talented screenwriter (Justin Theroux). Is that a recipe for
success? We shall see. Well, I won’t, because I’m not going to see it, but
others will. So, I guess they’ll see, and I’ll hear about it. Moving on!
Deadpool (February 12th): This is the heavy hitter
of the month, and the first movie of next year that I’m really looking forward
to seeing. Looks like The Merc with a Mouth will be done justice after what
happened to him in X-Men Origins:
Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds is perfect in the role, it looks extremely
faithful to the comics, the writers also wrote Zombieland, a movie I adored, and the hard R-rating will hopefully
be used to maximum effect. Looks like this shouldn’t
end up being the Fant4stick of 2016!
MARCH
Some sequels begin popping up, such as the next Divergent and London Has Fallen, the follow-up to Olympus Has Fallen. The animated Zootopia is getting some positive buzz, and a couple live-action
comedies also seem to have promise, Whiskey
Tango Foxtrot and The Brother’s
Grimsby. But there’s really only one March movie that needs to be
discussed.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 25th):
the much-anticipated sequel to 2013’s Man
of Steel will not only feature the iconic superheroes Batman and Superman
on the big screen together for the first time ever, but they are going to go
head-to-head! (And probably form some kind of Justice League by the end, too!)
The trailers have been mixed in terms of quality and revealing too little or
too much, but just the idea of these two legendary characters sharing the
screen is too cool not to get a little excited about. Will Warner Bros. be able
to launch their DC cinematic universe by laying down all their cards in 2016?
Only time will tell.
APRIL
More silly sequels abound, from God’s Not Dead 2 to Rings,
but as summer movie season nears, more big movies begin to pop up.
The Boss (April 8th): Melissa McCarthy is back for
what will hopefully be another hilarious comedy, which I know little about, but
I do know the title changed from Michelle
Darnell not long ago. 2013 wasn’t a bad year for her—we got The
Heat and Identity Thief—but 2014 was bad, with the double
disappointment of Tammy and St. Vincent. Last year she bounced
back with Spy, so hopefully The Boss continues her resurgence.
The Jungle Book (April 15th): It seems The Jungle Book’s delay from 2015 to
2016 was a good thing, because from what the trailers have shown, it looks
incredible. The Jungle Book is one of
my favourite Disney classics, and this live-action adaptation seems like it’ll
be faithful to the original story, and the visual effects look stunning. Even
though the movie was filmed almost entirely on a sound stage and all of the
characters with the exception of Mowgli are cgi, it looks totally convincing.
Like Cinderella last March and Maleficent in 2014, this should be
another example of an animated-to-live-action hit for Disney.
The Huntsman: Winter’s War (April 22nd): I’m not at
all excited about this sequel to 2012’s Snow
White and the Huntsman, however, I noticed Charlize Theron is back as the
Queen, and while she wasn’t great in the role, it’s always great to see her on
screen no matter what, plus Chris Hemsworth is back as well, Kristen Stewart is
not back, which is even better, a new
director is helming this one, and the new cast members are all great, including
Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain. It might turn out to be better than the
original, though I’m not expecting much at all.
MAY
Now we’re into the summer movie season, and big movies start
popping up everywhere. A couple that are sure to be hits that I’m not looking
forward to seeing are Alice Through the
Looking Glass and The Angry Birds
Movie. A comedy sequel I’m curious about is Neighbours 2, though not getting my hope up. Ultimately, there are
only two movies I’m really excited for in May.
Captain America: Civil War (May 6th): A year ago, I
didn’t think it would be possible for the third Captain America movie to be better than Avengers: Age of Ultron, but after the disappointment of the second
Avengers movie and the surprise of Ant-Man, it seems Civil War will be the perfect way to kick off Phase 3 of the MCU.
All the heroes come back together for what will basically be another Avengers movie, but focused on Cap and
Iron Man instead of everyone, with heroes fighting each other and the stakes
hopefully being raised. With the same writers and directors from Captain America: The Winter Soldier
returning, it should be awesome.
X-Men: Apocalypse (May 27th): Though the first trailer
underwhelmed a lot of fans, I’m still really excited about the final
installment in the unofficial trilogy of X-Men
movies that started really strong with X-Men:
First Class and continued even stronger with X-Men: Days of Future Past. Though the timeline is a little
jumbled, it hopefully won’t matter, with the biggest, baddest villain in the
X-Men universe coming to shake things up.
JUNE
Summer movie season plows on with even more big releases,
most of them being sequels.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (June 3rd):
Despite a really dumb title and the same roided-out turtles as last time, this
sequel actually looks like it’ll be an improvement over the previous Turtles adventure. While I didn’t love
or even really like the last one, I found it fun enough, and from what was
shown in the trailer, the fun has been amped up, and fan-faves Bebop and
Rocksteady make their big screen debut (finally!). This one could go either
way, but it looks like it’ll probably just be more mindless action.
The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist (June 10th):
Again, like the previous movie, a lame title, but will it be better than the
first Conjuring? Horror sequels have
been pretty hit or miss over the past few years, and the Annabelle spinoff was a failure, but with director James Wan
returning, along with the original main cast, it might have a shot at being at
least competently made, though I highly doubt it’ll top the original, just
because the original was so unexpected and tension-fuelled.
Warcraft (June 10th): A movie I didn’t mention
coming out in April is Ratchet and Clank,
based on the video game. I didn’t mention it because it looks like complete
garbage, but Warcraft, one the other
hand, might be the first video game movie that is legitimately good (sorry, Mortal Kombat fans, it’s fun, but not
actually good). Though the first trailer didn’t blow me away, it showed plenty
of potential, and with an up-and-coming director taking the reins (Duncan
Jones) and a huge fan base behind the game it’s based on, it might be one of
the biggest movies of the summer.
Finding Dory (June 17th): I loved Finding Nemo when it first came out, and
even all these years later, I still love it, despite no longer being a little
kid. I never thought it needed a sequel, and I still don’t, but we’re getting
one anyway. It sounds like it’ll be more or less the same as the first movie,
with the roles of Nemo and Dory being reversed. Though the premise doesn’t
entice me, I probably won’t pass up the opportunity to return to Pixar’s
colourful undersea world once more. Also, it’s the only release from Pixar next
year.
Independence Day: Resurgence (June 24th): I’m over
director Roland Emmerich’s big dumb disaster movies. The first Independence Day is what put him on the
map, but ever since then, he’s made increasingly stupid movies like The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and White House Down. Now he’s coming back to do the much-delayed
sequel which, from the look of the trailer, retains none of the fun from the
original, nor will it feature Will Smith, arguably the best part of the
original, and the cgi looks no better than it did in 1996. I could care less
about this movie, but it’ll probably still make a killing at the box
office.
JULY
Lots of potential in this month, but there are a few I don’t
know enough about to really offer many thoughts, so I’ll just mention them
briefly.
The BFG (July 1st): It’s animated, and it’s directed
by Steven Spielberg. I’ll probably get more excited once I find out more, but
sign me up anyway!
The Legend of Tarzan (July 1st): Trailer looks
impressive, good cast, were it not for the last two Planet of the Apes the cgi chimps would look really impressive.
However, strong characters and a clever reinvention of the plot will be
required to win me over, and the jury’s still out on whether it will feature
either of those.
The Secret Life of Pets (July 8th): I don’t know
anything about this one, but it’s an animated kids movie coming out in July, so
it’ll probably be a big deal.
Ghostbusters (July 15th):
Many people are looking forward to this all-female Ghostbusters reboot, but I
really do not want to see it, and no,
it’s not because of the all-female thing. Even if it was all-male, I still
wouldn’t care. The original Ghostbusters
movie is one of the best action comedies ever, and I think it’s going to be
more pitiful than fun seeing the original cast members who are returning (Dan
Akyroyd, Billy Murray, etc.) in cameo roles, while the top female comedy
talents of today do the same old thing we’ve seen before. The upsides: the cast
is, admittedly, very talented, and director Paul Feig has proven himself on
multiple occasions as one of the best comedy directors working today. It might
be too early to assume it’ll be a rehash of the original—what with there being
no trailer or poster or official plot synopsis yet—but I just don’t need to see
a new version of Ghostbusters, that’s
all.
Star Trek Beyond (July 22nd): I loved both of J.J.
Abrams’ Star Trek movies (the first
more than the second) and I was eagerly looking forward to the next
installment, but when J.J. dropped out as director in favour of doing Star Wars for Disney, I got a little
less excited (about Star Trek, not Star Wars). Then the pre-production
troubles began: directors being attached then removed, writers stepping in to
do re-writes, actor Simon Pegg taking a pass at the script, comments going
around about the studio thinking the script was “too Star Trek-ey” (?) But finally Star
Trek Beyond is coming! And…the first trailer kind of sucked. I’m actually
pretty worried about this new Star Trek,
especially with how great all the other spaces movies have been lately (the
trailer bore an unfortunately uncanny resemblance to Guardians of the Galaxy), but with action director Justin Lin at
the helm, hopefully it will deliver more of the fast-paced thrills that made
the last two so much fun.
Bourne 5 (July 29th): I haven’t seen a trailer or a
poster or a plot synopsis or even an official title for the next Bourne movie, I just keep seeing the
same picture of Matt Damon wrapping his hands like he’s ready to fight someone.
But hey, still excited! With Damon back in the title role and director Paul
Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum) returning, I’d say
it’s almost a guarantee it’ll be better than the last one, The Bourne Legacy. While not one of my most anticipated of 2016
yet, it might be once I see some footage.
AUGUST
There are a couple things in this final month of summer
movie season that might be fun to check out, but with barely anything yet known
about them, I can’t say much. There is one movie, though, that I do know a lot
about, and it’s probably going to be one of the biggest of the entire year.
Ben-Hur (August 12th): I haven’t seen the original Ben-Hur, but I think I’ll check it out
before this new rendition is released. I don’t know who’s in it, but I do know
it’s from the director of Immortals,
so I’m not sure if this will be a high quality remake or a quick cash grab.
I’ll reserve judgement until the first trailer.
Sausage Party (August 12th): an animated movie about
talking food from Seth Rogen and all his buddies, presumably the majority of
the cast/crew from This is The End.
I’m in.
Suicide Squad (August 5th): This will probably be
the juggernaut of August. All eyes will be on DC next year, and if Batman v Superman fails to live up to
expectations, then there will be even more pressure on Suicide Squad to deliver (if BvS
is awesome, though, then anticipation for it will skyrocket even higher). A
collection of DC’s villains team up to take on an even more ruthless villain,
in an all-bad guy superhero movie with incredible talent, including Will Smith
as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, and Jared Leto as The Joker. We
already know from the leaked trailer shown at Comic-Con that Ben Affleck’s
Batman will be making an appearance, and Leto’s Joker will be yet another new
portrayal of the character. I’m not going to get real excited about this movie
until after I see Batman v Superman,
but I’m definitely intrigued, just on the premise of an all-villains movie
alone.
SEPTEMBER
Only one remake coming out in the transitionary month from
summer to fall/winter stands out to me, though there will likely be award
contenders I missed that’ll start to pop up during this time as well.
The Magnificent Seven (September 23rd): I almost
forgot this movie was happening, but when I was reminded, I realized it’s one
of my most anticipated of the year. The director? Antoine Fuqua, who’s directed
successful action movies like Training
Day and The Equalizer (also this
year’s boxing drama Southpaw), and
the star of both of those will be in this movie, the reliably great Denzel
Washington. Starring alongside him? Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Vincent
D’Onofrio, to name a few. It’s entirely possible this will end up a September
dud, but I’m hoping the magnificent cast combined with a good director will
prove to be a fun western remake.
OCTOBER
Few horror movies stand out in a good way in 2016, but I’m
hoping we get a Babadook or It Follows at some point in the year. It
seems unlikely we’ll get one in the actual month of October, unfortunately, but
the month isn’t without some potential.
The Girl on the Train (October 7th): Based on the
2015 novel of the same name, starring Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley
Bennett, Justin Theroux, and Luke Evans, with this plot synopsis: “Rachel
Watson, an alcoholic troubled woman whose husband left her for his mistress,
witnesses a murder and starts to realize that she may have been involved in the
crime.” Sounds like it might be the Gone
Girl of this year.
Underworld: Next Generation (October 14th): The Underworld franchise started pretty
strong, with an intriguing premise of vampires vs. werewolves on modern day
earth, but then the sequel didn’t live up to the first, and then the third
movie was a needless prequel which lost the series’ leading lady Kate
Beckinsale, but then she returned for the fourth entry, Underworld: Awakening, which turned out to be the worst of the
series. Now Beckinsale is back, again, in what will apparently be a
continuation, not a reboot. Much like the Resident
Evil franchise (also from the studio behind Underworld), they just keep making these movies, even though they
keep getting worse. Unlike the last one, I’m not at all excited for this
sequel. I won’t be surprised if it gets delayed to January.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (October 21st): The
first Jack Reacher, starring Tom
Cruise, was not a great action movie, but it had flourishes of greatness,
including a memorable car chase. The director went on to do this year’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,
which I thought was the best Mission:
Impossible yet. The disappointing part is Jack Reacher: Never Go Back has a new director attached, so I’m
less excited about this sequel than I would’ve been if the same director had
stayed on, but hey, it might still turn out better than the first one.
NOVEMBER
Two big releases for this month, one I’m really excited for,
the other I could care less about, but I know a ton of other people will be
looking forward to it, so I better at least mention it.
Doctor Strange (November 4th): Marvel Studios’
second release of the year, introducing another new hero in a new corner of the
ever-expanding Marvel universe. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as the sorcerer
supreme, which will likely combine elements of fantasy and horror, to create a
new hero that is, once again, very different from the standard Avengers line-up we’ve grown to love. Scott
Derrickson, who’s directed successful horror movies like The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister,
seems like a great fit as the one who will bring this mystical world to life,
and the pics recently released of Cumberbatch in the Doctor Strange costume
look perfect. As always, I can’t wait to see what Marvel has up their sleeve
for this awesome hero, who isn’t yet well-known to the general public, but will
be soon.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (November 18th):
J.K. Rowling returns to write a Harry
Potter prequel, with Eddie Redmayne leading the adventure. The first teaser
trailer barely gave anything away, but likely did its job: get fans aware and excited
about a new movie, without spoiling anything. I’m not a Harry Potter fan, so I don’t have any interest in this movie, but I
can guarantee it’ll be a major box office hit.
DECEMBER
Finally, at the end of 2016, two more of my most-anticipated
movies get released, hopefully ending the year on a high note just like 2015.
There’s also one other movie in there, a remake, I’ll mention briefly.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (December 16th): One
year after The Force Awakens, the
first in a series of stand-alone Star
Wars movies makes its way to the big screen. At this point, most people
probably aren’t aware that a new Star
Wars movie that isn’t the sequel to The
Force Awakens is coming out soon. Rogue
One is a prequel of sorts (though I think they’ll avoid using that word in
the marketing) about the group of rebels who steal the plans to the Death Star,
which occurs some time before the original Star
Wars (Episode IV). Godzilla director Gareth Edwards is
directing, and it features an impressive cast, including Felicity Jones, Alan
Tudyk, Mads Mikkelsen, Forest Whitaker, and Ben Mendelsohn, and is rumoured to
feature the return of the most-famous Star
Wars villain of all (whom I will not name, because you can probably guess).
Little else is known about it at this time, but with the gigantic success of The Force Awakens already, it’s almost a
guarantee Rogue One will be huge,
though not as huge as the aforementioned release. After the mind-blowingly
satisfying return to the Star Wars
universe in 2015, Rogue One instantly
shot up to the number one position on my most-anticipated movies of 2016.
Assassin’s Creed (December 21st): There are three
video game movies coming out next year. 2/3 have a shot at proving movies based
on video games can work, and Assassin’s
Creed is one of them. Starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in
the lead roles, and telling a new narrative not featured in any of the games,
it definitely seems like it has great potential, especially if the quality and
success of the game series is any indicator. Though this movie has been delayed
a couple times, they were hopefully positive delays allowing for the script to
be better developed or the director to have more time to prepare or whatever.
If Warcraft knocks it out of the
park, I’ll be really excited for Assassin’s
Creed. If it fails as badly as 2015’s Hitman:
Agent 47, then I’ll be a little more skeptical.
Jumanji (December 25th): Um, why? The original Jumanji is not a perfect movie, but it
was a big part of my childhood, and I still have fun re-visiting it to this day.
Robin Williams was great as the lead, there was exciting action, and it was an
imaginative story. But do we need a remake? No, though to be fair, some things
could be improved, mainly in terms of visual effects. Some of the cgi does not
hold up today, and the movie itself isn’t some sort of classic. But still, it
seems like it’s being made as a cash grab more than out of necessity.
Well there you have
it, that’s basically a general look at the movies coming out this year! Be sure
to keep an eye for more C.C.C. lists, reviews, editorials, and more as the year
progresses. Happy movie watching!
