Most-Anticipated Movies of 2017: C.C.C Issue #61

Most-Anticipated Movies of 2017

 

Well, 2016 went out with a whimper for me, because I was stuck at home, sick, but as the flu subsides and 2017 (which has to be better than last year, right?) slowly gets underway, it’s time for me to look at my most-anticipated movie releases!

2017 will be the year my bank account died, because there are so many movies coming out this year that I want to see—I couldn’t even narrow it down to ten, so here’s my top 16.

16. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

From the director of The Fifth Element, which was a crazy sci-fi adventure, this looks like it could be yet another one of those, but with some extremely impressive cgi effects. It could be one of those movies worth shelling out a little extra for 3D, but hopefully the characters and story are as strong as the visuals. It’s based on a comic series, so we’ll see how it translates to the big screen. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets flies into theaters July 21^st.

15. Kingsman: The Golden Circle

The first Kingsman was one of the biggest surprises of 2015, and I’m glad to see it get a sequel, but even gladder to see just about everyone return in front of and behind the camera. I really enjoyed Taron Edgerton in the lead role, and look forward to seeing what he does this time around. New additions to the cast, such as Elton John and Julianne Moore have me intrigued, and the supposed return of Colin Firth’s character, the biggest badass from the first movie, has me a little uncertain, but if he comes back for another church massacre scene, then I’m good with it. Kingsman: The Golden Circle drops into theaters October 6^th.

14. T2: Trainspotting

Trainspotting was an intense, unsettling, and yet funny movie all at once, exploring the lives of heroin users in Scotland, but it wrapped up pretty neatly and didn’t seem to warrant a sequel. However, it’s been over twenty years since Trainspotting, and T2 returns to all of the characters, all played by the same actors again, with director Danny Boyle returning, and the screenplay is based on the novel Porno, which itself was a sequel to the Trainspotting novel (upon which that film was based). T2 seems to have the potential to be a unique sequel and possibly be on-par with the original. T2: Trainspotting arrives in theaters March 10^th. 

13. Dunkirk

Christopher Nolan is one of the highest-profile directors working today, so if he has a new movie on the way, you can bet it’s one of the most-anticipated of the year. The first full-length trailer gave some glimpses of the intense war scenes, impressive cast, including Nolan regulars Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy, and of course the incredible cinematography. I’m not a huge war movie fan, but I’m very interested to see Christopher Nolan’s take on World War II, and it’s nice to see him do something grounded in reality for a change of pace. Dunkirk storms into theaters July 21^st.

12. Wonder Woman

 

Going from World War II to World War I with this next installment in the floundering DC movie universe. Last year’s efforts, Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, both fell mostly flat for me, and the upcoming Justice League really doesn’t interest me a whole lot, but if Wonder Woman can succeed, I might have hope for DC movies yet. It seems to have everything going for it: Wonder Woman herself was good in Batman v Superman, the rest of the cast is good, including the always-charismatic Chris Pine, and the trailers have looked good so far, so let’s hope this, the first major female-led superhero movie, is a solid hit. Wonder Woman charges into theaters June 2^nd.

11. Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D

 

Here’s another T2, but not a new sequel. Back in August, it was announced Terminator 2—one of the best sequels ever, one of the best action movies ever, and one of my favourite movies ever—would be getting a theatrical re-release sometime in 2017, and converted to 3D. I’m not particularly excited about the 3D aspect, but on the bright side, it’s James Cameron we’re talking about, the guy who made the best-looking 3D movie ever (Avatar). I’m just psyched to see one of my favourite movies on the big screen in a way I’ve never seen it before. Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D doesn’t have a scheduled release date yet, but maybe we can expect it August 29^th? (That’s a Terminator reference in case you missed it)

10. Blade Runner 2049 

I only saw Blade Runner for the first time in 2015, right around when I started hearing they were working on a sequel, and after seeing the original, I thought a sequel might be difficult, but now that I’ve seen all of director Denis Villeneuve’s films (Arrival, his latest, is my favourite of 2016), I’m certain he is the perfect person to bring Blade Runner back. Joining him is the always-reliable Ryan Gosling, but Harrison Ford is returning as well, and if he does as well as he did in Force Awakens, that’ll be a major plus. Throw in original Blade Runner screenwriter Hampton Fancher doing to script, and it sounds like Blade Runner 2049 could be yet another contender for a sequel on-par with or better than the original. It comes out October 6^th.

9. Thor: Ragnarok

 

Marvel Studios is coming out with three movies next year, which is a first, and yet they’re still all among my most-anticipated. Thor hasn’t been my favourite character in the MCU, and I’d rank his two stand-alone movies pretty low compared to other Marvel movies, but I think Thor: Ragnarok could be the best Thor movie yet, for a number of reasons. We know Thor is teaming with Hulk, and it’ll be like a buddy cop movie on alien worlds, which sounds great. Director Taika Waititi takes the helm, and his movies What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople showed me he can handle action and humour and heart very well. I’m very excited to see what he does with Thor, and even that little mockumentary-style clip of what Thor did during Civil War was pure gold. Thor: Ragnarok explodes into theaters November 3^rd.

8. Spider-Man: Homecoming

If I had to pick a favourite superhero, I would probably pick Spider-Man. With the character now back in the care of Marvel, I can actually get excited about a new movie focused on the wall-crawler, and the first trailer looks like it’ll be a solid reboot to the character (even though he technically already got rebooted in Civil War, but that was only a small role it didn’t count! This is official!) I’m a bit iffy on Vulture as a villain, but at least they have Michael Keaton in the role, and he’s a villain we haven’t seen in a movie before. Throw in RDJ suiting up as Iron Man alongside Spidey, and this might be the most-fun Spider-Man movie yet. Spider-Man: Homecoming comes to theaters July 7^th.

7. The Dark Tower

It has been far too long since a great Stephen King novel has been made into a great film, and I hope The Dark Tower breaks that spell. Idris Elba takes on the role of Roland, a gunslinger in pursuit of The Man in Black, A.K.A Stephen King’s version of Satan, played by Matthew McConaughey, which I think is perfect casting, and it is apparently a sequel to the novels, which I don’t think has ever been done before in any other film series or adaptation, but will still stand on its own. I hope the delays this film has been plagued by are all positives, just giving the filmmakers enough time to work out the bugs and make the best movie possible. The Dark Tower journeys into theaters July 28^th.  

6. War for the Planet of the Apes

 

The rest of these movies (except #1) are ranked mostly on how I responded to the trailers—taking trailers out of the equation, they pretty much are all my number one. But squeaking in at number six is the much-awaited third film in the Planet of the Apes reboot series, which started unexpectedly strong with Rise, continued exponentially stronger with Dawn, and now looks to be continuing stronger yet, with War giving fans the ape-on-human battle we’ve been waiting for. Woody Harrelson will probably be the strongest villain we’ve seen yet, and his clash with Andy Serkis’ Caesar might close the book on Caesar’s story, but will it conclude this trilogy or continue to lead up to another remake of the first Planet of the Apes? We will see. War for the Planet of the Apes swings into theaters July 14^th.

5. Logan

This is where things start to get crazy. I didn’t think a Wolverine movie would be so high on my most-anticipated, but after hearing this will likely be Hugh Jackman’s last time playing the title character (plus Patrick Stewart’s last time playing Professor X), and learning it will be R-rated, and seeing that first trailer, it quickly went from being just that third solo Wolverine movie to a very important and unique-looking superhero film that, I think, might show us the death of one of the most-beloved heroes of the 21^st century, and make a lot of fans cry. Logan slashes into theaters March 3^rd.   

4. Kong: Skull Island

Prior to the second trailer, this was my most-anticipated movie of 2017. The first trailer showed just enough Kong, an amazing visual style, and glimpses of the impressive cast. But then, the second trailer came out, and my excitement lessened. I’m most-concerned about the tone. The second trailer was campier and showed too much of the over-the-top monster action (and too much of Kong), and John C. Reilley’s presence distracted me in the worst way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still super-jacked to see Kong back on the big screen, and in a new story that we know won’t end with him dying, but I’m keeping a lot of my excitement in check for now. Kong: Skull Island arrives in theaters March 10^th.

3. Alien: Covenant

Here’s another movie I’m very nervous about, but unlike Kong, the trailer made me more hopeful instead of more nervous. I had doubts of ever seeing the sequel promised to us at the end of Prometheus, and while I wish we were getting something more in-line with that movie, I can’t be upset to see director Ridley Scott return to a true Alien movie, which is what Prometheus was supposed to be originally anyway. This is still a sequel to Prometheus and still a prequel to Alien, but hopefully it answers some more questions about where these creatures originated, or at least gets us closer to some answers, while delivering the first true-horror movie starring the xenomorph in far too long. Alien: Covenant invades theaters May 19^th.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 

How the hell am I more excited for a movie about a talking tree and talking racoon than a new Alien movie and a new King Kong movie? I don’t know, call it Marvel magic. Marvel’s first of the year, a sequel to one of their biggest surprise hits yet, looks like it has the best chance of any sequel coming out in 2017 to be better than the original. The first Guardians was terrific, but had to do mandatory world building and character intros. With that out of the way, Vol. 2 can get into new adventures, new worlds, and even new versions of old characters, like Baby Groot, who the world is already in love with just from the first two teaser trailers. The thing I’m looking forward to the most is having some damn fun at the theaters. I am Groot. Translation: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 comes out May 5^th.

1. Star Wars – Episode VIII

My most-anticipated movie of 2015 was The Force Awakens, which totally delivered, but my most-anticipated of 2016, Rogue One, did not, so Star Wars is one-for-two under the Disney regime thus far for me. However, I don’t think I’m being unreasonable putting Episode VIII (still untitled) as my number one. Sure, J.J. Abrams is out as director, but stepping in is Rian Johnson, who aced his last movie, Looper, and will hopefully ace this sequel, which is easily the most-anticipated sequel of the year (perhaps many years). I’m hoping it follows through on the characters that were so well introduced in Force Awakens, while introducing new lovable and/or despicable characters and forging a new story, instead of rehashing old plot points. Star Wars – Episode VIII blasts into theaters December 15^th.