Next year is shaping up to be banner year at the cinema: Batman’s returning, Harry Potter’s seeing ghosts, Alien origins are revealed, Bond is back and the mother of all superhero team-ups will touch down. Glen Ferris checks out the essential flicks from the forthcoming 12 months…
The Woman In Black
Daniel Radcliffe makes his first post-Potter appearance in this chilling tale based on the story by Susan Hill and the hit West End play. D-Rad plays a young lawyer dispatched to a spooky seaside town to sort out a deceased client’s papers only to have the willies put up him by the eponymous scary lady. Kick-Ass and Stardust scribe Jane Goldman’s on screenwriting duties here, so expect some clever dialogue and expert turning of the screw. Check out the official site.
John Carter
Pixar legend Andrew Stanton (the bloke who gave us Finding Nemo, Wall-E and A Bug’s Life) takes a trip to the Red Planet for his first live-action directorial outing. He’s adapting the first in a series of much-loved tales by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs about an American Civil War veteran (played by Taylor Kitsch), who finds himself mysteriously transported to the surface of Mars. There he meets, among others, a bunch of 12-foot aliens, a giant frog-dog thingy and a shapely princess in what we’re promised will be a good old-fashioned boys-own adventure. Check out the official site.
The Hunger Games
Twilight meets Battle Royale in this dystopian sci-fi tale as Jennifer Lawrence returns to the stark wilderness where she made her stunning mark in Winter’s Bone. She stars as Katniss Everdeen, the heroic young lass who finds herself called up as a tribute in The Hunger Games – a televised fight to the death aimed at calming the restless masses. Think The Running Man with a 12A certificate and you’ll understand why our interest has been piqued. Check out the official site.
The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists
The latest Claymation film from Aardman Animations looks set to follow in the grand tradition of Wallace & Gromit et al, only with the added bonus of Hugh Grant. The most English actor ever born lends his vocal chords to a pirate captain named Pirate Captain in a seriously silly tale involving stolen booty, an angry queen and an X Factor-style competition for ocean-going brigands. A proper family film with a high hit rate of hilarity; we’ll put a bag of doubloons on this being a huge hit. Check out the official site.
The Avengers
It’s all been leading up to this for Marvel. The main players have been introduced, the back stories have been put in place, the tone set and it’s up to director Joss Whedon to pull it all together as Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury and Iron Man band together to take on an enemy that threatens the future of humanity. Plot details are thin on the ground – suffice to say Thor’s half-brother Loki is up to no good again – but judging by the first full-length trailer, the winning Marvel formula has been followed to the letter. Expectations are high for this one, but we firmly believe that Earth’s greatest heroes can pull it off. Check out the official site.
The Dictator
After raising many a fundamentalist’s heckles following his hilarious portrayals of a racist Kazakhstanian and a gay Austrian, Sasha Baron Cohen is going all out to piss off the puritanical with his latest creation. The Bruno and Borat star will be donning a ridiculously bushy beard to play the despot of a tiny country who, in between spending huge amounts of cash on his heart’s every whim, rules his homeland with an iron fist. Judging by the trailer, this will be his bravest and possibly funniest outing yet, expect everybody to be quoting it this time next year. Check out the official site.
Prometheus
Ever since this project was announced, director Ridley Scott has been very hazy as to what it’s all about. We do know it exists in the same universe as Alien and it could very well serve as a prequel to Scott’s ground-breaking xenomorph shocker, but where the story of a team of explorers searching for clues about the origin of mankind will take us remains to be seen. Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Idris Elba make up the starry cast/possible creature fodder. Check out the official site.
The Amazing Spider-Man
After Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 seemingly killed the avenging arachnid series dead (A song-and-dance number? What the hell were they thinking?), all eyes are on director Marc Webb to turn around the cinematic fortunes of everyone’s favourite wallcrawler. British actor Andrew Garfield steps into the webbed boots of Peter Parker for this franchise reboot which promises a darker tone, an explanation for the absence of our hero’s parents and a proper scary villain in the shape of Rhys Ifans’ Dr. Curt Connors, aka The Lizard. Check out the official site.
The Dark Knight Rises
With Scarecrow, Ras Al Ghul, Two-Face and The Joker beaten, it’s time for Batman (Christian Bale) to take on his most powerful opponent yet. Set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, the caped crusader is being hunted by the police, haunted by his past, caught up with the mysterious Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and taunted by a powerful new nemesis in the shape of Tom Hardy’s hulking Bane. Without a doubt the most anticipated sequel of 2012, director Christopher Nolan will be hoping to end his critically acclaimed trilogy on a high. On the evidence of his earlier work, we can’t really see how he can go wrong. Check out the official site.
Premium Rush
Red Bull’s very own Danny MacAskill worked on the stunts for this high-octane adventure about a New York bike courier whose latest job could very well be his last. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Wilee, a fixed-gear nut who picks up an important package only for a dirty cop (Michael Shannon) to demand he hand it over, cue some insane stunts in the Big Apple as our two-wheeled hero traverses the city to get his consignment delivered on time. Think of it as a cross between Fed Ex and Die Hard 3… It should be awesome. Check out the official site.
Skyfall
Daniel Craig is back for his third James Bond adventure and everybody will be hoping for more Casino Royale and less Quantum Of Solace. Directed by Sam Mendes and co-starring Javier Bardem as the big bad, 007’s latest outing will see his loyalty to M (Judi Dench) tested when MI6 comes under attack from a deadly new threat. With Ben Whishaw joining the cast as gadget king Q and the lovely likes of Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe becoming the latest in a long line of Bond girls, hopes are high that this will be a return to form for Mr Kiss-Kiss Bang-Bang. Check out the official site.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
After a long and drawn-out pre-production process that makes the journey to Mount Doom look like a pop to the shops, we’re finally getting nearer to this hugely anticipated Lord Of The Rings prequel. If you’ve read the book, you know the story. If not, here are the cliff notes: Hobbit, wizard and dwarves go an adventure, get into scrapes with dragons and elves, find a cursed ring and attempt to get home (although that final part may have to wait for part 2 in 2013). Martin Freeman plays a younger Bilbo Baggins and Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis return as Gandalf and Gollum respectively in Peter Jackson’s long-awaited return to Middle Earth – colour us excited! Check out the official site.
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