TOP 15 MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2018

It’s the start of a brand-new year, and the beginning of a whole 12 months of movies to look forward to. But which ones are worth keeping an eye out for? Here’s a handy guide to help you through the next year of movie magic…

15 – READY PLAYER ONE

Nostalgia for the 80s is so in right now, and what better time for Steven Spielberg to take advantage of that than with this fun-looking, increasingly retro adaptation of the best-selling book, which gives off all the best 80s vibes whilst also retaining its futuristic settings?

Expect plenty of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them nods to movies from that time period like Back to the Future, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Tron and plenty of other staples of pop culture (there’s even an appearance from The Iron Giant in there somewhere!), with some killer special effects and a fun and interactive story that awesomely blends gaming with a Willy Wonka-style story.

Strap on your gaming goggles and get ready for Spielberg’s thrill ride of a blockbuster…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

30TH MARCH 2018

 

14 – MORTAL ENGINES

From one filmmaking giant to the next, Peter Jackson is behind this epic-looking adaptation of the popular YA book series by Phillip Reeve, and judging by the first-look teaser this looks like it’s going to be one to seriously get excited about.

Jackson produces and writes the screenplay with Lord of the Rings co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, lending directing duties to his long-time associate Christian Rivers who seems to have made one hell of a huge impression with his very first feature film, which gives off serious Mad Max: Fury Road vibes in just that short teaser alone, and looks just about as amazingly entertaining.

It won’t be out until much later in the year, but already we’re pretty excited about it…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

14TH DECEMBER 2018

 

13 – SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Despite Spider-Man now occupying the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony isn’t done with their biggest cash cow just yet, with not one but TWO major projects related to the character scheduled for release in 2018. However, while Venom is still filming, footage has been released of their separate animated version which, we have to say, looks absolutely astonishing.

With input from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, this stylish blend of computer animation and traditional 2D looks to be a serious treat for fans of the web-slinger, not least because it depicts the very first screen incarnation of popular character Miles Morales as the one to don the suit, something that fans have been wanting to see since his comic debut.

Best be on the lookout, for your friendly neighbourhood is going to be everywhere this year…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

14TH DECEMBER 2018

 

12 – ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

Before his venture into the world of Pandora, James Cameron was dead set on bringing the popular manga to the big screen. But now, after many years in development hell, Cameron has entrusted director Robert Rodriguez to the project, and it seems that his faith in the filmmaker has paid off with what looks like a rather wonderful movie.

Although fan reaction has been fairly muted so far, especially considering the lead character’s enlarged eyes to make her appear closer to how she was in the manga, the effects seem appropriately uncanny and seem to hint at a much larger world for us to explore when they unleash it upon the world. Add some strong actors like Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali and Rosa Salazar as the titular character into the mix, and you have the ingredients for something that could be truly special.

Hopefully, it’s a far better female-led cyborg sci-fi movie than Ghost in the Shell was, at the very least…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

20TH JULY 2018

 

11 – THE NEW MUTANTS

With the recent news that Disney has acquired 20th Century Fox and its many franchises, some are wondering about the state of Fox’s X-Men series, and whether or not they’ll be able to make any further bold decisions like greenlighting this spin-off which looks to have gone full horror on us.

From how it looks, those fears are understandable, as it looks like they have gone and added a whole new layer to the series, following the more comedic Deadpool and the more dramatic Logan, with director Josh Boone having incorporated several scary movie elements into what looks like another seriously impressive piece of work from what increasingly looks like a series headed for the reboot button.

If that happens, and they are not given as much free reign to try new things and new genres as they seem to have done with this movie, then it really will be worth getting frightened about…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

11TH APRIL 2018

 

10 – FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD

J.K. Rowling’s expansion of the Wizarding World continues with the second part of her Fantastic Beasts series, which looks like yet another magical adventure just waiting to be shown on the biggest screen possible.

It promises to tell us even more about the world of witches and wizards that Harry Potter will one day inhabit, including the relationship between evil wizard Grindelwald – played by a platinum blonde Johnny Depp – and a younger version of everyone’s favourite magical headmaster Albus Dumbledore, as portrayed by Jude Law. Eddie Redmayne is also back as Newt Scamander, along with his fellow co-stars from the first film, and expect them all to partake in a journey that challenges them as well as excites audiences everywhere.

Though admittedly, I’m not too keen on David Yates once more breathing his lifeless vision onto this magical universe, but that’s just me; plenty of people enjoy his style more than I do, and I’d have to be a right Mudblood to ruin it for anyone else…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

16TH NOVEMBER 2018

 

9 – JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

It may have been the biggest earner at the 2015 box office (before The Force Awakens put an end to that reign), but director Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World managed to be the most divisive blockbuster of that year. For its sequel, which sees Trevorrow relegated to just the writing department – A Monster Calls director J.A. Bayona is taking over from him – it looks like they’ve hopefully listened to the criticism and used that to improve things for the better.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, as well as a ton of dinosaurs, make their return in what looks like a typical day on Isla Nublar with prehistoric creatures running amok and causing all sorts of chaos – speaking of chaos (or should that be “chaos theory”?), Jeff Goldblum is also poised to make a return as series favourite Dr. Ian Malcolm, which for longtime fans should be just as much of a treat as seeing another action-packed adventure set at everyone’s favourite dino-packed theme park.

Maybe at the very least they’ll have let Bryce Dallas Howard run without her heels on this time…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

8TH JUNE 2018

 

8 – BLACK PANTHER

Marvel’s being very good to us this year with its offering of three new movies to add to Phase Three of its ongoing Cinematic Universe, and the first one out of the gate is going to be looked at with serious eyes, as it represents a whole new culture of diversity for this universe.

Creed director Ryan Coogler is behind the first solo film for Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, the King of progressive African country Wakanda who made his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War, and if that’s not enough reason to get excited then perhaps the fact that the cast is made up almost entirely of exciting black talent, from Coogler regular Michael B. Jordan to Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya to Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, will do it for you as well.

With that kind of talent working on this, you can expect to see Marvel’s usual acts of super-heroism done with a serious amount of style and grace, fit enough for a king (of Wakanda)…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

13TH FEBRUARY 2018

 

7 – MARY POPPINS RETURNS

By the time this movie comes out, it will have been more than fifty years since the most supercalifragilisticexpialidocious nanny in history last left our screens – and when that time comes, it will be a momentous occasion for anyone fortunate enough to grow up with the first film as a child.

Emily Blunt takes over from the legendary Julie Andrews in the title role, and with a supporting cast that includes Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw and Meryl Streep (as well as a cameoing Dick Van Dyke, hopefully NOT sporting a terrible Cockney accent), not to mention brand-new music by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, director Rob Marshall seems to have all the spoonfuls of sugar he needs to make this a long-awaited delight.

It’s a sequel that’s been a long time coming, over half a century in fact, and the way it looks this will have been worth the wait…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

21ST DECEMBER 2018

 

6 – PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING

Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 blockbuster Pacific Rim was a grand love letter to both giant monster movies and mecha-centric anime, but despite overwhelming critical support (and a modest box office), it’s still taken half a decade for them to make a follow-up to it. But again, it seems like this has only given Pacific Rim: Uprising more time to ensure it lives up to the original.

While he remains as producer, del Toro hands directing duties this time to Spartacus creator and former Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight, who in turn amps up the Jaeger-on-Kaiju action with more creative monster designs, more awesome giant robots to care about, and John Boyega stepping into the lead role as the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first film.

With the Transformers series having now all but run its course (look out for spin-off Bumblebee to pop up at the end of the year), if this one sticks the landing then we could have a new crowning champion of giant fighting robot movies…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

23RD MARCH 2018

 

5 – ANNIHILATION

With his debut feature as both writer and director Ex Machina, Alex Garland took the film world by storm with his intelligent and suspenseful filmmaking, which even led to his film winning an Oscar for its breathtaking Visual Effects (to give you an idea of this achievement, it beat Star Wars: The Force Awakens as well as Mad Max: Fury Road to the prize).

For his second film, an adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, Garland ups his game with an intriguing sci-fi set-up that seems to promise a thrilling psychological study with well-rounded characters, in addition to beautiful-looking visuals that could outdo even the effects from his last movie. With Natalie Portman in the lead, too, he’s got a solid actress that can deliver the right amount of emotion to this already intriguing film.

And since Oscar Isaac is also in this one, surely we can count on there being another funky disco dance sequence with him in it like last time, right? Hey, we can dream…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

23RD FEBRUARY 2018

 

4 – SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY

The greatest smuggler and scruffiest-looking nerf herder in the galaxy is about to finally get his own movie, as the revitalised Star Wars franchise continues its line of standalone movies.

However, its much-publicised production woes – the firing of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and their subsequent replacement by Ron Howard – are getting some people worried, as it could possibly result in the first major bomb of the franchise since Disney’s acquisition of LucasFilm. Hopefully it won’t result in that, and at the very least we’ll get a whole new story with one of the most beloved characters in Star Wars lore, full of excitement, a few laughs, and Alden Ehrenreich doing the best that he can to fill Harrison Ford’s shoes.

While it may have had the roughest transition to screen out of any of these films, our return to a galaxy far, far away isn’t too far off this time…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

25TH MAY 2018

 

3 – DEADPOOL 2

The Merc with a Mouth’s long-awaited first solo outing (after the butchering of his character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) was quite the cultural phenomenon, and launched a brand-new wave of profitable adult-centric superhero movies in the process – and for his second movie, it seems that Wade Wilson/Deadpool is stepping his game up even higher.

With John Wick and Atomic Blonde director David Leitch on board to add plenty of style to the film’s action, as well as a returning Ryan Reynolds to once again bring the dark and twisted comedy, this is certain to be a comedic and action-packed treat that will have audiences howling with laughter and wincing at the gruesome violence all at the same time.

It also appears that the marketing team behind the first one is back at it again, which is great news because if everything after the above teaser is what we’re going to be getting until it’s release, then it seems that even the publicity guys are wonderfully in on the joke too…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

1ST JUNE 2018

 

2 – INCREDIBLES 2

If there was one Pixar movie that people were so desperate to see a sequel to, instead of all the other ones they did make follow-ups to, it was by far The Incredibles. For years, audiences were so curious to know what happens to the superpowered Parr family after the end credits of the first one, and now – a mere thirteen years since it debuted – writer-director Brad Bird is finally letting us see what became of them.

Apparently, not that much since this one begins exactly where the first one left off, so the kids are still kids while Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl are still as loving and relatively youthful as ever. While it would have been nice to see time pass like it did in Toy Story 3 with the kids all grown up and the parents getting on a bit (a superhero retirement home could have been an interesting concept for comedy, but hey-ho), it still means we get a brand-new adventure with the characters we know and love, with fresh action, laugh-out-loud comedy, and Brad Bird trying his hardest to forget the memory of his flop Tomorrowland by launching himself back into this world.

It’s the sequel that Pixar fans have been dying to see since 2004, and like many belated follow-ups here’s hoping that it’s good enough for it to be worth the wait…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

13TH JULY 2018

 

1 – AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

It’s the beginning of the end for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it, and it’s impossible to know how we’re going to prepare for the inevitable – but the fact that we’re getting this massive movie to begin the countdown is a soothing, if bittersweet, start.

A lot has happened in the MCU since the last Avengers movie; Iron Man and Captain America are no longer on speaking terms, Thor and Hulk have gone off-world, the Guardians of the Galaxy have saved the galaxy (for now), Dr. Stephen Strange has discovered the mystic arts, and Spider-Man has made it through a tough year of high school. Most of all, however, big bad Thanos has finally begun his warpath on the universe, searching endlessly for the remaining Infinity Stones to use for his galactic domination, and it’s going to take more than just a handful of heroes to stop him.

Standing in his way is pretty much every major character introduced in these films to date, which makes this one hell of a packed cast of leads who at long last are coming together to kick some serious intergalactic tail. It’s the biggest crossover event yet not just in the MCU but the entire film industry; characters will come together in ways you might not have expected, like Captain America teaming up with Black Panther and the entire tribe of Wakanda, Thor going on a mission with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Iron Man continuing to act as a mentor to young Peter Parker, who seems like he’s getting a snazzy new suit for the battle of his life. For a Marvel fan, or just a fan of interconnected movies in general, this is going to be truly immense.

Directors Anthony and Joe Russo have major experience with handling so many actors in a Marvel movie – just look at how they managed to pull off Captain America: Civil War – and given their track record they are absolutely perfect choices to bring the MCU to a swift and meaningful close (they are also doing the fourth Avengers film, not due out until 2019). It’ll be hard to truly screw this up, especially when it’s a franchise that against all odds hasn’t made a single awful movie to date (even its weakest fare is still far better than many other films of its kind), and the world will indeed be watching to see how it all begins to wrap up.

It will be a sad, sad day when we have to say goodbye to these characters for good, but at least they’ll be going out on such an epic note that it will be extremely difficult to be too sad about it…

WHEN’S IT OUT?

27TH APRIL 2018

 

ALSO OUT THIS YEAR (DEEEEEEEEEEEEEP BREATH)

  • Maze Runner: The Death Cure (out: 26th January 2018)

  • Early Man (out: 26th January 2018)

  • Fifty Shades Freed (out: 9th February 2018)

  • Peter Rabbit (out: 16th March 2018)

  • Tomb Raider (out: 16th March 2018)

  • A Wrinkle In Time (out: 23rd March 2018)

  • Isle of Dogs (out: 30th March 2018)

  • Rampage (out: 13th April 2018)

  • Game Night (out: 4th May 2018)

  • Ocean’s Eight (out: 22nd June 2018)

  • Sicario 2: Soldado (out: 29th June 2018)

  • Hotel Transylvania 3 (out: 27th July 2018)

  • Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (out: 27th July 2018)

  • Mission: Impossible 6 (out: 27th July 2018)

  • Ant-Man and the Wasp (out: 3rd August 2018)

  • The Predator (out: 3rd August 2018)

  • Mary, Queen of Scots (out: 14th September 2018)

  • Robin Hood (out: 21st September 2018)

  • Venom (out: 5th October 2018)

  • Halloween (19th October 2018)

  • The Girl in the Spider’s Web (out: 26th October 2018)

  • The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (out: 26th October 2018)

  • X-Men: Dark Phoenix (out: 2nd November 2018)

  • Wreck-It Ralph 2 (out: 30th November 2018)

  • Aquaman (out: 21st December 2018)

  • Bumblebee (out: 26th December 2018)

  • Bohemian Rhapsody (out: 28th December 2018)

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