My Most Anticipated Films of 2016

 

Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryHere is my list of most anticipated films for the year. I think I missed doing this list last year, but I wanted to make sure to put this list together for 2016. We now live in a world where there are new Star Wars films coming out regularly. I’m very excited about that, and have ranked  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as my most anticipated movie of the year. I have a feeling that’s going to be a running theme from now on. Anyway, here are my most anticipated movies of the year.

  1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – This tops my list for a number of reasons. It’s  Star Wars. It’s the first live-action  Star Wars film that is not part of the saga. It’s a heist movie surrounding the group of rogues that steal the plans for the first Death Star. Of course, that could just be a McGuffin. They could fail in their mission. Either way, if this goes well, and turns out great, I’d be all for another one called  Bothan Spies: A Star Wars Story. That film would add a lot of weight to Mon Mothma’s comment “many Bothans died to bring us this information.”
  2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – I’ve been waiting for this film since  Man of Steel in 2013. I still wish it was another Superman movie, but I’ll take it. Especially because it includes Wonder Woman (actress Gal Gadot) and Doomsday. In fact, Doomsday was the first villain I ever read Superman fighting against in comic book form, when he killed Superman after beating up most of the other heroes in the DC universe. I’m also looking forward to seeing what direction the DC Cinematic Universe is going to take. It’s going to be action packed and I’m ready for it.
  3. Captain America: Civil War – Captain America and The Winter Soldier fighting against Iron Man in the trailer was absolutely heart wrenching. Especially when Cap says “he was my friend” and Iron Man responds “so was I.” I can’t wait to see how this plays out. Avenger against Avenger, the introductions of Black Panther and, to a lesser extent, Spider-Man, the division of the Marvel heroes, leading to more complexity and complication.
  4. Finding Dory – “I don’t know where my family is.” It was this line in Finding Nemo that inspired the writers at Pixar. And when I saw the concept art for the new characters in this one, back in 2013, I knew they were heading the right direction. Not sure if it’ll be as good as the original, but if  Toy Story 2 and  Toy Story 3 are any indication, it could be a better film than the first one. That’s a tall order to fill, but we’ll see this summer.
  5. Ghostbusters – I picked Paul Feig as a candidate to direct  Ghostbusters 3 back in 2009. Here we are, almost seven years later, and Feig has directed a  Ghostbusters film. However, it’s not the film I had imagined it to be. I was hoping it’d be handled more like  Star Wars: The Force Awakens was handled by the writers: a continuation in real time that allows the fans to get more of what they want, while also introducing new cast members to take the reigns. It would have worked, and could still work with the new Ghostbusters Cinematic Universe they’re apparently building. (Perhaps a multidimensional universe?) I’m not concerned that it’s an all-female team,  though I don’t like that idea too much (young boys deserve to see themselves growing up to be Ghostbusters as much as young girls do). I would have rather they mixed up the team, if anything. Three women and one man would have been fine with me, or even starting out with one female and by the end of the film having four women. Again… no problem with women being Ghostbusters.  The Real Ghostbusters had Janine from time to time, and  Extreme Ghostbusters had a girl also. Plus, the comics from IDW also featured female Ghostbusters. Either way, I’m happy about what this could mean for the franchise: more Ghostbusters of all kinds. More comics, potentially a new cartoon, a live action TV series, perhaps? This movie makes my list because I’m curious about it, more than excited. I’m in  wait-and-see mode with it, and I’m planning on reading everything I can about it so that, if there are offensive jokes in it, I am prepared.
  6. Kung Fu Panda 3 – Po’s family. Plus, this is one of the two good series of films that DreamWorks Animation has made that are up to the standards set by Pixar.
  7. Zootopia – Disney Feature Animation’s first movie of 2016. It’s looking really good.
  8. X-Men: Apocalypse – The first trailer for this didn’t really excite me like I thought it would. The movie should be better than the trailer though.
  9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows – Turtle Van. Plus Bebop and Rocksteady. Megan Fox returns as April O’Neil in this sequel. I’m sad that they kept the character designs the same, but not surprised that they did. I’m hoping that it’s better than the first one, and doesn’t have the inappropriate humor that was there either.
  10. Disneynature’s Born in China – This looks like it might have been pushed out of the usual Earth Day release date by the April 15 release of  The Jungle Book. Earth Day 2016 is on April 22, which is only one week later, so unless anything changes, it looks like we could be waiting a while for this one.
  11. Moana – Disney Feature Animation’s second release of 2016. This features a sea-faring Polynesian Disney Princess. That’s all I know.
  12. The BFG – Spielberg directed this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book.
  13. Doctor Strange – Another new Marvel film with a new hero. This features Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit Trilogy) in the title role.
  14. The Jungle Book – From Jon Favreau, the director of  Iron Man,  Iron Man 2 and  Elf, comes this live action version of Disney’s  The Jungle Book.
  15. Suicide Squad – Not too sure about this one. The only thing it has going for it is that it’s the live action debut of a favorite character of mine: Harley Quinn. We’ll see…

Honorable Mentions

  1. Pete’s Dragon – I watched the original when I was a kid. Saw it again recently and it was kind of… boring… making me interested in this remake.
  2. Independence Day:  Resurgence – Been curious as to what happens next since the original one. It’s about time.
  3. Star Trek Beyond – Now that J.J. Abrams isn’t directing, my interest in this has nearly dropped off. The only thing I’m in for is the cast.
  4. Ice Age: Collision Course – I’m not sure I’m still into this series, but perhaps… maybe… we’ll see.
  5. Gambit – This is a curiosity… I’ll make a more definitive decision about whether to see this in theaters or not when a trailer is released.
  6. Jumanji – A new adaptation of the book. The previous adaptation starred Robin Williams.
  7. Alice Through the Looking Glass –  The Muppets and  Muppets Most Wanted director James Bobin directs this sequel to the Tim Burton directed  Alice in Wonderland. I did enjoy the last one, but I will say that James Bobin is the one reason I’m interested in seeing this sequel. I do wish he was directing  The Muppets 3, but now that there’s a Muppets TV series, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

 

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