Director: Ben Stiller
Writer: Steve Conrad
Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Patton Oswalt, Adam Scott, Shirley MacLaine
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Ben Stiller has proven himself a capable director in the past from The Cable Guy to Tropic Thunder, but here he may have his biggest challenge yet: modernizing a well-known short story from the 1940s. James Thurber’s tale involved a man who went through a day of mundane misery by daydreaming himself in fantastical situations like being a criminal on trial or a gunner in a war zone. Before any trailers were released, a set picture was released of Ben Stiller in old age makeup. I’m already calling for a Best Makeup and Hairstyling nomination for the film because he looks practically unrecognizable in it. Whatever the film will look like in the end is anybody’s guess.
9. R.I.P.D. (June 18th, 2013)
Director: Robert Schwentke
Writers: Phil Hay/Matt Manfredi
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon, Stephanie Szostak, Mary Louise Parker
Studio: Universal Pictures
Ryan Reynolds has not been having any luck with comic book films – playing second banana to Blade in Blade: Trinity, having his mouth sewn up to play the world’s worst version of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the less said about Green Lantern, the better. However, his newest entry into comic book films involves not superheroes, but the supernatural: ghosts. The graphic novel, “R.I.P.D.” features a dead cop being inducted into a paranormal police agency keeping the dead away from the living. Although the tone of the graphic novel was dramatic, the film will be a “PG-13 buddy comedy”. The buddy for Ryan Reynolds, in this case, is Academy Award-winner Jeff Bridges who appears to be playing Rooster Cogburn again. Whether or not this will revitalize Reynolds’ career remains to be seen, though many are already predicting doom and gloom.
8. Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8th, 2013)
Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: David Lindsay-Abaire/Mitchell Kapner
Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Joey King, Abigail Spencer, Bruce Campbell
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
After the collapse of Spider-Man 4 and directing only Drag Me to Hell in 2009, Sam Raimi was a director without a studio. Then he was offered a new take on the magical world of Oz by Walt Disney Pictures. Previous attempts at securing Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp as the star had failed until Raimi made a call to former Spider-Man co-star James Franco. Taking the chance to reinterpret Oz by referencing the L. Frank Baum books, while still paying homage to the classic 1939 film, Raimi makes his first family film about a man in need of a second chance and finds it in the least likely place. A bit autobiographical, perhaps?
7. The Lone Ranger (July 3rd, 2013)
Director: Gore Verbinski
Writers: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and Justin Haythe
Starring: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Ruth Wilson, Tom Wilkinson, Helena Bonham Carter, Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
One might call Johnny Depp, "Disney's favored son". He is, inarguably, the studio's golden boy after the meteoric success of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and Alice in Wonderland. Naturally, they want to keep him happy so they can make more movies with him. This time, however, it may not have been as financially stable an idea as they might have hoped. The first sign of trouble came when a script leak revealed that the film had more supernatural ideas ("wendigo" - Native American werewolves) than the original television show. When fans revolted, Disney quietly had the script reworked into a more traditional Western. Then, Cowboys & Aliens came out and failed to find an audience. Disney freaked and temporarily pulled the plug on the production. Normally, this wouldn't be news and yet it became news. Some would say Verbinski got angry at Disney and leaked the information to Deadline Hollywood. Others say it was someone in Rich Ross' office that accidentally sent out the word and led to him getting fired a year later. However, the studio and the filmmakers eventually got the film rolling. The film does look interesting enough - I'm excited to see Armie Hammer after a doubly impressive turn in The Social Network and Depp is kookier than ever - but nothing has been seen that bears a strong resemblance to the famous television show. No "William Tell Overture", nor a "Hi-Yo Silver". Only time will tell if they made a wise decision.
6. Fast & Furious 6 (May 24th, 2013)
Director: Justin Lin
Writer: Chris Morgan
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Eva Mendes, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano, Luke Evans
Studio: Universal Pictures
The Fast and The Furious franchise is one that many would not have seen being as long as it is now. While the first film (directed by Rob Cohen) was well-received, its sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious (directed by John Singleton) was not; mostly, many claim, due to the absence of Vin Diesel (the face of the franchise). A third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, featured all new cast members with Diesel making a cameo appearance near the end of the film. When the sales of this film (directed by Justin Lin) peaked up, Universal brought back Lin, Diesel, co-star Paul Walker into a new film, Fast & Furious. This became Universal’s highest-grossing film of 2009. A sequel was quickly put together, Fast Five, moving the franchise from racing to heists. For the first time, critics were also not shy about their appreciation of the film. Now, with an all-star cast and a capable director, the adventures of Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Connor will continue.
5. Man of Steel (June 14th, 2013)
Director: Zack Snyder
Writer: David S. Goyer
Starring: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon, Christopher Meloni, Laurence Fishburne
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
In an interview for his 2009 film, Watchmen, director Zack Snyder said, “In this world, if Superman really existed, he’d grab all the world leaders together in a room and say, ‘Behave or I’ll kill you.’” Interesting look at a character he had no idea he’d soon be involved with. Whereas Watchmen was a deconstruction of superheroes, Man of Steel will feature the construction of one superhero, the first and greatest. With an A-list cast, producer Christopher Nolan, Snyder has been given full-reign over Superman, in the midst of an ongoing legal battle between DC Comics and the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. If this film works, it will reinvent the character for a whole new generation of audiences. And if not, it’ll be Superman Returns all over again.
4. Oblivion (April 26th, 2013)
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writers: Joseph Kosinski/William Monahan
Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Zoe Bell
Studio: Universal Pictures
With TRON: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski is now the highest-grossing first-time director (beating out J.J. Abrams’ Mission: Impossible III). His next film would be based on a graphic novel that he helped to write and design, “Oblivion”. Originally set up as a project with Disney (along with a planned remake of The Black Hole), the executives decided the film wasn’t for the appropriate audience for the company and allowed Kosinski to take the film elsewhere. At Universal, Kosinski was allowed to make the movie however he wanted – too violent for Disney’s taste. Ironically, the film looks like a live-action version of Wall-E with the robots being played by humans – a wasteland worker finds a beautiful woman in cryogenic stasis and has to bring her aboard a starship in orbit.
3. Iron Man 3 (May 3rd, 2013)
Director: Shane Black
Writers: Drew Pence/Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Guy Pearce, William Sadler, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale and Ben Kingsley
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Studios
Many say Robert Downey Jr.’s career resurgence really began with Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This was Black's first film as director, having written films like Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero and The Long Kiss Goodnight. While Bang Bang was a great comedic detective story, the film was not distributed widely. However, it was seen by Jon Favreau. After his attempt at making a John Carter film was dashed, he was put in charge of making an Iron Man film. After seeing Downey’s performance, he demanded Marvel Studios allow him to make a screen-test. The rest is cinematic history. Downey played Tony Stark in Iron Man, a cameo scene at the end of The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and Marvel’s The Avengers. It's clear he knows and loves this character. Audiences love him playing this character. With 3, he says the film will delve into sides of Tony Stark we have not yet seen. The film is building a mystery around it: the Mandarin, Tony's Extremis armor, the destruction of his Malibu home, his crash-landing in the snow. What does it all mean? This is the question to be answered by a great mystery writer, by Shane Black.
2. Pacific Rim (July 12th, 2013)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writer: Travis Beacham
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Willem Dafoe, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr., Diego Klattenhoff, Ron Perlman
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Guillermo del Toro hasn’t had the best of times lately. After finishing Hellboy: The Golden Army, he had planned to take over Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings franchise by writing and directing The Hobbit films. However, due to delays in pre-production and the sheer massive scale of Middle-Earth, del Toro left the projects (though he was still credited as co-writer) and Jackson got it back. From there, he teamed up with Disney and make family-friendly horror films under the division label “Disney Double Dare You” with films like Trollhunters and a reimagining of The Haunted Mansion. When that went under, del Toro tried to set up an adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness at Universal until they decided they were not going to give him the money. Finally, he was able to get a producing venture with DreamWorks Animation with films like Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Rise of the Guardians. Finally, Universal came calling with a film that plays to del Toro’s monster sensibilities – humans in giant robot suits fighting giant monsters. This is del Toro’s first feature film in five years. I think it looks fantastic and epic in scope. It's also nice to hear Ellen McLain doing her GLaDOS voice again. I hope, in that span of time, del Toro is ready to bring us his best.
1. Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17th, 2013)
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alice Eve, Peter Weller
Studio: Paramount Pictures
After Star Trek '09 came out, I began looking into the old "Trek" series of shows and films. I had initially rejected anything "Trek" because it seemed too high-minded unlike the cool and easy-to-understand Star Wars. What I soon realized what that Trek is classical music and Wars was rock 'n roll. Abrams' Trek was a bit of both, but more on the side of rock 'n roll. It'll be nice to see these enjoyable characters back again on another adventure. The big mystery this time around is who Benedict Cumberbatch is really playing. Is it Khan? Is it Gary Mitchell? We've been told that the name of his character is John Harrison. However, others have mentioned that initially Liam Neeson was playing a character named Henri Ducard in Batman Begins. It wasn't until two-thirds of the movie revealed that Ducard was simply an alias for the much larger villain known as Ra's Al Ghul. Until we hear different, it is to assume that "John Harrison" is really the name of Cumberbatch's character and not just a Beatles nod. Still, I'm ready for a ride back into the final frontier.
Honorable Mentions:
The Last Stand
Warm Bodies
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
This Is The End
The Internship
Now You See Me
Monsters University
Frozen
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