By Erin Free
ASSASSIN’S CREED (January 1) Okay, this might be slightly more highly anticipated in Australia than it is anywhere else due to the presence of the very impressive Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Macbeth) in the director’s chair, marking the ascent of another Aussie to the coveted position of power player filmmaker. The main driver behind the anticipation, however, is the level of talent being applied to this video game adaptation, with many biting their nails over the fact that this could maybe, hopefully be the first truly above average console-to-multiplex crossover. Never before have so many exalted participants (even the much touted big budget Warcraft: The Beginning had an air of the B-grade about it) rolled into a project like this, with Kurzel’s cred topped by the cache of his Macbeth stars, Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. And if it hits, Assassin’s Creed could launch a whole new movie series.
THE MUMMY (June 8) Cinematic universe-building is all the rage right now, with nearly all of Hollywood’s major studio lining up projects that can be spun off and interconnected in all manner of ingenious (and occasionally not so ingenious) ways. One of the most highly touted new universes sees power player, Universal, exhuming its long dormant classic monsters for a series of interconnected blockbusters, kicking off with 2017’s The Mummy. Though it disappointingly looks far more like a standard studio flick than it does a horror movie, there’s certainly excitement to be gleaned from the fact that this Tom Cruise starrer will lead into star-laden follow-ups like Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (toplined by Russell Crowe, who also appears in The Mummy), The Invisible Man (with Johnny Depp in the title role), and Frankenstein (starring Javier Bardem). All of which also makes The Mummy an even more precarious proposition…failure, it would seem, is not an option.
THE DARK TOWER (July 27) The Dark Tower is so hotly anticipated because its properties are so deliciously unknown. There’s not much in the way of prior material here (it’s not a sequel, remake, or reboot), and while there have been photographs released, we’re yet to be blessed with a trailer. A gloomy dystopian tale, The Dark Tower follows the mysterious gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), who roams a bizarre, kinda-sorta Old West-style landscape in search of The Dark Tower, in the hope that reaching it will preserve the scarred, brutal world around him. Standing in his way, however, is Matthew McConaughey’s Man In Black. The Dark Tower is undoubtedly one of the riskiest blockbusters of 2017. Based upon Stephen King’s dense, deeply complicated eight-novel series (a deranged cross between The Lord Of The Rings and The Good, The Bad And The Ugly), The Dark Tower is a very dark horse indeed.
KONG: SKULL ISLAND (March 9) It’s been over ten years since the gigantic marauding gorilla tore his way across the screen courtesy of Peter Jackson in the impressive King Kong, but in this era of high-recognition blockbusters based on existing, instantly accessible material, it was only a matter of time before he returned. And Kong: Skull Island looks like it could deliver the hairy, chest-beating goods, boasting a sensational cast (Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John C. Reilly), an interesting director in Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings Of Summer), a refreshingly contemporary-ish setting, and a trailer that ticks all of the action-excitement-menace-adventure-humour boxes. The upcoming Godzilla-King Kong cinematic throw-down (set for 2020), meanwhile, makes Kong: Skull Island even more anticipated, with the film hopefully positioned as a major cross-pollinated universe starter.
DUNKIRK (July 20) Christopher Nolan is one of the most fascinating directors currently threading celluloid through a camera (yes, he still shoots on film), but even his greatest advocates would have to admit that he has a distracting habit of drifting toward the obtuse, with films like Interstellar and The Prestige crumbling under the weight of their absurd plot machinations. With this in mind, the idea of this keenly intelligent visual stylist applying his gifts to a project with its feet in the mud instead of its head in the clouds is particularly exciting, making his much touted WW2 epic, Dunkirk – about the rescue of Allied troops surrounded by seemingly insurmountable Nazi forces – one of the most exciting-sounding films of 2017. And Harry Styles is in it too…
ALIEN: COVENANT (May 18) Yes, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus was something of a heaving, skulking mess, top heavy with ideas and the best of cinematic intentions, but let down by a lack of logic and a plot that bounced around without ever properly finding its footing. That aside, how can any genre fan not be excited about Scott’s follow-up film, Alien: Covenant? Firstly, it’s alleged to right the narrative ship sent listing by its predecessor (hopefully it works better than the similarly positioned and utterly execrable Terminator Genisys), and secondly, it’s guaranteed to be more tightly bound to the brilliantly epochal Alien series (note, of course, the title) than Prometheus was. Both unquestionably good signs. And with its promise of a new planet that looks like paradise but turns out to be more like hell (not to mention the return of Michael Fassbender), Alien: Covenant may very well see Ridley Scott mining the same brand of intergalactic terror that made his 1979 kick-off classic so profoundly essential.
MARVEL STUDIOS MOVIES (April 27, July 6, November 3) With 2016’s deliriously odd Doctor Strange surprisingly rating as one of the comic book giant turned movie studio’s biggest hits, the anticipation for Marvel’s upcoming output has actually intensified. 2017 looks like it could be a watershed year for the nascent powerhouse, with a triumvirate of must-sees. Chris Hemsworth’s God Of Thunder teams up with Mark Ruffalo’s rampaging Hulk for a universe-hopping adventure in the Gold Coast-shot Thor: Ragnarok (November 3), while the hugely successful intergalactic heroes are back in Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 2 (April 27), with both films safely tipped to be big wins for Marvel. Even more anticipated, however, is the studio’s team-up with Sony on Spider-Man: Homecoming (July 6), which could very well be their biggest hit yet. Superhero fatigue? Not likely…
WONDER WOMAN (June 1) The first thumbs-up for The DC Extended Universe? Our first glimpse at DC’s Wonder Woman stand-alone feature film – helmed by Monster director, Patty Jenkins – was good enough, but the extended trailer offered up even more delights. Sure, there’s no invisible jet, but there are bullets bouncing off wrist-bands, Nazis getting their butts kicked, and what looks like pretty heady chemistry between leading lady, Gal Gadot, and Chris Pine as Major Steve Trevor. Lucy Davis (The Office), meanwhile, offers up some very funny lines as comic relief, Etta Candy. After the borderline hostile response afforded the messy and shambolic (but still kinda okay) Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and Suicide Squad, we’re tipping DC’s first across-the-board winner here, which should nicely pave the way for the equally anticipated superhero mash-up, Justice League (November 16). All hail Wonder Woman!
BLADE RUNNER 2049 (October 5) Did anyone really believe that we’d see a sequel to Blade Runner? Well, the hunger for high-recognition-factor is so great that it has actually happened, and even though it might be a cynical cash-grab from Warner Bros. (who actually lost money on the initial release of the 1984 original, which only grew to become a cult phenomenon in the years subsequent), it’s admittedly a pretty sweet one. The return of the original’s key creative triumvirate – director, Ridley Scott (who serves solely as producer here); screenwriter, Hampton Fancher (who so eloquently adapted Philip K. Dick’s book the first time out); and leading man, Harrison Ford (possibly in a Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens-style major supporting role) – offers assurance, while the involvement of hugely impressive director, Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival, Prisoners), and high-cred actors, Ryan Gosling, Jared Let, and Robin Wright, adds undeniable lustre.
STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII (December 15) It doesn’t have a subtitle yet, the plot details are under wraps, the trailer is nowhere to be seen, and nobody knows who Benicio Del Toro plays…in short, Star Wars: Episode VIII remains one big, enormous mystery, but that doesn’t make it any less anticipated. 2016’s Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens was a smash hit, and this year’s just-around-the-corner spin-off anthology flick, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is already tipped for box office greatness, which makes the excitement around the next installment (and the many more installments to come after that, with Lucasfilm and Disney promising a new Star Wars movie every year until audiences stop coming) nothing less than palpable. The presence of a new writer/director in Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom, Looper), meanwhile, only adds to the sense of mystique around the film.
WE’RE ALSO EXCITED ABOUT: PASSENGERS, THE GREAT WALL, LOGAN, GHOST IN THE SHELL, WORLD WAR Z 2, KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
