By Erin Free
PASSENGERS (January 1) From Morten Tyldum, the director of The Imitation Game, and starring two of Hollywood’s biggest names right now in Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, Passengers would probably be even more highly anticipated if not for the fact that it was – hold on a second – completely original. That’s right, this big budget sci-fi flick is not based on a book, comic, or pre-existing film, but comes from an original script by Jon Spaihts (Doctor Strange, Prometheus), which makes it an enjoyably unknown commodity. Set on a massive spacecraft of sleeping passengers on a 120-year journey to a distant off-world colony, Lawrence and Pratt awake ninety years early due to a technical malfunction, and ironically find themselves stranded, while still surrounded by thousands of people.
WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (July 13) As the original Planet Of The Apes films of the sixties and seventies were never quite appreciated as fully as they should have been, so the new prequel series has been somewhat underrated, despite getting warm reviews and pulling in the numbers at the box office. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes both mixed action and social comment with impressive skill, and this third installment looks set to be the darkest and most uncompromising yet, with Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his ape army clashing with an organised military human force led by Woody Harrelson’s looming martinet extremist. Our tip: War For The Planet Of The Apes will be one of 2017’s biggest and best.
LOGAN (March 2) Looking to exist on a whole different plain to the films of Marvel Studios, and even to the entries in the X-Men series that preceded it, Logan recasts the superhero genre in a dark, gritty new light. While Hugh Jackman and director, James Mangold (Walk The Line), teased how far they could take the eponymous razor-clawed mutant badass in terms of violence and relative realism in 2013’s The Wolverine, with Logan, they take it right to the logical end-point. Based in part on the famous Old Man Logan comic book series, this futuristic neo-western finds Jackman’s Wolverine a broken and damaged man, and with the film widely acknowledged as the Aussie actor’s last run at the much-loved character, don’t expect a happy ending.
THE CIRCLE (May 25) Based on the novel by Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius) and adapted and directed by James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now, The End Of The Tour, Smashed), The Circle is a satirical sci-fi thriller with its feet well and truly rooted in the here and now. Harry Potter alum, Emma Watson, plays Mae Holland, a recent college graduate who lands a job at The Circle, a powerful technology company with its eye on future consumerist innovations…any similarities to Apple are likely wholly intentional. Boasting a strong support cast (Tom Hanks as a charismatic company bigwig; Karen Gillan as Mae’s jealous best friend; Boyhood’s Ellar Coltrane as Mae’s boyfriend; Bill Paxton as Mae’s father; and Star Wars’ John Boyega as an enigmatic colleague), The Circle is a probing, pithy cautionary tale about the encroaching dangers of modern technology, and our apathy in letting it run riot.
SPLIT (January 19) After hitting it big with the decidedly small The Visit, M. Night Shyamalan continues to avoid the bombast of past failures like The Last Airbender, After Earth, and The Happening with the relatively low budget horror thriller, Split. In what looks like his biggest acting challenge yet, James McAvoy plays Kevin, a man suffering from multiple (23, to be exact) personality disorder. Unfortunately, one of his personalities has psychopathic tendencies, which he expresses by kidnaping three young women (Morgan’s Anya Taylor-Joy, The Edge Of Seventeen’s Hayley Lu Richardson, and Skins’ Jessica Sula) with the intention of doing, well, god knows what with them. Already being hailed as the director’s best since The Sixth Sense, Split looks absolutely terrifying.
A CURE FOR WELLNESS (February 16) Continuing to add to an oddball resume that already includes films as diverse as Mousehunt, The Lone Ranger, The Ring, Rango, and three Pirates Of The Caribbean movies, Gore Verbinski has now cooked up the bizarre horror flick, A Cure For Wellness, with screenwriter, Justin Haythe (The Clearing, Revolutionary Road, Snitch, The Lone Ranger). With a trailer that makes the film look like an episode of American Horror Story co-directed by David Lynch and David Cronenberg, A Cure For Wellness follows an ambitious young executive (Dane DeHaan) sent to retrieve his company’s CEO from an idyllic but mysterious “wellness centre” at a remote location in The Swiss Alps. Once there, he soon suspects that the spa’s miraculous treatments are not what they seem. Cue freaky body horror by the truck-load.
A MONSTER CALLS (March/April) A roaring success at The Toronto Film Festival, A Monster Calls is the second English language effort (after The Impossible) of Spanish The Orphanage director, J.A. Bayona, and an adaptation of Patrick Ness’ novel. An ambitious mix of drama and fantasy, this genre-bender takes in the sad, depressing life of teenager, Conor (Lewis MacDougall), who is taunted by bullies at school and beset with grief over his cancer-stricken mother (Rogue One’s Felicity Jones). Alone and painfully lonely, Conor eventually finds a friend and mentor in the form of a loping, shambling, but very wise tree monster, who looks a bit like Groot from Guardians Of The Galaxy and comes with a wonderfully soothing voice courtesy of Liam Neeson. Pack your tissues: this has been tagged as a tearjerker deluxe.
GHOST IN THE SHELL (March 30) Already awash in controversy thanks to claims of “white washing” over the casting of Scarlett Johansson in a role originally conceived of as Japanese, Ghost In The Shell feels precariously like a film that could go either way. Based on a hugely popular Japanese Manga title that eventually became a film and television series, the film follows The Major (Johansson), a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force, Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotics’ advancements in cyber technology. Directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman), expect this film to either dazzle movie goers in a major way, or rate as one of the biggest disasters of the year…there is no in between.
IT (September 7) It is one of Stephen King’s most epic horror tomes, a generation-spanning shocker as much about character and relationships as it is about jump scares. Long and involved, the book was first adapted for the small screen in 1990 as a mini-series, and has haunted several filmmakers in the years since (only King’s The Stand has proven equally elusive), with many trying to reshape the material for the screen but ultimately failing. Well, one has now finally succeeded, with Mama director, Andres Muschietti, teaming with screenwriters, Gary Dauberman (Annabelle) and Chase Palmer, for the 2017 release. Cast largely with unknowns, the film follows a group of young school outsiders who battle an evil supernatural clown called Pennywise, whose violent murder spree follows them into adulthood. Stephen King adaptations tend to be touch and go (for every The Shining, there’s a Dreamcatcher), but hopes are high for It.
WORLD WAR Z 2 (June 8) Though officially tagged with a release date of June 8, that seems mighty optimistic considering that the film has no official director at this stage (though David Fincher is rumoured to be a strong possibility to get behind the camera), and no other signed cast members apart from Brad Pitt. Where this follow-up to Marc Forster’s original 2013 film (which was beset by all manner of production problems, but turned out to be nothing short of an unrivalled zombie epic) will go is still up for grabs, but there’s enough juicy unused material in Max Brooks’ picaresque source book to guarantee another impressive slab of flesh-ripping dystopian storytelling.
Click through for 2017’s Most Anticipated Blockbusters, 2017’s Most Daring & Original Films, 2017’s Most Anticipated Blue Ribbon Dramas, and 2017’s Female-Directed Flicks.
