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Movies & TV

15th Feb 2018

9 blockbuster films that are going to make a splash in 2018

JOE

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Popcorn at the ready.

There’s an arms race going on between the major movie studios. Budgets are inflating and the casts swelling as the cinematic universes continue to dominate.

Despite the homogeny of some franchises, there’s still interesting stuff being made on a massive scale. The fact that a movie as ambitious as Dunkirk was in amongst the major releases last year is a reason for optimism.

And in fairness, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a pretty decent batting average. The shame is that it leaves other studios scrambling to make up ground and end up churning out poor imitations… ‘cough Justice League cough.’

With all that being said, there’s no shortage of stuff to get excited about in 2018. Here are nine of the many big movies that we’re excited to watch with a massive bag of popcorn and a large Coca-Cola Zero Sugar in each arm.

1. Black Panther

Clip via Marvel Entertainment

The latest MCU film has some serious pedigree. Coming off the smashing Creed and Fruitville Station, director Ryan Coogler is in a fine vein of form.

We had a generous starter course of Chadwick Boseman’s eponymous hero in Captain America: Civil War last year. The main course looks set to prove even more satisfying. Food analogies aside, Marvel’s first African American led film has already beaten The Avengers for most tickets pre-booked. Not that that’s an indicator of quality but following on the heels of Wonder Woman, it does put to bed any archaic perceptions that a movie has to have a white dude in the lead in order to be successful.

Throw Michael B. Jordan, Lupita N’yongo and Andy Serkis into the mix and you’ve got dynamite.

2. Solo: A Star Wars Story

Clip via Star Wars

This is a funny one. It’s unusual that an upcoming Star Wars film isn’t the first thing on everyone’s lips when you talk about upcoming movies. There are a few reasons for that.

A Star Wars movie directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the geniuses behind The Lego Movie and the Jump Street series is a mouthwatering prospect. That was what we were going to get right up until three weeks before the end of shooting when the duo was unceremoniously dropped from the production due to veering from Disney’s vision.

Nonetheless, Ron Howard is a solid if uninspiring choice to oversee the rest of production. If nothing else, the cast has us excited. Alden Ehrenreich was the stand out in the Coen Brothers last film Hail Caesar. Also, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian has to be the best casting choice of the year.

Stick us down as morbidly curious rather than outright excited at this stage.

3. Ready Player One

Clip via Warner Bros. Pictures

Following on from The Post, Steven Spielberg is changing things up with the futuristic, CGI heavy Ready Player One.

Based on a very successful novel of the same name, the plot is built around Easter eggs for 80s nostalgia, which is all the rage at the moment.

Spielberg has been dabbling with all-out CGI fests over recent years to fairly middling results with films like Tintin and The BFG. So it’ll be interesting to see how this one pans out.

The Iron Giant makes an appearance in the trailer, so that’s promising.

4. The Predator

Off the back of major box office success with Iron Man 3 and the critical acclaim of The Nice Guys, it was a bit of a surprise to see writer/director Shane Black’s name attached to a new Predator film.

Surprising but welcome. We’d be excited to see anything by the man behind Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. If you remove all the baggage of the sequels and Alien faceoffs, the prospect of Black having a clean slate to do what he wants in that world is very promising.

There isn’t much in the way of plot details, but the director has been tweeting from the set.

Take our money now!

5. The Irishman

Scorsese hasn’t had a great run of it recently. Silence was ponderous and boring. But lots of people liked The Wolf of Wall Street so fair enough. His latest film is going straight to Netflix, which is becoming more and more common.

The Irishman might just have one of the most impressive casts ever assembled. It reunites Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci along with Al Pacino, who’s never worked with Scorsese before. Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin and Jesse Plemons also feature.

Set over a timescale of decades, the film will feature motion capture technology to de-age the actors. For reference, think of that one scene in Captain America: Civil War where Downey Jnr looks like his Less Than Zero Self.

You could be forgiven for thinking the movie will be pulled down under the weight of special effects that have yet to fully convince. But Scorsese and this cast deserve the benefit of the doubt. In the meantime, let’s hope Netflix see the light and decide to release the film in the cinema for those of us who can bother our hole to get off the couch.

6. Avengers: Infinity War

Clip via Marvel Entertainment

Not much needs to be said about this one. It’s The Avengers, but with more of them. What’s not to like?

7. Annihilation

Clip via Paramount Pictures

Like most of the films on this list, we’re excited about this one because of who’s directing it. Alex Garland’s last film was the excellent, Ex-Machina, which was also his directorial debut.

Before Ex-Machina, Garland was a very accomplished novelist and screenwriter. With credits that include a trilogy of Danny Boyle films in The Beach, 28 Days Later and Sunshine.

For his freshman effort, Garland is working with Natalie Portman in a film about… well we’re not quite sure. The trailer does a good job of giving a sense of the tone and scale while giving away little about the plot. Which is refreshing.

Like The Irishman, the movie is going straight to Netflix in Europe.

8. You Were Never Really Here

Clip via New Trailer Buzz

In fairness, this one doesn’t really fit the definition of a blockbuster. Watch the trailer though and tell us it’s not high on your list for the year.

You had us at “Taxi Driver meets Drive.”

Following on from the intense We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsey’s follow up has Joaquin Pheonix looking equally intense.

Add in a score from Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood and you’ve got yourself a dark horse for movie of the year.

9. Sicario 2: Soldado

Clip via Sony Pictures Entertainment

The first Sicario was that rarest of beasts, a really well put together, grown-up thriller. Unfortunately, this time around we’ll be without director Denis Villeneuve who has since gone on to give us Arrival and Blade Runner 2049.

Stefano Sollima steps in to helm the second instalment. Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin are back and they look as intense as ever. They’re joined by the welcome addition of Catherine Keener, fresh from freaking us out in Get Out.

Judging by the trailer, we’re in for more unbearable tension and incredible footage of the US/Mexico border.

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