In January of last year I wrote a piece entitled ‘Being Optimistic about Big Franchise Movies in 2017’, the gist of which was that despite 2016 being a mostly awful year for big Hollywood blockbusters, I still thought that 2017 looked on track to be one of the better years. Looking back, I think I was mostly correct in this, nearly all of the big franchise movies I was looking forward to turned out to be great, it was one of the better summer seasons in years, and even ones I initially thought should never be made like Blade Runner 2049. This year, I do not share that sentiment, with there only being one big franchise movie I’m genuinely excited about (Shane Black’s The Predator), but who knows? There’s little point in being completely negative about movies that haven’t been released yet, but as I’m not all that enthusiastic about these titles either, I’ve decided to try and highlight looking forward to these films with a bit of caution, and have formatted this as a question-based clickbaity listicle for some unknown reason. These are all movies that I sincerely hope will be good, but can’t say I have a lot of confidence in.
01. Can Spielberg salvage something good from Ready Player One?
It seems somewhat perverse to not only not be excited by the prospect of a new Spielberg sci-fi movie, but to be actively concerned that I’m going to despise it, and yet here we are, that’s how bad the book Ready Player One is. These days I tend to give up on books about 100 pages in if I’m really not enjoying them but Ready Player One was possibly the first time I found myself essentially hate-reading what boils down to a constant stream of obvious eighties pop culture references wrapped around a Dan Brown imitation that manages to consistently talk down to the audience it’s supposedly aimed at. I can’t for the life of me see why Spielberg wanted to adapt this rubbish but he has, and maybe he’s found some take on the material that could radically improve it, but the trailer unfortunately looks like more of a direct adaptation.
02. Will the Halloween franchise be unconventionally reborn?
When you watch the entire Halloween series through, as I did a couple of years ago, one odd aspect of the franchise you’ll notice is that of the ten currently existing movies, half are reboots of some kind or other (4 and 7 being soft reboots, 9 being a hard reboot, and 3 being otherwise totally unrelated to the series, plus there’s a case to be made for the 6th one too which was then rendered non-canon be the subsequent sequels). In short, it’s a series that has no concern for continuity in the slightest and it would now appear that it’s going the ‘legacy-quel’ route for it’s 11th instalment, which will apparently be a direct sequel to the original (possibly also the second?) taking place 40 years afterwards. That’s not so surprising, what is, is who’s involved. The film, which is apparently just titled Halloween (the 3rd film in the series to do so) and will see the return of original star Jamie Lee Curtis (so ungracefully offed in part 8) and will be directed by David Gordon Green. Green is a filmmaker who’s unlikely career has seen him go from acclaimed young director of rural dramas to peddler of increasingly poor studio comedies and back again, then to his recent state of fact-based dramas (his Boston Marathon bombing movie Stronger was released just months ago). I’m always interested to see established directors try their hand at horror, and even more curiously, this film is co-written by Danny McBride, and reportedly has John Carpenter’s blessing. However it turns out, I’m certainly far more interested than I thought I’d be at whatever the next Halloween remake might have otherwise been.
03. Will Hollywood finally make a good videogame adaptation?
Assassin’s Creed came out right at the beginning of last year, and it was supposed to be the one to break the trend. All the ingredients were there for a videogame adaptation to finally be a great movie and yet, it ended up being one of the worst movies of the year and seemingly re-established the notion that you just can’t make a good movie out of a videogame. The are two more contenders to potentially change the game this year though. First up is Tomb Raider, which seems a little pointless at first glance. They’ve already tried and failed twice to make a good Tomb Raider movie and yet, the series, which obviously has cinematic influences in the first place, is still ripe with potential. As such it’s actually the kind of remake/reboot we should be getting more of – properties that could have led to good movies but failed to – moreover it seems to be based on the recent (also rebooted) game series which is *fantastic* – new Lara Croft Alicia Vikander’s costume is almost identical to the new games’ look. The other film vying to top the exceptionally low bar for best videogame adaptation yet is Rampage, is which The Rock will face giant monsters in a movie based on what is essentially a plotless eighties arcade game. I’ve considerably lower expectations for this but you never know I suppose.
04. Will they do the same with a Manga/Anime adaptation?
James Cameron has been talking about making a movie based on Battle Angel Alita for well over a decade now, and his pursuing of other projects and eventual decision to make 4 Avatar sequels has led to him ultimately handing over the directorial reigns to Robert Rodriguez, a director I used to admire who’s in serious need of a comeback. Reaction to the trailer almost exclusively focused on mocking the digital anime eyes star Rosa Salazar sports in the movie but they honestly don’t bother me as she’s literally playing a cyborg. It could be a complete disaster but it would be foolish to ever bet against James Cameron at this point.
05. Will changing the production formula still keep up the consistency of the Mission: Impossible series?
The Mission: Impossible series has remained an anomaly among major franchises for decades now, releasing a new movie every 5 or so years, each by a totally different director. Despite this (and a small dip with the second instalment) it’s maintained a more-or-less consistent level of quality and is one of the most reliable series going. As such, despite the 5th instalment (2015’s Rogue Nation) being excellent, I was a little bit disappointed that they’ve changed up their formula, having writer/director Christopher McQuarrie stay on board and produce a new movie with a relatively quick turnaround. Still, there’s little reason to expect that Mission: Impossible – Fallout, won’t deliver.
06. Can Sicario launch an unlikely franchise?
Sicario was one of the best films of 2015, but it hardly seemed poised to start a series. On top of that, neither director Denis Villeneuve nor star Emily Blunt are returning for sequel Sicario 2: Soldado, which instead comes from Italian director Stefano Sollima. On the plus side, writer Taylor Sheridan, along with Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin are all returning so who knows? Maybe it’ll end up being a worthy follow-up?
07. Can JA Bayona reinvigorate the Jurassic Park franchise?
If you’d told me in 2010 that the director of The Orphanage was going to be making a new Jurassic Park sequel I’d have thought he was an inspired choice. And yet, I didn’t remotely care for either of his follow-ups (The Impossible and A Monster Calls), and I’m not sure where this series has to go after the so-so Jurassic World. Of course I’m hoping it’s good, but no Jurassic Park sequel yet has even come close to the greatness of the original.
08. Can a Pixar sequel win me over again?
Another thought I never expected to have to was to be weary of new Pixar movies. I used to love their output but nowadays they seem to alternate between disappointingly mediocre sequels/prequels (Monsters University, Finding Dory, Cars 3), and originals that seem to still gain great acclaim despite doing very little for me (Inside out, Coco). The film of theirs that always seemed most deserving of a follow-up though was The Incredibles, and while I definitely still want to see the upcoming Incredibles 2, I’m now wondering if it’s even a good idea at all. Pixar haven’t made a movie I’ve loved since Toy Story 3 eight years ago.
White on Film 