COMING ATTRACTIONS
In 2016, expect Hollywood to stay with the tried and true
Hollywood bosses don’t exactly hate original ideas, but they seem to distrust them. As a result, the top titles coming in 2016 all seem to be sequels, prequels, spinoffs, reboots and remakes. We surveyed the announced slate of 2016 releases and came up with the most prominent 16 titles in those categories.
Deadpool (Feb. 12): Likeable but sometimes cursed Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds tries the superhero thing again. This time around, Reynolds plays what has been called “a more authentic” version of the Wade Wilson/Deadpool comic book character. It’s positioned as the eighth movie in the X-Men series.
Zoolander No. 2 (Feb. 12): Writerdirector-star Ben Stiller brings back one of his most beloved characters, the impossibly pretentious fashionista of the title. Even after 15 years away, Zoolander is hip and cool.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 25): Zack Snyder, who rebooted Superman in 2013, now pits the Man of Steel against Batman in a twisted case of vigilante justice. The trailers look dark and brooding as Ben Affleck dons the black cowl and Henry Cavill returns with his red cape.
Captain America: Civil War (May 6): Set after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, this Marvel Cinematic Universe movie has Chris Evans’ title character feuding with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark over how to control superhero excesses and collateral damage.
X-Men: Apocalypse (May 27): Oscar Isaac, a Rebel hero in The Force Awakens, plays a super villain here in the ninth X-Men franchise movie. Bryan Singer directs the “young” X-Men regulars, including James McAvoy as Professor X, Michael Fassbender as Magneto and Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique. They line up against the ancient mutant Apocalypse’s destructive army of mutants, which threatens all of humanity.
Alice Through the Looking
Glass (May 27): Tim Burton stands down as director, but produces James Bobin’s sequel to Burton’s fabulous 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland. On her return to Wonderland, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) has to help The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) find himself before time itself expires.
Finding Dory (June 17): While the Pixar animation Finding Nemo dates to 2003, its sequel is set just six months later as Dory searches for her family off the California coast.
Independence Day: Resurgence (June 24): Filmmaker Roland Emmerich returns to the scene of his greatest triumph and conjures a sequel to his 1996 alien invasion movie. The story, logically set 20 years later, shows how humanity faces a new invasion from the skies. Key actors reprise their roles ... but not Will Smith.
Ghostbusters (July 15): Paul Feig reboots the sci-fi comedy series with a fresh story dominated by crazy women instead of goofy men. Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth star, with the main players from the original series making cameos.
Star Trek Beyond (July 22): As the sequel to Star Trek Into Darkness from 2013, Justin Lin’s ‘us-againstthe-aliens’ movie is not only the third in the reboot series, and the 13th Star Trek film overall, but it also marks the 50th anniversary of the launching of the durable, enduring franchise. The original series went to air on network television in September of 1966.
Untitled Bourne 5 (July 29): The movie may not yet have its final title, but it has Matt Damon, who finally returns to the series that made him an action star, along with director Paul Greengrass.
Suicide Squad (Aug. 5): Will Smith may not have wanted to fight aliens in another Independence Day, but he willingly signed on to lead the squad of criminal superheroes in David Ayer’s gritty take on the DC Comics story. Smith plays Deadshot, the assassin, with Jared Leto resurrecting the Joker.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Oct. 21): Despite author Lee Child’s approval, the casting of Tom Cruise as the onscreen Jack was controversial among Child’s readers, who criticized the 2013 movie. That has not changed but there is a sequel anyway, with the story based on Child’s new novel from 2013.
Inferno (Oct. 28): This is a sequel to The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. Ron Howard recently told me that he loved going back to this world, and to Tom Hanks’ side, as director of the third instalment in the franchise. Hanks’ Professor Langdon awakens with amnesia in a hospital in Florence, Italy, and soon finds he is targeted in a manhunt.
Doctor Strange (Nov. 4): Set up as the 14th instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this comic book thriller stars Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch himself studied mysticism as a young man, while teaching English in a Tibetan monastery. So the fascinations of Stephen Strange intrigued him.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Dec. 16): Gareth Edwards, who leaped from the modest Monsters to his giant Godzilla reboot, now tackles the first movie that will make up the Star Wars Anthology series. While set in the Star Wars Universe, Edwards’ instalment will feature different characters from The Force Awakens. Each stand-alone movie is intended to be an origins story and, in the case of Rogue One, Rebel fighters try to steal the plans for the notorious Death Star before it can be used by the Emperor.