Next year’s must-see movies
From the return of Bond and Black Widow to a live-action Mulan, next year’s movie lineup looks exciting.
If you thought 2019 was a blockbuster movie year, then brace yourself for the start of a whole new decade. Pundits are predicting another box-office bonanza as a slew of hotly anticipated sequels, remakes and adaptations are set to be unfurled over the next 12 months.
There are big-screen versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Fantasy Island (both February 13) and noughties musical In the Heights (June 11), new incarnations of Roald Dahl’s The Witches, The Secret Garden (April 16) and horror duo Candyman (June 11) and The Grudge (January 30), and further adventures for the Trolls, Peter Rabbit (both April 2), the Minions (June 25), Spongebob Squarepants (July 2) and The Croods (December 26). You can also expect to see follow-ups to popular hits like
A Quiet Place (March 19), The Conjuring (September 10) and Halloween (October 15), as well as the 13th and, allegedly, final X-Men outing The New Mutants (April 2).
However, after a trawl through the proposed lineup, Stuff has come up with our picks for the 20 big 2020 movies we’re most excited about:
Bad Boys For Life (January 16)
Seventeen years after their last outing, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence re-team for the third and, apparently final, instalment of this action-comedy series. This time around, detectives Lowrey and Burnett find themselves up against a Romanian mob boss intent on ruining their impending retirements.
Doolittle (January 16)
Following in the footsteps of Rex Harrison and Eddie Murphy, Robert Downey Jr becomes the doctor who can talk to animals. When Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley) falls gravely ill, he is forced to set sail on on epic adventure to a mythical island to search for a cure.
Birds of Prey (February 6)
In this Suicide Squad spin-off, Margot Robbie’s former crazy criminal ditches the Joker and joins forces with other female vigilantes to take down a narcissistic crime lord. The cast also includes Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ewan McGregor.
Mulan (March 26)
Partly shot in New Zealand and directed by Whale Rider’s Niki Caro, this is the latest Disney animated feature to get the live-action treatment. As before, it’s the story of a young woman who joins the Imperial Army to save her ailing father.
No Time to Die (April 9)
Daniel Craig’s fifth and apparently final outing as 007 opens with Bond having left active service, but persuaded to help search for a missing scientist. Joining the regular cast are Knives Out’s Ana de Armas and Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek.
Black Widow (April 30)
Rather than following on from Avengers: Endgame, events in Australian director Cate Shortland’s Marvel movie actually take place in the aftermath of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff finds herself alone and forced to confront her past.
The Woman in the Window (May 14)
Based on AJ Finn’s mega popular 2018 book of the same name, this thriller focuses on an agoraphobic developmental psychologist who ends up in the middle of a crime scene while spying on her new neighbours. The impressive ensemble includes Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman and Anthony Mackie.
Fast and Furious 9 (May 21)
While little is known about the plot of the latest instalment of this action franchise, this time around it will be without the services of either Dwayne Johnson or Jason Statham. However, in their place comes John Cena, Cardi B and New Zealand’s own Vinnie Bennett.
Artemis Fowl (May 28)
Kenneth Branagh is on directing duties for this long-awaited adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s wildly popular books about the eponymous 12-year-old genius – a descendant of a long-line of criminal masterminds. Josh Gad and Dame Judi Dench are joined by a young cast of relative unknowns.
Wonder Woman 1984 (June 4)
The action shifts forward by a number of decades in this DC Extended Universe sequel, as Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince comes into conflict with both Maxwell Lord and the Cheetah.
Kristen Wiig and The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal join the action, while Chris Pine’s Steve Rogers is seemingly back from the dead.
Top Gun: Maverick (June 25)
Some 34 years after he last essayed Navy aviator Pete ‘‘Maverick’’ Mitchell, Tom Cruise is back on the ‘‘highway to the danger zone’’.
This time, he’s training the latest crop of recruits, that includes his old mate Goose’s son Rooster (Miles Teller), for a special mission.
John Hamm, Jennifer Connelly and Val Kilmer are also lining up to help take your ‘‘breath away’’.
Ghostbusters: After Life (July 2)
A series of unexplained earthquakes lead a single mother and her two kids to discover a link to the original paranormal investigators. The Leftovers Carrie Coon, Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard and Paul Rudd are joined by original cast members Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver.
Free Guy (July 2)
Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Channing Tatum and our own Taika Waititi team up for this action comedy about an open world video game non
playing character who becomes aware of his surroundings and decides to become the hero. Directed by Stranger Things’ Shawn Levy, it will apparently also feature a number of You Tube personalities.
Tenet (July 16)
Tight secrecy surrounds Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated latest movie.
All we know so far is that it is an action thriller and the impressive cast list includes Robert Pattinson, John David Washington, Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh.
Jungle Cruise (July 23)
Dwayne Johnson and Emma Blunt team-up for this action-adventure inspired by the long-running Disneyland ‘‘ride’’.
Johnson plays a riverboat captain named Frank, who somewhat reluctantly takes Blunt’s scientist and her brother on a mission to find the Tree of Life, which is believed to possess healing powers.
Bill & Ted Face the Music (August 20)
With their Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey now but a distant memory, middle-aged Bill S Preston Esq and Ted ‘‘Theodore’’ Logan’s mundane lives are disturbed by a visitor from the future who warns them they need to create a song to save all life on Earth.
To achieve this, they will have to work with old friends, family and famous musicians.
Death on the Nile (October 8)
Murder on the Orient Express’
Kenneth Branagh returns as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and to the director’s chair for another Agatha Christieinspired adventure.
Joining him for the ride this time out are Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie, Sophie Okonedo, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Russell Brand.
The Eternals (October 29)
Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjani, Salma Hayek and Kit Harington join forces for the 25th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which focuses on an immortal alien race who have been protecting humanity from their evil counterparts the Deviants for more than 7000 years. Chinese-American director Chloe Zhao (The
Rider) is the one calling the shots.
Dune (December 17)
Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival director Denis Villeneuve is the latest to try to tackle Frank Herbert’s 1965 space opera.
Planned as a two-movie enterprise, this adventure on the desert planet Arrakis will be populated by the likes of Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa and Zendaya.
West Side Story (December 17)
Steven Spielberg and Angels in America scribe Tony Kushner team up for a new version of the beloved Romeo and Juliet-esque musical.
Expected to stay closer to the original Broadway script than the Oscar-winning 1961 take, it sees Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler playing starcrossed lovers Tony and Maria.