NEXT YEAR’S NEWS
The 2019 trends we’re excited about, and those we’re, well, less so
ROCKING OUR YEAR ABBA MARK II
With a hologram tour planned and the imminent release of their first new material in 35 years, ABBA’s comeback is so close we can practically smell it. Thank you for the music? We will do when it’s here.
TV REVIVALS
Don’t you just hate waiting for the next series of your favourite show? Good news: 2019 sees Fleabag and The Crown’s return, while Game Of Thrones resurfaces for its final run. Plus Big Little Lies (right) is back, with Meryl Streep as Nicole Kidman’s mother-in-law from hell.
CHALAMANIA
Not since Leonardo DiCaprio in the ’90s has an actor got us in such a fluster. Timothée Chalamet plays a teenage meth addict in January’s Oscar contender Beautiful Boy* and stars in Netflix’s The King later in the year. *Cancels all 2019 plans*
THE RETURN OF RIHANNA
Alright, RiRi, you’ve had your fun – we’re ready for album number nine, please. In August she confirmed she was back in the studio and there’ve been claims she could be working on not one but two albums.
RISING STAR
With a name like Kiki Layne, the star of Harlem-set love story If Beale Street Could Talk† was unlikely to be forgotten. Directed by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins, the film is Layne’s debut and she’s astonishing.
KILLING OUR MOOD EXCESS ALL AREAS
It may be cheesy, but Elton John biopic Rocketman‡ – co-produced by the man himself and starring Taron Egerton [right] of Eddie The Eagle infamy – has got “gonna make you wanna buy shed-loads of sequins” written all over it.
BACK TO LIFE
Boyzone and the Backstreet Boys have done it; next in the endless series of boy-band reunions are Westlife, with a new album and tour in 2019. Pining for ex-member Brian McFadden? Just flick onto Dancing On Ice from January. FROZEN (AGAIN) If Let It Go’s been stuck in your head since 2013, you’ll be terrified by the prospect of Frozen 2 in November. The good news is there are new versions of The Lion King, Dumbo and Aladdin, which should take the edge off.
SUPERHERO FAILS
The cast’s not announced yet, but we can assume the majority involved in the He-Man movie Masters Of The Universe (original, left) are male. In the year that’s set to gift us Brie Larson as the lead in Captain Marvel,** is there any need for yet another male superhero?
SINKING SHIP
Club 18-30 might have had its life support switched off by Thomas Cook, but its spirit is very much alive and kicking in the world of reality TV thanks to Shipwrecked, which will return to E4 after seven years. Love Island it ain’t.