It may be the middle of January (already), but here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Everyone here at The Nerd Is The Word sincerely hopes 2020 is treating you well so far with plenty of good to come.
Among many other things, a new year brings a new slate of films to wet our collective nerd appetites, obsess over and bash even before they hit the big screen. It’s what audiences do nowadays.
And since 2020 doesn’t have any Avengers or Star Wars entries to suck up a lot of box office oxygen, it’s surprising how many properties and other, less well known franchises are carving out room for themselves this year.
Here are ten movies to keep an eye on this Winter and Spring. These are the ten flicks that either peak my curiosity the most or I’m just plain looking forward to. As usual, there will be some disappointments and a few omissions that will raise eyebrows. Even I was a little surprised by some of the titles that made the list and some that didn’t, but if 2020 is shaping up to be anything, it’s going to be unpredictable.
And in the end, that can only be a good thing. So let’s get to it.
10. Sonic The Hedgehog (Feb. 14th): This is more curiosity than anything else. Sure, Sonic was one of my favourite video games as a kid and yeah, it is stroking my nostalgia nerve more than a little. Plus casting Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik is sure to provide a chuckle or two. But what really peaks my interest is that Paramount Studios delayed the movie’s release for four months so it could address fan backlash over the original (nightmarish) CGI design of everyone’s favourite super-fast hedgehog. Has that ever happened before? Will fans respond with a better than expected turnout at the box office? Will that blunt the inevitable (and vocal) disappointment of some? Or will they come down on it even harder? After a brutal 2019, Paramount desperately needs a win and if Sonic takes off, it could not only launch a valuable new franchise for the struggling studio, but also a lucrative partnership with Sega video games as well.
Who knows, if Sonic is a hit, I may finally get my Altered Beast movie.
9. The New Mutants (April 3rd). I was determined to completely ignore this movie. After all, every sign pointed to it being nothing but a disappointing bomb that would make Dark Phoenix look like The Godfather by comparison. Like millions of others, I was convinced that Disney (who inherited it as a result of buying Fox) was just going to throw it on DisneyPlus and be done with it. Suffice to say the decision to release it to theatres raised both of my eyebrows. But the recent revelation that it would be director Josh Boone’s original vision (despite some pricey reshoots) and an intriguing trailer convinced me it may not be the total train wreck we’ve been expecting the past three years.
Make no mistake, I’ll be going in with anemic expectations. But maybe that’s what will be needed to make this movie semi-enjoyable. Besides all that, Anya Taylor Joy’s Magik looks downright legit.
8. Fantasy Island (Feb. 14th): You have to hand it to the film-makers behind this big screen adaptation of the cult TV show; turning it into a horror movie and releasing it on Valentine’s Day is pretty bold. I mean, it could very well bomb as a result, but taking a popular property known for it’s cheesiness, turning it into a fright-flick and releasing it on the day to commemorate romance is pretty high on the risk taking list. So kudos to them for that kind of cookie cutter defying bravery. Will Fantasy Island be a thriller full of be based jump scares as a result? Or will it lean more towards supernatural horror? Is the island a semi-sentient, demonic entity that feeds off the fear of the guests as their fantasies are twisted into nightmares? Hopefully it will be fun answering those questions.
7. The Invisible Man (Feb. 28th): As far as the monsters in Universal’s library goes, the Invisible Man ranks pretty low on my list of interest. Actually last. He ranks last. And I’ve never really cared for anything that stars him. But if the first trailer is to be believed, the minds behind this particular version have added an interesting little wrinkle, turning the invisible man in question into a stalker terrorizing the subject of his obsession. Stalker movies are by no means new-to the horror genre or otherwise-but forcing the victim to fend off an invisible attacker could provide some interesting pathos to the characters involved. Not to mention a more satisfying ending.
6. Antebellum (April 24th): Antebellum may be just what the doctor ordered to inject some badly needed fresh blood into a stagnating horror genre. Namely time travel. Now innovation and horror don’t always mix. Take last year’s Us, which tried to introduce a new twist on the idea of dopplegangers but executed it pretty clumsily. And the concept of time travel is fraught with narrative pitfalls (especially for people like me, who mercilessly dissect the plot with a fine tooth scalpel). Still, after a disappointing 2019 the scare game could use a little fresh air. And if Antebellum and the other horror titles on this list can pull that off, well 2020 will already be miles ahead of 2019.
5. A Quiet Place Part Two (March 20th): I was on the fence about the sequel to 2018’s breakout hit, wondering if they could catch lightning in a bottle twice (and let’s be honest, sequels almost never do). Especially with the absence of John Krasinksi. But the trailer sold me on this movies’s potential. Will the Abbott family make use of the monster slaying method they discovered to bring human civilization back from the brink of extinction? What will the survivors find on their travels? What kind of flashbacks does the sequel provide into the downfall of humanity? (On a side note, flashbacks could very well derail this movie narratively, so it will be interesting to see how it tries to avoid those pitfalls). What kind of monsters have the other survivors become? The idea that desperate humans are greater threats than any kind of m monster is always intriguing, but that too could also go sideways fast.
But I’m willing to give this movie a chance, if for no other reason than how pleasantly enjoyable the first one was. And was that a giant alien spider driving a bus?
4. No Time To Die (April 10th): I’ve never been a big James Bond fan. People whine about how formulaic Marvel movies are but 007 invented the cinematic formula. Cast the current actress/pin-up girl/Playboy Playmate of the moment as the new Bond girl(s), kill a bunch of generic bad guys with some borderline ludicrous gadgets, sleep with said Bond girls and foil some cartoonish villain’s absurd plan for world domination. Dry, rinse, repeat. And while I’ll confess that the Daniel Craig films have been an improvement, they didn’t really move my anticipatory needle all that much. But No Time To Die feels different. I’m hoping that since this is the last one starring Craig, they’ll focus more on the storytelling than usual. My biggest disappointment in 2015’s Spectre was the promise of a compelling story only to be served with lukewarm writing.
But if our recent look at the finished product is any indication, Craig himself may be investing everything he’s got into his swan song as 007. And that could be worth the price of admission all by itself.
3. Blood Shot (March 13th): I have a confession. I know absolutely nothing about Bloodshot or the Valiant comics universe he comes from. I couldn’t pick any of them out of a lineup if my life depended on it. But having said all that, I have my fingers crossed that we may be seeing the birth of something special with Bloodshot.
Apparently Vin Diesel-the actor bringing the titular hero to the big screen-is a big fan and has been chasing this project for some time. Second, while Sony isn’t as bad off as Paramount, they desperately need a successful new franchise to call their own (they still share Spider-Man with Disney and while very successful, Jumanji: The Next Level didn’t enjoy the same box office pop as the first one did a few years ago. Sony’s attempts to breathe new life into the Men in Black franchise and reboot Charlie’s Angels both fell flat and this summer’s Ghostbusters is an unknown quantity). While Sony started the year off with a bang with Bad Boys For Life, it still needs a win. Especially an original one. If Bloodshot is successful, it could launch an entirely new shared universe starring characters most of us have never heard of, ones free of any preconceived expectations or baggage. And if that happens, it could just push the MCU into taking some bold new chances to keep its lofty position at the top of the food chain. Or be the kick in the ass the DCEU needs to bring some consistent quality to its own universe.
You know what they say, competition is great for the consumer. And in this case, it would be great for fans as well.
2. Onward (March 6th): This movie was made for me. I generally love Pixar’s stuff (The Good Dinosaur notwithstanding), I love fantasy, I love toungue-in-cheek sarcasm and I’m a sucker for nostalgia stories that have a heart. And goddamn if it doesn’t look like Onward isn’t all of that and more. This is also the first original stuff we’ve seen from the animated juggernaut since Coco back in 2018, a dip onto originality didn’t turn out too shabby for Pixar, with lots of box office receipts and yet another Oscar to show for it. Plus, having the leading characters voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, who play two of the MCU’s most popular heroes? Well that’s just some ingenious icing on the pixelated cake .
I’ll be ordering an extra large popcorn for this one.
- Mulan (March 27th): Sure, I’m looking forward to Mulan-the original cartoon movie is one of my favourite Disney animated features-but I’m plenty nervous as well. While we were all marvelling over the seemingly limitless box office success of last summer’s Aladdin and The Lion King, let’s not forget Disney has a mixed record post Beauty and the Beast when it comes to it’s live action adaptations. Remember Dumbo? Or Christopher Robin? Either you didn’t see them or you blocked them from you memory. And while last October’s Maleficent sequel was amusing, it failed to live up to the box office expectations created by the original and disappeared into the box office ether rather quietly.
Will Mulan capture the spirit of the animated original? Especially without Mushu, the loveably mischievous dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy? He was a huge reason for the original’s success and his silent absence notorious in the trailers so far. But the sweeping cinematography and orchestra scores (which will reportedly tip their hat to the classic’s beloved musical numbers) have me counting the days until I can insert my butt into a seat to catch this on the big screen.
Image via imdb.com
