Coming
Attractions of 2017
As we near the end of 2016, per tradition, I
usually check out the exquisite internet web site of IMDb.com to peruse the
upcoming films that are slated for the forthcoming year. So, going down the list, I’d noticed that
we’ve got some exciting titles that have many people chomping at the bit,
others that I personally want to see, and further films that will leave you
impartial in your feelings.
To clarify, some of these movies on the list
are surprising to me and leave me doubtful that they’re actually going to be
released on the date listed, just for the fact that we haven’t seen a trailer
or any news regarding its production or release. But I’ll make sure to indicate those films
when I get to them.
So without further ado, let’s get right into
this long list.
1. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (Release
date: 01/27/2017)
Now, this franchise has seemed to be an
unrelenting series of films and I don’t know if I can take the title of Resident
Evil: The Final Chapter seriously.
Is it going to be just like the earlier Friday the 13th franchise or the more recent Saw series, where they announce a
finality only to continue at a later date?
Time will tell, but I’ll tell you right here and now that I’ll probably
skip this one and wait for it to show up on DVD. I really haven’t been impressed with any of
the sequels that followed the excellent first film and I think this will just
fall in line with what we’ve seen already.
2. Rings (Release date: 02/03/2017)
I still can’t get the bad taste out of my
mouth that had been the sequel to the original The Ring movie. That film
should’ve been the death of the franchise, yet here we are a few months away
from Rings. A reboot…? Sequel…? Prequel…?
The trailer didn’t thrill me, the idea isn’t exciting, and I really have
no desire to see this when it arrives in theaters come February of 2017. But we’ll see…maybe it’ll reap some rave
reviews and I’ll give it a looksee.
3. John Wick: Chapter 2 (Release date:
02/10/2017)
Okay, so here we are with the first film on
this list that I’m excited to see—John Wick: Chapter 2. John
Wick was a pretty impressive movie that through me for a loop, due to the
title and the star of the film not rousing any interest from me. After seeing it on home media, I’d really
wished I had witnessed this in a movie theater with loud sounds and a huge
screen to catch all the action. I’m
looking forward to seeing Keanu Reeves kick some ass in this next chapter.
4. Logan (03/03/2017)
Well, this is going to be a record set where I
don’t think any other actor will break any time soon. Hugh Jackman will play the character of
Wolverine for a ninth and final time (so he says—but I’m thinking he’d love to
go toe-to-toe with Deadpool if asked to do so).
A lot of comic book geeks (such as myself) were waiting for a Wolverine
film such as this one—an R-rated no-holds-barred depiction of the comic book
character based on a successful comic book run.
If done right, this could be Jackman’s swan song of the Wolverine
character, having him go out perfectly and retiring him for good. The trailer shown and the production photos
posted by the director (James Mangold) are great works of art…let’s hope the film
will be as awesome as it’s boasted to become.
5. Kong: Skull Island (03/10/2017)
Continuing the rebooting trend we’ve been
witnessing for years, Kong: Skull Island is just around
the corner and is another film I’m patiently waiting for its release. A couple of years back it was announced that
we are going to see the pitting of two monumental monsters on screen—Godzilla
and King Kong. After the success of
2014’s Godzilla, proclamation of a
versus-type film came to be and it was exciting at first. But then many fans began asking the question
whether this would be a fair fight.
Godzilla, in the 2014 American film, is approximately 350 feet tall; the
last depiction of King Kong had him at around 50 feet tall. Knowing that was going to be problematic for
the upcoming versus film, this film was made to show him as a taller—yet still
smaller than Godzilla—incarnation of the King Kong legend. The trailer, to me, seems like a modern
telling of the story, much like the 1976 film, but I think we’re going to get
something pretty terrific here. I’m
stoked for this one.
6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
(05/05/2017)
The surprise hit of all the Marvel Studios
movies was one that I hadn’t thought much about until I finally saw it in
2014. I wasn’t familiar with the source
material and had thought it was a weird choice to continue on with the universe
that had been going on with the run of superhero movies that led to The Avengers. Someone knew what they were doing—maybe Joss
Whedon displaying some of his pull with the studio execs—but that movie was a
major hit and I’d agreed wholeheartedly.
I’m looking forward to seeing what other adventures these misfits find
themselves in and how it might fit into the whole string of films we’ve seen so
far. Nevertheless, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
is looking to be a big hit for the blockbuster season of 2017.
7. Alien: Covenant (05/19/2017)
Though I wasn’t too thrilled with 2012’s Prometheus, I’ll give the sequel, Alien:
Covenant, a chance. Whereas Prometheus seemed to be a standalone
movie by Ridley Scott (up until the end anyway), the sequel looks to welcome
the tie into the Alien world. I’m very curious to see what had happened
after the events of the last movie and where it goes from here.
8. Wonder Woman (06/02/2017)
Let’s be honest, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was sort of a disappointment,
right? All the hype that we’d heard and
seen from Zack Snyder—the leaked photos especially—made all the fanboys drool
in anticipation only for it to be sort of a downer (with or without the
extended edition cut of the film). But
there were some winning aspects of
the film—two to be exact—and that was Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Bruce
Wayne/Batman and the inclusion of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. She seemed to have a lot of fun with the
character and it was nice to see the character finally making it to the big
screen, but it’ll be even better to see her in the standalone film, Wonder
Woman. I’m just wondering if
anyone will refer to her by that moniker.
9. The Mummy (06/09/2017)
As I write this, the world has already been
treated to a teaser trailer of The Mummy just a couple of weeks
ago. I can’t help but think of how the
last franchise went, sadly ending with the terrible The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, so seeing another film being
made doesn’t really float my boat. Even
with the presence of Tom Cruise in this film, I don’t think it helps much. The trailer actually feels more like a Mission: Impossible film than a classic
horror remake, with Cruise inexplicitly surviving a plane crash waking up in a
morgue…weird. But Cruise usually can’t
do wrong in the parts that he chooses to play, so I’ll probably take a chance
on this.
10. World War Z 2 (06/09/2017)
Now we haven’t heard much about this film and,
at this point, I’m not sure if this is a solid date for World War Z 2. No doubt, they’re going to make this film as
the first one was quite successful and left open for a sequel (as most zombie
films are apt to do), but I’m just a little leery as to the date posted in IMDb.com. With only Brad Pitt listed in the cast and
seeing that there hasn’t been a teaser trailer or production news posted about
this film, I’m thinking we’re going to be waiting a little longer for this
sequel.
11. Spider-Man: Homecoming (07/07/2017)
Without hesitation, I can say that this is the
film I’m most pumped about! Being a
lifelong fan of all things Spidey, I’ll always slap down my money to see a
live-action movie based on my favorite comic book hero. Although I’d hated the two Andrew Garfield
turns as the wall crawler, Sony made things right by making a deal with Marvel
Studios to share the character in upcoming films. Now, the trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming
was pretty cool, giving us some awesome moments and heroic imagery, but it doesn’t
give too much detail on what the plot is going to be about—but that’s okay, I
want to have some surprises given to me when I go see this. Already teasing that they’re going to be
doing some special tweaks to the character (the webbing that attaches from his
arms to his sides), I’m just hoping we’ll get an entertaining film this summer.
12. War for the Planet of the Apes
(07/14/2017)
I’ve always been somewhat of a fan of the
whole Planet of the Apes franchise. I love the first film—even as it’s reaching
50 years old—as well as its sequels, and even enjoyed the critically panned Tim
Burton film. I had my doubts when they’d
announced (sometime in ’08 or ’09) that they were going to start up the
franchise again but would only be using CGI apes rendered with motion capture
technology. However, the final product
in 2011 that was given to us was superb, the sequel released in 2014 was
exciting, and now I’m looking forward to the continuation of the series with War
for the Planet of the Apes! The
trailer, just released not long ago, shows us just enough to get excited and
the ape rendering is even more detailed than before. This film is definitely on the top of my list
of films I am going to see in 2017.
13. The Dark Tower (07/28/2017)
Since high school, I have been an avid reader
of Stephen King books, buying every paperback and hardcover I can get my hands
on. Even before that, I’d been aware
of—and had seen—many films based on King’s works. Myself, I have a large collection of films
adapted from his books on DVD and Blu-Ray and will always watch anything new in
theaters, television, or straight-to-home-media. One journey I had taken a few years ago was
reading “The Dark Tower” series of books which had five books published when I
started and had two more published while I was into it. There has been an eighth book published since
then and I’ve yet to crack open that one…but I will. I’ve always thought the story would be tough to
get on screen as a movie since it’s such a long story, but it looks like it’s
going to finally happen next summer with The Dark Tower. With the interesting casting choice of Idris
Elba to play “The Gunslinger” and Matthew McConaughey as “The Man in Black,”
I’ll be right there ready to take that journey all over again.
14. Annabelle 2 (08/11/2017)
All these haunted horror movies that seem to
blend all into each other (this film with the Insidious and The Conjuring franchises)
don’t really thrill me. Don’t get me
wrong, there are some entertainment value to them and a few scares here and
there, but for the most part…eh. I’d
just finished The Conjuring 2 a few
weeks ago and it left me blank, not really moving me or scaring me. Usually a movie based on true events might
freak me out a bit, but from what I’d read about the real story, sounds like it
was a proven hoax. Hollywood, however,
will film it anyway, adding crazy special effects and insane situations that’ll
earn the film some high ratings and garner quite a bankroll. So it’s no surprise that we’re getting the
sequel, Annabelle 2, next August.
Though I probably won’t see this in theaters, I’m sure this film will
bring in the teens to see it to try and get a good fright.
15. It (09/08/2017)
The other Stephen King adaptation is actually
a remake of sorts. With the original film
being a 1990 TV movie that cut back on gore and violence, only leaving it
implied as the film cut away from it, was still a creepy showing that earned
Tim Curry horror movie fame as Pennywise the Clown. The new reboot, It, is looking good
however, already posting the first image of the new Pennywise as a gangly
creepy clown. Though we’ve yet to see a
trailer as I write this, the movie’s already looking to be scary…man, I hope
so.
16. Friday the 13th (10/13/2017)
I can easily say that the Friday the 13th franchise is my favorite horror movie
series of films. At the commencement of
every summer season, I watch every single film in the series as a way to
celebrate the warming weather. Seeing as
that the films take place around a summer camp or vacation spot, I find they’re
the perfect films to watch on a warm night.
So here they are again, looking to reboot the franchise once more. I’m hoping they get it right…even if they
don’t, I’ll be right there trying to enjoy it.
17. Insidious: Chapter 4 (10/20/2017)
I won’t say much about the release of Insidious:
Chapter 4 except to say that my views of Annabelle 2 are just about the same as this one. The first, second and third one didn’t do
anything for me so I don’t see myself heading out to the theater for this
one. Eventually I’ll see it…but in the
comfort of my own home.
18. Saw: Legacy (10/27/2017)
Well, this is not surprising at all…the only
thing surprising about Saw: Legacy is that it took this
long to get right back into another movie.
If horror movie history has taught us anything is that any movie that
has “the final chapter” in the title will definitely continue in sequels sooner
or later. It’s hard to believe that
nearly seven years have passed since we’ve seen a Saw film. Not much has been
said about this upcoming flick—no plot synopsis, no confirmed cast list, no
poster art…nothing. But guess what? I’ll venture out for this one…I’m sure
there’s more story to tell.
19. Thor: Ragnarok (11/03/2017)
Thor: Ragnarok is a movie I’m exciting about. But…I’ll admit I wasn’t thrilled with the two
Thor films we’d gotten before this
one. I’m not a fan of the mythical
aspect of the character and his world, nor had I been a collector of the comic books
that the franchise is based upon. The
one aspect of this upcoming movie is the fact that it’s going to be a team-up
of Thor and Hulk. To add to that, there
may be some elements of “Planet Hulk” within this film, so that’s an exciting
possibility if you’re a comic book geek like me. Yes, this is a big one, folks, so make sure
you’re all caught up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe before going out to see
this one.
20. Justice League (11/17/2017)
Finally, we have Justice League slated to
be released in mid-November. Though an
official trailer hasn’t been released, from what I see—only a small sizzle reel
that was put together for the San Diego Comic Con—I’m not impressed with
it. Ben Affleck’s interaction with Jason
Mamoa seems dumb, even the little jokey scenes with Gal Gadot seems forced, the
only saving grace is the part we see when Affleck’s character of Bruce Wayne
meets Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) for the first time. All of it, however, seems silly and I’ll have
to reserve my judgment to when I finally see the finished product on
screen. But I’m not impressed.
Well, that’s the twenty upcoming films of 2017
I’ve decided to comment and give my views on, based on their trailers and/or
hype. I'm sure there are some I'd missed, namely the newest trailer for Bladerunner 2049 which looks pretty awesome. I’ll be sure to return here to
give my views when I finally see the official releases in theaters or on home
media.
Thanks for reading!
