The time? The year 2010. The movies?
There are so many movies coming out this coming year, it’s hard to narrow down the field on what I should be looking forward to. Following up what might be one of the more lackluster years in movies might not be too difficult, but I’m going to keep my sights aimed a little high and hope for the best.
Superheroes are getting a huge leap forward with Marvel’s “Iron Man 2” and the DC competition of a full length “Green Lantern” film set for the summer schedule. Iron Man has momentum on his side, along with the promising future “Avengers” film getting set for production in a few years. Thor is already lined up, as is Captain America, and the company already has some impressive credentials including the possibility of a return to Spiderman in coming years. DC hasn’t had the string of success rates, despite (or perhaps because of) its ties to Warner… the Batman franchise continues to be their big seller while Superman is considered one of the most miserable failures. Last years Watchmen film explored some of their alternative properties, but Green Lantern is really one of the first forays into their character line that isn’t one of the three major characters in their mythos. Its success or failure should determine the development on their other title characters.
Fantasy heads up the year with an early release on the Clash of the Titans remake, paving the way for Percy Jackson and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice due out later. The split on the last Harry Potter book (the first part of The Deathly Hollows) is due out for the Holidays before next summers’ blockbuster release of the final installment for the adventures from Hogwarts. Let’s throw out the third installment on “Twilight”, since it really falls in line with Fantasy rather than horror and you have an interesting year for this niche market.
But let’s not forget the dance that got us to the ball. Horror has an interesting year laid out for it, with the early release on “The Crazies” remake, Romero’s latest “Survival of the Dead”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” re-imaging, “The Wolfman”, the latest “Resident Evil” film, another entry to the “Scream” franchise, and a Blob remake from Rob Zombie. But no film has managed to capture my attention more than the trailer for the upcoming “Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil”. This movie doesn’t attempt to redefine a classic; it simply offers an interesting twist on some older genre stereotypes with pure dark comedy. Joss Whedon teams with one of the guys from Cloverfield to bring us “A Cabin in the Woods”, Adam Green brings us “Frozen”, and has already started work on his Hatchet sequel. We also have the long awaited sequel to “2001 Maniacs” will probably get a direct to DVD release in the next coming months. Raimi’s Ghosthouse Pictures adds a gentler, younger teen friendly version of films with their Spookhouse division and its’ first effort, a remake of 2008’s “The Substitute. But they’re not done with their rougher films, as they’ve also started work on a sequel to “30 Days of Night”. And then we have the Rodriguez produced, full length “Machete” release.
2010 has a lot of eye candy to look forward to, but it’s hard to pinpoint the genre “event” film of the year. In fact, other than Tucker and Dale, the rest of the year looks like a never-ending stream of remakes and sequels with one coming right after the other. I’m excited for Clash, I’m thrilled for the Potter stuff, and I’m hyped for Iron Man 2. I don’t know what to think about Green Lantern, having not seen a single trailer yet. I’ve been looking forward to a full Machete film since the fake trailer appeared in Grindhouse, but it’s certainly no major Event.
That’s it from me, faceless readers. As always, thoughts and debates are welcome and encouraged.
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