Ben Affleck (left) and Henry Cavill star in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/ TM & © DC Comics
Marvel's Captain America: Civil War stars (from left) Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Photo Credit: Film Frame. © Marvel 2016
Margot Robbie (left) and Alexander Skarsgard star in The Legend of Tarzan. Photo Credit: Jonathan Olley © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., WV Films IV LLC and Ratpac-Dune Entertainment LLC--U.S., Canada, Bahamas & Bermuda
By Andrew A. Smith
Tribune Content Agency
Pull on some Spandex, grab some popcorn and retire to your secret lair: The coming year in cinema promises to be a spectacular one for genre fans. In addition to seven big-budget superhero movies, there’s fantasy, horror and science fiction o’plenty. Here are some of the most-anticipated:
DEADPOOL (Feb. 12): Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) was an accomplished assassin when an experiment gave him accelerated healing powers (like Wolverine) and cancerous, un-healing skin. It also made him nuts (or nuts-er). “The Merc with a Mouth” is famous for being hilarious to readers – whom he sometimes addresses directly -- but annoying to everyone else. Deadpool first appeared in an X-Men book, so Twentieth Century Fox has the rights, instead of Marvel Films, due to contracts dating back to the ‘90s. But the previews indicate they’re capturing the character’s bizarre appeal. The R rating should help, since some of that appeal is Deadpool’s foul mouth and incredible ultraviolence.
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (March 25): If it’s big-budget superhero spectacle you like, Warner Bros. is here to make your Spandex dreams come true, as Henry Cavill returns as the Man of Steel and Ben Affleck essays the Darknight Detective. In addition to the battle between the titular characters (reminiscent of the famous Dark Knight Returns graphic novel), BvS promises to populate most of the starting lineup of the Justice League, including Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Flash (Ezra Miller) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). The Hollywood Reporter reports that red-headed Jena Malone has a mystery role in the movie, which savvy comics fans are guessing is red-headed Carrie Kelly, the female Robin in Dark Knight Returns. But Barbara “Batgirl” Gordon has red hair as well, and there is such a thing as hair dye, so who knows?
THE JUNGLE BOOK (April 15): You know you want to see it. Especially with genre veteran Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan in Iron Man) directing, and voices by Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Idris Elba (Heimdall) and Ben Kingsley (The Mandarin in Iron Man 3).
THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR (April 22): You might remember Snow White and The Huntsman (2012) as being better than it should have been, but both director Rupert Sanders and star Kristen Stewart are gone from the sequel (which is unsurprising, given the scandal around their affair). That’s OK, because the best characters – The Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth, who also plays Thor over in Marvel Films) and the villainous Ravenna (Charlize Theron, late of Mad Max: Fury Road) – are sticking around. They’re joined by new villain Freya (Emily Blunt) and Snow White stand-in Jessica Chastain (The Martian).
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (May 6): This movie superficially mirrors Batman v Superman, with Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) duking it out, and most of the Avengers as a supporting cast, including Black Widow (Johansson), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany). Look also for Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), the introduction of Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and even Spider-Man (Tom Holland), on loan from Sony Pictures! Civil War is based on a Marvel storyline wherein Congress passes a law that forces super-powered Americans to register with the government, which divides the Avengers. But who picks which side, and why?
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (May 27): X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past kicked the board over as far as X-Men history goes, so the movies are now way out of sync with the comics. But we’ll still see familiar X-characters such as returnees Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Professor X (James McAvoy), Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and newcomers Archangel (Ben Hardy), Cyclops (Tom Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Jubilee (Lana Condor), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Storm (Alexandra Shipp). All of these mutants, good and evil, will be challenged by the oldest and arguably most powerful mutant, Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac, heartthrob from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”).
WARCRAFT (June 10): If you’ve played the video game World of Warcraft then you have an idea what this is about, and if not, think Lord of the Rings with a smaller budget. But with Travis Fimmel (Ragnar Lothbrok in Vikings), Dominic Cooper (Tony Stark’s dad) and Daniel Wu (Sunny in Into the Badlands), how bad can it be?
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN (July 1): With apologies to Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan, this movie may have the prettiest Tarzan and Jane ever (Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie). And for some reason, Samuel L. Jackson is in this movie, although I sure don’t remember him from the Edgar Rice Burroughs books. (Maybe that’s why Nick Fury doesn’t have time for Civil War!)
GHOSTBUSTERS (July 15): This remake stars Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, two of the funniest comedians extant. But what really makes this astounding is that Chris Hemsworth has a supporting role. (Maybe that’s why Thor doesn’t have time for Civil War!)
STAR TREK BEYOND (July 22): Idris Elba shows up as the bad guy in what is supposedly the last Trek film with the current all-star cast. (Maybe that’s why Heimdall doesn’t have time for Civil War!) Unlike Star Trek Into Darkness, it looks like this one has an original plot.
SUICIDE SQUAD (Aug. 5): DC Comics has had various teams with this name going back to 1987, all of them composed of death-row supervillains forced to undertake black ops under threat of death, giving the U.S. government plausible deniability if they are caught or killed. This movie takes various elements from the comics, including hard-as-nails commander Amanda Waller – a.k.a. “The Wall,” here portrayed by the amazing Viola Davis. She dispatches supervillains Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Deadshot (Will Smith), Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie again), Katana (Karen Fukuhara), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Slipknot (Adam Beach) to kill The Joker (Jared Leto) … which is why a certain Dark Knight is also making an appearance.
DR. STRANGE (Nov. 4): The “Dr. Strange” strip in the 1960s was so out there that college students were convinced co-creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko were doing some serious drugs. (They weren’t.) If this movie, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the Sorcerer Supreme, can get half of that up on the screen, the audience will think it’s on drugs. Bonus casting note: Dr. Strange’s mentor The Ancient One – a male – is portrayed by the metamorphic actress Tilda Swinton.
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (Dec. 16): Ever wonder how the Rebellion got the plans for the Death Star in Star Wars IV: A New Hope? Here the tale is told, with stars Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker, Ben Mendelsohn and Mads Mikkelsen – the latter actor having a mystery role in Dr. Strange as well.
ASSASSIN’S CREED (Dec. 21): Michael Fassbender takes a break from playing Magneto to headline this film, based on the popular video game. Fassbender is Callum Lynch, who somehow channels the power of an ancestor who was a member of secret sect of assassins. That brings him into conflict with the Knights Templar, because of course. Fassbender’s presence promises quality, so fingers – and katanas – crossed.
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