The first instalment in our 20 for 11 features ten of the films we’re looking out for this year: we’ve superheroes galore, wizards, aliens, time travel and alternative worlds. Y’know, all the things you expect from your year’s big movies. And some of them even cover more than just one of those categories.
Films below are in no particular order, but we’ve tried to keep them as close to order of release as possible.
Battle: Los Angeles
We’re still not sure exactly what name will end up attached to this when it hits cinemas, with IMDB telling us that the film will have the international title of World Invasion: Battle LA. Either way, we’re looking at an impressive low-budget alien invasion film that will be ticking our boxes in similar ways to District 9.
Aaron Eckhart takes the lead, heading up a squadron of soldiers dealing with an alien invasion in modern LA (just in case you couldn’t guess from the name.) Soldiers and civilians alike end up falling foul to the alien attacks, with a cast rounded out to include Bridget Moynihan and singer Ne-Yo.
And whatever you do, don’t mention the similarities to 2010′s Skyline: the legal action is still pending on that one…
Sucker Punch
Zack Snyder’s movies certainly have a unique visual style, but up until now, he’s been working with adapting other peoples’ material. Now, Sucker Punch gives us an original story from the director himself (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and…well, this isn’t going to be one of those easily described movies.
Snyder himself has described Sucker Punch as “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns”…the dragons, robots and giant samurai mechs are curiously absent from that description. Emily Browning (probably best known as one of the precocious kids from Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events) plays a young girl clinging to her sanity after being sent to an asylum in the early 20th century. Cue plans for escape, requiring Browning and her fellow inmates to fight their way to freedom through an imaginary steampunk world.
Snyder’s already proven himself with 300 and Watchmen, but maybe hasn’t made that step from “indie” to “big time” just yet. Still, Sucker Punch will certainly prove an interesting test for Snyder’s next project: a film about a Man Of Steel from the planet Krypton,
Source Code
2009 may have been a few years off a space odyssey, but it still gave us Duncan Jones’ directorial debut, the fantastically claustrophobic but amazingly deep and philosophical Moon. (Yeah, I liked it, in case you can’t guess.) Jones follows up this year with Source Code, a movie that takes the science fiction elements back to some very realistic Earth-based roots.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Captain Colter Stevens, a soldier investigating the bombing of a passenger train in an attempt to prevent a second terrorist attack. But this is no simple investigation: Stevens is placed into the “source code” of the title, a device that allows him to experience the last eight minutes prior to the train’s explosion by assuming the identity of one of the victims. Colter relives the attack over and over, each time learning more about not just the disaster, but also the train’s passengers, even becoming convinced that he might be able to change the train’s fate. Whether he can, or not, remains to be seen.
On paper, it sounds like Philip K Dick was let loose on the script for Groundhog Day: somewhat surprisingly, it’s an original script, but Dick-fans can still get their 2011 fill with The Adjustment Bureau. After Moon, we’ve high expectations of Jones and Source Code: with any luck, Source Code will provide a totally brain-melting plot (in the good way) and vastly exceed those expectations.
Scream 4
Don’t worry: I’m not under any delusions that Scream 4 will be a great film but…I’m looking forward to it. Wes Craven’s original Scream films were something of a guilty pleasure on their original release: admittedly, they’ve dated, and probably don’t stand up as well as the original movies that they lovingly referenced. But…they were still fun!
With Scream 4, director Craven reunites with screenwriter Kevin Williamson (Dawson’s Creek) and returns to Woodsboro 10 years after the original trilogy closed: while Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox return as Sidney, Dewey and Gale, but this time, the focus will be moving onto a younger generation of heroes (and victims), namely Sidney’s cousin Jill (Emma Roberts.) Like the original trilogy, the cast of Scream 4 is an impressive mix of names and talent (heck, there’s even some crossover between the two): Rory Culkin, Hayden Panettiere, Community‘s Alison Brie, Adam Brody, Mary McDonnell, Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell all get some screentime, and we can safely say at least some of those names will end up dead by the movies’ end.
We all know what to expect from any Scream film, but there’s still hope that the fourth film in the franchise could have a few tricks up its sleeve and not be another in the long list of desperate remakes/reboots.
Thor
Once May arrives, 2011 turns into a year of novel and comic-book adaptations and the first to land in cinemas has a red-cape and a massive hammer. Nope, it’s not Superman working on a construction site, it’s Marvel’s god of thunder, Thor.
It’s an unusual mix of characters and settings for a summer blockbuster: Marvel may own the superhero Thor, one of the main figures in their Avengers franchise, but there’s also an honest-to-goodness Norse God of Thunder with his own story and mythology. Marvel’s comics have embraced both elements of the character, and the film looks set to do the same, with director Kenneth Branagh bringing some pomp and circumstance to Thor’s godhood and the divine affairs of his home in Asgard.
Chris Hemsworth takes on the title role (his biggest role to date has been that of James T Kirk’s short-lived father in the Star Trek reboot) as the thunder-god is banished to Earth by his proud father Odin (Anthony Hopkins.) Stripped of his powers (and his hammer, that you might have seen at the end of Iron Man 2) Thor has to learn how to become a very human hero to defend Earth from an Asgardian threat.
Building off the back of Iron Man 2, Thor will continue to shape Marvel’s universe on the big screen (more to come below) building towards 2012 Avengers crossover. But with Branagh at the helm, it looks like Thor could blow everything else out of the water, and open up audiences to a totally different type of superhero movie.
X-Men: First Class
Keeping with Marvel superheroes comes a different sort of movie. The X-Men have always felt somewhat apart from the main Marvel Universe within the comics, and with Fox owning the rights to the mutants, that looks set to continue on the big screen. The franchise hasn’t really done much since X-Men 2, with the third movie and X-Men Origins: Wolverine receiving less than stellar reviews. With that in mind, there’s not much pressure on the shoulders of another prequel, but there’s also a small chance that things could go well.
Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Kick-Ass) takes the director’s reins in a prequel going to the heart of the original friendship between Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender.) (Since the film is set in the 1960′s, we’ll hold off on the nerd-rage of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen not reprising their roles…we don’t want to see more horrible de-aging CGI.) Other information on the film is thin on the ground, and we haven’t even got a trailer yet, but casting seems to indicate that X-Men: First Class will have more mutants than you can shake a stick at, including appearances from fan-favourites like Mystique, Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club (and then there’s the WTF moment of including Nightcrawler’s barely acknowledged father Azazel…)
We’re saying no more until closer to release…
Image from the unrelated X-Men: First Class comic
Green Lantern
From two (relatively) established comic-book universes to the great untapped cosmic world of DC, Green Lantern aims to do for DC’s superheroes what Iron Man did for Marvel’s. It’s also one of those movies that we can honestly say could go either way. But for now, the movie’s at least in good hands.
Director Martin Campbell has overseen two reinventions of the James Bond franchise (GoldenEye and Casino Royale) so this could prove another success story for him. Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan, the first human ever selected (perhaps accidentally) to join the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic…well, police force. Just they wear green instead of blue. And have rings instead of guns. And superpowers instead of doughnuts. There’s a lot to fit in, and the Green Lantern Corps is particularly awkward to transition to the big screen: non-humanoid aliens with green-hued power rings look “strange” enough in the comic books, let alone in 3D.
Green Lantern looks like it might be more about set-up than paying off, with villains Sinestro, Parallax and Hector Hammond all appearing in the film (while Carol Ferris, played by Blake Lively, is also to sometimes-a-villain Star Sapphire.) Work is even already underway on the script for a sequel, which may (or may not be) somewhat premature.
There may be six weeks between the release dates for Thor and Green Lantern, but we can definitely say now that the two films are going to draw comparisons. Whether that affects one film, or the other, remains to be seen.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part Two
You either love all things Harry Potter, or you hate them, but you can’t deny the phenomenon that the series has been. And ultimately, all eyes are going to be on this film, whether you want to see how it ends, whether you can’t wait for it to end, or whether you’ll be crying and acting like it never happened.
Somewhat unfairly splitting the last book into two films, the final film promises epic battles, deaths galore, more death, a few more characters dying and…did we mention death? It’s going to be a pretty harsh ride, and you know what? Even if you can’t stand the series, you’re probably going to look forward to all that death.
Captain America: The First Avenger
It’s back to the Marvel Universe for the second time in 2011 with Captain America: The First Avenger the origin story of…well, Captain America. He was the first Avenger, don’t you know?
Joe Johnston (The Wolfman) directs and while it’s not a prequel, don’t expect too much modern hi-jinks: Captain America’s origins are heavily tied in with World War II, so for this movie, we’re looking at a period piece. In fact, Captain America himself doesn’t appear in the “modern” comic-book era until issue #4 of The Avengers, so there’s a wealth of stories to be told before he interacts with Thor, Iron Man and the other established universe: of course, they’re likely to get compressed so Captain America can feature heavily in 2012′s The Avengers.
Having served his time as the Human Torch in the two Fantastic Four movies, it’s now Chris Evans’ time to lead as he steps into the shoes of the Nazi-battling super-soldier Steve Rogers. Those Nazis have an interesting overlap with the terrorist HYDRA organisation from Marvel Comics, and also a very sinister lead in the form of the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving.) Set in the 1940s, Captain America is another one of those unusual comic-book movies that could go either way: by taking the traditional movie superhero out of his or her comfort zone, we could end up with something very unusual indeed. But chances are, with the line-up of movies coming in 2011, one of the other films above will have already gotten us used to that.
Chris Evans in costume as Captain America
The Adventures Of Tintin: Secret Of The Unicorn
Steven Spielberg’s been working on a Tintin film longer than some of us have been alive (apparently, he acquired the movie rights in 1983) but it looks like the film might finally get a release late this year, so we’re including it as part of our 20 for 11, though we live in fear of it being pushed back to 2012.
It’s clear from the time involved that this is a labour of love for Spielberg, but perhaps more interesting are some of the other big names behind the scenes: director Spielberg is joined as producer by Peter Jackson, with Edgar Wright (Spaced, Scott Pilgrim), Joe Cornish (Adam & Joe) and Steven Moffatt (Sherlock, Doctor Who) writing. While the film itself will be motion-captured, some of the actors will still be recognisable underneath all those digital digits: Jamie Bell as Tintin joined by Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Daniel Craig and Toby Jones.
It looks like Tintin could easily prove Spielberg’s biggest hit this century if it goes well. Again, we’re waiting for a trailer or some meaty images from the movie.
Of course, there’s a lot more than just 10 movies coming out in 2011, so we’re not forgetting there are some other big releases as well. So for all those who want to complain about movies we left off the list, here’s some honourable mentions…and some that we don’t care about at all, but some fanboy will give out if we don’t mention: The Green Hornet / Black Swan / I Am Number Four / Priest / Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides / The Tree Of Life / Super 8/ Rise Of The Apes / Cars 2 / Transformers: Dark Of The Moon / Cowboys & Aliens / Piranha 3DD / The Thing / Immortals / The Muppets
Click here for 20 for 11: Part 2 – The Games
