Thursday, March 15, 2012

Well 2013 is looking to be a good year for film

If everything goes well, 2012 will go down as the best year of film since 2007. Let's cross our fingers, hoping that it will happen like that. But 2013 is also shaping up pretty well, let's see what we got so far:

"Elysium" from Neill Blomkamp is his long-awaited follow-up after his highly successful debut District 9. Right now slated for a March 2013 release.

"Trance" from Danny Boyle will be his next film after 127 Hours. It's getting a late 2012 release in the UK, but is not coming out in the USA til 2013. It may have had a chance for a 2012 release but its USA distributor is the Weinstein Company and they already have The Master, Django Unchained, and Killing Them Softly (formerly known as "Cogan's Trade') coming out in late 2012 so they probably would want this one to wait til 2013 so they can focus their attention on it.

"Pacific Rim" from Guillermo Del Toro... finally! After waiting so long for a movie from Del Toro after 2008's Hellboy 2, we get a big budgeted monster movie. Let's hope it kicks ass.

"Star Trek 2" from JJ Abrams. The first film of the newly rebooted series was such a success that of course the sequel to Star Trek will be highly anticipated.

"World War Z" from Marc Foster, starring Brad Pitt. It was supposed to come out in December but has been pushed back to a June 2013 release. A post-apocalyptic horror film starring Brad Pitt sounds awesome.

"Robopocalypse" from Steven Spielberg. This will be his next movie after Lincoln comes out later this year. He's going back to the big blockbuster with this one, should be exciting.

"The Hobbit: There and Back Again" from Peter Jackson will be the follow-up to the first Hobbit movie. Excitement for this one will depend on how good the first one winds up being.

There's also going to be Iron Man 3 and Monsters University (follow-up to Monsters Inc) but it's hard to get excited about IM3 after IM2 was so-so. I'm sure Monsters University will be funny but Pixar needs to stick with original films. They have "Brave" coming out this year and Toy Story 3 was great. But, Cars 2 showed that going back to familiar source material doesn't always work out well.

Rumored 2013 releases/not set in stone yet:

"Wolf of Wall Street" from Martin Scorsese, starring Leo Dicaprio. This was announced today and is a big reason why I made this post. A year with Boyle, Del Toro, and Scorsese all coming out with films cannot be a bad year.

"Untitled Terrence Malick project" this could be the romance film starring Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams or it could be "Lawless" or "Knight of Cups." I'm thinking the Affleck/McAdams film will most likely be a 2013 release. Some speculate it might come out in 2012 which is possible, but considering how difficult Malick is with editing his films, I'm suspecting it will come out in 2013. I just can't see two Malick films coming out, one year after the other. It could happen, but I don't like getting my hopes up like that.

"Nebraska" from Alexander Payne. I originally thought this could be a 2012 release but considering filming hasn't started and casting hasn't started, I don't see Payne rushing himself on this one for a release this year. That said, it looks like he's really eager to get this off the ground so I'm sure it'll be out by next year.

"Twelve Years a Slave" from Steve McQueen. After "Hunger" and "Shame," I'm definitely looking forward to this film from McQueen. The British director had made quite a name for himself. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender will star in this film and Brad Pitt is said to have a supporting role. If this turns out to be as good as his first two films, McQueen will be on a short list of directors whose first three films would be the envy of any other director working.

"The Counselor" from Ridley Scott. With Michael Fassbender on board with this film and a screenplay from Cormac McCarthy, if "Prometheus" turns out to be good, this could be the perfect follow-up for Ridley Scott whose last few films have been met with not much fanfare.

"The Bling Ring" from Sofia Coppola. This is sounding like a much lighter film from Sofia Coppola than we're used to and I think that's a great move for her. Casting news has been popping up for this film so I'm assuming a 2013 release is in the works.

"The Side Effects" from Steven Soderbergh. Any Soderbergh film coming out in the next two years is noteworthy since they'll be his last films (at least for awhile, he keeps backtracking on the retirement rumors, although it was Matt Damon who started those rumors so, not his fault). The Side Effects sounds cool though, it's a psychological thriller. The only thing that I don't like is that Channing Tatum will be in the movie. I may be able to look over that, however, because it's Soderbergh and I don't want to miss the opportunity of seeing his last films on the big screen (his male-stripper film Magic Mike comes out this summer, yes, you read that correctly).

Wishful thinking/not enough news, but still hopeful:

"Noah" from Darren Aronofsky. Perhaps Aronofsky's most ambitious project yet with Russel Crowe set to star. If he gets the budget he wants and all goes well, this could wind up having a 2013 release and if it turns out great, all of a sudden 2013 could be rivaling 2012 in terms of the quality of films coming out.

"Labor Day" from Jason Reitman. Haven't heard much about this one other than it's being shot this summer with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. I would venture a guess that it'll be slated for a 2013 release, but don't hold me to it.

"Sin City 2" from Robert Rodriguez. He says it might be shooting this summer, but who can trust this guy anymore? It's been awhile since we've gotten a serious film from the man, too long.

"The Revenant" from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Haven't heard much of anything about this film, but any Inarritu film is going to perk my interest.



That's all I got so far. I'm sure Edgar Wright will have something coming out by 2013, maybe Ant-Man, maybe The World's End. Woody Allen has a film coming out every year and apparently his next film (after this year's Nero Fiddled) will be set in Copenhagen (!), I love the Woody Allen tour of Europe. Will David Fincher have something coming out by 2013? I'm getting the feeling he'll eventually be suckered into doing the Dragon Tattoo sequel, so yeah, I'm sure we'll see something from him by then. A personal favorite filmmaker of mine, Noah Baumbach was supposed to be making a film with Ben Stiller called "While We're Young" but production halted on it and he's doing an HBO show now. Will he be able to get back behind the camera for that film in time for a 2013 release? Who knows?

There's a lot of possibilities, and it's good to know that after 2012, we will not be let down when 2013 rolls along. And it's still way early, we have no idea what might be announced from now til the end of the year.

And who knows, maybe I'll have a feature film coming out in 2013. Now that's wishful thinking.

No comments: