Weekend Roundtable: 2016 Movies You’re Looking Forward To

The beginning of a new year is not just a good time to look back at the one that just passed, but also to look forward at what’s to come. Which upcoming movies scheduled for release in 2016 do you most anticipate?

If it helps, here’s a handy list of titles expected to see theatrical release this year.

Mike Attebery

I’m pretty wary of most of these so far (I fully expect ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’ to be a superturd), but here’s what looks interesting to me as of now:

‘Everybody Wants Some’
‘The Jungle Book’
‘Captain America: Civil War’
‘Finding Dory’
‘Ghostbusters’
‘Star Trek Beyond’
‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’

M. Enois Duarte

Many movies coming out in 2016 have piqued my interest. My initial list was much too long for this week’s topic. Here’s the short version of the movies I’m looking forward to this year:

‘The Witch’ (horror) – Most excited!
‘The Forest’ (horror)
‘Rings’ (horror)
‘A Man in the Dark’ (horror)
‘Jane Got a Gun’ (Western)
‘The Magnificent Seven’ (Western)
‘Hail, Caesar!’ (Coen Brothers comedy)
‘The Boss’ (Mellissa McCarthy comedy)
‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ (action horror comedy)

As for expected blockbusters, these are the ones I’ll most likely see in theaters:

‘Deadpool’ – Most anticipated
‘Zoolander No. 2’ – Really excited
‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’ – Highly anticipated
‘Captain America: Civil War’
‘X-Men: Apocalypse’
‘Warcraft’
‘Independence Day: Resurgence’
‘The BFG’
‘The Secret Life of Pets’
‘Ghostbusters’ – Really excited
‘Star Trek Beyond’
‘Suicide Squad’
‘Kubo and the Two Strings’
‘Gambit’
‘Inferno’
‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’
‘Doctor Strange’
‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’
‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’
‘Assassin’s Creed’

Shannon Nutt

Because of how impressed I was with ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, it probably goes without saying that I can’t wait to see what Disney, Lucasfilm and director Gareth Edwards do with ‘Rogue One’. Rumor has it that Edwards is shooting for a gritty war movie set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe, so I’m waiting to see if he’s able to go all-out with his vision for the film or if there will be pressure to still make the movie kid-friendly with lots of robots, monsters and humor included.

Also, I was a big fan of the book, so I’m anxious to see if Ron Howard and Tom Hanks can pull off some magic and make ‘Inferno’ worth checking out. Based on writer Dan Brown’s fourth Robert Langdon novel (the third book, ‘The Lost Symbol’, probably got skipped for film adaptation as it too closely resembled ‘National Treasure 2’), this one has the famous professor trying to stop a madman from releasing a deadly worldwide virus, all while suffering from amnesia. While I liked the adaptation of ‘The Da Vinci Code’, the prequel ‘Angels & Demons’ wasn’t very good, so I’m hoping this one will be a return to form. Lord knows Howard could use a breakout hit these days.

Surprisingly there’s more coming in 2016 that I’m NOT looking forward to seeing, rather than eagerly awaiting. Early buzz on movies like ‘Batman v. Superman’, ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’, ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Star Trek Beyond’ point to a year of blockbuster films that it’s hard to get excited about. In fact, I’ll just come out and say it: These movies look downright horrible.

Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)

It’s been entirely too long since I last caught a Coen bros. film theatrically, so I’m over the moon about ‘Hail, Caesar!’ in February. I haven’t really kept up with ‘Before I Wake’, but I dug director Mike Flanagan’s ‘Oculus’ enough to be on board with no questions asked. Ditto for Shane Black’s ‘The Nice Guys’, which looks like it might be the followup to ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ that I never thought would happen.

‘The Shallows’ had me at “shark survival thriller,” while ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ had me at the title alone. (I never thought that adaptation would ever see the light of day.) Also on the zombie-centric tip is ‘Patient Zero’, and having former Doctor Who Matt Smith and Natalie Dormer in the fray sure doesn’t hurt. The ‘Ghostbusters’ redux and ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ scratch all sorts of geeky itches as well.

What’ll really define 2016 for this lifelong comic fanatic is the sprawling slate of superhero movies: ‘Deadpool’, ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’, ‘Captain America: Civil War’, ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’, ‘Suicide Squad’, ‘Doctor Strange’, and ‘Gambit’. Okay, maybe I’ll pretend that ‘Gambit’ isn’t a thing, but I’m either excited or cautiously optimistic about the rest of that long list.

Luke Hickman

For me, 2015 was a mixed bag. The awards push at the end of the year was chock full of supposed hopefuls, yet few grand pictures resulted. The big blockbusters of the year ended up being more satisfying than the “quality” pictures. The following are a blend of both that I hope will make 2016 better than 2015:
‘Race’ (February 19) – Who doesn’t like a good historical sports drama that tackles still-relevant issues?

‘Risen’ (February 26) – Biblical dramas can go either way, but telling the story of Christ from the angle of a non-believing Roman might be worthwhile.

‘Triple 9’ (February 26) – I know nothing about the Aussie crime drama, but I love John Hillcoat so I’m all in.

‘The Witch’ (February 26) – I’ve been waiting for this horror movie to open wide since festival buzz started circulating last winter.

‘Midnight Special’ (March 18) – Jeff Nichols is one of the best young filmmakers out there. With this being a ‘Looper’ type sci-fi thriller, it has got some promise.

‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (March 25) – Marvel’s formula is becoming boring to me. Although the trailers have revealed too much, I believe in the Nolan/Snyder DC duo and truly believe this will knock our socks off.

‘Captain America: Civil War’ (May 6) – Having just bashed Marvel, I can’t deny my love of the Cap movies and character. His arc has been the only one to feature true quality and entertainment. ‘Civil War’ looks to continue that winning streak.

‘Going in Style’ (May 6) – I love me some Zach Braff and can’t wait to see what he does with a mainstream geriatric heist comedy.

‘Snowden’ (May 20) – Oliver Stone usually sucks these days and the push from 2015 awards season to mid-summer isn’t positive, but I love Snowden’s story and look forward to seeing it dramatized by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ (May 27) – I, for one, don’t want to see this franchise return to Marvel Studios because Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn have produced several Marvel movies that are better than those produced by Marvel Studios. No, Oscar Isaac’s costume doesn’t bother me either.

‘The BFG’ (July 1) – Disney + Spielberg + Roald Dahl = Amazing!

‘Ghostbusters’ (July 15) – No, it won’t be as good as the original, but it’s Paul Feig and a great cast.

‘The Bourne ______’ (July 29) – Hell yeah! With Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon back, Alicia Vikander joining the mix, and Tony Gilroy nowhere to be found, this should be a fun ride.

‘Suicide Squad’ (August 5) – Come on, DC. Don’t let me down!

‘The Magnificent Seven’ (September 23) – A Western by Antoine Fuqua? Why not?

‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’ (October 21) – The first ‘Jack Reacher’ was a great old school crime/action flick. Hopefully Ed Zwick can keep it going.

‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ (November 18) – Eddie Redmayne has a perpetually smug appearance, but I’ll take whatever extension to the Potter-verse I can get – especially with David Yates returning and bringing consistency to the spin-off.

‘Moana’ (November 23) – A new Disney princess!

‘Rogue One’ (December 16) – Duh.

Josh Zyber

I saw a whopping three movies in the theater in 2015 and don’t expect to break that record in 2016. It takes a lot to get me out of the house these days. At the moment, the only titles I might consider are ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Star Trek Beyond’. (I’ll see any ‘Trek’ movie in the theater, even if the trailer looks awful.) Perhaps more movies will appeal to me as I learn more about them and start seeing trailers, but the list available so far doesn’t have much that’s calling to me.

What movies this coming year do you look forward to? Tell us in the Comments.

20 comments

  1. Csm101

    Captain America: Civil War is at the top of my list, although I will be a little bit more cautiously excited in case it doesn’t fully deliver.
    I’m getting a little stoked for Deadpool.
    Ninja Turtles
    Secret Lives of Pets
    I would love to see a teaser for Ghostbusters
    Batman vs. Superman (more of a curiosity than total excitement). Not to say that I’m not excited, but it feels different then when I really want to see something. I really do hope it turns out well for all involved.
    Doctor Strange ( can’t wait to see a trailer)
    I didn’t even know Jack Reacher was coming out this year, but sign me up.

  2. A few HDD contributors are excited to see ‘Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’. For whatever reason (weird for the sake of being weird?), the actual title is ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      If you want to get technical about it, the on-screen title is “Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice” with no colon either. Punctuation is typically left out of on-screen movie credits, but it’s implied and we should add it back when writing about the movie. Otherwise, it reads like Batman is fighting the “Superman Dawn of Justice,” whatever that is.

  3. EM

    The Witch.

    It’s not on that list, but I’m hopeful that Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind will finally see release soon. There was a push to have it released in 2015, but at last report the film still isn’t quite finished.

  4. Bolo

    ‘The Nice Guys’ – Shane Black’s banter is always a treat to listen to, and he’s snagged a couple of actors I like for this one. The trailer had lots of good laughs.

    ‘Silencio’ / ‘Julietta’ – Pedro Almodóvar is coming off a career worst. But how bad ‘I’m so Excited!’ was was really just a fluke in the overall outstanding quality of his output. He’s a great filmmaker and I look forward to anything he does.

    ‘Deadpool’ – They’ve really been knocking themselves out with promotional stunts for this movie. If the film is in line with the tone and effort of its promotional campaign, I’ll go home happy. This is the role Ryan Reynolds was born to play.

    ‘Currently Untitled Obligatory Annual Woody Allen Film’ – Woody Allen is hit and miss, but I almost always get at least some enjoyment out of his films and look forward to whatever he’s going to do next.

    ‘The Light Between Oceans’ – I read this novel and quite liked it. Derek Cianfrance is a very good fit for the material and he’s assembled a solid cast who (aside from none of them being Australian) fit the characters well.

    • I’m worried about Deadpool. The last time that Ryan Reynolds quipped his way through a Marvel movie (‘Blade Trinity’), it ended a franchise.

      (I’m aware that the franchise died for more reasons than that – like David Goyer’s awful writing – but Reynolds’ was definitely a low point in it.)

      • Bolo

        I’d say the problem was more the decision to saddle Blade with sidekicks in the first place, and not the performances of the actors playing those sidekicks.

      • Reynolds was the best part of that movie IMO, so many issues with Trinity all around but I found him to be hilarious, loved the one liners, not so much the rest of the film, especially the awful Dracula fight….

  5. CC

    Anything without superhereos and special effects. I miss actors in real dramas that are well written. Where are the Dog Day Afternoons, and Mosquito Coasts?

  6. Chris B

    I honestly worried bout Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The trailers just look plain fucking bad. Sure it looks expensive and flashy but really really dumb. Ben Affleck is too recognizable as a famous actor to play Batman. amd why are we resaurecting the villain from the first movie already? Are we that starved for
    Ideas? I don’t think the movie is going to work at all TBH. I hope I’m wrong.

    • Bolo

      I wrote ‘B v S’ off as bound-to-be-bad and plan to skip it entirely. it just looks terrible and I didn’t like the last Superman movie.

      It’s ‘Suicide Squad’ that I feel could go either way at this point. The trailers look good and I like those ‘Dirty Dozen’ type men-on-a-mission movies. I’m assuming it’s going to be PG13, which I think will hinder the type of action they’re going for in this movie. I also hope they don’t soften the characters up with a bunch of lame endearment devices. David Ayer keeps promoting the film as “bad vs evil” and that’s the film I want. I don’t want “somewhat flawed with obvious potential for redemption vs evil”.

    • Good points, but I’d say Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and Christian Bale were too famous to play Batman as well. The only Batman actor that was a true ‘rookie’ (regarding movie power) was George Clooney. Back in 1997, having never seen ‘E.R.’, he was a complete unknown to me.

        • Deaditelord

          Plus George Clooney was already a household name due to his memorable performance in Roseanne as that… oh what was it… It’s on the tip of my tongue… 🙂

      • Chris B

        I get that those 3 were working actors at the time they were cast as Batman, but not near the level of fame as Affleck is. He won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting, dated J.LO (which put him directly in the public eye), has acted regularly ever since, started directing and won another Oscar etc. Even the first time I watched the trailer when it showed that shot of him getting out of the car and some reporter was lik “oh him? That’s Bruce Wayne”, I literally said out loud to myself “uhhh…no THATS Ben Affleck”. I hope I’m wrong and the movie turns out to be great after all, I just can’t help but be worried it’ll turn out to be shit.

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