I am beyond hyped for the return of Star Wars, Ant-Man, the next installments of James Bond, Fast and Furious and The Hunger Games and the cataclysmic superhero showdown of Batman vs. Superman and The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Unfortunately, that’s not until 2015…
But before you go reaching for your time machine, there’s some pretty intriguing options for 2014 — some of which are just as exciting as the soon to be legendary year that will follow it. So with no further hype, let’s check out the list!
300: Rise of an Empire(March 7)
Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) is forced to align his Greek army with Sparta in hopes of defeating Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his army, including the deadly Artemisia (Eva Green).
It may not approach the levels of its predecessor and Director Zack Snyder’s presence may be missed as well, but of all the gladiator-style films coming out in 2014, this is the safest bet.
The Amazing Spider-Man (May 2)
The summer movie season kicks off with the first sequel to the Spider-Man relaunch. Andrew Garfield returns as the titular character who has to contend with a new threat in Electro (Jamie Foxx) and other enemies brought in his path by someone at Oscorp.
I worry that this film may have too many bad guys, but I really enjoyed the first movie and Garfield’s take on Spider-Man so I’ll ignore my reservations for now.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4)
This is probably my most anticipated film of the year as I can’t wait to see the next chapter of Captain America. Now living in the present day, Captain America (Chris Evans) has to make sense of a new world while confronting a new challenge from the Russian agent The Winter Soldier.
This continues the theme of making all of the Marvel Studios films feel completely different from one another and this grounded tale is a nice switch from the universe spanning epic that was “Thor: The Dark World.” And we get the added benefit of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow in a co-starring role and the debut of Anthony Mackie’s Falcon as we start moving on the path to The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Edge of Tomorrow(June 6)
An action version of Groundhog Day. Tom Cruise plays a soldier fighting aliens stuck in a time loop that forces him to relive his last day on the battlefield, but he retains all of his experience and with the help of Emily Blunt, may finally be able to end the war.
This is another high concept sci-fi film that kinda reminds of “Looper” as well so I’m very interested in this one.
Guardians of the Galaxy(Aug. 1)
Of all the films on my list, this is the most important release in terms of what it means for the future. If this gamble —a movie where a jet pilot (Chris Pratt) stranded in space teams with aliens to stop intergalactic threats — from Marvel Studios works, it practically releases the floodgates of any Marvel Comics property not already locked up.
Based on the very brief teaser post-credit scene in Thor: The Dark World, Director James Gunn is embracing the space comic book theme appropriately. Now let’s hope audiences like it.
The Hobbit: There and Back Again (Dec. 17)
The first part of the trilogy was boring and felt every minute of its three-hour run time. The second wasn’t perfect, but had some excitement so maybe the third chapter will end the series on a good note?
This is probably the one Director Peter Jackson has been saving all of his best for so I’m interested to see how he concludes his Middle Earth saga.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Nov. 21)
After the cliffhanger from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, we learn what happened to the others and what role Katniss will play in the revolt against the Capitol. Say “sure thing” with me. That’s what this is and the early favorite to be 2014′s highest grossing film.
Interstellar (Nov. 7)
I believe in Christopher Nolan.
I haven’t just liked his movies. I’ve loved how he challenges the expectations of audiences no matter what genre he tackles.
His latest, starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, Wes Bentley and Casey Affleck, looks at humans breaking the limits of space travel. And because it’s Nolan, I don’t need to know anything else. I haven’t even bothered to look at this trailer. I know it’s gonna be awesome.
Transformers: Age of Extinction (June 27)
Michael Bay is back for another installment of his popular franchise featuring Optimus Prime and crew with a new leading man (Mark Wahlberg). This time out, a man and his daughter find a secret that could wipe out the Transformers and puts them at the forefront of a conflict between the Autobots, Decepticons and the government.
Expect a seriously imbalanced human to robot screen time ratio, a barely comprehensible story, some “just because” T&A and possibly a couple of slightly racist robots. But Bay does “stuff blow up good” movies like nobody else and he’s one of the few directors who does a great job of making use of 3D in his films.
X-Men: Days of Future Past(May 23)
The X-Men (and Magneto!) from the future send Wolverine back to the 1970s to prevent a horrific tragedy that dooms their future. With Anna Paquin’s Rogue being edited out of the final film that leaves us with just 197 mutants left.
I hope Director Bryan Singer is up to the challenge of juggling so many characters and that half the movie isn’t spent with the X-Men bemoaning their fate as mutants. This is the biggest blockbuster I’m most leery about, but hopefully this will come together to be an epic X-Men tale.
