As 2019 comes at us fast & furious (and yes, there is one of those movies coming out this year), we wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the films that we here at ScienceFiction.com are most looking forward to seeing this year. This is by no means a comprehensive list, merely a subjective collection of movies that we are eagerly anticipating seeing on the big screen between now and December!
Pretty Much All of Marvel’s Films
Okay, this one is a bit of a cheat, as it’s not just one movie – but come on, how can you ask us to pick just one? Between a trio of entrants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and two X-Men films (including one film that gets the rare chance to “re-do” a classic storyline that’s already been done cinematically once), we are ready and waiting for – in chronological release order – ‘Captain Marvel‘ on March 8, ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ on April 26, ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix‘ on June 7, ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home‘ on July 5, and ‘New Mutants‘ on August 2.
Pretty Much All of Disney’s Films
Cheating here too – cut us some slack, will ya? Disney (parent company of Marvel and the next film down the list too) is working overtime to produce entertainment for the masses, and this calendar year they have a whopping 5 films that are either sequels or remakes coming to theaters. In chronological release order, we have ‘Dumbo’ on March 29, ‘Aladdin’ on May 24, ‘Toy Story 4‘ on June 21, ‘The Lion King’ on July 19, and ‘Frozen 2’ on November 22.
Star Wars Episode IX
If you’re reading this article here on ScienceFiction.com and you weren’t aware that there is a Star Wars movie coming out this year – the conclusion to the new trilogy, allegedly bringing closure to the tale of Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, and the Skywalkers in general – well, let’s just say that you might fall on the intelligence scale somewhere between a porg and a bantha. And that’s saying something. The film’s subtitle has yet to be revealed as of this writing, but since the film comes our way on December 20, expect the Hype Machine to start ramping up to full speed sometime around Summer of this year.
Shazam!
‘Shazam‘ should be a very interesting litmus test of sorts for DC and their “new direction” in their Extended Universe of films. Featuring the first film in DC’s “modern era” that is a solo outing for a character that wasn’t featured as a member of the DCEU Justice League, the movie’s tale revolves around 14-year-old Billy Batson, a foster child who accidentally stumbles across a mysterious wizard who grants him superhuman powers whenever he utters the titular phrase. With Zachary Levi starring as the superhero form of Shazam and DC riding a wave of recent success from their most recent release, ‘Aquaman,’ expectations are high for this film when it debuts on April 5.
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu
It’s always awesome when a film comes out of left-field to grab people by surprise and get them excited for its release. Such is the case with ‘Detective Pikachu,’ a project that was green-lit in mid-2016 but didn’t really make waves until its first trailer dropped in November 2018. The uniqueness of a live-action Pokémon movie, the casting of Ryan Reynolds as the voice of the titular creature, and a super-quirky preview trailer have all combined to make the buzz on this film skyrocket. It’s scheduled for a May 10 release.
Joker
Another DC entrant to the list, ‘Joker‘ has the significance of being the first major theatrical film from the comic company since the creation of the DC “Extended Universe” of films that isn’t a part of the DCEU. The movie is intended to be the first of a line of together-but-separate features focused on the villains of the DC realm; although there has been no official posters or trailers for the film as of yet ahead of its October 4 release, early buzz and “leaked” photos of star Joaquin Phoenix as the title character have been generating strong early interest.
IT: Chapter 2
Building on the strong success of “Chapter 1,” aka the reimagined ‘IT’ film that hit theaters in 2017, ‘IT: Chapter 2‘ is a sequel/continuation that will likely feature serious scares to go along with its serious star power: in addition to Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff all reprising their roles as the younger versions of the members of The Losers Club, the movie features adult versions of the characters portrayed by the likes of James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Jay Ryan, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, James Ransone, and Andy Bean. Of course, Bill Skarsgård is back to terrorize them all as the ultra-creepy clown monster. Catch the film when it hits theaters on September 6.
Men in Black: International
The Men in Black franchise has had an interesting last few years: after (very intriguing) plans were announced that MiB would be “crossing over” with the ’21 Jump Street’ film franchise for their next outing, people got very intrigued: could these two properties pull of a Scooby-Doo-esque mega-guest-star melding? Then things got quiet on the project, and 2018 brought us news that the Men in Black franchise was moving in a different direction, reuniting ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ castmates Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in ‘Men in Black: International.’ A trailer came just a few months ago, and the internet seems cautiously optimistic that this June 14 film can rekindle the franchise.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Oh boy – things are getting real for humanity in the ever-expanding MonsterVerse, Legendary Pictures’ interconnected movie world. First, we were given news that big boys Godzilla and King Kong were getting together for a ‘Rampage’-like throwdown in 2020’s ‘Godzilla vs. Kong,’ but before that, audiences have to smash their way through ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters,’ which will see the titular ginormous lizard go mega-toe to mega-toe with a plethora of other giant monsters like Mothra, Rodan, and the triple-threat King Ghidorah. Expect the world to get fairly well destroyed upon the movie’s May 31 release.
Us
Jordan Peele proved to the world that the man knows his horror when he released the stunning ‘Get Out’ in 2017 to rave reviews. Now, the writer-director is ready to prove that lightning can indeed strike twice with the impending premiere of ‘Us,’ a film whose trailer hit just last month and absolutely enthralled its viewers. Details of the film are fairly sparse, but the main plot seems to revolve around a family on vacation that is inexplicably brought face to face with what appears to be evil versions of themselves. Expect the proverbial poop to hit the fan nationwide with the film drops wide on March 22.
Zombieland 2
The “dark horse” of this list, a ‘Zombieland’ sequel seemed to become more and more of a pipe dream the further away we moved from the original film’s 2009 release. But here we are, one full decade and a failed TV adaptation later, and the original creative team and crew are getting together to see if lightning can indeed strike twice. Very little is known about the plot details of the film – an intentional move on the part of writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick – but it is confirmed that the original cast of Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin are all returning, along with ‘Zombieland’ cameo superstar Bill Murray and fellow Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd for good measure. See how many more rules are made to be kept when the film comes out on October 11.
Which movie above are you most excited to see in 2019? Which movies coming this year are not on our list but still have you itching in anticipation? Let us know in the Comments below!
