The 50 Movies We're Most Excited to See in 2017
Some movie fans may lament that Hollywood is dominated by franchises. But at least in 2017, those franchises should bear some extra-tasty fruit. There are four new Marvel movies coming (Guardians Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Logan, and Thor: Ragnarok), two from DC (Wonder Woman, Justice League), a new Star Wars episode, sequels from the worlds of Fast & Furious, Planet of the Apes, Trainspotting, and Pitch Perfect, and reboots to Jumanji, The Mummy, and Power Rangers.
Related: The 50 Best Movies of 2016
And yes, there are some original movies in the mix too, like Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic Dunkirk, the Pixar adventure Coco, and Edgar Wright’s sure-to-be-stylish thriller Baby Driver. Here are 50 movies we can’t wait to see in the new year.
50. XXX: The Return of Xander Cage
Release date: Jan. 20
Starring: Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa
Director: D.J. Caruso
The scoop: Before Diesel hits the gas for the Fast & Furious sequel in April, he’ll return with his other franchise about government agent and extreme sports fanatic Xander Cage, who saddles up for a new mission with a new team as he tries to follow Samuel L. Jackson’s NSA agent’s advice: “Kick some ass, get the girl, and try to look dope while you’re doing it.”
Watch the ‘XXX’ trailer:
49. The Great Wall
Release date: Feb. 17
Starring: Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal
Director: Zhang Yimou
The scoop: East meets West in the biggest — and most unexpectedly controversial — Chinese/American co-production in Hollywood history. Much of the pre-release criticism involves Damon’s seemingly incongruous presence on China’s legendary wall, as a white mercenary fighting monsters alongside armies of medieval Chinese warriors. Fortunately, early reviews have suggested that the situation is a lot more nuanced than that.
48. Power Rangers
Release date: March 24
Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks
Director: Dean Israelite
The scoop: A reboot of the live-action series about the mighty morphin’, multi-hued superteam, this new version will focus on five outcast teenagers who accidentally uncover the source of their awesome powers — while also luring Ranger slayer Rita Repulsa (Banks) back to Earth.
47. John Wick: Chapter 2
Release date: Feb. 10
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Common, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne
Director: Chad Stahelski
The scoop: Keanu Reeves’s assassin is back — with a new dog in tow — in the sequel to 2015’s hit. This time around, Reeves’s Wick will spend at least some time in Rome battling rival assassins in a star-studded saga (also co-starring Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo and Lance Reddick) that’ll aim to deliver more stylish gun-fu action.
Watch the ‘John Wick 2’ trailer:
46. American Made
Release date: Sept. 29
Starring: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Jesse Plemons
Director: Doug Liman
The scoop: Cruise reunites with his Edge of Tomorrow director for this based-on-a-true-story thriller about an ex-Navy SEAL and pilot who smuggled drugs for kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1970s and 1980s and who was later recruited as a high-level informant.
45. The Belko Experiment
Release date: March 17
Starring: Tony Goldwyn, John Gallagher Jr., Adria Arjona
Director: Greg McLean
The scoop: Think you’ve got some workplace horror stories? They don’t hold a candle to this. Guardians of the Galaxy writer-director James Gunn penned the twisted story of a corporate headquarters where employees are forced into a deadly, Hunger Games-style competition.
44. Murder on the Orient Express
Release date: Nov. 22
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley
The scoop: Agatha Christie’s 1934 tale of murder on a train became an all-star vehicle for director Sidney Lumet in 1974 and earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for Ingrid Bergman. That’s clearly the model for Kenneth Branagh: He directs and stars as sleuth Hercule Poirot in this new take, with additional tickets to ride for Michelle Pfeiffer, Penélope Cruz, Josh Gad, Judi Dench, Michael Pe?a, and more.
43. Cars 3
Release date: June 16
Starring: Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt
Director: Brian Fee
The scoop: Based on the initial teaser, Disney-Pixar’s threequel takes the kid-friendly franchise in a darker direction, with Lightning McQueen (Wilson) trying to find his way among a new generation of racers, taking inspiration from late mentor Doc Hudson and best bud Mater. The question is: How much mileage is left for one of Pixar’s least-loved properties?
42. The Greatest Showman
Release date: Dec. 25
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya
Director: Michael Gracey
The scoop: Circus movies haven’t been a big deal since the days of Charlie Chaplin (1928’s The Circus), Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936), and Freaks (1932), but this biopic about P.T. Barnum (Jackman), the most famous name in circuses (circusi?), hopes to change that. While plot details are scarce, something tells us the story will be told through the eyes of a big-top neophyte played by Efron.
41. Transformers: The Last Knight
Release date: June 23
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro
Director: Michael Bay
The scoop: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, and their human pals are back for this fifth go-round, which involves epoch-hopping Transformers (the first trailer featured mechanical medieval dragons… and Nazis) and deep space travel. But plot has never mattered much for a franchise all about robots in disguise beating the gears out of each of other, and with Bay back for (he swears) his last Transformers movie, expect bigger and louder ‘bot battles.
Watch the ‘Transformers’ trailer:
40. Super Troopers 2
Release date: TBD
Starring: Kevin Heffernan, Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske, Paul Soter
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
The scoop: Meow we’re talking. After years of promising a sequel to their 2000 cult classic, the syrup-swigging, mustached men in uniform from Broken Lizard will finally deliver another round of highway hijinks, thanks in large part to that raised over $4.5 million from fans. Costars Brian Cox and Lynda Carter return, while Rob Lowe and Emmanuelle Chriqui join the festivities.
39. Ghost in the Shell
Release date: March 31
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche
Director: Rupert Sanders
The scoop: A flashpoint in the ongoing debate over Hollywood whitewashing arrived when Scarlett Johansson was announced as the star of this live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese manga series and its equally popular anime franchise. Winning over those jaded audiences might prove a more difficult challenge for Johansson’s cyborg cop, the Major, than her ostensible mission: tracking a rogue hacker.
38. Molly’s Game
Release date: TBD
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Chris O’Dowd
Director: Aaron Sorkin
The scoop: Hollywood’s most celebrated wordsmith, Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball), makes his directorial debut with this drama about a former Olympic skiing hopeful (Chastain, in a rare brunette role) who becomes the target of an FBI investigation after establishing a wildly successful high-stakes poker tournament. Sorkin adapted the story from the memoir of real-life subject Molly Bloom.
37. Fifty Shades Darker
Release Date: Feb. 10
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger
Director: James Foley
The scoop: Our lovelorn kinksters Christian (Dornan) and Anastasia (Johnson) called it quits at the end of 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey, but it’s no spoiler to say the sequel will promptly reunite them for more intrigue, both inside and outside the bedroom. The sequel to the blockbuster adaptation of E.L. James’s best-selling novel will also introduce some new faces, including Oscar winner Kim Basinger as Christian’s former flame and Hannibal’s Hugh Dancy as his therapist.
Watch the ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ trailer:
36. Downsizing
Release Date: Dec. 22
Starring: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Christoph Waltz, Neil Patrick Harris
Director: Alexander Payne
The scoop: Think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, from the director of Sideways and Election. That’s the mashup that comes to mind when hearing the premise of the latest comedic drama from Payne, which comes with a dash of sci-fi as a married couple (Damon and Wiig) jointly volunteer to be shrunk down, Ant-Man-style… until the wife pulls out of the deal at the last minute.
35. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Release date: May 26
Starring: Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom
Directors: Joachim R?nning and Espen Sandberg
The scoop: Yo-ho, yo-ho, is the pirate life still for Johnny Depp? Disney sure hopes the actor’s box-office fortunes rebound with the actor’s fifth voyage as Captain Jack Sparrow, this time facing off with ghostly adversary Captain Salazar (Bardem). Franchise stalwarts Hector Barbossa (Rush) and Will Turner (Bloom) are back for more high-sea shenanigans.
34. Pitch Perfect 3
Release Date: Dec. 22
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Hailee Steinfeld, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Elizabeth Banks
Director: Trish Sie
The scoop: It seemed like the baton was being passed from one Bella (Kendrick) to another (Steinfeld) in Pitch Perfect 2, but that was before the sequel went on to gross an aca-amazing $184 million at the box office. Now this threequel not only returns Kendrick and gets a coveted Christmas week release —there are also rumors that pop stars Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus could join in.
33. The Dark Tower
Release date: July 28
Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
The scoop: After a decade of false starts, Stephen King’s seven-volume magnum opus finally comes to movie theaters in a feature film that’s reportedly more of a sequel to the author’s densely plotted fantasy novels than a straightforward adaptation. What hasn’t changed is that the story still involves a man in black (McConaughey) fleeing across a desert and a gunslinger (Elba) tracking him.
32. Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Release date: Oct. 6
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry
The scoop: The big news leading up to the release of this sequel to the 2014 sleeper about a secret agent in training (Egerton) is that his stately mentor, Firth’s Harry Hart, isn’t dead after all. Beyond Firth’s return, Part II will be extra-loaded with star power with the additions of Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges.
31. The Circle
Release date: April 28
Starring: Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, John Boyega
Director: James Ponsoldt
The scoop: This timely thriller, based on Dave Eggers’ 2013 novel, gets its title from the fictional technology-and-social-media company where Emma Watson’s character lands a coveted job. Hanks plays the company’s founder, who claims that the Circle’s social network has the power to solve the world’s problems — but as it turns out, such power is easily abused.
Watch ‘The Circle’ trailer:
30. Jumanji
Release date: Dec. 22
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black
The scoop: Talk about rolling the dice: Will fans return to a Robin Williams favorite without Robin Williams? It helps to have the social media muscle of the Rock, who has tirelessly shared good vibes from the set. He and his co-stars play avatars of four kids facing a dire predicament. Are you game? Next move — at the box office — is yours.
29. Mother
Release Date: TBD
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris
Director: Darren Aronofsky
The scoop: Welcome to a house party, Aronofsky-style. The Black Swan auteur assembled a stellar cast — including Lawrence, who he’s now dating — for the disturbing story of a married couple who unexpectedly find themselves having to entertain uninvited guests.
28. Split
Release date: Jan. 20
Starring: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jessica Sula, Haley Lu Richardson
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
The scoop: After making a strong comeback with 2015’s The Visit, Shyamalan has successfully returned to his supernatural-twisty roots with this thriller, which earned strong reviews out of September’s Fantastic Fest. McAvoy will generate creepy thrills as a man with multiple personalities (including a beastly one), who kidnaps three teenage girls (including The Witch breakout Taylor-Joy).
27. The Mummy
Release date: June 9
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Russell Crowe
Director: Alex Kurtzman
The scoop: The first trailer seems more Mission: Impossible than monster movie, but what do you expect when you hire Tom Cruise to reboot The Mummy? Universal is banking on this action-adventure yarn, with Boutella (Star Trek Beyond) putting a female spin on the iconic Boris Karloff role, to launch a shared universe that will eventually be populated with Frankenstein’s monster and his bride, Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Watch ‘The Mummy’ trailer:
26. Life
Release date: March 24
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson
Director: Daniel Espinosa
The scoop: It shares a title with a 1999 prison comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence (not to mention a pretty iconic board game), but this sci-fi thriller is one of the more intriguing originals to look forward to in 2017. Written by Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, it follows a group of (very good-looking) astronauts who discover life on Mars. Inevitably, things go way awry.
25. Baywatch
Release Date: May 26
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario
Director: Seth Gordon
The scoop: Is Baywatch the Star Trek of the ’80s? Canceled fast by NBC, syndication gave the lifeguard series 10 more years, and now a “next generation.” So is Johnson the Picard to David Hasselhoff’s Kirk? While you mull that, here’s the forecast for Memorial Day weekend: a Red Swimsuit Alert and sustained shirtlessness, with good-natured repartee, and maybe a hint of a plot.
24. The Lego Batman Movie
Release date: Feb. 10
Starring: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera
Director: Chris McKay
The scoop: Will Arnett: great big screen Batman or the greatest big screen Batman? Based on the utterly brick-tastic trailers for this sideways sequel to The Lego Movie, we’re going with the latter. Along with Cera’s shorts-wearing Boy Wonder and Galifianakis’s Joker, Arnett is poised to finally bring the funny back to the Batcave.
Watch the ‘Lego Batman Movie’ trailer:
23. Get Out
Release Date: Feb. 24
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford
Director: Jordan Peele
The scoop: There’s some funny business going on when Chris (Kaluuya), a young black man, visits the family of Rose (Williams), his white girlfriend. But it’s not the kind we expect from the Key & Peele comedian, who directs this enticing horror film from his own script. Will Chris get the last laugh — or draw his last breath — in his gal’s odd hometown?
22. War for the Planet of the Apes
Release date: July 14
Starring: Andy Serkis, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson
Director: Matt Reeves
The scoop: The follow-up to 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a full-blown war movie about the last stand of the world’s surviving humans (led by Harrelson) against its growing ranks of super-intelligent apes. Serkis returns as primate leader Caesar, one of his richest motion-capture characters, who has been hardened by battle, but still hopes to broker peace between the species.
21. Red Sparrow
Release date: Nov. 10
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons
Director: Francis Lawrence
The scoop: Depending on the release of Mother, Jennifer Lawrence may have to wait nearly a full year to get her chance at a rebound from the rare critical drubbing her new film, Passengers, is suffering. The Oscar winner reteams with Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence (no relation) to play a Russian spy who flirts with the idea of becoming a double agent after falling in love with a CIA agent (Edgerton).
20. Alien: Covenant
Release date: May 19
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Noomi Rapace, Danny McBride
Director: Ridley Scott
The scoop: While it didn’t completely win over franchise fans, director Ridley Scott’s 2012 Prometheus set a sturdy stage for this Alien prequel, which will star Katherine Waterston as a Ripley-esque heroine who ventures to a distant world with only one inhabitant: Michael Fassbender’s android David. The movie’s first poster suggests a return to the series’ old-school horror roots.
19. The House
Release date: June 30
Starring: Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler
Director: Andrew Jay Cohen
The scoop: Former Saturday Night Live chums Ferrell and Poehler headline their first comedy together. They play a married couple who very irresponsibly blow their daughter’s college fund, then even more irresponsibly attempt to recoup their losses by starting an illegal casino in their basement. We’re betting on this one to be hilarious.
18. T2: Trainspotting
Release date: March 3
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald
Director: Danny Boyle
The scoop: Twenty years after their international breakthrough, Ewan McGregor and Danny Boyle return to the grim council flats and disgusting bathrooms of Scotland for another heroin-fueled, Iggy Pop-scored romp.
17. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Release date: July 21
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Rihanna
Director: Luc Besson
The scoop: America isn’t the only nation with a strong comic book tradition. The French filmmaker behind The Fifth Element adapts a long-running Gallic comic that dates all the way back to the swinging ’60s. DeHaan and Delevingne play a pair of deep space operatives who embark on a grand adventure made possible by out-of-this-world special effects.
Watch the ‘Valerian’ trailer:
16. Kong: Skull Island
Release date: March 10
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
The scoop: Its first trailer made it look like a cross between earlier King Kong films, Predator and Apocalypse Now — a combination that should make for an epic monster mash. This 1970s-set would-be blockbuster will pit Kong against a horde of invading military and science personnel whose arrival isn’t exactly welcomed by the primate — or the various mutant creatures that roam his homeland.
15. Snatched
Release Date: May 12
Starring: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn
Director: Jonathan Levine
The scoop: After a 15-year break, Goldie Hawn returns to the big screen as a risk-averse mom convinced by wild-child daughter Amy Schumer to cut loose on a South American vacation. When they get abducted, aka “Liam Neeson taken,” it’s the setup for the co-stars to call upon their very particular set of skills — making us laugh.
14. Beauty and the Beast
Release date: March 17
Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad
Director: Bill Condon
The scoop: Disney’s 1991 animated classic is returning to the big screen as a live-action musical, starring Watson as Belle, Stevens as a motion-capture Beast, and Evans as hunky villain Gaston. The film will include some new songs, but it’s safe to say that everyone is most excited for “Be Our Guest,” starring Ewan McGregor as candlestick Lumière and a full cast of dancing household objects.
Watch the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ trailer:
13. Baby Driver
Release date: August 11
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal
Director: Edgar Wright
The scoop: We’re still mourning the pint-size heist movie that Wright intended his discarded version of Ant-Man to be, but at least he gets to scratch that itch without any goofy costumes. Elgort headlines the director’s first feature since The World’s End as a getaway driver who signs on to a robbery orchestrated by a nefarious mob boss (Kevin Spacey) only to have the whole thing blow up in his face.
12. Thor: Ragnarok
Release date: Nov. 3
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Anthony Hopkins
Director: Taika Waititi
The scoop: Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder may have sat out Captain America: Civil War, but he’ll be back in action in the jam-packed Ragnarok, which will pair him with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk on an inter-dimensional adventure involving Hiddleston’s Loki, Blanchett’s Hela, Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster and Karl Urban’s Skurge. With comedic director Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) at the helm, expect both mayhem and laughs.
11. Coco
Release date: November 22
Starring: Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Anthony Gonzalez
Director: Lee Unkrich
The scoop: Inspired by Dia de los Muertos (the Mexican Day of the Dead), Pixar’s next original film promises to be a colorful, music-filled adventure. A Mexican boy (Gonzalez) journeys into the Land of the Dead to find his favorite musician, but encounters some surprises along the way — including the souls of his own ancestors.
10. The Fate of the Furious
Release date: April 14
Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Charlize Theron
Director: F. Gary Gray
The scoop: The eighth installment of Universal’s fast-car franchise has an unexpected twist: Outlaw hero Dominic Toretto (Diesel) aligns with an evil Theron and turns against his “family.” It’s a perfect excuse for Gibson, Rodriguez, and company to break out the big guns — and by “big guns,” we mean the substantial muscle belonging to Johnson, Jason Statham, and new cast member Helen Mirren (who didn’t show up in the first trailer, but hopefully gets to drive the coolest car.)
Watch ‘The Fate of the Furious’ trailer:
9. Rock That Body
Release date: June 16
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoe Kravitz
Director: Lucia Aniello
The scoop: First-time helmer Aniello — a frequent director on Comedy Central’s Broad City — delivers this “raunchy comedy” about a bachelorette party gone horribly wrong. It’s a female-driven flick that will give Johansson a rare chance to flex her comedy muscles (as she did in 2016’s little-seen Hail, Caesar!). Also joining the party: a dream team of Hollywood’s funniest actresses, including McKinnon, Jillian Bell, and Ilana Glazer.
8. Logan
Release date: March 3
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant
Director: James Mangold
The scoop: Hugh Jackman’s final outing as adamantium-clawed X-Men member Wolverine will be a dark, blood-soaked R-rated affair in which the hero, now old and alone, navigates a bleak Western landscape in which mutants are nearly extinct. On the basis of its numerous photos and stirring trailer, it seems primed to be a sterling swan song for Jackman’s mutant.
7. Justice League
Release date: Nov. 17
Starring: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa
Director: Zack Snyder
The scoop: Justice has dawned, and the future of Snyder’s continued involvement in the DC Universe seems staked on this all-star team-up adventure that unites Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash, Cyborg and a back-from-the-dead Superman. To borrow a line from John Rambo: Do they get to have fun this time?
Watch the ‘Justice League’ trailer:
6. Blade Runner 2049
Release date: Oct. 6
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright
Director: Denis Villeneuve
The scoop: Blade Runner turns 35 in 2017, and what better way to celebrate than with a Ridley Scott-approved sequel? Staying in the realm of brainy sci-fi after this year’s hit Arrival, Villeneuve directs Ford and Gosling in a follow-up that takes place three decades after the original film in a dystopian future that’s increasingly taking a turn for the post-apocalyptic.
5. Dunkirk
Release date: July 21
Starring: Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance
Director: Christopher Nolan
The scoop: For his follow-up to 2014’s Interstellar, Christopher Nolan will take to the beaches of Dunkirk, France, for this based-on-real-events World War II story about the mammoth evacuation of Allied forces before they were captured or killed by the Germans. With Nolan regular Tom Hardy leading the way (as well as participation from One Direction’s Harry Styles), it already looks like another potential triumph.
4. Spider-Man: Homecoming
Release date: July 7
Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Marisa Tomei
Director: Jon Watts
The scoop: After an acclaimed debut in Civil War, Tom Holland will again don the Marvel wall-crawler’s costume for his own standalone adventure in Homecoming, which will reportedly boast a John Hughes-esque teen-movie vibe. Given that it’ll also feature the participation of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man (seen in the trailer), it should be one of summer 2017’s most popular releases.
3. Wonder Woman
Release date: June 2
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen
Director: Patty Jenkins
The scoop: At long last, comics’ preeminent female superhero gets her own movie. Set during the first World War, the adventure follows Gadot’s immortal warrior as she leaves her all-female homeland to help humankind. After the postmodern nihilism of 2016’s Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, DC appears to be treating Wonder Woman as a story of old-fashioned heroism — which might be exactly what audiences need in 2017.
Watch the ‘Wonder Woman’ trailer:
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Release date: May 5
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper
Director: James Gunn
The scoop: Return to that galaxy far, far away (no, not that one) where Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Pratt), and his fellow Guardians are hard at play. It’s all fun and games for this intergalactic band of outsiders… at least until Peter’s father (Kurt Russell) shows up. Expect more laughs, more soul music and, above all, more Baby Groot.
1. Star Wars: Episode VIII
Release date: Dec 15
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Carrie Fisher
Director: Rian Johnson
The scoop: Not much is known about this sequel to 2015’s mega-blockbuster The Force Awakens (not even the title!) — which, of course, is part of the fun. What we do know is that VIII continues the saga of young rebel Rey (Ridley), who will likely learn the ways of the Force from Luke Skywalker (Hamill) and perhaps even discover the identity of her long-lost parents. After the enjoyable detour that was Rogue One, fans will be eager to get back to the adventures of General Leia (Fisher), reformed Stormtrooper Finn (Boyega), and Vader-esque villain Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).
