2012 was a miraculous year for film. Just earlier this week, it was announced that the combined total box-office gross collected during 2012 has set a record for money spent by Americans at the movies. Not only that, but major tentpole blockbusters were the thing for 2012 what with the debut of the first installment in the now-raging Hunger Games franchise, combined with the rousing success of comic book franchises like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, each scoring at least $1 Billion worldwide.
Also, for the first time in years, the films with the most Oscar-buzz have proven to be audience and box-office favorites, with Les Miserables scoring the second highest Christmas debut in history and Lincoln keeping a place on the top ten list for seven straight weeks.
Notable filmmakers ran wild in 2012, as did the world of independant film, in a manner that would suggest that they wanted to get their “masterpiece” out before the world ended. Welp, the world didn’t end, but there is still plenty to look forward to as 2012 comes to a close and 2013 breaches the horizon.
‘Iron Man 3’
As we mentioned above, the success of the Avengers has propelled the future of Marvel/Disney into a new place of honor, one that will be difficult to impeach. Since The Avengers marks Robert Downey Jr.’s third time donning the technological suit, Iron Man 3 will be the first threequel in history to feature a hero in their fourth major motion picture appearance, and given the sudden worldwide popularity of this former B-level Marvel property, it has the potential to bring back those Avengers audiences that are eager to experience more of this uniquely connected cinematic universe.
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You might notice (if you’re a cheater McFleeter that browsed down to the bottom of the list before reading each piece one by one) that the upcoming Thor: The Dark World is conspicuously absent from this list. For the most part, we’re just excited to see the continuation of the universe, which in this case, will follow Tony Stark as he wrestles with himself over one crucial question: Does the man make the suit, or does the suit make the man?
If the trailer is any indication, Ben Kingsley has turned fan favorite villain The Mandarin into something very special for Iron Man 3, and the reteaming of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director Shane Black with Robert Downey Jr. seems to have resulted in the creation of a brand new tone for the franchise, one that distances itself from the recent Avengers-splosion and more toward what Iron Man director Jon Favreau had envisioned for the character.
In Iron Man 3, we’ll see Tony Stark go “back to the cave” as he struggles to protect the people that he cares about the most, and if we’re lucky, we’ll get even more hints about where the full Marvel Cinematic Universe will be headed from here. We can only wonder what Marvel has in store for us as an after-credits sequence, but at this point, it seems that a leadup into the mysterious Thor: The Dark World will be prudent. Frankly, we’re happy to see Tony return to his stark reality, but we also can hardly wait until 2015 to see him assemble into something larger.
Iron Man 3 will explode into theaters on May 3, 2013
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’
It wasn’t necessarily a surprise when director J.J. Abrams turned Star Trek into an explosion of a reboot that even the most stringent anti-Trekker couldn’t help but fall in love with, and now with the sequel, Abrams has taken his universe a step further by introducing a thrilling new villain to shake up the lives of Kirk and his crew. We don’t know much about the mysterious character that Benedict Cumberbatch was hired to play, but since the trailer highlights a few of his most wicked (and most badass) deeds, we can only assume that he will wreak absolute havoc.
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The news that Benedict Cumberbatch would play a villain that would go toe-to-toe with Zachary Quinto was revealed via bootlegged set video some time last year. As always, the behind-the-scenes video didn’t quite match up to the pure epic quality that the trailer emanates, but now that we’ve gotten to see the character in action (and hear the character in action), we can only imagine what type of absolute destruction that Cumberbatch will bring into the mix.
The trailer features Cumberbatch with insane strength and intimidating mental prowess, leaving some to believe that he will be playing the infamous Khan, though recent reports have revealed that his character is actually named John Harrison, and images from the trailer lead us to believe that he will operate under the cover of the StarFleet Academy for at least a portion of the movie.
According to the synopsis, Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk will lead the charge on a one-man-hunt for Cumberbatch’s character after he “detonates” the fleet and everything that it stands for. After the nonstop action, lens flares, and cross continuity presented in 2009’s Star Trek there’s no doubt that Abrams will have plenty in store for the franchise as it Treks Into Darkness.
Star Trek Into Darkness will crash into theaters on May 17, 2013‘Man of Steel’
Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way right now. Christopher Nolan is done with the DC Universe. We have heard legions of fans discussing how they hope that Christopher Nolan will do to Superman what he did with Batman, but it’s important to note that he is merely serving as a producer on Man of Steel. This means that he has only a certain amount of actual involvement, and in exchange, Warner Bros. gets to slap his name on the posters and trailers. It’s a power play to be sure, but one would hope that the use of his name will signify a step back from older Superman films, and reintroduce America’s oldest superhero to a brand new audience.
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Zack Snyder has taken the reins of the Superman franchise, and if the likes of 300 and Watchmen weren’t enough to convince audiences that his visual style would suit the material, the trailer did enough to convince people that Man of Steel would be something different. Warner Bros. is putting all of their eggs into one basket with this one, re-investing in their dormant comic book properties in the hope of revitalizing not just one franchise, but all of them.
They’ve announced that their Avengers competition, the upcoming Justice League will launch from the premiere of Man of Steel, so the anticipation we’re feeling has less to do with Superman (though a new vision on Superman is already something to write home about) and more to do with the emergence of a brand new Cinematic Universe from Warner Bros. featuring all of our favorites from the DC comic universe.
Will the future hold another Green Lantern or Wonder Woman? Will Christopher Nolan’s notoriously dark and no-nonsense Dark Knight trilogy serve as a model for what is sure to be a foil to Marvel’s comparably happy-go-lucky cinematic universe? We won’t find out until we actually see the film, but this reboot offers Superman the opportunity to be reborn as something much more unique than anything we’ve seen so far.
Man of Steel will fly into theaters on June 14, 2013
‘This Is The End’
There’s something fascinating about the concept of seeing celebrities playing themselves. In some cases, you might be lucky enough to see one or two actors that play themselves during the running time of a film. In some cases, they play ridiculous caricatures of themselves, but watching it happen is always a fun experience. Enter Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s new experiment This Is The End which features a gigantic cast of mostly comedy stars playing themselves as they deal with the end of the world.
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Starring the likes of Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, Michael Cera, Jay Baruchel, Mindy Kaling, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Danny McBride, Evan Goldberg, Aziz Ansari, Paul Rudd, and Emma freaking Watson, This Is The End looks like it has serious potential to be a super-meta mega-comedy centered on one of the more cliche events of recent years.
They pushed to release the trailer before December 21st, 2012, you know, in case the world ended, but seeing that it didn’t, they’ll have some explaining to do if their name-drop of a movie turns out as funny as the actual apocalypse turned out to be.
If the trailer is any indication, the stars will at least have a great time ragging on each other, though we may end up witnessing the death of more than one of these celebrities, which will be fun.
We don’t mean that in a weird serial killer way either — yeesh, that doesn’t make us look to good does it? Okay, let’s start over, we definitely just want to see Emma Watson holding an axe. Damn, that still sounds vaguely creepy. Okay, we just want to- ah screw it.
This Is The End will kill some celebrities on June 14, 2013
‘Pacific Rim’
Robots. Fighting. Monsters. It’s what the world wants, so Guillermo Del Toro is making sure that’s exactly what the world will be getting with Pacific Rim. Fans of Del Toro have been waiting for his latest feature for over four years, so watching the acclaimed director step back up to the plate with this sure-to-be-blockbuster is exciting news indeed. Del Toro himself has been talking about Pacific Rim for years, so to actually see the thing come to fruition has given fans more than one reason to be excited. For the rest of the world, it’s monsters fighting robots, which if history is to be believed, means money in the bank.
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On the story front, Pacific Rim will deal with monsters that have emerged from the fragile ground deep beneath the ocean. This serves as a welcome change from your standard “they came from space!” monsters, and it has the potential to open up a whole host of creative beasties that Del Toro no doubt had a blast designing.
To stand as the defense for the human race, Americans finally get to see what the billions dollars in federal defense funding has been working toward: Gigantic war robots equipped to protect the human race from certain annihilation. The film was originally slated to slam into theaters six months ago, but likely due to the fierce tent pole competition, the release was delayed by a full year, meaning that it is sure to be polished to a fine shine for the actual release.
Even if the creature design and the inevitably epic action sequences aren’t enough to keep you around, the viral marketing campaign, Industrial Light and Magic’s involvement in the visual effects design, along with Del Toro’s choice to direct (after he was initially set to just produce) should be enough to put you on the edge of your seat.
Pacific Rim will collide with theaters on July 11, 2013
…And these are just our most anticipated films of 2013 that have trailers!
Hit the next page to see more of the most anticipated movies of 2013!
Naturally, since we’re still at the very beginning of the 2013 season, the majority of the films that we’re excited for haven’t yet offered extended glimpses into what we can expect.
There are plenty of films that we’ve left off of this list, partially because they were films that we included in our Most Anticipated Films of 2012 piece from a year ago and have since been moved to new release dates, and some because, well, because we only wanted to choose thirteen movies and there are others that we’ve grown more excited about. Such was the case with films like The Great Gatsby and even the spectacular looking Gangster Squad.
In some cases, an elastic release date can mean great things for a movie, especially if it’s a push from Summer to the December awards season. In cases where a film is shoved sideways into January or the mid-Iron Man 3 season, it normally spells trouble. Don’t get us wrong, we’ll probably see both of these films on their opening day, but the anticipation has been slightly muted by that burdensome temptress, Lady Time.
‘The Wolverine’
Though easily confused with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine promises to be a more streamlined and realistic take on Wolverine’s training as he ventures to Japan to learn from a samurai warrior. This adaptation has undergone a little bit of controversy itself after the original director, Darren Aronofsky, detached from the project, leaving Walk the Line and 3:10 To Yuma director James Mangold to pick up the reins of this Wolverine solo story.
According to rumors, The Wolverine might also serve as a starting point for 20th Century Fox’s own cinematic universe. News that Josh Trank would be helming the new Fantastic Four reboot only adds fuel to this fire, as does the confirmation that Hugh Jackman will be reprising his original role (alongside Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart) in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past.
The Wolverine will evolve on July 26, 2013
‘Elysium’
Like Gravity, much of our anticipation around Elysium has to do with the director, Neill Blomkamp, whose directorial debut District 9 quickly became known as one of the best sci-fi films in recent years. Elysium begins 150 years in the future, in a world where the ultra-rich live on a pristine space station, leaving the poor to deal with living in a ruined planet Earth.
The film, which was originally scheduled for late 2012, but found itself pushed back to enjoy a proper end-of-Summer release, will follow a man (Matt Damon) who accepts a mission to bring equality to these worlds. With Damon in the lead and clear political undertones that ring akin to Blomkamp’s District 9, we don’t need a trailer to know we’re already excited to re-enter Neill Blompkamp’s science-fiction world in order to gain a better understanding of our own.
Elysium will hit Earth theaters on August 9, 2013
‘Gravity’
Most of us here on Hypable are fans of Alfonso Cuaron’s work for a very obvious reason, but his expertise in film-making extends far past the realm of Hogwarts. Cuaron’s Children of Men is not only an unparalleled dystopian sci-fi from a technical achievement standpoint, it also features a remarkably visceral story at its heart. It’s for this reason that we’re absolutely ecstatic about his upcoming space adventure Gravity, which promises to be equally as bleak, equally as thought provoking, and perhaps even more visually spellbinding.
Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, it follows two astronauts who have an accident aboard their space shuttle and are left drifting through space. The story follows their struggle to get back to earth, and we’ve heard it is a technical marvel, complete with a 17-minute long single take from Cuaron and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. Space, talented filmmakers, two stars up in the stars? We’re in.
Gravity will fall into theaters on October 18, 2013
‘The World’s End’
The first exposure that most of the world had to the brilliance of Edgar Wright was through his brilliant comedy-zombie masterpiece Shaun of the Dead, the first movie in what would come to be called his Blood and Ice Cream trilogy. The second feature, only related to the first by the inclusion of both blood and ice cream, was Hot Fuzz, and even though the director was able to squeeze in Scott Pilgrim VS. The World in between masterpieces, he has finally gotten around to writing and directing the final installment, The World’s End.
All that we know about the film so far is that it follows a group of friends, notably Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Martin Freeman, as they attempt to recreate an epic pub crawl from their college year, ending at a pub called The World’s End. One can only assume that it will also take on the “end of the world” genre of films, much in the way that Shaun spoofed the zombie genre and Fuzz spoofed buddy cop films. Also, there will probably be blood and ice cream (probably cornettos) involved.
The World’s End will end the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy on October 25, 2013
‘Enders Game’
Yes. We’re a little science fiction heavy on this list. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it? Since Orson Scott Card’s novel took the world by storm in the mid eighties, it has captured the imagination of every child that stumbled across it. Now film technology has finally advanced to the point where it may be able to do justice to the space-adventure, and though the appointment of X-Men Origins: Wolverine director Gavin Hood has turned some heads, the names of the actors on the bill will be more than enough to attract interested parties.
Harrison Ford, Hugo‘s Asa Butterfield, True Grit‘s Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis and Abigail Breslin has turned the upcoming Ender’s Game into a star studded show, and with source material as enchanting as Card’s original novel, there are only a few ways that this adaptation could go wrong.
Ender’s Game will take off on November 1, 2013
‘Catching Fire’
The Hunger Games series has effectively managed to pick up the pieces as the next name in YA-literature based blockbusters after the departure of the Harry Potter film series in 2011. It also has earned an identity as one of the most profound pieces of young-adult literature on bookshelves and best-seller lists today.
The fierce politics, the riveting story, and the action-based plot devices are what propel The Hunger Games above other books in its league, and it’s those same themes that have attracted A-level talent to the series of films.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman recently signed on to play the key role of the replacement game-maker responsible for formulating the Quarter Quell, a very special Hunger Games that happens every twenty-five years. On this very special occasion, Hunger Games winners of the past must again enter the ring, though the spark of revolution will prove to have explosive results.
Catching Fire will burn down theaters on November 22, 2013
‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’
Nobody knows or really understands why the relatively simple tale of The Hobbit was fragmented into three films, but we don’t really care. What’s important is that there will be three films to quench our Tolkien-thirst and we’re ecstatically awaiting the next chapter, which promises to deal with the evil dragon Smaug, voiced and motion captured by Benedict Cumberbatch.
The Hobbit: There and Back Again will wrap up the journey with a number of moments from the appendices of Tolkien’s masterwork, but we suspect that The Desolation of Smaug will be where most of the magic will be held, and although we’ve seen precious little from the installment as of yet, the above image of Bilbo among Smaug’s gold only makes us more excited to actually see him interact with dragon…and dare we say it…the Necromancer?
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will continue the Hobbit’s journey on December 13, 2013
‘Anchorman: The Legend Continues’
We’ve stayed classy for almost ten years now, and finally, Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow have announced that Anchorman’s Ron Burgandy will be making a triumphant return to the big screen. According to the filmmakers, the Action News Team will all be reprising their roles from the original, meaning that Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and David Koechner will be returning, along with Christina Applegate.
No word yet on the status of all of the bit players from the original Anchorman, although the released plot synopsis has promised that the news team will encounter another dilemma regarding that old old wooden ship – Diversity – and that it may have something to do with ethnic reporters coming into the limelight for the very first time. As far as comedy sequels go, this one is kind of a big deal.
Anchorman: The Legend Continues will stay classy on December 20, 2013
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Hypable’s End of 2012 celebrations
There’s nothing quite like a good ‘Best of’ list, and no matter where your interests lie, Hypable has your back. Movies, music, TV – just what were the high points of 2012, and what could we have gone without? Check out our selection of 2012 wrap-up lists and the things we hope to see (or not) in 2013.
We have the top 10 movies as chosen by our two film gurus, Jeremy Baril and Kristin LeMunyon, plus the collected favourite films of the Hypable staff. For books, find out the 13 books to read in 2013, and don’t forget our 25 must-have Christmas songs for your holiday playlist.
Of course, we have to mention our Hot or Not list to recount what was going up in popularity and what was going down over the past year. And how could we forget our 12 sexiest men of 2012 post?!
If 2013 predictions are your thing, try these fun articles out:
Twelve headlines we do NOT want to see in 2013: Netflix closing, another Hobbit split, and more