2011 Film Preview

So 2010 is over, and it is time to reflect on what can only be described as a fantastic year for the film industry. We had long-awaited sequels (Tron: Legacy; Wall Street 2), surprisingly-good sequels (Paranormal Activity 2), totally-unnecessary sequels (Sex and the City 2), three-quels (Toy Story 3), four-quels(!?) (Shrek Forever After) and franchise finales (Saw 3D).

It was also the beginning of new adventures for Holmes and Watson (Sherlock Holmes), and the beginning of the end for Harry Potter and co. (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1). We had exceptional remakes (The Crazies) and ill-advised remakes (A Nightmare on Elm Street); low-budget hits (Buried) and big-budget flops (Clash of the Titans); books-to-film (Shutter Island), TV-to-film (The A-Team) and social media-to-film (The Social Network); new heroes (Salt) and unlikely heroes (The Other Guys); and, of course, Avatar.

2010 was the year that 3D exploded (everyone from Disney to Jackass tried their hand at it), the comic-book movie ruled the box-office (Kick-Ass; Scott Pilgrim vs. the World; Iron Man 2) and history was made when Kathryn Bigelow became the first female to win Best Director at the Oscars. With a host of new superheroes, remakes and sequels on the horizon, 2011 looks set to be just as big – if not bigger – than 2010.

After the release date was pushed back from last year (never a good sign), Nicolas Cage is finally bursting onto our screens in Jan starring in Dominic Sena’s Season of the Witch, a horror story about a girl thought to have caused the black plague. The trailer is not promising, but it might be worth checking out simply for Misfit’s Robert Sheehan (Nathan) moving to the big screen.

February will see Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reunite (finally!) for the comedy Paul, a geek-fest about two sci-fi nerds encountering an alien as they road-trip across the States. This will be their first feature together since 2007’s Hot Fuzz, and if the trailer is anything to go by, Paul looks set to continue the duo’s usual blend of action and hilarity.

Anything old is new again in 2011, with the flow of remakes and sequels not looking likely to stop anytime soon: Jeff Bridges takes on John Wayne’s iconic role in a reboot of the classic Western True Grit (out February), David Fincher’s remake of Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo should be hitting screens at the end of this year, and an updated version of 1978’s notorious I Spit on Your Grave is out now.

Todd Phillips is hoping to repeat the success of his 2009 juggernaut when The Hangover 2 is released in July, Ghostface returns after 11 years in Scream 4, and Pirates of the Carbbean: will be Johnny Depp’s fourth outing as Jack Sparrow. Kung-Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom, Transformers 3, Paranormal Activity 3, Sherlock Holmes 2...the list is endless.

It looks like the comic-book movie will continue to reign supreme: with Ryan Reynolds becoming The Green Lantern in June, Daniel Craig will be swapping sharp suits for cowboy boots in Cowboys and Aliens (July), Chris Evans (not the ginger one) dons the star-spangled suit for Captain America in July, while fellow Avenger Thor hits screens in May. Other highlights include an adaption of Kazuo Ishiguro’s tearjerker Never Let Me Go (remember the tissues!), Vanessa Hudgens ditching her High School Musical image in the girl-power fantasy Sucker Punch and, of course, Daniel Radcliffe’s final outing as the boy wizard.

But hopefully somewhere amongst all these familiar characters and reworked plots, there will be something truly original. 2010 gave us Inception...what will 2011 bring?

CMD