The 2018 movie schedule looks like it'll make up for 2017 ten times over. There are long-awaited sequels, remakes, high-quality (hopefully) comic book adaptations, boxing movies, gangster flicks, another Star Wars prequel and more on the way.
12 Strong (Horse Soldiers)
Release Date: January 19
Black Panther
Release Date: February 16
Black Panther is the closest an upcoming movie can get to guaranteed greatness. The king of Wakanda already proved himself in Civil War and director Ryan Coogler has a perfect, albeit short, resume -- both Fruitvale Station and Creed were Oscar nominees. This just may go down in history as the absolute best movie of 2018.
Pacific Rim: Uprising
Release Date: March 23
Pacific Rim was the biggest pleasant surprise of 2013. Who knew it would turn out to actually be good? But director Guillermo Del Toro got sidetracked by other projects, which resulted in a long 5-year wait for the follow-up. The amazing thing is that no one else (aside from Michael Bay) put gigantic robots onscreen during all that time.
The Avengers: Infinity War
Release Date: April 27
I gotta be honest. I'm very nervous about the Avengers going intergalactic. There is enormous potential for this to be goofy and ridiculous. But some pretty good stories in Marvel comics have taken place in outer space. If the movie team can manage to get that magic to translate to the screen we're in for a treat.
Solo
Han Solo hasn't had a decent showcase in 38 years. He nearly stole the show in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, but his ignominious send-off in The Force Awakens ranks up there with Boba Fett's and General Grievous' as one of the lamest endings for a cool Star Wars character. Until the moment Lando announced that he was alright, it seemed like he'd died with the utmost dignity in Empire. And 35 years later, he runs around like a moron having a mid-life crisis for an hour until he's unceremoniously stabbed in the gut and falls off a catwalk. There was no Vader or Fett to compete with and he still wasn't "the cool guy". Maybe he should've ordered some Dos Equis at Mas Canada's bar. Hopefully, everybody's favorite Corellian smuggler's solo film will wipe our memories clean of his most recent movie appearance.
In other news, Donald Glover has been cast as Lando Calrissian. Glover's funny but I've never seen him exude Billy Dee Williams' smoothness -- which is what makes Lando, Lando. Hopefully he has some game we don't know about.
Soldado
Release Date: June 29
If you haven't seen Sicario yet, make sure you do. This sequel is sure to be fire.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Release Date: July 6
Ant-Man is the funniest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to date. There's no obvious reason for the sequel not to claim that title. I just hope that the filmmakers don't kill off Dr. Pym Obi-Wan Kenobi-style just to make the movie more emotional and to motivate Scott Lang into becoming "the hero he was always meant to be". Don't do it, Marvel. There's room enough for both Ant-Men in this franchise and Michael Douglas has been great.
The Equalizer 2
Release Date: July 20
The Equalizer 2 will be the first sequel of Denzel Washington's career. It's release will officially make Robert McCall a franchise movie spy. If the filmmakers can manage to sustain the dopeness achieved in the original film, then Ethan Hunt and James Bond will be facing some quite daunting competition in the years to come (judging by this year's Jason Bourne and the difficulty in getting Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass to commit to the franchise, it seems as though the titular assassin's movie theater run may have come to an end).
The Predator
Release Date: September 14
Venom
Release Date: October 5
Venom's only other appearance on the big screen was in Spider-Man 3 -- which was too terrible for words. But Tom Hardy made for one hell of a Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and now he's gonna be Eddie Brock. Plus, Sony's decided to go the Logan route and give Venom the freedom for an R-rating -- so it has potential. Since Venom's primarily a homicidal nut-job it'll be interesting to see how he's presented. Will it be an action version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? An updated version of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2? How big will Spidey's cameo be? We'll see.
Creed 2
Good news, Rocky fans. Creed, which is probably the best of the series and unquestionably brought the franchise back from the dead, is getting a sequel. The Creed follow-up, Rocky 8 if you're counting, is scheduled to hit theaters November 2018 -- just in time for Thanksgiving.
In case you still haven't seen the first Creed, it features the son (Adonis Creed) of Rocky Balboa's rival-turned-friend, Apollo, and his struggle to come to terms with living in his legendary father's shadow while pursuing a professional boxing career. Adonis' pops died in the ring in Rocky IV -- the one in which the "Italian Stallion" fought the roided-up Russian. And guess what? That very same Russian, who delivered the fatal punches to Apollo, will appear in Creed 2. Yep, Dolph Lundgren is making a return to the Rocky series.
The down-side is that Creed director Ryan Coogler won't be returning to write the script (or direct). Instead, Sylvester Stallone will write the story. He wrote Rocky and Rocky Balboa (the second-best movie in the series). That's not a bad resume but the problem is that he's apparently never had any familiarity with genuine Black culture. For instance, two of the African-American antagonists were named Clubber Lang and Mason Dixon. Get the fuck outta here.
- Ran Britt
updated 4/22/17
and 11/16/17
and 4/10/18
and 11/16/17
and 4/10/18
Related:
The Best Films of 2016
The Best Film Prospects for 2017
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