Anticipated Movies in 2017

Story by Jorge Soares-Paulino, Copy Editor

2016 saw the release of critically acclaimed movies like Marvel Studio’s Doctor Strange, Disney Animation’s Zootopia, and award-winning musical La La Land; looking back, it’s been a pretty spectacular year for movies, and it seems like 2017 won’t be any different. Between the latest superhero flicks and the animated family-friendly films, 2017 has something great in store for everyone. So let’s take a look:

Beauty and the Beast

Kicking off our list is a classic Disney film re-imagined for modern day audiences. Beauty and the Beast takes the classic animated film we all know and love, and turns it into a live-action rendition following basically the same story. Emma Watson plays Belle, an innocent woman who finds herself trapped in the castle of the “beast” Dan Stevens. Beauty and the Beast is the next film in Disney’s campaign to turn old classics into new hit blockbusters, following Alice in Wonderland (2010) and The Jungle Book (2016). If the previous films are any indication, Beauty and the Beast is sure to make the big bucks when it releases in March 2017.

Kong: Skull Island

The next movie on this list is another re-imagining of a classic film, but quite different than a Disney musical. Ever since the original King Kong released in 1933, several films have attempted to recreate the story of the giant gorilla such as King Kong (1976) and King Kong (2005) – but none have taken him to quite extremes as this. Kong: Skull Island promises to breathe new life into the long-running franchise by making the famous gorilla bigger than ever before. Like, really big. If the poster is anything to go by, the new and improved King Kong is as big as a small mountain; which is pretty exciting, because Kong: Skull Island is actually a setup for a future Godzilla vs King Kong film. If that doesn’t make you immediately want to go watch it when it releases in March, then nothing will.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Next on the list is a reboot of a reboot; over the past decade, we’ve seen three different iterations of the titular superhero. The upperclassmen can probably remember watching the original Spider-Man trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire,  in theaters way back in the early 2000’s. Most students can more than likely remember the second series of Spider-Man films which started back in 2012 with Andrew Garfield, but was cut short after the second film received poor ratings. Well, now that Sony has shared the Spider-Man rights with Marvel Studios, Marvel has the freedom to create their own version of Spidey to put in their cinematic universe – and this one promises to stick around. Starring Tom Holland, Spider-Man: Homecoming is the first Spider-Man film created by Marvel Studios instead of Sony, and is set to start Spidey’s independent story after his character showed up briefly in last year’s Captain America: Civil War.  And while this film is mostly focused on Spider-Man, you can still expect other characters from the Marvel universe to make appearances as well.

Justice League

In addition to the slew of Marvel superhero films you can expect this year, don’t forget that DC Films also has their own horse in this race. After receiving somewhat unfavorable reviews with last year’s Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, DC is back at it again with their own version of the Avengers: Justice League. Starring Ben Affleck as Batman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, this film follows the pair as they recruit fellow super-humans to assemble a team of heroes. This is the fourth film in DC’s Cinematic Universe, and even though the past films haven’t done too great with the critics, DC Films is sure that this one will be an action-packed hit.

 

This is a short list of titles to look out for in 2017, and by no means are these titles the best or most anticipated. 2016 flexed its muscles as the year of blockbuster movies, but 2017 is showing some real promise.

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