70. “Luxembourg”
Director: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (“The Tribe”)
Cast: Unknown
Synopsis: Drama about a jealous policeman working as a watchmen in the area sealed off after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
What You Need To Know: Most filmmakers are advised to keep their ambitions in check for their first feature, but Ukrainian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy didn’t appear to be in class that day — his brutal, stunning debut “The Tribe” was an austere, horrifying film told entirely in Ukranian sign language. Despite both the lack of spoken dialogue and the hard-to-watch elements, it proved an international arthouse success, winning a shelf full of awards, and three years on, he’s back with his follow up. It’s likely to follow a similar aesthetic (producers describe it, hilariously, as a “stone cold drama”) mixing Ukranian actors with non-professionals who actually work in the Chernobyl exclusion zone (an area the size of Luxembourg, hence the title). It’s a fascinating setting, and the the film apparently has neo-noir overtones to it, which is intriguing.
Release Date: After “The Tribe” stormed Directors’ Fortnight, expect a main competition debut at Cannes for this one.
69. “It Comes At Night”
Director: Trey Edward Shults (“Krisha”)
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Riley Keough, Carmen Ejogo, Christopher Abbott, Kelvin Harrison Jr
Synopsis: A father must protect his family from a mysterious presence terrorizing them in their home.
What You Need To Know: All filmmakers should draw on what they know, and Trey Edward Shults certainly did: his “Krisha,” which was a sensation at SXSW a few years ago, starred his aunt in the lead role and a number of other family members alongside her. He’s moving further afield for his follow-up, which is financed, like “Moonlight,” directly by A24, who released “Krisha,” with a big-name cast led by Joel Edgerton, who’ll likely be an Oscar nominee by the time the film lands, and Riley Keough, who’s on a hell of a run at the minute after “Mad Max,” “The Girlfriend Experience” and “American Honey.” It’s a step into genre territory, and while the premise sounds, well, generic, we’re sure that Shults has found his own spin on it. Could this be this year’s “It Follows?”
Release Date: Nothing yet – SXSW could be a good bet again, or maybe TIFF Midnight Madness.
68.“The Discovery”
Director: Charlie McDowell (“The One I Love”)
Cast: Rooney Mara, Jason Segel, Robert Redford, Riley Keough, Jesse Plemons
Synopsis: A love story set a year after the existence of the afterlife has been scientifically proven.
What You Need To Know: With an intriguing, clever premise and red-hot cast, “The Discovery” would have piqued our interest even before we knew it was coming from McDowell, whose last film, the highly original Elisabeth Moss-starrer “The One I Love,” was also a relationship story with slightly fantastical elements. This time out, there seems again potential for a provocative take on boy-meets-girl: Just how would knowing that you’re going to live on after death affect your relationships while alive? There’s been some cast shuffles on this, with Nicholas Hoult dropping out in favor of Segel, but it’s a superb line-up too — Mara, who’s also McDowell’s partner in real life, is always worth the price of admission, and it’ll be fascinating to see Redford in a film like this). This is another one that Netflix will be releasing.
Release Date: Filmed early last year, so a Sundance premiere seems likely.
67. “Stronger”
Director: David Gordon Green (“Pineapple Express”)
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Clancy Brown, Frankie Shaw
Synopsis: The true story of Jeff Bauman, who lost his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing.
What You Need To Know: Guessing David Gordon Green’s next move is always a fool’s errand — the prolific helmer has made eleven movies in seventeen years, each one quite different from the last. After a brief break licking his wounds after studio flop “Our Brand Is Crisis,” he’s back again, with a drama that marks the second movie to take on the Boston Marathon bombing, after this year’s “Patriot’s Day.” This takes a very different angle, though, instead focusing on Jeff Bauman, a victim of the terrorist act as he struggles to adjust to his life without his legs. It should be a doozy of a part for Jake Gyllenhaal, who’s on a spectacular run of performances (if not always movies), and it should be great to see a big showcase for enormously talented Emmy-winner Tatiana Maslany too. The premise risks being inspirational at the cost of everything else, but Green should stop it from becoming too sentimental.
Release Date: Potentially Sundance, unless it’s being held for awards season.
66. “Call Me By Your Name”/“Suspiria”
Director: Luca Guadagnino (“A Bigger Splash”)
Cast: Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg/Chloe Grace Moretz, Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton
Synopsis: A young American boy living in Italy in the 1980s has an affair with an older man/A ballet dancer discovers that her Berlin dance school is a cover for something much more sinister
What You Need To Know: A six year gap came between Luca Guadagnino’s gorgeous international breakthrough “I Am Love” and his follow-up, this year’s hugely entertaining “A Bigger Splash.” But the Italian helmer’s making up for lost time, with not one but two movies set to debut across 2017. The first, “Call Me By Your Name,” is an intimate, gay-themed coming-of-age film based on an acclaimed novel by Egyptian author André Aciman, while “Suspiria” is, obviously a long-in-the-works remake of Dario Argento’s classic horror. They couldn’t be more different from one another, but we’re confident that Guadagnino is someone who can pull both off, especially with casts like these.
Release Date: “Call Me Your Name” will probably be at Berlin or maybe Cannes, “Suspiria” at Venice.
65. “Untitled Nash Edgerton Project”
Director: Nash Edgerton
Cast: David Oyelowo, Joel Edgerton, Charlize Theron, Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley
Synopsis: A Nigerian immigrant working for a drug cartel on the Mexican border attempts to fake his death to escape them.
What You Need To Know: A former stuntman and brother of Joel, Nash Edgerton has been a key figure in the Australian film renaissance, co-founding Blue Tongue Films and helming a couple of shorts that got DP Greig Fraser his start, but so far his only feature is the 2008 crime thriller “The Square.” But he finally steps up into the big leagues with this action-comedy, formerly known as “American Express.” In a welcome break for the more high-minded fare he’s better known for, David Oyelowo leads an eclectic and starry cast, with Amanda Seyfried, Michael Angarano, Alan Ruck, Harry Treadaway, Kenneth Choi and Melonie Diaz joining the likes of Edgerton, Theron and Copley. It’s mostly under wraps for now, but Edgerton has the right stuff, so this could turn out to be one of the surprises of the year.
Release Date: STX and Amazon have teamed up for the rights, but haven’t set a date yet. Likely late summer, we’d guess.
64. “Wind River”
Director: Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Martin Sensmeier, Jon Bernthal, Graham Greene
Synopsis: An FBI agent teams up with a game tracker to solve a murder on a Native American reservation.
What You Need To Know: Originally best known as an actor on “Sons Of Anarchy” and elsewhere, Taylor Sheridan’s had about as good a start to his career as you could ask for. In 2015, his “Sicario” was the break out indie crossover of the year, and this year “Hell Or High Water” managed the same feat. So our eyes are definitely on his directorial debut, which looks to be in the same classy, muscular neo-Western crime thriller territory as his previous writing-only work. A couple of “Avengers” alumnus headline, and we hope in particular that this continues something of a comeback for Renner, after his lovely, generous turn in “Arrival,” while a number of Native American performers make up the supporting cast, including “Hell Or High Water” scene-stealer Gil Birmingham.
Release Date: This actually shot in Park City, so a Sundance premiere might be a good bet. We imagine from there The Weinstein Company will target the same kind of August/September date that Sheridan’s previous films did so well with.
63. “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2”
Director: James Gunn (“Guardians Of The Galaxy”)
Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Kurt Russell
Synopsis: The Guardians must try to keep their team together as they search for Star-Lord’s father.
What You Need To Know: From unpromising beginnings — a space raccoon and a tree? Really? — James Gunn turned “Guardians Of The Galaxy” into one of the highlights of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a colorful, funny, even unexpectedly moving adventure. So why are we currently psyched less for this than the other MCU movies this year? In part, it’s a worry that it’s going to be overstuffed — in addition to the returning Michael Rooker and Karen Gillan as Yondu and Nebula, now allied with the heroes, we also get Kurt Russell literally playing a planet, Pom Klementieff as a new Guardian, Sylvester Stallone as a space cop, and Elizabeth Debicki and Chris Sullivan as villains. And, in part, it was the slightly underwhelming teaser, which seemed to rest on its laurels a little heavily. Still, Gunn knocked it out the park first time around, and we have faith that he can do it again.
Release Date: May 5th
62. “Tully”
Director: Jason Reitman (“Juno”)
Cast: Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass, Ron Livingston, Elaine Tan
Synopsis: A mother of three, struggling to cope with her newborn, hires a night nanny and forms a bond with the young woman.
What You Need To Know: After a pretty killer start to his career with four very good comedies, Jason Reitman’s had a rough ride of it of late, with the somewhat ropey melodrama “Labor Day” being swiftly followed by Adam Sandler-starring ensemble piece “The Internet Is Bad,” or whatever it was called. But for his seventh feature, he’s reteaming with writer Diablo Cody, who penned two of his best movies in “Juno” and “Young Adult,” and the star of the latter, Charlize Theron, which can only be a good thing. It’s apparently a comedy about motherhood, and has Mackenzie Davis of “Halt & Catch Fire,” “San Junipero” and “The Martian” as the co-lead opposite Theron, and that’s a pretty formidable pairing. Fingers crossed this sees Reitman back on form.
Release Date: Wrapped earlier in the fall, so look for it at Telluride and TIFF.
61. “Untitled Dick Cheney Biopic”
Director: Adam McKay (“The Big Short”)
Cast: Unknown
Synopsis: The story of Dick Cheney, as he goes from CEO of Halliburton to Vice President under George W. Bush, where he was a key supporter of the war in Iraq.
What You Need To Know: Last year saw Adam McKay pull off one of the most successful career about turns we can remember a filmmaker attempting. The former SNL head-writer was known exclusively for his (atypically good) broad comedies with Will Ferrell like “Anchorman” and “Step Brothers,” but stepped into more serious territory with “The Big Short,” which tackled the financial crisis with an A-list cast and a light touch, and went on to be a major Oscar player, seeing McKay take the statue for Best Adapted Screenplay away. He’s had various follow-ups brewing, but only last week announced that he’s had a secretive project gearing up, a biopic of Dick Cheney. It reteams him with Brad Pitt’s Plan B, though beyond that little else is known about the movie, other than it’ll start shooting early next year. Who’ll end up donning the bald cap? Steve Carell? Richard Dreyfuss, reprising his role from Oliver Stone’s “W?” Who knows, but we’re intrigued to find out.
Release Date: Paramount are reportedly planning a late 2017 release, likely in a similar pattern to “The Big Short.”