Ah, the first Monday of the year, when your alarm sounds more obnoxious than it ever has before, and you wake and brush the last of the sleep and celebration from your eyes only to see 2016 bearing down on you like a big lumbering CGI kraken. Well, never fear because as soon as your well of post-holidays water-cooler chit-chat has run dry, and assuming you’ve already pored through our practically infinite Best of 2015 coverage, there’s the first part of the Playlist’s massive 100 Most Anticipated Movies of the Year to sift through.
We’re pretty sure you’re going to have much warmer and fuzzier feelings toward 2016 at the end of it, so let’s jump right in.
100. “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiars”
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Judi Dench, Samuel L. Jackson
Synopsis: A boy follows clues his late grandfather left him to a mysterious orphanage that spans space and time, full of children with special powers.
What You Need To Know: Tim Burton tried to step slightly away from his comfort zone with the relatively un-zany “Big Eyes,” but the film proved not much more successful than the director’s last few, and didn’t really crack the awards race either. As such, he’s back on more familiar territory with this fantasy pic, based on a (very enjoyable) YA best-seller by Ransom Riggs. It sounds on paper like it could be something close to a ‘What If Tim Burton Made A 1940s X-Men?’ YouTube video, but the cast is terrific (with a rare leading role for the great Eva dmiGreen, and Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Terence Stamp and “Mr. Holmes”’ breakout Milo Parker also featuring) and pleasingly different from the director’s usual rep company, and we’re always rooting for a Burton comeback, even if it seems less and less likely with each passing movie.
Release Date: Currently set for December 25th, but we imagine Fox will be moving it up to fill the October slot that “Gambit” looks like it won’t make.
99. “Independence Day: Resurgence”
Director: Roland Emmerich (“Independence Day,” “2012”)
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher
Synopsis: Twenty years after surviving an alien attack, humanity has rebuilt and improved with captured technology. But the old enemy are back, and pose a far greater threat now.
What You Need To Know: This two-decades-on sequel to the mid-’90s blockbuster smash is hoping to capture into the same ‘legacyquel’ nostalgia love that “Jurassic World” and ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens” so profitably tapped in 2015. Like those films, we see older versions of original cast members, with Jeff Goldblum’s scientist and Bill Pullman’s ex-president returning (Will Smith seemingly seemed too pricy, though for some reason Judd Hirsch’s character is back), while a new generation of characters are introduced too. However, unlike those aforementioned films, the original helmer is still in charge, with destruction maestro Roland Emmerich helming. The teaser trailer suggested something dark and brooding, but was rather lacking in the iconic money shots of the first. Can it recapture the fist-pumping, dim-witted pleasures of the original?
Release Date: June 24th
98. “Warcraft”
Director: Duncan Jones (“Moon,” “Source Code”)
Cast: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Foster
Synopsis: The kingdom of Azeroth prepares for war as the orcs, fleeing their own homeland, attempt to colonize it, but a human warrior and an orc hope to forge an alliance that will avoid conflict.
What You Need To Know: Let’s be honest here: The trailer for Duncan Jones’ adaptation of the video game phenomenon “Warcraft” looks like a hot mess—like a kitchen after a house party that’s also on fire. But we’re not abandoning hope just yet. For one, the idea of a fantasy epic told from both sides of the conflict is an interesting twist on the genre, reminiscent of the recent “Planet Of The Apes” franchise reboot. And it’s worth remembering that the early trailers for the first of those movies looked pretty dire, only for the movie to come along and surprise everyone. And this new movie is directed by Duncan Jones, who had one of the more striking directorial debuts in recent memory with “Moon,” and followed it up with the very entertaining “Source Code.” So yeah, it looks gaudy and CGI-stacked, but let’s not dismiss it until we’ve seen a little more.
Release Date: June 10th, the same weekend as “Jurassic World” opened last year, suggesting that Universal has some confidence in the film.
97. “Snowden”
Director: Oliver Stone (“Platoon,” “JFK”)
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Zachary Quinto, Melissa Leo, Nicolas Cage
Synopsis: The story of the CIA and NSA technologist who leaked government secrets to the press, and was forced into exile in Russia.
What You Need To Know: The current Oscar season got a little lighter when Oliver Stone’s biopic of the controversial Edward Snowden — to some, a traitor, to others, a hero — was moved to 2016. Buying a little more time from the release of Oscar-winning documentary “Citizenfour,” the move might have been wise, but it means we’re still hanging on to see what the always-divisive Stone can do with this particular subject matter. Frankly, it’s a good two decades since the helmer turned out something especially worthwhile, but there’s always something interesting at play, and it should provide Joseph Gordon-Levitt with a role he can get his teeth into (the cast also includes Melissa Leo as “Citizenfour” director Laura Poitras, and, in a now-rare major movie, Nicolas Cage).
Release Date: May 13th
96. “A United Kingdom”
Director: Amma Asante (“Belle”)
Cast: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Tom Felton, Laura Carmichael, James Northcote
Synopsis: The story of Botswanan Prince Seretse Khama, and his white, British wife Ruth Williams, whose interracial marriage in the 1940s proved controversial, but eventually saw Seretse elected the country’s first president.
What You Need To Know: It was a modest sleeper hit, but we’d argue “Belle” deserved a little more: a beautifully made and acted costume drama with much more on its mind that many films in its genre, not least a complex and nuanced take on racial and gender identity. Two years on, director Amma Asante is back for material that seems right in her wheelhouse, with a screen adaptation of an extraordinary true story. The story of Prince Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams is a rousing one that was very much ahead of their time, and Asante has an excellent pair of stars coming off recent successes — David Oyelowo, fresh from “Selma,” and Rosamund Pike, an Oscar nominee for “Gone Girl.” With a mix of romance and politics, this could well impact awards season in a way that “Belle” never quite did.
Release Date: Unclear for now, but we imagine it’ll be at one of the fall festivals.
95. “True Crimes”
Director: Alexandros Avranas (“Miss Violence”)
Cast: Jim Carrey, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas, Vlad Ivanov, Agata Kulesza
Synopsis: A police detective solving a murder finds eerie similarities between his case and a book by a novelist and intellectual.
What You Need To Know: The phrases ‘Jim Carrey’ and ‘murder’ in close conjunction bring horrifying flashbacks to “The Number 23,” but there’s reason to think that “True Crimes” could be something much more interesting. Based on David Grann’s New Yorker article from 2008, adapted by “The Last King Of Scotland” scribe Jeremy Brock, and a one-time Roman Polanski project, this true story ended up before cameras in the hands of Alexandros Avranas, a Greek New Waver whose “Miss Violence” showed enormous promise a few years back. As for Carrey, he’s an unexpected choice for a role like this, but one that could prove the start of a McConaughey-style comeback for the comic star, and the presence of people like Gainsbourg and “Ida” star Kulesza bodes well too. A potential dark horse, we reckon.
Release Date: Unclear, but fall festivals are likely.
94. “Zoolander 2”
Director: Ben Stiller (“Zoolander,” “Tropic Thunder,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”)
Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Penélope Cruz
Synopsis: When celebrities begin to be killed all over the world, model Derek Zoolander is brought out of retirement, with his old friend Hansel, to solve the case.
What You Need To Know: Released just days after 9/11, the original “Zoolander” was only a middling success in theaters, but became a staple on DVD and on cable — so now, over 14 years on, a sequel arrives. This kind of late-in-the-day comedy sequel has a rocky track record (“Anchorman 2” was a big hit, but was undeniably disappointing creatively in comparison to its predecessor), but here, Stiller certainly looks to have recaptured the ingredients that made the first so popular. Stiller, Wilson, Christine Taylor and Will Ferrell (as villain Mugatu) are back, while Penélope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Beck Bennett, Kim Kardashian (!) and Kanye West (!!!) join the cast, along with a host of cameos, including that already controversial Benedict Cumberbatch appearance. If we can get anywhere near the original’s mix of fashion-world satire and deep silliness, we’ll be pleased.
Release Date: February 12th
93. “Trespass Against Us”
Director: Adam Smith
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Rory Kinnear, Sean Harris, Killian Scott
Synopsis: Three generations of the rowdy Irish Cutler family come into conflict when the law catches up to them.
What You Need To Know: Featuring a terrific Irish/U.K. cast, shot in Ireland and marking the feature debut of director Smith, who was behind three of the best Matt Smith “Doctor Who” episodes and six of the BBC’s “Little Dorrit”: If there was one other element that could get us even more excited for this one, it would be the film’s Chemical Brothers soundtrack (Smith directed their video for “Don’t Think”). Mostly, we’re looking forward to the mouthwatering prospect of Fassbender facing off against the great Gleeson, supported by a cast full of up-and-coming talent who you’ll be catching elsewhere (Harris had a good year with “Macbeth” and “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation,” Scott was in “71” with him; Kinnear you may recognize from “The Imitation Game,” “Spectre” and “Penny Dreadful”), here in their natural element.
Release Date: Not at Sundance or Berlin, but don’t worry too much: A24 picked this up ages back, so we’ll definitely be seeing it eventually.
92. “The Zookeeper’s Wife”
Director: Niki Caro (“Whale Rider,” “North Country”)
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Brühl, Michael McElhatton, Iddo Goldberg
Synopsis: The true story of Antonina and Jan Żabińska, who ran the Warsaw Zoo during the war, and sheltered Jews in the animal cells during the Nazi occupation.
What You Need To Know: Her career’s gone from strength to strength, with roles in box office smashes “The Martian” and “Interstellar,” and work in “Crimson Peak” and “A Most Violent Year” that numbers among her best — but it’s been four years since Jessica Chastain received an Oscar nomination. She’s got a strong possibility this year, though — not for “The Huntsman: Winter’s War,” but for “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” Niki Caro’s adaptation of Diane Ackerman’s non-fiction best-seller. Focus Features are backing the film, and Chastain’s being joined by some interesting bits of casting: “Broken Circle Breakdown” star Johan Heldenbergh as her husband, Daniel Brühl as a rival German zoologist who plundered their animals, and TV standouts Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton from “Game Of Thrones”) and Iddo Goldberg (“Peaky Blinders”). Caro’s an interesting choice to direct, so this could be on the more palatable side of the awards-bait scale.
Release Date: None yet, but expect it at Telluride or TIFF before a fall release
91. “Moana”
Director: Ron Clements & John Musker (“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin”)
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Auli’i Cravalho, Alan Tudyk
Synopsis: A young girl with great navigational skills sets out to find a legendary island to help save her family, with the help of a demi-god.
What You Need To Know: Disney animation reached a new level of success with the gargantuan box-office toll of “Frozen,” and they’ve got two big prospects for 2016. “Zootopia” looks like fun, but the one we really have hopes for is this South Pacific-set adventure, which delves into Polynesian mythology and, according to top-lining star Johnson, pays homage to his Samoan heritage. Directors Clements & Musker played a huge part in the late-’80s/early-’90s Disney revival with their two big hits, and “Moana” marks their first computer-animated film (their last picture was the 2D “The Princess And The Frog”). They certainly have their cartoon bona-fides; this is a pleasingly diverse premise; and most excitingly, there’s some very interesting behind-the-scenes talent involved too: “What We Do In The Shadows” writer/director Taika Waititi co-wrote the script, and songs are being penned by Te Vaka guitarist Opetaia Foa’i and “Hamilton” mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Release Date: November 23rd
