25 Most Hotly Anticipated Movies Of Winter 2016 - Ranked
Fantastic Star Wars Assassins And Where To Find Them...
Look, at this point it's beyond a cliche to say that 2016 has been a disappointing year for film, mostly. There have been successes - some surprising actually - but the overall picture suggests a year that promised a lot and delivered woefully little on big tentpole and super-hyped movies.
Maybe audiences are just getting more cynical? Or maybe Hollywood is eating itself... Or maybe, just maybe, too many studios are trying to push out half-baked movies based on a formula designed to maximise profit without any consideration for quality. Why else would Warner Bros be so annoyingly delighted with Suicide Squad?
But there is redemption to be found in the last dregs of the year. In the final two months of 2016, there is a fortifying slate of movies that will hopefully make the cold months of Winter a whole lot easier to take. There are festive tent-poles, franchise flag-bearers and another attempt to make video game movies work, and in stark comparison to the summer, there are a number of non-franchise, more original projects that should remind us all what actual small scale film-making is.
Get your calendars ready, for this is the final lot of 2016's upcoming movies, ranked by how hyped they are (and hopefully not by how duped we've all been by their marketing teams)...
25. Sing
Release Date: December 21st
Billed As: X Factor, only with animals. From the great minds behind Minions' many fart jokes.
Hype: On the back of the Despicable Me franchise's impossible billion dollar successes, Illumination Entertainment are probably Pixar's closest rivals for family friendly animations. With Sing, they're dipping their toe into musical waters with a star-studded take on American Idol.
Early reviews suggest it's entertaining and sweet, but a little meagre (which is how people should remember all of the Despicable Me movies apart from maybe the first one) and without much emotional heft. But it's a great recipe, and the addition of pop songs to IM's trademark brand of humour should still make this a major financial success.