10 Movies That Could Be The Big Surprise Hit Of 2016

4. La La Land

What Is It? The second film from Whiplash director Damien Chazelle sees him once again channel his love of music into cinema, this time a musical comedy following Ryan Gosling's jazz pianist and Emma Stone's waitress. J.K. Simmons also stars, because the last time he and Chazelle worked together things worked out OK. Will It Be Good? I don't wanna go all Neill Blomkamp and claim a one-time director is a genius, but with only a single movie Damien Chazelle has already made himself a filmmaking force to watch. Whiplash was one of the best movies of whichever year you say it came out in (damn staggered Oscar releases) and with what appears to be another personally motivated story it's not inconceivable he'll repeat the trick. But Will It Be A Hit? Whiplash's success came down entirely to one thing; it was brilliant. Obviously the performances excelled, but what pushed it above being a typical "actors" movie was how much of all rounder it was; story and subtext, pacing and editing. This meant that, as the movie made its way from Sundance through the festival circuit to its initial release the hype only continued to grow. La La Land doesn't have that slow burn opportunity - it'll be straight into cinemas - but Chazelle's name should help draw people in.