15 Upcoming Movies That Might Be Surprisingly Awesome

7. Alita: Battle Angel

Release Date: December 21

Why It Should Suck: Where to begin? Alita: Battle Angel has a $200 million budget and has been handed to director Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City), whose most expensive prior project was the $65 million Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

Giving a filmmaker as inconsistent as Rodriguez a budget more than three-times larger than he's ever had feels enormously risky, to say nothing of how difficult it is to adapt manga into a good Hollywood movie, and the already-vitriolic response to protagonist Alita (Rosa Salazar) having bulging bug-eyes.

Why It Might Be Awesome: Bear in mind that James Cameron was going to direct this movie once upon a time and is still both producing and co-writing it. There's a sentiment among some fans that he may have effectively ghost-directed the project, which could certainly result in it soaring past expectations.

Plus, that first trailer was actually pretty neat - bug-eyes aside - with jaw-droppingly impressive visuals and enticing action sequences. It's got virtually zero chance of being a box office success, but it just might score well with critics at least.