19. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (October 25)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was a fantastic, eye-opening animated film about food falling from the sky that was visually stunning and made the absolute best of its 3D presentation. After its modest box office success, a sequel was soon enough green-lit, which takes place directly after the first film, and sees protagonist Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) trying to shut down his food-making satellite for good after it has begun creating food beasts. The PR notes list creatures such as hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, and apple pie-thons, which has pretty much sold the film to me already; hopefully this'll be an animated sequel that doesn't just rest on its laurels and instead builds on the brilliance of the first film.
18. Paranormal Activity 5 (October 25)
As is the trend with these films, we tend to not know the plot until a few weeks ahead of release, largely because the film is usually shot over the summer during a heavily-condensed, secretive production schedule. Paranormal Activity 4 was the first film in the franchise to score seriously negative reviews from pundits, and seems to have signaled the creative stagnation that it has become mired in. Though the first film was a breath of fresh air, each subsequent sequel has deceived viewers, either by announcing itself as a prequel at the last minute, or worse still, failing to confront the central mystery surrounding the franchise villain, Katie (who is possessed by a demon). Given how #4 gave the franchise the lowest box-office grosses so far, perhaps #5 will start wrapping things up. Or maybe not...
17. Ender's Game (October 25)
Gavin Hood has had one of the more topsy-turvy careers of any filmmaker in recent memory, going from the brilliance of South African drama Tsotsi to the dreadfulness of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Now he returns for a promising project that has us cautiously optimistic that the director might be back on top; an adaptation of Orson Scott Card's much-loved sci-fi novel, Ender's Game. Asa Butterfield plays the titular character, a child prodigy who is sent to a military school in order to prepare for an impending alien invasion. With a cast that also includes Harrison Ford, a tattooed Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, and Abigail Breslin, this one could be a total blast as long as it doesn't take itself too seriously.
16. Thor: The Dark World (October 30)
The second Thor film will be set one year following the New York showdown in The Avengers, as Thor attempts to save Asgard from Malekith and his dark forces who intend to bring the entire universe to its knees. Though I wasn't a massive fan of the first Thor, this one certainly has my interest piqued, if only because there's so much post-Avengers that can be done with it; the Loki-Thor relationship was left totally up in the air, as was Thor's shoehorned romance with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). The trailers so far have shown that much of the action takes place in the UK, which should give it a strange, uncharacteristic flavour, especially as they don't seem to have opted for setting the fights around the usual monuments of the capital.
15. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 21)
The second of four films in the Hunger Games franchise - as the final book is being split into two films - continues exactly where the first one left off. After triumphing at the Hunger Games, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) return to District 12 where they realise that a rebellion appears to be building, as they are made to take part in a Victory Tour of all the Districts. With the 75th Hunger Games gearing up, tension is rising, and President Snow's (Donald Sutherland) rage at what happened last time ensures that this will be like no Hunger Games before. While I can't escape the whole Battle Royale-ripoff feeling, The Hunger Games was a huge hit, and I have every expectation that this one will be - both critically and commercially - as well.