14. Carrie (November 29)
Though the original adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie is 37 years old, do we
really need another one? The film has for the most part aged exceptionally well, and Sissy Spacek's iconic portrayal of the beleaguered, supernatural character is at once terrifying and supremely entertaining to watch. While casting Chloe Moretz as the titular character and Julianne Moore as her mother is certainly a pair of inspired picks, one can't help but think that this will just be another pointless horror remake. Granted, director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) should help ensure it is anything but a regular take, but still, could these talented folks not be better making use of their time on original projects?
13. Frozen (December 6)
Frozen is the latest animated feature from Disney, and is based rather loosely on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen. Anna (Kristen Bell) heads off on an adventure with Kristoff, a mountain man who also has a reindeer pet named Sven. The three of them set off to save Anna's sister Elsa, the Snow Queen who has retreated to a snow palace in the mountains in order to stop a curse she accidentally placed on the town to give it an eternal winter. Though hardly the most inspired premise for a Disney film, here's hoping Frozen will at least boast some stunning visuals, even if after the inventive genius of Wreck-It Ralph my expectations are significantly lowered.
12. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 13)
After last year's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey proved to be massively underwhelming compared to Peter Jackson's majestic Rings trilogy, all eyes will be on the director to see if he can redeem himself with this middle-chapter of what is without question a needlessly distended adaptation of a pretty short book. As Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and co. head off to face down the vicious dragon Smaug, audiences will likely be wondering how Jackson will find a way to distend the run-time out to near-3 hours this time, or if he's bothered to listen to the flak he received for the last film, then perhaps this will be reigned in to a lean 2 hours, with the rest being reserved for Blu-ray extras.
11. Walking with Dinosaurs (December 20)
Here's a film that could be a total blast to watch, and sate our dinosaur fix given that the planned Jurassic Park IV has been shelved for the time being. Obviously based on the BBC series of the same name, this film will reportedly place CGI dinosaurs into live-action settings, and given the $65 millon budget, it appears that this is a project being taken dead seriously. The premise reportedly revolves around two brothers who face off against dinosaurs in the Arctic, yet other than that, details are completely sketchy; what's clear is that it's going to be a cross between the serious, documentary-type approach we might be expecting and something more resembling an exciting blockbuster.
10. 47 Ronin (December 26)
One of the riskiest projects to be released this year is 47 Ronin, a 3D samurai film that made the gamble to give a $170 million budget to a first-time director, Carl Erik Rinsch, and going by what we've heard on set, this one could have the makings of a Waterworld-style flop. Not only has the budget ballooned to reportedly around $225 million, but Rinsch has essentially been pulled as the director, with the studio supervising on the final edit and visual effects themselves. It's hard to imagine why anyone would green-light such an expensive film about the Samurai, and even with Keanu Reeves in the lead role, it would be an absolute miracle if this one managed to break even at this rate.