7 Huge Upcoming Movies (That Are Massive Gambles)
2. Mortal Engines
Reported budget: $100 million
Release date: 14th December 2018
Okay, stop us if you've heard this one. Largely unknown director from New Zealand with a cast largely devoid of name actors breaks out to a global audience with a big budget literary adaptation.
Yes, this was a big deal when it was Peter Jackson and the Lord of the Rings trilogy - but will history repeat itself with Jackson's protege Christian Rivers, and Mortal Engines?
Now, there's absolutely no question that this large-scale vision of a post-apocalyptic future looks very promising indeed, and in the wake of 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, that genre would seem to be back in vogue.
Still, Philip Reeve's 2001 YA steampunk novel doesn't have quite the same brand name recognition as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. And while Christian Rivers has worked closely with Jackson over the years (dating all the way back to doing the storyboards on 1992's Braindead), he's only directed two short films prior to this, which has to raise questions as to how ready he is for a project of this scale.
Given that December 2018 is already pretty crowded with blockbusters-in-waiting - Aquaman, Bumblebee, Mary Poppins Returns, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, plus the aforementioned Alita: Battle Angel - it's all-too easy to see Mortal Engines getting lost in the quagmire.