Predicting The 10 Highest-Grossing Movies Of 2016

Generally speaking, people like what is familiar to them. That's why franchises are Hollywood's all-time favourite thing; the fact that they deliver well-known characters and similar plots, over and over again, is considered "comforting." You know what you're spending your money on if you've already seen it in some capacity, after all - not to mention that movie-goers go mad for sequels. A sequel is the promise of "that thing you liked, but again," and most of us are powerless to resist their temptations. All this makes predicting what the highest-grossing movies of 2016 are probably going to be a relatively simple task, because next year - more than all the years in cinema history, perhaps - audiences will be treated to an insane number of franchise movies. Sequels, spin-offs, they're all here in abundance, primed especially to drag giddy movie-goers into theatres. Hollywood has embraced the franchise machine mentality to such a degree that several films could cross that elusive billion dollar mark on the strength of their titles alone. If it all goes as predicted, we might be looking at the most lucrative movie year ever. But which films, exactly, will go on to become the 10 highest-grossing of 2016? Which flicks are set to break the box office? Based on their appeal, popularity and assumed quality, here are the most likely contenders, in order of predicated gross from lowest to highest...