With the new year in our midst we can expect to see a brand new bevy of money-bolstering blockbuster pictures, but how many of those titles will live up to their hype? 2017 will definitely be hero-packed year, with Spider-Man and Wonder Woman rolling out new faces for the franchise and a sequel for Guardian's of the Galaxy along with a few more household names. Keanu Reeves is back as John Wick, co-starring his former movie mentor Laurence Fishbourne, and the British spy series Kingsman: The Golden Circle looks very promising.
Here are some films to keep an eye out for, some that look questionable, and some that might be a straight out bust.
The Good
The spies and mercenaries are back to work as John Wick and the Kingsman return to theaters. In sequels John Wick 2 and The Kingsman: The Golden Circle, we can expect to see an armory of automatic assault rifles, stealthy covert operations, and enough of over-the-top action to keep you glued to your seat.
We're going back to space in style this year, with Guardian's of the Galaxy Vol.2, Alien: Covenant, and Star Wars: Episode VIII getting ready to set the box-office on fire. These three films are still riding the buzz from their previous installments (Prometheus, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars: Episode VII) and are all worth looking into if you aren't already caught up.
Broad City actor Illana Glazer and Charlie Day from Always Sunny in Philadelphia plan to bring their adult humor to the silver screen in their own comedies Rock That Body and Fist Fight. Owen Wilson and Ed Helm team up as brothers in the film Bastards, and on the light side Will Arnet will reprise his role as a toy in The Lego Batman Movie. You can also expect families to pile into the movie theater with Despicable Me 3 coming along later this year in June.
The Bad
Some franchises don't know when to quit. Transformers: The Last Knight falls under that category. Nobody gives a damn about what the next Bumblebee model looks like anymore. The Wolverine saga hasn't been exciting since the first 40 minutes of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Now 20th Century Fox is ready to a release Logan, a film that's concept comes straight from a Marvel graphic novel that has no real attachment to the Marvel universe due to the fact that Fox cannot intermingle Marvel characters owned by Disney and vice versa.
The Spider-Man franchises continue to push the bar of mediocrity to an all-time high with another carbon copy reboot in Spider-Man: Homecoming. This movie will no doubt rake in some big bucks with a cast including Robert Downey Jr., Marissa Tomei, Michael Keaton, and Donald Glover in a mystery role. Not saying this movie is going to be horrible, just sub-par. Fun fact: This is the SIXTH Spider-Man film and THIRD reboot. Those numbers don't add up.
Our favorite eccentric drunk pirate Captain Jack is stumbling back into theaters in Pirate of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Another franchise that's five installments deep and pretty much brings nothing new to offer, you can expect million dollar action scenes inside of a hollow, plotless waste of time.
The Speculative
This next group of films show promise if they are made with proper execution, so they could go either way. Ghost In The Shell, the live-action film based on the Japanese anime has caused a stir with the casting of Scarlett Johansson as the anime's main protagonist Motoko Kusanagi. That's not the only adaptation facing criticism this year, with Stephen King's Dark Tower in question after the film has gone through three directors. Wonder Woman debuts in her first solo flick, and I'm hoping it lives to its name. DC Studio's is 0 for 2 in winning its audience with Ben Affleck's Batman and a very disappointing Suicide Squad film. If the new Justice League film is presented without rushed origins and a shred of originality, DC has a chance to redeem themselves after their last few editions of hero movies.
