Every year, it seems there are more and more movies catering to a portion of the population that used to have their heads bathed in the business end of the toilet. But there are still certain years in which the Movie Gods truly align, to bring you a mind-numbing geek festival of the brain. There is so much “must see” on the books for 2015, that you might want to start saving just for future movie tickets.
10. Trolls
In your heart of hearts, you know that you had a soft spot for that fuzzy-headed, frequently naked Trolls toy line. Starring Jason Schwartzman, and created by the frequently-reliable Dreamworks animation divisions, the Trolls will get animated life in 2015. The good news is that The Smurfs was a heartwarming success, paving the way for a Troll movie to be made. Plus, the screenplay is penned by the same woman who wrote Monsters Versus Aliens. The bad news might be the pure limitation such a tie-in presents. How much mythology can you really expand upon, when the subjects are toys famous for being at the end of pencils?
Still, we are cautiously betting that Trolls will be the aforementioned heartwarming success. You just might not admit that you were excited about seeing it later.
9. Ant-Man
We can certainly understand some trepidation about a big budget production which essentially amounts to Honey I Shrunk The Hero. C’mon, its Ant-Man, right? There are two saving graces to this project which should make you excited though. For one thing, it’s Marvel. We’re not saying that Marvel Studios is infallible. There have been many Marvel projects which were less than stellar. However, they still have a good track record.
The other reason is director Edgar Wright. Wright is the edgy comedy/action director who gave you both Shaun of The Dead and Scott Pilgrim Versus The World. At the very least, Wright understands what fandom wants, and how to make the property his own. With little to expect from Ant-Man, it may turn out to be a true classic of the genre.
8. Hotel Transylvania 2
Genndy Tartakovsky will not be back for the sequel, as he is trying to revive the even dicier proposition of bringing back Popeye to the big screen. Hotel Transylvania was Sony’s highest grossing animated feature ever, as well as a pretty decent argument for Adam Sandler to never appear in a live action film again. Adam, it was a good run, but you are now simply better as a voice actor. It’s like a pitcher transitioning from a starter to a reliever. At one point, you were reliable for regular $130 million domestic takes at the box office. If you want to keep it up, then stick to animated projects from now on. Hotel Transylvania is a good franchise to start on. Call Jack Black and commiserate. It will be OK.
7. B.O.O: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations
Little is actually known about B.O.O., but what is known has potential to be very exciting. The animated movie will star Seth Rogen as a ghost who must return to school to learn how to scare better. The movie is being done by Dreamworks and, done correctly, could feature shades of Monsters Inc., Casper, and (depending on the ghost’s age) either Billy Madison or Back To School. The movie could have a slyly put, adult-humor-meets-childhood concept, that everyone in the family can enjoy. If it is done incorrectly? Just remember that we are only going off of the information that we have. So don’t blame us.
6. Peanuts
Whenever you step on hallowed ground, there is a chance that disaster will result. Charles Schulz was Peanuts. There is a feeling that no one could, or would, ever come into the property after him. When screenwriter Craig Schulz (Charles’ son) says, “We finally felt the time was right and the technology is where we need it to be to create this film,” there is a possibility that there is an actual misunderstanding of the low-tech majesty which was A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The response? Horton Hears a Hoo. Director Steve Martino is the one who directed Horton to an animated feature that fans saw as at least a worthy continuation of the mythology started by Theodore Geisel. Martino is the same man who is directing Peanuts. There is obviously great trepidation, but there also appears to be some hope.
5. Fantastic Four
After seeing the previous Fantastic Four movie, as well as Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, fans’ enthusiastic response to the reboot of Fantastic Four seemed almost too excited. The reason for such exuberance? Chronicle, and its director Josh Trank. As a dry run, Chronicle was a movie about teenagers who suddenly got superpowers after a party. Each of the heroes’ lives spun wildly out of control as a result. Fans are envisioning Chronicle with a budget, as well as familiar characters, and they like it. Considering Chris Evans has moved on to Captain America, there is virtually no chance of the original cast returning. The excitement, however, still seems very warranted.
4. Justice League
All reports look like Warner Brothers is ready to pull the trigger on a Justice League movie. Now, DC and Warner Brothers are not Marvel or Disney. On the plus side, Christopher Nolan sounds ready to direct the film tomorrow. While there is no guarantee of any kind of “shared universe” like Marvel, speculation has still run rampant that Nolan’s Bat-Universe will be connected to this upcoming feature. If the Nolans are officially on board, fans will tend to trust whatever decisions are made on the movie. The film could easily duplicate Superman and Batman’s success at the box office. Let’s just hope that it does not follow the spotty box office, and critical reception, associated with pretty much all of DC’s other heroes.
3. The Hunger Games: MockingJay Part Two
You can blame the title, as well as dividing the final book into two cinematic parts, on Harry Potter. The Twilight Saga picked up the trend, and The Hunger Games will continue it. If those franchises were any indication, then MockingJay Part Two may well be the most commercially successful film in the series. By that time, the build for the post-apocalyptic saga will be at an all-time high, especially since the same director currently working on Catching Fire is also working on the MockingJay movies. This is also continuing the trend that the last few Twilight and Harry Potter movies started. There is plenty of precedence for these formulas working.
2. Avengers 2
There has been a tease of changes to come, by the time we get to Avengers 2. First of all, the title might be subtitled, or you may not see the 2 in there at all. The teased villain at the end of the first film will be first fleshed out before #2, in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Another interesting facet seems to be that Tony Stark seems to be suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder, after the events of the Avengers.
Meanwhile, the Falcon seems to be a character in the upcoming Captain America: Winter Soldier. The term Winter Soldier itself indicates a return of James “Bucky” Barnes, who is the current Captain America in the comics. That may indicate that some of the Avengers may not be done by the actors we know now. The movie should be fine, but it is great to have a level of speculation. In a year of geek movies, this may yet be the box office winner.
1. Star Wars Episode VII
All the JJ Abrams lens flare jokes in the world, not to mention the prospect of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fischer portraying old-as-dirt versions of their iconic characters, have not stopped Star Wars VII from being one of the most anticipated movies this decade, and perhaps of all time. Will we see Han and Leia’s kids? Will Luke be a Jedi Academy trainer? Who else will be returning? So much is pure speculation but, if the speculation about the prequel trilogy was any indication, 80% of what you read will prove to be dead wrong. However, it’ll be fun guessing. After all, no geek fest is truly complete without Star Wars.
21 Comments
Looks like a pretty good year for movies. Might actually spend some money.
Looking forward to this in 2015. Ant-Man will be interesting.
Ant-man in a movie sounds cool! I wonder what the sequence will be called: Giant-man, Goliath, or Yellow Jacket?
(x_x) please don’t trash “peanuts” thoughts of 3-d computer animated,political correct with hip hop soundtrack drain my soul! And please,please,please!!!!! Don’t have Snoopy and Woodstock speak!!!!(‘;’)????
The Hunger Games is a blatant knock-off of a Japanese movie “Battle Royale” and I hate the author for it. There are so many similarities it’s not even funny. If you do a little bit of research and watch both (I found the comic/manga version of Battle Royale to have more similarities to Hunger Games) you’d see what I mean. Pretty much anyone who I’ve spoken with who have seen both agree.
Aside from that, I’m not looking forward to the Trolls movie, Hotel Transylvania, B.O.O., or Peanuts, since I’m not 7 years old. Instead of it being the “Ultimate Year for Geekdom,” maybe the “Ultimate Year for Infantile Minds” would be a better title.
I can’t say I’m really excited for any of those movies. I didn’t like the Avengers (they were all second-tier heroes IMO). I’ve heard of Ant-Man, but never read the comic, so I don’t know about that. Seems a little early for a reboot of The Fantastic 4, but there’s still time (the Spiderman reboot was way too early and left me disliking reboots). The Justice League seems a bit like the Avengers, but I’m hopeful it’ll be good (hopefully Aquaman dies within the first 10 mins haha). Star Wars with the old characters seems like a bad idea written by fanboys, but so was the more recent 3 movies, so who knows.
So, you’re one of that subspecies of human in internet that despise everything they saw. You hate author for successfully copying work of other, you insult these so called kids movie, you didn’t like so called second tier people, dislike reboot, hope somebody dies just because you see him lame. well… just STFO, you’re not helping here, very much humanity.
Holy freakin’ God, did this weirdo just include a Peanuts movie, a sequel to a mediocre animated film, a random animated film, and a Trolls doll movie as part of “the ultimate year for geekdom”? ISHYGDDT.
Honestly, this should have been a 5 movie list and not 10. Not sure how half of those movies are apart of a geek list.
Too bad this isn’t topfivez.net.
You are right. Maybe they should have found movies that were actually geeky as fillers for the list instead of what they actually put there.
Quite, there are only 5 here I can see could be classified as geeky, the others are all just kids’ crap!
Hmm, I’m going to see none of them. Maybe my friends will drag me along for Star Wars, but I know that I’ll regret having any expectations at all. Especially since I’m a fan of non-CG special effects.
Any word on a third Clash of the Titans or Silent Hill movie? Those are two sequels I NEED to see! 🙂
You NEED to see a sequel to wrath of the titans? SO ITS YOUR FAULT THAT PUTRID PIECES OF CRAP LIKE THESE MOVIES MAKE MONEY!@?ALKSJNasdfk
honestly, the titan movies weren’t oscar contenders or anything and I didn’t go pay money to see them at the theaters but I rented them from netflix and found both of them to be pretty entertaining. I wouldn’t call it unforgettable filmmaking but they kept my attention and told a good story.
First of all, the Justice League movie will never happen by 2015. There isn’t even a script right now, and WB won’t move on it until ‘Man of Steel’ numbers are in.
If…IF… ‘Man of Steel’ blows it out of the water and does really well, then you will see movement on Justice League and potentially a cross-over with Christian Bale as Batman, Gordon-Levitt as Robin.
WB would be absolute FOOLS not to cross-over Bale’s Batman, that would add 500 million to the ticket sales. Ryan Reynolds? Replace him, bring in a black John Stewart GL.
Now, Star Wars… I am fairly confident with it in the hands of JJ. He’s a fan. He knows what fans want – and it ain’t more Jar Jar Binks and more Ewoks.
Avengers 2, will be great, no doubt.
Justic League though should get itself together first; Man of Steel 2013, Wonder Woman & The Flash in 2014, maybe a Supes/Batman team up in 2015 and then a Justice League will all of them in 2016.
Going up against Avengers 2 and freaking STAR WARS in 2015 is insane and the ONLY way they pull it off is Christian Bale and Henry Cavill.
Chris Nolan won’t be directing. If the rumors are true, he is now Godfathering (is that even a word?) the entire DCU at WB. He will produce JL, along with Zack Snyder, who may possibly direct. There is also the rumor that Christian Bale’s Batman will be in JL, though there was an apparent debunking of that rumor. I personally hope Bale will be back. This is Hollywood, they can make it work and tie up all the loose ends.
What`s wrong with a new Star Wars? Disney are great with CGI. And as we all know Jar Jar Binks was the first CGI character. We could have Star Wars Episode VII-The Death of Jar Jar Binks. I`d watch that anyday..
Dear Gods of Movies
After the horrible mess you allowed to happen with Star Wars episodes I to III, now we have the original cast returning and George Lucus’s ego isn’t directing, if you let Disney mess up these films I will personally find you in your Movie God Heaven or where ever it is you live and I will kill you.
Love Harry
I hate to tell you this but when Disney makes a movie they know when to cut the crap and kid stuff and make a good movie. I have faith that Disney will at least make it decent of a movie and I’m sure they won’t make it like most disney kid movies.
Woo!!! Star Wars 7 yea lets go!!!!