Following a year of record box-office sales, increased attendance and even happy critics, the movies of 2013 have a lot to live up to.
Some observers feel that this year's total gross may beat 2012's mighty $10.8 billion. Mostly because of the kinds of movies that make critics sad - sequels, crude comedies, formulaic animated films - but hey, whatever sells.
Studios are hoping some of that will come from expanding the "Twilight"/"Hunger Games" audience to adaptations of such young adult novels as "Beautiful Creatures" (currently set for release on Feb. 13), "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" (Aug. 23), Stephenie Meyer's "The Host" (March 29) and "Ender's Game" (Nov. 1).
Another hope is that the intelligent
Mostly, though, optimism is grounded, as it always is in Hollywood, on a whole lot more of the tried and true.
"This year just looks incredible," Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com 's Box-Office Division, enthused. "Obviously, there's going to be another `Hobbit' and there's going to be another `Hunger Games.' But there's also going to be the next `Iron Man' and `Thor,' there's going to be the next `Star Trek' movie, which looks really cool to me.
"There will be `Fast & Furious 6', `Man of
Also among more than 25 franchise movies scheduled for 2013 release are "The Hangover Part III" (currently set for release on May 24); "Monsters University," a prequel to Pixar's "Monsters, Inc." (June 21); "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" (March 29); "Grown Ups 2" (July 12); "A Good Day to Die Hard" (Feb. 14); "300: Rise of an Empire" (Aug. 2); "RED 2" (Aug. 2); and, inevitably, "Scary Movie 5" (April 12).
Such a repetitive list leaves other industry watchers more than a little depressed.
"It just looks awful to me," lamented Anne Thompson, editor-in-chief of Thompson on Hollywood at Indiewire.com . "It's all horrible sequels and remakes, the usual dreck. I'm not looking forward to `Smurfs 2.' `Cloudy with Meatballs 2'? This is not my idea of a good time."
That said, Thompson admitted she was eagerly anticipating "Into Darkness" (May 17), J.J. Abrams' sequel to his successful "Star Trek" reboot, and she thought the second "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (Nov. 21) movie looks kinda nifty.
What Thompson's really charged up about, though,
"I am looking forward to Guillermo del Toro pitting giant robots against giant monsters in `Pacific Rim'," Thompson said. "And I am looking forward to some of the ones that other people want to see. They include (Blomkamp's) `Elysium' and a lot of dystopian films that lend themselves to some visual panache."
But what about those who like a little reality in their cinema?
Considering how well 2012 releases "Lincoln," "Argo," "Flight," "Zero Dark Thirty," and others have done in theaters, that audience is more substantial than it has been in years.
It may not be as well-served in 2013 as it was in 2012, but there are some serious movies on the schedule, and more will surely be added as the fall approaches.
"You've got `The Wolf of Wall Street' coming from Martin Scorsese, with Leonardo DiCaprio," Thompson noted.
The jury's out on Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," which was bounced from a 2012 year-end awards consideration slot to May 10 of this year, despite starring DiCaprio as F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jazz Age antihero.
On the other hand, "The Monuments Men" (Dec. 20), George Clooney's latest directing effort starring himself, Daniel Craig and Matt Damon, sounds good sight unseen; it's about art experts trying to save Europe's treasures from the Nazis during World War II.
Ditto for Paul Greengrass' true-life tale of a ship skipper captured by Somali pirates, "Captain Phillips" (Oct. 11), starring Tom Hanks.
Hanks also plays Walt Disney in "Saving Mr. Banks" (Dec. 20), a tale about the struggle (who knew?) to bring "Mary Poppins" to the screen.
Sports biopics will include "42" (April 12), with Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, and Ron Howard's "Rush" (Sept. 20), with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl as rival Formula One racers.
There will also be the odd sight of Ashton Kutcher bringing the Apple genius back to life in "Jobs."
Guess it's time to talk about comedy.
Along with the aforementioned sequels, we can anticipate the crazier-in-the-movies-than-she-is-on-TV Melissa McCarthy to headline two features, "Identity Thief" (Feb. 8) and "The Heat" (April 5), the latter by the director of her "Bridesmaids" breakthrough, Paul Feig.
Expect to see the rest of the Judd Apatow gang (Seth Rogen, James Franco, etc.) not deal well with the apocalypse in "This Is the End" (June 14), while Edgar Wright's similarly beloved English cut-up crew faces a similar plot complication in "The World's End" (Oct. 25).
Meanwhile, the less prolific comedy team of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson try to recapture that "Wedding Crashers" magic with "The Internship" (June).
Maybe 2013's mother of comedy pairings will be Steve Carell, Jim Carrey and, um, Steve Buscemi in "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" (March 15).
Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline will try to give them a run for their money in "Last Vegas" (Dec. 20), a kind of AARP take on the "Hangover" recipe.
Enough laughs. Hollywood's most serious business every year is creating new blockbuster franchises.
The biggest bet of 2013 is being placed on "The Lone Ranger" (July 3), from the same director, producer and Johnny Depp that gave us "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Also on the more-of-the-same-but-different list is "Independence Day" landmark defiler Roland Emmerich's "White House Down" (June 28), with Secret Service guy Channing Tatum trying to save President Jamie Foxx from paramilitary home invaders.
Will Franco as "Oz: The Great and Powerful" (March 8) or Brad Pitt fighting "World War Z" (June 21) start series? Uncertain at this point.
For the boys (and certain visually-oriented girls) "Pain & Gain" (April 26), with an iron-pumping Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, may not be Michael Bay's next "Transformers," but could hit kinda big. The ladies may be less attracted to the well-worn physiques of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, but the old action boys are hoping their latest team-up, "The Tomb" (Sept. 27), will be this year's "Expendables."
We'll see what works.
