Flickering Myth looks ahead to 2016…
It’s the future! And with the New Year officially upon us (we’re five days into it after all), we sat down to vote for our most anticipated movies of 2016, and below are the results. Each writer had five votes, which were then collated into scores and tallied to create our Top 10 list. What’s in it? Well let’s find out.
10. Silence (dir. Martin Scorsese)
Starring Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, Ciarán Hinds
Scorsese returns to the big screen in 2016 with his latest film Silence, which sees an impressive cast taking on a historical drama. It’s based on a novel, and is the director’s first film since 2013’s Wolf of Wall Street. With Adam Driver impressing audiences and critics through Star Wars: The Force Awakens, expect a lot of hype prior to its release. The movie topped only one of our writer’s lists, but there was enough interest in the film to get it into our Top 10.
9. Assassin’s Creed (dir. Justin Kurzel)
Starring Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Bredan Gleeson, Jeremy Irons
Video game movies haven’t always had the best track record. Going back to Super Mario Bros. in 1993, the subgenre always comes with a lot of negativity that can sometimes effect its box office performance (just ask last year’s Hitman: Agent 47). Assassin’s Creed, based off the popular video game series of the same name, looks to buck that trend. With an impressive cast – including Michael Fassbender – Assassin’s Creed is one of four movies released in 2016 based off a video game (the others being Warcraft, The Angry Birds Movie and Ratchet & Clank). If this movie makes it big at the box office, expect to see Hollywood greenlight more movies based on video games…
8. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (dir. David Yates)
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Katherine Waterston
David Yates brings us back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter as we see Eddie Redmayne play a writer who is looking for Fantastic Beasts, so he can write about Where to Find Them. Oscar-winner Redmayne had a funny 2015, with an award winning performance in The Theory of Everything, a laughably bad showing in Jupiter Ascending and a controversial and unimpressive turn in The Danish Girl, so he’ll be looking to get back to his critic-pleasing ways with this outing. Topping two of our writer’s lists, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a highly anticipated movie for those who have missed Harry Potter’s world since 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.
7. Doctor Strange (dir. Scott Derrickson)
Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen, Chiwetel Ejifor
The first (but not the last) comic book movie to appear in our Top 10, Doctor Strange marks the first movie in Marvel’s Phase Three to introduce us to a new character. Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch makes his debut in the MCU, which will be directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister) and will also feature Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen and Chiwetel Ejifor. We saw a sneak-peak of the movie’s concept art trailer a few months back, and it looks like it could be a fun movie. So why is it so low down on our Top 10 list? Perhaps superhero fatigue really is setting in for some viewers. You only have to look at how Ant-Man performed last year, a solo movie in the MCU with no prior releases. Will Doctor Strange meet the same fate? Well it topped two of our writer’s lists, so some people are excited for it.
6. Hail, Caesar! (dir. Joel & Ethan Coen)
Starring George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson,Josh Brolin, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Jonah Hill
Seriously, who doesn’t love the Coen Brothers? And, come on, who wasn’t smitten by the trailer for Hail, Caesar!? It features an all-star cast and is set in cinema’s golden era of filmmaking – what’s not to love?! The duo have certainly taken a more serious route in the latter years as directors, with titles like No Country For Old Men and Inside Llewyn Davis, but Hail, Caesar! looks to bring them back to their Big Lebowski roots. The plot even feels in the same vein as The Big Lebowski, with Hollywood star George Clooney being kidnapped and a studio fixer (Josh Brolin) attempting to find him. This also topped two of our writer’s lists (and narrowly missed out on a Top 5 position), but this could be very well be in our Top 10 Movies of 2016 once all is said and done.
Click the button below to see what made it into our Top 5…
Originally published January 5, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
