Most Anticipated Films of 2018

While 2017 was a great year for film, hopefully, 2018 will be a good year at the movies as well. These are the 15 films that I am looking forward to the most this year. 15) Mowgli a.k.a. The Jungle Book or Jungle Book: Origins - As of posting this, I’m still not entirely sure what the exact title is, but I am curious what Andy Serkis does with the source material and how the motion-capture will compare to Disney’s visually stunning version. Plus it has an excellent cast, which includes Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan and Cate Blanchett as Kaa. 14) Maze Runner: The Death Cure - I’m not the biggest fan of this dystopian YA franchise, but I still like it better than the Divergent series. I’m a fan of the genre, so I’m curious to see how the Maze Runner series ends, and hopefully, it’ll answer the questions the previous films have raised. 13) Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 - I enjoyed the original, which was one of those films that I didn’t think I would like. Let’s hope that the same amount of creativity of the first one will continue with the sequel. 12) Ready Player One - I’ll admit, when the first trailer was released, I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about, other than the huge amount of Easter eggs. However, with the release of the second trailer and a better idea of the plot, I’m much more curious about this film and might check it out in theaters. 11) First Man - La La Land is one of my favorite films of all time, Whiplash was a great film (though not one I’d want to own because it’s a little too intense), and I love learning about NASA and the space program. The combination of Damien Chazelle and Neil Armstrong puts this film on my radar. 10) The Nutcracker and the Four Realms - I’m really interested to see what they do with the story of the Nutcracker. I’m always a fan of twisted versions of stories if done right, so hopefully, this is an enjoyable film that expands the original story to create a dynamic adaptation. 9) The Grinch - I’ve been looking forward to this for over a year already as soon as I heard that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing the Grinch. Hopefully, it’s a good adaptation along the lines of Blue Sky’s Horton Hears a Who. It wouldn’t take much to be better than that live-action version. 8) Isle of Dogs - I love Fantastic Mr. Fox so I’m really looking forward to another Wes Anderson stop-motion animated film. 7) Black Panther - I liked Chadwick Boseman in Captain America: Civil War, and I’m interested in how they handle his solo film. I'm also excited to see an MCU film with a primarily black cast. Plus it seems to be a much-watch for Avengers: Infinity War. 6) Solo: A Star Wars Story - It’s a Star Wars movie, so I’m already interested. I am concerned about the production problems it seems to be having and the lack of marketing, but I’ll still probably see this one in the theaters. 5) Creed 2 - I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the first movie. I had only seen the first Rocky, yet the first Creed film did a good job at filling the audience in on all we needed to know. Let’s hope that the sequel is a worthy follow-up to a film that should have been nominated for Best Picture. 4) Ant-Man and the Wasp - I was surprised at how much I liked the first Ant-Man, so I am very excited for the sequel and for Evangeline Lily to take the mantle of the Wasp and become the first female MCU superhero with her alter ego name featured in the title. 3) The Incredibles 2 - I’ve been waiting for this one since I saw that cliffhanger from the first film. The Incredibles is one of the best Pixar films and hopefully, the sequel is the follow-up it deserves. The teaser alone has me hopeful for this one. 2) Avengers: Infinity War - The Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers are sharing screen time. And that trailer looked awesome (and finally properly used the Avengers theme for marketing). This is on the top of everyone’s anticipation list and it would have topped mine if it weren’t for #1 on this list. 1) A Wrinkle in Time - Yes, this one trumps Infinity War for me in terms of anticipation because I’ve been waiting for it the longest. I read the first four books of Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet and loved A Wrinkle in Time the most. I recently reread it and was surprised at how much I actually remembered. Here’s hoping that this is a worthy adaptation and better than the poorly received 2003 TV movie that I haven’t seen.