Welcome to Culture Crash, where we examine American culture – what’s new and old in entertainment…
It’s a new year, which means there is plenty to look forward to on the entertainment horizon. 2017 may not be completely behind us quite yet-the oscars are forthcoming, but the film calendar of 2018 is already filling up.
In the more immediate future, the new movie from Alex Garland, the man behind the movie Ex Machina, is coming in February. Annihilation, based on the best-selling Jeff Vandermeer book of the same name, stars Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, and Oscar Isaac.
Also coming in February is the hotly anticipated, Black Panther, which will finally allow a black superhero to take the reins and carry his own film. Then in May, Black Panther will join up with The Avengers, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and all of your Marvel cinematic favorites in Infinity War.
This year will also see the release of several high-profile biopics. Adam McKay, who directed the Big Short is making Backseat, a biographical drama starring Christian Bale as former Vice President Dick Cheney. 2018 will also see Ryan Gosling star as Neil Armstrong in Damien Chazelle’s film, First Man. And rounding out the biopics, Saoirse Ronan will play the title character in Mary, Queen of Scots.
In November, Warner Brothers will release the next installment of the Harry Potter wizarding world with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, starring Jude Law as a young Dumbledore and controversially, Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald.
Of course, countless other films will be coming this year including the next Jurassic World movie, Fallen Kingdom, Ava Duvernay’s A Wrinkle in Time adaptation, The Incredibles 2, Aquaman, and a reimagining of the Ocean’s franchise starring a cast of diverse women led by Sandra Bullock called Ocean’s 8.
Thankfully, the list just goes on and on. As with any year, some of the best movies of the year will be titles we’ve never heard of made by people we don’t know about yet.
2017 was a fantastic year at the movies, here’s to hoping 2018 can find a way to top it.
I’m Evan Rook.
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