10 Biggest Movies of 2018 Still to Come

Fall is my busiest time of the year at the movies. With all the Oscar hopefuls out there, plus a string of major releases that light up the box office, I’m practically at the movies once a week. Every year the fall and winter movie seasons tend to look good, with strong Oscar hopefuls in the pipeline and big studio releases set to shine, and if I’m being honest, this year’s crop of upcoming releases may be the strongest we’ve seen in a long while.

Believe it or not, the summer movie season is almost over. Sure, we have a couple of weeks of August left, but the fall movie season and the holiday movie season go fast, and there’s a lot of big movies still coming down the pike. Here are ten of the biggest new movies of 2018 still to come, just listed in alphabetical order, to keep an eye on.

 

A Star is Born | October 5th

Bradley Cooper makes his directorial debut in this latest remake. We’ve already seen three previous versions of this story — this latest one seems very similar to the 70s version — but each version was a product of their times, and has stand-out qualities that separate it from the others.

A Star is Born is set to screen at both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals and will likely also be on display at Telluride, but we won’t know until the day before that festival begins. Cooper also stars alongside Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Dave Chappelle, and Andrew Dice Clay. Cooper is also a co-writer and co-producer on the film from Warner Brothers, so if it’s a big hit or a big miss, Cooper will likely be a reason.

 

Aquaman | December 21st

The DCEU at this moment stands in an interesting spot. For me, only two of the five films have worked, and one of those, Justice League, was a bit of a guilty pleasure. I’ll let you take a guess as to which other DCEU film worked for me. Anyways, this December sees the next chapter, Aquaman, which had its first trailer debut at San Diego Comic Con.

While I, for one, liked a lot of the visuals in the film, I’m less impressed by its story, which seems like Black Panther meets Thor. Still, with a talented director like James Wan and a cast that includes Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, Randall Park, Djimon Hounsou, Patrick Wilson, and Nicole Kidman, this one will be worth a shot.

 

Bohemian Rhapsody | November 2nd

Bohemian Rhapsody is one I’ve been waiting for for a long time: a Queen biopic. The film has already had two trailers, both of which have been stand-outs, and despite the controversy of having Bryan Singer as director, the film looks extremely well-made with an exceptional looking performance from Rami Malek, who plays Freddie Mercury.

Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, and Tom Hollander round out the cast, but audiences won’t necessarily be going for them, anyways. What will sell this movie is the music, and really, what else should we expect from 20th Century Fox? The film won’t be a festival player, either, by the looks of it, but will open on November 2nd.

 

Creed II | November 21st

There are a fair number of sequels coming out later this year, but probably at the top of my list is the follow-up to Creed. Personally, I make the argument for the first Creed being superior to the first Rocky film, but I know many will disagree, and while I was at first tepid about bringing Ivan Drago back into the storyline, and having someone other than Ryan Coogler in the director’s chair, that first trailer won me over big time.

Not only does it look like Adonis’ journey continues in a satisfying way, but we’ve got more great scenes between him and Stallone, and more importantly, him and Tessa Thompson. Again, this is a film that will likely skip all the festivals, but the MGM production hits the big screen November 21st.

 

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald | November 16th

The second chapter in a planned five part series, Fantastic Beasts 2 will see the return of Newt Scamander and his wizard buddies as they fight the all-powerful Gellert Grindelwald as he tries to take over both the wizarding world and the muggles. Or is that non-mags? Anyways, I was not a gigantic fan of the original film, outside of the wonderfully cheery work from Dan Fogler.

Still, he’s back in this one, as is Eddie Redmayne as Newt, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Zoe Kravitz, Carmen Ejogo, Jude Law as the young Dumbledore, and Johnny Depp as Grindelwald. In spite of the reactions to the first film and the presence of Depp, who’s been a controversial figure lately, I see Fantastic Beasts 2 being one of the biggest hits of the holiday season. It opens on November 16th from Warner Brothers.

 

First Man | October 12th

It’s probably no surprise that Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to La La Land will likely be one of the more anticipated films of the fall season, and after that crazy Oscar year, it seems like Chazelle has another winner on his hands. Another biopic on this list, this time about Neil Armstrong and the first moon landing, First Man stars Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Shea Wingham, Bryan D’arcy James, Ciran Hinds, Lukas Haas, and Jason Clarke.

While I remember jokingly saying how the trailer ruined the ending of the film (I guess they make it to the moon), on further re-watches, the trailer is pretty good and gets the feelings of joy, terror, and triumph summed up in the actors’ performances. The film will have the coveted honor of opening the Venice Film Festival and will also screen at Toronto and will be a likely contender for a spot on the Telluride list. Universal will open the film on October 12th.

 

The Girl in the Spider’s Web | November 9th

While some fans are disappointed David Fincher will probably never finish the Millenium trilogy with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, I, for one, was very impressed by the trailer for The Girl in the Spider’s Web, and it looks like Claire Foy is an exceptional choice to play Lisbeth Salender. I recently finished reading the original trilogy by Stieg Larsson, and am counting down the days to Spider’s Web’s release.

LaKeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks, Stephen Merchant, Vicky Krieps, and Sverrir Gudnason also star in the film, which is based on the book by David Lagercrantz. I am also very excited by Sony’s choice to sign on Fede Alvarez as director, whose last two films, Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, were both home runs in my eyes. Again this will not be a likely festival circuit rider, but it doesn’t really fit that mold, so I’m not worried. The film opens November 9th.

 

Halloween | October 19th

The first article I wrote for this website a few months ago spotlighted my anticipation for the sequel to the original 1978 classic, and there’s many reasons to continue to anticipate this one.

Not only do we get the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as fan favorite Laurie Strode, and the return of John Carpenter as composer and executive producer, but also the return of Nick Castle, the actor originally credited as playing The Shape, killer Michael Myers. We also received a kick-ass first trailer, and the film recently had a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, while the footage shown there was not released online, having heard descriptions of the footage only gets me more excited.

David Gordon Green takes a time-out from his comedy and drama works for this one, and he co-wrote the script with Jeff Fradley and Danny McBride, of all people. Universal is handling release here, and they’ve got a golden date of October 19th picked out for release.

 

Mary Poppins Returns | December 19th

Fans of The Incredibles 2 knew it was a hell of a wait to get their sequel. 14 years, to be exact. Well, Mary Poppins fans had to wait 54 years before a sequel came about. And she’ll be back in Mary Poppins Returns, umbrella in hand and a song in her throat, this time played by the ever-charming Emily Blunt. And one of the biggest reasons I’m excited for this one is the cast. You’ve also got Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Dick Van Dyke, and Meryl Streep.

Jeez, they really are going for it with a cast like that, and the ever-dependent Rob Marshall in the director’s chair also sends good vibes throughout this production. While I think it’s an impossible task to try and top the original classic, a new adventure that knows what it is and doesn’t try to overtake its original might be just what the doctor ordered. So yes, a spoonful of sugar, and charm, might indeed help the medicine go down. Disney’s releasing this one on December 19th.

 

Venom | October 5th

I guess the phrase “turd in the wind” has now become more popular than ever, for better or worse. While Sony, outside of Spider-Man: Homecoming, has been trying to make their own style of cinematic universe to no avail, Venom will mark their next attempt to milk the cash cow while they still can. I mean, if Fox can sell their Marvel properties, why can’t Sony?

Anyways, despite the split online reactions by fans, I am looking forward to this one, mainly from that second trailer, which really surprised me, and the talents involved. From Tom Hardy leading the cast to Ruben Fleischer in the director’s chair to the supporting cast, which includes Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, and Woody Harrelson, you’ve got a good mix of talents here. Plus, I am really digging the look and sound of Venom, which is a nice little twinge away from the rest of the superhero genre. This year’s offering of comic-book films has been relatively hit and miss, with Infinity War and Black Panther being highlights, while Deadpool 2 and Ant-Man and the Wasp have been so-so. We’ll see if Venom can help the situation. It opens October 5th.

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