I am writing this exactly a week after watching Avengers: Endgame. You know, that low-key, indie Marvel Studios movie no one’s talking about. Anyway, that movie (and its sibling, Infinity War) was marketed as an event or experience in itself—it pulls from 11 years’ worth of Marvel movies, and serves as a grand farewell for some characters (and actors, from their lucrative contracts and global press tours). I love Marvel movies as much as the next person, but there’s also this huge sense of relief. The hype game’s done, and we got our answers; for the most part, we can all breathe easy now.
This is also a good time to remember that there are other movies to wait for and watch, and other opportunities to ditch streaming for a night and stare at a screen with noisy strangers who love kicking the back of your seat. Here’s a quick run-through of what I want to watch for the rest of the year (with one saved for next year). Get your calendars ready!
From comics to cinemas
Endgame sure feels like an ending, but the joint Marvel-Sony production Spider-Man: Far From Home is the actual Phase Three ender for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Our latest friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Tom Holland, leaves the neighborhood with his friends and heads to Europe, where he goes from normal-person vacation mode to superhero-ing mode real quick. Seeing this younger Peter Parker is always fun, and having Spider-Man interact with Nick Fury and Jake Gyllenhaal’s mysterious Mysterio emphasizes Marvel’s knack for putting unlikely characters together. Spider-Man: Far From Home is set to come out on July 3rd.
Another comic-book adaptation on my lineup is The New Mutants, the last Fox-era Marvel adaptation before The Great Acquisition last March. A teen superhero horror movie? Bring it. We’ve all heard about production problems, and the possibility of it being taken out of theaters entirely and shifted to streaming instead, which aren’t really encouraging. But as someone who loved the first few movies in Fox’s X-Men Universe, I’d just love to see how it all ends. It’s supposed to come out August 2019, maybe…?
After the Marvel movies come two interesting DC projects. The first, Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) brings back Margot Robbie’s superb criminal character—minus that toxic and abusive ex of hers, and plus a few other strong female characters (Huntress, Black Canary, and Renee Montoya) to protect a young girl from Ewan McGregor’s evil character, Black Mask. It just wrapped filming last month and it is set for a February 2020 release.
And speaking of Joker… the complete joke that was Jared Leto’s version steps aside for Joaquin Phoenix’s grittier and sadder version in the origin-story movie Joker. Don’t expect a follow-up to what the late Heath Ledger did in the decade-old The Dark Knight; Phoenix makes the character his own as Batman’s greatest villain descends into madness. Based on the trailer and Phoenix’s filmography, we’re definitely falling in line for this one. Joker is scheduled for an October 2019 release.
They’re back!
In the global movie industry, you just have to max out your IP and franchises and hope your audiences will keep turning up and paying up. (See: Marvel movies; the Shake, Rattle & Roll, Enteng Kabisote and Tanging Ina movie series.) 2019 promises a lot more familiar series for your viewing pleasure… or displeasure, maybe.
Let’s start with Disney, a.k.a. Hollywood’s current overlord. It’s been doing live-action remakes and series revivals in the last few years; Toy Story 4 (Pixar; June 2019) and The Lion King (July 2019) are just the latest in the long line of comebackers. Sure, it’s great to see newer versions of our childhood entertainment hallmarks, along with long-lost characters like Bo Peep (TS4) and the lovable duo of Pumbaa and Timon (TLK). But there’s also some apprehension here—what, you don’t have any new stories to tell? Regardless, Disney’s gonna make an entire country’s worth of money here, so… hello, guaranteed blockbuster.
More familiar titles will take up space in cinemas soon. Instead of doing total remakes, Hollywood is going for the soft-reboot approach, as in the case of the new and more global Charlie’s Angels (out by November 2019) and Men in Black: International (starring Thor and Valkyrie… oops, I mean Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, led by Liam Neeson and his very particular set of skills; out by next month). New characters and spins on classic franchises? Game on.
Another refresher tactic is the “spinoff,” best seen in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw. In this latest edition of “hot bald guys smash things, blow up places, and break people’s bones,” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw make for another unlikely duo to fight Idris Elba’s enhanced “black Superman” Brixton and save the world. Not bad for a franchise that began with illegal street racing in L.A. (August 2019)
Then there’s the “alternate universe” strategy, which Terminator: Dark Fate will employ to basically ditch the third and fourth movies of the Terminator franchise. The plot’s still under wraps, but… oh my God, Linda Hamilton’s back. That’s it. I’m seeing this. (November 2019)
Second round
There’s nothing scarier than a horror-movie villain returning decades later to resume their physical, emotional, and psychological terrorism on you. While that’s exactly what happens in Halloween (2018), it’s also the big plot line of It: Chapter Two. Here, Pennywise the clown comes back for more frights, screams, and jump scares at the adult characters’ expense while in the town of Derry. Don’t literally hold your breath, though—September 2019’s a long way off.
Here’s a sequel that I and countless others have waited for for a looooong time. Say hello again to Columbus, Tallahassee, Little Rock, and Wichita in Zombieland: Double Tap, scheduled for October 2019. Can’t wait to see the original four players again, plus super-fast zombies, more practical zombie-killing rules, more Twinkies (?), and an undead Bill Murray!
The closer
Forty-two years after the first movie was shown in theaters, one big space opera is set to end with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Everyone will come in with a lot of questions, like: Who are Rey’s true parents? Would she and Kylo Ren become a thing? (Please, oh please, don’t do it, J.J.) How will the First Order be defeated? Palpatine… really? How would they bring back Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia story-wise? We’ll have to wait until December 2019 to find out.
Local loves
This list ends with two specific mentions of upcoming Philippine movies that aren’t romcoms or part of money-first franchises. The first one we’re looking forward to seeing is On the Job 2, the sequel to Erik Matti’s 2013 hit about hitmen for the rich and corrupt folk. (If you still haven’t seen it yet, stream it on iflix—you have until June 1!) And it won’t end there: Matti has planned a five-part miniseries after the sequel, so that world’s just going to get bigger. On the Job 2 has a June 12 release date.
The second comes from production studio Epic Media, titled Mina-Anud. It’s marketed as an “indie comedy” about surfers finding literal tons of cocaine on the shore, selling it, and dealing with the consequences. But the studio also notes that the movie is based on true events. It doesn’t have a release date yet, so… patience, my dear.
