EDITORIALS

Looking Ahead: 30 Movies We'd Be Sad to Miss If the World Ends

by Ethan Anderton
December 19, 2012

It has been predicated by the Mayan civilization that the end of the world is coming on December 21st this week. However when an entire group of people try to predict the end of the world, but don't even see their own demise coming, that raises some eyebrows. We're pretty confident that we will all still be here after December 21st (unless Roland Emmerich is a prophet too), but just in case, we've compiled a list of some of the films that we would be pretty bummed to miss IF the world ends. There's some exciting films like The Avengers 2 and Star Wars: Episode VII coming out over the next few years, so what would we miss?

Here is our list of 30 movies and/or upcoming projects that we are looking forward to beyond December 2012. There's quite a few great films on the horizon, and I hope we all get to see these flicks in the future. Note: this was made purely for fun, we are not superstitious, we're just optimistic for the future of movies.

Django Unchained

It's only just a few days away, but after waiting a couple years, it would be pretty annoying to miss Quentin Tarantino's latest film. By now, most of the press have seen it, but I've waited to see it with the rest of the general public. From Leonardo DiCaprio's first turn as a straight-up villain, to the interesting pairing of Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz (not to mention the rest of the cast including Jonah Hill, Samuel L. Jackson, James Remar, Kerry Washington, Walton Goggins and Don Johnson) this has been one of my most anticipated films for awhile, and it's too close to miss it just on account of the world ending.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Everyone is so busy trying to figure out who the villain is in J.J. Abrams' sci-fi sequel, that they might miss when the movie hits theaters next May. We just wrote about why it shouldn't matter who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in Star Trek Into Darkness, and thankfully, the recently released full trailer doesn't really give too many hints to help obsessed parties solve the mystery, but it does give us a glimpse at how awesome this sequel does look. Of course, if the world ends, that would be a good reason to get mad at Abrams for being so damn secretive about everything so far.

Man of Steel

We were a bit nervous about Zack Snyder's take on Superman until Comic-Con, when we saw the teaser trailer for the first time. Since then, we've been totally on board with his vision, which seems to bear more directorial hallmarks of producer Christopher Nolan than Snyder himself. An excellent full trailer just debuted, and this looks like the Superman movie we've all been waiting for, with a great mix of action and quiet character moments. This is already one of our most anticipated movies next year, and hopefully we'll have the chance to experience Zack Snyder's Man of Steel in all of its glory.

Pacific Rim

Giant frickin' aliens fighting giant frickin' robots! Does this not look totally awesome?! Guillermo del Toro finally back in the directors seat since Hellboy II in 2008 gave us a first tease of his badass monsters vs robots action extravaganza that unquestionably has a massively apocalyptic scale of its own. One of the best lines in the trailer is literally Idris Elba screaming "we are canceling the apocalypse!" Now that we got a taste of what we could be seeing next July, this is one of them I'm anxiously anticipating already, and hopefully get to see in seven months from now. Please, cancel this apocalypse so that we can include Pacific Rim on our summer of 2013 line-up as a must see movie on opening night next July.

The Wolverine

We'd have been ecstatic if Darren Aronofsky actually stuck with this and ended up directing it, but 3:10 to Yuma director James Mangold looks like a good replacement. Frankly, anything that he does pretty much has to be better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and this finally sounds like the Wolverine Japanese saga that diehard fans have been aching to see. Hugh Jackman won't be playing this character forever so he only has a few more chances to get it right, and from everything we've seen and heard so far, this looks like it'll be the definitive Wolverine story finally told in the right way.

Kick-Ass 2

Two words: Jim Carrey. Though not everyone loved Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass in 2010, the sequel is bringing about a superhero ensemble, and Jim Carrey is joining the ranks of Kick-Ass (Aaron Johnson) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) to fight against the Red Mist turned super villain played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Carrey is playing "The Colonel", one of the many team members on Justice Forever, a group of citizens stepping up to fight crime with Kick-Ass. Joining them are Donald Faison and Lindy Booth, plus there's John Leguizamo playing a new bad guy, too.

The Hangover Part III

Not many comedies appear on this list, but you can bet one of them is going to be the conclusion to this unlikely trilogy. Mostly because the second film was such a carbon copy of the original film, just in a different location, we're interested in seeing how this finishes out. The first photos from the sequel just popped up online, and director Todd Phillips says Alan (Zach Galifianakis) relies upon the rest of the Wolf Pack (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha) after his father (Jeffrey Tambor) passes away. He called it a "fitting end to this three-part opera of mayhem and bad decisions."

The World's End

Marking only the second comedy on the list (which is a great achievement), this one also happens to be the conclusion in a trilogy. Edgar Wright's new comedy with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost is the final chapter of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy (which also includes Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz from years past). This time around, the British comedy duo will be joined by Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike. It only seems fitting that we don't want to miss a film called The World's End, about the world ending, should the world actually end.

Ender's Game

We're still waiting to see some actual footage, but this is another one that is shot and in the can and ready to make 2013 one of the most memorable years for science fiction in a while. They're adapting a beloved and hard-to-adapt sci-fi novel about a young kid with a brilliant military mind training at a futuristic off-planet battle school. If they pull this off, which I've heard might be the case, it's going to be something to behold. Beautiful, awesome, intriguing, challenging, riveting, thrilling sci-fi at its best. Gavin Hood is at the helm, with Kurtzman/Orci steering the boat as producers. Starring is Asa Butterfield as Ender, along with Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley as the wise old guys, and Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin and Moises Arias as kids. Everything about this sounds amazing, I can't wait to see it, I don't need a trailer.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire & Mockingjay Part I and II

The first movie in this series made Jennifer Lawrence an international superstar, and while it was eventually relegated to the background when more anticipated movies came out later in 2012, The Hunger Games was still a solid first entry into a new young adult saga. Catching Fire and Mockingjay (both parts) can move forward without the baggage of having to set everything up in the post-apocalyptic world, and with I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence stepping in for the rest of the franchise, it's going to be very interesting to see what he can do with the world Gary Ross created.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug & There and Back Again

"A half-finished book is, after all, a half finished love affair." We must finish what we have begun! Peter Jackson opened the first movie in his trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, in theaters earlier enough before December 21st to give us 1/3 of the experience. Now I want the rest of it! I've been anxious to see the rest of the story, the company's journey to the Lonely Mountain, ever since the goofy dwarves rolled into Bilbo's house in An Unexpected Journey. In the first movie, Jackson sets up such epic adventure involving so many lovable characters, that it would be a shame if we didn't get to see it end - especially knowing that it's mostly filmed, just being held for the next two years to stagger the release. Plus, I've got a feeling he's building up to something much more exciting to end with (than any of us know about) in July 2014 with There and Back Again. Looking forward to seeing Bilbo make it all the way back, again.

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