It’s another year of remakes, reboots, reissues, prequels, sequels, adaptations and – for those keeping track – no Josh Hartnett.
Hollywood has lined up something for everyone in 2013.
Those with a need for speed can race to theatres for Fast and Furious 6 (May 24) or Rush (September 20). Those with a need for 1D will get the still-untitled One Direction 3D concert movie (August 30). Those with a need for Canadians named Ryan can choose between Reynolds in R.I.P.D. (July 19) and Gosling in Gangster Squad (January 11) and The Place Beyond the Pines (March 29).
Reynolds also lends his voice to characters in two animated features: The Croods (March 22) and Turbo (July 19). Other animated flicks hoping to draw moviegoers to theatres this year include Escape from Planet Earth (Feburary 14) with Canada’s Brendan Fraser, Mr. Peabody & Sherman (November 1) and the sequels Monsters University (June 21), Despicable Me 2 (July 3), and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (September 27).
Speaking of sequels, get ready for Scary Movie 5 (April 12), Grown Ups 2 (July 12), Bad Santa 2 (December), The Hangover Part III (May 24), Anchorman: The Legend Continues (Dec. 20) and a fifth Die Hard movie, A Good Day to Die Hard (February 14).
Two made-in-Montreal sequels are opening this year: Smurfs 2 (July 31) and Red 2 (August 2).
Paranormal Activity 5 is set for an October 25 debut and three horror flicks that earned less than $55 million each at the box office somehow have sequels. The Last Exorcism in 2010 was evidently not the last because Part II opens March 1; The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (Feb. 1) comes out four years after the original; and Insidious Chapter 2 (Aug. 30) picks up where the first one ended in 2011.
It’s a super year for heroes. Iron Man 3 (May 3) has Robert Downey Jr. back in the metal suit; The Wolverine (July 26) has Hugh Jackman continuing his struggle to avoid scratching himself; and Thor: The Dark World (November 8) has Chris Hemsworth swinging his big hammer again.
Channing Tatum is back fighting evil in G.I. Joe Retaliation (March 29) and Henry Cavill dons the tights and cape in Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot Man of Steel (June 14).
There are several movies coming out in 2013 with source material found in libraries and bookstores.
Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton bring 200-year-old characters from the Brothers Grimm back to life in Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (January 25) – but don’t expect gingerbread houses.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the titular character in The Great Gatsby (May 10), a retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel from director Baz Lurhmann.
Another classic story updated for the big screen this year is Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8) by director Sam Raini. A hack magician named Oscar (James Franco) is whisked away from Kansas to the Land of Oz, where he meets three witches (Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams) and has to convince its inhabitants that he is the great wizard they’ve been anticipating.
The hirsute-footed characters of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 book The Hobbit return to the big screen in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 13), the second in a film trilogy from director Peter Jackson.
There’s even a modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing (June 7) from director Joss Whedon and starring Amy Acker and Canada’s Nathan Fillion.
Less classic but still based on books are The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 22), The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (August 23) and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (April 24).
Catching Fire, the sequel to last year’s box office smash The Hunger Games, is based on Suzanne Collins’ 2009 novel and has most of the original cast returning, including Canada’s Donald Sutherland.
City of Bones is an adaptation of the first book in Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series, published in 2007. Shot in Toronto last year, it stars Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell-Bower.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist is director Mira Nair’s take on Mohsin Hamid’s 2007 novel of the same name. Starring Kate Hudson and Canada’s Kiefer Sutherland, it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival last September to some acclaim.
Rick Riordan’s 2006 novel Sea of Monsters, part of his Percy Jackson series, comes to life in the made-in-Vancouver Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (August 16), a sequel to the 2010 The Lighting Thief starring Logan Lerman.
Tom Clancy’s beloved CIA agent Jack Ryan is back from a 10-year hiatus in Jack Ryan (December 25), with Chris Pine taking over the role from Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. The action thriller was directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also shows up in the film.
Also opening on Christmas Day is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a remake of the 1947 film starring Danny Kaye, which was based on a 1939 short story by James Thurber. Ben Stiller directed himself in the lead role.
Several previously-released films will pop up in theatres this year for one last cash-grab before coming out on Blu-ray, including Jurassic Park 3D, The Little Mermaid 3D and both Star Wars Episode II and Episode III.
Top Gun, the 1986 testosterone-fueled flick starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer as fighter pilots, will be released on IMAX 3D screens on February 8 for a limited run. Audiences have only six days to catch all the fighter jet action and gay subtext in oversized 3D glory.
Here are a few more movies worth watching for in 2013:
Star Trek: Into Darkness – May 17
The second Star Trek flick from director J.J. Abrams (and the 12th in the franchise) comes four years after Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto took over the roles of Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock. It follows the crew of the Enterprise as they travel to a war-torn world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction. Canada’s Bruce Greenwood shows up as Admiral Christopher Pike.
The Lone Ranger – July 3
The iconic character who debuted on radio in 1933 rides into theatres this summer hoping to fire up a new generation of fans. Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger and Johnny Depp is his “ke-mo sah-bee” Tonto. Canada’s Barry Pepper also shows up in this reboot of the classic western tale.
Mama – January 18
Filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Mama is a supernatural thriller starring buzzed-about Jessica Chastain (The Help) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) as a couple raising two young girls who went missing after their parents were killed.
This is the End – June 4
The World’s End – October 25
What’s so funny about the end of times? A lot, apparently.
This is the End, written and directed by Canada’s Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is about a group of celebrities trying to survive in an apocalyptic Los Angeles. Rogen stars along with fellow Canuck Jay Baruchel and a long list of stars playing themselves, including James Franco, Jonah Hill, Emma Watson, Paul Rudd and Danny McBride.
The World’s End is a British sci-fi comedy about five friends who reunite hoping to finish an ambitious pub crawl they began two decades earlier – only to face an apocalypse. It stars Simon Pegg, Paddy Considine and Martin Freeman.
Pacific Rim – July 12
Keeping with end-of-the-world theme, Pacific Rim is a sci-fi epic from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) about giant robots piloted by humans that are deployed to fight off an alien attack. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day and Idris Elba, it is one of the biggest-budget movies ever made in Toronto. Yes, those fighter jets in the first scene of the trailer are flying over Elizabeth Street behind City Hall.
After Earth – June 7
In a post-apocalyptic world, “everything on Earth has evolved to kill humans” – which is bad news for General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) and his son Kitai (Jaden Smith), who find themselves stranded there. The CGI-heavy summer flick was directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
World War Z – June 21
Brad Pitt stars as a United Nations Postwar Commission researcher racing around the world in this adaptation of the 2006 post-apocalyptic novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks.
Temptation – March 29
We The Peeples – May 10
The prolific Tyler Perry has two movies coming out this year and is rumored to be planning A Madea Christmas in time for a December release.
Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor, written and directed by Perry, is a drama about a marriage counselor (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) who starts a relationship with one of her clients (Robbie Jones). The film also stars Vanessa Williams, Brandy Norwood and Kim Kardashian. Yes, you read that correctly.
Perry is co-producer of We The Peeples, a comedy starring Kerry Washington and Craig Robinson about a psychologist who finds out his girlfriend’s family needs professional help.
White House Down – June 28
Kick-Ass 2 – June 28
It’s only fitting that two movies that were made in Canada are opening on the Canada Day long weekend.
In the action flick White House Down, shot primarily in Montreal, Channing Tatum plays a Secret Service agent forced to save the President (Jamie Foxx) when the White House is invaded by a paramilitary group.
Kick-Ass 2, shot in Toronto and Hamilton, has most of the cast of the 2010 original reprising their roles as ordinary superheroes with newcomers Jim Carrey and John Leguizamo.
The Heat – April 5
Sandra Bullock proved she could get laughs as an FBI agent in 2000’s Miss Congeniality (and its less-successful 2005 sequel) so it’s little wonder she’s playing an FBI agent in another comedy. In The Heat, Bullock is paired with a testy Boston cop, played by the hilarious Melissa McCarthy to bring down a drug lord.
Runner, Runner – September 27
It’s about time someone made a movie about the shadowy world of offshore online gaming. Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer) directs Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake in this crime thriller.
Dark Skies – February 22
There’s likely nothing extraordinary about this psychological thriller about a couple tormented by an alien force that preys upon their children – but its cast includes Toronto-born rising star Dakota Goyo.
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