Every year about this time, I give my pick of the
upcoming sf and fantasy films, based on the writers. How did I do last year? My picks were:
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• X-Men: First Class
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two
• The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn
Boy, was I wrong about On Stranger Tides. I'll stand by the other four. The
best one I didn't pick was Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was better than I
expected. X-Men: First Class was my favorite. But my real favorite
was not a movie at all, but a game, Portal 2.
On to 2012. This is far from all of the genre films to be released in 2012. Among
the hundreds of films I've spared you, "Ghosts with Shit Jobs." Also "The Brides of Sodom,"
written and directed by Creep Creepersin.
January
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island by Brian Gunn, Mark Gunn, Richard Outten, and
Jules Verne. Sequel to Journey 1. Brian wrote PG Porn and Gayosity, Mark
wrote 2gether the Series, Richard wrote Little Nemo, and Jules wrote Mysterious Island.
Chronicle by Max Landis and Josh Trank. Teens with superpowers. Max wrote The Death
and Return of Superman, Josh wrote for The Kill Point tv series.
February
Iron Sky by Johanna Sinisalo, Jarmo Puskala, and Michael Kalesnico. Nazis on the Moon. Johanna
is a novelist who writes for Finnish television. Jarmo
wrote Star Wreck. Michael wrote How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog.
March
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (novel) and Jane Goldman (screenplay). Boo! Made
you jump. Susan wrote for Jackanory (tv series). Jane wrote Kick-Ass.
John Carter by Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews, and Michael Chabon, from a novel by Edgar Rice
Burroughs. A Princess of Mars. Andrew wrote Toy Story 3 and Wall-E. Mark wrote
for Samurai Jack (tv series), Michael wrote Spider-Man 2, Edgar wrote Tarzan of the Apes.
The Hunger Games by Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray. Children kill each other
for the entertainment of adults -- a lot like high school football. Gary wrote Seabiscuit. Suzanne
wrote the novel upon which the film is based. Billy wrote State of Play.
Wrath of the Titans by Dan Mazeus, David Johnson, and Greg Berlanti. Angry gods. This
is Dan's first movie. David wrote Red Riding Hood. Greg wrote Green Lantern.
Mirror Mirror by Melisa Wallack and Jason Keller, from the fairy tale by
The Brothers Grimm. The first of two Snow White movies this month. This is
Melisa's first screenplay. Jason wrote Machine Gun Preacher.
Snow White and the Huntsman by Hossein Amini, Evan Spiliotopoulos, and Evan
Daugherty. The second Snow White movie out in March. Hossien wrote Drive. Evan
S. wrote Battle for Terra, Evan D. wrote Rusty Forkblade.
April
Sol by Benjamin Carland. Young adults on an alien planet. This is one of two
2012 films with this title. This one has a budget of $250,000. The other, about a
robot in the far future, has a budget of less than a tenth of that. This is Benjamin's first feature film.
Battleship by Erich and Jon Hoeber. Battleships vs. aliens. This one has a budget
of $200 million. Erich and Jon wrote Whiteout and Red. If they had only
titled this one The Deep Blue Sea, we would have another Three Colors trilogy.
Lockout by Luc Besson, Stephen St. Leger, and James Mather. The president's daughter
is being held prisoner in outer space. Luc wrote La Femme Nikita. This is
Stephen and James' first feature.
May
The Avengers by Joss Whedon, Zak Penn, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby. Avengers assemble! Joss
created Buffy and Firefly. Zak wrote Last Action Hero and
X-Men: The Last Stand. Stan and Jack created a few characters you may have heard
of, including The Fantastic Four, Thor, The X-Men, The Avengers, Iron Man and The Hulk.
Men In Black III by Lowell Cunningham, David Koepp, Etan Cohen, Jeff Nathenson, and
Michael Soccio. The third movie in a series with one great movie and one
lousy movie. Lowell created the comic book. David wrote Jurassic Park and Zathura,
Etan wrote for Beavis and Butt-Head (tv series), Jeff wrote Catch Me If You Can,
Michael wrote for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (tv series).
Dark Shadows by Dan Curtis and Seth Grahame-Smith. "A séance was held at the
great house of Collinwood..." Dan created the original series, with scripts by Sam Hall and
many others. Seth has done some tv writing and wrote the novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Prometheus by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof. Remember the Nostromo? Jon wrote
The Darkest Hour, Damon was a major writer for Lost.
June
Brave by Brenda Chapman and Irene Mecchi. Pixar. 'Nuff said. Brenda worked on
Beauty and the Beast. Irene worked on The Lion King.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith and Simon Kinsburg. Seth
wrote the novel, also the new Dark Shadows movie. Simon wrote
X-Men: The Last Stand and Sherlock Holmes.
July
The Dark Knight Rises by Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer. All
three worked on the script for The Dark Knight. Jonathan and Christopher wrote Inception
and Memento. David wrote Dark City. David and Christopher wrote next year's Man of Steel.
The Amazing Spider-Man by Alvin Sargent, Steve Kloves, James Vanderbilt, based on a
character created by Stan Lee. Alvin won an Oscar for his writing on Ordinary People, and also
worked on Spider-Man II and Spider-Man III. Steve wrote all but one of the
Harry Potter films. James wrote Zodiac.
August
Total Recall by Mark Bomback, James Vanderbilt, and Kurt Wimmer, from a story by
Philip K. Dick. Remake of the Schwarzenegger vehicle. Mark wrote Race to Witch Mountain,
James worked on The Amazing Spider-Man, Kurt wrote Sphere.
September
Dredd by Alex Garland from the comic book by John Wagner and Carlos
Sanchez Ezquerra. Remake of the Stallone vehicle. Alex wrote 28 Days Later....
October
Frankenweenie by John August, based on the short film written by Leonard Ripps and
directed by Tim Burton. A boy and his (dead) dog. John wrote Titan A.E., Leonard
wrote The Star Wars Holiday Special. Tim wrote -- well, you know what Tim wrote.
Cloud Atlas by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski from a novel by
David Mitchell. Six closely interrelated stories. Tom wrote Run, Lola, Run, Andy and Lana wrote
The Matrix and V For Vendetta.
November
The Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn 2 by Melissa Rosenberg, from the novel by
Stephenie Meyer. Melissa wrote the previous Twilight movies.
Skyfall by John Logan, Patrick Marber, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade, from
characters created by Ian Fleming. Bond. James Bond. John won an Oscar for his
script for Gladiator and also wrote Star Trek: Nemesis and Hugo. Patrick
wrote Asylum, Neal and Robert have written several previous Bond films, including Quantum of Solace.
Gravity by Alfonzo Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón, and Rodrigo Garcia. A
mission to repair the Hubble space telescope goes wrong. Alfonzo wrote Children of Men. Jonás
wrote Year of the Nail. Rodrigo wrote Mother and Child. Did you know there are 20
movies titled Gravity, 19 in the last ten years, three in 2011 alone.
December
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and
Guillermo del Toro, from the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. Fran, Philippa, and Peter won Oscars
for The Return of the King. Guillermo wrote Pan's Labyrinth.
Fractalus by James Ward Birkit. A motley group of astronauts travel unimaginable
distances across time and space. Birkit wrote Rango.
World War Z by Matthew Michael Carnahan from the novel by Max Brooks. Zombies. Matthew
wrote State of Play. Max wrote for Saturday Night Live.
My picks, based entirely on the writers:
• The Hunger Games
• The Avengers
• Men in Black III
• Prometheus
• Brave
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• Skyfall
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
High hopes:
• Dark Shadows
• Cloud Atlas
Looks like an exceptionally good year.
