16 HUGE Movies To Look Forward To Over The Rest Of 2018 - Part Two

You've already read Part One of Ali Plumb's 16 HUGE films to look forward to in 2018. Now discover even more movies that'll have you on the edge of your seat this year.

The horror-thriller-actioner Predator series has been around for a little while now, and with Predator (1987) Predator 2 (1990) and Predators (2010) all been and gone, isn’t it about time we saw something new from everyone’s favourite trophy-hunting camouflaged alien species? The answer is yes, according to the screenwriter behind the original (and best) Predator, Shane Black, who returns as writer and now director for the fourth film. Starring in this movie: Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn and Trevante Rhodes. Whether any of them will survive to the end of the movie remains to be seen, of course.

In a summer of sequels, it’s time for a remake. There have been three ‘A Star Is Borns’ so far, with the first coming out in 1937, another arriving in 1954 (starring Judy Garland and James Mason), followed by 1976’s version, featuring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. 42 years later, Bradley Cooper is directing and starring in the 2018 edition, with Lady Gaga (under her real name, Stefani Germanotta) in the musical ingénue role. If you’re hankering for a musical and your Greatest Showman CD is nearly worn out, set an alarm for October 5, stat.

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The regular X-Men movies – the ones starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence et al – took a real knock after the muted response to the altogether ‘bleh’ X-Men Apocalypse in 2016. It’s not clear how they’ll get audiences back in cinemas to watch Dark Phoenix, but fingers crossed new villain Jessica Chastain will spice things up a bit. Or Deadpool could rock up and say some rude jokes, that might help.

The Harry Potter prequels continue apace – there are five planned, this is the second – with Eddie Redmayne returning as loveable magizoologist Newt Scamander, joined by the new young Dumbledore, Jude Law, and despicable villain Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). The first trailer raised some eyebrows from die-hard Potterheads bamboozled by how anyone could apparate into Hogwarts grounds, but that aside, there’s plenty going on here as war builds pace. Like when they swing their wands around and things explode, for example. That’s always fun.

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Six years after Wreck-It Ralph crashed his way into our hearts, poking fun at arcade gaming and causing an almighty ruckus while he was at it, there’s a bigger target for our boy Ralph in 2018: the internet - the whole goshdarn lot of it. Disney Animation are taking aim at everything from Buzzfeed to Candy Crush in this long-awaited sequel, and with the first trailer already winning over so many, you can expect “Wifi Ralph” (as it’s known in some territories) to smash it. Clue’s in the (original) title, really.

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Justice League was… a disappointment for some. For many, I should say. Aquaman was one of its better bits – aside from the “My man!” stuff, maybe – and Jason Momoa is certainly one handsome charisma machine, so fingers crossed for the first standalone DC Comics superhero movie since Justice League came and went. Joining him on his underwater adventure are some pretty huge names, including Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Willem Defoe and Amber Heard.

How would a Mary Poppins sequel work? Well, you could cast the wonderful Emily Blunt as everyone’s favourite magical nanny, that might help. How about getting Hamilton head honcho Lin-Manuel Miranda in on the act, playing lamplighter Jack (and apprentice to Dick Ban Dyke’s Bert from the first film)? That could work. Oh, and if you’re wondering about the timeline, it’s set in 1930s London, 25 years after the 1964 film, with MVP MP returning to Jane and Michael Banks after a family tragedy. It’ll probably be more fun than that sounds, mind. Here’s hoping there will be more animated dancing penguins, too.

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After Transformers 5 – or was it 6? It’s hard to remember sometimes – the Hasbro film factory are concentrating on standalone spin-offs for the foreseeable future, starting with this sporty number, all about the most loveable Autobot there’s ever been, Bumblebee. Set in 1987, twenty years before the original movie came out, it stars Pitch Perfect veteran (and actual proper pop star) Hailee Steinfeld as a Californian teenager who discovers an altogether remarkable yellow Volkswagen beetle. Fun fact: this movie is directed by Travis Knight, one of the people behind my favourite film of 2016, Kubo And The Two Strings – so Bumblebee has to be good, right? Right. That’s sorted then.