Right about the beginning or middle of November you usually see a lot of news about the upcoming winter movie schedule. This year, there are a lot promising movies for genre fans and lovers of film alike.
Of course, the big movie that’s being hyped everywhere for Christmas is the American remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which hits theaters on December 21.
It’s on the cover of Entertainment Weekly with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, and this version was directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) from a screenplay by Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List), who told EW, “It’s a David Fincher film. We all know that is.”
Zaillian is also writing the sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, which Sony hopes will be ready for Christmas 2013. Dragon Tattoo will also go head to head on the same day as Tin Tin, then Steven Spielberg has another movie coming up Christmas day with War Horse.
Other films that have piqued my interest include, of course, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, being he’s my favorite director, and buzz on the film is very strong.
As we’ve previously discussed, word on Hugo is that Scorsese may have reinvented 3D, and even though the script is based on a children’s book, it’s a great movie for everyone.
Master of psychological terror David Cronenberg has A Dangerous Method coming up on the same day as Hugo, November 23, and it’s about a personal struggle between Carl Jung (played by Michael Fassbender), and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen).
Another film building strong buzz is The Artist, coming out on November 25, which as we’ve reported here is a silent film in black and white, which I’m all for considering many of this generation haven’t seen a black and white movie. (Hell, when Grindhouse came out, many didn’t know what drive-ins or double features were). So the movie should be a great cinematic history lesson for filmgoers, by bringing the past back into the future.
Also coming up is Corman’s World, a long overdue biography of the legendary B movie producer / director Roger Corman on December 16, same day as the fourth Mission: Impossible, Ghost Protocol, which I have a flicker of interest in because it was directed by Brad Bird. (Also on the 16th is the new Sherlock Holmes movie, A Game of Shadows).
And going into the new year, Steven Soderberg’s action film, Haywire, which has gotten strong advance word, is coming on January 20, the same day George Lucas’s next movie, Red Tails, hits theaters.
As far as 2012 releases?
Well, we can look forward to: Project X (a Todd Phillips comedy) on March 2; the Edgar Allan Poe horror mystery The Raven on March 9; John Carter, the big budget Pixar foray into live action the same date; The Hunger Games on March 23; The Three Stooges, and Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods on April 13, then Whedon’s The Avengers on May 4; Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows on May 11 and Battleship on May 18.
Others include: Men in Black III on Memorial day; Snow White and the Huntsman on June 1; Prometheus on June 8; The Amazing Spider-Man on July 3; and The Dark Knight Rises on July 20. For the winter season we can look forward to World War Z on December 12, the first installment of The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey, on December 14, and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained on Christmas Day.
