AUGUST

300: Rise of an Empire* (August 2)
A prequel to 300, charting the rise of King Xerxes, the ruler who got his ass kicked by the Spartans.
Outlook: A first-time director came on board to try and recreate Zack Snyder's amazing slow-mo fighting and visuals. Including this because it's based on a comic book.

RED 2* (August 2)
The sequel to the surprisingly quite entertaining film about retired spies who are being hunted down. This time, they have to stop a terrorist with a portable nuclear device.
Outlook: Another one we're mentioning since it's based on comic-book source material.


Elysium (August 9)
District 9's Neill Blomkamp returns with another highly political science fiction film about a world where the rich live on a lush space station and poor people (like Matt Damon) struggle on Earth to get healthcare and basic necessities.
Outlook: Based on Blomkamp's first film and everything he's said about this one, we have high hopes.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (Aug. 16)
Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is back, and this time he and his friends are searching for the mystical Golden Fleece.
Outlook: Nathan Fillion is playing the god Hermes, opposite Sean Bean as Zeus. Also Anthony Head plays the centaur Chiron this time.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (Aug. 23)
Another would-be Twilight, this adaptation of Cassandra Clare's novel features a young girl named Clary (Lily Collins) who discovers that she has a supernatural destiny after a demon attacks her mother. Here's the trailer.
Outlook: Looks like an immense guilty pleasure.

Insidious Chapter 2 (August 30)
Director James Wan is back to show us what happened after the WTF ending of the first movie about a boy who's possessed by demons.
Outlook: Not sure how you can pick up after that ending, but at least all the original cast are back, including Barbara Hershey.

Satanic (August 30)
A "Rosemary's Baby-influenced" film about a girl (Ashley Green) who must defend her dorm from a mysterious attacker when she and her friends are staying there over Spring Break.
Outlook: From the director of Donkey Punch and the writer of Vanishing on 7th Street. It only started production in late 2012.

SEPTEMBER

Riddick (September 6)
He's back! Vin Diesel's amazingly antiheroic space adventurer returns, and this time he's being stalked by bounty hunters. One of whom is Katee Sackhoff.
Outlook: Diesel and writer/director David Twohy promise this is a return to Pitch Black form, after the over-the-top Chronicles of Riddick.

I, Frankenstein (September 13)
Aaron Eckhart plays Frankenstein's monster, who finds himself caught up in an endless war between two immortal monster clans.
Outlook: Could be fun. Director Stuart Beattie did a pretty decent job with Tomorrow When the War Began.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Sept. 27)
The sequel to the acclaimed animated film, formerly called Revenge of the Leftovers. Flint has moved on after the foodstorm from the first movie — until he finds out his machine is still active and is creating food monsters.
Outlook: The original writers and directors aren't back, and it's not based on the second book in the series.


The Tomb (September 27)
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone star in this action-thriller about a structural engineer who is falsely accused of a crime and has to break out of the ultimate high-tech prison... which he designed.
Outlook: We're a sucker for "ultimate high-tech prison" stories.

OCTOBER

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For* (Oct. 4)
The long-awaited sequel to Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's zany neo-noir film about the town with no mercy, where all the women wear lingerie.
Outlook: Including this because it's based on a comic, and is likely to be so over the top that it strays into fantasy territory.

Haunt (October 11)
Two teenagers fall in love and explore an old house, only to discover a terrifying alternate dimension inside, in this horror film.
Outlook: From the producers of Paranormal Activity and District 9.

The Devil's Rapture (October 11)
Formerly known as The Occult, this is a film about a small town that lives with a Satanic prophecy — and after six girls are born on the same night, they seem to be fulfilling it. Fast forward 18 years, and the girls all start dying. Serial killer, or Satan?
Outlook: Featuring Rufus Sewell, who often does creepy well, plus Colm Meaney.


Carrie (October 18)
Delayed from March, this is the remake of the classic Stephen King tale, about a girl who has a really bad prom night. Trailer is here.
Outlook: Director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) and star Chloλ Grace Moretz seem like the perfect choices for this project — plus Julianne Moore plays the mom.


Seventh Son (October 18)
Jeff Bridges is an old witch-hunter, as he takes on a young apprentice and prepares to do battle with a witch played by Julianne Moore. Who basically owns this weekend.
Outlook: We can't say no to Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore as witch-hunter and witch.

The World's End (October 25)
The other zany apocalyptic comedy, this one features Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as two friends who go on a pub crawl and confront the end of days. Along with Martin Freeman.
Outlook: It's the long-awaited third film in the "Cornetto Trilogy" by Pegg, Frost and director Edgar Wright, after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Paranormal Activity 5 (Oct. 25)
Something paranormal is happening, and some cameras are going to capture it, but not very well.
Outlook: Someone is still going to see these movies, so they're going to keep making them every year.

NOVEMBER

Ender's Game (Nov. 1)
"Ender" Wiggin is a child prodigy who gets recruited to a very special program — but it's even more special than he realized, in the adaptation of Orson Scott Card's acclaimed novel.
Outlook: Everyone involved with this film seems to be obsessed with doing justice to the book, and the level of attention to detail is pretty astounding. Plus Harrison Ford is playing Col. Graff.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Nov. 1)
The classic cartoon about a super-smart dog, his human son, and their time machine is coming to the big screen — and the Child Protective Services may have decided that a dog is not a fit parent, after all.
Outlook: We saw a huge chunk of this film recently, and it won us over, big time.


Thor: The Dark World (Nov.
The second Marvel film this year, coming off Avengers, sees Thor facing some Dark Elves, led by Christopher Eccleston.
Outlook: Directed by Game of Thrones veteran Alan Taylor, who's apparently bringing some of that realism to Asgard.


The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Nov. 22)
Katniss has won the Hunger Games, so this second movie is probably just going to be her sipping tea and learning to golf. Or possibly, getting sent back for a new, deadlier all-star games. We'll see.
Outlook: Original director Gary Ross bailed off the project, so he's been replaced by I Am Legend's Francis Lawrence. Let's hope Lawrence can do justice to, arguably, the least satisfying book in the trilogy.

Frozen (November 27)
Disney's retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen," about a young girl who must travel to find the Snow Queen and save her land from perpetual winter.
Outlook: Early glimpses look gorgeous, and it features the voice of Kristen Bell.

DECEMBER


The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Dec. 13)
Bilbo Baggins is back again, and this time he's facing a dragon — played by Benedict Cumberbatch!
Outlook: If the decision to turn The Hobbit into a trilogy rather than a duology results in excessive bloat, this is probably the film where you're going to see it most.

Walking With Dinosaurs (December 20)
The BBC makes a lavish, 3D version of their acclaimed TV series, about a dinosaur family who must go on a perilous journey.
Outlook: Early buzz suggests that this is going to look astonishing — but turning a documentary series into a narrative film could be a tricky undertaking.

Saving Mr. Banks* (December 20)
A drama about author P.L. Travers going to London as Disney is adapting her novel Mary Poppins to the big screen.
Outlook: Including this since it's a fictional account of the making of a classic fantasy movie. Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney!

47 Ronin (December 25)
Another long-delayed film, this one is a retelling of the Japanese story, with Keanu Reeves fighting supernatural forces.
Outlook: This has been pushed back again and again, amidst rumors of creative disputes and editing-suite battles, until finally being buried on Christmas, the date where genre films go to die.