Anna Daniels
2020 movies, here we come.
We’ve reached the end of another year in cinema. And no matter whether you count comic book movies in that lot, it was an interesting time at the movies. And everyone from Quentin Tarantino to Barack Obama is currently sharing their thoughts on which films hit the hardest.
However, just as we bid farewell to 2019, we have a whole new year of cinematic adventures ahead of us. There’ll be highly anticipated sequels and exciting original stories alike awaiting moviegoers. So, as you fire up your favorite New Year’s movie, let’s take a quick peek at what 2020 movies audiences are most excited to see.
No ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Avengers’ in 2020
2019 films like The Irishman and Marriage Story are expected to vie for Oscar’s biggest prizes on Feb. 9, 2020. But 2019 might go down in history as the year Disney truly cemented its dominance over the movie industry. After all, the studio’s theatrical releases took in a combined $7.67 billion at the worldwide box office.
Of course, Avengers: Endgame led that figure, but Disney also had plenty of other hits in 2019. Those include two more Marvel superhero epics, the “final” Star Wars film, three live-action remakes of animated classics, and Toy Story and Frozen sequels.
In 2020, audiences don’t have a super-sized blockbuster on the scale of Avengers: Endgame or Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to look forward to. But then again, both those films ended many years of storytelling. 2020’s aspiring blockbusters might not carry the same weight. Yet, the year still has a lot to offer.
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The 2020 movies audiences are most looking forward to
To help gauge exactly which films moviegoers are most excited for, Fandango conducted a new poll. The leading release among the most-anticipated 2020 movies? Wonder Woman 1984. That film, of course, is the sequel to one of 2017’s biggest hits and features the return of Gal Gadot in the title role.
The Avengers might not be assembling in 2020 (or anytime soon, for that matter). But Marvel fans are still excited to see Black Widow finally take Scarlett Johansson’s super-spy on a solo adventure. That Cate Shortland-directed release takes second place, followed by Marvel’s Eternals in third.
The Disney dominance continues with the live-action Mulan remake at number four. Daniel Craig’s grand finale as James Bond in No Time to Die takes fifth place. Meanwhile, A Quiet Place Part II, DC Comics adaptation Birds of Prey, stage-to-screen musical In the Heights, Pixar’s Soul, and Fast & Furious 9 round out the top 10.
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A promising trend toward diversity
Unsurprisingly, this most-anticipated list almost exclusively features spinoffs, sequels, and remakes. But looking a bit closer, it does offer much promise for what the future may hold for cinema. From a standpoint of representation, the top 10 is comprised nearly entirely of movies which are led by actress or person of color. That’s certainly an encouraging step forward.
That progress is even more apparent when we glimpse behind the camera. The top four films — including Chloë Zhao’s Eternals and Niki Caro’s Mulan — are all directed by women, as is Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey. Certainly, this has much more to do with the industry than audiences themselves. The studios’ increasing willingness to give female filmmakers the opportunity to lead tentpole films appears to be finally bearing fruit.
Moreover, all the films listed — with the exceptions of A Quiet Place Part II and Soul — are either directed by women or people of color. For the future of cinema, that is an exciting step forward. With more diverse voices involved in the year’s biggest films, the future of cinema will only get brighter as a result.
Written by: Cheat
