At the start of every year we like to take a step back and examine the lineup of movies being released, and what talking points come out of that collection.
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2017 is going to be a huge year for geek movies in particular: more superhero tentpoles than ever, a new Star Wars Episode, and some big (or long-awaited) sequels. Looking at everything coming our way, we, as curious fanboys and girls have come up with these 5 Big Geek Movie Questions for 2017.
Are Anime Adaptations the Next Big Blockbuster Trend?
Long gone are the days when anime and manga were exotic imports from the land of Japan to American shores. These days, and entire generation of twenty and thirty-somethings have grown up imerssed in anime and manga, creating a bigger US fanbase than ever before.
Movie studios have taken notice, as live-action anime adaptations like Full Metal Alchemist and Attack on Titan are being produced overseas, with even Hollywood getting in on the trend with this year’s Scarlett Johansson vehicle, Ghost in the Shell.
The question is: if these anime films do well on a worldwide scale, will the floodgates open to a new live-action anime adaptation genre?
Are R-Rated Superheroes the Next Big Thing?
Deadpool was a groundbreaking hit that made a firm case for why R-Rated supehero blockbusters can be huge successes. However, one case is just a possible anomaly; we need another subject to establish a pattern.
Fox will once again roll the dice with an R-Rated X-Men movie in 2017: James Mangold’s Wolverine threequel Logan. And, if Logan performs any where near the level that Deadpool did (or at least outperforms every other Wolverine movie), then the incentive for studios to make mor eR-Rated superhero films will be undeniable.
Is Superhero Oversaturation Possible?
With eight superhero movies being released in 2017 (if you count LEGO Batman), even hardcore superhero fans run the risk of being burned out seeing too many of the same genre tropes over and over and over again…
The risk of oversaturation extends beyond the movie screen, as the amount of supehero-themed TV series will also grow in 2017. Soon we won’t go a more than a few weeks at a time without a new show or film from the genre being thrust in front of us. Is it really such a malable genre that fans can still get a wide range of variety from that many projects?
Star Wars – Are We Ready to Move On?
The Star Wars franchise has revolved around the Skywalker family saga for all of its seven episodes thusfar, with familiar faces from the Original Trilogy recently returning for The Force Awakens.
However, Han Solo is dead; offscreen, we just lost Carrie Fisher; and unless some big family connections between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) are revaled in Episode VIII, it may be time to ask: are we ready to move on yet?
That doesn’t mean just getting on to new characters – for a lot of fans, it’s also a question of whether it’s time to move on from what has become routine “fan service” tropes thrown into every Star Wars movie (including Rogue One). With Episode VIII comes a real chance for a true “passing of the torch,” after J.J. Abrams and Gareth Edwards gave us one last shot of nostalgia. The question is: are fans ready to move on?
Will the DCEU Finally Impress?
This is it. The do or die year.
Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad made money and got the DC Films brand more exposure than ever before – but at the same time, more backlash and a bigger negative stigma than it’s ever had.
The need for a change has been felt, as Warner Bros. has rearranged its film division, making DC Entertainment Creative head Geoff Johns a shephard in the vein of Marvel’s Kevin Feige. The company line for 2017 is that Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League represent a turnaround point for the DCEU. So will fans come away from this year agreeing with that sentiment? We’ll see…
NEXT: Our Most Anticipated 2017 Movies
