The year 2008 comes to a close, ushering out a mostly fine year at the movie theater. This summer, Marvel’s Iron Man and DC’s Dark Knight duked it out in a giant-sized crossover for superhero supremacy. The winner? Moviegoing audiences, who got two great films. Pixar delivered another winner with the adorable WALL-E . Three-dimensional movies had their best year since The Creature from the Black Lagoon terrorized audiences back in the ’50s. Among the new, higher-tech wave of 3-D flicks: Hannah Montana, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Bolt . Sex and the City made the leap from the small screen and scored a $150 million payday, proving it’s not just teenage boys who buy movie tickets. And a rush of Oscar contenders packed December theaters with critical faves ( Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, Doubt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road ).But what will the year 2009 bring? What cinematic delights await us in that far-flung future world? Let’s take a gander.The 3-D trend will continue (for better or worse) with a remake of My Bloody Valentine (January), Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (February), the CGI toon Monsters vs. Aliens (March), the horror remake Piranha 3-D , the horror sequel Final Destination: Death Trip 3D and a re-release of Toy Story in 3-D.Remake fever rages on with the restyled slasher Friday the 13 th (February), Disney’s amped up Race to Witch Mountain (March), a new version of The Taking of Pelham 123 , an update of George Romero’s The Crazies (September) and Universal’s relaunch of The Wolf Man (November). TV shows get their own remake category with the sequel/prequel/remake/reboot of Star Trek (May), a comic restyling of the old Saturday morning Sid and Marty Krofft show Land of the Lost (June), live-action Dragonball Evolution (April), live-action G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (August) and CGI-animated Astro Boy (October),Superheroes continue to fight the good fight with the highly regarded Watchmen (March) and the much-anticipated X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May).Sequels, of course, remain popular as ever with Pink Panther 2 (February), Fast and Furious 4 (April), Crank 2: High Voltage (April), Da Vinci Cod e follow-up Angels & Demons (May), Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (May), Terminator: Salvation (May), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (July), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July), Saw VI (October) and–last and almost certainly least– Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel (December).
Reel World
Cinematic Crystal Ball 2009
3 min read
