Scanning Our Cinematic Future

What Does The 2018 Box Office Have In Store?

\ Jan 04, 2018

5 min read

Gazing into our crystal ball looking for signs of the year to come isn’t all that difficult when it comes to the movie industry. Hollywood has already mapped out the year’s biggest release dates, giving us a mostly accurate idea of the blockbuster films we’ll be eagerly awaiting in the next 12 months. So what will 2018 look like at movie theaters? You don’t have to be a psychic to predict a whole lot of sequels, remakes and reboots. (Note: All opening dates are very subject to change.)

Black Panther (Feb. 16) Writer-director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) will hopefully lend some grit to this stylish, sci-fi superhero flick in which the African leader/superhero battles revolutionaries in his native homeland.

Death Wish (March 2) Bruce Willis stars in this (allegedly) less serious remake of Charles Bronson’s infamous 1974 vehicle about an angry father who goes gunning for the thugs who killed his family. Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) directs.

A Wrinkle in Time (March 9) Ava DuVernay (Selma, 13th) was tapped to direct this epic adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved, star-spanning fantasy novel. Oprah Winfrey is in it!

Tomb Raider (March 16) Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl, Ex Machina) stars in this reboot/prequel to the video game-inspired movie series previously led by Angelina Jolie.

Pacific Rim Uprising (March 23) Steven S. DeKnight (producer of “Angel,” “Smallville,” “Spartacus: War of the Damned” and “Daredevil”) takes over for Guillermo del Toro in this sequel to 2013’s giant robots vs. giant monsters flick.

Isle of Dogs (March 23) Indie film auteur Wes Anderson follows up on 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox with this stop-motion-animated fable about a Japanese island populated by unwanted canines.

Ready Player One (March 30) Steven Spielberg directs this guaranteed blockbuster based on Ernest Cline’s novel about a near-future world obsessed with virtual reality and ’80s pop culture.

Avengers: Infinity War (May 4) Every costumed character from nearly every Marvel movie unites to fight off the extraterrestrial menace that is Thanos (a purple-skinned, computer-generated Josh Brolin)

Solo: A Star Wars Story (May 25) Ron Howard helms this spinoff prequel featuring a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich).

Deadpool 2 (June 1) Ryan Reynolds returns as Marvel’s foul-mouthed, violence-loving superhero in this R-rated sequel to the surprise 2016 hit.

Ocean’s 8 (June 8) Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Sarah Paulson and Mindy Kaling star in this gender-swapped reboot of the Ocean’s Eleven series.

Incredibles 2 (June 15) Pixar Animation takes a gamble coming up with a belated sequel to one of its most popular movies, the 2004 superhero spoof featuring the voices of Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson and Samuel L. Jackson.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (June 22) Once again, the dinosaurs at Jurassic Park are killing all the tourists. Plus, there’s an exploding volcano. Still safer than a weekend in Detroit.

Alita: Battle Angel (July 20) James Cameron produces and Robert Rodriguez directs this live-action adaptation of a Japanese comic book about a wide-eyed female android who rebels against her combative programming.

M:I 6—Mission Impossible (July 27) Tom Cruise is back as superspy Ethan Hunt, proving for a sixth time that these missions aren’t nearly as impossible as advertised.

The Predator (Aug. 3) Screenwriter/actor Shane Black (who costarred in the original movie) returns as writer-director for this sequel/prequel/reboot/whatever of the ’80s sci-fi actioner.

Robin Hood (Sept. 21) Time for our semiannual reboot of the King Arthur/Robin Hood myths. This one’s got Taron Egerton (Kingsman:The Secret Service) as everybody’s favorite archer.

A Star Is Born (Oct. 5) Lady Gaga takes over for Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland in this latest remake of the musical rags-to-riches story.

Halloween (Oct. 19) Jamie Lee Curtis returns as iconic victim/survivor Laurie Strode in what’s being billed as a direct sequel to the first Halloween slasher flick.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Nov. 2) Jean Grey (Sophie Turner from “Game of Thrones”) develops uncontrollable psychic powers in this latest X-Men movie, folding in elements from the popular “Dark Phoenix” comic books (already covered—badly—in X-Men: The Last Stand).

Holmes and Watson (Nov. 9) Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly star in this goofy take on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories.

The Grinch (Nov. 9) This one’s a CGI-animated version of Dr. Seuss’ Christmas classic from this studio that brought us Despicable Me. Benedict Cumberbatch provides the voice of the mean one, Mr. Grinch.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Nov. 16) After the last-minute fake-out of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them—substituting Johnny Depp for Colin Farrell—we get shy, monster-loving wizard Newt (Eddie Redmayne) battling the infamous titular bad guy.

Aquaman (Dec. 21) Jason Momoa’s dudebro Aquaman was the most invigorating part of Justice League. So let’s see if he can carry a movie on his own.

Bumblebee (Dec. 21) The yellow Volkswagon-Beetle-cum-robot from Transformers gets it’s own movie spinoff. Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena are the token humans.

Mary Poppins Returns (Dec. 25) In Depression-era London, the grown-up Banks children are visited, once again, by magical nanny Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt). Dick Van Dyke drops in, reprising a role from the original 1964 film.

Bohemian Rhapsody (Dec. 25) Rami Malik (“Mr. Robot”) stars in this biopic about flamboyant Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.