Welcome to our sixth annual preview of what we can expect from our genre in 2019. The year just ended was relatively low-key, without the massive tent-pole of a film like Wonder Woman. The biggest success at the North American box-office was the Tomb Raider reboot, which was a commercial disappointment and finished 43rd on the year. There will still pleasures to be had, but they were more at the smaller end of the spectrum, such as Revenge and Raazi, as well as the small-screen delight of Killing Eve. 2019 though, should be considerably bigger, with the first quarter alone bringing two releases with a combined cost estimated as north of $350 million.
We start with one of those, and then cover another which is also a holdover from this feature last January…
Alita: Battle Angel (February 19)
Delayed twice from its originally-scheduled date of last July – that’s not normally a good sign. But escaping the Hunger Games which was the Christmas box-office for the much quieter February might have been very sensible: just ask Mortal Engines about that. After a shaky start with a first trailer that had everyone going, “…but those eyes!”, subsequent efforts have consistently improved, and by the last one, enthusiasm online seemed generally higher. With a $200 million budget, it needs to be huge for there to be any chance of sequels, and adaptations of Japanese comic-books have not done well previously. Fingers crossed producer James Cameron can sprinkle some of his pixie-dust on Robert Rodriguez.
Anna (TBA)
“I’ve a feeling this may end up drifting back into 2019″. That’s what I said last year, and I’m tempted just to copy-paste that entry. because we know precious little more about Luc Besson’s next film now, than we did last January. I suspect Besson has been a bit distracted, between rape accusations, sexual harassment claims by seven other women, and a $101 million loss for the first half of the financial year at his studio, EuropaCorp [thanks, Valerian!]. Anna was originally set for a January release in France, but has been pushed back to March 27, in part due to the company getting out of distributing its own films there. US distributors Lionsgate haven’t scheduled it yet. A trailer would be nice…
Atone (February 26)
Per Amazon, “Atone introduces us to the world of Laura Bishop, an ex-special ops soldier that has reluctantly settled into raising her daughter Kate… She spends her days in a security job at a place that she thought would not require much effort, a church. Until a team of highly trained and armed terrorists takes the church by siege. With the intent to simply report the incident to the cops, she starts to head to the police department when suddenly she is stopped as she notices her daughters bike lying at the entrance of the church… With special forces standing between her and her daughter, Lauras rage engages her past in special ops setting off a pitched battle that may kill everyone involved.” So… Die Hard in a church?
Captain Marvel (March 8)
This is an easy pick for top box-office GWG in 2019, as every Marvel Cinematic Universe film since Thor in 2011 – sixteen in a row, and counting – has grossed at least half a billion dollars worldwide. It sees Brie Larson play Carol Danvers, a.k.a. the titular superheroine. It will be Marvel’s first female-led film, which isa bit risky, considering the character is perhaps less well-known, lacking Black Widow’s audience in previous ensemble films, for example. It’s an origin story, set in the nineties, and tells how Danvers’s DNA was fused with that of an alien species, the Kree, and helps fend off an invasion of Earth by another extra-terrestrial race. It’ll be huge. But Ant-Man and the Wasp huge? Or Black Panther huge?
Charlie’s Angels (November 1)
Like Alita, this has been pushed back twice, originally scheduled for July and then September. Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska play the trio of crime-fighters, with multiple Bosleys, including director Elizabeth Banks, Patrick Stewart and Djimon Hounsou. This one will have to overcome the stigma of the 2011 attempt to reboot the show as a TV series, which was canceled after only four episodes had aired. Or indeed, the lacklustre Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, which failed to capture the same spirit of fun as the original movie. I’m curious as to how this is going to work in a post-#MeToo era, given the eye candy that has been an integral part of almost every incarnation, going back to the first TV series.
Crawl (TBA)
“A young woman, while attempting to save her father during a Catagory 5 hurricane, finds herself trapped in a flooding house and must fight for her life against alligators.” This stars Kaya Scodelario, and will be somewhat familiar territory for the actress, as she was also in Tiger House, playing a young woman trapped in a house who must fight for her life against robbers. Director Alexandre Aja’s break through film was the French Haute Tension, and also did remakes The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha 3D.
Dark Phoenix (June 7)
Startled to realize this will be the twelfth film in the X-Men universe, if you include the Deadpool films. But it will be the first truly female-driven one – though you could perhaps make an argument for Logan at least being a two-hander. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is ‘turned’ to the dark side after being blasted by radiation from a solar flare, and becomes Phoenix. She’s manipulated by an alien shapeshifter, played by Jessica Chastain, while the rest of the X-Men, including Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Psylocke (Olivia Munn) on the distaff side, try to reclaim their colleague. This has been in post-production for a long time, with shooting having completed in October 2017, and also had its release date moved back into 2019.
Fighting With My Family (February 14)
Telling the story behind WWE’s former women’s champion, Paige (Florence Pugh), who comes from a family of British pro wrestlers. Fun fact: I saw her mother wrestle, as “Sweet Saraya”, at Croydon’s Fairfield Hall in the late nineties. Mom here will be played by Lena Headey, with Dad by Nick Frost – both are well-loved here, and it’s an unexpected directorial effort from Stephen Merchant, whom we also like. I suspect it’s going to be very British and dry in its wit, but having seen the documentary of the same title, I’ve no doubt there’s plenty of material to be found in this dysfunctional family. However, films about wrestling have not tended to do well at the box-office. Anyone remember Ready 2 Rumble? Exactly.
Headlock (January 11)
I’ll believe this when I see it, considering how long it has been in production – it started filming in July 2014. For now, I’ll stick to repeating the IMDb synopsis – as last year! “After new CIA recruit, Kelley Chandler (Polish) is seriously injured during a mission, surviving only on life support, his wife Tess (Dianna Agron), a former CIA operative, becomes determined to find out what happened to her husband. As the details of Kelley’s last mission unravel, showing that his accident was an inside job, Tess puts everything on the line to keep Kelley out of harm’s way, even if that comes with dangerous consequences.”
I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu (TBA)
The fifth in the franchise, I’m not certain if this one will qualify for the site. We have revieweed the reboot and both of the sequels. However, the original was more rape than revenge, and this entry shares the same director, Meir Zarchi, and star in Camille Keaton. She plays the best-selling author of a book that recounts her rape ordeal and subsequent trial where she was acquitted of killing her attackers. Now living in New York City with her supermodel daughter (Jamie Bernadette), they are kidnapped and taken to a remote rural town by the revenge-seeking relatives of the rapists. Hence: deja vu.
Liberté: A Time to Spy (TBA)
“Based on true stories, the film tells the story of Vera Atkins, a crafty spy recruiter, and two of the first women she selects for Churchill’s “secret army”: Virginia Hall, a daring American undaunted by a disability and Noor Inayat Khan, a pacifist. These civilian women form an unlikely sisterhood while entangled in dangerous missions to turn the tide of the war.” We’ve written about Khan previously, and I’ve got a fondness for all the heroines of World War II. [I’m currently watching British TV series Wish Me Luck, which covers similar topics] Atkins is played by Stana Katic, who was in Stiletto, and Khan by Indian actress Radhika Apte.
Miss Bala (February 1)
A remake of the Mexican film of the same name, it does adjust some elements from the original. Rather than the heroine being a beauty queen, it’s a make-up artist (here, played by Gina Rodriguez) who is coerced in to working for the local drug cartel. Per the official synopsis, “Gloria must turn the tables on everyone to escape and finds a power she never knew she had as she navigates a dangerous world of cross-border crime. Surviving will require all of her cunning, inventiveness, and strength.” Which sounds more or less like the synopsis of 60% of the telenovelas I watch, though that is probably just me.
Monster Hunter (TBA)
Resident Evil may be done (for now), but Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich have moved on to another video-game property. She plays Captain Natalie Artemis, a member of a United Nations military team who fall through a portal into an alternate world where humans and monsters do battle. The skills she picks up there come in handy when the monsters come back through the portal to our Earth. With martial artist Tony Jaa as the male lead, the kick-butt here may be off the charts, and based on the pic above, it looks like Milla didn’t have to change much more than her socks from portraying Alice. Should be fun, though expect whining from the video-game fans about changes made for the movie.
The Rhythm Section (February 22)
Made by Eon Productions, the company who produce the James Bond films, this will star Blake Lively as Stephanie Patrick, “a woman who seeks to uncover the truth behind a plane crash that killed her family. Patrick was also meant to be on the flight. After she discovers that the crash was not accidental, she embarks on a mission to track down those responsible by assuming the identity of an assassin.” It’s based on the novel by Mark Burnell, which “is not a thriller about the hunt for a terrorist, although that is the path Stephanie takes, and it’s not a story about revenge, although justice for her family is her initial motivation. Rather, The Rhythm Section is the story of Stephanie’s attempt to reclaim herself.” Hmm.
Split Lip (TBA)
I heard about this independent effort through Chris, who works at a local film studio here in Arizona – the daughter of one of her clients there is the star, and does all her own stunts. Synopsis: “In the underground world of contract killers, mistakes cannot be tolerated. Set (Doreé Seay), a brutal mercenary with an icy exterior, finds out the hard way when one mistake sends her on a treacherous mission to clear her name. Hunted by her former mentor Karlton (DeJean Brown) and his roster of psychopaths, she forms an unlikely alliance with a mysterious stranger and his sister as Set races against the clock to out-wit and out-fight the dark forces gunning for her life.” I’m sold. Check out the trailer in the playlist at the bottom.
Untitled Terminator Reboot (November 1)
Probably one of the most frequent questions I get is why I haven’t written more about the Terminator films. It’s mostly because Sarah Connor is a supporting character in parts 1+2; only the third, with its female terminator as the antagonist really qualifies. I’ll still be interested to see what this reboot does with regard to the franchise. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton reprise their roles (albeit largely with a body-double for the former!), and it apparently ignores everything after Terminator 2.
Of course, any and all of the above is subject to change! But as and when they are released, you can expect coverage and reviews of them here in the coming year.