What’s coming to both big and small screens in 2019? Here are Cultural Hater’s picks.
The beginning of a year is always an exhilarating moment. Soon we will meet the Oscar winners, the new festival darlings will start their routes, while new blockbusters are going to squeeze our wallets. In this article, I look at the possible landscape that we will see in 2019.
- Indie movies of 2019
- Blockbusters in 2019
- New Seasons of TV Series in 2019
- Other hot topics of 2019
Let’s begin with what you came here for (probably) – the big fish.
Blockbuster movies in 2019
Superhero movies
Following the premieres of “Black Panther“, “Aquaman” and “Avengers: Infinity War” (that I found surprisingly good), 2019 will also flourish in the field of superheroes. It’s safe to assume that “Avengers: Endgame” will be on everyone’s mouth for the most time, as the film will conclude years of building the vast Marvel Universe. Although the trailer didn’t exactly “buy me”, I still think that the last entry in the saga will deliver what it promises.
Update: Here’s what I thought about “Avengers: Endgame”.
Other than that, 2019 will introduce several entirely new characters that we haven’t seen on the big screen before. “Captain Marvel” starring Brie Larson, “Shazam!” and – thing I’m can’t wait to see – “Joker” (as never seen in his own movie). All of these are already set with dates of premieres too.
What other blockbusters will hit the big screens in 2019?
Disney’s prepping a massive reinvention of its classic stories.
The biggest title to come is obviously “The Lion King” remake, with its stellar cast and extremely high hopes, but there is also “Aladdin“, already infamous for its disputable casting of Will Smith as the Djinn. Animated films will also have a promising year – “Toy Story 4” is planned, along with “Frozen 2“, “How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” and the biggest “wat” of the last year – “Pokemon Detective Pikachu” starring Ryan Reynolds.
Among other titles that might grab your attention are “Alita: Battle Angel” – a to-be-groundbreaking sci-fi movie directed by Robert Rodriguez (you can read about it here), “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood“, which will most likely bring Quentin Tarantino back to the awards table (starring Leo diCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Kurt Russell).
Update: Here’s a few words about “Alita: Battle Angel”.
Furthermore, there is “Glass” that will follow the events after “Split” and develops the M. Night Shyamalan’s universe, “Chaos Walking” – a dystopian sci-fi starring Daisy Ridley, “Knives Out” with a stunning cast including Don Johnson, Lakeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Chris Evans and Michael Shannon, Jordan Peele’s “Us”, and a brand new gangster flick by Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman“. Among the interesting titles you can also mention “Little Women” by an Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig and the mind-numbing follow-up to Gareth Edwards’ film, “Godzilla: The King Of The Monsters“. You can be pretty excited about the new “Hellboy” version too.
Did I mention that the last “Star Wars” of the nefarious new trilogy will “bless” us in December?
Here’s the full list for the lazy ones:
- Star Wars by J.J. Abrams
- Little Women by Greta Gerwig
- The Irishman by Martin Scorsese
- Glass by M.Night Shyamalan (read here)
- Chaos Walking by Doug Liman
- Knives Out by Rian Johnson
- Pokemon Detective Pikachu by Rob Letterman
- How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World by Dean DeBlois
- Frozen 2 by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
- Aladdin by Guy Ritchie
- Hellboy by Neil Marshall (read here)
- Alita: Battle Angel by Robert Rodriguez (read here)
- Once Upon A Time In Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino
- Toy Story 4 by Josh Cooley
- Godzilla: King Of The Monsters by Michael Dougherty
- Avengers: Endgame by Russo Brothers (read here)
- Shazam! by David F. Sandberg
- The Lion King by Jon Favreau
- Joker by Todd Phillips (read the essay here)
- Captain Marvel by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (read here)
Independent stuff to look forward to
My gut feeling tells me that 2019 is going to be a solid year for the independent cinema. While 2018 has delivered a few fantastic debuts – like “Sorry To Bother You” and “Blindspotting” – 2019 is going to be the year of comebacks. Who do I have in mind?
For starters, two talented Australian directors, Justin Kurzel and David Michod, are going to showcase their new films in 2019 – “Ruin” and “The King” (full review here) respectively. The first will star Margot Robbie and Matthias Schoenaerts in a story about an ex-Nazi officer, while the latter will mark the second collaboration of Michod and Ben Mendelsohn (after the impeccable noir drama “Animal Kingdom”). A lot can be expected from the Safdie Brothers as well, authors of the flawless “Good Time”, who will continue their drug-fueled nightmares with “Uncut Gems” starring Adam Sandler.
The Korean director of “Snowpiercer”, Bong Joon-ho, is also premiering his newest feature in 2019 – “The Parasite” (full review here). Finally, J.C Chandor’s stellar cast of “Triple Frontier” seems like a must-be-badass – Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Pedro Pascal, Charlie Hunnam and Garrett Hedlund in one film!
Furthermore, Dan Gilroy (“Nightcrawler”) is teaming up with Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo once again in “Velvet Buzzsaw” and this some really exciting news for me. The previous movie of Gilroy was one of the most underrated films in years and seems like “Velvet Buzzsaw” will reach the bar set so high back in 2014.
What’s more?
The Turkish Golden Globe winner nominee Fatih Akin is back with “A Golden Glove”, Matteo Garrone’s (the director of “Dogman” and “Gomorra”) “Pinocchio” might be worth looking into too. Xavier Dolan is set to fix his 2018’s little tragedy called “The Life And Death Of John F. Donovan” with “Matthias & Maxime”. The Canadian enfant prodige may have lost some credibility due to his recent films, but let’s not forget how talented he is.
Among the horrors, I’m eager to see what Robert Eggers (the director of “The Witch”) has up his sleeve in “The Lighthouse” starring Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson (excited as hell!). Ari Asker, the man behind “Hereditary” (which I mentioned among the top films of 2018) will have the chance to strike gold again with “Midsommar”. A sinister take on the superhero subgenre in “Brightburn“ might also be worth a shot.
More horrors? A surprise might come from Scott Cooper too – although the director is more of a action-packed thriller type, “The Antlers” about a series of gruesome killings might be a reasonable suggestion. “Them That Follow” starring Olivia Colman about an Appalachian God-fearing community, where pastor’s daughter holds onto a haunting secret, is one of the Sundance horror picks to look forward to. Other horror movies that you can to your watchlist are “The Curse of La Llorona”, “In The Tall Grass”, “The Hole In The Ground” and “Pet Sematary”.
Some other movies that caught my attention are the directorial debut by Chiwetel Ejiofor “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind” (based on a novel about a boy from Malawi who designed the first wind turbine to help his village), “Echo Boomers” by Seth Savoy starring one and only Michael Shannon, “438 Dagar” starring “Vikings”‘s Gustaf Skarsgard and “Narcos”‘s Matias Varela, “Honey Boy“ that will partially be an autobiographical feature of Shia LeBeouf.
It’s not all (I know you don’t want this list to end).
You can add to your watchlist a sci-fi starring John Goodman and Vera Farmiga called “Captive State”, “Violet” that might wash off the bad acting choices of Justin Theroux (I’m talking about “Mute”), a modern technology-focused thriller “Share” starring Charlie Plummer, Harmony Korine’s “The Beach Bum” and “Luce” – an intriguing Sundance pick about an adopted boy who begins to unravel his true identity.
All of the titles (plus a few more extra) can be found below:
- 438 Dagar by Jesper Ganslandt
- Spawn by Todd MacFarlane
- Captive State by Rupert Wyatt
- Ruin by Justin Kurzel
- The King by David Michod (read more here)
- Echo Boomers by Seth Savoy
- Violet by Justine Bateman
- The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Uncut Gems by Safdie Brothers
- Parasite by Bong Joon-Ho (read more here)
- Matthias & Maxime by Xavier Dolan (read more here)
- Honey Boy by Alma Har’el (read more here)
- Share by Pippa Bianco
- Them That Follow by Dan Madison Savage & Britt Poulton (read more here)
- Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile by Joe Berlinger (read more here)
- The Golden Glove by Fatih Akin
- The Beach Bum by Harmony Korine
- The Report by Scott Z. Banks (read more here)
- Luce by Julius Onah (read more here)
- Going Places by John Turturro
- Pinocchio by Matteo Garrone
- Velvet Buzzsaw by Dan Gilroy (read here)
- Triple Frontier by J.C. Chandor
- The Lighthouse by Roger Eggers (read more here)
- Waiting For The Barbarians by Ciro Guerra
- Midsommar by Ari Aster (read here)
- Antlers by Scott Cooper
- Brightburn by David Yarovesky (read here)
- Zola by Janicza Bravo
Television in 2019
I’m not the biggest TV fan, but there is a few series that I’ll definitely give a shot. “Game of Thrones” is back with its final installment (as well as “Gotham”), “The Alienist” will be back with season 2. “Barry” starring Bill Hader is also greenlit, AMC’s hit wonder “Better Call Saul”, “Black Mirror”, “Brooklyn 99”, “Mindhunter”, and “Castle Rock” as well.
But the real deal is this – by the order of BBC, “Peaky Blinders” will be back!
Other Big News
While I admit of being an ardent fan of independent cinema, the news concerning the Disney streaming service is exhilarating. The platform won’t be available probably until the very end of the year, but what kind of a better Christmas gift can we imagine?
Furthermore, 2019 will be the first year of the new category in the Oscars ceremony – “Outstanding Popular Film”. Even though it’s kind of 10 years late to honor “The Dark Knight”, it’s actually a good idea to indicate the “Best Pictures” and “Popular Pictures”.
An interesting case is made in an article by Screen Daily too that refers to the changes in the way films will be given theatrical distribution. As the pioneering example of “Roma” proves, Netflix (and probably other streaming services too) will need to be treated equally awards-wise. This will eventually lead to the change we are seeing as we speak – movies getting a limited release for the connoisseurs at the same time as the streaming platform distribution.
Are you excited for 2019? Share the movies and TV series you can’t wait to see in the comments!