For the past couple of months, I have written articles featuring the most anticipated movies releasing in the following month that you should probably plan to go out and see. I started this series of articles with November and December, but some of you may have wondered why I never posted a piece on the month of January. There is one main reason I decided to skip the month of January: the January box office is horrible, and I am sure a lot of you can agree with me.
The January box office statically pulls in the least amount of money because studios do not want to place their big movies in that month due to its bad track record. The January movie month is used see some really good films that released in December yet carried over into January such as Patriots Day and to catch up on all of the Oscar nominated films. In conclusion, Split was a really surprising installment released in the month of January that definitely elevated it, but there are a lot more movies in February to get excited for!
7. Fist Fight
Release Date: February 17th
Director: Richie Keen
Cast: Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Jillian Bell, Tracy Morgan, Christina Hendricks
Is this going to be a better Valentine's Day comedy than Deadpool? Heck no! However, this will be the an entertaining R-rated comedy for you and your friends to go out and see. An Ice Cube movie probably won't score very high on Rotten Tomatoes, but nevertheless it will still be a fun comedy. My rule of thumb with cheesy comedies such as this one is if they make you laugh, it succeeded and if it doesn't make you laugh, then the movie was unsuccessful.
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The movie stars comedians Ice Cube (Ron Strickland) and Charlie Day (Andy Campbell), who play two high school teachers on the last day of school. When Andy rats out Ron Strickland, he soon regrets his actions when he discovers "snitches get stitches" and he is scheduled to fight Ron in an old-fashioned fist fight after school with the entire school watching. The trailer says this will be the best fight in movie history, which is obviously false, but it should still be a decently entertaining movie to check out after you've already seen all of the other movies on this list.
6. War on Everyone
Release Date: February 3rd
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Cast: Alexander Skarsgrd, Michael Pea, Tessa Thompson, Theo James, Caleb Landry Jones
War on Everyone is another comedy that actually comes out this weekend. The movie follows two corrupt cops played by Alexander Skarsgrd (The Legend of Tarzan) and Michael Pea (Ant-Man) who make money blackmailing criminals but their lives take a rapid twist when they go on a mission for the ultimate pay-off and they begin to ask themselves whether it was worth it when the two cops unravel a huge secret that is more corrupt than they could ever imagine.
One of the main reasons I really want to see this movie is because of Michael Pea, who is easily one of the most underrated comedians in Hollywood. People tend to forget that he was the funniest part of Ant-Man as he stole every single scene he was in. Now with racial stereotypes aside, we can see how Pea holds up a movie on his own along with Alexander Skarsgrd, who was in many comedies such as Zoolander. Also, the movie scored 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, which isn't bad at all for a comedy movie!
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5. The Great Wall
Release Date: February 17th
Director: Yimou Zhang
Cast: Matt Damon, Tian Jing, Willem Dafoe, Pedro Pascal, Andy Lau
Remember Gods of Egypt? The Great Wall could easily become another one of those CGI-filled, whitewashed blockbuster flops. While this won't be the best blockbuster of the year, I believe the movie holds a high level of entertainment. This is one of those movies that you gather your buddies to go and see, shove popcorn in your face, and have a great time at the theater. If one thing's for sure, Yimou Zhang is a visual director and the fact that he is a former cinematographer attests to that. Also, his nationality is Chinese, therefore, the movie might not be as whitewashed as it appears. The studio probably just wanted a white lead (which is still better than a full white cast). hand,
The movie has a 44 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which isn't great), but their has only been 9 reviews counted at the moment and they seem pretty split. Clarence Tsui from THR said that:
The Great Wall is easily the least interesting and involving blockbuster of the respective careers of both its director and star.
On the other hand, their has been some very positive reactions to The Great Wall such as Mahmoud Mahdy from FilmGamed, who said the movie was:
An epic spectacle of warfare, action sequences, and inventive weaponry, wrapped up in top notch cinematography and visual effects .. Only with a repetitive story at its core.
Who do we trust? Personally, I'm not going to set my expectations too high yet I am going to enter the film with optimism and hope. Matt Damon has proved in The Martian and the Jason Bourne films that he can lead his own action movie and hopefully the trend continues with The Great Wall.
4. John Wick: Chapter 2
Release Date: February 10th
Director: Chad Stahelski
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Ruby Rose, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne
John Wick was one of the best action movies of 2014 and the legendary hit man John Wick returns in a sequel which looks as epic as the first one. John comes out of retirement after a former associate of his plots to seize control of an international assassins' guild. Forced to help him by a blood oath, Wick travels to the city of Rome to square off against the world's deadliest killers.
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Read more on John Wick:
John Wick's Director Reveals The Movie's Real Body Count
How John Wick Is The Perfect Bruce Lee Movie
Keanu Reeves Heads Home In This New John Wick: Chapter 2 Clip
3. The Space Between Us
Release Date: February 3rd
Director: Peter Chelsom
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, Gary Oldman, Carla Gugino
The Space Between Us is set in the near future and it shows the story of a boy from Mars and a girl from Earth who have created a strong online friendship. Gardner (played by Asa Butterfield) finally gets a chance to go to Earth and he's excited to experience all of the wonders he could only read about on Mars and to finally meet his father and Tulsa (played by Britt Robertson). Things begin to get out of control when scientists discover that Gardners organs cant withstand Earths thick atmosphere.
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I've always been a fan of Asa Butterfield and while I love Tom Holland's performance as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Asa Butterfield was my top contender when the shortlist was revealed in 2015. He was fantastic in Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and Hugo and by the looks of the trailer, he seems like he could pull off a believable martian boy. All in all, The Space Between Us looks to be a fun, feel-good movie to warm our hearts during the cold February nights.
2. Rings
Release Date: February 3rd
Director: F. Javier Gutirreo
Cast: Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D'Onofrio, Aimee Teegarden
Truthfully, I am not a huge fan of the horror genre, or at least what it's become. I really enjoyed the old slasher films like Friday the 13th and Halloween, and then the genre completely changed and horror movies became weirder ever year. However, last year had an abundance of really awesome horror flicks and it appears that 2017 will carry on the torch. Split owned the month of January and now the popular horror movie Rings is getting a reboot that actually looks fantastic!
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I love the concept of The Ring movie with the videotape and how once you watch, you will die in 7 days. Technology has flourished since the original film came out in 2002 and it is everywhere you go. Given that, it will be a lot harder to avoid the "inevitable" fate, or will they be able to escape it?
1. The Lego Batman Movie
Release Date: February 10th
Director: Chris McKay
Cast: Will Arnet, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis
The first superhero movie of the year is not a traditional one, it's The Lego Batman Movie. Many people wouldn't find interest in this movie but between Batman's popularity, the success of The Lego Movie, and how great the trailers have looked, it's safe to say that this animated adaptation of the Caped Crusader will be better than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in many ways, at least in entertainment value.
Even though we should have had The Lego Movie sequel by now, this is definitely an acceptable replacement! The movie shows the lonely life of Batman and how he adopts Robin and begins to build (no pun intended) a family of his own. Will Arnet voices the Dark Knight and I'm sure he will knock the role out of the park like he did in 2014's The Lego Movie. Along with Batman, it appears that we will see every great DC character from the Justice League, to Batman's famous rogue gallery, to even some of the smaller characters such as the Condiment King! Prepare for a hilarious and entertaining ride with The Lego Batman Movie made exclusively for all Batman fans!
Which movie are you looking forward to the most next month? Have you seen any of these movies yet and if you have, how did you like them? Tell me below!
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