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Aaron’s Most Anticipated Films of 2020 – A Month By Month Look

I’ve assembled my list of Most Anticipated Films for 2020. It’s always fun to take a look at what’s going to be hitting theaters in the coming year. Sure, there are a lot of films that aren’t even on my radar yet, but I’m still plenty happy at seeing all of the current potential. Plus, with Disney having gone for a monster 2019, it feels like there’s just more room for some fresher ideas beyond massive live-action remakes and super sequels. Sure, there are some films of that nature to anticipate, but nothing is seemingly hogging up the atmosphere. Regardless, this is a month by month look at what movies I am looking forward to seeing this year (links for trailers where available). Feel free to name the films you look forward to in the comments.

First, let’s start with a recap of my 2019 picks:

January – Glass – A shattering disappointment.

February – How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – Fitting closure.

March – Us – Jordan Peele saw no sophomore slump with this one.

April – Avengers: Endgame – A great way to cap off 10 years’ worth of MCU storytelling.

May – Godzilla: King of the Monsters – Oh yeah, this one delivered big time for me.

June – Ford v. Ferrari – Moved to November, but it was terrific.

July – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – My favorite movie of 2019.

August – Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – Big, dumb fun.

September – The Kitchen – Moved to August and was disappointing, given the potential.

October – Gemini Man – Technology-wise, the film delivered well, but the story was lacking.

November – Knives Out – Rian Johnson made a very clever whodunnit.

December – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – A pretty crushing disappointment, given that it’s Star Wars.

***

January

Bad Boys For Life (1/17)

January is always a tricky time, as you have Sundance providing the only new films to get super hyped about. Still, those films won’t come along until later in the year, if at all. Meanwhile, award contenders I’ve seen expand wide, which is great for general audiences. So, picking brand new releases tends to only amount to so much. With that in mind, screw it, I’m going with Bad Boys for Life. It may not have Michael Bay, but Will Smith and Martin Lawrence back together could provide some amusement. Hopefully, directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah can deliver on the action front. Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie comes back to gangster land, after scoring a billion-dollar hit with Aladdin, and Oz Perkins of the great Blackcoat’s Daughter has a more mainstream horror flick, Gretel & Hansel as a possible good bit of spooky fun.

Others: The Assistant, Beanpole, Color Out of Space, The Gentlemen, Gretel & Hansel, Underwater, VHYes, Weathering With You

 

February

The Invisible Man (2/28)

Maybe I’m giving it more credit than it needs, but while Birds of Prey will hopefully be a giant step up from Suicide Squad, I’m more curious to see if Blumhouse and Upgrade’s Leigh Whannell can resurrect Universal’s Dark Universe with something a bit less high profile. No, The Invisible Man is not a part of the cinematic universe involving Tom Cruise’s Mummy and definitely not involving Luke Evan’s Dracula Untold. However, it may still work as a neat take on one of the other classic Universal Monsters. Between the lower budgets Blumhouse likes to work with and Whannell’s success on a limited scale, one can only hope for a unique take on the property. Additionally, a Force Majeure remake may be unnecessary, but Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus could do a lot with it, and hey! Behn Zeitlin finally returns with a new take on the Peter Pan story.

Others: Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), The Call of the Wild, Downhill, Emma, Greed, The Last Thing He Wanted, Sonic the Hedgehog, Wendy, The Whistlers

 

March

Mulan – (3/27)

Things start getting interesting in March in terms of variety, but I’m still rooting for the big studio release. Disney may have mostly struck out with me last year with their various live-action (and CG) remakes, but there’s something about the nature of Mulan that could work out well. Disney essentially making a wuxia film could allow for some impressive big-budget visuals, and Whale Rider’s Niki Caro on as director bodes well for a movie already lined up with talent. Otherwise, the month also offers some indie horror, a sequel to A Quiet Place, a Vin Diesel comic book movie, and a new Pixar film, which, despite its aggressive marketing, should be good, right?

Others: Bloodshot, The Climb, First Cow, John Lewis: Good Trouble, The Lost Girls, A Quiet Place: Part II, Onward, Resistance, Saint Maud

 

April

No Time to Die (4/10)

Bond, James Bond, is finally back and hoping to be the first farewell Bond film for a long-running actor actually to be good. With all the time spent, the crew involved, and a promising first trailer, I really want Daniel Craig to go out on a high with No Time to Die. Cary Fukunaga is an exciting choice for director, so I hope he can really deliver on this globetrotting franchise. But that’s not all for April, as there are two horror films on the way; one produced by Jordan Peele and the other by Guillermo del Toro. There’s also the sequel to the surprisingly very funny Peter Rabbit. Oh, and The New Mutants seems to have locked in a firm release date this year, so everyone will have a chance to finally see the other first/last X-Men movie in the Disney era.

Others: Antebellum, Antlers, Fatherhood, The Lovebirds, The New Mutants, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway

 

May

Fast & Furious 9 (5/22)

Summer begins with Marvel, as usual, but while Black Widow will likely be fine, at least, I’m all the more pumped for the latest entry in the ridiculously enjoyable Fast & Furious franchise. Justin Lin is back in the director’s chair, and that’s about all we know so far (the film debuts its first trailer at the end of January, followed by a huge concert, naturally). Regardless, functioning seemingly as the final entry before the Dom and the gang finally race on the moon in Fast X, I expect big thrills involving all kinds of vehicular nonsense. There’s also a new SpongeBob movie, and there’s yet to be a bad one of those (and Antonio Banderas deserved an Oscar nomination last time). Plus, Tom Hanks is in a new war movie, Armando Ianucci’s latest finally arrives in America, and Chris Rock developed the story for a new Saw movie.

Others: Black Widow, Eurovision, Greyhound, The Personal History of David Copperfield, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Untitled Saw Movie, The Woman in the Window

 

June

Candyman (6/12)

It was tough to choose between a few good options for this big Summer month. In the Heights has a terrific first trailer and director Jon M. Chu knows how to shoot elaborate dance numbers. At the same time, Pixar has a very intriguing new film with an original story. Still, I’m looking to Candyman to deliver. Perhaps a risky proposition to hope for greatness from a horror remake, but it’s such a rich concept that easily plays into society today. Jordan Peele’s name as a producer, joining director Nia da Costa, brings a lot of hope as well. And while Tony Todd may or may not be back in some capacity, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is a fabulous presence who will hopefully deliver on the iconic role. And who doesn’t hope to hear that moody Philip Glass score on the big screen again? There’s also a Wonder Woman sequel, presumably with Patti Jenkins getting carte blanche to do whatever she wants with the series after the success of the first film. And Tom Cruise doesn’t typically make bad blockbusters, so maybe he can make a good Top Gun sequel.

Others: Dick Johnson is Dead, In the Heights, King of Staten Island, Soul, Top Gun: Maverick, Wonder Woman 1984

 

July

Tenet – (7/17)

Christopher Nolan. That’s it. That’s all you need. With his penchant for IMAX camera filmmaking, enormous scope, and original ideas, here’s hoping a globe-hopping, time traveling(?) spy thriller will be everything audiences look for in giant summer spectacle, with a brain. John David Washington leading the cast is a nice cherry on top as well, as we could use a new protagonist. That said, July is pretty packed. Free Guy could be a lot of fun, with Ryan Reynolds taking an NPC video game character to new heights. Jungle Cruise could prove to be something as fun as Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy. A new Ghostbusters may bring new life to this paranormal series. And hey, Bob’s Burgers is heading to the big screen. Neat!

Others: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Bob’s Burgers: The Movie, Free Guy, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Jungle Cruise, Morbius, Untitled Fifth Purge Movie

 

August

Malignant (8/14)

James Wan returns to horror. There’s no word on what the story involves as of yet. Still, after making Furious 7 and Aquaman (becoming one of the few directors to make two billion-dollar movies in two different franchises in the process), it will be great to see Wan return to his roots. With all he’s learned as a filmmaker, here’s hoping we get something smaller scale, but excellent, akin to Sam Raimi coming back from Spider-Man to deliver Drag Me to Hell. The rest of August sounds about right in terms of films with moderate potential. Bill & Ted are finally returning, seemingly forced into existence by fans. Mark Wahlberg and Antoine Fuqua are doing something in the sci-fi world with Infinite, so we’ll see how that goes.

Others: Bill & Ted Face the Music, The Empty Man, Infinite, Nobody, The One and Only Ivan, Spell

 

September

Last Night in Soho (9/25)

Edgar Wright is heading into horror territory too in September, with Last Night in Soho. The film is apparently made in the vein of films such as Don’t Look Now and Repulsion, so there’s a lot of potential for a director who does fantastic work in showing off filmmaking ambition combined with great reverence for the medium in general. The month is also packed with various genre efforts, including a third Conjuring film, a Tom Clancy adaptation with Michael B. Jordan, the latest Kingsman film, which goes back in time, and a new Paul W.S. Anderson video game movie, because why not? There’s also that prequel movie to The Sopranos. Oh, and Aaron Sorkin is coming in hot with a new dramatic thriller, featuring an all-star cast.

Others:  The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The King’s Man, The Many Saints of Newark, Monster Hunter, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Without Remorse

 

October

Venom 2 (10/02)

Let me be clear. October is probably going to be packed with better movies, and the first Venom was garbage, outside of Tom Hardy’s gonzo performance. However, now everyone knows what worked best about that film, and a sequel can only go bigger with it. The addition of Andy Serkis as director, the other returning cast members who seemed in on the joke to a point, and the upgrade of Woody Harrelson and his ridiculous red wig for Cletus Cassidy (aka Carnage), can ideally make for one bonkers comic book movie. If that doesn’t deliver, at least the same team is returning for Halloween Kills, which I can only hope continues making good on quality Michael Meyers sequels (with less annoying podcasters). Kenneth Branagh also dives back into the world of Agatha Christie with Death on the Nile, featuring another all-star cast. There’s also this thing called BIOS, which has Tom Hanks in a post-apocalyptic world in a movie from the director of Repo Men.

Others: BIOS, Death on the Nile, G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes, Halloween Kills, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Witches

 

November

Godzilla vs. Kong (11/20)

Yeah, I’ll probably be spending a good portion of the month seeing big award contenders, but who really cares when I’ll also get to see Godzilla take on King Kong in WB’s Monsterverse! The Guest and You’re Next’s Adam Wingard jumps into giant blockbuster mode for a film pitting the two legendary monsters against each other, and it’s honestly not that hard to please a kaiju fan, so give me all the fun this can deliver. And yeah, there are plenty of dramas arriving this month as well, including a new one from Tom McCarthy. The MCU is also back with Eternals, where a considerable cast and director Chloe Zhao (The Rider) attempt to pull off another Guardians of the Galaxy, with presumably less smart-ass humor and 70s jams.

Others: Deep Water, Escape Room 2, Eternals, Happiest Season, King Richard, Raya and the Last Dragon, Red Notice, Stillwater, 

 

December

Dune (12/18)

I may not have much faith in the box office potential for a new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi novel, but I’m all for seeing what Denis Villeneuve can do with the property. After Blade Runner 2049 defied the odds and served as a pretty great follow-up to the Ridley Scott classic, I can only assume Villeneuve will do all he can to make the most out of this holiday event film (bonus points for any Alejandro Jodorowsky references). This month also brings Eddie Murphy in Coming 2 America, and he’s brought basically the entire crew of the wonderful Dolemite Is My Name to help make it work. I’ve longed to see what Steven Spielberg can do with a full-blown musical, so I’m plenty excited about how his West Side Story turns out. Plus, new films from Paul Greengrass and Ridley Scott, so the year is ending with plenty of big names.

Others: Coming 2 America, The Last Duel, News of the World, Samaritan, The Tomorrow War, West Side Story

***

Dates Not Yet Set:

As always, there are plenty of other releases that do not have an official 2020 release date as of yet. So, I’m happy to shout out to some titles I am keeping in mind. This includes new films from David Fincher, Spike Lee, Charlie Kaufman, Joel Coen, Guillermo del Toro, Terrence Malick, Taika Waititi, Sofia Coppola, Wes Anderson, Steven Soderbergh, and more.

After Yang, Alley, Annette, The Card Counter, C’mon C’mon, Da 5 Bloods, Druk, Good Morning Midnight, The French Dispatch, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Kajillionaire, The Last Planet, Let Them All Talk, Macbeth, Mank, Minari, Next Goal Wins, Nomadland, The Old Guard, On the Rocks, Supernova, Tesla, Untitled Jonathan Glazer Project, Untitled Lila Neugebauer Project, Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project