5 Years, 3 Studios, 28 Movies!: 2016

The next five years are going to be the most exciting era for cinema. Between the return/revival of the Star Wars and Jurassic Park franchises, the next generation of hopeful video-game adaptations such as Assassin's Creed (staring Michael Fassbender) and Warcraft, and the expansion of the Harry Potter universe, franchises are the newest and most successful trend. Plus smaller studio and Indie hits will always be littered throughout. However, the real way studios are hoping to make most of their money comes from one genre: comic book/superhero adaptations. Marvel Comics and DC Comics have always been the main players in the comic world, and now their movies are the biggest financial success in the movie world.

A Little Background
The 1990s weren't the greatest era for superhero movies. Tim Burton essentially ruined the Batman franchise at the time, and Marvel, other than the sudo-successful Blade movies, was putting out straight to video movies. Come the new millennium though, Marvel, through FOX, SONY, and Marvel Studios, helped put superhero movies back on the map. FOX came out with the ensemble X-Men movie in 2000, helping launch the career of some guy named Hugh Jackman, and SONY came out with the Toby Maguire lead Spider-Man in 2002. Marvel was leading the field. In 2008, they opened their own studio and gambled with the Robert Downey, Jr. lead Iron Man. Thus, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was created and, eleven movies and three television shows later, is still going strong. However, FOX still owns the movie rights to the X-Men, with seven movies in that franchise, and Fantastic Four, which they have not handled as well. On the other hand, SONY currently shares the movie rights to Spider-Man with Marvel Studios ever since a deal was reached after SONY's embarrassing email leak in late 2014. Continued success is all but guaranteed.

DC Comics adaptations have always belonged to one studio, Warner Bros. As I mentioned before, they let one director ruin Batman in the 90s, but they needed to catch up to Marvel. In 2005, they tried again with Batman, this time with a man named Christopher Nolan. Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy was one of the most successful of the last decade, and seen as an outlier in a genre ruled by Marvel. DC/WB had their misses though. The Bryan Singer (who directed X-Men) directed, Brandon Routh lead Superman Returns in 2006 was not a huge hit, and even less can be said of the Ryan Reynolds lead Green Lantern in 2011. They were still trailing Marvel and needed to create a cohesive universe similar to Marvel, and in doing so they entrusted their greatest hero to Zack Snyder (he directed the amazing 300 and Watchmen movies). The Superman origin movie, Man of Steel, came out in 2013 to great critic success. Thus, DC/WB had the start of their cinematic universe.

Now! These three (sort of four) studios are producing TWENTY-EIGHT movies over the next five years! Lets dive in and take a look, shall we!? Our first installment deals with 2016! A HUGE year, not only because we will see the most movies in a calendar year to date, but also due to the magnitude of each movie and what they mean for the genre going forward.

Deadpool (February 12): Director: Tim Miller

FOX gets things started off with the first R-Rated comic adaptation since 2013. Starring Ryan Reynolds as the red clad super-soldier, this movie promises to be violent and hilarious! It will have connections to the X-Men movie universe, but don't expect it to be a family affair. Also starring Morena Baccarin (of Gotham and Firefly fame), Gina Carano (the former Muay Thai champion turned action star), and T.J. Miller (stars in Silicon Valley on HBO), with musical score from Junkie XL (who did the amazing Mad Max; Fury Road soundtrack). If this movie is successful, which it most assuredly will be, than we could possibly see future R-Rated superhero movies that are a part of their respective universes.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 25) Director: Zack Snyder

Warner Bros. next step in creating their DC cinematic universe is introducing all of the big players. Henry Cavill returns as Superman, but we will be introduced to a new, yet older and rugged, Batman in Ben Affleck. Will these two stay enemies, or will Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor be the real enemy? Plus the first ever cinematic appearance of Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, and Aquaman, played by Jason Momoa, will help expand this cinematic universe going forward. With rumored appearances from The Flash, Cyborg, as well as the supporting cast of characters that comes with each superhero, this movie is going to be massive. How could a movie get any bigger?!

Captain America: Civil War (May 6) Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo
Marvel Studios sees DC's BvS and raises them! This movie will feature the most comic book characters of any movie ever! Chris Evan's Steve Rogers/Captain America and Robert Downey, Jr.'s Tony Stark/Iron Man will be at odds over how the Avengers should be handled: are they an entity unto themselves away from the politics of the world, or should they be monitored and controlled by the government? The teams are set! Team Cap: Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), and Sharon Carter/Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp). Team Iron Man: Natasha Romanov/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), The Vision (Paul Bettany), and introducing T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). The wildcard of the group is Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. However! There will be real villains in this movie! Frank Grillo returns as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, and Daniel Brühl comes on as Baron Zemo. And lest we forget! Peter Parker/Spider-Man is making his MCU debut, played by the up-and-coming Tom Holland. The ramifications of this film are huge, as the results will help drive the next several stand-alone movies leading up to the forthcoming Avengers movie! It's all connected! Now for real this time, I don't think a movie can get any bigger...

X-Men: Apocalypse (May 27) Director: Bryan Singer
FOX is back, this time looking to end the world! This follow up to X-Men: Days of Future Past sees everyone's favorite mutants going up against their biggest foe yet, Apocalypse (played by Oscar Isaac). Jennifer Lawrence (Raven/Mystique), Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr/Magneto), James McAvoy (Prof. Charles Xavier), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy/Beast), Evan Peters (Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver), and Lucas Till (Alex Summers/Havok) all return. Will newcomers Olivia Munn (Betsy Braddock/Psylocke), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Scott Summers/Cyclops) Kodi Smit-McPhee (Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler), Alexandra Shipp (Ororo Munroe/Storm), Lana Condor (Jubilation Lee/Jubilee) Ben Hardy (Warren Worthington III/Angel) be on side of good or evil? All shall be revealed in this new timeline created out of the events from DoFP. And damn, I thought we were about to get bigger than Civil War...

Suicide Squad (August 5) Director: David Ayer
Enough of the superheroes! DC/WB is bringing the supervillains! Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis), will bring together the worlds most dangerous individuals to create a team that will going on some of the most dangerous missions in return commuted sentences. Lead by Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Floyd Lawton/Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Waylon Jones/Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Tattooed Man (Common), and Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana (Karen Fukuhara), along with others, presumably, will look to take down one of two characters, if not both: Cara Delevigne's Enchantress and Jared Leto's The Joker! This movie will be a great, action packed, sort of "Dirty Dozen" comic book movie. And to add to it, Affleck's Batman will be making an appearance. If this movie is successful, besides sequels, maybe Marvel will make a Thunderbolt movie! It could solve their villain problem...even George R.R. Martin thinks so...

Gambit (October 7) Director: ?
Now that we got the huge movies out of the way, now onto some smaller fare. Gambit has a lot of promise. He's a fan favorite among comic fans, especially those from the 90s who remember him from the cartoon series, and Channing Tatum is signed on to star as the titular mutant hero, otherwise known as Remy LeBeau. FOX even has Léa Seydoux (who burst onto the scene in the international favorite Blue is the Warmest Color, and will star in the newest James Bond movie, Spectre) poised to play an undisclosed female lead role. Unfortunately, the movie (as of today) is due out in exactly a year and they do not currently have a director after Rupert Wyatt dropped out a couple weeks ago. FOX is gambling at the moment on this property, considering they hope Tatum can do for the franchise moving forward what Hugh Jackman has done since 2000. 

Doctor Strange (November 4) Director: Scott Derrickson

Now back over to the MCU! This movie might be the most anticipated solo superhero movie since Iron Man. Originally, Marvel had Joaquin Phoenix set to lead the movie as titular Dr. Stephen Strange. However, when he dropped out, Marvel did one better (in my opinion): they signed on Benedict Cumberbatch! Doctor Strange promises to introduce MCU fans to some pretty far out concepts, such as magic and alternative dimensions/realities. Plus, we should be introduced to either the Soul or Time stone which are two of the six McGuffin's that are driving the MCU toward the third Avengers movie(s). Co-starring Rachel McAdams (undisclosed female lead role), Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One, whom Doctor Strange learns his magic from), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Baron Mordo, Strange's rival), with Mads Mikkelsen rumored, and being directed by a gentleman with a successfully heavy horror background, color me excited!

Welp, that wraps up 2016! Its going to be an exciting year! Just add on The Hateful Eight, The Revenant, Zoolander 2, Triple 9, London Has Fallen, Zootopia, The Jungle Book, Neighbors 2, Angry Birds, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Finding Dory, Independence Day Resurgence, Ghostbusters, Star Trek Beyond, Bourne 5, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Moana, Star Wars: Rogue One, Assassin's Creed, and So! Much! More! 
Stay Tuned! 
Up next: 2017...