The Sci Fi Guy

Well, last year I put together a preview of summer movies, so I figured I’d do the same thing again this year and highlight some of the soon-to-be-blockbusters for the Summer 2008 movie season.

Soon to be released

Iron Man - Had enough movies derived from your favorite comic books? Apparently Hollywood doesn’t think so, and probably for good reason - movies like Batman Begins, X-Men, Spiderman, and all the others have been hugely successful. Now Robert Downey gets a chance to play the ultra-tech hero, Iron Man. The premise is pretty straightforward: world-renoun weapons designer Tony Stark (played by Downey) gets to build a suit of armor to stave off mankind’s arch nemesis. Simple. Straightforward. Comic book to movie goodness. Expect this one to be the official starter of the blockbuster season. Releasing May, 2008.

Speed Racer - This one just looks terrible. A mix between hokey kid-friendly storyline and modern super motion video styling. I was never a fan of the original TV series, so I guess it’s not surprising I’m expecting bad things from this one. For the Lost lovers, it features Matthew Fox. For all I know, Speed Racer could be the biggest movie of Spring, but I really hope it’s not.  Releasing May, 2008.

… Further Out …

The Incredible Hulk - Are you sensing a trend in science fiction productions? The recipe is almost too good to be true - built in audiences, already established goofy plot twists, and basic carnage. As if one comic-book movie weren’t enough, Edward Norton takes on the role of angry-green-hero Bruce Banner. As usual, I’m expecting bad things.  Look for it some time in June, 2008.

The Happening -  M. Night Shyamalan is back, this time with a family running from a disaster and trying to sort out how they’ll survive. Post apocalypse or dead people? We’ll have to wait and see - as with most Shyamalan flicks this one is pretty deep under wraps. Coming in June, 2008. Personally, I loved Signs, The Village, Unbreakable, and The Sixth Sense, so this will likely get a viewing just based on past performance alone.

Wall-E - Disney makes a foray in to science fiction kids films with this animated flick. Odds are it’ll have the usual Disney formula in place - quirky characters, colorful scenes, and a feel-good moral at the end. Perfect recipe for a good flick and a great performance at the box office. Also on the plate for June, 2008.

Hancock - Super hero comic book movies: Meet your match. Will Smith takes on the role of Hancock, a super hero that just can’t do good. Unlucky, irresponsible, just plain tired of the demands of the ordinary mortals. It’s a parody on Superman that deserves a watch. Of course, Smith is standard issue summer blockbuster science fiction faire: Independence Day, Men in Black, and i, Robot all stand to prove he’s as capable of drawing crowds in as he is playing the loveable main character. Check out the funny Hancock trailer here. Slated for the 4th of July Weekend.

 Also on deck … 

Hellboy 2 (I don’t know why… ugh…)

Journey to the Center of the Earth (3-D… Because the movie would be terrible in 2 dimensions.)

The Dark Knight (Batman Begins gets a sequel, starring recently deceased Heath Ledger as The Joker - likely to be an enormous box office success, and probably on par with the quality of the first revised-Batman tale)

… And of course, X-Files 2.

If you can’t tell, I’m a little jaded by the upcoming selections. There’s so much great SciFi being written in novels that I can’t understand why the push is on comic books these days. I guess it’s just easier to take a comic book audience to the movies than it is to get a reading audience there. Hopefully I’m wrong about a couple of these and they turn out to be good movies. Only the summer will tell.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Science Fiction Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.