The Dark Knight Rises
The latest film to premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival is called The Dark Knight Rises, and it’s already become the highest-grossing film at the box office this year. With an astounding $854 million worldwide, it became the highest grossing Batman movie of all-time. More impressively, it set a new record for the biggest single-day opening in box-office history: $185 million earned in its opening weekend. The movie is based on the final part of the comic book series The Dark Knight Returns, which is a sort of reboot of the Batman franchise. In it, Bruce Wayne is retired and living happily with his family, but he still finds himself drawn back into the fray as Commissioner Gordon’s (Ben McKenzie) dedicated protégée, Rachel (Mia Wasikowska), becomes the focal point of an assault by a ruthless mobster named Joe Chill (Jason Patric). The movie is already being touted as the greatest superhero movie of all time, and it’s easy to see why.
The Joker
After three consecutive years of mostly horror movies, the Joker returns to his traditional crime-fighting roots in the 2019 animated film, The Joker. And it’s another critical and commercial success for DC Comics and Warner Bros. The critically acclaimed film has now amassed a global box-office tally of almost $1 billion, which is a remarkable feat for a movie based on a comic book character. It’s also the latest in a long line of successful Joker films. The character has been around since the 1930s, and the most recent iteration is 2019’s The Joker, a dark twist on the Clown Prince of Crime. It turns out that even the most iconic villains can be interpreted in many ways, which is what makes them so fascinating and enjoyable to watch.
The Mummy
Universal Pictures has yet another successful monster movie on its hands with the release of The Mummy, which has already racked up a massive $885 million worldwide. The movie adapts the popular fiction novel of the same name by Peter Ackroyd. It follows a heroic military doctor (Tom Cruise) who, with the help of some loyal friends, must fight to save the world from an unstoppable mummy that has escaped from the Egyptian Museum. Not your usual summer blockbuster, this one is aimed at genre audiences who want an offbeat, intelligent take on an old classic.
Venom
Speaking of old classics, Sony’s Venom is a faithful adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1962 masterpiece, The Birds, starring Jessica Chastain and Taya Souaki as a pair of innocent women who unknowingly befriend a gang of birds that turn out to be quite dangerous, as well as a portal for another dimension. It’s an otherworldly and visually stunning film that manages to be both scary and humorous, and it’s a testament to the power of the star duo of Chastain and Souaki. The film has grossed over $500 million around the globe, proving that sometimes the most memorable characters can be the simplest: a spider and a bee.
Zombieland: Double Trouble
Zombieland is a sort of hybrid of the comedy-adventure genre, with a dash of western thrown in. It’s the second film from the writers of Deadpool 2, and it continues the adventures of Tallahassee (Jesse Eisenberg), the nerf herder; Columbus (Woody Harrelson), the pizza delivery guy; and Wichita (Bill Murray), the laconic, yet charming, silent cowboy zombie hunter. Together, they are the world’s greatest team of zombie fighters, and they set off on a journey to save Tallahassee’s girlfriend, Abigail (Emma Stone), from a band of murderous zombies.
The first film in the series, Tallahassee, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews and ended up grossing over $17 million at the box office in the US. While disappointing, the filmmakers were undaunted and decided to make a follow-up even more extreme in both tone and content. It’s called Zombieland: Double Trouble, and it’s essentially the same movie, with some extra scenes and jokes. In fact, it’s nearly an hour longer than the original. The new and improved version opened in theaters to rave reviews this year and has done incredibly well at the box office. It’s currently the No. 3 movie at the box office behind The Dark Knight Rises and The Lego Movie 2.
Bumblebee
Bumblebee is the highly anticipated live-action adaptation of the Transformers saga. It’s been a long time coming, and it finally brings to the big screen a movie adaptation of one of the most popular and beloved comic book series of all time. It premieres in theaters this year, and it’s an adaptation much more faithful to the original comics than the previous live-action films. Bumblebee is an exciting film to look forward to, especially since it features the voice of John Goodman, who plays the part of the bumbling bee, Bombur.