The Most Intriguing Movies Coming In 2020

The end of 2019 will be here before we know it, and we still have plenty of exciting Hollywood releases to look forward to. In fact, most of the presumed Oscar contenders and year-end blockbusters haven’t been released just yet. Even so, it won’t be long before we’re looking ahead to 2020. So we thought we’d take an early look at some of the anticipated and rumored films that sound most exciting.

Mulan

Disney’s recent onslaught of live-action reboots of animated classics has had mixed results. Some of the projects have been fun, and they’ve all made money, but the prevailing sentiment surrounding them seems to be… why? These movies are perfect in animated form, and in almost every instance the switch to live-action has felt forced and unnecessary. In this respect though, Mulan might be the reboot we’ve been waiting for.
Unlike its counterparts, this film is naturally suited to live-action adaptation. And the early trailers make it look more like a war movie inspired by Mulan than a direct, frame-for-frame recreation. Granted, there are still some fantastical elements to this story – most notably the talking dragon who was so memorably voiced by Eddie Murphy in the original – but these can be dealt with. All in all, the story should feel quite natural in live-action.

Black Widow

Suffice it to say, Marvel is finally giving Scarlett Johansson a standalone project (though we recently learned Robert Downey Jr.-as-Tony Stark will have a part as well). It’s going to have serious competition in the female-led superhero film front given that the sequel to Wonder Woman also comes out in 2020. But Johansson has long been wonderful in this role, and it will be exciting to see what she does with a whole film to herself.

Fast & Furious 9

2017’s The Fate Of The Furious may have taken this ludicrous franchise to ridiculous heights it can’t recover from. That is to say, this series is trending further away from its silly-but-gritty street crime foundations and well into what we might call Expendables-meets-Die Another Day territory. That said, these are still magnetic action movies, and in this case, Justin Lin – who directed some of the best movies in the series – is back at the helm. We’re excited if only to see if Fast & Furious can get back on track.

Green Knight

This movie’s getting very little attention, perhaps because people have given up on modern Arthurian content. King Arthur, when you think about it, has a shockingly small presence in modern pop culture, even in an age obsessed with fantasy and heroism. Guy Ritchie’s 2017 film was a disaster, to the point that it killed a planned franchise. Persistent but vague rumors of a high-end TV series always seem to be unfounded. And even in gaming, King Arthur is all but unseen. He’s the lead in a few mobile games, and some of Ireland’s slot sites appropriately pay homage to the mythical king of the British Isles (most notably the “Mighty Arthur” slot).
Maybe given all of these modern-day struggles for the popular hero, though, a tangential project like Green Knight is what’s needed. This fantasy film will not concern Arthur directly, but rather the side tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It will star Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander, and director David Lowery rounds out a legitimate powerhouse trio.

No Time To Die

We might suggest that Daniel Craig’s time as James Bond has been split evenly between terrific and forgettable. Casino Royale essentially rebooted the iconic franchise, and in wonderful fashion, only to be followed by the supremely disappointing glorified epilogue, Quantum Of Solace. Skyfall may be the best of them, and indeed could go down as one of the best Bond films of all time – but Spectre was something of a mess. In theory, this should indicate that Craig is due a spectacular outing, and we can only hope No Time To Die wraps up the actor’s time as 007 in satisfying fashion.

Tenet

We know very little about this film to date, but it’s the next Christopher Nolan project, which means it should automatically be among 2020’s most anticipated. We know that it will star Robert Pattinson, John David Washington (Denzel’s son), Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh, and there are strong rumors that it will be some kind of spy drama. With Nolan’s track record though, we can’t wait to see this no matter what it ends up being about.

The Eternals

There are a lot of questions about what direction Marvel is heading in following the conclusion of the Avengers/Thanos saga – even if projects like Spider-Man: Far From Home have sought to give us hints. But while Black Widow will presumably look to the past as a means of expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Eternals is going to be our first major leap into something new.

Chloe Zhao will direct the film, which concerns a race of immortal beings who live and shape life on Earth. As we expect of Marvel, the cast will be loaded – though in this case, entirely with fresh faces. Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, and Brian Tyree Henry are the headliners.

Dune

Not unlike King Arthur’s projects, in a way, Dune has proven to be an extremely difficult adaptation for Hollywood to pull off. Despite its being an iconic work of science fiction, there’s really never been a film to satisfy its droves of cultishly-devoted fans. But in 2020 we’ll see the latest attempt, and it actually seems promising. Denis Villeneuve will direct following his excellent work on Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049, and the project boasts a heavyweight cast to rival The Eternals or really any modern film. Headliners include Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Timothée Chalamet, Jason Momoa, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and Stellan Skarsgard.

We’re in.