After a year which left us in the glorious wake of such films as ‘Black Swan’ and ‘The King’s Speech’, 2012 has a lot to live up to in the world of cinema. An early release, Phyllida Lloyd’s ‘The Iron Lady’ has already sold out cinemas and left Meryl Streep with a near-guaranteed Oscar. The movie follows a somewhat sympathetic retelling of Margaret Thatcher’s life during and after parliament.
January also brings us the likes of ‘War Horse’, a heart-wrenching film adaptation of both the best-selling children’s novel and West End theatre production, also sure to bring in the awards. February sees a post-Potter Daniel Radcliffe return to screen as Arthur Kipps in ‘The Woman in Black’, another theatre production that has been plucked for cinema. Horror and theatre fans will enjoy this ghost story, which is currently the second longest running theatre production in the West End.
Suzanne Collins novel ‘The Hunger Games’ steps up to the silver screen in March with a long-awaited movie adaptation of the same name. Set in a dystopian world ruled by the Capitol, the annual Hunger Games involve two children from each district to be chosen by lottery to compete in a savage fight to the death. Coined as ‘the new Twilight’ it is expected to live up to great things, and with two other books in the trilogy, expect sequels.
Sacha Baron Cohen fans will be pleased to hear he will return with another Borat-Bruno-style comedy in May. ‘The Dictator’ is promised to “tell the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed”. Baron Cohen’s role of the fictional General Admiral Alladeen is said to be inspired by Saddam Hussein and the late Muammar Gaddafi, in what is sure to be yet another controversial comedy.
It seems Marvel has more to squeeze out of the Spider-Man saga with the July release of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, a reboot of the original trilogy. A brand new cast starring Andrew Garfield as the titular character will follow the fictional superhero as he develops his powers in high school.
Continuing the comic trend is the highly anticipated ‘The Dark Knight’ Rises, also reaching cinemas in July. Christopher Nolan’s third and final take on the DC comics hero promises to be epic, with a cast including Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy (of Inception fame) as Bane. Daniel Craig is set to reprise his role as James Bond in ‘Skyfall’, set to be released in October. Despite being the twenty-third James Bond movie to date, the Bond saga shows no sign of slowing as this sequel is set to steal a majority of the Halloween cinema audience.
Another hugely successful movie franchise gets a reboot with the ‘Lord of the Rings’ prequel, ‘The Hobbit’. Adapted from the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien, this movie follows a pre-Frodo journey with the loveable Bilbo Baggins, headed by an unlikely casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo. Rounding off the year will be the Christmas release of ‘The Great Gatsby’, adapted from what is often called the ‘Great American Novel’ of the same name. With Leonardo DiCaprio starring as the mysterious Gatsby, this will be sure to draw crowds of literature enthusiasts.
