These are my most anticipated movies for 2017! No particular order, but probably once I get towards the bottom, you’ll see which ones I’m definitely more excited for.

Alien: Covenant

“Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant find what they believe to be an uncharted paradise. What the crew discover is a dark, dangerous world, whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.”

Sequel to Prometheus, which is a prequel to the original Alien. I’m excited that this will continue the story of that movie, but then be more of a true Alien movie featuring Xenomorphs, chest-bursters, acid blood, and all that good stuff.

Release date: May 19th, 2017

Power Rangers

“Five troubled teenage student outcasts – Zack, Kimberly, Billy, Trini, and Jason – become the Power Rangers after learning that their town of Angel Grove and the world itself are threatened by Rita Repulsa and her alien forces.”

I realize this has a really great chance at being horrible, but I’m still going to see it, and I hope that it’s awesome as hell.

Release date: March 24th, 2017

Blade Runner 2049

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

I fully expect this to be amazing.

Release date: October 6th, 2017

The Lego Batman Movie

“Batman goes on a personal journey to find himself and learn the importance of teamwork and friendship in hopes to save Gotham City from The Joker’s hostile takeover.”

Why not? I loved The Lego Movie. Batman was the best character in it. He’s also one of my favorite characters in general. I’m there.

Release date: February 10th, 2017

The Mummy

“Thousands of years ago, an ancient princess (played by Sofia Boutella), whose destiny was unjustly taken from her, was mummified and entombed in an ancient tomb buried deep beneath the desert. She was awakened in the contemporary world, bringing with her a malevolent grudge that has grown over millennia and terrors that will defy all of humanity.”

This one I’m a little skeptical about. I didn’t buy into the trailer that much, and the villain was giving me horrible Suicide Squad “Enchatress” flashbacks.

BUT, it is Tom Cruise, and this movie is to be the start of a Monster Shared Universe for Universal. That idea sounds amazing, and I want this movie to succeed so that we can see Frankenstein, Wolfman, Mummies, Dracula, Van Helsing, etc all joining together somehow. I also really hope this is more than just a simple action/adventure movie. We need it to be at least somewhat scary too.

Release date: June 7th, 2017

The Fate of the Furious

“With Dom and Letty on their honeymoon, Brian and Mia having retired from the game, and the rest of the crew exonerated, the team has found a semblance of a normal life. But when a mysterious woman seduces Dom into a world of crime he cannot seem to escape, causing him to betray those closest to him, they will face trials that will test them as never before.”

This is my guilty pleasure franchise. I’ve loved how each movie after the 4th has tried to outshine the last. I’m hoping it’s insanely over-the-top schlock with fun characters, just like the last several movies.

Release date: April 14th, 2017

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

“Captain Jack Sparrow is pursued by an old rival, Capitán Salazar, who along with his crew of ghost pirates has escaped from the Devil’s Triangle, and is determined to kill every pirate at sea. Jack seeks the Trident of Poseidon, a powerful artifact that grants its possessor total control over the seas, in order to defeat Salazar.”

I really really didn’t like the fourth Pirates movie that much. It just felt like a very useless entry. I know many haven’t liked anything past the first movie, but I’ve actually always found the second and third films to be quite enjoyable. Convoluted. But enjoyable.

I’m anticipating this because it could be a return to form for this series. Just by the look of it, even with the returning supporters from the original trilogy, I sense it will at least feel more in line with those movies than the fourth film did.

Release date: May 26th, 2017

Kong: Skull Island

“In the 1970s, a team of explorers and soldiers are brought together to venture deep into an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean – as beautiful as it is treacherous – unaware that they are crossing into the domain of monsters, as well as the mythic Kong, the “king” of the island.”

While I had problems with 2014’s ‘Godzilla’, I at least left the theater wanting to see more. Then they announced a shared universe for giant monsters, with ‘Kong’ being the next entry. All of this has me excited.

This looks rad. I’m anticipating not only this movie, but everything that will follow. I can’t wait to see King Kong fighting other monsters in this, and I definitely can’t wait to see him fight Godzilla in a future movie.

Release date: March 10th, 2017

Beauty and the Beast

“Belle is a young woman who is taken prisoner by a Beast in his castle in exchange for the freedom of her father Maurice. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s exterior to recognize the true heart and soul of the human Prince within just as a hunter named Gaston is on the loose to take Belle for himself and hunt down the Beast at any cost.”

The Lion King, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast are my Top 3 favorite animated Disney movies of all time (not counting Pixar). We’re getting live-action versions of all of these!

I really can’t wait to see this story come to life. The music alone will be worth the price of admission if anything. I fully expect this to be flat out amazing.

Release date: March 17th, 2017

Thor: Ragnarok

“After the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor, imprisoned on another world without his hammer, must outlive a gladiatorial duel against his old friend — the Hulk — in order to return to Asgard in time to stop the villainous Hela and the impending Ragnarök.”

A new Thor adventure mixed with an adaptation of “Planet Hulk”? Yes.

Out of the whole MCU, I’d say the Thor movies are among the weakest of the bunch. The first movie was solid, while the second remains the most mediocre in the MCU. But I have a feeling this could be the best of the three. It looks like the stupid annoying supporting cast from the first two films are gone and that alone makes it better without me even seeing it yet.

But Thor and Hulk make for a great pair-up. I expect it will feel almost like an inter-galactic buddy-cop movie. Who wouldn’t want to see that?!

Release date: November 3rd, 2017

Dunkirk

“Allied soldiers from Britain, Belgium, Canada, and France are surrounded by the German Army on the beaches on Dunkirk and evacuated in Operation Dynamo between 26 May and 4 June 1940, during the early stages of the Second World War.”

Christopher Nolan directing a war movie? Of course I’m in.

Release date: July 21st,2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

“Set two months after the first film, the Guardians of the Galaxy travel throughout the cosmos and struggle to keep their new-found family together, while helping Peter Quill learn more about his true parentage.”

Baby Groot.

Release date: May 5th, 2017

War for the Planet of the Apes

“Following the events of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Caesar and the apes are embroiled in a war against an army of humans. As the apes suffer heavy losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts as he resolves to avenge his kind. The war pits Caesar against the humans’ leader, a ruthless Colonel, in an encounter that will determine the fate of their species and Earth’s future.”

If you have not seen both ‘Rise’ and ‘Dawn’, fix that now. These are spectacular movies. ‘Dawn’ especially was one of the craziest movies I remember watching in 2014. This has Matt Reeves directing again, and I’m fully expecting to be blown the hell away.

Release date: July 14th, 2017

Spider-Man: Homecoming

“Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker, with the help of his mentor Tony Stark, tries to balance his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens, New York City with fighting crime as his superhero alter ego Spider-Man as a new threat, the Vulture, emerges.”

It’s about time. If getting Spider-Man to be a part of the rest of the Marvel universe wasn’t cool enough, the very concept of this movie alone is fantastic. It feels like it’s going to be a John Hughes movie set in the MCU. The idea that Tony Stark is going to be a mentor to Peter Parker is also fascinating. If ‘Iron Man 3’ was ‘Rocky Balboa’, ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ will be like ‘Creed’. I’m also hoping Michael Keaton gives us the best Marvel villain we’ve seen so far… at least since Loki.

Release date: July 7th, 2017

Wonder Woman

“In the early 20th century, the Amazon princess Diana, who is living on the island of Themyscira, meets American military pilot Steve Trevor when he is washed ashore. After learning from him about the ongoing events of World War I, she leaves her home to bring an early end to the war.”

Out of everything on this list, I must honestly say that ‘Wonder Woman’ is the movie I’m truly most anxious to see. The others can wait until their time comes.

Why? Because it HAS to be good. DC has not really got off on the right foot with their shared universe, and there is so much evidence that WB/DC is still in a fix. {Ben Affleck exiting as director for The Batman; The Flash getting a page one re-write and losing 2 or 3 directors; reactionary announcements for movies no one even wants at the moment}

I personally loved ‘Man of Steel’, and I thought ‘Batman v Superman’ was pretty decent. It was a bloated movie that didn’t need to be as bloated as it was… however we knew it would be once the title was announced. It still did an okay job of setting up the DC universe and left me wanting more. Then ‘Suicide Squad’ came out and didn’t help anything. That movie in my opinion was borderline garbage.

The consensus overall though is that these movies need to be better in quality. Period. If it doesn’t start here, it’s over. Yes, ‘Justice League’ will still be released later… but if ‘Wonder Woman’ receives the same type of response both Dawn of Just “Okay” and Suicide Squash got, no one will go see ‘Justice League’, and WB may fall into a trap.

‘Wonder Woman’ has to be good. I have faith it will be… but I’m so nervous.

Even outside of that though… there has never been a decent female-led superhero movie. This could change that! So much pressure is on this movie. Please be good!!!

Release date: June 2nd, 2017

Justice League

“More than a year after the events of Batman v Superman, inspired by Superman’s sacrifice for humanity, Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince assemble a team of metahumans to face the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf and the Parademons who are on the hunt for three Mother Boxes on Earth.”

I know I will at least like this movie. As I’ve already said, I really loved ‘Man of Steel’, and ‘Dawn of Justice’ did what it needed for me on a personal level. If ‘Justice League’ at the very least doesn’t have 4 plots and just focuses on the team assembling with Superman returning as a subplot, this should turn out to be a fairly competent movie.

I just hope Zack Snyder doesn’t over-complicate things like he did with BvS. Just make it simple, and make it fun. There’s a whole future ahead for these characters, there was never really any need to rush this. But… it’s what we’re getting.

If ‘Wonder Woman’ under-performs, so will this. If ‘Wonder Woman’ is a big success, this will at least be another fair success. At least enough for WB/DC to keep going.

With all of this stuff out of the way though, I am really looking forward to seeing this. It’s just hard to be enthusiastic about it when the DC movies make me so nervous.

If all else fails, I’m happy this movie will at least provide an ending to Superman’s arc that began in 2013. ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Dawn of Justice, and ‘Justice League’ will really be trilogy about Superman: his impact on the world, and him being the central figure in the formation of the Justice League. Jor-El’s line to Superman in ‘Man of Steel’ will provide a lot of meaning in Zack Snyder’s trilogy:

“They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun, Kal. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.”

But seriously- I feel like I’m not asking much for these movies to be good. If ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Justice League’ are good, my faith in DC’s future will be totally restored.

Release date: November 17th, 2017

Logan

“A weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hide out on the Mexican border. His attempts to hide from the world and his legacy, however, are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.”

I really love the X-Men films. They’ve had their highs, and they’ve had their lows. Wolverine’s first solo outing I completely ignore, but I enjoyed 2013’s ‘The Wolverine’ and I either enjoy or straight up love each of the mainline X-Men movies.

It all began began in 2000, and the series has always had its focus on Xavier, Magneto, and Logan. Some may argue that’s why the series is weak. There are other characters to focus on. While I agree, and hope that future movies put a nice focus on characters like Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, etc… I am still so very happy that the chemistry between Charles Xavier and Logan were always the shining aspects for most of these movies. We can leave it for the future movies to be a little more “comic-accurate”. For right now, we get to see Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart’s version of Xavier make their final bow.

Hugh Jackman will always be Wolverine to me. He’s become one of my favorite cinematic characters of all time. While I’m sad that this will be his final movie, I can’t wait to see this. It looks visceral. It looks bloody. It looks like the Wolverine movie we deserve for Hugh’s last go-around.

Release date: March 3rd, 2017

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

“Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.

Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.

While the congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict….”

That’s what the synopsis of this movie will not be.

Release date: December 15th, 2017