20th Century Fox

What It Is: A long-delayed, extremely elaborate adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s totemic manga series, directed by Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Sin City) and written and produced by James Cameron. Cameron had long wanted to make the film himself, but given his work on the many Avatar sequels, he finally handed the project to Rodriguez, who has rendered it with a mix of real-life actors and epic-looking CGI. Battle Angel follows Alita (Rosa Salazar), a cyborg creation who comes of age in a post-apocalyptic world.

If You Need Convincing: The trailer suggests this will certainly be a unique experience. Alita herself is depicted as a sort of living cartoon, a human-looking girl with gigantic eyes. Though the movie’s many delays (it was originally scheduled to come out last July, then last December, before being pushed to February) suggest a project in turmoil, Rodriguez does have a gift for tackling the most visually improbable subjects.

Marvel Studios

What It Is: The 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first centered on a female superhero. Brie Larson plays Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot who encounters aliens, becomes a galactic secret agent of sorts, and then returns to Earth to save it from an interplanetary war. The entire endeavor is set in the 1990s, which means the return of MCU characters such as Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg).

If You Need Convincing: For those on the MCU train, this will be an essential entry, one that likely feeds into the chaos of the next Avengers movie (Captain Marvel’s appearance was teased in the last film). Even if not, it’s certainly a milestone for the franchise, both because of its hero and the fact that it’s the first entry directed by a woman (Anna Boden, along with her directing partner Ryan Fleck).

Carlo Allegri / Reuters

What It Is: An extremely scary-looking piece of psychological horror written and directed by Jordan Peele, coming just two years after his Oscar-winning sensation, Get Out. The plot is mostly shrouded in mystery, but the trailer sees Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as a married couple with kids who are tormented by haunting mirror versions of themselves brandishing gold scissors.

If You Need Convincing: After the success of Get Out, Peele was offered all kinds of huge-budget projects, including a long-gestating remake of the anime classic Akira. Instead he opted to use his new Hollywood clout to make the rarest of things: an entirely original movie not based on a preexisting property. From its first trailer, Us looks like another visually inventive and genuinely unsettling project from one of the country’s most exciting talents.

Walt Disney Studios

What It Is: The latest in Disney’s ongoing project to remake all its animated classics, this one takes that adorable, big-eared elephant and turns him into the CGI star of a live-action circus. Michael Keaton, Colin Farrell, Eva Green, and Danny DeVito are among the cast.