This week, Neil Calloway predicts some events from this year in film…
Nothing is certain in Hollywood; films that everyone is convinced are going to be huge hits flop, films come out of nowhere to be successful, no actor is a guarantee of success at the box office anymore, but here are some things that will definitely happen in cinema in 2016:
A film will get nominated for a sack load of Oscars and will win none (or only one). Happens all the time, and in ten years everyone will realise it was a better film than the film that beat it. Today, nobody would pick Titanic over LA Confidential, As Good As It Gets, The Full Monty or Good Will Hunting, but it beat them all to the Best Picture Oscar in 1998.
Captain America: Civil War will break records at the box office. It might not become the biggest film ever, but it will break some record; be it the biggest opening for a Marvel movie, the biggest May opening for a movie starring Chris Evans, or something. All must have prizes, and every big film must have its own box office record. In 2015, Furious 7, Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Star Wars: The Force Awakens all broke one box office record or another.
People will complain about some plot point, or how somebody has been cast in Rogue One. Most people will ignore this and go to see the movie anyway. Some idiots got themselves in a fuss over the casting of a guy from Peckham as a Stormtrooper in The Force Awakens, and called for a boycott of the film, which did as much damage to its box office as a Stormtrooper’s blaster does to member of the Rebellion.
People will moan that cinemas are full or remakes, reboots, sequels, and there are not original films anymore. Most people will ignore this and go and see the remakes, reboots and sequels anyway.
The film you’ve been looking forward to since you first heard about it going into production will disappoint you. Come on, you know either Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Ghostbusters reboot, Independence Day: Resurgence or Zoolander No. 2 will be rubbish. Just remember how much you were looking forward to Prometheus, and what you think of it now.
The film you only saw because you had nothing better to do and your friend/significant other/parole officer wanted to see it will end up as one of your favourites of the year.
Knight of Cups, the new Terrence Malick film, will make headlines when people walk out of it, and make headlines when a respected critic calls it one of the best films ever made. An actor will complain about being cut out of it. Most people will ignore this and not see the film anyway.
Somehow, the candidates in the US Presidential election will complain that a film is propaganda for their rival. The Michael Bay film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi will be mentioned many times. Some actor will lose credibility for getting involved in the campaign and showing their ignorance of politics. Most people will ignore this and go and see their films anyway.
In short, 2016 will look like every other year in cinema. Records will be broken, great films will be released, and very bad films will come out too. I’m looking forward to it.
Neil Calloway is a pub quiz extraordinaire and Top Gun obsessive. Check back here every Sunday for future instalments.
Originally published January 3, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
