M3GAN 2.0 (July 27)
The delightful Chucky TV series may have met its end, but we’re not done with killer dolls just yet. The TikTok era’s answer to Talking Tina is back in M3GAN 2.0, along with all of the same cast and creatives. Gerard Johnstone directs and Akela Cooper writes this sci-fi horror about the titular overprotective AI doll (voiced by Jenna Davis and performed by Amie Donald), who terrorizes her creator Gemma (Allison Williams) and young girl (Violet McGraw). But the most exciting part may be seeing what viral marketing ideas Blumhouse has this time around.
Jurassic World Rebirth (July 2)
Wait… they’re rebuilding Jurassic Park again?! If only some movie existed to warn people against putting profits over good sense. Then again, given that the last entry in the franchise, Jurassic World: Dominion, decided that big bugs would be better than dinosaurs to bring the original cast back, maybe we want Universal to give it another go.
Given that Gareth Edwards of Godzilla and Rogue One fame steps in, we’ll likely have plenty of dino action in Jurassic World Rebirth. The plot involves a group of scientists led by Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali’s black ops expert, who search a dino reserve for a medical cure. This in turn will surely invite some conversation about humanity’s hubris and chaos, and other ideas Universal will ignore when the box office receipts come in.
Mercy (August 15)
In Mercy, Chris Pratt plays a detective charged of a crime he did not commit. No, that doesn’t sound terribly interesting, nor does it sound like sci-fi. But given that Mercy comes from director Timur Bekmambetov, a simple plot leaves more room for over-the-top action set-pieces. As he did in Wanted and Night Watch, Bekmambetov will surely fill the screen with eye-popping sequences. Moreover, Mercy takes place in a near-future, which means that there will be plenty of nifty gadgets and frightening surveillance equipment to add some oomph to the proceedings, as will co-stars Rebecca Ferguson and Annabelle Wallis.
The Bride! (September 26)
How do you improve on perfection? That’s the question facing veteran actor Maggie Gyllenhaal, who chose for her sophomore directorial effort a remake of Bride of Frankenstein. Her answer, it seems, is to veer as far as possible from the source material. Gyllenhaal sets The Bride! in 1930s Chicago where a murdered woman (Jessie Buckley) is resurrected as a mate for Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale). According to early synopses, the Bride will lead a woman’s movement in the Windy City, but if the stylish production photos are any indication, the movie’s tongue will be in its cheek enough to promise some zaniness to accompany its political relevance.
Tron: Ares (October 10)
Yes, it’s been a long time since 2010’s Tron: Legacy, but not as long as it had been between that film and the original Tron from 1982. Still, Tron: Ares has been mired in production for several years now, as the movie went through several creatives before landing on director Joachim Rønning, who most recently made The Young Woman and the Sea. Throughout the process, Jared Leto has remained a consistent in the project. Leto plays Ares, a program who reverses the usual Tron plot and enters the human world on a secret mission. Although Daft Punk will not be on hand to score Ares’s adventure, they have an able replacement in Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails.