The 19 Most Anticipated Movies of 2019!

 Alright! Since The 18 Most Anticipated Movies of 2018 is actually my most viewed blog post ever (33 views), I thought it would be nice to make the "Most Anticipated" thing a yearly tradition! So, without further ado, here are my 19 Most Anticipated Movies of 2019! All I do not plan to see in theaters will be marked by an asterisk. 

Let's begin.

19. Dumbo* - March 29th

The Tim Burton-directed reboot of Dumbo is really, really low on my list of priorities. Sure, the original is a classic, but half of its runtime is literally Dumbo being drunk. Combine that with  Jim the Crow and what exactly do you have left? Baby of Mine? I'm honestly not too excited for a Dumbo remake without any of the Dumbo stuff, with that gap being filled in by Tim Burton's directorial trademarks. 

18. Rocketman* - May 31st

The life of Elton John is a long and interesting one. All I really know about it as I'm writing this is that he sand "I'm Still Standing" and The Lion King soundtrack, both of which I deeply appreciate. I'm not particularly excited for this one, since I don't listen to Elton John much (Unlike Queen). It's also worth noting that this is potentially R-Rated since Elton John's life can't be as sanitized as easily as Bohemian Rhapsody did Freddie Mercury's. 

17 The Angry Birds Movie 2* - August 16th

The Angry Birds Movie was way better than it had any right to be. Like, waaaay better. This sequel seems to be offering more of the same - A finely animated adventure that pleasantly wastes an hour and a half. It's also interesting how this is releasing on Angry Birds' 10th Anniversary. Time flies when you forget what's happening. 

16. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World* -February 22nd

I love the first to How to Train Your Dragon movies with a burning passion, but those are already long titles. Adding The Hidden World is just an acronym's nightmare (HtTYD: THW). But this movie seems epic. The animation looks stellar, the white night fury seems fun, and it's always nice to have a mature story and ending in a kids' flick. The Dragon franchise has never held back before, and I can't wait to see what happens next. 

15. Aladdin* - May 24th

Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney films ever. I'm super pumped for a remake, but this already has two things going against it. One is that Robin Williams died and thus cannot reprise his role as the Genie and two is the whitewashing of the movie via Prince Anders. On the other hand, I think Will Smith will be the movie's saving grace, and I honestly don't care about casting controversies. But all day every day, Robin Williams > Will Smith. That's going to leave a huge hole in the film I'm not sure it can replace, especially with shoddy CGI. 

It's nice to have, but is it necessary? 

14. Men In Black: International* - June 14th

Let's admit it - the first Men In Black is great, the second one isn't, and the third one was redeemable. This new one, MIB: International, is a prequel (?)/spin-off starring Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Liam Neeson, Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Ferguson, and Emma Thompson. That's an impressive comedy ensemble. Hopefully, they don't waste it all on a generic movie. 

13. Toy Story 4 - July 19th

Everyone loves the Toy Story franchise. Everyone. The first three are consistently ranked among the greatest animated films of all time as well as one of the greatest trilogies ever. I'm just not sure if the Toy Story franchise can get it so perfect again. No matter the outcome, at least we'll finally get Keanu Reeves and Key and Peele in a Pixar movie. 

12. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part* - February 8th

The first LEGO Movie took everyone by surprise by not sucking. The second one is directed by Mike Mitchell, who also directed Shrek Forever After, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, the live-action scenes in the Spongebob movie, and, surprisingly, the decent Sky High. Most of those movies sucked big time. Most of them were awful sequels. For a franchise as thoughtful and fun as the LEGO franchise, this does not bode well - especially when the film looks to be a cringy musical to help pad the runtime. 

11. Jumanji: The Next Level - December 13th

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle also took everyone by surprise by being a sequel/reboot to a 90s flick that didn't suck and made $962 million. Literally no one saw it coming! Turns out everyone loves a good action-comedy where the Rock looks up to Kevin Hart (Central Intelligence, anyone?). So, Jumanji: The Next Level comes out next year, but it's still starring the Rock, Kein Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan. This raises the question - If it's a video game, is this just the same movie? I have a feeling seeing a scrawny kid become the Rock is only funny once. 

10. Frozen II - November 22nd

Frozen II was very low on the list of priorities until the first teaser trailer came out. The movie's animation is looking the best it's ever looked, and the sequel looks strangely dark for and YA for a kids' movie. 

But what really confuses me about this is why Frozen of all things gets a sequel. I get that it made $1 billion at the box office and is the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, but there are much better movies like Tangled and Big Hero 6 that still have a ton of stories to tell. Frozen was really self-contained. 

9. The Lion King - July 19th

The Lion King is just about my favorite Disney film of all time. The animation! The songs by Elton John! Ed the Hyena! Now, Ed the Hyena is perhaps the greatest animated character ever created. All he does is laugh infectiously. Any changes made to Ed the Hyena are unneeded, obviously. 

Technically this isn't a "Live-action" film though. Jon Favreau did not drag lions down to a studio in Georgia. It's just the realistic Jungle Book CGI applied to every character in the movie, which might mess it up. Lions can't exactly... emote. 

8. Godzilla: King of the Monsters - May 31st

I really, really liked the first Godzilla. It teased and teased and teased and made us wait for Godzilla to appear, but it was tense fr the entire time. It was saving all the mindless Godzilla noise for a sequel, which, from the trailers, looks like it will hold nothing back. Nothing. In fact, it might be a bit too much. Why is the world ending? How is it ending? And if they throw the world into such chaos in this movie, what will Godzilla and Kong fight over in 2020? 

7. Dark Phoenix - June 7th

The Dark Phoenix Saga - one of the coolest and most iconic comic arcs of all time - has only been used in film once, and the result wasn't pretty. X-Men: The Last Stand utterly butchered the arc and almost killed the X-Men franchise. This new installment is looking very promising. The traditional X-Men comics not only look comfy as all get out, but also look super comic accurate. The big and yellow X is just a classic design. It's also exciting for the X-Men to be recognized as heroes. Maybe we can leave all of the "Everyone hates us" baggage that's been a key factor of the franchise since the X-Men cartoon in the 90s.

6. Captain Marvel - March 8th

I have been waiting for a Captain Marvel movie for about 8 years. I was super pumped about this one, even if I was worried when I saw her punch the old lady (Who is presumably a Skrull). Captain Marvel is one of the most powerful superheroes ever created, with the moral code of Captain America. I loved her depiction in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes as the sassy air force pilot, so I'm hoping some of that personality can translate to the big screen. 

Plus it has Jude Law. Everyone likes Jude Law. The one thing that might ruin the movie is the "The hero is her" crap they put in the trailers. I'm not seeing this movie because it stars a female, I'm seeing this because I love the character. 

5. Artemis Fowl - August 9th

After the utter disappointment that was last year's A Wrinkle In Time and the casting info we've gotten for this movie, this is looking like a The Last Airbender failure of a movie. The books are really clever and have a ton of cinematic appeal, but I don't think Disney will actually be able to make a good original movie without throwing in unneeded genericness and bland CGI. So even though I think it'll be awful, I'm also hoping it'll be so far disconnected from the books to become a halfway decent original movie like Percy Jackson. 

4. Shazam! - April 5th

Now this is the real Captain Marvel movie. Shazam! is about a Superman-like alter-ego of 14-year-old Billy Batson, who can transform into the adult with god-like powers by saying the word "Shazam!"It's shaping out to be Big but a superhero movie, and with a totally dope costume. The costume looks amazing, guys. Everything I would want from a live-action Shazam costume. 

I'm getting Guardians of the Galaxy vibes from this, combined with a horror tinge from the badguy Dr. Sivana. And maybe we'll get a Flash and/or Wonder Woman cameo, because Superman's probably a bit out of this movie's pay grade. 

3. Spider-Man: Far From Home - July 15th

Spider-Man: Far From Home is the sequel to the best live-action Spider-Man movie ever made, Spider-Man: Homecoming. This giant claim obviously discounts Spider-Verse, as it's one of the best movies ever made (But not live-action) and Spider-Man 2 (Which, while an amazing movie, has a pretty bland Spider-Man). Basically I loved the friendly neighborhood vibe of Spider-Man: Homecoming and I hope it continues into this movie, even if I don't think it will since it takes place in Europe. 

But mostly I'm excited for the villain. Jake Gyllenhaal is playing Mysterio, a villain (?) from an alternate dimension. Depending on how the movie plays it, Mr. Gyllenhaal could make Mysterio into the best Spidey villain to date. And, since we don't know how Peter comes back from biting the dust in Infinity War, let's just assume he comes back safely since I don't think even Marvel can sell us on a film where all the main leads are ashes. 

2. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - December 20th

This might be controversial, but after The Last Jedi and Solo I'm just not excited for Star Wars movies like I should be, to the point where I take the epic finale of this 42-year-old story and stick it in #2, underneath the finale of a franchise that's only been here for 10 years. But The Last Jedi threw away so much that The Force Awakens set up that I doubt this'll be anything more than damage control. I don't think J.J. Abrams appreciated having all of his plotlines thrown away (Even if he probably didn't know how to end them). 

Hopefully, we learn answers in this - Who are Rey's parents, like actually? Who was Snoke? What's Lando been up to? How will they handle the death of Carrie Fisher? And what the heck was going on with Luke Skywalker? 

Visually impressive as always, Star Wars.

1. Avengers: Endgame - April 26th

Endgame is perhaps the most hyped movie ever. After the massive cliffhanger of Infinity War, where literally all of my favorite heroes died and I cried, this seems like it will bring back all of them. I have no speculations for this. With Infinity War, I thought so hard about it that I practically guessed the entire plot of the movie (Besides the ending). I'm keeping my thinking on Endgame to a minimum. The trailer revealed nothing except for confusion - Cap in his Winter Soldier suit with Black Widow who's still rocking the white hair, Tony Stark dying, what Thanos has been up to, why Hawkeye is killing people, and how we get Ant-Man out of the quantum realm. 

Also, is the villain still Thanos? Will they somehow travel into the Quantum realm and fight Kang or Annihilus? And what's going to happen? Who will die? Tony? Cap? Natasha? So many questions. April 26th can't come soon enough.