1982 was a legendary year for fanboy movies. That’s when we got Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, E.T., The Dark Crystal, Tron, The Thing, Poltergeist, Conan the Barbarian, and Rocky III. That was thirty years ago, but now 2012 is beginning to look like it may just be the first year to come close to matching that awesome twelve months of movie history. Could 2012 be a new generation’s 1982? Here are ten reasons why it may:
John Carter
The more I see John Carter, the more it becomes hard to fathom how it wasn’t a bigger Star Wars-sized hit. Andrew Stanton took the hundred-year-old story that was the origin for everything geeks love and made a rousing epic out of it that, when it ends, makes you long for the sequel movies we’ll never see. When 2012 is done, John Carter will still remain in the top five movies of the year for us.
The Avengers
Simply the best superhero movie ever made. All non-Marvel Studios superhero movies look boring in comparison, and yes that even means Batman. Joss Whedon took comic book movies to a whole new level with The Avengers and it completely raised the bar to a level that other movies in 2012 may not be able to reach.
Prometheus
Despite the filmmakers trying to distance the movie from the “Prequel” moniker, it’s definitely a prequel to the Alien series. You see that first face hugger, and the first xenomorph and if you pay attention to the Lost-eque mysterious writing you know exactly what the Aliens were and what they were intended for. But more than that, Prometheus worked as its own tense scifi movies that played with big ideas. I would love to see a sequel where Shaw finds the home world of the Space Jockeys.
The Hobbit
On the tenth anniversary of The Two Towers, Peter Jackson and gang are taking us back to Middle-Earth and I’m counting the days. Bringing back the same team that made The Lord of the Rings ensures that we’ll at least have the quality up there, and the pedigree that the previous trilogy brings means that this is going to be one of the biggest releases of the year with a lot to live up to.
