In the age of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Disney live-action remakes, this should come as no surprise: Many of 2019’s most anticipated films are based on existing stories.
On Dec. 18, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) released its most anticipated movies of 2019 based on searches on the website.
Two of the 10 most-searched movies are unattached to other movies: Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (July 26), centered around the Manson murders, and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, an organized crime biopic about Frank Sheeran, who claims to have killed Jimmy Hoffa.
The rest of the top 10 are mostly comic book adaptations -- Marvel has two blockbusters coming out: Avengers: Endgame (April 26) and Captain Marvel (March 8).
Others on the list include X-Men’s Dark Phoenix (June 7), a Hellboy reboot (April 12) and a Jared Leto-less Joker (Oct. 4). Then there’s Glass (Jan. 18), M. Night Shyamalan’s Split-Unbreakable mashup, and IT: Chapter Two (Sept. 6). Disney’s live-action Aladdin (May 24) rounds out the list.
Somehow not included in the most-searched list is Star Wars: Episode IX (Dec. 20), which is all but guaranteed to outsell even the Marvel movies that top the list.
Two other Disney live-action films are also coming out in 2019: Dumbo (March 29) and The Lion King (July 19). In the animated realm, Pixar is premiering Toy Story 4 (June 21), and Disney is coming out with Frozen 2 (Nov. 22). And Marvel won’t be done after Captain and Avengers – Spider-Man: Far From Home is hitting theaters July 5.
Well-known directors Richard Linklater (Where’d You Go, Bernadette), Ang Lee (Gemini Man) and Jordan Peele (Us) have films coming out in 2019, too.
The Fast and Furious franchise gets a spin-off with Hobbs and Shaw (July 26), and remakes of Shaft (June 14), Charlie’s Angels (Nov. 1) and The Grudge (June 21) are slated for release.
Smaller films that will premiere at film festivals throughout 2019 have not yet been announced in many cases, but if you’re interested in the big-box movies, there’s already plenty to choose from.
