The 25 Most Anticipated Movies Of 2012

Director: Larry Charles
Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, John C. Reilly, Megan Fox, Kevin Corrigan
Release Date: May 11
Why we’re excited: Two months ago, a simple mention of The Dictator would’ve sparked palpable enthusiasm in us. It’s Sacha Baron Cohen doing another one of his ridiculous and topical characters in a movie directed by the same guy who handled those duties on Borat and Bruno (his name: Larry Charles). Furthermore, the female lead is Anna Faris, Hollywood’s funniest actress in her most promising project in years. What could possibly go wrong?

A whole lot, apparently. Much to our horror, The Dictator’s first trailer premiered in mid-December and fell completely flat, giving off the impression that Baron Cohen’s first original post-Da Ali G Show character is more The Love Guru than Austin Powers. That aforementioned enthusiasm? It’s now slight panic.

Director: Tim Burton
Stars: Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bella Heathcote, Jonny Lee Miller, Jackie Earle Haley, Gulliver McGrath
Release Date: May 11
Why we’re excited: At first glance, Dark Shadows seems like the kind of movie frequent collaborators Tim Burton and Johnny Depp could make in their sleep. Based on the cult classic TV show from the late 1960s, it’s a gothic drama about a vampire, Barnabas Collins (Depp), who returns to the estate where he once lived as a breathing mortal and encounters his still-living, extremely dysfunctional relatives. Set in a castle full of cobwebs and freaky characters, Dark Shadows has Tim Burton’s name written all over it.

For the first time in years, though, we’re actually thrilled to say that. A filmmaker who never leaves his stylistic comfort zone, Burton has become very predictable as of late, taking on obvious properties like Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Alice In Wonderland and doing little to justify his decision to avoid creating original masterworks on the level of Edward Scissorhands.

Dark Shadows, on the other hand, is full of promise. Maybe it’s the magnificent cast surrounding Depp, namely a seemingly resurrected Michelle Pfeiffer, Jackie Earle Haley, and young Chloë Grace Moretz. Or perhaps it’s the fact that Dark Shadows has the potential to add something interesting to pop culture’s current obsession with all things vampire. Whatever the case, it’s the first live-action Johnny Depp film we’ve given a fuck about since 2009’s Public Enemies.

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Stars: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare, Zoe Bell, Derek Mears
Release Date: To be determined
Why we’re excited: Other than Snow White movies, historical monster hunters are suddenly all the rage in Tinsel Town. In this corner, we’ve got Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters, a self-explanatory horror-comedy starring Jeremy Renner alongside the beautiful and talented British actress Gemma Arterton; in the opposing corner, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, an equally self-explanatory romp from director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and producer Tim Burton.

Our interests rest primarily with Hansel And Gretel, for a few key reasons. One, Steven Spielberg’s biopic Lincoln takes the cake for Honest Abe (three words: Daniel. Day. Lewis.); secondly, again, Gemma Arterton is a stunner. Most importantly, though, its director, Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola, proved that he’s skilled in the art of shooting playful yet gruesome action with his Nazi zombie horror-comedy Dead Snow (2009).

Director: Chris Butler and Sam Fell
Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Anna Kendrick, Leslie Mann, Casey Affleck, John Goodman, Jeff Garlin
Release Date: August 17
Why we’re excited: Looking ahead at 2012’s animated film line-up, it’s primed to be a good year for Dr. Seuss loyalists and pre-teen girls. For the former group, The Lorax should give them much joy, though the fact that its two leading voice talents are Zac Efron and Taylor Swift has the reverse effect on us; as for little women, Disney and Pixar’s Brave is easily the most anticipated, with its young female protagonist (an archer voiced by Boardwalk Empire’s Kelly Macdonald).

Yet, folks such as ourselves—meaning, sickos who’d put Hobo With A Shotgun on the same best-of list as The Descendants—have Focus Features’ ParaNorman to look forward to. It’s about a lonely suburban kid (Let Me In’s Kodi Smit-McPhee) whose abilities to chat with dead people makes him the only one capable of saving the day when zombies, werewolves, apparitions, and witches invade his town. In other words, every 10-year-old, monster-movie-obsessed little boy’s dream come true. Sign us up.

Director: Tony Gilroy
Stars: Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz, Joan Allen, Oscar Isaac, Scott Glenn, Corey Stoll
Release Date: August 3
Why we’re excited: To the grade-A action franchise’s most adamant fans, making another Bourne installment without leading man Matt Damon must sound like infuriating blasphemy. Though directors Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum) heavily impressed behind their respective cameras, the main attraction in all three films has been Damon, with his superb acting and brutally authentic fight skills. You’d think that a Bourne movie sans him would be as ridiculous as Rambo Reborn starring Taylor Lautner.

The Bourne Legacy, however, seems deserving of optimism. For one, its director is Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), who's been a credited Bourne screenwriter on all three entries. Consistency aside, they’ve given the series’ entitlement, and new non-Jason-Bourne protagonist role, to new star Jeremy Renner, a terrific actor who’s just now finding himself on Hollywood’s A-list after years of stellar co-starring performances. And as if that’s not enough, the perennially under-employed Edward Norton is also involved, reportedly as The Bourne Legacy’s chief antagonist. Be thankful, Bourne enthusiasts: It could’ve been a lot worse.

Director: Marc Webb
Stars: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Embeth Davidtz, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, C. Thomas Howell, Irrfan Khan, Amber Stevens, Chris Zylka
Release Date: July 3
Why we’re excited: Does the world really need another cinematic interpretation of the Spider-Man saga? As far as we can tell, Sam Raimi’s trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, did a rather fine job of giving Marvel Comics’ wall-crawling superhero a proper movie platform—and, yes, we’re including the problematic Spider-Man 3 in that assessment.

When it was announced that Raimi had fallen back from directing any more Spidey flicks, due to behind-the-scenes drama, naturally our reaction was one of pessimistic dread. That is, before Marc Webb, director of the excellent rom-com (500) Days Of Summer, was revealed as the reboot’s overseer and top-billed duo Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Emma Stone (Easy A) stepped in as the film’s stars. We’re also not mad at the decision to give popular Spider-Man villain The Lizard (played here by Rhys Ifans) his long-overdue movie debut. Anything is better than Topher Grace’s Venom.

Director: Gareth Evans
Stars: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy, Doni Alamsyah, Joe Taslim
Release Date: To be determined
Why we’re excited: What sounds like the coolest video game never made could very well end up being 2012’s best action movie. After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, The Raid, written and directed by Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans, quickly became the talk of the online film community; kicking the shit out of everyone who caught it, Evans’ crowd-pleaser ignited a bidding war that was ultimately won by Sony Pictures.

And it’s easy to see what all the fuss is about from the film’s insane trailer, an in-your-face assault of stylized gunplay, kung fu movie fight choreography, and breathless energy. The plot is as lean as they come: A team of heavily armed officers get trapped on one floor of a decrepit, Indonesian apartment building that’s overrun by pissed-off, psychotic criminals. Word has it that once The Raid’s brutal, visceral action starts, it never lets up; we’re just hoping that it doesn’t become this year’s Attack The Block, a fierce, foreign action flick that goes from festival acclaim to a limited, under-seen theatrical run.

Director: Gary Ross
Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Donald Sutherland, Isabelle Fuhrman, Toby Jones, Lenny Kravitz
Release Date: March 23
Why we’re excited: Heed the warning now, un-savvy readers: The Hunger Games is about to become pop culture’s new Twilight. Meaning, everyone from your girlfriend to your mother will soon swoon over young actors Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, and every girl in the world will wish that she was Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence). And rags the likes of Entertainment Weekly will dedicate countless covers to it. And you’ll most likely cringe at all of the overexposure.

You know what, though? We’re actually cool with that. First, there’s the vicious subject matter, taken directly from author Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novel and centering on a televised event in which innocent teenagers kill each other for sport. Mainly, the optimism toward The Hunger Games revolves around its talented cast of young leads, who’ve all given top-notch performances in past movies (Lawrence, in fact, is an Academy Award nominee) and should out-act Twilight’s lifeless trio within the flick’s opening minutes.

Director: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Stars: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Dave Franco, Jake M. Johnson, Brie Larson, Ellie Kemper, Johnny Simmons, Rob Riggle, Dakota Johnson, DeRay Davis
Release Date: March 16
Why we’re excited: Fans of the popular, Johnny-Depp-starring ’80s cop show 21 Jump Street should take note: This all-out comedy reboot, spearheaded by Jonah Hill and co-writer Michael Bacall (the screenwriter of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World), bears little to no resemblance to the old TV series. Sure, the concepts are the same, with each incarnation focusing on older cops who go undercover inside a high school, but the tones appear to be totally different. At least that’s the vibe given off by 21 Jump Street’s trailer, which exhibits a Superbad by way of Bad Boys spirit.

Not that we’re complaining. Coming off of the unbelievably bad flop The Sitter, Hill’s comedic side (briefly curbed for Moneyball), needs a shot of vitality, and 21 Jump Street seems like the right move for him. The same goes for Channing Tatum, a pretty boy actor who’s actively trying to break free of his vapid pin-up reputation.

Director: Rupert Sanders
Stars: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Sam Claflin, Ian McShane, Toby Jones, Nick Frost, Ray Winstone, Bob Hoskins, Eddie Marsan, Lily Cole
Release Date: June 1
Why we’re excited: Look, we hate on Twilight here as much as the next red-blooded men’s brand, but the truth is that we like Kristen Stewart—quite a bit, actually. And it pains us to watch her blandly work her way through those lame vampire movies, knowing that, in real life, she’s far quirkier and more interesting than the fictional Bella Swan. She’s also a dynamite actress whenever she wants to be, like in the severely underrated Adventureland.

Thus, we’re stoked to see her headlining a project as cool as Snow White & The Huntsman. The more promising of 2012’s two Snow White movies (the other being Tarsem Singh’s laughably awful-looking Mirror Mirror), director Rupert Sanders’ dark, edgy fairy tale adventure features Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as a bounty hunter who’s hired by the Evil Queen (Charlize Theron, an automatic plus) to capture Miss White (Stewart), but who ultimately teaches her how to become a warrior and take the Queen down. One glimpse of Stewart in her armor suit, with sword in hand, and you might just have a new fetish to hide from loved ones.

Director: Rian Johnson
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Piper Perabo, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels, Garrett Dillahunt, Tracie Thoms, Noah Segan
Release Date: September 28
Why we’re excited: First making a name for himself with 2006’s inventive modern-day noir Brick, independent writer-director Rian Johnson has remained unpredictable in the years since. His second feature, The Brothers Bloom, was a twisty, light-hearted and romantic romp with Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody, while “Fly,” the episode of AMC’s Breaking Bad that Johnson directed, was one of the show’s best Season Three hours. Yet nothing he’s done before operated on a scope as high as Looper, his upcoming science fiction movie that sounds like something ripped directly from the mind of the late, great Philip K. Dick.

In what’s said to be a trippy, dark, and super-violent thriller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as hitman living in a future where his victims are sent to him from the future; one of his targets, it turns out, is the future version of himself (played by Bruce Willis). Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an action hero? Hell yeah.

Director: Marc Forster
Stars: Brad Pitt, Mirielle Enos, James Badge Dale, Eric West, Matthew Fox, David Morse
Release Date: December 21
Why we’re excited: Unlike every other film on this list not titled The Dictator, World War Z is one we’re eagerly anticipating with more curious skepticism than full-on giddiness. If you’ve been smart enough to read Max Brooks’ incredible 2006 novel of the same name, you’d know why. Written as an exhaustive and multi-storyline oral history of an undead apocalypse, World War Z is one of those grandiose, dense, and endlessly riveting books that demands a TV miniseries, at the least—how in George A. Romero’s name could anyone successfully condense it into a two-hour movie?

Especially director Marc Forster, the guy responsible for the disappointing action flicks Quantum Of Solace (2008) and Machine Gun Preacher (2011). Two silver linings that do give us some hope about World War Z the movie: The screenplay was co-written by J. Michael Straczynski (creator of Babylon 5 and long-time scribe for the comic The Amazing Spider-Man), and its star is Brad Pitt, who hasn’t anchored a bad movie since…well, ever. Fuck, though—a two-hour (or even three-hour) movie version of World War Z? Are we looking at 2012’s biggest must-watch trainwreck?

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Peña, Josh Pence, Anthony Mackie, Mirielle Enos, Robert Patrick, Holt McCallany
Release Date: October 19
Why we’re excited: Imagine you’re a Warner Bros. big-wig for a second: You’ve got a highly prestigious, Oscar-baiting period drama on your slate, stars like Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, and Ryan Gosling attached as leads, and directors such as Darren Aronofsky interested in taking the reins. So who do you give the shotcaller job to? The guy who directed the screwball comedies Zombieland and 30 Minutes Or Less, of course.

Wait, what? Zombieland is the shit, but 30 Minutes Or Less, released last summer to minimal fanfare, was a massive disappointment; thus, filmmaker Ruben Fleischer isn’t the first name we’d like to see behind Gangster Squad, a wicked-sounding crime flick about Los Angeles detectives (Brolin and Gosling) busting guns in order to stop mobsters (led by Penn) from invading their city in the 1940s and ’50s. But, again, it’s Ryan Gosling versus Sean Penn, not to mention the presence of the always killer Emma Stone as a noir-inspired “femme fatale.” That’s more than enough for us to give Mr. Fleischer another chance to prove that Zombieland was no fluke.

Director: Drew Goddard
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Jesse Williams, Fran Kranz, Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchison, Brian White, Amy Acker
Release Date: April 13
Why we’re excited: For nearly three years now, horror know-it-alls have been scratching their heads while wondering, “Just what in the hell is The Cabin In The Woods?” Completed way back in 2009, the directorial debut of Lost writer Drew Goddard (who also wrote Cloverfield’s screenplay) was billed as a clever subversion of the genre’s many overused tropes, particularly the old teenagers-die-while-shacking-up-in-an-isolated-cabin set-up (see: The Evil Dead, Cabin Fever). And with Joss Whedon’s name attached as a co-writer, the enigmatic The Cabin In The Woods quickly shot to the top of genre heads’ wish-lists.

But then, with no release date in sight (still), Metro Goldwyn-Mayer, the film’s backing company, filed for bankruptcy in late 2010. At that point, no one knew when we’d ever see The Cabin In The Woods. So imagine our delight that not only is the long-under-speculation flick ready for a release, but it’s also earning rave reviews from critics who’ve been lucky enough to see it already. Could this be 2012’s horror knockout?

Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Release Date: November 21
Why we’re excited: Nothing against Sandra Bullock… OK, she in no way deserved that Oscar for The Blind Side—there, we said it. Now that we’ve gotten that off our chest, let it be known that we think she’s a gifted actress, but would she be our first choice to star in a supposedly one-woman-show flick about an astronaut who’s trapped inside a space station after a satellite crashes into it? Definitely not.

Still, we’re more than willing to give Gravity a full-hearted benefit of the doubt for one reason, and one reason only: director Alfonso Cuarón, the genius behind Y Tu Mamá También and Children Of Men. Co-written with his son, Jonas Cuarón, and TV veteran Rodrigo García (Six Feet Under, Carnivale), Gravity is Daddy Cuarón’s first directorial effort in six years; if it’s anywhere near as phenomenal as 2006’s Children Of Men, we’ll totally forgive Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. Screw it, maybe even All About Steve, too.

Director: Ben Affleck
Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Kyle Chandler, Taylor Schilling, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Rory Cochrane, Adrienne Barbeau, Richard Kind, Titus Welliver, Michael Parks
Release Date: September 14
Why we’re excited: Back when moviegoers first wanted to gouge their eyeballs out with rusty forks while watching crap-fests like Daredevil, Gigli, or Surviving Christmas, there’s not a chance in hell that any of them ever said, “You know, Ben Affleck has the potential to be the next Clint Eastwood.” Yet, that’s precisely what the man has evolved into: a masterful actor-director with a strong knack for telling grown-up character studies about dark, troubled characters.

Just on the strength of his previous two films as a director, Gone Baby Gone and The Town, any project that Affleck opts to oversee should instantly provoke excited interest; Argo, to its credit, also has a real whopper of a plot. Based on actual events, it’s about a complicated rescue mission, centered around fake identities and a film crew cover, designed to free six United States diplomats held captive during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis—hence those sweet ’70s duds you see Affleck and co-star Alan Arkin rocking in the above photo. Sorry, lovers of awful cinema, Benny Boy isn’t playing around anymore.

Director: Adam Wingard
Stars: Sharni Vinson, Ti West, Rob Moran, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton, Wendy Glenn, Amy Seimetz, AJ Bowen, Margaret Laney
Release Date: To be determined
Why we’re excited: Every year, the various genre-heavy film festivals held across the world unveil the next big things in horror; in recent years, movies such as The Human Centipede, Inside, and Martyrs came out of nowhere to send horror critics into frantic tizzies, leading to months’ worth of hype and built-up fan anticipation. In 2011, the movie that had that kind of festival premiere impact was You’re Next, and it sounds like a real winner.

Combining dark humor, home invasion intensity, and elaborate slasher movie gore, independent filmmaker Adam Wingard’s buzzing flick has bloggers and horror’s talking heads tossing out hyperbole to the tune of “it’s the new Scream!”

Whether it’s as revolutionary as Wes Craven’s tongue-in-cheek 1996 smash or not, though, shouldn’t be of anyone’s concern—You’re Next sounds like a blast. Just take a look at those slick feline masks that the killers wear in various promotional images, which bring to mind The Strangers, in the best possible way. Or get a hard-on for gorgeous leading lady Sharni Vinson, who, according to critics, is primed for “iconic final girl in a horror movie” status. She’s already 10 times sexier than Neve Campbell.

Director: Nicholas Stoller
Stars: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Kevin Hart, Rhys Ifans, Chris Parnell, Mindy Kaling, Dakota Johnson, Jacki Weaver
Release Date: April 27
Why we’re excited: The last time that Jason Segel starred in a romantic comedy directed by his good friend Nicholas Stoller, the result was 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which holds up as one of the best comedies of the 2000s. So, naturally, anyone with a sense of humor should be anxious for the duo’s next collaboration, but what makes The Five-Year Engagement so worthy of impatience is its ace supporting cast.

Co-starring as Segel’s long-suffering fiancée is British stunner Emily Blunt, a highly respected dramatic scene-stealer who also happens to be an underrated master of comedic timing (give The Devil Wears Prada a watch for evidence); in smaller roles, NBC Thursday night standouts Alison Brie (Community) and Mindy Kaling (The Office will finally get the prolific big-screen looks that they deserve.

When it comes to the actor we’re hoping breaks out a la Russell Brand in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, though, it’s Chris Pratt, the Parks And Recreation M.V.P. who, aside from the recent Moneyball, hasn’t been able to step beyond underwhelming, minor comedy flicks. Which, by the looks of it, The Five-Year Engagement is not.

Director: Joss Whedon
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Clark Gregg, Amanda Righetti
Release Date: May 4
Why we’re excited: It’s the epic superhero smackdown that comic book fans never thought would actually happen. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Loki, and Hawkeye, all on screen together? For the love of Stan Lee!

And for that, The Avengers will no doubt also be the subject of endless scrutiny and fan-boy dissection. So it’s a huge plus that Marvel Comics’ film branch has writer-director Joss Whedon at the helm of the company’s biggest movie to date; the mind behind such nerd treasures as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly, Whedon has withstood TV show cancellations, critical beat-downs, and after-the-fact praise—he should be as well-prepared for passionate Avengers reactions as anyone. Let’s just hope that fans don’t want to Hulk-smash his face in.

Director: Judd Apatow
Stars: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd, John Lithgow, Melissa McCarthy, Albert Brooks, Megan Fox, Lena Dunham, Ryan Lee, Charlyne Yi
Release Date: December 21
Why we’re excited: Everyone knows Knocked Up as the movie that turned Seth Rogen into a bankable movie star, and rightfully so—he’s funny as all hell in it. But one viewing of writer-director/comedy game-changer Judd Apatow’s second feature film (following The 40 Year Old Virgin) is all it takes for one to acknowledge the film’s two funniest characters: the unhappily married couple played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann (a.k.a. Mrs. Judd Apatow).

In This Is 40, Apatow’s much welcomed Knocked Up spinoff, Rudd and Mann reprise their original roles, giving the husband-and-wife team’s domestic woes more breathing room than mere intervals between Rogen’s romances with Katherine Heigl. As long as there’s another fantasy baseball draft scene (“We’ve got Matsui!”), we’re all for it. It doesn’t hurt, either, that Albert Brooks will play Rudd’s father, or that Megan Fox will sex it up as, reportedly, a temptress intent on making Rudd cheat. Or that Jason Segel and other familiar faces from Knocked Up will show up for brief cameos.

Director: Peter Jackson
Stars: Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Evangeline Lilly, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Lee Pace, Ian Holm
Release Date: December 14
Why we’re excited: It’s been a very long, strange, and problematic road for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first in the director's two-part series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s initial Middle Earth novel.

The saga begins, of course, with the award-winning and box office smashing triumphs of Jackson’s three The Lord Of The Rings movies, which solidified the previously horror-savvy filmmaker as the fantasy genre’s new titan. Soon after the final part of the trilogy, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King, hit theaters to widespread acclaim in 2003, speculation began on whether he’d make the official Hobbit prequel; at one time, Jackson was only set to produce, having called upon Guillermo del Toro to the direct the pair of surefire blockbusters. Extensive delays and financial issues with distribution company Metro-Goldwyn Mayer led to del Toro’s departure, though, prompting Jackson to step back into the big-man’s chair.

Based on the trailer, released two weeks back, all of The Hobbit’s production drama hasn’t seemed to knock Jackson’s hustle in any way; with Martin Freeman cast as Bilbo Baggins, and Lord Of The Rings regulars Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, and Ian McKellen all back in action, it feels like we’ve never left the Shire.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Jared Harris, Sally Field, Walton Goggins, John Hawkes, David Strathairn, Lee Pace, Jackie Earle Haley, James Spader, Hal Holbrook
Release Date: December
Why we’re excited: If you’re an actor with Academy Award hopes and a prestigious movie coming out in 2012, you might as well give up all hope right now—they’re already typing up the envelope with Daniel Day-Lewis’ name in it. Well, they should be doing so, if only to save themselves time and energy.

As if his reputation for intensive method acting and towering performances in movies like Gangs Of New York and There Will Be Blood aren’t reason enough to understand what we mean, the recently leaked images of Day-Lewis in his full Abraham Lincoln mode should confirm that he’s going all out for Steven Spielberg’s biopic, focusing on our sixteenth president’s efforts to end the Civil War. Matching Hollywood’s greatest working actor with one of history’s most fascinating individuals and time-periods, Lincoln is as esteemed as movies can get.

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kerry Washington, Kurt Russell, James Remar, Don Johnson, Anthony LaPaglia
Release Date: December 25
Why we’re excited: Quentin Tarantino clearly sees something in Leonardo DiCaprio that no one else in Hollywood does: a villain. Back when he was shooting for the stars in his Inglourious Basterds casting process, Tarantino, according to reports, was going after DiCaprio to play the film’s antagonist, Hans Landa, the sophisticated and charismatic Nazi played by Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz. And now that he’s ready to put slavery under his Spaghetti Western lens with Django Unchained, the genre-obsessed filmmaker finally got his wish to work with DiCaprio, who, get this, is set to play a sadistic slave owner who owns a plantation known as Candyland, where slaves fight in death matches and perform sexual favors.

Not exactly the most obvious casting, but, then again, when does Tarantino ever take the expected route? Here’s the same guy who’s also called upon Sacha Baron Cohen for an as-yet-unknown role and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to play an Aussie. At the center of it all will be Jamie Foxx, taking on the title character of Django, a freed slave hell-bent on killing DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie and rescuing his shackled-up, and often topless, wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). If none of this has you the least bit intrigued, we can’t do anything for you.

Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Patrick Wilson, Rafe Spall, Kate Dickie
Release Date: June 8
Why we’re excited: Science fiction cinema has sorely missed Ridley Scott. It’s been 30 years since the legendary English director has contributed to the genre, and in the meantime he’s helmed cinematic showstoppers like Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and American Gangster. But hardcore sci-fi fiends have been longing for the day when Scott would return to the universe he blessed with the brilliant and terrifying Alien (1979) and dystopian masterpiece Blade Runner (1982).

Well, geeks, that day has finally come, and it’s looking every bit as amazing as we’d all hoped. With loose connections to Scott’s Alien world and mythology, Prometheus (co-written by Lost mastermind Damon Lindelof) packs a supreme cast (including Swedish breakout Noomi Rapace, 2011’s it-man Michael Fassbender, and Charlize Theron) and a mysterious plot that has the lofty tease of exploring “the origins of humanity” amidst some kind of extra-terrestrial malevolence.

Or so we think. Frankly, no one knows much about Prometheus other than what’s seen in its impressive first trailer and Fassbender’s role as a Blade Runner-inspired android. But who are we kidding: They had us, like millions of others, at “Ridley Scott” and “back on his Alien shit”—that last part is paraphrased. Obviously.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Modine, Morgan Freeman, Juno Temple, Josh Pence
Release Date: July 20
Why we’re excited: Was there ever any uncertainty as to what would top this list? At the risk of predictability and conformity, we’ll come right out and say it: If it would allow us to see The Dark Knight Rises tomorrow, rather than having to wait another seven months, we’d run around in the middle of Times Square wearing nothing but Batman masks and black capes.

Does it still suck knowing that we’ll never get another chance to watch Heath Ledger dominate as The Joker? Absolutely, but everything about The Dark Knight Rises' pre-release hype machine thus far, namely the recently released trailer, promises tons of compensation. Reportedly set eight years after the events seen in 2008’s financial juggernaut The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan’s third and final Caped Crusader blockbuster appears to be the series’ darkest chapter, with Bane (Tom Hardy, looking monstrous) leading an uprising of convicts, deviants, and sociopaths (which, per the trailer, seems to include Catwoman, played by Anne Hathaway) in the streets of Gotham.

Both Nolan and Christian Bale have made it clear that The Dark Knight Rises will be their final Bat-film as director and star, respectively. And you know what that means: This could very well be our last chance to see a great movie based on DC Comics’ iconic character before Robert Pattinson gets cast as Bruce Wayne in a youth-minded reboot. In this case, parting won’t only be equivalent to sweet sorrow—barring any unimaginable disasters, it’ll surely be badass euphoria.