It's going to be a long 2012, with a boatload of sequels, reboots, remakes, licensed stories, and re-imagined films. There'll be an original idea or two, but those'll be few and far between, thank god! We wouldn't want to have to deal with films that might be unique or challenging or interesting, now would we.
Anyway, all sarcasm aside, there's going to be some big-ass movies coming up next year, and I thought I'd take a second to remind you of 30 or so of the biggest of the big. This isn't an exhaustive list, and I'm sure I'm missing a few movies that some of you are actively looking forward to, but still: the following are 30 movies you're guaranteed to hear a lot about in the next year of Screened's coverage.
I'm curious to hear what movies you guys are actually looking forward to in 2012, to help us know what to emphasize, so I'm going to make this into a bit of a poll. Pick three movies on the list below (or write in other movies that I might've left off) and rank them according to your first, second, and third most-anticipated films. Leave that list in the comments below, and we'll tally them up over the next few days and report back everything that gets more than two or three votes. Will the winner be The Dark Knight Rises? Will it be The Avengers? Will it be The Three Stooges? It's up to you!
From the comments, I'll pick a random winner to receive a movie poster of your choice from Screened's selection of hundreds of posters from the early 2000's. I'll also throw in a bunch of Screened stickers, for the hell of it. Put a comment in the comment box with the top three films you're looking forward to and you might get a nice little Christmas present! Feel free to say anything else you like, but try to make sure your three choices are in list form, not in paragraphs.
 | Taken 2 Maggie Grace, Liam Neeson, and Famke Janssen return for more kidnapping action. I'm betting his wife and daughter both get kidnapped this time around. Also, I'm betting Bryan Mills kills a few dozen people. |
 | The Bourne Legacy Jeremy Renner takes over the Treadstone mantle in this Damon-less sequel to the Bourne series. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, writer of the first three films, as well as the writer/director of Michael Clayton. I think the series is in good hands. |
 | The Expendables 2 Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme join the cast, and Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have expanded roles. Every actor will get five minutes of screen time. |
 | The Amazing Spider-Man A reboot of a movie series that debuted less than a decade ago, but at least there's no Tobey Maguire this time around. And there's a lot of EMMA STONE. |
 | Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance He pisses fire. That's all you really need to know about this Neveldine & Taylor sequel to the 2007 movie. |
 | Total Recall Get your ass to Mars! ...or don't, considering this version of the tale takes place entirely on Earth. Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Bryan Cranston are all on board. |
 | Dredd A day in the life of a Judge. Karl Urban, Lena Headey, and Olivia Thirlby as the leads make me suspect that this might be 2012's Conan the Barbarian. |
 | Prometheus It's not an Aliens prequel, guys! Forget all those weird-looking eggs and what looks like a space jockey in the footage and the fact that Ridley Scott's directing it and there are androids and such. Totally not an Aliens prequel. |
 | Gravity The next feature from Alfonso Cuaron, director of Children of Men, features an astronaut (Sandra Bullock, with George Clooney in a supporting role) attempting to safely return to Earth after a disaster in space. |
 | The Dark Knight Rises I don't know what this movie is about. Something about the middle ages, I take it? |
 | The Avengers Again, drawing a blank here. I think this is a World War II film. |
 | John Carter Anywhere from 250 to 350 million dollars were spent on this movie, reportedly. It will have to make a lot of money to be profitable, in other words. I suspect that its March release date and the ambiguous title will work against it, in that respect. |
 | Django Unchained The latest Tarantino features Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, and basically everyone else is in this story of the revenge of a former slave. |
 | Battleship The Transformers films are getting pretty meta, as now they're just transforming into another series altogether. |
 | The Hunger Games Jennifer Lawrence has to kill 23 other teenagers in order to stay alive in this adaptation of the Suzanne Collins young-adult-sci-fi book. From the director of Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, so at least it'll look nice. |
 | World War Z Some minor plot changes have outraged fans of Max Brooks' novel, but hey: there'll be zombies, and there'll be zombie attacks, and there'll be Brad Pitt. Now we'll just have to see if they do the Battle of Yonkers justice. |
 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Peter Jackson's long-in-development, mega-budgeted adaptation of the first adventures of Bilbo Baggins is set for release in late 2012. |
 | Skyfall The latest Bond movie looks like an all-hands-on-deck priority for MGM. Will it wipe the taste of Quantum of Solace out of people's mouths, though? |
 | The Great Gatsby Baz Luhrmann's 3D adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is bound to be lush. |
 | Snow White and the Huntsman "Hey, how can we take this fairy tale and sex it up a bit?" is bound to be a conversation that's repeated in the offices of Hollywood executives for the next couple of years. Get ready for Jack the Giant Killer with a bunch of CGI giants and huge war scenes. |
 | Jack the Giant Killer ...oh. |
 | Cloud Atlas The newest directorial effort of the Wachowskis is also a co-directorial effort with Tom Tykwer. So, three directors working on one speculative fiction movie set in six different time periods. That must be confusing. |
 | Men in Black III I can't even muster up the energy to make fun of this. |
 | Looper Rian Johnson's latest film is effectively finished, from what I hear, but still won't be out until September. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis star in the tale of time travel gone awry. |
 | Lincoln Spielberg and Day-Lewis team up for a biopic of one of America's most beloved presidents. |
 | Brave Pixar returns to original stories with this tale of a Scottish girl who fights bears. Or something. |
 | G.I. Joe Retaliation Don't make me hurt you if you vote for this. |
 | Wrath of the Titans Worthington! Titans! Neeson! Crap! |
 | 47 Ronin So, you want to make a movie about one of Japan's defining national events, and you get Keanu Reeves to star in it? I...guess... |
 | Chronicle Teens get super-powers and decide to tape themselves using and abusing them. I like found-footage films, but it's rare to see one with this kind of budget. |
