Movie TalkThe Most Anticipated Movies of 2011
It's 2011, believe it or not, and there's a whole new crop
of movies to look forward to from Norse gods, to Swedish hackers, to Kermit the
Frog. We've put together a list of some of the most anticipated flicks of the
year. Keep reading.
Thor (May 6) -- You'll have to wait until 2012 for the
A-list superheroes like Spider-Man, Batman and even Superman to return to your
local megaplex. In the meantime, there's "Thor." Unlike those others,
this superhero is not a millionaire with a dark side or a high school kid with
unusual insect bites. No. Thor is a god! This movie gives fans a chance to see
the mighty warrior (played by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth) in his own
flick. You'll see him next fighting along side Iron Man and the Hulk in the
hotly anticipated "Avengers" movie, which also comes out in 2012.
On Stranger Tides (May 20) -- Jack Sparrow is back, which isn't surprising
considering the huge piles of booty raked in by the last three flicks. This
time Sparrow teams up with his old nemesis Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and
his old flame Angelica (Penelope Cruz) to track down the Fountain of Youth.
Blocking their path is Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and a host of supernatural
baddies that includes zombies and mermaids.
[See also: Newest Bond girl cast for 'Hansel and Gretel']
The Hangover, Part II (May 26) -- If there's one place on
the planet that can top Vegas in terms of sin, it's the red-light districts of Thailand. And
that's where Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) head for Stu's
(Ed Helms) bachelor party. It's safe to assume that the party goes horribly
wrong. The production landed itself in the news last year with word of two
high-profile cameos. Bill Clinton appears briefly, perhaps the only
ex-president out there appropriate for a "Hangover" movie. Mel
Gibson, after a lot of screaming and yelling, will not be in the flick.
See More Movies of 2011 Here >>
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (July 1) --
"Transformers 2" might have made over $400 million domestically, but
just about everyone from hardcore fans to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to
star Shia LaBeouf admits that the movie just wasn't that good.
Michael Bay has promised that this flick will be
better and reportedly will have cooler action and less "dorky
comedy." Also absent from this go-around is Megan Fox, replaced by Victoria's Secret model
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
[Photos: The top 10 box office movies of 2010
]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (July 15) --
It's taken just about ten years for everyone's favorite boy wizard to have his
final face-off with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. While the previous Potter movie,
the first half of J.K. Rowling's tome, started with some high-flying action
(literally) only to level into a long stretch of angst, exile and self-doubt,
this movie looks like it's going to be one long breathless chase to that
wizarding Gotterdammerung, the battle of Hogwarts.
Cowboys & Aliens (July 29) -- Han Solo and James Bond
star in a Western about aliens. Do you really need to know more? It's a
veritable tiramisu of Fanboy awesomeness. Jon Favreau of "Iron Man"
fame directs.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1 (November 18)
-- After the wild success of "Eclipse," Twi-hards everywhere are waiting
with bated breath to see how Stephenie Meyer's final book in the Twilight
series is going to be adapted. Thematically, "Breaking Dawn" is
marked with less moony-eyed longing than the previous books and with more
shocks, including a graphic, not to mention icky, child-birthing scene. How can
this movie possibly be faithful to the text and keep a tween-friendly rating of
PG-13? The producers are remaining tight-lipped about the whole thing, but they
did bring in Oscar-winning filmmaker Bill Condon to direct. We'll see if the
"Dreamgirls" director can find a way to satisfy both fans and the
MPAA.
The Muppets (November 23) -- Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and the rest of the gang is finally getting a reboot after a twelve year
absence from the silver screen. The same guys responsible for "Forgetting
Sarah Marshall" -- Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller -- wrote the
screenplay, so expect the same silly comic sensibility as "Marshall" -- though
presumably with a lot less nudity. There are few public details about "The
Muppets" although Amy Adams, Zach Galifianakis, Paul Rudd and Ricky
Gervais along with Segel do reportedly star.
Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol (December 16) -- Tom
Cruise reprises his role as the seemingly indestructible IMF agent, Ethan Hunt.
Not much is known about the plot aside from a couple of pictures with Cruise
dangling from the tallest building in the world -- Burj Khalifa in Dubai. If that seems
incredible, it's just as well. The movie's director, Brad Bird, previously
directed "The Incredibles." Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Josh
Holloway, and Simon Pegg also star.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (December 21) -- Stieg
Larsson's book might just be one of the most compulsively readable books out
there; it's a relentlessly riveting murder mystery that turns the popular view
of Sweden from a nice quiet country that makes great furniture to a hotbed of
family jealousy, investigative journalism and hidden crimes. It also features
one of the most memorable literary characters in memory -- the punk-rock hacker
savant Lisbeth Salander. It's not surprising then that film producers snatched
up the movie rights faster than you can say lutefisk. A well-crafted European
version of the movie came out in '09, but now it's Hollywood's turn, featuring director David
Fincher, fresh off his soon-to-be-Oscar-winning flick "The Social
Network" and starring Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer and Rooney Mara as
Salander.
See More Movies of 2011 Here >>
See trailers from some of 2011's most anticipated movies:
Other popular stories on Yahoo!
• Robert Gibbs quits White House post
