Essays · Movies

All the Movies You Need to Watch Before You Go to the Movies in 2018

A backwards guide to the remakes, reboots, and franchise returns.
Mary Poppins
By  · Published on December 31st, 2017

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

The X-Men spin-off The New Mutants doesn’t seem to have much of a tie-in with the rest of the franchise except for Days of Future Past, where other actors briefly portrayed the characters Sunspot and Warpath.
Due Date: April 13th


Overboard (1987)

Real-life couple Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell star in this relatively forgotten comedy about a wealthy woman with amnesia tricked into believing she’s a poor housewife and mother. Now it’s being remade with genders swapped so Anna Faris is the one conning Eugenio Derbez.
Due Date: April 20th


Super Troopers (2001)

Meow that there is finally a Super Troopers 2 coming out, the original cult comedy will be getting tons of attention, and if you don’t know why this sentence began with a pun then you’ll need to acquaint yourself with the 17-year-old movie so you’re not out of the loop.
Due Date: April 20th


Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Ant-Man (2015), Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Black Panther (2018)

The movie that all these Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (plus the aforementioned assignments Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War) have been building up to, Avengers: Infinity War, could be the movie that ends an era.
Due Date: May 4th


Beware the Slenderman (2016)

Get to know the legend of the Slenderman, a made-up boogeyman, with this cleverly constructed documentary about a murder inspired by the myth before the horror movie Slender Man also deals with the character.
Due Date: May 18th


Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983)

Presumably with Solo: A Star Wars Story we’ll be seeing what brings Han Solo to the place he’s at when introduced in Star Wars. Because the new movie also features Lando Calrissian, who first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, that one is also worth knowing. And then you might as well round out that original trilogy with Return of the Jedi.
Due Date: May 25th


Deadpool (2016)

The “Merc with a Mouth” is returning in an as-yet-untitled sequel, so you need to become familiar with the character in his first smash-hit X-Men spin-off.
Due Date: June 1st


Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Ocean’s Twelve (2004), and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)

An all new team of criminals makes its debut in the spin-off Ocean’s Eight, as led by the sister of Danny Ocean — George Clooney’s character from this heist film remake and its two sequels. Due Date: June 8th


The Incredibles (2004)

Even as fans complained that Pixar was making too many sequels, everyone wanted a follow-up to this animated superhero feature, one of the studio’s best. Well, Incredibles 2 is finally arriving with Brad Bird back at the helm, so now you can find out why it’s been so in-demand. Due Date: June 15th


Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001), and Jurassic World (2015)

The sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will be a direct follow-up to the hugely successful reboot sequel Jurassic World but will also be informed by the earlier Jurassic Park trilogy, even featuring Jeff Goldblum from the first two movies. There’s also a possibility that it will especially mirror The Lost World.
Due Date: June 22nd


Sicario (2015)

Denis Villeneuve’s hit drug-cartel thriller is getting a sequel, titled Sicario 2: Soldado, with a new director and without original star Emily Blunt.
Due Date: June 29th


Uncle Drew Chapter 1 (2012), Uncle Drew Chapter 2 (2012), Uncle Drew Chapter 3 (2013), and Uncle Drew Chapter 4 (2015)

Technically these are Pepsi Max commercials not movies, and there are others that aired in 2017, but the first four can be viewed as short films introducing the title character played by basketball pro Kyrie Irving. Uncle Drew now has his own eponymous feature film spun off from the ads, and there will probably be some Pepsi product placement.
Due Date: June 29th

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Related Topics:

Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.