I wanted to write a similar post to my last article in 2016, detailing what were the things I was looking forward to the most that were coming in 2017. But I realized that most of what I was anticipating were related to movies, and 2018 is no different. So instead of looking at everything that’s coming in 2018, let me just focus on the top five 2018 film releases that I’m looking forward to the most. Note that this list has nothing to do with each film’s quality (they haven’t come out yet so I have no idea how good they’re going to be) and is really based on my personal preferences, so there will be some highly-anticipated films that will not be on this list simply because I’m not as interested in them as others are (hello Fantastic Beasts 2). With that said, let’s begin.

Tomb Raider

I’m not even a fan of the Tomb Raider franchise but this second attempt at a Tomb Raider movie adaptation has gotten my attention. I like Alicia Vikander as an actress and Tomb Raider is one of the few video game IPs that can easily be translated onto film. But movies based on video game properties usually aren’t very good; not even Michael Fassbender’s talent could save Assassin’s Creed from this. Is Tomb Raider the video game movie that’s going to be good? It certainly has the potential, which is why I’m quite interested in this film.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Sure, Jurassic World wasn’t quite as magical as the first Jurassic Park, but it was entertaining enough to revive my interest in the franchise. It also made a lot of money at the box office, and Chris Pratt has become quite the bankable lead actor (I’ve enjoyed most of his recent films, including Passengers). What really piques my interest is the return of Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm – Jurassic World, despite being part of the Jurassic Park franchise, was still quite removed from the original trilogy. Jeff Goldblum returning further solidifies the continuity between the old and new films and his turn as the Grandmaster in the recent Thor: Ragnarok makes me want to see more of him.

The New Mutants

Say what you will about Fox’s handling of the X-Men film franchise; one thing that’s sure for now is when they step away from the typical superhero cookie cutter story, they hit gold (Logan, Deadpool). The New Mutants looks to be another perspective on how to tell a superhero story – is horror a good mix with superpowers? I don’t know, so I’m very interested to see how this film is going to play out. Another reason for me to keep an eye on this movie is its cast, in particular newcomers Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split), Charlie Heaton (Netflix’s Stranger Things) and Maisie Williams (HBO’s Game of Thrones). I hope this one is good.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Sure, Rogue One was successful at the box office despite mixed reception but I think the true test of whether you can expand the Star Wars universe is the Han Solo-centric prequel. Primarily, Rogue One had it’s direct connection to the overall Star Wars storyline working for it; Solo just looks at a past adventure of one of the most popular characters of the original Star Wars trilogy. If this succeeds, then you bet we’re going to see more films offering a glimpse of other characters’ backstories (e.g. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba Fett). I don’t think I’ve ever seen Donald Glover in a bigger film role than what he’s doing in this film, and Ron Howard has always been a solid film director so I have very high hopes for this movie.

Avengers: Infinity War

Will any list of most anticipated films of 2018 ever be complete without mentioning Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War? This movie is the culmination of everything that Marvel Studios has put out since the very first Iron Man back in 2008. It’ll feature both old and new characters finally interacting with each other, and this film has the potential to be the epic followup to the first Avengers film that Age of Ultron could only hope to be. This film’s first official trailer broke records when it was released on Youtube, and for good reason.

And there you have it, five movies coming out in 2018 that I’m looking forward to the most. There are so many notable films coming out in the next twelve months, I can’t list all of them so let me mention a few more: Fantastic Beasts 2, Ready Player One, A Wrinkle in Time, Venom, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Aquaman, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Creed 2… There’s so many of them! Ready your wallets, it’s going to be another good year at the cinemas!