2018 is shaping up to be a great year at the movies.
Big franchises are set to continue with exciting new installments, while highly anticipated
original films promise to take audiences to worlds they've never even imagined.
These would-be blockbusters have the potential to launch a new generation of stars and showcase
incredible performances from established actors.
These are just some of the acting performances you should look out for in 2018.
Chadwick Boseman—Black Panther
If you were blown away by Chadwick Boseman's debut as Black Panther in Captain America:
Civil War, get ready to see him step up his game even further in his 2018 solo debut.
Black Panther will follow Boseman's T'Challa as he returns to Wakanda to take his rightful
place as king.
It won't be all smooth sailing for T'Challa, though.
He'll have to face off against a number of foes, particularly Michael B. Jordan's Erik
Killmonger , a dissident who wants the throne for himself.
Although we haven't seen them go head to head yet, all signs point to an epic cat fight.
"Meow."
Helen Mirren—Winchester
A horror movie starring Oscar winner Helen Mirren?
Sign us up for Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built.
The film features Mirren as Sarah Winchester, a real-life heiress who put her entire fortune
into her mansion, now known as the Winchester Mystery House.
Although Mirren has made horror movies in the past, Winchester's real-life roots—and
her character's complex, fragile mental state—should add extra weight to her work.
Seeing an actress of Mirren's caliber taking on such a multifaceted role sounds like a
recipe for pure terror.
The cast of Annihilation
Natalie Portman leads an excellent cast in the sci-fi thriller Annihilation, which follows
a group of scientists who head into a mysterious disaster zone.
The trailers have teased some terrifying creatures and tense scenarios, and the film's eerie
science fiction elements should elevate it beyond traditional horror fare.
Joining Portman on her quest are Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Gina Rodriguez,
who boast an Oscar win, three Oscar nominations, and five Golden Globe wins between them.
That's a heavyweight cast, but will all that acting cred be enough to get them past Annihilation's
monsters alive?
Jennifer Lawrence—Red Sparrow
Jennifer Lawrence already has an Oscar and three more nominations to her name, so every
role she takes spurs anticipation for an impressive performance.
And with her action thriller Red Sparrow, Lawrence has taken what could be her most
exciting role to date, a ballerina turned Russian spy.
As teased in the movie's intense trailer, she's part of an elite group of assassins
called the Sparrow Squad, who will use whatever it takes to get the job done.
Although we've mostly seen small, wordless pieces of Lawrence's performance thus far,
she looks killer in the role.
Storm Reid—A Wrinkle In Time
Madeleine L'Engle's philosophical sci-fi odyssey A Wrinkle in Time isn't an easy book to bring
to the big screen, and the fact that it's been so beloved by generations of readers
means there's all the more pressure to get it right.
One of the biggest pieces of the puzzle was the film's lead, Meg Murry; luckily, director
Ava DuVernay found just the right person for the part in Storm Reid.
DuVernay has been very vocal about how impressed she was with Reid's performance.
Although we don't know much about how DuVernay will depict Meg's journey on the big screen,
Reid seems poised to cement her rising star status with an out of this world performance.
"You're kidding."
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
"A little.."
"I'm not."
The cast of New Mutants
2018's New Mutants adds something very different to the superhero genre: horror.
Director Josh Boone spearheads the film, which features a group of young mutants who find
themselves held in a secret facility against their will, forcing them to battle the dangers
of their powers and the sins of their pasts to try and escape.
The movie has amassed an impressive cast of young talent, led by three genre favorites—Split's
Anya Taylor-Joy, Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams, and Stranger Things' Charlie Heaton.
That's some of the best young talent around, and it should all add up to a very unique
superhero movie
Tom Hardy—Venom
Many people may have been a bit apprehensive about Sony's planned universe of Spider-Man
movies that don't feature Spider-Man, but their fears should have been quieted a bit
when Tom Hardy was announced as the lead for the first Spidey spinoff, Venom.
The Oscar nominee is set to play main character Eddie Brock, with the movie rumored to offer
an R-rated, sci-fi horror take on the morally ambiguous Marvel villain.
"Together again!
We knew it wasn't a delusion."
Hardy isn't the only talented actor attached to star in Venom—Jenny Slate, Michelle Williams,
and Woody Harrelson are all on board as well, along with Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer.
Still, the performance of the leading man will make or break the film, and Hardy seems
like the man for the job.
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