Photo Credit: pixabay/dbreen

2015 was a lively year for the film industry and notable for the huge business done by certain films, with the $1.5 billion barrier exceeded by four of the top five sellers at the box office.

2016 promises more of the same with major franchises rolling their next releases out of the hanger, and an exciting newcomer, DC, looking to make its mark with two of the most popular superheroes appearing in the same film. 

There’s a much-anticipated return of the Harry Potter series, albeit with a prequel of sorts, with some commentators predicting it could be the biggest film of the year.

Franchises and superheroes continue apace

With the huge success of recent releases such as ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, James Bond’s re-appearance in ‘Spectre’ and the continued success of releases from the Marvel Studios stable, it’s clear that franchises continue to be box office gold.

The studios are only too happy to serve them up to hungry cinema audiences, so here are a few of the significant ones to look out for:

Captain America: Civil War – the next movie juggernaut from franchise hit factory Marvel, this film is tipped to possibly be their biggest yet; if so, it would push past the $1.5 billion barrier.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – a huge film in all senses of the word from DC which is gunning for Marvel and their dominance of the superhero franchise.  

Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them – Warner Bros. must be thrilled at the prospect of another title from the Harry Potter series after the $9 billion revenue haul of the other films in the franchise.  

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – although a spin-off, the hugely powerful ‘Star Wars’ moniker attached should ensure its popularity after the huge success of ‘The Force Awakens’, which only narrowly missed being the biggest film of 2015 despite only being in cinemas for less than a fortnight.

Other superhero films – ‘Suicide Squad’ offers a disparate bunch of villains working together for a government agency, and ‘X-Men Apocalypse’ features a gang of super powered mutants while ‘Deadpool’ offers a more sardonic take on the crowded superhero genre.

Animations

Animations are well served with a long-awaited sequel to the massively popular ‘Finding Nemo’. Its successor, ‘Finding Dory’ could rival all-time highest grossing animation ‘Frozen’ for box office glory. 

Disney’s classic title ‘Jungle Book’ is remade using state of the art CGI, and is tipped to be a huge spring hit after its April release.

Part of the game

‘Warcraft’ and ‘Angry Birds’ have proved huge hits for gaming fans, and in 2016 these films are being translated into films. Will they be as popular in the cinema as they are on smartphones, computers and tablets?

The same but different?

After the success of older franchises, as seen by the $1.5 billion ‘Jurassic World’ following some 14 years after the previous release, a sequel to a film released in 1996 could be the most spectacular release of the year. ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ very much follows the plot of the original hit film – aliens invading earth with catastrophic results. We’ll see if the formula is still successful 20 years on. 

Gritty realism 

For those preferring realism to superheroes and animations, ‘Deepwater Horizon’ is based on the true events concerning the 2010 man made disaster caused by an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, offering a gritty realistic antidote to the superhero fare of the franchises if those are not your thing.

And much more

2016 is set to be another busy and interesting year for film fans – the problem might be deciding what to see and what to leave out.