There are over 400 new films scheduled for release in 2007. Some will flop, others will flourish, but more likely is that the bulk of them will go straight to DVD. The question on the mind of most moviegoers this year is out of all these choices, which ones are going to be worth their time and dollar to see on the big screen? It’s hard to say for sure this early in the game, but Reviewable has scoured the Internet and found the top 16 buzzworthy films throughout the upcoming year. Across message boards and fan sites, this is what people are talking about (and of which 75% are claimed by their studios as “the most anticipated release of 2007″), listed by U.S. release date.
Alpha Dog (January 12th) – Inspired by true events, Alpha Dog follows three fateful days when the lives of a group of Southern California teens suddenly dead-ended. The film features a powerful ensemble cast including Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Emile Hirsch, Christopher Marquette, Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin and Bruce Willis and is written and directed by Nick Cassavetes.
Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) controls the drugs on the well-manicured streets of his neighborhood. Where Johnny goes, the party, the girls and his loyal gang follow. When he’s double-crossed over missing deal money by raging hothead Jake (Ben Foster), Johnny and his gang impulsively kidnap Jake’s little brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin), holding him as a marker and heading to Palm Springs. With no parents in sight, they grow used to having the kid around, and Zack enjoys an illicit summer fantasy of drinking, girls and new experiences.
Out in the desert, Johnny and his boys lose sight that the kid is a hostage who can’t just be neatly returned. As the days tick by, the options of how to get themselves out of their situation start to disappear. Good times turn bad and bad turns worse as Johnny finds himself out of his league and with no idea how to fix it… leading all these players toward a shocking conclusion they never saw coming.
Smokin’ Aces (January 26th) – Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven)–a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state’s evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody under the supervision of two agents (Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds) dispatched to Aces’ Lake Tahoe hideout. When word of the price on Aces’ head spreads into the community of ex-cons and cons-to-be, it entices bounty hunters, thugs-for-hire, deadly vixens (Alicia Keys in her feature film debut) and double-crossing mobsters to join in the hunt. With all eyes on Tahoe, this rogues’ gallery collides in a comic race to hit the jackpot and rub out Aces.
Ghost Rider (February 16th) – Superstar motorcycle stunt rider Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) strikes a deal with the vile Mephistopheles for the most precious of commodities, his immortal soul. Now Johnny Blaze is forever destined to ride night after night as the host to the powerful supernatural entity known as the Ghost Rider.
Black Snake Moan (February 23rd) – In a small Tennessee town, two unlikely souls are about to be lured together at the sticky crossroads between rage and love. Found lying on the side of the road, beaten and nearly dead, is Rae (Christina Ricci), a 22 year-old who has developed a reputation around town for having an insatiable “itch” for sex. Her rescuer is Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), an ex-blues guitarist who has grown used to lifes relentless strains of trouble and sorrow.
Desperate for a change himself, Lazarus holds Rae prisoner, and sets out to “cure” her of her wicked ways. But to get to the deep, dark bottom of Rae’s mystery, Lazarus will first have to face the demons that reside in both their hearts, especially when Raes one true love Ronnie (Justin Timberlake), a Guardsman who was supposed to be headed for Iraq, comes looking for her.
300 (March 9th) – In this adaptation of Frank Miller’s acclaimed graphic novel, Gerard Butler stars as Leonidas, king of Sparta. In 481 B.C., Persian King Xerxes invaded Greece with a massive and seemingly invincible army of warriors. But once they reached the pass of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., they came upon King Leonidas with a determined group of 300 Spartan men, who engaged the Persian army for three days in a battle of epic proportions. The film was shot in much the same manner as Miller’s ‘Sin City,’ making extensive use of computer-generated imagery for the visually stunning background and panoramic shots.
Blades of Glory (March 30th) – A high-concept comedy set in the world of professional ice skating that follows two former rivals (Will Ferrell & Jon Heder) who, stripped of their gold medals from the 2002 Winter Games and permanently banned from the men’s singles Olympics figure skating competition, exploit a loophole by joining forces to compete in the pairs category.
Grind House (April 6th) – This film actually consists of two segments, of which both are feature-length attractions. One segment, Planet Terror, will be a zombie film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The other segment, Death Proof, will be a slasher film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. There will also be trailers advertising fake films between the segments, ranging in styles from Blaxploitation to Spaghetti Western.
Spider-Man 3 (May 4th) – Your friendly neighborhood web-slinger is back, only this time his sunny outlook has become partially overcast in the third chapter of director Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man saga. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco return to reprise their roles from the previous two installments, with Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, and Bryce Dallas Howard making their first appearances in the series as Flint Marko (aka Sandman), Eddie Brock (aka Venom), and Gwen Stacy, respectively.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (May 25th) – In the follow-up to Disney’s 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) have allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones’ locker – while the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones, under the control of the East India Trading Company, wreaks havoc across the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, they must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Chinese Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final, titanic battle – as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way, hangs in the balance.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (June 15th) – The heroic foursome is back, but this time they’re not the only super-powered beings on the block in director Tim Story’s action-packed sequel to the 2005 hit Fantastic Four. The Silver Surfer has arrived on planet Earth on a mission of destruction. When the havoc wreaked by the strange and shiny visitor catches the attention of four especially powerful Earth dwellers who aren’t willing to go down without a fight, the battle is on to save the planet from certain annihilation. Meanwhile, with his super-powered nemeses momentarily distracted, the nefarious Dr. Doom begins concocting a plan with the potential to overshadow even the Silver Surfer’s destructive antics.
Transformers (July 4th) – Whereas the Earth is the home of a variety of organic-based lifeforms, the planet of Cybertron is the homeworld of a race of robots which have the ability to transform into other mechanisms, with each Transformer having its own unique disguise. The Transformers are divided into two separate camps: the good and just Autobots, who are led by Optimus Prime (whose disguise is a red 18-wheel semi truck); and the evil Decepticons, who are led by Megatron (who transforms into a gun; there’s a good deal of size-shifting involved with Megatron as well). With fuel supplies (called Energon Cubes) on Cybertron running low, both forces travel through space looking for a new source, which leads them to Earth, which from their perspective in rich in the minerals and chemicals they need. Disguising themselves as cars, airplanes, boats, etc. easily recognizable to humans, the Transformers engage in a secret war for control of Earth’s bountiful natural resources.
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix (July 13th) – Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts and discovers that much of the wizarding community is in denial about the teenager’s recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort, preferring to turn a blind eye to the news that Voldemort has returned. Fearing that Hogwarts’ venerable Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about Voldemort’s return in order to undermine his power and take his job, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore and the Hogwarts students. But Professor Dolores Umbridge’s Ministry-approved course of defensive magic leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces threatening them and the entire wizarding community, so at the prompting of his friends Hermione and Ron, Harry takes matters into his own hands. Meeting secretly with a small group of students who name themselves “Dumbledore’s Army,” Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead.
The Simpsons Movie (July 27th) – The longest-running animated series in history and the longest-running primetime series currently on television hits the big screen. When Homer accidentally pollutes the river with toxic waste from the nuclear power plant, he gets fired from his job, and everyone has to evacuate Springfield, possibly forever.
The Bourne Ultimatum (August 3rd) – All he wanted was to disappear. Instead, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is now hunted by the people who made him what he is. Having lost his memory and the one person he loved, he is undeterred by the barrage of bullets and a new generation of highly-trained killers. Bourne has only one objective: to go back to the beginning and find out who he was.
Now, in the new chapter of this espionage series (follow-up to 2002′s The Bourne Identity and 2004′s The Bourne Supremacy), Bourne will hunt down his past in order to find a future. He must travel from Moscow, Paris, Madrid and London to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne–all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents with him in their crosshairs.
Fred Claus (November 9th) – Santa’s black-sheep brother gets a much-needed shot at redemption when he heads to the North Pole with hopes of helping out his famous sibling in this holiday comedy reuniting actor Vince Vaughn and director David Dobkin.
Beowulf (November 16th) – In a time of heroes, the mighty warrior Beowulf slays the demon Grendel and incurs the wrath of its monstrous yet seductive mother, in a conflict that transforms a king into a legend.
Director Robert Zemeckis offers a vision of the Beowulf saga like it has never been told before. This animated re-telling stars the voice talent of Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s mother, Anthony Hopkins as the corrupt King Hrothgar, and Ray Winstone as Beowulf. The film also stars John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson, Dominic Keating, Alison Lohman, and Robin Wright Penn.
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Last weekend marks the third in a row that the Ben Stiller comedy 
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