The True History of the Kelly Gang
George MacKay joins Mick Jagger and Heath Ledger in the club of actors who have played Ned Kelly, the 19th-Century Australian bushranger and bank robber. But the latest retelling of his life story, adapted from Peter Carey’s novel, concentrates on his early years, and examines how he is pushed into crime when his mother (Essie Davis from The Babadook) sells him to a bandit (Russell Crowe). The director, Justin Kurzel, is known for Snowtown and Macbeth (as well as Assassin’s Creed, but let’s not hold that against him), so expect some brutal conditions and bloody violence. (NB)
Released on 9 Jan in Australia, 28 Feb in UK and Ireland
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Armando Iannucci’s funny, spirited and shrewd adaptation of the Dickens classic finally arrives in theatres after playing at festivals. The film stays true to Dickens’ 19th-Century setting, and the casting works beautifully, with Dev Patel as the orphaned hero trying to make his way in the world. Tilda Swinton as his imperious but kind-hearted Aunt Betsey Trotwood and Hugh Laurie as the eccentric, bewildered Mr Dick steal every scene they’re in. Who would have guessed that the brains behind Veep and The Thick of It was just the right director for this refreshing, multicultural take on the beloved novel? (CJ)
Released on 24 January in the UK and Ireland, 8 May in the US
The Invisible Man
In 2017, Tom Cruise’s The Mummy was supposed to be the first in a series of blockbusters about Universal Studios’ classic monsters. But the film flopped so badly that Universal scrapped its plans for a ‘Dark Universe’ franchise – and that included an action movie starring Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man. In its place, Leigh Whannell, the co-creator of Saw and Insidious, has written and directed a creepy low-budget take on HG Wells’ story. Elisabeth Moss plays a woman who is stalked by an abusive ex – but because he happens to be invisible, nobody believes her. Let’s face it, the Depp version wouldn’t have been as intriguing as that. (NB)
Released on 28 Feb in the UK, Ireland, and the US
No Time to Die
It may have been hampered by injuries, accidents and even the withdrawal of its original director, Danny Boyle, but Daniel Craig’s final Bond movie could be among his best. For one thing, Boyle’s frantic, fidgety style never seemed right for 007, whereas the director who replaced him, Cary Joji Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation, True Detective), specialises in muscular action sequences and gritty international locations. For another thing, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve) has spiced up the script. The story is that Bond has retired with his girlfriend (Léa Seydoux), leaving a new double-0 agent (Lashana Lynch) to save the world in his absence. But his buddy Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) persuades him to fight the evil Safin (Rami Malek). Oh – and Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) is up to no good, too. (NB)
Released on 2 April in the UK, 10 April in the US
Promising Young Woman
Emerald Fennell, a multi-talent and the next big thing, has been compared to Phoebe Waller-Bridge for good reason. Fennell, who plays Camilla Shand in The Crown and was Patsy in Call the Midwife, took over from Waller-Bridge as head writer on season two of Killing Eve. Now she has written and directed her first film, a thriller starring Carey Mulligan as a woman who takes revenge on abusive men. The trailer suggests a droll, bold take on the themes of sexual abuse and vengeance, with Mulligan putting on a series of personas and disguises, including an ominous Halloween-ready sexy-nurse’s costume. There is bound to be nothing like it. (CJ)
Released on 16 April in the Netherlands, 17 April in the US and US
Artemis Fowl
When he’s not directing or acting in Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh shows remarkable flair for making commercial Disney films, from Thor to Cinderella. Here he takes on a fantasy-adventure based on the first in Eoin Colfer’s huge, bestselling series of children’s books. The hero, Artemis Fowl (Ferdia Shaw), is a 12-year-old genius and criminal mastermind – now there is a great child’s fantasy – who battles fairies while searching for his father. What could go wrong? Laden with special effects, the spectacle includes underground worlds, mythical creatures and even Dame Judi Dench as a police chief, Commander Root. (CJ)
Released on 28 May in Australia, 29 May in the UK, Poland and the US
Wonder Woman 1984
Superhero blockbusters are so last decade. In 2020, it’s the superheroines’ time to shine. Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is finally getting her own film, and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, the only decent thing about the shambolic Suicide Squad, returns with Birds of Prey. But the year’s biggest and brightest-looking superheroine movie will probably be Wonder Woman 1984, a sequel to Patty Jenkins’ 2017 smash. Decades after the events of the first film, the warrior princess (Gal Gadot) goes into battle against Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah and Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord. She may well have to contend with Rubik’s Cubes, shoulder pads and Duran Duran singles while she’s at it. (NB)
Released on 7 June in the US and UK
Soul
Soul is another of the boldly imaginative cartoons that you wouldn’t get from any US animation studio except Pixar. More specifically, it’s the kind of cartoon you only get from Pete Docter, whose previous films – Monsters Inc, Up and Inside Out – have all pondered human behaviour and the meaning of life. His latest cartoon is about souls developing their interests and talents in an another dimension before they fuse with bodies in the physical world. The biggest names in the voice cast are Tina Fey, who also co-wrote the screenplay, and Jamie Foxx; his jazz-loving character is the first African-American hero of a Pixar cartoon. (NB)
Released on 19 June in the UK and US
Top Gun: Maverick
Tom Cruise puts his Aviator shades back on for a high-flying sequel to the 1986 hit. Thirty-four years on, his US Navy pilot character is still calling himself ‘Maverick’, and he still hasn’t made it past the rank of Captain. But never mind the plot. If the last film is anything to go by, this one will be all about the thrill of seeing jet planes tearing through the sky at teeth-rattling speeds. Top Gun: Maverick isn’t the only belated new addition to a 1980s franchise, either. Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Bill & Ted Face the Music are also due in 2020. (NB)
Released on 26 June in the US, 17 July in the UK
Tenet
Mystery surrounds Christopher Nolan films, sometimes even after you’ve watched them, but he has unveiled a few details about his latest, a tempting, espionage-themed action-filled brain twister. John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman), Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki lead a cast that includes Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh. Washington’s character tries to prevent a global fate worse than nuclear war by unravelling the secret meaning of the word tenet. (It’s probably more than his forgotten password, but that would be a fun ending.) The setting spans continents, with locations including India, Estonia, Italy and the UK. And the story plays mind games with time, space and memory as Nolan has done so brilliantly in films from Memento to Inception. (CJ)
Released on 16 July in Brazil, Germany, the UK and US
West Side Story
Steven Spielberg delivers singing, dancing and some of the most beautiful music ever written – Maria, Tonight, the list goes on – with his adaptation of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s classic Broadway take on Romeo and Juliet. Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver) and the little-known Rachel Zegler are Tony and Maria, the star-crossed lovers caught in a gang war between the Sharks and the Jets in 1957 New York City. The film was written by playwright Tony Kushner, who also wrote Spielberg’s Lincoln. You can’t accuse either one of not stretching. And 2020 brings another high-profile musical, which probably wouldn’t exist without the original West Side Story. In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2005 Broadway hit, set on the streets of a Latino neighbourhood in New York, is directed by Jon M Chu of Crazy Rich Asians. (CJ)
Released on 16 December in France, 18 December in the UK and US
Dune
Whether you rate it as a cult classic, or whether you’re sensible enough to accept that it is one of the worst films ever made, David Lynch’s Dune was not a great success. Now Denis Villeneuve is having a turn at adapting Frank Herbert’s interstellar novel, and, judging by the two atmospheric science-fiction dramas he has already directed, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, he should make a better job of it. If nothing else, the film Villeneuve is calling “Star Wars for adults” could well have 2020’s finest cast. Timothée Chalamet is the messianic young hero; the other actors include Javier Bardem, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Charlotte Rampling, and Dave Bautista. (NB)
Released on 18 December in UK and US
The Last Duel
Ridley Scott’s latest is set centuries ago, when action scenes meant men with swords. Well, it worked for him in Gladiator. This time the setting is 14th-Century France, and the revenge story is based on an actual event, the last legally-fought duel. If there’s an odd-couple feel to the casting of Adam Driver and Matt Damon, it may be because Driver replaced Ben Affleck, who wrote the screenplay with Damon and Nicole Holofcener but dropped down to a smaller role due to scheduling conflicts. Jodie Comer also stars as a woman who watches the men settle their differences. This film is more of an intriguing possibility than a sure thing, but the cast alone makes it irresistibly tantalising, no matter what. (CJ)
Released on 25 December in the US
News of the World
Every year seems to be Tom Hanks Year, and 2020 brings three more films. In News of the World, based on the bestselling novel, he teams up with his Captain Phillips director, Paul Greengrass, to play an itinerant storyteller in the 19th-Century US, delivering the news in small town after small town. He is recruited to bring a 10-year-old girl raised by the Kiowa back to her parents. Hanks takes another road trip in Bios as Finch, a fatally-ill engineer in post-apocalyptic America. He builds a robot, played by Caleb Landry Jones, and teaches him humanity so he can care for Finch’s beloved dog after he dies. Hanks even wrote one of his 2020 films, Greyhound, in which he plays a World War Two Navy commander whose ship is pursued by German U-boats. His heroism comes in different flavours, but it is everywhere. (CJ)
Released on 25 December in Indonesia and the US
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