So, here we are in 2019. The new year promises to be just like 2018, except with even more instability and anxiety. Brexit! Trump! Doug Ford! Andrew Scheer! Why wouldn’t you barricade yourself in your living room with a pallet of nachos and the streaming service of your choice? Because going to the movies is still fun, that’s why. Anyway, here’s what you can expect to see this year, both inside and outside the megaplex.
Change Is Happening
In last year’s look-ahead piece, I wished for a few simple things in 2018: more diversity, more representation, more creative risks, less fanboy whining. And… I mostly got it? Not that we’re anywhere close to gender or racial parity within the industry, but change seems to be underway. Film festivals (including TIFF) are actively working to program more work by women and directors of colour, inclusion riders are part of the conversation, and the #MeToo movement continues to expose assholes and abusers. I was worried that things would fizzle out after a brief burst of showy awareness, but maybe we’ve truly turned a corner.
That Gum You Like Is Going To Come Back In Style
If you thought 2018 rode the nostalgia train a little hard, this year will be even more clogged with sequels, remakes and brand extensions. Disney’s got live-action versions of Dumbo and Aladdin ready to go, there’s a LEGO Movie sequel, the Avengers will save the universe (one assumes) and so on and so on. (We’re about to get M. Night Shyamalan’s sequel to Unbreakable, for crying out loud.) David Harbour, who plays the sheriff on the vintage movie poster catalogue come to life that is Stranger Things, is the new Hellboy, which seems like a sort of cosmic shrug. As Springsteen said, “Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact / but maybe everything that dies someday comes back.” Which reminds me: there’s a new Pet Sematary this year, too.
Bring On The Canadian Movies
If I’ve done the math correctly, we should start to see the results of Telefilm Canada’s ambitious Talent To Watch program sometime this year – maybe even in time for TIFF. The funding body bestowed up to $125,000 on 38 first-time feature productions (and seven narrative web projects), with the intention of supporting a “diverse and inclusive portfolio” of filmmakers across the country. I’m very curious to see what that slate looks like – and what stories these writers and directors have chosen to tell. Maybe Netflix will pick up a few of them, because…
Netflix Will Saturate The Streaming Market
If there’s a breaking point of Peak TV, Netflix is doing its best to find it, dropping so many movies and television shows weekly that it’s impossible to keep up with everything. Do we need a second season of Sabrina so soon after the first one? Were there so many burning questions left unanswered in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before that we needed a sequel? Well, they’re both coming – along with more original movies, more international imports and more breakout TV shows that everyone discusses non-stop for a weekend and then forgets ever existed. (Looking at you, Lost In Space.)
Disney Will Still Own Everything Else
I mean, let’s not fool ourselves. Between those live-action remakes of their animated classics, the next wave of Marvel movies, the absorption of 20th Century Fox and the final chapter in the new Star Wars trilogy, the House of Mouse will dominate popular culture as never before. (It’s even launching its own streaming service!) And if you think that sounds like hyperbole, just wait until you see the cereal tie-ins.
@normwilner
