6) THE DARK TOWER – July 28th
One of the cool things about 2017 is that the work of Stephen King is going to have a large presence at the box office, which is nice to see given how many of his novels have been turned into straight-to-video crap over the years. Long-gestating feature film The Dark Tower finally makes the leap to the big screen next year after years of false starts, and with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in the lead roles, we’ve got nothing but good feelings about this one. The Nikolaj Arcel-directed film is expected to be the first in an epic small and big screen franchise.
Speaking of King adaptations…
7) STEPHEN KING’S IT – September 8th
Jonathan Barkan recently wrote a piece here on BD where he expressed the opinion that the 1990 adaptation of IT just isn’t very good, and everything he wrote echoed my own feelings when I re-watched the miniseries earlier this year. It’s a great story told pretty damn poorly by that adaptation, and as good as Tim Curry was as Pennywise, even he couldn’t save it. And that’s the main reason why I’m so excited to see Mama director Andy Muschietti’s feature adaptation, which will be split into two parts. Can he do the story the proper justice it deserves? I’ve got faith.
8) FRIDAY THE 13TH – October 13th
A brand new reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise has been on again, off again so many times that we sincerely have our doubts about it being released next year, but last we heard production was set to begin this coming Spring, so maybe Paramount and Platinum Dunes are finally ready to roll. Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners) wrote the script and Breck Eisner (The Crazies) is set to direct Jason’s big return, which may or may not be set in the ’80s and may or may not explore the Voorhees family. All we know for sure is that it’s DEFINITELY not going to be found footage!
9) INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 4 – October 20th
How cool is it that Lin Shaye is the star of her own horror franchise?! Shaye reprises the role of parapsychologist Elise Rainier for next year’s Insidious: Chapter 4, which will again be a prequel to the first two films. As Shaye recently revealed, the fourth installment will dig deeper into Elise’s backstory and family life, and it’s set directly after the events of the third film. Leigh Whannell returned to write the script and will also play Specs once more, and the real exciting thing about this one is that it was directed by The Taking of Deborah Logan‘s Adam Robitel. Yup. Sold.
10) SAW: LEGACY – October 27th
If it’s Halloween… it must be Saw. The Saw franchise was a Halloween staple at the box office between the years of 2004 and 2010, and after a seven year absence, the franchise returns to the big screen this coming October. We don’t yet know much of anything about Saw: Legacy – will it be a sequel, a reboot, or a standalone film? – but it seems that filming has already wrapped with brothers Peter and Michael Spierig (Daybreakers) in the director’s chairs. Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger (Piranha 3D, Sorority Row) wrote the script. Will be nice to have you back, Billy!
11) UNTITLED CLOVERFIELD MOVIE – October 27th
Okay so we lied. We couldn’t choose only ten!
Originally slated for release in February, the J.J. Abrams-produced God Particle was just bumped back to October and will apparently undergo a title change that will make it part of the Cloverfield Universe that began with the 2008 found footage movie and continued with this year’s 10 Cloverfield Lane. The film, directed by Julius Onah, tells the story of a team of astronauts who make a shocking discovery and end up fighting for survival in what is described as an altered reality. How strongly will it connect to the franchise? Will sure be interesting to find out.
Other notable horror movies headed our way in 2017 include Annabelle 2, Flatliners, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Rings, and Underworld: Blood Wars.
