THREEQUELITIS
With trilogies now the industry model for maximum cash-hooverage, Hollywood is banking on third-time luck in 2007
The lowdown: If the past decade has been a golden age for animation, 2006 was the year the goose stopped laying. But compared to the pixellated talking-animals we've seen recently, Shrek's cast look like seasoned performers.
Judging by the trailer: "Will Shrek become the new king of Far Far Away? Will Donkey ever be the same? What are spoiled princesses wearing this season?" These and other non-burning questions will be settled as Shrek becomes a dad and Justin Timberlake lends his voice. Oh, and has anyone noticed the nasty prince looks a bit like our very own Prince William?
Worst case scenario: Wayne Rooney and Prince William slap an injunction on it.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Anyone remember what they were going to do at the end of part two? Or were you too busy thinking about the return of Geoffrey Rush/Keira and Johnny's kiss/whether you missed the Keith Richards cameo? The action romp sets course for the far east here, with Chow Yun Fat as a Chinese pirate.
Everyone thought Soderbergh was too classy for a threequel, but how else is he going to fund those serious art movies (see The Good German)? There are now too many stars to count, so we'll just assume everyone is still here, with Al Pacino, you might have guessed it, playing a Vegas casino boss.
Spidey goes goth? Or could that new black suit be a subtle manifestation of the evil within? Comic fans will already be familiar with the "Venom" storyline, in which a malevolent virus-like thing turns the webslinging do-gooder into a do-badder. Throw in the usual Mary Jane problems, the ever-vindictive Harry Osborn, and Thomas Haden Church as Sandman and ...
Bond might have upped his game, but Matt Damon's Bourne franchise has more books left to film. If this sticks to the original, Bourne will face a rogue Russian agent, and no doubt improvise a nuclear weapon out of a rake and a piece of toast.
THE COMEBACKS
Old movie franchises never die; they just lie low until everyone forgets how they ran out of ideas. So despite their advanced years, the heroes of the 1980s are back in action
The lowdown: If there was ever a hero designed for These Troubled Times, it was Bruce Willis' terminally unlucky John McClane. Twelve years on, though, he's older and balder, so Willis is paired with a young "hacker" (Justin Long), and Mary Elizabeth Winstead apparently beat out both Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan to play his grown-up daughter. The plot has something to do with freedom-hating internet terrorists, but don't let that put you off.
Judging by the trailer: It's about 90% action. Willis comandeers a car and goes on a demolition derby. Every bus, petrol tanker and helicopter in town converges in a spectacular multiple pile-up, narrowly missing him. "Why are you so calm, have you done that kind of stuff before?" asks his passenger. Willis gives a knowing smirk.
Best case scenario: As good as Die Hard, and he actually dies this time.
Worst case scenario: Hudson Hawk meets the A-Team.
Still out to prove he's a contender, Sylvester Stallone has been running up and down steps in Philadephia to get match-fit for one more go - against the reigning heavyweight champion. Prompted by a computer simulation suggesting he would beat Mason "The Line" Dixon, he gets into training montage mode as if he'd learned nothing from Rocky I to Rocky V. Come on, he's 60!
Transformers
More than just a toy promotion, the robots have been given the all-out treatment by Michael "Pearl Harbor" Bay, no less. The trailer cunningly incorporates Britain's crap Mars probe, Beagle 2. It didn't fall down a hole, you see, it found life. Angry, violent, robotic life capable of turning into a fridge.
Except they call themselves TMNT now, dude! And being computer animated, they're easier to coax back into action than Stallone. But shouldn't they be MAMNT by now? As in Middle Aged?
Everybody else is doing it, so why shouldn't he? Especially as the only work Harrison Ford can get these days is playing grizzled military types. Ford has announced he's up for it, but getting Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to agree on something is proving more difficult.
Rambo IV
If Rocky Balboa works, Stallone is just waiting to dust down his other alter ego. He helped the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan in Rambo 3, what will he do this time? Open a restaurant chain with Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong-Il?
MUSIC FILMS
Chicago, Ray, Walk The Line - where there are musicals, there are Oscars. And nobody ever gets bored of rock'n'roll casualty stories do they?
Dreamgirls
The lowdown: Very obviously based on the story of Diana Ross And The Supremes (although nobody can say that) this charts the rise of an African-American trio through the Motown era, with Beyonce as warbler in chief and Jamie Foxx as the Berry Gordy figure. Director Bill Condon adapted Chicago for the screen, and looks to have done a classy job here - Eddie Murphy's James Brown-like turn is already being dubbed an Oscar contender.
Judging by the trailer: "What you need is a break, and I'm here to give it to you"; "You can't have it all baby." OK, it sounds like showbiz cliche city, but it all looks gorgeous enough to get away with it.
Control
Anton Corbijn directs the life and death of Ian Curtis - a risky movie to pull off if ever there was one. The lead role has gone to former 10,000 Things singer Sam Riley who, strangely enough, played Mark E Smith in 24 Hour Party People. Samantha Morton plays his wife Deborah, on whose memoir this is based.
Factory Girl
Sienna Miller gets the chance to prove she's more than Jude Law's ex, playing Warhol's suicidal muse, Edie Sedgwick. Guy Pearce plays Warhol, but Sedgwick's ex-lover Bob Dylan (who is said to have written Just Like A Woman about her) is threatening legal action over Hayden Christensen's portrayal of "Billy Quinn".
Music & Lyrics
Hugh Grant makes much mirth out of tight trousers as a washed-up 1980s pop star in this soundtrack-friendly romcom. He's got the tunes, but is lyrically dry, unlike his plant waterer Drew "Cinderella" Barrymore. What could possibly happen?
A bona fide flower-power musical, this sounds like a cross between Hair, Yellow Submarine and a Beatles version of Mamma Mia. Set in the 1960s, it apparently concerns a Liverpudlian boy (called Jude) who meets a New York girl (called Lucy). Other characters are named Prudence, Sadie and JoJo - can you see what it's doing?
BRITFLICKS
2007 might be the year we start to actually feel good about the British film industry again
The lowdown: More of the same from the Shaun Of The Dead team, which is just fine. This one is a buddy cop thriller given the same unpretentious knockabout treatment. And the great and good of British comedy have been queuing up for cameos: Bill Nighy, Steve Coogan, Martin Freeman, Jim Broadbent, Bill Bailey, and so on.
Judging by the trailer: Simon Pegg plays an unfeasibly ace city police sergeant, who's drafted to a sleepy village and teamed up with Nick Frost's feasibly inept local bobby - who acts like he's never met a "real" policeman before. For a village where Stephen Merchant's escaped swan counts as a major incident, there are an awful lot of suspicious deaths. "Have you ever wondered why the crime rate is so low, and the accident rate is so high?" asks Pegg, and it's buddy-boy action-comedy all the way to the finish.
Best case scenario: Starsky and Hutch meets The League Of Gentlemen.
Worst case scenario: Lock, Stock ... meets Inspector Morse.
This Is England
How's that for a patriotic title? And this concerns one of Blighty's less noble cultural exports: skinheads. Based on Shane Meadows' teenage years and set in the 1980s, it's tipped to be one of the best home products of the year.
Atonement
Ian McEwan's novel, adapted by Christopher Hampton, starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. Brits in class conflict and the second world war - this could be a contender in the 2008 Oscar race.
Sunshine
Danny Boyle sets the controls for the heart of the sun - literally. This bonkers-sounding sci-fi teams up Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Mark Strong and Rose Byrne, among others, and puts them on a one-way space trip to reignite our dying sun. The future's not bright, but they better wear shades.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
And if all else fails, at least we've got the mostly British cash-cow of Harry Potter to fall back on. Though this time next year, that could be getting a run for its money from the big budget opener of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
OUT THERE
Extreme cinema is becoming an endangered species, which is why we must cherish twisted imaginations where they flourish
300
The lowdown: As historical action epics go, this looks superbly preposterous. It restages the much-exaggerated battle of Thermopylae, in which 300 Spartans held off a million invading Persians, although the figures might have been exaggerated a little in the intervening 2,500 years. This is based on Frank "Sin City" Miller's intense graphic novel.
Judging by the trailer: Occasional lulls aside, it looks like one, surreal orgy of warfare, with armoured beasts, an arsenal of antique weapons, and bearded warriors yelling, "SPARTA!" until their lungs burst.
The return of David Lynch, with a three-hour oddity involving Laura Dern, a film within a film, and possibly another film within that film. There are giant rabbits, spooky butlers, and a chorus line of hookers. So far, nobody who's seen it has claimed to have the slightest idea what it's on about - can't wait!
Grindhouse
Quentin Tarantino prattles on about his love of 1970s exploitation cinema, and here he gets to make some with his mate Robert Rodriguez. Their double bill - Death Proof and Planet Terror - could pass as the real thing, fake trailers and all, if it wasn't for the stars. Kurt Russell plays a serial-killing stuntman, while Rose McGowan appears to have a machine gun instead of a leg.
Funny Games
For anyone bracing themselves for the next sadistic onslaught from Michael "Hidden" Haneke, the good news is it's a remake of his 1997 movie of the same name. The bad news is, it's sadistic onslaught city - as two teens horrifically torture and abuse a vacationing family. The victims this time are Naomi Watts and Tim Roth.
AMERICAN IDOLS
Hollywood's movers have finally realised that their own history has all the crime and corruption a good thriller needs
Zodiac
The lowdown: The real-life Zodiac killer killed at least seven people (and claimed many more) in late-1960s/early 1970s San Francisco, and brazenly played cat and mouse with the press without ever getting caught. Based on Robert Graysmith's true-crime novel, this could be a return to form for director David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club), who's assembled a great cast: Jake Gyllenhaal (as Graysmith, who cracked the Zodiac's codes), Robert Downey Jr, and Chloe Sevigny.
Judging by the trailer: It's going to be dark, dense, tense and scary. A mix of police drama, horror and Countdown-style conundrum solving.
Best case scenario: All The President's Men meets Seven.
Bobby
Emilio Estevez goes for a widescreen view of Robert F Kennedy's assassination in 1968, following almost everyone at the crime scene: the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The cast is huge, including Sharon Stone, Martin Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Demi Moore, Christian Slater, etc.
The Good German
Steven Soderbergh conjures the spirit of The Third Man and Casablanca in a black-and-white wartime thriller shot on vintage equipment for extra authenticiy. George Clooney is a journalist asking tricky questions in bombed-out Berlin, Cate Blanchett his mournful German ex.
American Gangster
Ridley Scott refashions Russell Crowe as a tough cop in this 1970s thriller. Along with partner Denzel Washington, he's after an enterprising dealer who's smuggling heroin into the US in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. It sounds absurd but it's based on a true story.
Copyright 2006  guardian.co.uk
