Retrospective 2017 – A Year in Film

December

Tis the Season to be Jolly . . .

Image sources: Warner, Arrow, Lionsgate & Sony

Somewhat bucking the trend of fewer meaty releases at UK cinemas, this holiday season threw up a healthy mix of films which included more interesting and modest fare like James Franco’s ode to dreamers and ludicrous filmmaking ‘The Disaster Artist‘ plus unconventional coming-of-age comedy and tribute to storytelling with an SNL imprint ‘Brigsby Bear‘, as well as gloriously graphic Samurai revenge tale ‘Blade of the Immortal‘ and Boston bombings strength & resilience biographical drama ‘Stronger‘. There was also some major Hollywood spectacle for audiences to feast their eyes on, including sequels ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Pitch Perfect 3’—but all December releases would inevitably play second fiddle to a certain adventure in a galaxy far, far away . . .

The Saga Continues . . .

Image sources: Lucasfilm

For the third year in a row December proved to be Star Wars season as Disney took over Christmas and conquered all before it, as global audiences were split and surprised by the second installment of the Disney era ‘Star Wars’ saga trilogy ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘—thus setting the scene for an epic conclusion in 2019’s ‘Episode IX’, perhaps the end of line for the ‘Skywalkers’ in this iconic universe . . . although we wouldn’t want to bet on that. In the meantime we await the next and only confirmed future star wars story, the standalone origin tale ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, arriving in cinemas in May 2018.

Those We Lost

Image source: San Diego Tribune, Sony, MGM & MPTV

The year closed out with further losses for the film and TV industry, including jazz guitarist and film & TV composer Mundell Lowe (95) (The Wild Wild West, Billy Jack) and native American actor Steve Reevis (55) (Geronimo: An American Legend, Fargo), as well as American actresses Heather Menzies (68) (The Sound of Music, Logan’s Run) and Rose Marie (94) (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Doris Day Show).

Despite a sluggish 12 months at the box office, 2017 proved to be another eclectic year of releases with surprises and disappointments galore, and with independent film and smaller studio pictures leaving a more lasting mark than the blockbusters—as well as the passing of some major figures in the industry as is unfortunately always the case. Let’s hope 2018 will be at least as productive and more lucrative for the sake of everyone in the industry, please let us know what were your highlights and lowlights in 2017.

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