Retrospective 2017 – A Year in Film

July

A Dreamy Midsummer

Image sources: Sony, Warner Bros., Amazon & Universal

In what is usually an underwhelming month for releases in terms of variety and quality, this July bucked the trend by serving up an impressive mix of small studio flicks, some solid indies and a few huge blockbusters—led by Spider-Man’s return to his spiritual Marvel home in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming‘, the impressive culmination of the ‘Apes’ prequel series ‘War for the Planet of the Apes‘, and Christopher Nolan’s unforgettable foray into visceral War drama ‘Dunkirk‘.

The month also provided some eclectic smaller budget fare in the form of Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon’s biographical comedy ‘The Big Sick‘ and paranoid horror/mystery ‘It Comes at Night‘, as well as Sofia Coppola’s 19th century American costume drama remake ‘The Beguiled‘ and disturbing Aussie kidnap horror ‘Hounds of Love‘.

The Con 2017

High summer as usual signalled the return of world’s biggest pop-media convention to northern California, with comic-book, film, video-game and TV fans amassing to share passions at geek “Valhalla”, while the world’s biggest media conglomerates gathered to promote their wares and give us a glimpse of what to expect over the next 12 months and beyond. You can check out our full movie recap of Comic-Con 2017 with cast panel videos and more here, below is a taste of some of this year’s movie highlights.

The Bros. Are Back in Town

Justice League

Image Source: Getty Images

 After taking advantage of 20th Century Fox’s absence and Marvel’s scaled-back presence to take over Comic-Con with a strong showing in 2016, Warner Bros. returned in force to Hall H this year, culminating in a full panel for the showpiece of the ‘DC Extended Universe’ this year, the ‘Justice League‘ movie. Stars Ben Affleck, Ezra Miller, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher and Jason Momoa were on hand to talk about their upcoming blockbuster, some recent developments and the future of DC at the movies.

Blade Runner 2049

Image Source: Getty Images

True Hollywood royalty also graced the Hall H stage this year for a much anticipated sequel 35 years in the making, as Harrison Ford joined co-stars Ryan Gosling, Sylvia Hoeks and Ana de Armas, and director Denis Villeneuve to talk but not spoil all things ‘Blade Runner 2049‘— a memorable and fitting 21st century sequel sequel set 30 years after the original, which managed to somehow do justice to the Ridley Scott classic while changing the narrative tone and remain socially relevant.

Ready Player One

Image Source: Getty Images

The Hall H crowd this year also got a glimpse of true cinematic greatness as the one-and-only Steven Spielberg graced the stage for a panel on his upcoming on dystopian sci-fi thriller ‘Ready Player One’—set in a world in crisis and an era of fully immersive gaming, following a player who competes in a massive virtual reality extravaganza to find a priceless Easter egg buried by the game’s deceased creator.

The legendary director brought along the original novel’s author Ernest Cline and the film’s stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, T.J. Miller and Ben Mendelsohn, ‘Ready Player One’ is out on the 30th of March 2018 in UK and US cinemas.

Still Plenty to Marvel At

Avengers: Infinity War

Image Source: Getty Images

Despite their scaled-back presence thanks to the demands of Disney’s competing convention D23, Marvel Studios and their president Kevin Feige made a customary appearance at Hall H this year, bringing along a bevy of stars including including some the cast of one of the most anticipated comic-book release of 2018 ‘Avengers: Infinity War’—the film which will unite all of Marvels screen heroes (and introduce some new ones) to battle the ultimate galactic heavy ‘Thanos’, potentially signalling the beginning of the end for this iteration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Fans in Hall H were treated to an exclusive Comic-Con trailer for their eyes only, as well as seeing director Joe Russo and stars Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, Chadwick Boseman and Mark Ruffalo walk onto the stage. ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is out on the 27th of April 2018 in the UK and on the 4th of May 2018 in the US.

Black Panther

Image Source: Getty Images

After a brief appearance last year with the film’s director and a small part of the cast, Feige brought back Ryan Coogler and his stars Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Serkis and Winston Duke, for a full cast panel to talk all things ‘T’Challa’ and ‘Wakanda’.

‘Black Panther’ will see the new king of Wakanda return home after the events of ‘Civil War’ to take his place on the throne, while facing threats from the outside world and dissension among his own people—the film is out in UK and US cinemas on the 16th of February 2018.

Thor: Ragnarok

Image Source: Getty Images

Not ones to miss an opportunity for some 11th hour promotion, Marvel also treated the assembled fans in Hall H to a panel for their most imminent movie ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘, with Feige bringing along director Taika Waititi and stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban and Rachel House to talk about a change of fortunes for the god of thunder. Fans were treated to an exclusive new trailer for a delightfully droll superhero epic which would prove both a critical and an ever bigger box office success.

Those We Lost

Image source: Paramount, Wire Image, 20th Century Fox, Warner & MGM

July proved to be one of the toughest months for losses this year with the passing of some film legends and many other figures in the industry. The month saw the loss of versatile acting great Martin Landau (89) (Mission: Impossible, Ed Wood), who was promptly followed by horror pioneer and groundbreaking indie filmmaker George A. Romero (77) (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead). We also lost prolific and likeable American actor John Heard (72) (Big, Home Alone), as well as commanding screen veteran Sam Shepard (73) (Days of Heaven, The Right Stuff) and French thespian Jeanne Moreau (89) (The Lovers, Viva Maria!).

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