Stuck at home? Down in the dumps? Well, prepare for this year's delayed cinema sequels by catching up with the following awesome movies.
1. A Quiet Place
Ahead of: A Quiet Place: Part II
John Krasinski's inventive and spine-tingling creature feature pits one family against marauding monsters that hunt via sound. Krasinski directs real-life wife Emily Blunt in this nail-biting and genuinely emotional story of a battle against the odds, which features some of the best, not to mention eeriest, sound design in recent memory. This wasn't a movie to munch popcorn through, and the eventual sequel, again directed by Krasinski and starring Blunt, promises to expand on the mythology in exciting ways.
2. Peter Rabbit
Ahead of: Peter Rabbit 2
James Corden first voiced Beatrix Potter's tricksy yet adorable bunny in the 2018 family blockbuster of the same name. The Gavin and Stacey star is set to reprise his role as Peter in this year's sequel, which sends Peter to the big city, where he thinks about leaving his idyllic country life behind. Fortunately, his friends including Flopsy and Mopsy set off in hot pursuit to change his mind.
3. Mulan
Ahead of: Mulan
Back in 1998, Disney animation Mulan emerged as an empowering and spirited story for the ages, in which a young Chinese woman disguises herself as a man to battle the kingdom's enemies. Director Niki Caro's upcoming live-action remake may be ditching the songs (apart from Christina Aguilera's 'Reflection') and dragon sidekick Mushu, but it more than compensates with its sweeping sense of scale and martial arts action sequences. Liu Yifei stars as the eponymous Mulan in what could be the most ambitious and stunning Disney remake yet.
4. Iron Man 2
Ahead of: Black Widow
In 2010, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was in its earliest stages. The franchise had only kicked off two years prior with Robert Downey Jr.'s triumphant comeback performance as Tony Stark in Iron Man. And he returned as the quip-happy entrepreneur/superhero in director Jon Favreau's follow-up, which significantly introduced us to the kick-ass Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. Amazingly, it's taken another 10 years for Johansson's character, Natasha Romanoff, to get her own solo movie. But it's set to be worth the wait, delving into Romanoff's mysterious Soviet past, with the excellent cast including Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz.
5. Wonder Woman
Ahead of: Wonder Woman 1984
Gal Gadot's pioneering warrior Diana Prince levelled the DC playing field with her solo movie adventure back in 2017. Directed by Patty Jenkins, the Wonder Woman film reclaimed the DC icon from years of kitschy TV material, investing the character with nobility as she cut a swathe through the battlefields of World War I. The upcoming sequel now lands Diana in the era of MTV and massive hair, and also, mysteriously, features the return of apparently deceased love interest Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). Plus, she's got two baddies to contend with: Barbara Minerva/Cheetah (Kristen Wiig), and mind-controlling businessman Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal).
6. Venom
Ahead of: Venom 2
It's now impossible to separate our memories of the Venom movie from the scene where Tom Hardy jumps into a tank full of lobsters. That characteristic Hardy eccentricity helped fuel the first Venom movie to enormous box office success, bringing us the story of journalist Eddie Brock and the symbiotic organism that invades his body. Hardy is back in the sequel, which is the next chapter in Sony's ever-expanding Universe of Marvel Characters. Andy Serkis is directing and there's a double-whammy on the villain front, with Woody Harrelson's Carnage and Naomie Harris's Shriek gearing up to take Venom on.
7. Top Gun
Ahead of: Top Gun: Maverick
Tom Cruise (and his perpetual smile) was cemented in the popular consciousness upon the release of Top Gun. Released in 1986, the original movie is emblematic of the MTV era, with its memorably overblown soundtrack (Kenny Loggins' 'Danger Zone' features no less than three times), macho banter and emphasis on awesome aerial hardware. Now, Cruise's cocky title character Maverick is back, ready to school a group of new cadets, one of whom is Bradley (Miles Teller), son of Maverick's late wingman Goose (Anthony Edwards). Cruise recently said, "I don't know if a movie will ever be made this way again," so consider us excited.
8. Coming To America
Ahead of: Coming 2 America
There was once a time that Eddie Murphy bestrode the box office like a colossus. We don't tend to see too much of him nowadays, although recent release Dolomite Is My Name generated a lot of acclaim. However, Murphy is soon set to reprise one of his most iconic roles, that of wastrel African prince Akeem, in the sequel to classic 1988 comedy Coming To America. The original remains one of Murphy's most popular and oft-quoted movies ("Good morning, my neighbours!"), and many of the first film's original stars, Arsenio Hall and James Earl Jones among them, will be returning.
9. Bill & Ted
Ahead of: Bill And Ted Face The Music
Excellent! Party Time! Our response exactly when we heard that the third Bill And Ted movie had finally, finally started filming. The project had been on the cards for years, and now it's official. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter will be reprising their roles as the slacker rockers, older but, we're imagining, definitely not the wiser. Bill and Ted have already enjoyed an Excellent Adventure and a Bogus Journey; this time, they're tasked with writing a song that will save the Earth, and indeed the whole universe. They've got this, right?
10. Murder on the Orient Express
Ahead of: Death on the Nile
Kenneth Branagh's 2017 adaptation of Agatha Christie whodunit Murder on the Orient Express turned into a major box office hit. It revived a pleasingly nostalgic tradition, that of the star-studded mystery movie, and Branagh continues it in forthcoming Christie adaptation Death on the Nile. He once again directs and stars as whiskered detective extraordinaire Hercule Poirot, whose Nile River cruise is rudely interrupted by a seemingly impossible murder. Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer are among the glamorous suspects under investigation.
Which of the above sequels are you most excited about? Let us know @Cineworld.
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