As we close out 2015 we move from Decembers Oscar season straight into the dumping ground that is January. Now although there may not be any films to look forward to in January, the rest of the year is packed full of big movies that we all can’t wait to see. So this is my personal list of the Top 10 films releasing in 2016 that i cannot wait to see. The following list will most likely be filled with huge blockbusters, comic book films and films attached to franchises. Not because i hate smaller films, but because the only films that have any sort of marketing released at this stage happen to be those movies. Lets kick off this list with #10.

#10 – WARCRAFT

In the number 10 spot we have Duncan Jones’ ‘WARCRAFT’. Firstly, i gotta say, apart from the #1 position, this is probably the hardest position to give to a film. Only because i had to decide between 3-4 films, and who was going to make it in and kick all of the rest out. So sorry to ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’, and ‘The Jungle Book’, you just missed out. Anyway, why Warcraft? I thought the trailer for this Fantasy Video-Game adaptation looked pretty damn awesome. I like the way the conflict is depicted in the trailer with the Orcs invading the human world and both parties having to decide whether they go to war or work together to protect each others people. I think this movie has the potential to be a new epic Action Fantasy, the only obstacle it has is having to grab the attention of people not familiar with the game. My experience with the Warcraft brand is limited to the ‘Hearthstone’ card game so i know very little about it but there are a lot of people who are unfamiliar with it, and if this movie wants to succeed, it is going to need a killer marketing campaign. But being directed by Duncan Jones who did a great job with ‘Source Code’ gives me more hope that this can actually be a really good film.

#9 – BOURNE 5

Next up is a film we know very little about but what we do know is enough for me to get really excited about it. Known only as ‘Bourne 5’ the film sees the return of Matt Damon and Director Paul Greengrass to the action franchise that inspired so many other during its run in the 2000’s. The trilogy that ran from 2002 to 2007 is one of  the best action trilogies of all time and it was all due to the fantastic directing and amazing performance by Matt Damon. Yes, i know there was a fourth film in 2012 but Director Tony Gilroy and Jeremy Renner could not capture the same elements that made those other films so great. That is literally all we have to go on right now, but the returning combination of Damon and Greengrass to this franchise is why the movie cracks my top 10.

#8 – FINDING DORY

Pixar returns in 2016, and they bring with them the sequel to a film beloved by so many people of all ages, ‘Finding Nemo’. People have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up to the classic 2003 film and the sequel titled ‘Finding Dory’ sees the return of the voices that bought that film to life. Except for Nemo’s voice, because it wouldn’t make much sense for a 21 year old to be voicing a little kid. This time around, as you can guess from the title, the film will be focusing more on the character who stole the show in the first film, Ellen DeGeneres’ ‘Dory’. The film follows Dory who suddenly remembers some details about her long lost family and goes on an adventure to find them. A very simple but also genius concept that will see the characters we love encounter many others played by talents such as Idris Elba, Diane Keaton, Ed O’Neil, Eugene Levy, and Ty Burrell. Personally i loved the original film as a kid, and even today i can watch it and it is still a barrel of laughs and emotions and remains as one of Pixar’s best films.

#7 – X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

Now, we are getting into the big guns, the films that are shaping up to be some of the biggest and most entertaining films of the year, hopefully. This one is coming straight off the backs of two amazing films in ‘X-Men: First Class’, and one of my favourites of last year ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’. And really, the film is where it is on my list because of how great Days of Future Past was. Director Bryan Singer is again returning to the X-Men franchise, the franchise he knows so well and really, the only person who i trust to make a good X-Men movie. He knows how to use the characters, and the villains in ways that create truly amazing movies. This one in particular looks to be the big finale in this new X-Men trilogy and will set up more future X-Men films, because you know Fox is never gonna stop making these films. And for this finale, Singer is bringing in the ultimate X-Men villain, the one who will be a huge threat to the survival of mutants across the globe….. Apocalypse. I don’t know a lot about the character but the way they are portraying him is as, well, the most powerful mutant. One who can control any other mutant to do his bidding, and this makes him a huge threat to any mutant or human.

I did think the trailer for the film was only borderline good, as i didn’t really feel the power of Apocalypse through the tone of the trailer. There is a lot of talk about his power but i didn’t get any of that from what was a pretty dark trailer. I’m going to guess that they are saving a lot of that for the actual film which is great, so i’m not overly annoyed about it. Also, i have said many times after the leaked, shitty quality images of Apocalypse came out that he looked a lot like Ivan Ooze from Might Morphin Power Rangers, whilst also recognising that he probably doesn’t look exactly like that in the final film. But there are a few people, well, more than a few who have gone on long extensive internet rants about how he looks stupid and like a terrible villain, based on his design. And to all the morons having a sook about how Apocalypse looks, A) you will still watch the film, B) you will probably walk out saying you loved it, and that you loved Apocalypse and, C) you will then look like an idiot for complaining. But i guess people are entitled to their own opinions………….

#6 – ASSASSIN’S CREED

People who know me know i love the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Video Games, and it is one of my favourite game series’ of all time. And when i found out that they were actually going ahead with the movie, i was instantly looking forward to seeing what they do with the property, whether they were they going to adapt the game or do a new original story. But initially, it was no-where to be seen on my most anticipated list for what was then 2015, mainly due to one crucial fact: live action movies based on Video Games all SUCK. Some people consider some of them guilty pleasure films, but that doesn’t mean they are good movies. So when you consider that there has never been a good live action adaptation of a video game you become instantly worried for this film. But, then more details came out about the film once it started pre-production and filming not long ago, and i lost my shit. Firstly we got word of who the person directing the film was; Justin Kurzel, and instantly my interest in the project went way up. He directed 2011’s ‘Snowtown’, a dark film i thought was great and intense and very very well directed, and then this year he directed ‘Macbeth’ and WOW what a fantastic film that was. I loved what he did with Macbeth, it was a beautiful looking film and amazingly directed. And if he could translate what he did with those films over to Assassin’s Creed it would surely turn out to be great.

And then we got word of the cast, and this is where the film for me shot up straight into my top 10 most anticipated. Firstly you have the names of amazingly experienced actors who are great at putting in very convincing dramatic performances; Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson. These additions surprised me that we were actually getting some pretty big talent for this film. And then they hit us with two big ones…. BANG….. Michael Fassbender…….BANG……… Marion Cotillard. I went nuts when i saw this news. These are two of the biggest and hottest actors/actresses in Hollywood today and the idea of them teaming up again for an Assassin’s Creed film was crazy. Everyone should be familiar with their work but seeing them both in Kurzel’s ‘Macbeth’ earlier this year was truly incredible. As of right now they are probably both my picks for the Best Actor/Actress Oscars because their performances as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth we out of this world. So those reasons, as well as some others regarding the way they are going with the story are why i have this at #6.

#5 – BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

So we are now half way through and we have come to a film that at one point was at my no. 1 spot, and then my no. 2, then 3 and then after the last trailer it unfortunately dropped down to 5. ‘Batman V Superman’ is something everyone has been wanting to see on the big screen for ages, and now in 2016 it is finally going to be a reality. The idea alone of Batman going up against Superman makes it worthy of a Top 10 spot. And after that first trailer i was all in on this film being one of the greatest superhero films of all time. The tone was incredible, it showed just enough to get you fully hyped for the film and it just looked awesome. It ended up being one of the best, if not THE best trailer i have ever seen. All the hype was for Batman V Superman, finally, the DC cinematic universe was coming to life in the best way possible, and then they dropped the ball. That second trailer they released not too long ago was crap…. it was just shit. Poorly edited, seemingly revealed a lot about the plot, and was no-where near as epic or awesome as the first trailer. How does the same marketing team make one of the best trailers i’ve seen and then one of the worst trailers for the same movie. I could go on for ages about why i am pretty worried about this film turning out to be average, but Batman and Ben Affleck look awesome and i hope Zack Snyder can pull it off. For the sake of the DC cinematic universe i hope he can.

#4 – SUICIDE SQUAD

Next up, is another film set in the DC cinematic universe that isn’t as big as Batman V Superman but definitely surprised a lot of people with its fantastic, dark and gritty Comic-Con trailer this year. I knew nothing about the Suicide Squad comics, but the concept of gathering a group of villains to hunt down even bigger villains sounds pretty fucking cool. And DC is known for having fantastic villains, so it is a great opportunity to highlight some of their biggest villains. Also, as you probably already know by now, The Joker is being featured in this film, this time being played by Jared Leto. I for one, think that he is a perfect choice to play the Joker and from what we have seen so far, i really love the direction they are taking with this Joker. This version of the Joker is much more evil and psychotic than we have ever seen him on screen before. They obviously have to do something different from Ledger’s Joker to differentiate this universe from the Nolan universe, and this direction i feel is perfect for the film. With Will Smith playing Deadshot and Margot Robbie playing Harley Quinn and a little bit of Ben Affleck’s Batman being thrown in there it will be interesting to see how they balance the many characters, but if the trailer is all we have to go on, this looks to be a really great film.

#3 – CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

2016 is shaping up to be the year of superheroes fighting each other. Marvel can do no wrong, they have a streak of films that are so great that even the worst of the bunch are still pretty damn enjoyable. And it looks like this streak is going to continue when Captain America and Iron Man go head to head in the third Captain America film. I loved Captain America Winter Soldier, it was very fast paced, had tonnes of action and was a very fun movie. The Russo brothers were the ones responsible for directing that movie, so the fact that they are also directing this movie is just another reason to get more excited for it. One of my concerns initially was that having all of the Avengers in this film along with some new faces was going to make this film too crowded and possibly overshadow the fact that it is a Captain America movie. But after seeing the trailer, (which was really freaking awesome btw) it made it clear to me that this is still going to be a very Cap-focused film with the rest of the Avengers probably joining in for a few friendly skirmishes here and there.

The trailer for this film i really really loved. It set up, the basic plot of the film perfectly, like how and why Bucky ties into the story, and why the Avengers are forced to pick sides. It gave us just enough without spoiling anything big. It looked like this is also going to be a very fast paced action film like the last one and OMG that final shot alone was enough to sell me on this movie. That wide shot of Bucky and Cap passing the shield back and forth whilst totally destroying Iron-Man was awesome and beautiful. See, you clearly don’t need 100 close-up jump cuts to film an awesome looking fight scene. The other reason i am looking forward to this film is obviously SPIDER-MAN, we are finally going to see our web-slinging friend team up with some of our favourite Avengers in the MCU. He will most likely have very limited screen-time and that is why i really hope they don’t show anything of Spider-Man in the future trailers. His big reveal should be kept for the film, just as Doomsday’s reveal should have been. Rather than show Spider-Man in the trailer they can just show some of Crossbones, because in a film this big who really cares about the villain.

#2 – ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

And in our runner up position is a film that a lot of people who are not huge Star Wars fans don’t even know is coming out. ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ is going to be the first in a long line of Star Wars Anthology films that will fill the gaps between the main episodes every 2 years. This story is going to be set between Episode III and IV and will follow the group of rebel fighters who were tasked with stealing the plans for the Death Star, the same plans that Princess Leia has acquired at the beginning of Ep IV. From the very little we know about the film, it is going to be a very dark and gritty movie and most likely wont feature any of the franchises signature Lightsaber duels. It has been rumoured that the film is going to have a very WWII-like feel to it and i really love the sound of that. But despite knowing very little about it, it is being directed by Gareth Edwards, and, well, it is STAR WARS, so that is why it is so high up on my most anticipated.

#1 – DEADPOOL

Number 1 is shaping up to be one of the biggest and best movies of the year as it is coming off of the back of hands down THE BEST marketing campaign that i have ever seen for a film. Everything the marketing team has done for this film whether it be the posters, the trailers, the short viral videos, random images like the one above or the more recent 12 Days of Deadpool, has been totally GENIUS and i have loved every second of it. The trailers and teaser trailers for this film have been incredibly hilarious, and it keeps on getting better. The trailer that they just released on Christmas day had me in stitches because of how stupidly funny it was. It seems incredibly risky making a superhero film this violent and with this much profanity as it could scare away certain audiences, but i don’t give a shit because this is who Deadpool is, a foul mouthed, fourth wall breaking smart-ass, and that is the only way you can portray him. And yes, as much as i like to never admit that it ever happened, someone by the name of Deadpool was featured in the shit-box that was ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. But whoever that thing was supposed to be, it was as far from Deadpool as you could get, so in my mind and in the continuity of the universe, that never happened.

Ryan Reynolds was always destined to play Deadpool, the fast-talking ‘Merc with a Mouth’. He is simply the perfect person to play the part and the only one i can ever imaging in the role. And the other reason that makes this film look like it is going to be fantastic is just the amount of love being put into the project from Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller. They have spoken openly about how they were trying to get this film made with an R rating for years and finally Fox gave them the go-ahead after some test footage “leaked” to an extremely positive fan response. Ryan Reynolds seems totally invested in the character and genuinely excited for the film and seeing him get excited only makes me even more excited to the point where i don’t even know if it could compete with the amount of hype surrounding it. Thankfully we only have to wait until February to see it.

AND THATS ALL

So that rounds out my Top 10 most anticipated list for 2016 and what a year we have coming up. Remember, this is my most anticipated list, not necessarily what i think will be my favourite films at the end of the year, but man if this is what my best of the year list turns out to look like, then it will probably be the best year for movies ever. So what about you, what are you excited to see in 2016? Any of these films? Or some that may have missed out on this list? Be sure to sound off what your top 10 would be.