100 Reasons To Embrace Movies In 2010

Ellen Page

With the glut of mediocre, post-Juno rush-releases done (The Tracey Fragments, Smart People), Ellen Page’s career is now all set to explode.

First there’s Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It (Page as rollerblader). Next it’s Peacock (psych thriller with Cillian Murphy). And then, on 16 July 2010, it’s Christopher Nolan’s Inception (she stars as Isabell).

Finally, after all that, she plays Jane Eyre. The actress of the next 20 years, let alone the next 12 months... Unless it’s Carey Mulligan.

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The Number Nine

Maybe it’s an end of the decade thing, but Q4 2009 – as marketing bods speak – sees the release of two films with the top-heavy digit as their title.

There’s the Tim Burton produced postapocalyptic ’toon 9 on 30 October and then, a month later, the more-spelledout Rob Marshall musical Nine.

Throw in District 9 and it seems films are trying to give us some sort of (emergency) message.

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Somewhere

The bedrest for the decadent (and, sometimes, the dead), Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont hotel is opening its doors for Sofi a Coppola’s Somewhere – the Oscar-nommed director’s fourth film, about a bad boy actor (Stephen Dorff) confronting his issues after a visit from his daughter (Elle Fanning). Expect a good soundtrack.

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Christian Bale

A mixed 2009 for Bale and nothing on the slate until 2011’s suitably-named David O Russell boxing flick The Fighter.

So why’s he on The Future 100? He’s Batman and at some point in the next 12 months he’ll start Batman 3.

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Iron Man 2: Don Cheadle Is Col James 'Rhodey' Rhodes AKA War Machine

The first of many Iron Man 2 entries, Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard for the role of army man Rhodey… “It’s always tricky when you put another
actor into an established role,” he admits, before comforting that things won’t change too much.

“He’s the same, it’s just Don Cheadle’s head on that character.” But a much bigger job in 2010 will find him sticking with his mission to get a Miles Davis biopic off the ground.

“It’s going good. We have a script that we’re working on,” he says. And might he direct it as well as act? “If it doesn’t kill me, yes…”

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Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps

It’s the sequel few were expecting, set for release (23 April 2010) when (fingers crossed) the recession will be abating… As with World Trade Center and W., Oliver Stone again lacks the immediacy many would like, but as we can easily buy, buy, buy the idea of Shia LaBeouf playing a trader and Michael Douglas is back as Gordon Gekko, we’re, er, sold.

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Zombieland

Having scrutinised 20 minutes, we predict that Zombieland’s union of undead shocks and mirth is going to scare up big box office this November (one scene had Jesse Eisenberg lusting after the hottie-next-door, only for her to turn raging flesh-eater).

Eisenberg says: “If the world ends, I hope it ends like it does in our movie because at least I’ll know how to survive.”

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London Eye: 4D Experience

3D is so 2009. Shot over and around London’s South Bank, this four-minute, Goldfrapp scored mini-movie uses Real-D tech to give visitors a bird’s-eye view of Jessica Alba’s favourite tourist attraction (she’s been on it 31 times).

4D?

That’d be the synced-up sensory effects pumped into the theatre – mist, bubbles, smells. This is the future.

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Jonathan Nolan

Jonah to his friends, Christopher’s brother / collaborator was Bale’s go-to guy when the Terminator Salvation script turned up a stinker.

Cynics would say he didn’t exactly Mamet it, but then again the original draft was by Catwoman and T3 men Brancato and Ferris.

On Jonah’s to-do list? Spielberg’s 2011 thriller Interstellar and, no doubt, a telephone ringing hot with script doctor calls.

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Paul Thomas Anderson

He’s arguably the world’s finest director, so why so low? He’s got nothing on the slate for 2010. So why in at all? There’s something hush-hush he’ll announce next year that will send the film world into reverberation. It’s a premonition placing.

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Alexander Payne

It’s been five years since Sideways so it was high fives all round when Alexander Payne announced he was to direct an adap of Kaui Hart Hemmings’ The Descendants, about a dad whose missus is in a soon-to-be-switched-off coma.

Also, watch out for Downsizing – a comedy about a man who decides to go small to think big starring Giamatti and Witherspoon.

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Darren Aronofsky

If the confirmation for his RoboCop reboot had come through, he’d be Top 10. As it is, he’s in pre-production on thriller Black Swan.

It’s pencilled in for 2010, but he’s been dropping projects like trousers at a frat party lately, so it’s hard to wrestle the man who made one of 2009’s best films much higher.

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Terrence Malick

Brad Pitt and Sean Penn team up for The Tree Of Life – the elusive Tel’s first project since 2005’s The New World – due out in 2010. Five years is lightspeed in Malick time, but don’t bank on the director releasing anything this year – or next. You just can’t.

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Judd Apatow

There are about 48 projects on Apatow’s slate – main one for 2010 is the Russell Brand vehicle Get Him To The Greek which he exec-produces – but he’s here because in 2010’s brave new world of 10 Best Picture Oscar noms, his exceptional Funny People has got a shout.

Which would really mean he’d made it.

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Out Of The Dark

As Hollywood enjoys a heart-pounding romance with the horror remake, Total Film explores where the next batch of nightmares should come from...

Horror movies have been remade, recycled, reimagined, re-bloodyeverythinged since the 1910s, but Hollywood is particularly obsessed at the moment, retooling heritage titles faster than Jason (old or new) can off fornicating teens.

Go here for our 20 Greatest Horror Films You've Never Seen feature.

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Hungary

Czech Republic? That’s so 2005. For cheap locations, The Wall Street Journal says Hungary is the place to shoot. From Kevin Macdonald’s Channing Tatum and Jamie Bellstarring Roman yarn The Eagle Of The Ninth, Nic Cage’s Season Of The Witch and John Madden’s Mossad / Nazi revenge thriller

The Debt to films starring Winona Ryder, Rachel Weisz and two with Michael Madsen. If you see a film in 2010, chances are it’s been filmed down Magyar-way.

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Larry David

Season Seven of Curb Your Enthusiasm – the one with the Seinfeld reunion – has just kicked off, but it’s David’s Boris Yellnikoff role in Woody Allen’s
Whatever Works that will make or break his next 12 months.

Larry’s written and appeared on the small screen for 29 years. It’s time for him to ‘do a Gervais’ and make Hollywood a more interesting place.

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Takers

No longer called Bone Deep (good move), this thriller sees good-looking bank robbers Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen stifled by Matt Dillon’s cop.

Back in the day of Attack Of The Clones, Walker wanted to play Anakin Skywalker. But he was too old. “When I heard who was involved [in Takers], I wanted to do it,” he says. “Matt Dillon? He’s cool. And Anakin Skywalker – I wanted to kick his ass!” Glad he’s moved on…

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Iron Man 2: Gwyneth Paltrow Is Pepper Potts

Recent reports have Gwyneth Paltrow trying to build a business empire in 2010, including a clothing line and other lifestyle brands pitched at working mums a little like her.

And she’s adopting the ethos on screen too, returning as Tony Stark’s very own busy body Pepper Potts in Iron Man 2, this time round taking over as Stark Industries’ new CEO in the wake of Tony’s commitment to save the world in a metal suit.

But in real life, she’s happy running info website GOOP. “People want me to do all this other stuff. But right now, I just really love doing the site.” Can’t wait for the next Coldplay album.

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The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival

Running from 14-29 October, the UK’s greatest public film celebration opens with Fantastic Mr Fox (#60) and closes with Nowhere Boy (#50). The highlights for Artistic Director Sandra Hebron include The Road (“Just amazing.

It’s really faithful to the book… You just know that we as the human race have fucked it up”), the Coens’ A Serious Man (#26) and the Sexy Beast boys’
44 Inch Chest (“It has the most swear words of any film I’ve ever seen”).

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Anne Hathaway

We’re still spitting blood at Hathaway being robbed of a deserved Oscar for Rachel Getting Married, so it’s rather reassuring that in early 2010 she’s decided to not bother the Academy one bit, choosing instead to appear in big hitters such as Alice In Wonderland (by Tim Burton, she plays The White Queen) and Valentine’s Day (Garry Marshall romcom that really needs no explanation, out for 14 February).

Later in the year though there’s Ed Zwick’s Love And Other Drugs, a movie all about Viagra, costarring Jake Gyllenhaal. If the director can calm down on the pretentiousness, it could be Oscar-baiting gold…

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Never Let Me Go

With clones joining vampires on cinema’s current It-List, Kazuo Ishiguro’s deeply creepy novel about an England where human-xeroxes are bred as organ donors is being shaped into a quality tearjerker by director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and Sunshine screenwriter Alex Garland.

Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan are the best friends/love rivals only hazily aware of the grim fate in store for them. In the hands of Andrew Macdonald’s DNA Films, this is sure to grab hold, never to let go… Oh whatever.

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Coffee

Popcorn, Coke, hot dogs, pick’n’mix, ice cream, nachos – foodstuffs for cinemagoers from decades past.

Heading from the noughties into the teens, it’s all about foyer machines serving up £2-plus Americanos, Skinny Lattés and Cappuccino Del Fresco Al Monte Lights.

Lucky really. You’ll need the caffeine hit for Sex And The City 2, out 28 May 2010.

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Reese Witherspoon

2010 will see Witherspoon bring on the funny: she’s headlining James L Brooks’ untitled romcom and has drafted in scribes to sharpen up her comic vehicle,

She’s also down for Alexander Payne’s consumerist satire Downsizing – a thrilling, belated reunion for the Election-eering duo.

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Orange Wednesday

Running since 2003, it’s still so simple (just text ‘Film’ to 241) and so effective. On average 300,000 people in the UK use the two-for- one ticket service.

We know it’s six years old, but with no rivals or alternatives yet, The Future 100 remains Orange.

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iPhone Camera Apps

OK, so Orange may have the ticket deals sewn up, but you’ve got to be on O2 in order to find the cinema, with the numerous apps on their iPhone (Movies by Flixster’s the best) offering you trailers, times and directions.

Oh, and keep an eye out for Total Film’s very own app. It’s on its way… soon.

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Jessica Alba

How to cleanse oneself of The Love Guru? For Alba, it’s going lo-fi with Michael Winterbottom in crime-thriller The Killer Inside Me. Kudos to her for realising that spandex and horror remakes won’t make you the next Angelina Jolie…

If that plan fails, she has back-up: Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse spin-off Machete (#59) and star-laced romcom Valentine’s Day.

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The Cannes Film Festival

It’s running from 12-23 May 2010. We’ve no idea whatsoever what films will play there, but it feels remiss to not include it in The Future 100 as we had a right old time there this year.

We don’t go to the Oscars, so it doesn’t make the cut.

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Predators

Can Robert Rodriguez do for Predator what James Cameron did for Alien? RR will write and produce, Vacancy’s Nimród Antal will direct.

Gore-meister Greg Nicotero will create the vulva-faced ETs… So there will be blood.

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The Cabin In The Woods

Joss Whedon is moving into a cabin in the woods for 5 February 2010’s The Cabin In The Woods, which he co-wrote with Buffy, Angel and Lost writer Drew Goddard.

Goddard directs on his tod, but both have promised a “horror film to end all horror films”, turning a familiar kids-getting-spooked formula on its head. Stars the world’s finest bald actor, Richard Jenkins.

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Dev Patel

From Skins to Slumdog to Shyamalan… Just two years after debuting on E4, the 19-year-old Brit actor turns Hollywood star, putting his Taekwondo black belt to use as villainous Prince Zuko in M Night’s fantasy adventure The Last Airbender.

That’s right, the other Avatar.

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John Carter Of Mars

Pixar maestro Andrew Stanton wrote and directed Finding Nemo and WALL-E. Pull on your excited faces – this is his live-action debut.

It’s a sci-fi fantasy about a Civil War vet (the eponymous John Carter) who battles 12ft tall green barbarians on Mars.

Now that’s a premise. Out in 2012. Can’t wait for 2010 footage…

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Drew Barrymore

With her Flower Films production house over a decade old, Drew is finally making her directorial debut with Ellen Page (#100)-starring rollerskating comedy Whip It.

Acting-wise? She’s canoodling with real life on/off beau Justin Long on romcom Going The Distance (8 October 2010).

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Disney Buying Marvel

Come 2011 this will be huge news as the first films started after the new $4bn partnership trickle out, but it will be fascinating to see how they develop in 2010…

Iron Mouse probably won’t happen, but do expect The Avengers, Thor, Spider-Man 4 and Captain America – the latter being muttered in the same sentence as Will Smith.

Incidentally, Big Willie isn’t on this list because he’s only got Steven Spielberg’s Old Boy remake down for next year, but what with the director’s Tintin thing, we hardly expect that to come out. Glad that’s sorted.

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Sweden

No it’s not just Spotify, even if its recent video ads suggest it’s a matter of time before free movie streaming hits… The chilly Scandinavian country is also a hotbed of cinematic talent.

Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In is being remade by Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves (#86), miserable helmer Lukas Moodysson has gone mainstream(ish) with Gael García Bernal and Michelle Williams in Mammoth and horror thriller Millennium: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has just wowed FrightFest.

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Paul Rudd

From dependable court jester to everyone’s favourite bromantic, Rudd vies with Owen Wilson for Reese Witherspoon’s attentions in James L Brooks’ untitled love triangle, before pairing up with Steve Carell in Jay Roach’s Dinner For Schmucks, an update of quality French farce Le Dîner De Cons. We love you, man…

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Jason Segal

Older than Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill, Segal once looked like the forgotten son in Apatow’s frat-pack.

Then came ace turns in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which he wrote, too) and I Love You, Man.

Now he’s laying comedy siege to 2010: as well as starring in Gulliver’s Travels as Jack Black’s Lilliputian best buddy (#55), he’s been hired to ink the script for a brand new Muppet movie. The boy has talent.

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Bradley Cooper

Cooper’s new year kicks off with a Sandra Bullock romcom, All About Steve (15 January). But cut him some slack – he’s bagsied the role of Faceman in Joe Carnahan’s A-Team adap. And then there’s The Hangover 2...

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Zach Galfianakis

A fat, bearded, arse-flashing wad of comedy genius, the unpronounceable funnyman stole The Hangover and was snapped up to star with Carrell and Rudd in Dinner For Schmucks.

What a team-up. With The Hangover 2 also greenlit, the Z-man is Hollywood’s new go-to guy for bad taste belly-laughs…

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Todd Phillips

Having directed the highest-grossing R-rated comedy ever, the Hangover director is now second only to Apatow in the comedy power-player stakes.

He’s teaming with fellow Future 100 stars Robert Downey Jr (#7) and Zach Galifianakis (#62) for Due Date, about a dad-to-be racing to make his kid’s birth. He’ll also be nursing Hangover 2.

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Wes Anderson

Make no mistake, Roald Dahl adaps can be tricky to get off the ground. Any budding adaptor must fi rst visit Dahl’s widow, Felicity, at the Dahl family home in the idyllic Buckinghamshire village of Great Missenden.

Johnny Depp spent time there for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Tim Burton reportedly burst into tears on the lawn. The likes of Danny DeVito, John Cleese and Guillermo del Toro have all made pilgrimages…

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Machete

It’s been two years since Grindhouse. Two years with people crying out for a feature-length version of the faux-trailer Machete that Robert Rodriguez cobbled together for the mid-film break.

US and UK readers familiar with YouTube will have seen the promo starring tattooed Mexican Danny Trejo as the ex-cop who launches a brutal rampage after being betrayed by his former boss. Er, Kill Bill anyone?

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Blu-ray

Believe it or not, in 2010 the very first Blu-ray prototype will be a decade old and it’s still the best way to watch movies at home. There is simply nothing as clear, colourful or loud.

Sure, this sounds like an advert, but it’s true. Sales are set to skyrocket with the new improved super slim PlayStation 3.

Check out our Blu-ray section here .

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Paul Greengrass

Three years since The Bourne Supremacy and the Watchmen adap that never was, Greengrass is blasting back big-time with two trademark hyper-relevant thrillers. Green Zone (#17) stars Matt Damon as a CIA agent on the trail of WMDs, while They Marched Into Sunlight (PG’s first script since United 93) rewinds to ’Nam 1967.

Oh, and there’s the small matter of Bourne 4…

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Zac Efron

He may not play Orson Welles in Richard Linklater’s Me And Orson Welles (that honour falls to Christian McKay), but the boy hunk – who some prefer to Robert Pattinson – is the “Me”, a 17-year-old Richard Samuels, who persuades the eponymous theatre director to give him a part in Julius Caesar.

It’s a proper, non-High School Musical film. Testing. But not as testing as headlining Burr Steers’ The Death And Life Of Charlie St. Cloud. Big year. Big, big year.

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A Couple Of Dicks

The screenplay for A Couple Of Dicks was in the 2008 Black List – a roll-call of Hollywood’s best unproduced scripts.

No wonder Kevin Smith selected it as the first he’ll direct that he hasn’t written himself. Bruce Willis and Seann William Scott star in the comedy caper about two cops chasing everything from stolen baseball cards to gangsters.

That cheeky title might change after Inglourious Basterds’ troubles, though.

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Daniel Craig

You won’t hear much from Daniel Craig right now. He’s resting. He’s waiting. He needs to. Because in a few months, he’ll be back in the gym and back in the tuxedo, making the biggest, baddest Bond movie yet.

By then we’ll also be seeing shots of him as a beardy guy called Red Rackham in a film called Tintin by a couple of other beardy guys...

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Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter And The Protracted Farewell more like…

Six movies and nine years have all led up to this epic two-part finale as Harry must defeat the Dark Lord.

Director David Yates claims he’ll shake up the series with hand-held cameras and bust out of Hogwarts. “This is a road movie,” says Daniel Radcliffe. “It’s just a totally different look.” Bring on V Day.

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Aaron Johnson

A 19-year-old with a mammoth 2010... First the London Film Festival (#81) offers the chance to see him as John Fricking Lennon in Nowhere Boy (“It’s about his relationship with his aunt and mother before he was famous, which really informs what John Lennon became”) and then, come 2010, we finally get to see why Comic-Con was wowed by Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass.

Stepping out with Nowhere Boy director Sam Taylor-Wood, too. Age, it seems, ain’t nothing but a number.

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Ridley Scott

Big movies, big stars, big excitement. That’s our Ridley. Like 2010’s Robin Hood with Russell Crowe. The last time he made a small movie? That would be Alien. And Scott just signed up to direct a prequel. Our guess is, it’ll be… BIG.

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Toy Story 3

We know what you’re thinking: “threequel cash-in”...

Think again. Finding Nemo co-helmer Lee Unkrich directs a screenplay by Little Miss Sunshine’s Oscar-winning scribe Michael Arndt.

Michael Keaton joins the original cast as Barbie’s bloke Ken. And it’s in 3D. Excited now?

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Gulliver's Travels

Fascinating to see how Hollywood’s bleeding-edge FX wizards will conjure Jack Black’s Gulliver’s fantastic adventures on the island of Lilliput, where he’s captured by, then befriends, then goes to war with people one-twelfth his size (Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Billy Connolly).

Monsters Vs Aliens writer/director Rob Letterman should provide the smarts. Although we perhaps shouldn’t expect too scathing a satire on human nature.

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Gemma Arterton

Ruling queen of Brit cinema and Hollywood seems to be Arterton’s goal in 2010.

Her two Tinseltown megablockbusters – Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time and Clash Of The Titans – could both become franchises.

She’s also starring in a St Trinian’s sequel, a Stephen Frears comedy and a new Wuthering Heights adap. We’d say don’t miss her. But you couldn’t if you tried.

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The Sorcerer's Apprentice

While Prince Of Persia is expected to be the Disney/Bruckheimer Pirates-replacing new summer franchise, don’t rule out The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

It’s Disney; it’s Jerry; the cast are all signed up for three fi lms and when Total Film visited the New York set this year, the mix of other-worldly magic and New York attitude gave off a pleasing Ghostbusters-ish vibe.

“Yeah, maybe,” shrugged likeable director Jon Turteltaub when we put it to him. Other predictions: expect a star-making turn from Jay Baruchel and, er, a release date of 13 August 2010.

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George Clooney

Try thinking of a Hollywood actor with a more interesting slate for 2010. First up, this year, Clooney voices a furry-pelted Danny Ocean in Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Then he’s got two movies out in the UK in January – investigating the US Army’s paranormal battalion in The Men Who Stare At Goats and playing a “corporate downsizing expert” in Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air.

Then he’ll play an assassin in Anton Corbijn’s A Very Private Gentleman… Variety. It’s always been George’s spice.

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The End Of The World

The next 12 months have more than their share of apocalyptic doom. Blame the Mayans for Emmerich’s disaster flick 2012, then try and pick up the pieces in The Road and The Book Of Eli.

Those who’ve seen footage of 2012 say, “Shit, that’s got a budget”. Those who caught The Road at Venice say, “Thank God, the film is like the book”.

Those getting excited about Denzel Washington starring in a comic-book adap say, “Hope it’s better than the Hughes brothers’ From Hell”.

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Legion

Excitable Religious types have been threatening apocalypse for years now, and though they've thus far been disappointingly inaccurate in their predictions, we can still hope, and look to our imaginantions for what might become of the world after the Biblical end of man arrives.

Thanks to Legion, now we know. Set in a remote truckstop, a group of survivors become humanity's last line of defense against the hoardes of hell, when they discover the waitress is pregant with the Messiah. Bout bloody time eh?

Paul Bettany has been wowing in previews as the archangel Michael. Believe us when we tell you - again - there will be blood.

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Paul Bettany & Jennifer Connelly

They met on A Beautiful Mind and now – eight years on – the married couple team up once again for a film about a clever bloke. From changing the rules of maths (John Nash) to changing the way an entire world thinks (Charles Darwin)… That’s evolution.

Take in Bettany’s work on 2010’s Legion and comic-book adap Priest and a voice part in Iron Man 2, plus Connelly’s eponoymous role in Oscar-winning Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black’s directorial debut What’s Wrong With Virginia and you’ve got to hope they’ve booked a nanny.

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Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci

Transformers, Star Trek… Screenwriters/ producers Kurtzman and Orci are hotter than the sun.

They’ll spend next year inking Star Trek II, but first there’s Cowboys And Aliens– an animated sci-fi war western starring Robert Downey Jr. And doesn’t that sound good?

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Brangelina

Qt recently said brad Pitt is at the “zee-nith of his iconicness” and the actor is certainly cherry-picking his roles right now.

Coens (Burn After Reading), Tarantino (Basterds) and now for 2010 Malick (The Tree Of Life) and James Gray’s The Lost City Of Z. so does this mean Jolie will be at home minding the kids?

Actually, yes. she’s wrapped on CIA thriller Salt and there’s no confirmation yet on her involvement in 2011’s Wanted 2.

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Paul

Proving that 2009 wasn’t the only year for bromances (I Love You, Man, The Hangover, Role Models, the forthcoming Humpday), Simon Pegg and Nick Frost head to the States for their first film together without Edgar Wright.

It’s a road movie, where the fanboymen meet the titular, voiced-by-Seth-Rogen alien. Shots of Pegg’s character in an Empire Strikes Back t-shirt hint at where this is headed.

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Bryan Singer

The one-time golden boy’s star faded so much with the drab, delayed Valkyrie that for weeks he didn’t even have a spot in The Future 100.

Then we heard about his possible involvement in a new X-Men movie and his appointment as the director of a big-screen Battlestar Galactica… Here’s to the future.

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Iron Man 2: Written By Justin Theroux

The highest placed writer featured (not counting the writer/directors), Justin Theroux was awarded typewriting duties on Iron Man 2 off the back of his success with Tropic Thunder.

Incredible really, considering the first Iron Man’s script bounced off the page. Jon Favreau and co must think Theroux’s really special.

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Rachel McAdams

With all the Robert Downey Jr fanfare, it’s easy to forget McAdams’ role in Sherlock Holmes. She plays Irene Adler…

“She’s kind of a foil to Sherlock – they have a volatile relationship. You’re not sure if she is going to kiss or kill you,” McAdams told Total Film on set. “It makes for a delicious dance…”

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Funny Or Die

You won’t get news on FunnyOrDie.com. But you will learn more about stars and their egos than anywhere else.

Got time with Malin Akerman? Silk Spectre questions? Nah. Do a spoof of Watchmen fans spying on her while she sleeps.

G.I. Joe coming out? Put it on the cover? Bollocks!

Write a song called The Ballad Of G.I. Joe and get Zach Galifi anakis, Billy Crudup and Julianne Moore to have a lark.

Keep it bookmarked in 2010.

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Edgar Wright

The next 12 months will determine whether the 35-year-old director can do a Paul Greengrass and move from Brit TV to being offered US movies.

Early word from the Michael Cera-starring Scott Pilgrim Vs The World set would suggest he’ll cruise the transition and with Ant-Man and home-based Shaun Of The Dead/Hot Fuzz trilogy closer The World’s End both vying for his attention, it’ll be fascinating to see what 2010 has in store.

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Spike Jonze

Where The Wild Things Are is Jonze’s first film since 2002’s Adaptation and looks lovely enough to end wars.

That’s it for his slate film-wise, but he’s here for his role as creative director of VBS.tv – an online network that streams free, original content, from music videos to docs.

They call themselves “the future of all media”. They may be right...

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Reading

Homegirl Kate Winslet finally snags an Oscar and Hollywood royalty comes flocking to the Berkshire town.

Hollywood royalty in the shape of homeboy Ricky Gervais, admittedly, but his Cemetery Junction looks set to bring heart and laughs to the RG postcode in 2010.

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Vanessa Hudgens

Currently best known for a curious mix of wholesome kids’ entertainment (High School Musical) and posing for naked pictures that swarm around the internet, Vanessa Hudgens will spend 2010 making her name as an actress of note – studio execs are already tapping into her fanbase by casting her in modern-day Beauty And The Beast riff Beastly.

What’s more, 2010 will see her shoot Zack Snyder’s 2011-due Sucker Punch, taglined “Alice In Wonderland with machine guns”.

That may be one for those who’ve found themselves Googling her name with the Safe Search off...

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Steven Soderbergh

So what is Soberbergh going to do after his two-films-in-one-week hit of The Information! (20/11) and The Girlfriend Experience (27/11)?

It was looking like being his rick'n'roll 3D muscial Cleon, but it now seems like that project will be put on the shelf in favour of spy thriller Knockout.

Or even his Michael Douglas-starring Liberance biopic. Or...

So long as it isn't Ocean's 14, we're happy.

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Soundtracks With Actual Genuine Fresh Quality

Examples? Arcade Fire for Richard Kelly’s The Box, Karen O And The Kids for Where The Wild Things Are.

Oh, and there’s new Thom Yorke for New Moon, ensuring thousands of Radiohead geeks pay to sit through a teen vampire yarn they’d usually avoid like a fancy dress pop disco sponsored by the BNP.

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Curley Oxide And Vic Thrill

The funniest woman in America writes for the funniest man in Britain as Tiny Fey and Sacha Baron Cohen join up for a based-on-truth film that should be the talk of the comedy world in 2010.

And who will play Vic Thrill, the punk rocker with whom Baron Cohen’s Hasidic Jew Curly Oxide forms an unlikely band? Eyes on the website.

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Videogames & Movies

Videogames and movies go together like peas and cheese. Destined to walk hand in hand regardless of the quality of the output when the two meet, it's always an appetising proposition. It may sound terrible, but you still want to try it.

To prove just how big an issue movies and gaming is, we wrote a whole feature on the subject, which you can read here .

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The Wolfman

Delayed and delayed, The Wolfman finally gets a 12 February release and the suits unveil the trailer on the same day as the Avatar promo. D’oh.

Still, positives remain for this remake of the 1941 classic, not least a hairy Benicio Del Toro. “A beast has come among us,” growls the voiceover and soon, it will be among us too.

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The Coen Brothers

No Country For Old Men won them their first Oscars. Burn After Reading was the brothers’ biggest opening ever. How to follow that?

With 20 November’s A Serious Man, natch, a highly personal, strange and starless black comedy set in 1967 and tracking Larry Gopnik’s spiritual, existential and rather Jewish struggles. Gopnik’s played by Michael Stuhlbarg. No, us neither.

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Credit Crunch

There’s a money shortage. People are short of money. Whatever.

What to do? Either make films on the cheap and make them quick (Colin cost £45) or concentrate on über-franchises offering mindless escapism sure to make millions to feed back into the industry.

So, London To Brighton’s Paul Andrew Williams writes, shoots and edits house-kidnap thriller Cherry Tree Lane in a matter of months, while the spring of 2010 sees Iron Man 2, Alice In Wonderland and a whole load of other films people will flock to.

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Iron Man 2: Mickey Rourke is Ivan Vanko AKA Whiplash

The Rourke renaissance continues. He’ll be seen alongside Sly Stallone in The Expendables, he’s got thriller 13 and there’s the small matter of his villainous role as Whiplash in Iron Man 2.

“I decided to do half my role in Russian and that’s hard because the Russian language doesn’t roll off the English-speaking tongue very easily!”

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Sam Worthington

The man of 2009 is set to rise again. Come 18 December, there’s Avatar as Jake Sully. Then, on 26 March 2010, Worthington gets his shot at classic hero in Clash Of The Titans.

“It’s going to be fucking epic,” he says. But most interesting of all is Last Night – a low-budget, CGI-free adultery drama co-starring Keira Knightley.

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Iron Man 2: Jon Favreau

Favreau is all about Tony Stark and Iron Man 2 in 2010 (though he’s also producing The Avengers).

“The big challenge is how do you not have it be two guys in suits hitting each other? I’ve done that. I don’t want to do more of it. I want to make it different…”

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Michael Fassbender

Brilliant in Fish Tank, scene-stealing in Basterds... but for all the breakthrough brilliance of Michael Fassbender’s 2009, the next 12 months are set to dwarf all thus far.

Neil Marshall’s Roman flick Centurion is first, then it’s undead Wild West cult-in-the-making Jonah Hex with Megan Fox followed by, possibly, Nick Love’s The Sweeney update and, best of all, the lead in the longawaited Birdsong adap by Rupert Wyatt of underrated-The Escapist-fame.

It’s Fassbender’s versatility that impresses the most, able to play funny and serious, good or bad, always with a twinkle in his eye. Britain’s finest ‘new’ actor? Without a doubt. Even if he was born in Germany.

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Matt Damon

It’s been a quiet couple of years for Jason Bourne, but the next 12 months are going to change that. It’s quite a list. He starts with Steven Soderbergh’s excellent crime comedy The Informant! on 20 November and then he’s in Margaret alongside Anna Paquin.

It’s the madly anticipated return of You Can Count On Me writer / director Kenneth Lonergan and almost certain to reduce Total Film to tears.

Want more? OK. He plays rugby player Francois Pienaar in Clint Eastwood’s Nelson Mandela movie Invictus (Morgan Freeman is the ex-pres) and a CIA agent looking out for WMDs in war-torn Baghdad in Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone. It’s very hard to know which film he’ll be Oscar-nommed for.

Oh, and just in case that’s not quite enough Matt Damon for you, Bourne 4 is all set to start shooting too, ready for 2011. He was gone. Now he’s back. Big time.

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Zoe Saldana

After her star-making turn in Star Trek, one can’t help but think that James Cameron wishes he made Zoe Saldana a tad more recognisable in Avatar.

She’s an indigenous Na’Vi after all, unlike Sam Worthington’s human-placedinside-a-Na’Vi-body-thatlooks-a-little-like-Sam Worthington. She even talks in a strange accent.

Want to see her as herself in the next 12 months? Try Takers and, even better, Neil LaBute’s remake of 2007 Brit-fl ick Death At A Funeral that tantalisingly comes with a tweaked script from Chris Rock.

Expect her involvement in Star Trek 2 to be announced as well, but in the meantime prepare for Avatar and the work she had to do to become a Na’vi…

“It was the most physically demanding role I’ve ever done. I was training seven days a week – Wushu, archery, horseriding, weightlifting – and months of dialect-coaching so I could learn the language of the Na’vi,” she says.

“James Cameron took me into his world. And it took a long time to get out!” She’s the blue one by the way, hanging with Worthington a lot on Pandora.

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Green (The Colour)

Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet, Martin Campbell’s The Green Lantern, Paul Greengrass’ Green Zone. Not to mention the fourth in the series of Mike Myers’ green ogre, Shrek Forever After.

That’s superhero, superhero, war and ogre. The future has never looked so envious. Here’s some pictures for the dominant hue of the next 12 months.

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JJ Abrams

JJ Abrams had a spectacular 2009. He took the well-loved / much-hated Star Trek franchise and turned it into a box office smash and critical darling.

It will be 2011 before we see him return to the Enterprise and also Mission: Impossible, but for now his place on The Future 100 is for a TV event arguably larger than anything at the movies.

The sixth season of Lost, the finale… Everything has to be resolved. To see how he handles that baby will point towards how he’ll continue his über-franchises on the big screen. Keep it going, JJ, keep it going!

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The iTunes 99p Film Of The Week

In a changing world… Yawn. The world has changed, DVD shops are dying, many people have superfast home broadband. How to get the sceptical involved in the simplicity and immediacy of downloading movies?

Head to iTunes every week to see what film is available to click and play for just 99p. In the past, there’s been Unbreakable, Starship Troopers, Mystic River, The Royal Tenenbaums, Stand By Me, Groundhog Day and the underrated The Escapist.

Old and new, all worth watching. This is the future of all movie-watching at home. Get involved now.

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Super-Producers

There is simply no way to have a Future 100 list that concentrates on who’s going to be ruling the Hollywood roost over the next year without mentioning Mssrs Grazer, Weinstein, Silver and Bruckheimer.

They’ve dominated for years and will continue to do so. In fact, in a duller list where we actually led with the wallet rather than the heart, they’d be number one.

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Sam Raimi

Next year, Sam Raimi will be in the Top Five of this list. You read it here first. He’s directing Spidey 4 in 2010 for 2011, which will follow The Evil Dead (his Evil Dead reboot) scheduled for release next year.

Add his helming of sword-slashing epic Warcraft and it’s clear that people are soon to forgive him for the sins of Spider-Man 3.

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The '80s

The ’80s have never really gone away, but 2010 takes the revisionist view of the hair decade as A Very Good Thing.

There’s an A-Team movie (30 July), Karate Kid remake Kung Fu Kid, Tron Legacy (#4) and a slew of washed-up ’80s stars appearing in Machete (#59) and The Expendables.

As one decade ends, another begins again.

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Tintin

Arriving in 2011 is Steven Spielberg’s motion-capture 3D film of Hergé’s The Adventures Of Tintin. The film – co-produced by Peter Jackson, who has The Lovely Bones coming out in 2010 and is involved in The Hobbit (#1) – will star Jamie Bell as Tintin and Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock. It’s going to be very big in Belgium.

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Iron Man 2: Scarlett Johansson Is Natasha Romanoff Aka Black Widow

Post He’s Just Not That Into You, the 24-year-old has been taking it easier for a few months, hanging out, recording a couple of tunes, riding Ryan Reynolds’ bike.

Sure, she’s also appeared in the odd clothing and perfume ad and occasional pap shot, but all that will change come 7 May 2010.

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Avatar

If you haven't heard of Avatar , you need to refresh your Twitter, turn on your TV and open a national publication once in a while.

James Cameron's return to the helm for the first time since his Oscar-hogging Titanic in 1997, Avatar is big, epic-level big.

Despite the mixed reaction to the recent trailer, buzz continues to build for the much hyped production, and though it remains to be seen whether even Cameron can deliver on this kind of global expectation, put good money on Avatar being the hottest ticket in town when it finally hits theatres on 18 December this year.

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Twilight 2 & 3

After the jugular-jolting juggernaut Twilight made more box-office than most established franchises can bank on, Hollywood has been purchasing pointy-toothed properties all over the place, eager for some of the spoils.

The competition will be fierce however, as the Twilight freight train rolls on this November with The Twilight Saga: New Moon out this November, and threequal The Twilight Saga: Eclipse scheduled for 9 July 2010, there will barely be time to draw breath between screams.

Stock up on ear plugs now... the fourth book in the series, Breaking Dawn , has been purchased, and will follow soon after.

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Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp is a hot topic recently for reasons Disney may not want to consider; the poster boy for their flagship Pirates franchise, he may now walk from the project in the wake of good friend Dick Cook being ousted from the company.

Where that leaves his other Disney projects, such as The Lone Ranger , we don't know, but with a slate that inlcudes the mouth-watering Alice In Wonderland and a return to his Hunter S. Thompson impersonation in The Rum Diaries , Depp will still be a landmark feature of 2010, count on it.

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Iron Man 2: Downey Jr Is Tony Stark AKA Iron Man

The surprise summer comic book hit of 2008, Iron Man made Robert Downey Jr. bankable again, and what seemed a dangerous casting gamble by Director Jon Faverau and Marvel Studios turned into one of the biggest casting gambits in recent years.

With Sherlock Holmes looking like more fun than Pipes and Deerstalkers ought to be, and Iron Man 2 gearing up to be the first Billion dollar-grossing film of the next decade, 2010 could well be remembered as the year Robert Downey Jr. became king

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Megan Fox

She's the most Googled actress on the planet, star of the year's biggest film, and has Oscar-winners writing her scripts. Megan Fox has the world in the palm of her hand, and in 2010 things will only get better.

With a supporting role in comic book adaptation Jonah Hex , a potential star vehicle in comic book adaption Fathom , and the inevitable Transformers sequel among the projects on her slate, not to mention the upcoming Jennifer's Body , expect to see Ms. Fox around for a long time time come. Yay.

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Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds is a very lucky man. Blessed with comedy timing of a character actor and the looks and persona of a leading man, he's been steadily building his CV for the last decade, and the hard work has paid off.

After his scene stealing turn in Wolverine , his Wade Wilson has been handed his own spin off, X-Men Origins: Deadpool , and for fans of cool jewelry, he's been tapped to play power ring wielding superhero Green Lantern too, both set to film in 2010.

Oh, and as if his life isn't about as perfect as it gets, he's also married to Scarlett Johansson. Some guys, eh?

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Tron: Legacy

Back in '82, when Total Film was a mere sparkle in the eye of someone, somewhere, Tron became the first live-action movie with more than 20 minutes of 3D graphics and CG animation.

A quarter of a century on, and it's ready to go Next Gen.

With the film shot on James Cameron developed 3D cameras, the light cycle sequences become a whole new level of awesome, and for anyone who saw the jaw-dropping trailer at Comic-Con (us!) Tron: Legacy is the buzz film of 2010.

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Social Networking And The Social Network

The social networking phenomenon is making the world smaller, more immediate, more open.

Even with the massive success of Facebook, when rumours surfaced David Fincher was involved in an adaptation of the story behind it's creation, we thought we'd missed a joke somewhere.

But with West Wing maestro Aaron Sorkin on board to write the script, Fincher at the helm, and the confirmed casting of Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, The Social Network is very serious business indeed...

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Inception

Christopher Nolan conquered the world in 2008 with a initimate genre pic called The Dark Knight . Although somewhat staggered by the success of that film, Nolan has shown no signs of cowering in the face of success - in fact it seems to have only served to spur him on.

In 2010 he'll bring us Inception , a project being kept so secret, Nolan may be the only one who really knows what it's about. As we write, he'll only say that the film is 'a thriller set within the architecture of the mind.'

Knowing Nolan's mind, that could turn out to be some grand, groundbreaking architecture indeed...

With one of the greatest ensemble casts ever assembled for a summer sci-fi blockbuster, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Michael Caine, Lucas Haas and Tom Berenger, be sure to mark July 16th 2010 in your diaries.

Read our Inception review .

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Guillermo Del Toro

He's the leading fantasist of our age, and he hasn't even made The Hobbit(s) yet... Guillermo Del Toro is one man set to rule them all, and so heads up our Future 100.

"We are trying to make two films that flow with the trilogy but stand on their own" Del Toro told us recently.

If he pulls it off, The Hobbit could see him showered with the kind of audience adulation and Oscar love experienced by Peter Jackson at the end of Rings .

He's already a cult hero thanks to his impressive body of work. Del Toro is a visual maestro who weaves operatic story with colourful characters and mysticism grounded in the recesses of basic human psychology.

If he can wrangle his way around a $300 million budget, a dragon named Smaug, a young Hobbit named Bilbo and one of the most beloved fantasy novels of all time, he might just achieve legend status.

We believe he will. And that's why he's our number one.

For a full interview with the man himself, check out the latest issue of Total Film (160), on sale now.

What do you think of the Future 100? Let us know what you could do without, or what you would've added...

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