The 32 films to look out for in 2012 and beyond…

Sci-fi

• 

  Prometheus

  Director: Ridley Scott, ETA: June 1 2012

  Few recent films have been as masked in secrecy as ‘Prometheus’. Is it, as was originally mooted, a prequel to the ‘Alien’ series, focusing on that enormous fossilised navigator that John Hurt and co found in the original movie? Or is it, as now seems to be the case, a distantly connected but largely autonomous sci-fi adventure in which the aliens themselves may or may not play a role? The official synopsis of the film, which stars Guy Pearce, Charlize Theron and Time Out hero Michael Fassbender as the resident android, describes it as ‘a journey to the darkest corners of the universe’, which isn’t exactly giving much away. Either way, the prospect of Ridley’s return to sci-fi 30 years after ‘Blade Runner’ has us mightily intrigued.
• 

  Star Trek Sequel

  Director: JJ Abrams, ETA: 2013

  After the critical and financial success of JJ Abrams’s giddily thrilling ‘Star Trek’ reboot, it seemed likely that the promised sequel would see a warp-speed turnaround. But that hasn’t happened: two years on, and the film hasn’t even started shooting. All we know at this stage is that a script is in progress, Abrams has committed to direct, and that the film should be out before the end of 2012 – though that seems increasingly unlikely. When the film does finally arrive, expect more of what we got in the first one: square jaws, sharp dialogue, searing CGI, strong casting and plenty of sneaky references to original series – plus, very possibly, an appearance from everyone’s favourite seven-foot space psycho – altogether now – ‘Khaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!’.
• 

  Total Recall

  Director: Len Wiseman, ETA: August 22 2012

  Hollywood’s annoying habit of tinkering with the classics comes full circle as they retool a film from a little over 20 years ago which was an action mainstay during the whole of the 1990s. Colin Farrell stars as the agent embroiled in a future war, but who can't quite figure out whose side he’s on. If you’re asking us directly whether Len ‘Underworld’ Wiseman will have the same delirious handle over the material (Philip K Dick’s ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale’) that Paul Verhoeven did all those years ago, then the answer is a straight no. Part of the joy of the original was its various scrungy latex effects (‘Quaid! Quaid!’) and although Wiseman has said in an interview that CGI will be left to a minimum, it remains to be seen whether the operatic violence will make the transition. Looking at the early synopsis, Wiseman’s film has some key differences, the most obvious being that the tone is going to be a lot more serious (think ‘Minority Report’), plus, it’s not going to be taking place on the Red Planet, putting the kibosh on the original film’s best line: ‘Get your ass to Mars!’.
• 

  Pacific Rim

  Director: Guillermo del Toro, ETA: 2013

  By the time ‘Pacific Rim’ is released in 2013, it’ll be five years since Guillermo del Toro directed a movie. Five years of missed opportunities, announced projects, withdrawn projects, frustration and heartache. And it’s no surprise that the project Del Toro finally got off the ground, after the collapse of both ‘Frankenstein’ and his HP Lovecraft adaptation ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, is the most obviously commercial of the lot, a tale of alien monsters, giant robots and human resistance. Whatever the outcome, production company Legendary Pictures are clearly banking on Del Toro’s good name and the film’s effects-heavy content to sell it to the public: the biggest stars on board are consummate creepster Willem Defoe and Hackney’s finest, Idris Elba, hardly Hollywood royalty.