Posted January 1st 2010

It’s an uncertain business, trying to predict next December’s ‘Movie Of The Year’ list. This year, it’s trickier than ever, as the reverberations of the credit crunch continue to shake the capricious world of film finance. Even a minor hiccup in funding can delay a film for months or even years until a suitable release slot can be found.

If there’s an overarching theme to next year’s movies it’s the 1980s. We have remakes of 1980s movies, adaptations of 1980s TV shows and videogames, even a new film bringing together the biggest action stars of that pumped-up decade.

Coincidence? Or nostalgia for a more innocent and less cash-strapped time?

Here are the films I think will attract the biggest audiences over the next 12 months. Other productions may be announced before the year is out. If you spot a winner I’ve missed, please leave a note in the comments.

(CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR THE REVIEW OF THE 50 BIGGEST MOVIES OF 2010)

The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010 – Times Online.

IN THEATERS JULY 30TH 2010

TWELVE MOVIE TRAILER

Leave it to Roger Ebert to ice the critics who laughed Joel Schumacher’s dark teenage fantasy out of Sundance this year. (Ebert wrote, after a positive review: “Schumacher is not fashionable with Sundance types, and I suspect this will emerge from the festival with reviews that don’t concede its power. But it will perform.”) That said, it will be interesting to see how upstart distributor Hannover House (who also picked up a bona fide Sundance 2010 hit, Josh Radnor’s Happythankyoumoreplease) will market the Upper East Side drama starring “Gossip Girl”’s Chace Crawford, especially since that show has lost most of its pop-culture glimmer. 50 Cent as a drug dealer = yawn. Emma Roberts as a bad girl = we don’t buy it. We’re wondering if the movie will make it to theaters with Kiefer Sutherland’s narration intact.

IN THEATERS AUGUST 6TH 2010

THE OTHER GUYS MOVIE TRAILER

Will Ferrell looks to put Land of the Lost behind him with a can’t-miss late-summer comedy directed by his best handler, Adam McKay. Though New York City wasn’t so kind to Ferrell the last time around.

IN THEATERS AUGUST 6TH 2010

STEP UP 3-D MOVIE TRAILER

The case of a stolen routine finds Moose looking to bring some of his friends back to the City of Lights for the event.

The thing about the first two Step Up movies? They’re aren’t so bad, especially if you zone out whenever anyone is talking and isn’t dancing. Ummm, I love how this saga is heading to Paris — just like in 28 Weeks Later! — and I have to imagine this is going to look primo in 3D, with or without a Channing Tatum cameo.

IN THEATERS AUGUST 6TH 2010

MIDDLE MEN MOVIE TRAILER

This is a great cast with an intriguing premise from seasoned filmmaker George Gallo, but the project’s quiet pick-up and marketing has us wondering if Paramount has faith in these Web entrepreneurs. Remember how they treated Carriers? Also, Giovanni Ribisi is on a hot streak with roles in Avatar and Public Enemies; but his co-stars? Not so much.

IN THEATERS AUGUST 6TH

MAO\’S LAST DANCER MOVIE TRAILER

Director Bruce Beresford’s name was reminisced last year when people were comparing Crazy Heart to his Tender Mercies. With Mao, Beresford is poised for a renaissance of sorts; the biography placed second to Precious for the Audience Award at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival and performed wonderfully in Australia.

IN THEATERS AUGUST 6TH 2010

FLIPPED MOVIE TRAILER

Author Wendelin Van Draanen is best known for her Sammy Keyes Mysteries series, and it’s amazing that no studio has optioned the works (yet). I’m thinking this movie will try lure nostalgia loving adults, teen girls, as well as some of the audience that dug Diary of a Wimpy Kid — a challenge for the marketing people at Warner Bros., to be sure. Star Callan McAuliffe will be seen in the buzzing project I Am Number 4 as Alex Pettyfer’s best friend.

IN THEATERS AUGUST 13TH 2010

EAT PRAY LOVE MOVIE TRAILER

As awkward as it is to write, Eat, Pray, Love looks to be this year’s Julie & Julia for Julia … Roberts, as she turns Elizabeth Gilbert’s life-changing story into (hopefully) career-changing success. I’m wondering what attracted subversive writer/director Ryan Murphy to the project, but I’m more curious whether Ms. Robert’s let actual mosquitoes feast on her in India.

IN THEATERS AUGUST 13TH 2010

THE EXPENDABLES MOVIE TRAILER

My only question here: Why did Sylvester Stallone not fashion this screenplay to be Rambo V’s story?

IN THEATERS AUGUST 13TH 2010

SCOTT PRILGRIM VS. THE WORLD MOVIE TRAILER

Everything you’d like to know about the making of this comic-book adaptation is available on the production’s official site, which is as obsessive as your typical fansite. What is unclear is whether the combined powers of Edgar Wright and Michael Cera can defeat the black hole that is the August box office. The trailer rocks as much as the Rickenbacker Cera sports in the poster, which means this be the movie that returns young George-Micheal to form. Unless the only way to get us to like him again was to see seven guys beat him up. If you’d like to spoil yourself, here’s a rundown of a cut that screened in Las Vegas.