T2 TRAINSPOTTING (27th January UK, 10th March USA)

It’s been 21 years since Renton, Sick Boy and Begbie donned our screens in Danny Boyle’s adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s ‘Trainspotting‘. Hailed as one of the best British films ever made, Boyle has returned to fill the boots and direct the sequel based on Irvine Welsh’s book ‘Porno’. The rejuvenation of the project came about after Boyle and Ewan McGregor who plays Rention settled a decade long feud due to casting issues from 2000’s ‘The Beach‘. The trailer shows some of the boys seem to have cleaned up their acts, but I’m sure it won’t last for long…Robert Carlyle has hailed the script as “one of the best scripts I’ve ever fucking read“, so, no biggie.

LA LA LAND (12th January UK, in cinemas now in the USA)

Having already delighted various film festivals and captivated US audiences, La La Land‘s return to the days and magic of old Hollywood is being hotly tipped as a front runner in 2017’s Oscar race. From Whiplash director Damien Chazelle, the film stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a jazz pianist and actress in Hollywood, dancing and singing amid a technicolor wonder of sets and costumes. With an original soundtrack featuring Ryan Gosling’s voice, what more could you really want?

MOONLIGHT (17th February UK, already released in USA)

Another festival favourite, Moonlight could very well be the film that solidifies A24’s place as the greatest independent film company to have ever existed (as if you didn’t know that already). Weaving a tale of young black masculinity and its intersections with sexuality and class the film has already been nominated in the Golden Globes for Best Director, Bets Motion Picture, Supporting Actor and Actress and Screenplay. Make sure you keep this one for essential Valentine’s season viewing.

A CURE FOR WELLNESS (24th March UK, 17th February USA)

Gore Verbinski’s first film in 4 years, the trailer for upcoming A Cure For Wellness, starring Dane DeHaan and Mia Goth, is a visionary delight. Laden with gorgeous green tones, vast Swiss landscapes, vats of water and creepy imagery, the mysterious-horror leaning plot places DeHaan in an experimental ‘wellness’ centre, where the patients cannot leave and everything isn’t as it seems. With the succession of Verbinski’s 2002 remake of The Ring it will be great to see him step back into the horror genre and with the use of a terrifying rendition of The Ramones’ ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ in the trailer, you won’t let this one leave your mind for days.

TULIP FEVER (24th February USA)

Boasting a stunning cast consisting of Alicia Vikander, Dane DeHaan, Christoph Waltz, Judi Dench, Jack O’Connell and Cara Delevingne, Tulip Fever promises to be the standout costume drama of 2017. Centring around a painter in 17th century Amsterdam, expect the usual period plots consisting of adultery, affairs, scandal and a helluva lot of ruffles.

GET OUT (17th March UK, 24th February USA)

Considering the rise in race-based hate crimes in both the UK and US thanks to Brexit and Trump, Get Out looks to be a scathing social commentary on racial divide set within the premise of a horror film set in white suburbia when leading man Keith Stanfield’s girlfriend takes him home to meet her family. It will be refreshing to see a horror getting back to the roots of the genre- directly commenting on the social concerns of the period.

WONDER WOMAN (2nd June UK and USA)

Initially I wanted to make a point of not including any Superhero films in this list but there was no way to ignore Wonder Woman, being brought to you by the fantastic director of 2003’s Monster, Patty Jenkins. The world has been crying out for a solo woman superhero film for some time now and with Marvel offering up next to nothing and going backwards instead of forwards, all eyes are turning to DC to deliver the woman that has inspired countless generations before her to be strong and empowered.

IT (8th September UK and USA)

The mini-series of Stephen King’s IT is an undeniable cult classic and it will be hard to live up to the original in this remake from Mama director Andres Muschietti but if the photos of Bill Skarskard as terrifying clown Pennywise are anything to go by, we are in for a treat. Hopefully also shaving down the miniseries’ 3 hour run time the remake will revisit the Losers Club gang of kids who have to deal with a looming presence in the sewers. Stranger Things‘ Finn Wolfhard plays Richie of the Losers Club and if seeing his adorable face isn’t enough to convince you, I don’t know what is.

FREE FIRE (31st March UK, 17th March USA)

Ben Wheatley’s latest film is set up to be an intense one-room action drama starring Oscar winner Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy and Armie Hammer. Set in the 1970s the warehouse-set story is laden with guns, shoot-outs and looks to be handled with the same flair and precision you come to expect from any Wheatley feature.

AS YOU ARE (24th February USA)

2017’s hottest teen film offering, As You Are follows the complicated relationship of 3 adolescents in the 1990s with Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) and Owen Campbell (Boardwalk Empire) in the leading roles. We’re thinking Freaks and Geeks mixed in with a bit of Elephant and Dazed and Confused with a much sharper and serious tone.

KONG: SKULL ISLAND (10th March UK and USA)

This might seem like another wishy-washy blockbuster remake but director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer) has been instagramming the entire scouting, pre-production and shooting of the big monster movie and my gosh, does it look STUNNING. Set on an unknown island but shot in Vietnam, Hawaii and Australia, the cinematography alone is to die for, nodding back to huge classic films like Apocalypse Now for inspiration. Even the poster of the skull gives me chills in size comparison to the humans, this is going to be a blockbuster of epic proportions.

ALIEN: COVENANT (19th May UK and USA)

Despite Ridley Scott’s reputation as a top stuck-up idiot, in 1979 he blessed us with Ripley, one of the finest female characters to ever grace our screens and the sci-fi genre, so there has to be a pretty high level of excitement surrounding the next instalment of the Alien franchise: Covenant. The trailer seems very adult-orientated so thankfully the series hasn’t lost it’s edge; lots of blood, guts and misty goings on.

DUNKIRK (21st July UK and USA)

Christopher Nolan’s next feature is hotly anticipated largely because of the acting debut of a certain much-loved ex-boyband member Mr. Harry Styles, kitted out in full WW2 military gear. The film recounts the battle at Dunkirk beach, named ‘Operation Dynamo’ to evacuate allied soldiers from attacking German troops. As well as Mr. Styles the film also boasts some of the best of British male talent in the form of Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Kenneth Branagh. Nolan has never shied away from big blockbusters, set pieces and epic-scale action so Dunkirk is sure to be a huge summer hit.

PERSONAL SHOPPER (17th March UK, 10th March USA)

Now that our gal KStew is finally out of the Twilight spotlight she’s taken on some very interesting projects of late, the most recent being her 2nd collaboration with director Olivier Assayas since The Clouds of Sils Maria in 2014. The trailer for personal shopper presents itself in a multitude of genres, which makes it appear quite fascinating, part commentary on the boredom of the fashion industry, part grief-stricken drama at lead character Maureen’s loss of her brother and part horror mystery as ghostly signs start to appear in her day-to-day life.

OKJA (date not yet known)

Joon-ho Bong’s second venture into the world of English speaking film after the fantastic Snowpiercer, Okja promises to deliver big monster movie realness, taking nod’s from Bong’s 2006 monster flick The Host. Even though we are still without a trailer the films is said to centre around a corporation trying to steal a huge monster (Okja) from its best friend. Tilda Swinton is back on board after her stint as Mason in Snowpiercer and another all star cast follows: Jake Gyllenhaal, Lily Collins, Paul Dano, Steven Yuen and Giancarlo Esposito.

RAW (10th March USA)

When Julia Ducournau’s feature film debut Raw screened at TIFF, it was reported that audience members fainted due to its gristly and realistic practical effects. Focusing on a veterinarian student who becomes a cannibal after a cruel university initiation, Raw would fit snugly into the increasingly brutal and brilliant New French Extremity genre. Due to the film also being directed by a woman, its high on SQ’s must-see list this year.

HIDDEN FIGURES (17th February UK, 6th January USA)

Celebrating the work of 3 African-American women who worked in mathematics at NASA, Hidden Figures celebrates the little-known story of the women who helped send our first spacecrafts into orbit. Starring Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, Oscar nom Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae, who has been making her acting debut in 2016 with Moonlight also on the slate, the film is set in the 1960s and details the trials and tribulations of these women in the face of adversity when everyone believed their race, gender and field of work was a detriment to them.

20TH CENTURY WOMEN (10th February UK, 20th January USA)

Here at SQ, we love women and we love appreciating the lives of women and all they have to offer, so this essentially makes 20th Century Women an ideal film (although very white). Weaving together 3 stories of womanhood in 1970s America the women learn about life, love and themselves as they attempt to help Dorothea (Annette Benning) raise her son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann).

BABY DRIVER (18th August UK, 11th August USA)

Anything made by Edgar Wright is guaranteed cinema gold, Baby Driver doesn’t have a trailer yet but the cast is definitely something to get excited about. Ansel Elgort plays Baby, a getaway driver who becomes involved in a heist. Other characters roles aren’t clear yet but there’s Lily James, Jon Bernthal, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Flea and Sky Ferreira. If Wright’s previous films are anything to go by, expect dry comedy and some of the most brilliant editing.

XX (17th February USA)

The XX anthology of horror shorts directed solely by women was announced back in 2013 and the first thing SQ ever reported on. Watching the project unravel has been done in total nail-biting anticipation. Set to direct segments are Jovanka Vuckovic (The Captured Bird), Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation), Annie Clark/St Vincent, Sofia Carrillo and Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound).

By Chloe Leeson

Chloe Leeson is the founder of Screenqueens. She is 21 and from the north of England (the proper north). She believes Harmony Korine is the future and is pretty sure she coined the term ‘selfie central’. She doesn’t like Pina Coladas or getting caught in the rain but she does like Ezra Miller a whole lot. Her favourite films are Into The Wild, The Beach and Lords of Dogtown. But DON’T talk to her about Paranormal Activity. She rants about cinema screenings @kawaiigoff.