2011: Biggest Geek Year Ever?
Dozens of genre offerings are coming to the screen in the next 12 months, and Parallel Universe gives you the lowdown 2011 is upon us, and it could very well be the biggest year for geek movies since, well, 2009. Let's face it, 2010 was kind of a bust, but it appears the studios are about to make up for it with a deluge of films steeped in the genres of sci-fi, horror, fantasy, comic books, toys and video games. Of course, some of these will hit big and some will flop; a few unexpected surprises will emerge while other highly anticipated titles will fail to live up to their hype (many of these are also coming out in either converted or real 3-D -- a gimmick which might have its make-or-break moment this year as well). We've assembled a guide to 25 of the biggest geek movies coming out this year, along with the basics about each and how highly they rate on Parallel Universe's very own Geekometer. Take a look, make your own choices and let the moviegoing begin!
'The Green Hornet' (Jan. 14)
Who's in it: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz
Directed by: Michel Gondry
Who's in it: Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Alex Pettyfer
Directed by: D.J. Caruso
Who's in it: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner
Directed by: Patrick Lussier
Who's in it: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Pena
Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman
Who's in it: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kristin Wiig, Seth Rogen (voice)
Directed by: Greg Mottola
Who's in it: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Who's in it: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga
Directed by: Duncan Jones
Who's in it: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Who's in it: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Who's in it: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, January Jones
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Who's in it: Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Noah Emmerich
Directed by: JJ Abrams
Who's in it: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Who's in it: James Franco, Freida Pinto, Andy Serkis, John Lithgow
Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Who's in it: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Tyrese Gibson
Directed by: Michael Bay
Who's in it: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Directed by: David Yates
Who's in it: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Who's in it: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Who's in it: Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, David Tennant, Imogen Poots
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Who's in it: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Kevin Durand
Directed by: Shawn Levy
Who's in it: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Directed by: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Who's in it: Unknown
Directed by: Unknown
Who's in it: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Directed by: Bill Condon
Who's in it: Chloe Grace Moretz, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Who's in it: Robert Downey Jr. Jude Law, Noomi Rapace
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Who's in it: Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Jamie Bell
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
In "The Rite" (Jan. 28), Anthony Hopkins plays an elder priest showing a younger recruit the proper way to perform an exorcism. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are on the run from "The Adjustment Bureau" (March 4) in this adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story that was delayed from last summer. Remember the 18th Apollo moon mission? Neither does anyone else, because it never happened. But in "Apollo 18" (March 4), it does reach the moon, and its crew discovers that something else is there with them.
