2012 was a great year for cinemas, thanks to a solid stream of crowd pleasers including The Avengers Assemble, the hugely success James Bond film Skyfall and The Hobbit.
While Hollywood does have some new titles to offer us – watch out for White House Down (out September 6th) – 2013 looks set to be dominated once again by familiar franchises returning to thrill audiences.
Here are five top franchises we’re looking forward to revisiting on the big screen:
Evil Dead – April 18th
STUDIOCANAL’s remake of Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror classic has the potential to defy recent horror reboots (Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street) by actually being good.
The omens are good – Raimi is serving as co-writer and producer on the new version and US audiences have propelled the film to the top of the box office, spending more than $26m on tickets in the opening weekend.
If you’re new to the franchise, or are wanting to refresh your memory, the original movie is available to stream online.
Iron Man 3 – April 25th
Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark aka Iron Man in Marvel’s first post Avengers Assemble movie.
Over the past few months the producers have released a slew of great looking images (include internal link to past IM3 story) suggesting the third film is set to be as stylish and punchy as its predecessors.
Star Trek Into Darkness – May 9th
Having already seen the first 25 minutes or so, we just know this is going to be a HUGE success.
With the ‘alternate timeline’ concept of his 2009 Star Trek, JJ Abrams proved that a reboot doesn’t have to stamp all over the original in order to give itself the freedom to explore new territory.
We’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating, Star Trek Into Darkness could well be the best Trek ever.
Man of Steel – June 14th
After Bryan Singer’s much underrated Superman Returns failed to revive Krypton’s favourite son, the character gets another reboot in June courtesy of Zach Snyder.
This time around British actor and The Tudors star Henry Cavill don the cape, supported by an all-star cast which includes Laurence Fishburne, Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner.
Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters – August 14th
Fans of 2010’s ‘ancient Gods in a modern world’ flick Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief are finally being rewarded with a sequel.
Adapted from Rick Riordan’s books, the films focus on Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon who teams with his demigod friends to retrieve the Golden Fleece, which has the power to save their home and training ground, Camp Half-Blood