World war z

Max Brooks’ ephemeral horror novel, based on disparate accounts of a zombie apocalypse, will be a difficult film to accurately convert into a blockbuster movie. Nevertheless, director Marc Forster’s having a go at it, and his World War Z will be among the most expensive undead-based movies yet made, with a budget of $125 million. And if reviews of the script are anything to go by, it’s a great adaptation, too, with Ain’t It Cool describing it as a “genre-defining piece of work”.

Anyone fearing a warmed-over retread of George Romero’s movies can also rest assured that World War Z will be rather different from the zombie movies we’ve seen in the past. Forster has compared it to Watergate thriller, All The President’s Men, while others have said it’s like Children Of Men and The Bourne Identity.We’re not quite sure how all that ties together, but those comparisons alone have us itching to see just how good this film is.

The hobbit

It’s almost surreal that The Hobbit movies are finally happening. First, Peter Jackson and New Line were at loggerheads. Then MGM’s bank balance cost the films another year or so. Then, Guillermo del Toro dropped out. And finally - finally- Peter Jackson got cameras rolling on the two films earlier this year.

The first of them, An Unexpected Journey, makes it into cinemas at the end of 2012, nine years after the release of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King. It’s testament to how many interesting films are heading our way in 2012 that this ranks fourth in the list, but don’t let that fool you: The Hobbit is a flat-out must see from where we’re sitting.

To have Peter Jackson back in Middle Earth is proof that there is some justice in the world. That’s he recruited so many of the talented people who brought Lord Of The Rings to the screen could also provide a vital constistency. The even better news? There’s another Hobbit film the year after. Expect that similarly high up 2013’s list...

The dark knight rises

Christopher Nolan is making what’s almost certain to be his last ever Batman movie, while also looking to prove that it’s possible to make a comic book threequel that doesn’t dip in quality. He’s got his regular cast back - Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine - and recruited Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway too, in a film that promises to close this chapter of Bruce Wayne’s story.

The film has been shot very much in the open, with the Internet creaking under the weight of set videos and photos from observers. And inevitably, it’s led to a cauldron of hype that’s almost impossible to live up to.

Yet Nolan might. The Dark Knight built terrifically well on the excellent Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight Rises is set to try a few different things again. The stories to date have been ambitious, the execution excellent, and Nolan’s Batman movies will be resident in top ten comic book movie lists for many years to come.The Dark Knight Rises? It has the potential to top them all. May Nolan not be away from comic book movies for long...

The pirates: In adventure with scientist

You wait five years for an Aardman movie to arrive, and then two turn up within six months of each other. We really enjoyed CG-feature Arthur Christmas, but it’s Aardman’s first stop-frame animated movie since Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit that is already shaping up as the family movie to beat in 2012.

Everything we’ve seen of the film thus far demonstrates a lavish attention to detail, a steadfast sense of character, and a style and wit that few of 2012’s releases look set to be able to hold a torch too. It helps that the expertise of Peter Lord – creator of Morph, director of Chicken Run – is calling the shots on the film, but there’s more to The Pirates than that.

This is a massively ambitious production, about a Pirate Captain who’s trying to win a Pirate Of The Year competition despite the fact that he’s generally a bit rubbish. This lays a platform for Aardman to not only showcase its unparalleled craft, but to put together a funny, warm family adventure (it's already looking like one of 2012's funniest).

It might not prove to be the biggest animated hit of 2012 (it doesn’t help that the film has a different title on each side of the channel), but its competition will have a job on their hands to beat it for sheer quality. We can’t wait.

Incidentally, it’s also the only film on the 2012 roster that uses the voice talent of Brian Blessed that we’re aware of. Shame on every other film.

Snow white and the huntsman

There’s no shortage of classic stories and characters getting a genre twist next year - Jack The Giant Killer, Mirror Mirror, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - but this is the one that's started to emerge from the pack as the one to watch. A really impressive maiden trailer certainly helped there (contrast it with Mirror Mirror's if you want to see how these things can go wrong), which showed just what Kristen Stewart can do away from the Twilightfranchise.

The rest of the cast is hardly shabby, though, with Charlize Theron, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, Bob Hoskins, Eddie Marsan and Ian McShane suggest a depth to the company that serves the film well (it's comfortably one of the best casts of the year). And the screenplay? Co-written by Hossein Amini, as it happens, who penned the script to Drive.

There's real pedigree here, and what we've been allowed to see thus far suggests there's a good film underneath it all. In a year seemingly full of subverted fairy tales on the big screen, this (or Jack The Giant Killer) looks set to be the one that rules them all...

The hunger Games

Set in a post-apocalyptic future where competitiors in a televised bloodsport fight to the death, it’s easy to see why Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games novels have been picked up for a big-screen adaptation. Enthusiastically told and enormously successful, the books have a similar teen demographic to Stephanie Meyer’sTwilight series, and Lionsgate will no doubt be hoping that the first of its film versions will be as popular with audiences.

There’s some great talent at work on the film, too, with Pleasantville and Seabiscuitdirector Gary Ross at the helm, and a cast including Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson in its two lead roles, backed up by Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth and Donald Sutherland.

Lionsgate certainly has faith in The Hunger Games’ chances, since a sequels’s already scheduled, and if Ross can capture the same energy as the book’s second half, the film should provide the perfect opening chapter in what could be a trilogy of films.

He is we - All about us

Take my hand 
I'll teach you to dance 
I'll spin you around 
Won't let you fall down

Would you let me lead
You can step on my feet
Give it a try
It'll be all right 

The rooms hush, hush 
And now's our moment 
Take it in, feel it all, and hold it
Eyes on you, eyes on me 
We're doing this right 

Cause lovers dance when they're feeling in love 
Spotlight shine, its all about us
its all about us 
And every heart in the room will melt
This is a feeling I've never felt 
but its all about us 

Suddenly, I'm feeling brave
Don't know whats gotten into me 
Why I feel this way
Can we dance, real slow 
Can I hold you real close 


The rooms hush, hush 
And now's our moment 
Take it in, feel it all, and hold it
Eyes on you, eyes on me 
We're doing this right 

Cause lovers dance when they're feeling in love 
Spotlight shine, its all about us
its all about us 
And every heart in the room will melt
This is a feeling I've never felt 
but its all about us 

Do you hear that love, 
they're playing our song 
Do you think we're ready, 
oh I'm really feeling it 
Do you hear that love, 
Do you hear that love 
(repeat 3 times) 

lovers dance when they're feeling in love 
Spotlight shine, its all about us
its all 
And every heart in the room will melt
This is a feeling I've never felt 
but its all about us 

Cause lovers dance when they're feeling in love 
Spotlight shine, its all about us
its all about us 
And every heart in the room will melt
This is a feeling I've never felt 
but its all, all about us.