Before the Oscar nominations on Tuesday help put on a cap on 2016, we here at Team Experience are looking to the year ahead. Yes, fresh off of our Team Experience Awards, our most anticipated films of 2017 with this installment of We Can't Wait!
In this list you'll find upcoming films from favorite auteurs and favorite actress, and some promising films giving us both in the same package. Forgive us if your favorite superhero doesn't make the cut - our superheroes are the actressy sort, though we will be keeping an eye on Wonder Woman. Some films that almost made the list: Pulitzer-winning adaptation Marjorie Prime, the starry remake Murder on The Orient Express, and a Short Term 12 reunion for Destin Cretton and Brie Larson with The Glass Castle.
After the jump our 17 most anticipated films of 2017...
17. Beauty and the Beast (dir. Bill Condon)
My favorite Disney animated movie getting the live action treatment? Emma Thompson, Ian McKellan, Ewan McGregor, and Audra McDonald as Enchanted Objects? Yes, please. I'm iffy on Emma Watson's singing, but she looks the part, so I have faith. - Kim
16. Ex Libris: New York Public Library (dir. Frederick Wiseman)
A new Wiseman documentary is always an event (like In Jackson Heights, At Berkeley, and Titicut Follies), but I better actually be featured in this one. - John
15. Coco (dir. Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina)
It's Pixar tackling my native culture and traditions. Yes, I'm hoping they will make one of their expected emotionally deep narratives, but I'm more excited to see what they do visually with the Día de los Muertos motif. - Jorge
14. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
After The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, any Bigelow and Boal collaboration gets me to perk up. Featuring John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Will Poulter, and John Krasinski among others, Bigelow's (alas all too timely film) will be tackling the 1967 Detroit riots. That's literally all we know and, really, all we should know to keep us excited. - Manuel
13. Okja (dir. Bong Joon-ho)
After his three most recent wonderments The Host (2006), Mother (2009), and Snowpiercer (2013), South Korea's Bong Joon-Ho has earned "ticket bought!" status every time he gets behind the camera. The plot, which we don't need to know much about, involves a nefarious corporation trying to kidnap the titular character, a "massive animal" (monster?) unless the animal's human best friend, a young Korean girl, can stop them. Or some such. We don't want to know too much. As with Snowpiercer we're getting an international mix of actors, crazy genre elements, and fun Tilda costumes. I repeat: Ticket bought. - Nathaniel
12. Happy End (dir. Michael Haneke)
The lovelier the title of the film, the darker Michael Haneke gets (Amour was not about whimsical Parisian love, Funny Games was far from a hoot, and The White Ribbon was not about state fair prizes), so the title of this new film made the masochist in me squeal with joy. Also, he's reuniting with Huppert. - Jose
11. How to Talk to Girls At Parties (dir. John Cameron Mitchell)
As if those set photos of Nicole Kidman looking like a Labyrinth-era Bowie weren't enough to stoke our excitement for this Neil Gaiman adaptation, director John Cameron Mitchell might be going back to his rock and roll-inflected roots. Toss in our increasingly loved Elle Fanning and Tony-winning Alex Sharp (in his screen debut) and we're there for this sci-fi party. Bonus points: an A24 release. - Chris
10. The Death of Stalin (dir. Armando Iannuci)
Amando Iannucci's last film, In the Loop, was one of the all-time great political satires. And then there's the not-insignificant matter of his amazing television shows The Thick of It and Veep. Basically, I trust no-one to better helm a comic tale of petty Communist in-fighting. - Tim
Are you looking forward to these films?