The original X-Men trilogy and subsequent spin-offs pushed Hugh Jackman's Wolverine to the fore, often at the expense of other potentially more interesting characters, but the success of Deadpool proves that the franchise no longer needs to rely exclusively on recognisable names.
Deadpool has always been a fan favourite within the pages of Marvel comics, but after Fox sewed the Merc's mouth shut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, things looked bleak for the future of Wade Wilson on film. That all changed though when Ryan Reynolds returned to the role, shooting test footage that was eventually "leaked" online.
Whether you think the Oscars is still relevant or not, it's impossible to deny how important the award show is to both the industry and pop culture at large. For many who work in movies, winning an Academy Award is the pinnacle of filmmaking. There is literally no higher honour.
No two people are exactly alike and that’s particularly true when it comes to movie preferences. How else can you explain the fact that the Transformers franchise even made it past the first film? Despite that, people still turn to movie reviews in order to help them decide which film to see next, hoping that one critics opinion will perfectly match their own.
In the last year, Rotten Tomatoes has become more popular than it's ever been before and we have people's laziness to thank. If audiences want to figure out whether a movie is worth paying for in theatres, why would they read a number of detailed reviews when they can just find the film's score on Rotten Tomatoes and go from there?
Those who claim that movies aren't what they used to be need to switch off the latest Adam Sandler film and take a look around. Whether you religiously visited the cinema on a weekly basis or binge watched as many movies as possible on Netflix, 2015 was yet another incredible year for film.
The trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens were spectacular, building yet even more anticipation for the motion picture event of the year, but many fans were still understandably hesitant about the final film. After all, those of us who are old enough to remember the last time Star Wars returned to our screens are still recovering from the trauma of Jar Jar Binks.
It seemed impossible, but they did it. By god, they actually did it. Despite all of the immeasurable hype and ridiculously high expectations of diehard fans, Star Wars: The Force Awakens somehow turned out to be a damn good movie, one of the year's best in fact, and more than deserves its place in the most popular film franchise of all-time.
Two minutes. After years of planning and filming, studios only have two minutes to convince audiences that their film is the one worth seeing. Sure, interviews, posters and a little old fashioned thing we like to call "word of mouth" also have their part to play, but trailers will always have the most impact.
People often forget how important directors are. When a blockbuster succeeds, the praise of the general public tends to fall on the actors or storyline. Outside of film critic circles, few mentioned director Jon Favreau when the first Iron Man movie took the world by storm, yet people couldn't stop talking about Robert Downey Jr.'s best performance in years.
