10 Upcoming Blockbusters That Need To Be On Your Radar This Year

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 this fact, people still turn to movie reviews in order to help them decide which film to see next, hoping that one critic's opinion will perfectly match their own. These days, Rotten Tomatoes has made the process easier, amalgamating reviews from all the top critics into one convenient score. Movies that score 60% or above are rated ‘fresh’ while the poor films that don’t hit that special number are deemed ‘rotten’ and therefore utterly worthless by film goers everywhere. The system works well for the most part, but one of the issues with calculating review averages is that even the best movies ever made can struggle to hit that magic 100%. That doesn’t mean perfection isn’t possible though. 2016 looks like it’s going to be yet another strong year for cinema, so join us as we look at 10 upcoming movies that we think could score 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and thus, should definitely be on your radar. 10) Zootopia This isn’t an easy thing to admit, but there was a time around the early 2000s when Disney movies sucked. Don’t believe us? Home On The Range is all the evidence you’ll ever need. Fortunately, the likes of Frozen and Tangled restored the Magic Kingdom’s reputation, putting their future releases firmly back on our radar. 2016 will mark the first time that Walt Disney Animation Studios release two features in the same year since 2002, but with their current winning streak, it looks like Zootopia and Moana will be far better than Lilo & Stitch and Treasure Planet. Out of these two upcoming releases, Zootopia is the one that looks like it has the most potential to score 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Directed by the filmmakers behind Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, Zootopia follows the story of Judy Hopps, a rabbit policewoman who’s tasked with solving the case of a missing artist. Like the best of Pixar, Zootopia looks like it will appeal to both children and adults, helping the film to score big with critics when it premieres in March 2016. 9) The Nice Guys Shane Black has only directed two films so far, but before that, his screenwriting resume included iconic movies such as Predator and Lethal Weapon. When Black did finally step behind the camera, the results were just as spectacular. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang became a surprise cult hit, scoring 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Iron Man 3 currently stands as the tenth highest grossing film of all time. Not too shabby… Black’s next project is The Nice Guys, a comedy thriller that follows Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling work together to solve the case of a missing girl. Focusing the action on 1970’s L.A. should help set the film apart from many of its contemporaries and Black’s dark sense of humour seems to be on top form in the footage shown so far. Iron Man 3 only scored 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, still a respectable rating, but superhero movies are often divisive on the site. The Nice Guys will throw Black straight into the genre he’s most comfortable with, making this his most viable chance yet of scoring that elusive 100%. 8) Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them No one would blame you for being sceptical about Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. After all, the Harry Potter series dominated cinemas for almost a decade, making it unsurprising that the studio would wish to capitalize on this success further with an inevitable spin-off. However, any doubts fans may have over this property should be allayed by the news that J.K. Rowling herself will be making her screenwriting debut on the film, kick-starting a potential new franchise for audiences to obsess over. Set in 1920’s New York, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a wizard living in the same world as the Harry Potter series 70 years prior to the events of the previous films. It’s easy to dismiss these franchises as childish films, but it’s worth bearing in mind that the last Harry Potter movie scored an astonishing 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Redmayne isn’t exactly a stranger to critical acclaim. Combine that all with the news that Potter veteran David Yates is returning to helm the film and the future’s looking rosy indeed for fans of Rowling’s work. 7) Silence Since the 1970’s, Martin Scorsese has consistently released movies that score 90% or more on Rotten Tomatoes, including titles as diverse as Hugo and Taxi Driver. Even Scorsese films that have been less well received, such as Gangs Of New York and The Wolf Of Wall Street, still score around 75%, which is a stunning achievement when you consider how broad his back catalogue is. Scorsese is a living legend, there’s no doubt about it, and any major release from him is guaranteed to count among the most successful movies of the year. In 2016, Scorsese returns to the director's chair with the film Silence, starring Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as two Jesuit priests who encounter persecution in 17th century Japan. Epic historical dramas tend to fare well critically and the moral ambiguity of the novel upon which the film is based sounds ideal for Scorsese’s outlook on the world. The film has been adapted by screenwriter Jay Cocks, who was Oscar nominated for his work on The Age Of Innocence and Gangs Of New York. While this doesn’t guarantee that Silence will be another Scorsese classic, the odds are certainly looking in its favour. 6) Suicide Squad Few superhero movies make it past the 90% mark on Rotten Tomatoes, but Suicide Squad isn’t like any other comic book film. For its third instalment, the DC Cinematic Universe is exploring the darker reaches of the original comic books, creating an entire movie that revolves around a team of super villains forced into life-threatening missions by the US government. The trailer for David Ayer’s foray into comic book movies stands worlds apart from the likes of Captain America: Civil War and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, exploring the adult ramifications of a world where superheroes exist without needlessly going darker just for the sake of it. The last movie to feature The Joker was The Dark Knight, which hit 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, but with the aid of Harley Quinn, Batman and an all-star cast, Suicide Squad could be the first DC movie to finally receive a perfect score on the all-knowing site. 5) Finding Dory For over a decade, it seemed like Pixar’s reign over animation was unstoppable… Then Cars 2, Monsters University and Brave happened. Suddenly, the studio's perfect streak was over and people began to question whether Pixar had begun to lose the unique quality that made their films so special. Everything changed this year though when Inside/Out was released to huge critical acclaim, breaking the hearts of young and old worldwide. 2016 sees the release of Finding Dory, the sequel to Pixar’s now classic movie Finding Nemo. Andrew Stanton has returned to direct the follow-up, focusing on the amnesiac fish Dory who is on a personal mission to be reunited with her family. Pixar have an impressive track record on Rotten Tomatoes, scoring 100% with the first two Toy Story movies. Inside/Out notched up a respectable 98% this year and Finding Nemo scored 99%, so it seems likely that a sequel to the property could follow in the original's footsteps and attain a near perfect rating. 4) The Witch First time directors rarely achieve a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, and horror tends to be divisive too, but The Witch may be the one to buck that trend. Set in the 17th century, Robert Eggers film follows a Puritan family who live on a New England farm by the woods. After their infant son mysteriously vanishes, accusations are thrown at his sister, who people begin to suspect could be a witch. The buzz around The Witch continues to build before its wide release. Critics commend the intelligent acting and historical detail as highlights of this slow-burning horror, already earning the film a score of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. The indie movie It Follows achieved something similar and now sits near the top of the horror pile with a fresh rating of 96%, so success of this magnitude isn’t out of the question for Eggers' debut. 3) Bourne 5 Despite promising that Bourne Ultimatum would be his last shot at the series, Matt Damon is set to return as Jason Bourne in the franchise’s fifth instalment next year. Little is know about the film yet, except the original dream team of Damon, Julia Stiles and director Paul Greengrass are all back alongside heavy hitters Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel and Tommy Lee Jones. After the lacklustre response received by Bourne Legacy (sorry Renner), fans of the series have a lot to be excited about once more. The Bourne Legacy only scored 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the last collaboration between Damon and Greengrass attained a far more impressive 93%. The team previously stated that they wouldn’t return unless they found the right reasons to, so put any scepticism you may have to the side. 2015 has been an impressive year for spy movies, but with the right script, Bourne 5 has the potential to surpass them all. 2) The BFG Steven Spielberg is the undisputed king of family movies, a title he would have earned for E.T. alone, but his recent forays into the genre have been far less frequent than before. For every film like Tintin, Spielberg now pumps out a ton of historical dramas or adult thrillers, which is why it’s so exciting to see him return next year with The BFG. The story follows an orphan girl called Sophie who befriends a giant that protects her from his man-eating brethren. Together, the pair distribute dreams to children, eat snozzcumbers and even meet the Queen of England in what’s set to be the family film of the year. It’s hard to think of a more perfect combination than Spielberg and the legendary children’s author Roald Dahl. While the iconic director has made a huge number of movies that hit 90% or more on Rotten Tomatoes, Dahl’s best feature adaptations have fared just as well and sometimes, even better. Matilda earned enough rave reviews to reach 90% and The Witches is one of the few children’s movies ever made to achieve a perfect score of 100%. If The BFG doesn’t attain 100% on Rotten Tomatoes somehow, then I’ll eat my weight in snozzcumbers. 1) Hail, Caesar! The Coen Brothers aren’t exactly ones to rush things. While the filmmaking duo have consistently released award-winning films for the past few decades, their latest project has been gestating since 2004. Fortunately, Hail, Caesar! is finally set to premiere in 2016, just a short twelve years later after the idea was first discussed. Don’t believe us? Well there’s a trailer and everything, and it features the most impressive cast we’ve seen assembled in some time, including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes and Channing Tatum, who just so happens to be dressed as a sailor. At its most basic level, the story of Hail, Caesar! revolves around the kidnap of a famous actor in 1920’s Hollywood, but the Coens' script should bring far more to the table than that, including their trademark one-liners and dark humour threaded throughout. Hollywood is already buzzing about Hail, Caesar! and based on the success of their previous releases, this should come as no surprise. The majority of Coen releases score extremely well on Rotten Tomatoes. Most recently, Inside Llewyn Davis attained a rating of 94% and the Oscar nominated True Grit scored 96%, so a perfect 100% could be on the cards for the Coen’s next masterpiece.