Big Movie Questions for 2013

Some of you have asked me to repost this, so I've chosen my own site to do so.

With the 2013 movie season already in full swing, we've been thinking about some early answers to several burning questions:

1. Will audiences stand in line to see Arnold and Stallone?  It appears that the answer is NO.  Neither the awful The Last Stand nor the decent Bullet to the Head reached audiences, pulling in less money combined than the Estrogen Fest Safe Haven.  That's a bad sign for the duo, who separately used to command the box office.  If their fall pair-up The Tomb also fails to attract success, it could be the last hurrah for these aging heroes who might not know when to hang it up. 
2. Will Winter 2013 produce the same limited amount of quality films, just as it has since....forever?  Luckily, YES.  The season has already given us more high-quality efforts than in the last three Winters COMBINED.  Gangster Squad and Snitch are top shelf, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Beautiful Creatures were wickedly fun, and Warm Bodies brought in audiences out of the cold for a bit of zombie humor.  
3. Will 2012's feeble box office continue into 2013?  Again, the answer is affirmative.  While it's way too early to count things out, box office receipts are down as much as 24% (as of the release of this article) from 2012.  Many possible reasons exist, including a massive winter storm that hit the east coast earlier this month, but a lack of quality products is definitely not one of them: 2013 is already shaping up to best 2012's massive slew of terrific films.  Whether moviegoers will return for the Spring to bail out Hollywood is anyone's guess.

With those answered, here are some big questions that continue to burn a hole in our heads and keep us up until all hours:

1. Will horror films actually be good this year?  Sure, Mama has been an early financial surprise, but can the genre actually be inventive again?  We're so obsessed with the Torture Porn of Saw that Hollywood has seemingly forgotten how to make scary/creepy without bimbos, boobs, and bondage.  Under normal circumstances that combination works in the privacy of my home or dive motel, but horror has been perverted into an unappealing and predictable version of itself.  Things don't look promising: Dark Skies has already been panned, and yet another Paranormal Activity flick is due out this year.  Can we ever return to classic creepy without the ultra-violence of Torture Porn?
2. How much more money will Sci-Fi films make than other genres in 2013?  Think about these titles: Oblivion, After Earth, Pacific Rim, Elysium, and Star Trek 2 all figure to be exciting fare best viewed in large dark rooms, but there's also the under-rated Enders Game and the George Clooney space survival film Gravity.  While neither will probably bring in big cash, the genre as a whole is shaping up to be the most successful - and interesting - of 2013.  Giant human-controlled robots?  The Enterprise underwater?  A brilliant strategist who uses humans on far-away worlds like chess pieces?  Count me in!
3. Can Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark Worlds match up quality- and receipts-wise to the gargantuan The Avengers?  Nothing in my mind matched the perfection of 2012's superhero BBQ get-together.  When your film strikes billion-dollar gold, it's nearly impossible to expect a repeat performance, especially if what's coming isn't mega-superhero-mashup.  "Phase Two" is on its way, and Marvel is already bracing for what is probably an unfair comparison.  With Shane Black handling IM3 and Alan Taylor helming Thor, Marvel is demonstrating its command of the genre by filling its creative teams with competent people; Hemsworth and Downey Jr are perfect as Thor and Stark respectively, but will the love shown Avengers translate into higher box office grosses for these solo efforts (including 2014's Captain America: Winter Soldier)?
4. Will a Nolan Man of Steel be as good as a Nolan Dark Knight?  Ever since the news of a page-one re-write of Will Beal's Justice League script hit the Internet, fans are wondering if DC will ever be able to grow their potentially-bankable heroes into something worthwhile.  Christopher Nolan introduced an incredibly successful urban Batman to moviegoers, which unfortunately would not work with the kind of JL movie fans want.  But, I can think of a lot of people I would hate to see head this project than Nolan, which at least gives me some hope.  With Man of Steel inching its way to a June 14th release, we'll soon learn whether the Zak Snyder-directed reboot spells gloom or glory for a studio in seemingly constant turmoil.
5. Can Star Trek: Into Darkness live up to what fans need and deserve?  Given the fact that I'm a Trekker born in the age of TOS, it's hard to look at JJ Abrams' first outing as anything other than a mixed bag.  Two big plot holes were never fully addressed, leaving Kirk and crew in an odd alternate reality.  That was the intent, but how Abrams got the Enterprise there left me... unfulfilled.  With news circulating that Benedict Cumberbatch's character is indeed Khan, I find myself wondering if there will be a classic TOS story to complement the terrific CG, or if the images of Spock reaching out to Kirk between plastic is an omen of things to come.  Nevertheless, this Spock-Uhura shagging has got to go.  I can only take so much.
6. Can risky films like Oz The Great and Powerful, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, GI Joe: Retaliation, World War Z, and The Lone Ranger endear themselves to audiences?  Credit Hollywood for wanting to grow some new franchises, but if these are the next best candidates, then we're in for rough waters.  Things haven't looked good for several of these since they were announced; given their collective production challenges - including the palm-to-face response after learning of Retaliation's 9 month delay and rewarded with lowered expectations - we could see a number of Battleship/John Carter-like bombs this summer.

With potentially strong batch of films already in theaters, 2013 could be set for an amazing run.  But with box office numbers way down from 2012, and these huge questions lingering for some of the most anticipated and well-financed films of the year, we could see yet another decline for Hollywood.  Either way, we'll be here to report the results.