10. Live By Night

• Director: Ben Affleck
• Starring: Ben Affleck, Elle Fanning, Scott Eastwood, Zoe Saldana
• Release Date: January 13, 2017
• Plot Summary: Live By Night tells a story about a group of outlaws and their involvement in the world of organized crime.
• Notes: Live By Night looks like it will be one of Affleck’s best movies that he has directed so far. Although he directed two Oscar-nominated movies (The Town & Argo), this flick looks like it has the potential to become his best. The setting is around the same time as The Great Gatsby, which is why most people will be interested in it. It also brings the threatening element of The Mafia into the plot, which delivers an even more interesting thrill into the movie.

9. The Lego Batman Movie

• Director: Chris Mckay (Robot Chicken, The Lego Movie)
• Starring: Will Arnett, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis, Rosario Dawson
• Release Date: February 10, 2017
• Plot Summary: Bruce Wayne finds out that he has an adopted son and has to deal with him, and the criminals of Gotham City.
• Notes: Chris Mckay is known for one of the funniest stop-motion animations such as Robot Chicken and The Lego Movie. This movie gets ninth place on the list because it is more intellectual than other animations (such as Pixar) and it also gives a funny side to a darker story. Over the years, filmmakers have tried to portray Batman in a darker perspective and most have succeeded. However, the fact that the Lego universe is stepping up to completely change that view of Batman is quite spectacular. This movie will not only be funny, but it will be perfect for everyone.

8. The Dark Tower

• Director: Nikolaj Arcel
• Starring: Idris Elba, Katheryn Winnick, Matthew McConaughey
• Release Date: February 17, 2017
• Plot Summary: A gunslinger in a Old West-like world travels searches for the dark tower in hopes to save his world from dying.
• Notes: The story of The Dark Tower comes from a novel written by the one-and-only Stephen King. There have already been many great adaptations of King’s novels such as Carrie, The Mist, The Shining, Cujo, and others. This title will be very special and unique because it is a series of books, meaning that it will probably produce about three movies. The Dark Tower is one of King’s more popular novels, so it will be getting lots of fan and critic attention as well. The director Nikolaj Arcel has not directed any movies, but he is known for writing some great ones like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The Dark Tower will be coming out on Feb. 17, 2017.

7. Kingsman: The Golden Circle

• Director: Matthew Vaughn
• Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry, Taron Egerton
• Release Date: June 16, 2017
• Plot Summary: Eggsy and Merlin are forced to work together with the American agency due to an attack on Kingsman headquarters.
• Notes: Kingsman: The Golden Circle is the second installment and the sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service. Matthew Vaughn is known for movies such as: X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, and Stardust, so it is expected from him to do a good job with this flick. Again, the last one was not bad at all. In fact, according to EWeekly, the movie received a “B,” which tells us that we can trust Vaughn.

6. War for the Planet of the Apes

• Director: Matt Reeves

• Starring: Judy Greer, Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis

• Release Date: July 14, 2017

• Plot Summary: Unknown

• Notes: Although the plot for this movie is unknown, we still have much speculation about what’s it going to be about. The director Matt Reeves is well known for movies such as The Yards and Let Me In. The past films in the saga have been pretty solid, so the third installment could either be it’s best, or just as good as the others. We can just hope the third movie comes out to be the greatest.

5. Alien: Covenant

• Director: Ridley Scott
• Starring: Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride
• Release Date: August 4, 2017
• Plot Summary: Members of the ship Covenant discover what they think is an uncharted planet but it’s actually a dangerous place home to the synth David, survivor of the Prometheus expedition.
• Notes: Director Ridley Scott is well known for his Space movies, the most recent one being The Martian. This film will be a sequel to Prometheus and will continue the story of that expedition. Although critics were not very fond of the first installment, people believe that this second flick will reach more than its potential. This is why when Prometheus came out, the plot was really a mystery. The audience did not really know if this movie was related to the Alien series or if it was a totally different story. It wasn’t until the final, post-credit cutscene (SPOILERS!!) that people found out this was all related to the saga. This second installment will be the story’s second chance, and because of the title, people will disregard Prometheus from the whole plot (Probably the reason why the movie was not called Prometheus 2). The movie will be released summer of 2017.

4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

• Director: Joachim Ronning, Espen Sandberg
• Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Javier Bardem
• Release Date: May 26, 2017
• Plot Summary: Captain Salazar searches for Jack Sparrow and his crew.
• Notes: This will be the fifth installment to the series of Pirates of the Caribbean and to be honest, it is not really that necessary. But let’s not be pessimistic since this is a top ten list. The only reason why this movie has been picked for the list was because it is highly anticipated. It is also a Disney movie, so many kids and teens will be looking forward to it because will bring many families and couples together at the movies.

3. Wonder Woman

• Director: Patty Jenkins
• Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright
• Release Date: June 2, 2017
• Plot Summary: The Amazonian Princess Diana leaves her home and meets men for the first time. There she explores the world and soon becomes one of the greatest superheroes of all time.
• Notes: Wonder Woman will be one of the greatest movies next summer because it stars a woman as a superhero. We have all been waiting for such an exciting and fantastic moment; to have a cool, sexy, and awesome protagonist. The director, Patty Jenkins, is well known for tv shows such as The Killing and Arrested Development. Although this character first appeared in the not-so-great Zack Snyder film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the movie itself has lots of potential to becoming one of the greatest superhero movies of all time.

2. Dunkirk

• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Starring: Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Styles
• Release Date: July 21, 2017
• Plot Summary: A film that takes place during the WWII battle of Dunkirk, when allied armies are attacked by German soldiers in Dunkirk, France.
• Notes: Dunkirk will be directed by one of the most influential directors of all time, Christopher Nolan. As we know, Nolan does not come out with movies every year. His last well known movie, Interstellar, came out in 2014. Although the full plot has not been revealed, we know two important things. The first is that Nolan is known for astounding special effects, such as the ones in Inception, therefore we know that the movie will have pieces with awesome effects. The second thing we know is that the singer from One Direction, Harry Styles, will be starring in the film. I have absolutely no clue why a singer from a boy band will be starring, but I trust Nolan’s decision, and I also bet that Styles will do a great job in his part.

1. Star Wars: Episode VIII

• Director: Rian Johnson
• Starring: Daisy Ridley, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, John Boyega
• Release Date: July 16, 2017
• Plot Summary: After discovering that she carries the force within, Rey continues her journey through the galaxy accompanied with Finn, Luke Skywalker and Poe

Notes: Let me start by congratulating the number one pick of this list. I’ve been working hard to choose from many other movies that could have had the potential to be number one, but Star Wars: Episode VIII has convinced me the most. Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out last year with phenomenal reviews and was rewarded the movie of the year on several platforms. The second installment to this century’s story will be the best movie of the year not only to critics, but to fans as well. But how do I know that? Well, let me explain: Star Wars in general is one of the most popular brands of entertainment history. These movies that George Lucas pioneered evolutionized our views of the future. Overall, this movie will be the best film of 2017 and no matter how cliche this movie could turns out to be, it will always be loved by many critics and fans.