With the new year underway, there are quite a few things in store for fans of any medium in the entertainment world. From movies to music to video games, there’s plenty to look forward to. Here’s just a few:
Movies
Guardians of the Galaxy-
After the spine chilling post credits sequence of 2012’s mega blockbuster The Avengers, fans have been waiting to see how far into the cosmic lure of the comics Marvel Studios plans to go. The answer? As far and as outlandish as the beloved source material will allow them to. Guardians of the Galaxy is about a team of ragtag nobodies responsible for savings the world on a scale Earth’s newly formed Avengers can’t imagine (at least not yet).
The entire lineup from the comics will be translated to the big screen. The genetically enhanced rodent strategist Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), the alien femme fatale Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a talking tree humanoid Groot (Vin Diesel), the warrior (Dave Bautista) and one human in the middle of all of this (Chris Pratt) will all star in this movie. As excited as comic book fans are, it will be interesting to see how Guardians fairs with the more casual Marvel movie fans.
X-Men: Days of Future Past-
Based loosely on one of the more memorable story arcs of X-Men lore, Days of Future is hoping to do what the Marvel’s Avengers did for their Cinematic Universe. The plot will follow Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) as he travels through time on orders from Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen), in order to save the future from a world changing threat.
The movie is an all star cast including nearly every single X-Men character introduced since 2000’s original film. Acting as a sequel to both 2006’s X-Men: Last Stand and 2011’s X-Men: First Class, and a direct follow-up to last year’s The Wolverine, expect Days of Future Past to symbolically hit the reset button on the X-Men’s convoluted but still salvageable movie continuity.
Godzilla
The closest to a decent Godzilla movie in the last two decades was 2008’s Cloverfield. But after last year’s international hit Pacific Rim, it seems the trend of giant monsters versus humanity is making a comeback. Starring Kick-Ass star Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen and Bryan Cranston hot off the heels of the Emmy winning Breaking Bad, this upcoming Godzilla movie seems to be taking it back to the original’s more meaningful, emotionally fueled roots. If the trailers are any indication, expect Godzilla to be a force of unstoppable terrifying nature rather than the 300 foot tall action star he was in the 1998 film.
Music
Kid Cudi- Satellite Flight: The Journey to the Mother Moon
Kid Cudi’s last album, 2013’s Indiecud was easily one of the most slept on albums of the year. A departure from the Man on the Moon saga, it was a refreshing take of what the Cleveland artist can produce. His next album, Satellite Flight: The Journey to the Mother Moon, was originally expected to be an EP bridging last year’s Indiecud to 2015’s Man on the Moon III, but has since become a much bigger project.
In an interview with MTV News, Cudi called Satellite Flight “his best work” to date. He said that the album will release sometime next month as an iTunes exclusive, followed by a physical release with additional bonus tracks.
Schoolboy Q- Oxymoron
Top Dawg Entertainment’s Schoolboy Q has an album dropping at the end of the month and the entire hip hop game holding their breath. His energetic yet still Californian style attributed to a full studio album release is surely the formula for what should be one of the better hip-hop releases scheduled for the year. Not only that, but hopefully Oxymoron’s release means we’re one step closer to the inevitable Black Hippy album featuring his fellow TDE artists Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Kendrick Lamar. Oxymoron is out Feb. 25.
Games
Titanfall- Respawn Entertainment (Xbox One)
If there ever was a time the Xbox One needed an exclusive, system selling game, right now. While the console itself was a success overall, the system is lacking severely in the exclusives department in its first few months on the market. Titanfall, a team based, mech-infused multiplayer shooter is the systems first real must have on the scale of a Gears of War or Halo. Since its reveal at last year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, preview coverage has been nothing but glowing across the entire games industry.
Titanfall will be Respawn Entertainment’s first game. The studio was founded by the Vince Zampella and Jason West, former heads of Infinity Ward (responsible for the Call of Duty Series), after a very public falling out with former publisher Activision. When they were fired from Infinity Ward, most of the team left along with them and started working on the title that would become Titanfall. On March 11, we’ll finally get to see the game that caused all of the legal trouble between the creators of the Call of Duty machine and their former publisher Activision.
Infamous: Second Son- Sucker Punch (Playstation 4)
What will be Sony’s answer to the Xbox One’s highly anticipated Titanfall? The release of Infamous: Second Son. This pseudo-reboot features a new protagonist, new powers and some of the most outstanding visuals of any game available on any system right now. Second Son is a technological marvel and is exactly the type of game that Sony needs to show off what the PS4 is capable of.
Infamous is a guaranteed hit as it is one of Sony’s flagship franchises of the last generation. It will be the Playstation 4’s first exclusive that can actually shift things in their favor. And with it being published by Sony, we know that it will be an true exclusive unlike Titanfall which will also appear on PC when it release. Second Son comes out March 21.