2018 may have sucked in many aspects (socially, politically, emotionally. . . ), but movie-wise it was insane. And 2019 looks like it’s going to be even better. Assembled below are the BitchShelf’s top picks for upcoming movies. All of them have promising female leads, many of them include casts of color, and all of them are fantasy, sci-fi, or horror, because I don’t blow twenty bucks at the theater for anything less than ear-numbing explosion and gut-wrenching terror.
Happy Death Day 2U
Happy Death Day was the amazing horror comedy movie you didn’t see. And you should fix that. It’s basically Groundhog Day done as a slasher fic (live, die, repeat, etc.). It’s creepy, it’s hilarious, it’s adorable. . . and now there’s going to be a sequel. Yay!
Captain Marvel
DC beat Marvel to the punch with the solo female superhero movie with Wonder Woman. But, let’s face it, guys. Marvel’s just better. Has been since the end of the Dark Knight trilogy.
If the group Avengers movies were any less of a sausage fest, Endgame would have made the list, too. One can only hope that, after Captain Marvel takes the box office by storm in March, we’ll get to see her kick a wrinkled purple space raisin’s ass in April.
Aladdin
People have mixed feelings about Disney reboots. For me, it depends on how well the reboot is done. I don’t care if it’s a remake, I just want to see a good film. And Disney has been really pushing for more diversity and less white-washing in their movies, while simultaneously sassing the tropes they established themselves! (See: “You got engaged to someone you just met that day?”)
This one makes the list not only because of the long list of people of color on here, but because of Jasmine. She always was one of my favorite Disney princesses, and I don’t get the hate for her. She’s smart, she’s assertive, she has no problem telling the male authorities in her life what they should or should not do. I don’t even mind that she gets damseled (that is, becomes a damsel in distress) because she’s not passive or stupid about it. And anyone who has the stomach to persuasively seduce someone as heinous as Jafar deserves mountains of respect in my book.
Lion King
Beyonce is voicing Nala. BEYONCE IS VOICING NALA. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
The New Mutants
It’s so hard to find a team superhero movie with more than just one woman on the team. It took the Avengers years just to get their number up to two, and both Black Widow and Scarlet Witch’s narrative arcs are romantic subplots. (Blech.) But hopefully these teenagers will be a lot more concerned with not being murdered in a creepy mutant prison than with worrying about who’s going to bang who.
Also, whoever cast Maisie Williams (a.k.a. Arya Stark from Game of Thrones) as Wolfsbane deserves a goddamn raise.
Star Wars Episode IX
I do not understand the hate for these movies. Just . . . the misogyny of broflakes who don’t like seeing people of color or powerful women on screen is mind-boggling to me. This latest trilogy has been amazing! A true homage to the Star Wars franchise. And I cannot wait until December 2019.