Eight great dates to put on your 2019 entertainment calendar
Mark your calendars: Here are eight great dates on the 2019 entertainment horizon.
Video games
<b>Jan. 25 - “Resident Evil 2,”</b> a next-gen remake. One of the defining games of the original PlayStation era is coming back in a completely rebuilt form. The static overhead visuals are gone, replaced with an over-the-shoulder camera that follows heroes Leon and Claire as they fight their way out of the zombie-infested Raccoon City (yes, really). The new look is reminiscent of 2005's “Resident Evil 4,” which still holds up as one of the all-time greats. (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
<b>Jan. 29 - “Kingdom Hearts III,”</b> a sequel 14 years in the making. Square Enix's button-mashing pastiche of Japanese RPG sensibilities and Disney characters has perfect visuals. Trailers show spiky-haired hero Sora (Haley Joel Osment) fighting evil alongside Woody, Mike Wazowski and Baymax in levels that seem to have been plucked right out of the animated movies. The question is whether the action is fast and fun enough to make up for the unintelligible mythology. (PS4, Xbox One)
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Feb. 22 - “Anthem,”</b> a new action role-playing game from BioWare and Electronic Arts. The demo footage shown at E3 suggests “Destiny 2” with mech suits, a lush alien world in which players can join missions with others online. We know BioWare can do sci-fi - “Mass Effect” writer Drew Karpyshyn helped forge this game - but can Electronic Arts redeem itself after the disappointment of “Star Wars: Battlefront II”? (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
Television
<b>April, exact date TBA</b> - The final season of <b>“Game of Thrones”</b> begins on HBO. Six episodes, all purported to be 90 minutes or longer. A quickly removed Instagram post revealed that one battle scene required 55 straight nights of filming. The evil Night King has a dragon. Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (Kit Harington) have forbidden love. Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) has no intention of giving up the throne. I'll be there. We'll all be there.
<b>July 4</b> - You can begin binge-watching <b>“Stranger Things 3”</b> on Netflix. We don't know much about the third season aside from the titles of all eight episodes, revealed in a teaser trailer late last year, and that the entire principle cast will return for a story set in the summer of 1985. “Back to the Future” came out that summer ... perhaps Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and friends are ready for some time travel?
Movies
<b>March 15 - “Us,”</b> the new horror film from “Get Out” director Jordan Peele. The trailer is terrifying - a family headed by Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke is held captive by another family that looks exactly like them. Elisabeth Moss holds a giant pair of scissors up to her own temple. A masked boy sets himself on fire. Peele's last film was instantly iconic and won him an Oscar; this one could be one of the biggest moneymakers of the year.
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Nov. 22 - “Frozen 2,”</b> the sequel to the all-encompassing animated behemoth. The first one grossed over a billion dollars in 2013 and took Disney by surprise - remember how hard “Frozen” toys were to come by that Christmas? Since then, Anna and Elsa have graced two short films, video games, theme-park attractions, a Broadway musical, soup cans, Ziploc bags, credit cards and just about every licensed product on the planet. Will parents burned out from hearing “Let It Go” a million times keep their kids away, or will they be just as excited to go on opening night? I bet it's the latter.
<b>Dec. 20 - “Star Wars: Episode IX,”</b> in which J.J. Abrams tries to save the galaxy. “The Last Jedi” divided audiences. “Solo: A Star Wars Story” failed to draw them. So Lucasfilm has a lot riding on what it's calling the conclusion of the Skywalker saga, a film that will try to bring closure to Gen. Leia Organa's story three years after Carrie Fisher's death. (Unused footage from the last two films is being used with her family's blessing.) If anyone can stick the landing, it's Abrams, whose “The Force Awakens” was a perfect balance of old and new.
<i> Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.</i>