This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
9. The Space Between Us – December 21, 2016
Distributor STX Entertainment is the go-to place for great original ideas after The Gift, The Boy, Hardcore Henry, the upcoming Bad Moms and their most ambitious original project to date The Space Between Us. The movie follows the life of Asa Butterfield as Gardner Elliot, who was born on Mars after his mother became unexpectedly pregnant before going into space and she dies during childbirth. Gardner grows up in space, but during his early-teens he comes home to earth and falls in love with Britt Robertson. Unfortunately, his potential inability to adjust to Earth’s atmosphere and gravity after spending so long in space may cut his life tragically short.
We recommend you not watch the trailer for The Space Between Us, because despite looking very good, it seems to give away the entire plot of the film. That having been said, this looks like what would happen if The Martian was a Young-Adult novel. It also comes across as genuinely good sci-fi, because humans being born in space and then having to adjust to the Earth is something we may have to deal with at some point. Maybe not in our lifetime, but it’s not too far off. Throw in talent like Gary Oldman, B.D. Wong and this could be a darkhorse December hit.
10. Passengers – December 23, 2016
This is the only movie on this list to NOT have a teaser or a trailer (at time of writing), so it’s hard to talk about the visual approach and style of this sci-fi drama from The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum. The plot follows Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, two humans on a 120-year journey with 5000+ other hibernating humans on a voyage to a new home world. When Pratt and Lawrence’s hibernation pods malfunction with 90 years still to go on the trip, they must deal with being alone together on a voyage they will not live to see the end of.
It’s heavy stuff. Despite screenwriter Jon Spaihts’ original sci-fi screenplays The Darkest Hour and Prometheus not holding up to scrutiny, he’s been attached to very notable projects like Doctor Strange, The Mummy re-boot and Pacific Rim 2. Regardless of the little we know about this movie, compared to others, it feels the most exciting because of that. We can determine the plot of the aforementioned Doctor Strange movie if we know the comics, or delve deep online looking for spoilers because that’s a known, valued and hype-driven film. But with Passengers being an original movie and shrouded in secrecy, we have no idea what’s going to happen when we finally see it in December.
And that’s why original movies still hold great value, even if it’s highly unlikely that these films will be making a billion dollars at the box office.
So what are you folks looking forward to for the rest of 2016 that’s original? Sound off in the comments section below! And remember to support original movies if you claim to grow tired of reboots and sequels. Don’t say “Hollywood has no original ideas” if you’re not planning to support Hollywood when it releases original movies.
