Franchises, adaptations and female superheroes heading to cinemas in 2020

Reuters: 2020 looks set to be another big year for films as some of the most well-known franchises make a return to cinemas. The latest James Bond film 'No Time to Die' sees Daniel Craig back as 007 as well as previous Bond girl Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) as they go up against a new baddie played by Rami Malek. Tom Cruise also returns to the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 classic in 'Top Gun: Maverick'. The Ghostbusters, or rather a teenage version of them, are also returning in 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife'. Will Smith reteams with Martin Lawrence for the third in the buddy cop comedy/thriller 'Bad Boys for Life', while 'The Kingsman' franchise returns in a prequel, 'The King's Man'. Taking prompts from a Disneyland ride, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Emily Blunt are appearing in the action adventure 'Jungle Cruise'. Disney is also bringing out its latest live action adapation, 'Mulan', starring Yifei Lu as well as a string of Asian A-listers including Gong Li, Jet Li and Donnie Yen. Disney's Pixar Studios, who have a history of blockbusting animations, are bringing out two feature animations in 2020; 'Soul' about a musician trying to get his love of music back and 'Onward' which reunites 'Avengers' stars Tom Holland and Chris Pratt in an elf roadtrip movie. There are other original films in 2020. Director Christopher Nolan is back with mind-bending action with 'Tenet', while Ryan Reynolds tries to break out of a computer game in 'Free Guy'. Guy Ritchie returns to his cockney roots with 'The Gentlemen', starring Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam and Colin Farrell and Lin Manuel Miranda's 'In the Heights' musical is set for a big screen appearance. After a failed first appearance, Paramount Pictures has reworked the look of 'Sonic the Hedgehog', the speedy ring-catching iconic computer game character, who is now hitting cinemas in February, while Warner Bros is doing a fresh take on Scooby Doo in animation 'Scoob!' in May. There's no shortage of superheroes next year, although 2020 looks like the year of the female protagonists. Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman is back with a retro makeover in 'Wonder Woman 1984', while fellow DC Comics character Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) makes her big screen return after 'Suicide Squad' in 'Birds of Prey'. Despite having died in 'Avengers Endgame', Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow returns for her own self-titled movie, while fellow Marvel characters, the mostly female superhero team 'New Mutants', starring Blu Hunt, Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy, finally get their cinematic break after being substantially delayed, reportedly because of the Fox/Disney merger. Taylor-Joy also stars as Emma in the classic Jane Austen story of the same name. 'Emma' isn't the only literary adaptation. Robert Downey Jr. stars as the doctor who can talk to animals in 'Dolittle', based on the children's books by Hugh Lofting, while 'Artemis Fowl', a series of hugely successful teen fantasy novels, will see if it can emulate its success on screens. Elisabeth Moss also stars in an updated adaptation of the story by H.G. Wells, 'The Invisible Man'. Kicking off 2020 will be Sam Mendes' '1917', which appears to be all one take and is set during World War One, goes on release globally at the beginning of January.