The 5 most anticipated movies opening in december

Even as we enter the final month of 2018, superhero movies continue to draw massive interest, with a member of DC’s Justice League and an alternate version of a Marvel icon topping the list of Decembers most anticipated movies. If you count the Transformers prequel about a certain VW Beetle and Disney’s decades-later sequel to a celebrated classic, then fantastical tales about extraordinary individuals comprise the top four. Toss in a couple of real-life based dramas that tied for the fifth spot, and you’ve got a pretty hefty holiday movie season to look forward to. With that in mind, read on for the Most Anticipated Movies of December!

1. AQUAMAN (2018)
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How do you make a superhero who talks to fish and wears orange spandex cool? Cast Jason “Khal Drogo” Momoa in the role, surround him with people like Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, and Amber Heard, and put the man behind the Conjuring universe in the director’s chair. James Wan’s origin story about DC’s reluctant Atlantean king ranked #1 across all of our social polls and garnered the most Want-to-See votes on RT of any December movie by a wide margin. Aquaman looks primed to rule the box office when it opens right before Christmas, but it’ll face some stiff competition from a few other movies on this list.

2. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (2018)
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We’ve already gotten three different versions of Peter Parker since the superhero movie boom of the 2000s, but we’ve never seen Miles Morales on the big screen, and if early reviews are any indication, Into the Spider-Verse could be one of the best Spider-Man movies yet. Produced by The Lego Movie and Jump Street franchise’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller (and co-written by Lord), Sony’s animated film made believers out of skeptics with the first trailer, which showcased a unique, vibrant art style with a beating heart at its center. Considering almost all the reviews thus far have been raves, this one looks like a crowd-pleaser.

3. BUMBLEBEE (2018)
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The Transformers franchise has never performed very well with critics (the first film in 2007 is the Freshest at 58% on the Tomatometer), but it has raked in over $4 billion at the box office. With that in mind, this month’s Bumblebee represents a break from formula: It’s a prequel set during the 1980s and centered on just one of the characters, and it’s directed by someone other than Michael Bay (namely Travis Knight). Hailee Steinfeld stars as the human companion this time around, and instead of the more futuristic designs we’ve seen in the franchise thus far, we get robots that more closely resemble the classic Transformers from the TV series. We’ll have to wait and see if the gamble pays off.

4. MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018)
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The latest in Disney’s efforts to remake, reimagine, or otherwise reintroduce classic films from their extensive library comes in the form of a sequel to 1964’s Mary Poppins. The magical nanny formerly played by Julie Andrews is replaced by Emily Blunt, who returns to Cherry Tree Lane to teach timely lessons to the children of the now grown-up Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw). This one only cracked the top five in our Twitter poll, but it also earned the third most Want-to-See votes on RT.

5A. MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS (2018)
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Like last month, two films tied for the fifth spot on our Most Anticipated list, and in this case, they’re both political dramas based on true events. The first is this look at the life of Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan), the young Queen of France who returns to her native Scotland just as the country comes under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), setting off a fierce rivalry with consequences that will echo through history. Mary Queen of Scots managed to sneak in at fifth in both our Facebook and Instagram polls and earned the fifth most Want-to-See votes on RT, and judging from early reviews, it’s an impressive showcase for the talents of its two leads.

5B. VICE (2018)
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Last but not least, we have Adam McKay’s profile of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, chronicling the congressman’s rise to power and substantial influence during the George W. Bush administration. The stellar cast includes Christian Bale as Cheney, Sam Rockwell as Bush, Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, and Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, just to name a few, and it represents McKay’s second foray into more serious material after a string of broad comedies. Though it didn’t score many Want-to-See votes, it managed to rank fourth in our Instagram poll and fifth in our Twitter poll.