2007 Projections for Blockbuster Movies - the Year of the Sequel

Here's some thoughts on some categories for movies moving forward in 2007. This isn't including any smaller budget/limited release movies that are too hard to track a year in advance.

Highest Grossing:

• Easy answer is Pirates of the Caribbean. I can't separate my own total dislike for this movie franchise from any other opinions, so I'm gonna say that this movie underperforms its very high expectations. Seemed like even those who somehow liked the first one, didn't really like the second one, so gross will probably be a bit less.
• My pick for highest grossing film of 2007 is Shrek: The Third. The first shrek made 267mm domestically and 484mm worldwide. The jump to the second was massive with 441mm domestic and 920mm worldwide. Obviously it wouldn't double again, but I think it may be as popular, which will probably be enough.
  
• Probably the biggest thing going against both of these movies is that they come out so close together and so close to Spiderman 3 (2 and 3 weeks after). These movies will almost definitely compete so they're gonna need massive weekends each to rack up big totals.

Personally Most Anticipated

• Ocean's Thirteen: yes, I'm a sucker for these movies. It could suck, but I'd probably still love it. Giving Andy Garcia a bigger role should be excellent.
• National Treasure 2: also a sucker genre for me. Nothing better than mixing American history with random puzzle solving. I think the first one best captured the Indiana Jones spirit since Last Crusade.
• The Host: highest grossing movie in South Korean history, and won many awards in international film festivals.....and its basically a godzilla rip off. Comes out in March and should be quite interesting.

Likely to be Most Disappointing/Just Bad:

• Rush Hour 3: first one wasn't funny, second one wasn't funny....can only assume.
• The Simpsons: just don't think you can drag it out into a movie.
• Fantastic Four 2: yea, exactly.

Overall, 2007 looks to be the year for huge blockbuster sequels. All of the following are sequeles coming out this year: Bourne Ultimatum, Evan Almighty, Fantastic Four 2, Harry Potter 4, Die Hard 4, National Treasure 2, Ocean's Thirteen, POTC 3, Rush Hour 3, Transformers, Shrek 3, Spider Man 3, The Brazilian Job, Daredevil 2, AVP 2, Austin Powers 4, Butterfly Effect 2, Bringing Down the House 2, The Goonies 2, Harold and Kumar Go to Amsterdam, The Hills Have Eyes 2, Hostel: 2, Jeepers Creepers 3, Mr. Bean 2, The Punisher 2, Resident Evil 4, Saw 4, Sin City 2, True Lies 2, Under Siege 3, Wolverine, X-Files 2, and some more. Not all are confirmed for 2007, but most are.

The only conclusion is that we've completely run of out ideas for movies, and are desperate for anything (see Mr. Bean 2, Jeepers Creepers 3, etc...). Once you get into the movie season part of the year in the spring, will be hard not to have a given weekend without 1 (or maybe even 2) sequels being released.