50. Imaginary Heroes: Sony Pictures Classics will give the film a one-week release to qualify for the 2004 Oscars. As with The Ice Storm, Sigourney Weaver will surely command the screen.

49. The Black Dahlia: Director Brian De Palma takes on this Hollywood murder mystery from L.A Confidential author James Ellory. Expect plenty of style and a very cool 40's look.

48. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: An interesting sounding family drama project headed by actress Julianne Moore who plays alongside the re-invigorated Laura Dern.

47. Marie-Antoinette: Sophia Coppola's third project might fall into the 2006 slate, but as in her lovely Lost in Translation we can expect plenty of style and fresh filmmaking ideas.

46. The Rum Diary: Based on Hunter S. Thompson's 50's novel - this project by actor Benicio Del Toro at the helms is loaded with A-list talents.

45. Beautiful Country: Based on the original idea by Terrence Malick, this Sony Pictures Classics was helmed by a Norweigen director.

44. Café Lumière (Coffee jikou): I don't expect Hou Hsiao-hsien's film to ever see the day (U.S distribution) but this modern-day celebration of Japanese director Ozu is well worth the wait.

43. Dear Wendy: The Celebration was one of the best imports back in 1998, if there are no von Trier films this year, then Thomas Vinterberg's Sundance entry which includes Jamie Bell may be a nice surprise.

42. A Good Woman: Set in 1930s New York and the French Riviera this Lion's Gate film features the talents of Tom Wilkinson and Scarlett Johansson.

41. Last Days: Gus Van Sant has picked up his career with an interesting pair of films with Gerry and Elephant....I expect this Fine Line feature to be a worthy watch.

40. Where the Truth Lies: Canadian director Atom Egoyan has picked up the talents of Alison Lohman, Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon for this novel-to-screen murder mystery.

39. Tristram Shandy: Michael Winterbottom is one of the most interesting directors - Newmarket Films have placed their next bet on the U.K director's talent and vision.

38. Breakfast on Pluto: Neil Jordan takes Patrick McCabe's novel and makes a tough, film from Ireland with cross-dressing and Irish politics.

37. Tishomingo Blues: Will this be another sucky con-film adaptation from a Elmore Leonard novel? Don Cheadle directs this low-budget film. Expect a fight among distributors for this one.

36. The Holy Girl (La Niña Santa): Fine Line Features track record in 04' was impeccible, it looks like this foreign import and festival winner will be a worthy watch.

35. The Ballad of Jack and Rose: Rebecca Miller directs and hubby Daniel Day-Lewis stars in this heavy drama from IFC films.

34. Class Action: Director Niki Caro broke into the biz with the excellent Whale Rider, now her second one counts actresses Frances McDormand and Charlize Theron.

33. Somersault: This Aussie hit recorded 13 wins at the Australian Film Institute Awards. Magnolia Pictures is bringing this one stateside.

32. American Pastoral: Phillip Noyce picks up quite the cast for this drama based on Philip Roth's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

31. Inside Deep Throat: From the directors of The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Party Monster comes the historics of one the top-grossing films in X-rated history.

30. Alpha Dog: Nick Cassavetes directs the all-star cast in the true story of Jesse James Hollywood, drug dealer Johnny Truelove.

29. Memoirs of a Geisha: Talent. Talent. Talent. From the director of Chicago, Rob Marshall brings in some top actors from the Pacific Rim (no Tom Cruise here.)

28. 5x2: French director François Ozon is truely one of my favorites, and this film is an interesting character-couple study worthy of all those people who love subtitles.

27. King Kong: Peter Jackson + big money = a whole lot of fun. Expect the perfect homage to the first edition and plenty of beautiful art direction.

26. The Edukators: This German gem and hit will make its way via IFC in mid-2005 and is well worth the investment. One of the more authentic films about teenage-angst.

25. Lila Says (Lila dit ca): Samuel Goldwyn films picked up this film by the director of the little-seen West Beirut.

24. Jindabyne: I loved Lantana. Aussie director Ray Lawrence spent plenty of time trying to fund this as his next effort. With some great talent in Laura Linney - this is hopefully a sophmore effort worthy of attention.

23. Factotum: If Kitchen Stories is any indiction of his future talent, then director Bent Hamer may be the next Nordic filmmaker to watch out for.

22. Turtles Can Fly: Every director has their masterpiece. Early in his career, Bahman Ghobadi has managed to make one deeply affecting film you will never forget.

21. The Lords of Dogtown: Catherine Hardwicke is one hot property in Hollywood right now. After her indie hit Thirteen, we can expect a natural progression of her talents of working with young stars.

20. The Brothers Grimm: If your a Terry Gilliam fan then you have waited a while for this made-in-Czech Republic goulish tale.

19. A Scanner Darkly: I'm very curious to how Richard Linklater will work the Philip K. Dick's novel. If you enjoyed his animated venture with Waking LIfe then this may be a worthy one to check out.

18. Art School Confidential: Terry Zwigoff picks up Daniel Clowes' graphic novel and adds a nice range of talent for another unique and bizarre recipe.

17. Oldboy: Ultraviolent, bloody, and the winner of the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes 2004. 2005 will be the year in which many will discover the film from Park Chan-wook.

16. A History of Violence: After the under-appeciated Spider this graphic novel version to screen venture from director David Cronenberg will see the talented Viggo Mortensen outside of a his LOTR metal-armour suit.

15. Nebraska: Sideways director Alexander Payne's next project may only see the day in 2006 - but lets cross our fingers for a year that sees Payne not only accepting an Oscar, but also releasing this project.

14. Untitled Jim Jarmusch project: I'm 50-50 with this director, but with a cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Jessica Lange, Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny, Sharon Stone, and Julie Delpy I figure that this is a shoe-in.

13. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith: Lucas delivers the middle piece of the puzzle with the unveiling of how Lord Vader became the man with gangreen.

12. Sin City: The year of the graphic novel is topped by Robert Rodriguez and his ensemble cast. The early trailer really brings out the Frank Miller look.

11. Howl's Moving Castle: Hopefully Disney will learn from their past mistake and give Hayao Miyazaki's oeuvre the highly-promoted release it deserves.

10. Jarhead: Seems fitting that one filmmaker decided to skip back in time to look at what happened during operation Desert Storm. Director Sam Mendes' third project after American Beauty and Road to Perdition, is based on Anthony Swofford's best-selling 2003 novel.

09. Tideland: One of the actual book covers on which this movie is based on was enough for me to make my curiosity level rise. Terry Gilliam's project (which has no distribution yet) was filmed in Western Canada and actually might not see the day until 2006.

08. My Summer of Love: There is a reason why you haven't heard about this one. The cast is lead by unknowns (actor Paddy Considine is the only familiar face), its from the U.K and won only one festival prize. Apparently, there has been some good buzz about the film - enough to see Focus Features pick up the rights.

07. The Constant Gardener: Cidade De Deus (a.k.a) City of God was my top film from 2002 and this Focus Features project might shape itself as another great film. With a great cast at his disposal, Fernando Meirelles (pictured on the left) might follow in the international success and footsteps of Walter Salles & Alejandro González Iñárritu.

06. Brokeback Mountain: Yet again, another Focus Features project and also yet again a project filmed in Canada. This story about 2 gay cowboys has got a great young cast (Anne Hathaway , Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams) is based on an E. Annie Proulx novel and is directed by the prolific Ang Lee.

The top 5 are not yet available.

http://www.ioncinema.com/beta/top50.php

That's a pretty heft list, but 95% of that list looks boring as hell, exclusing EPISODE III and maybe KING KONG.. The rest of the list looks to artsy fartsy for my liking... :wink:

Well what's left? War of the Worlds, Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or are they going for mostly just artsy stuff. :?

From the looks of that list, just artsy fartsy stuff... As for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"?? I predict this is going to disappoint heavily as a direct result of nostalgia playing a role in it's demise with Gene Wilder's version of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" being forever superior and endearing to the hearts of moviegoers who grew up watching that Classic.....

Can't wait.

As long as Tim Burton doens't make another Planet of the Apes...

I really want to see these two films. Old Boy has already been to my town, but i missed it

What the hell is IonCinema?

The top 5 is up now.Im suprised they dont have War of the worlds in their top 50.[/b]

05. 3-Iron: Like Almodóvar and Ozon, this South Korean director is making one interesting film after another and is slowly making a name for himself on the international scene. Since a little before his Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring - Kim Ki-duk has become a hot property – this Sony Pictures Classics pic was featured at the Toronto film fest.

04. Batman Begins: Techincally there should be little hope for this one. With the clutter of super-hero movies, a saturated market and a beaten-up Batman franchise thanks to an overzealous studio and the manhandling of Schumacher. But hold on. Christopher Nolan (Memento) is bringing audiences a Batman that much of the masses will be unfamiliar with. Great choice in the lead and a great supporting cast, this graphic novel-to-screen adaptation should be a true pleasure.

03. The Science of Sleep: With success comes more pressure. But I’m not expecting this genius to crack – in fact, director Michel Gondry is already a little bit nuts. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will become more than a meal-ticket for the music video director – and by adding Gael García Bernal to topline the pic we can expect plenty of return on the dollar.

02. The New World: Let’s just say that word “anticipation” hardly justifies the type of wait a fan of the filmmaker has with the works of the prolifically, reclusively brilliant Terrence Malick. When he dropped out of the Che Guevara project I was beginning to wonder if his filmmaking career would halt at 3 completed films. Thankfully the director was quick on this project - an Un-Disney type version of the story behind Pocahontas .

01. 2046: The year’s most anticipated project is one that the masses have waited for quite a while now. It’s been a long wait since In the Mood for Love and finally Wong Kar-wai 's sci-fi drama has seen the day. North American audiences will have to wait a while for it to hit the screens and the only question that remains is not the quality of the film - but how a fan’s patience will be tested with Region 3 DVD’s of the movie floating around.

According to their title, "The most comprehensive guide to upcoming art house, indie, foreign, and yes, even films from Hollywood."

That's a joke, right? I wonder if most people in North America will care to know about this film's existence at all.


I do not like this list at all.

For art-house folks, 2046 was indeed the most anticipated film when it was premiered at Cannes this year because In the Mood for Love simply blew a lot of people away. But yeah, for most people in america, they won't care if it is ever released here.

Well, I'm anticipating it a lot as well, but I don't think I would have it at #1 anywhere on such lists. What exactly is their creiteria for rankings these films? It seems like a curious number of films.

Wait, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is No. 6 now. I haven't checked which one they dropped.

EDIT: They deleted Tideland.

Where is Harry Potter? Or War of the Worlds?

Oh so...

"Just another web site, our list has no pratical use or curiosity beyond Algren's top 50 most anticipated movies"

Based on what they described about BATMAN above, unfortunately, that's how the general moviegoers are going to perceive this and base it on the last 2 disasters... Hardcore comic lovers will appreciate this more, but uinfortunately, that isn't enough when compared to the casual audience.. Not trying to be a kill joy over the whole Batman thing, but it's just thinking realistically..