I AM HYPE - My Most Anticipated Content Of 2019

It’s all content bayybeeee. These days it’s incredibly hard to keep up with the deluge of content that bombards our senses. Between Netflix, gigantic tentpole movies, HBO series, video games, and more - it is an exciting time to be a fan of storytelling. So considering the fact that I live off hype - here’s a breakdown of what content I’m hyped for in 2019 in no particular order or genre.

1. Game Of Thrones Final Season (April) - Let’s stop playing games, this is fuckin it. Thrones is the life force of all the content. All of the memes, all of the theories,  all of the direwolf badassery, and all of the moments where the show bleeds into real life have all lead to this. I’m less concerned about who will sit on the Iron Throne (the show has never really been about that btw) and if the showdown between Jon Snow (the greatest “hero” character ever btw) and the Night King will be as an epic as it was teased. CANNOT WAIT for this.

2. Ad-Astra (May) - This is the most artsy fartsy movie on my list but don’t let that turn you off because this movie is pure HYPE. The follow up to the film LOST CITY OF Z (which is an all time exploration of faith, obsession, and the desire to explore) - AD ASTRA is director James Gray’s space epic. All of the great directors (Kubrick, Nolan, Spielberg, Bay) make a space movie and this one is no exemption. Oh - you wanted to know about the plot, well here you go: Brad Pitt travels across the universe to find/reconcile with his father who may pose a threat to humanity or hold the key to its survival. The father is played by Tommy Lee Jones. Cannot wait.

3. The OA Season 2 (TBD) - Forget about Stranger Things Season 3 or whatever 80’s nostalgia they’re cooking up over there, the real rocket Netflix series is THE OA! No other show explores more interesting themes (life, death, purpose, faith) through a fascinating puzzle box of a story. I cannot wait!

4. Six Underground (New Michael Bay movie) (December) - Michael Bae, Ryan Reynolds, and the writers from Deadpool have been given 200 million dollars from Netflix to make a balls to wall insane action movie. Bad Boys II is one of the best movies ever and my expectations of us getting pure Bay insanity of the dankest kind could never have been higher. The plot? Who cares as long as the action is clean and the camera is spinning - let’s get it.

5. The Last Of Us II (TBD) - If Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, and God Of War pushed the concept of games as art/blockbuster entertainment far in 2019 - expect this game about a teenage girl/badass living in a brutal post apocalyptic world to take bring the video game art form to unprecedented levels.

6. Avengers: Endgame (April)  - Life is about the little things and in the case of the Avengers: Endgame here’s a couple of them. Captain America getting his original shield back. Cap & Tony reconiles. Hulk’s rematch with Thanos. And lastly the fact that after all the misdirection from the directors in Infinity War - no one has any idea how this is all going to go down except for the fact that Spiderman is going to survive.

7. Star Wars Episode 9 (December) - The Last Jedi was a visually stunning and though expanding epic and I’m firmly in the camp of people who “get it” and that the message of the force being for everyone (not just Skywalkers) is beautiful, that being said I’m here for the action and the lightsaber battles in these “new” movies have been kickass. I’m hyped mostly for the epic final battle and have fingers crossed that it can top the epic throne room battle from The Last Jedi.

8. Lovecraft Country (TBD)  - This a new series from Jordan Peele and JJ Abrams about a family in the Jim Crow south who encounters magic and evil. It’s hard to describe but with Peele involved I’m very excited for this kind of genre storytelling.

9.  Hobbs & Shaw (July 26th) - Has anyone else’s life been empty this year without a Fast & Furious movie? Glad I’m not the only one! While this one doesn’t technically feature the full family it does build on the epic prison breakout and airplane sequences from F8TE Of The Furious. My two biggest questions are if they’re going to use this story to resurrect Han and if this will set up what we all want - FAST 10 in space.

10. Godzilla: King of The Monsters (MAY) - Let’s be honest, the 2014 Godzilla was better than anyone thought it would be. It had decent characters, an interesting ground level POV of monster action, and some epic visuals. I’ll forgive the ultra annoying Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven from Stranger Things) doing her “brain hurts” acting style because the monsters throwing down in this thing demand to be seen on the big screen!

Star Wars: A New Hype

I get PUMPED up for movies. My friends refer to it as the “TPG Hype Train” and that’s a pretty accurate way to put it considering I am the conductor, the locomotive, and the caboose combined. I love movie hype. I devour it like some type of cinematic cannibal. And with my ferocious hype appetite - nothing has satiated my desires like the hype for the STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS. And now it’s almost here and I find myself wondering - what if it it can’t live up to the hype? Will movie hype and in some ways movie hope be ruined? More importantly - who will I be if that occurs?

I suppose I’m like a lot of “fanboys” as they’re labeled by society in that I grew up in an internet literate world where movie news, trailers, and of course rumors could be shared over the internet at lightning speed. I have fond memories of coming home from school and reading Ain’t It Cool News, Dark Horizons, and whatever weird movie hub AOL was running at the time. As I moved on to work in the film and TV business I found myself getting access to scripts, casting reports, and Hollywood “rumours” which were way juicier than anything I had tasted before. These two foundations of movie excitement were rapidly accelerated by just how easy movie watching became over the last 10 years. When I was 13 I had to either rent a movie or watch it in the theater - now you can download movies, watch them on Netflix, and watch your favorite scenes or trailers on repeat on YouTube.

So now that you know about how I was baptized into movie hype - let’s get back to Star Wars the apex of hype. I get STOKED for Marvel movies, buzzed about indies, and anything that does well at Comic Con - but nothing could prepare me for the 3 year long journey of Star Wars hype. The journey to The Force Awakens began in 2012 when Lucasfilm was purchased by Disney for a seemingly modest 4 Billion dollars. In that announcement they said that episode VII was coming which automatically meant that some classic characters had to return. From there each pieces of news whether it was casting announcements, trailers, rumored spoilers, and early reviews have been dissected over the internet. Here’s some fun nuggets for you - the 3 teaser/trailers that have been released to promote the film have been viewed over 170 million times on the official Star Wars YouTube page alone, the film has generated more pre-sale tickets than any other movie by double the amount, and there even is a computer program that will block you from reading any Star Wars related news until the release date. Yes, it’s safe to say the hype is real here.

If you go back and look at the origins of the word “hype” you find yourself at an interesting crossroads. The word is clearly connected to the latin “hyperbole” meaning “exaggeration and extravagance,” yet there is another more nefarious connection linked to the London criminal underworld of the 1960’s - “to swindle by overcharging or shortchanging.” That part about overcharging is particularly monetary transactions because it implies that hype is connected to business and that is certainly the case now. The hype for Star Wars is not a coincidence. Every second of the marketing for this movie has been calculated in some psychological war-room at the Mouse House. And you know what? I’m ok with it - because for the most part participating in the hype around anything is really damn fun. And you can dive deep into the word meanings, pieces of content, that didn’t deliver, that even life moments that didn’t deliver on hype but I choose to believe that hype is not about swindling or hyperbole but about a very Star War’s esque theme: HOPE.

Ughhh, I hear you groaning a little bit with that connection, but think about it. That’s what hype really is -  the yearning for something that is just totally going to deliver. Sure, it may be calculated but when you sit down for The Force Awakens you’ve been primed to hope and expect something magical. Hype leads us to hope for value, hope for meaning in our art/content, and to believe in the transformative power of art. So I guess that hope is extremely high for The Force Awakens because the hype has been unreal. If it doesn’t deliver, I’m sure I’ll be damaged but I’m sure a new piece of content will come along that is expertly marketed and designed to get me hyped, and... wait for it... give me a new hope.