2013 movies take a turn toward dystopia

Zachary Quinto is Spock in "Star Trek into Darkness," from... — Zachary Quinto is Spock in "Star Trek into Darkness," from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions. Credit: Paramount Pictures

By RAFER GUZMÁNrafer.guzman@newsday.comJanuary 18, 2013

The year's upcoming movie schedule is already in place, and you know what that means: sequels!

Well, there's no use griping, because this is the new normal. We'll see more than 25 sequels or prequels in 2013, "a fairly standard number," according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. So rather than focus on the new episodes of "Iron Man," "Star Trek" and "The Hangover" -- all surely guaranteed to mint money -- let's talk about some of the interesting movie trends bubbling up in 2013.

One is a renewed interest in science fiction. The A-list actors Matt Damon, Tom Cruise and Will Smith all have big-budget sci-fi productions coming out, and Brad Pitt is contributing to the zombie epidemic with "World War Z." And these are just the name-brand movies. A theory: Now that "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" have run their course, the supernatural and fantasy genres will give way to futuristic and dystopian movies like "The Hunger Games" and the new Stephenie Meyer adaptation, "The Host."

The hard action film also seems to be back, surely due to the success of "The Expendables." Its Reagan-era stars -- Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger -- are in two or even three films each this year, including the twofer "The Tomb," with both Sly and Ahnuld. Channing Tatum has two actioners -- "White House Down" and "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" -- while Chris Pine will try to youthify a familiar old hero in "Jack Ryan."

One trend still with us is the modern frat-boy comedy, arriving this year in several guises. We'll see youngish slackers (Seth Rogen's "This Is the End"), British punters ("The World's End," with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) and even graying oldsters ("Last Vegas," a December release starring Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline and Morgan Freeman). Is this genre subconsciously dying? Notice the air of finality in the titles.

Over the year, you'll also notice several horror remakes ("Evil Dead" arrives April 12), animated films (Disney's Nordic adventure "Frozen" is due Nov. 27) and updates of old favorites ("Mr. Peabody & Sherman," which reboots the 1960s television characters, comes out Nov.1).

Here's a very selective list of 30 major movies to look for this year.