With the start of a New Year, here’s our list of what to look forward to in 2017. Last year had its ups and downs and while we’ve still got Trump and Brexit looming large there is a lot of great music, TV, film, books, computer games and much more to compensate a little.
Music in 2017:
There’s isn’t much in the way of a long lead-in time for the release of new albums, but there are a few biggies out early in the year. The first up is the impressive debut, Sundara Karma Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect, out on the 6th January 2017, and it’ll be followed quickly afterwards by The XX’s third studio album, I See You, as well as new Flaming Lips album, Oczy Mlody, both out on the 13th January 2017.
Elbow’ Little Fictions is coming out on the 3rd February 2017, Laura Marling’s Semper Femina arrives on the 10th March and The Jesus And Mary Chain get back into action with Damage And Joy on the 24th March. There’s also talk of both Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire returning with new albums in 2017, and Depeche Mode, Queens Of The Stone Age, Gorillaz and The Killers getting back in the mix too.
Film in 2017:
Remakes and reboots dominated the box office in 2016, but this year there’s a little more emphasis on new, imaginative movie releases. However, with the live action Beauty And The Beast adaptation planned for the 17th March 2017, Spider-Man: Homecoming out in July, Kong: Skull Island thudding down in March along with a Ghost In The Shell adaptation, and The Mummy planned for June, there’s still at least a little old or borrowed to look forward to this year too.
The first big Oscar shout for the year in terms of UK release dates is La La Land, out on the 13th January, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as the star-crossed dedicants at the heart of the musical’s story. Manchester By Sea is another contender, out on the same weekend, and Loving is also a good possibility, out on the 3rd February, just ahead of the 2017 Academy Awards on the 26th February.
The Trainspotting gang are back with T2 on the 27th January, John Wick: Chapter 2 lands on the 17th February, Wolverine gets a bit hard-bitten in Logan on the 3rd March and Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 2 adds to the sequel line-up on the 28th April 2017. There’s also Alien: Covenant, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge in May; World War Z 2, Transformers: The Last Knight in June and Despicable Me 3 in June; Cars 3 and War For The Planet Of The Apes in July; Kingsman: The Golden Circle in September, Bladerunner 2049 in October and Thor: Ragnarok, Paddington 2, Justice League and Star Wars: Episode III out later in the year.
Our pick of the big comic book blockbuster movies is Wonder Woman, out on the 2nd June 2017, but The Lego Batman Movie could be an outside bet, arriving on the big screen in August.
Television in 2017:
Our TV highlights in terms of what we know about at the start of 2017 are packed with big hitters, but our opening entry is little known dark comedy, Search Party. In all fairness, it arrived in its entirety to watch on All 4 from Boxing Day, following its critically acclaimed debut in November in the States, but it’s worth a shout out for your watch list in 2017.
With that, it’s on to more darkness and mystery with Sherlock: Series 4, which started on BBC 1 on New Year’s Day. The Beeb is also wading in with Tom Hardy drama Taboo, starting on the 7th January at 9:15pm on BBC 1. Homeland Series 6 will be back on Channel 4 on the 23rd January 2017, Iron Fist flies in with Marvel martial arts on Netflix from the 17th March,
The Trip To Spain brings Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon to Sky Atlantic, The Great British Bakeoff moves on over to Channel 4, Watership Down gets a reboot for BBC 1 (and Netflix internationally), and Game Of Thrones: Series 7 brings more of the fantasy fiction adventure to Sky Atlantic later in 2017. There’s also Twin Peaks: Series 3 and Curb Your Enthusiasm: Series 9 on Sky Atlantic, The Defenders, Punisher and Stranger Things: Series 2 on Netflix, Fargo: Series 3 on Channel 4 and an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is coming to Amazon Prime.
If that isn’t enough to keep you going, there Peter Capaldi will be back in the TARDIS in the Spring for Doctor Who: Series 10.
Books in 2017:
The New Year kicks off with a return for Paul Auster with the multiple possibilities of his new novel, 4 3 2 1, out on the 31st January 2017, and it’ll have Levison Wood’s Walking The Americas hot on its heels on the 23rd February 2016. Paula Hawking will be following up her hit debut thriller, The Girl On The Train, with new book, Into The Water, planned for the 2nd May. Adding in some big revelations on state snooping is Barton Gellman’s Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden And The Surveillance State, with a release in June.
Neil Gaiman continues his godly obsession with his new book, Norse Mythology, out on the 7th February. Haruki Murukami is also back with his series of short stories, Men Without Women, out on the 9th May 2017. Finally, you’ll be able to find out what happens next after The War Of The Worlds with the Stephen Baxter-penned sequel, The Massacre Of Mankind, which is being released on the 19th January.
Computer games in 2017:
From a console point of view, the big thing to look forward to in the first half of 2017 is the home gaming / hand-held dual crossover genius that is the Nintendo Switch, which is out in March. The second half of the year is going to be dominated by the sheer power play potential of Xbox’s Project Scorpio, which is starting to look as though it might leave the PlayStation Pro (released in 2016) for dust.
In terms of games, all of the teased launch titles for the Switch are looking promising, but The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild could well be a game changer. Other impending games to get excited about include Red Dead Redemptiom 2, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, PS4 exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn and Mass Effect: Andromeda.
There are also a few cute titles for the Nintendo 3DS, including Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World out on the 3rd February 2017 and Mario Sports Superstars a little later in the year (probably around Easter). The brilliance of Lego City Undercover will be coming to PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox ONE; Tekken 7 is finally going to be released; and the hi-tech world of Virtual Reality will be getting some new gaming action with Star Trek: Bridge Crew out on the 14th March on the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR, Dino Frontier later in the year on the PSVR and Robo Recall on the Rift.
