Most anticipated films of 2016, premiere date: ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,’ ‘Finding Dory’ and ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’

It will be a busy 2016 for movie-goers, geeks and critics alike, as a slew of movies have been lined-up for release based on extremely popular properties.

From the Likes of “Star Wars,” “Batman V Superman,” “Captain America” related projects to “Jason Bourne”, “Star Trek” and “Independence Day,” all of these successful characters and franchises are set to empty wallets and occupy hearts of cinema lovers worldwide.

According to a survey conducted by Fandango, which sells movie tickets, the top 5 most anticipated movies of 2016 are “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (Dec. 16); “Finding Dory” (June 17); “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (March 25); Untitled Jason Bourne Movie (July 29) and “Captain America: Civil War” (May 6).

It’s no surprise that the most anticipated movie of this year is Gareth Edwards’ “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”. After all, “Star Wars: The Force awakens” has become the most successful film of 2015.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has smashed box office records and is on its way to snatch the box office crown of James Cameron’s “Avatar” as the highest grossing Hollywood film of all time.

“Rogue One” is the first title in Disney’s “Star Wars” anthology series, featuring stand-alone stories, and will star Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, Diego Luna and Ben Mendelsohn among others.

The story is set before the events of “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977) and has rebels setting out on a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star.

“Finding Dory” is ranked no. 2 in the list. It is the much-anticipated sequel to “Finding Nemo”(2003). The story is centred on a blue amnesiac fish called Dory and her reunion with her family. The story takes place six months after “Finding Nemo,” and Ellen DeGeneres returns to voice Dory. The 3D animation movie also stars Idris Elba, Dominic West, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy and Ty Burrell among others.

“Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” is the third in the list. The hotly anticipated sequel to Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” will pit two of the iconic superheroes against each other --“Son of Krypton vs The Bat of Gotham,” as Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) says in the second trailer of the film. Batman and Superman have to set aside their differences to defeat Doomsday created by Luthor. They are joined by Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in their battle against Doomsday to save Metropolis. “Batman V Superman” also stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons and Diane Lane among others.

Matt Damon is in demand at the moment. From taking on a negative role in Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic “Interstellar” to being the lead in Ridley Scott’s critically acclaimed “The Martian.” He is now set to star in an untitled “Jason Bourne” movie to be directed by Paul Greengrass. The film also stars Alicia Vikander, Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones and Vincent Cassel among others. Damon is also credited as a screenplay writer of the film. The plot is unknown at this time.

Coming at no. 5 is the much anticipated “Captain America: Civil War” which, like Batman V Superman, pits two superheroes Captain America and Iron Man against each other. The Avengers becomes divided into two opposing factions led by these two, after extensive collateral damage from their battles against aliens and Ultron prompt politicians to pass an act regulating superhuman activity with government oversight and accountability for the Avengers. “Civil War” stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner and Don Cheadle among others. It will also introduce a new Spider-Man (Tom Holland) to the Marvel cinematic universe or MCU.

There are other equally anticipated movies to look forward to in 2016: “Star Trek Beyond” (July 22), “Independence Day: Resurgence” (June 24) “X-Men: Apocalypse” (May 27), “Zoolander No. 2” (Feb. 12), “The Jungle Book” (April 15) and a re-imagining of “Ghostbusters” with women (July 15). More comic book-based movies like “Deadpool” (Feb. 4) and “Doctor Strange” (Nov. 4) are also highly anticipated.