Hello 2018! The Top 8 Books, Movies and TV Shows Coming out in the New Year

Friends, forget counting down the minutes until the glitzy ball drops in Times Square in NYC. Geek girls and pop culture fanatics like me are counting down the days until some of the ultimate OMG movies premiere, TV shows return, and incredible new books hit shop and library shelves! This here is just a quick as a wink line up of some of the media I’m SO excited for in 2018.

8. “My Plain Jane”

BFFs Jodi Meadows, Cynthia Hand and Brodi Ashton are back and this time with their wickedly funny humor are commandeering Charlotte Bronte’s classic “Jane Eyre” . The Gothic classic goes supernatural this time with ghost hunts! The Rochester House is certainly creepy enough to be haunted. Fiction blurs with fact once again as the point of view rotates between author Charlotte Bronte, her famous orphaned, penniless governess character Jane Eyre, and a fictional paranormal investigator, Alexander Blackwood. “My Plain Jane” hits bookstores June 2018.

7. “A Spoonful of Murder”

Forget Mary Poppins and her spoonful of sugar! In British author Robin Stevens’s Murder Most Unladylike series mysterious deaths are always on the menu. “A Spoonful of Murder” the 6th book in her middle-grade series is available on February 8th. This time schoolgirls and best friends Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells travel to Hong Kong after the death of Hazel’s grandfather. Once again their two-girl Detective Society gets pulled into mayhem and manslaughter, but this time Hazel herself gets framed!! Eek! It’s sure to be a fine study in detecting, and with the comedy of manners and quirk Stevens’s is known for, down right irresistible! Read it in one sitting? Yes, yes I will.

6. “The Alienist”

It’s 1896 in New York City and a serial killer is on the loose. His target? Women and prostitutes! This TNT historical-drama/thriller is set to premiere January 22nd. A psychologist (archaically known as an “alienist”) named Dr. Laszlo played by Daniel Bruhl joins forces with a detective assigned to the case, John Moore (played by omg!!!! none other than Luke Evans!) This dark and gritty show also stars Dakota Fanning as a police secretary. The trailers are moody, and cinematic wonders, and just goes to reinforce that television is not just small screen cast offs! Golden era of TV? Absolutely.

5. “Mary and the Witch’s Flower”

Studio Ghibli fans rejoice! “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” hits US cinemas limited release beginning in January. It’s directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi who also directed “The Secret World of Arrietty” and “When Marnie Was There”. In this film a young girl spends the summer with her great-aunt in a charming village in the English countryside. While exploring with a new friend one afternoon she finds a curious glowing flower and an old broom…all of the makings of a fantastical animated adventure.

4. “A Series of Unfortunate Events” S2

Sunny, Violet, and Klaus, a trio of siblings afflicted by terrors and tragedies are back for a second season of dreadful happenings on Netflix in the return of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”. This time, the peculiar and cheeky show adapts Lemony Snicket’s 5th  through 8th books: taking the Baudelaire orphans from the grim classrooms of the  “Austere Academy” to a problematic penthouse, to downright “Vile village” to a chillingly “Horrible Hospital”. Neil Patrick Harris returns as the scheming Count Olaf -- who’s by turns, campy and creepy, and joined by guest stars such as “Firefly” lead Nathan Fillion, and “Into the Woods” actress Lucy Punch. While there’s no set release date yet one of the showrunner’s Barry Sonnenfeld revealed, “ I would expect it would be sometime in the first quarter of 2018."

3. “Winchester”

Ever heard of the Winchester Mystery House in California? “Winchester” a horror film that comes out in theatres this February brings that story to the screen. It offers a glimpse into the gun heiress’s escape to the golden state and features Dame Helen Mirren as Sarah Winchester who “believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle”* The only way to keep the restless spirits at bay is to keep her home in a perpetual state of construction. There are doors to nowhere...staircases that climb up to ceilings… windows crafted in the shapes of spiderwebs...and a room built specifically for seances. In San Jose, Sarah employed a full time crew to keep hammering away at the house. . . and as the movie will show us, heaven help her if she dared to stop. . .

2. Avengers Infinity War.

“Avengers: Infinity War”  is the Marvel mashup fans have been fantasizing about from the instant the first Avengers film credits began to roll!!!! Forget fanfics and web comics-- this EPIC collision of superheroes, guardians, and other defenders is canon canon canon and hitting cinemas on May 4th. Does the MCU darling dare to take on theatres on Star Wars day - also known as May the Fourth Be With You- yes, yes it does. Teased in an Avengers post-credit scene back in 2012, Thanos is back and this time as the big baddie. All the easter eggs scattered about in early movies are finally coming together, smashing into some uber fantastic and outrageously high octane omelet of action, adventure, and badassery. High expectations? Hell yes!

1. The Crimes of Grindelwald.

The sequel to latest chapter in J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” comes out in November. “The Crimes of Grindelwald” the second movie in a projected five movie series reunites the core characters. Magizoologist Newt Scamander, No-Maj baker Jacob Kowalski, MACUSA witch Tina Goldstein and her Legilimens sister Queenie are back and this time they take to Europe. Specifically, Paris, France! A young Dumbledore (Jude Law is the esteemed wizard in this incarnation), and Newt’s former flame Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz)  appear on screen for the first time. A promo picture teases that previously thought to be deceased Credence Barebone is also set to appear in “The Crimes of Grindelwald” and controversial actor Johnny Depp reprises his role as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. As Kingsley Shacklebolt says* in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” you may not like him, but you can’t deny has style!

So what about you?! Are any of these books, movies or shows on your MUST list for 2018?!

*IMDB synopsis source

*Shacklebolt’s quip was aimed towards the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge after Dumbledore's flashy disappearance in a burst of phoenix fire; but it just works so so so well here!