Wondering what movies you can look forward to next year?
Here’s hoping you’re a fan of the 1980s, because 2020 is set to be littered with sequels, remakes and reboots of movie franchises that began in the Eighties, and in at least one case, a film series with no real ties to the decade is setting its next sequel in that era.
As your resident Eighties aficionado — if nostalgia were liquor, I would be a functional alcoholic — it’s my duty to rate the promise of these upcoming films, to wit:

6. Coming 2 America (Aug. 7, 2020)
The original “Coming to America” (1988) was released near the end of the golden age of comedy when Eddie Murphy was still the funniest cat on the planet, and that film had me laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. I’m leery because the story arc of the original did not organically lend itself to a sequel, but I’m encouraged not only by all the original cast members who are returning (Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, even John Amos), but also by all the new additions to the cast (Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, even Wesley Snipes).

5. Top Gun: Maverick (June 26, 2020)
By contrast to “Coming to America,” the original “Top Gun” (1986) was so very much an artifact of its time — a hotshot young Naval aviator comes of age in the last few years of the Cold War — that it has a perfect sequel hook built right in, because how does a former kid Maverick and fighter pilot adjust to growing old in a world of drone warfare? Tom Cruise has only improved as an actor since his shirtless volleyball heyday, so I’m optimistic that this film will deliver an earnest exploration of a lion in winter.

4. Ghostbusters 2020 (July 10, 2020)
I so wanted to like the 2016 “Ghostbusters” remake, which came armed with a capable cast of comediennes and a proven director, but the end product was somehow less than the sum of its parts. That being said, I reject the reaction to that film’s failure, which insisted that the 1984 “Ghostbusters” was a lucky one-off whose success can no longer be duplicated. Yes, its 1989 sequel was far less impressive, but the Ghostbusters concept has also carried no less than three separate cartoon shows — two of which debuted in 1986, with “Extreme Ghostbusters” following in 1997 — and it was also a live-action TV show in 1975. It’s a killer app of a concept, and while the 2014 death of Harold Ramis (farewell, Egon Spengler) casts a pall over the latest cinematic outing, the return of pretty much everyone else from the 1984 film nonetheless leaves me feeling hopeful.

3. Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5, 2020)
Director Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” (2017) marked a turning point in the DC Extended Universe, which saw ham-handed misfires like “Justice League” (also 2017) and “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016) give way to engaging and even rousing romps like “Aquaman” (2018) and “Shazam” (2019). Jenkins (and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman) somehow brought a sense of optimism, and even triumph, to the scorched-earth European battlefields of the First World War, so I can’t wait to see what they’ll do with another period piece, this time set in George Orwell’s least favorite year, especially with promo posters showcasing Princess Diana dressed in a new costume that looks like it was designed by Lisa Frank.

2. Bill & Ted Face the Music (Aug. 21, 2020)
In the years since “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), Keanu Reeves has revealed himself to be a far more versatile performer than anyone gave him credit for in his youth, in addition to being one of Hollywood’s nicest humans. While he’s played John Wick and Neo from “The Matrix” with suitably steely-jawed aplomb and impressive martial arts moves, Reeves has been very open about the fact that the “Bill & Ted” films were the most fun he’s ever had, so it’s heartwarming to see him and Alex Winter reprise their roles as best friends and deeply dumb dudes who nonetheless genuinely liked learning about the world. As with Ramis in “Ghostbusters,” this film can’t help but feel bittersweet with George Carlin’s death in 2008 (farewell, Rufus), but pretty much everyone else is coming back for this one, from Amy Stoch as Missy (“I mean, Mom”) to William Sadler as Death. In a modern age of pessimism, it’s nice to return to such a utopian vision of the future. As Robbie Robb’s lyrics told us in the original film, “In time, everything will be alright.”

1. Dune (Dec. 18, 2020)
Frank Herbert’s “Dune” is one of the greatest science fiction novels of the 20th Century, and remains one of the most important science fiction novels of the 21st Century. In the period after its success, Herbert lived in Port Townsend. “Dune” is the story of a vastly expansive empire that’s collapsing at its center, under the weight of its own bloated bureaucracy and corruption. More specifically, it’s the tale of that empire’s over-reliance upon a single finite natural resource, that it relies upon for everything from travel to technology, which can only be found in an inhospitable environment inhabited by deeply religious, desert-dwelling peoples. Even more than that, it’s a warning against even well-intentioned charismatic leaders, whose righteous crusades can easily transform into endless wars. David Lynch tackled the first “Dune” novel in 1984, and SyFy (back when it was still the Sci-Fi Channel) released two TV miniseries, the second combining Herbert’s sequel novels “Dune Messiah” and “Children of Dune,” but none of them quite stuck the landing. Enter Denis Villeneuve, who not only adapted Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” into the thoughtful science fiction film “Arrival,” but also achieved the impossible by making a worthy sequel to Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner.” Villeneuve is helming the new “Dune,” adapting the first half of the first novel with a cast that qualifies as a constellation of stars in their own right, so maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll finally see justice done to my favorite novel.