The Dark Knight Rises
2012 is almost at a close and to say that the blockbusters of the last twelve months have been fantastic would be a little bit of a statement.
We have had comic book character blast onto the big screen as well as great book adaptations and spies returning to acting.
So we are going to take a look at just some of the movies in this genre that lit up the big screen.
You can't talk about the best blockbuster movies of 2012 without talking about Avengers Assemble - a movie that has blown the competition out of the water this year.
Joss Whedon was back in the director's chair and he brought together a whole host of Marvel heroes including - Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye to battle Loki and his army.
The main issue with this movie was balancing all of the characters and individual stories to give the ensemble cast adequate screen time - and while this could have been a stumbling block Whedon balanced all of these spinning plates fantastically well.
Avengers Assemble was a monster success as it grossed in excess of $1.5 billion at the global box office to not only make it the biggest grossing movie of the year but the third biggest grossing movie of all time.
A sequel is in the pipeline but we will have quite a wait before we see the Avengers back together on the big screen.
Now it is fair to say that Quantum of Solace was not the best Bond movie we have ever, but when you bear in made severely affected by the writers strike it is not to hard to see why.
But after four years away this autumn saw 007 return to the big screen with Sky fall - which was to be Daniel Craig as the super spy.
Skyfall was one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year as Oscar winning director Sam Mendes was at the helm and early trailers promised much.
And it absolutely delivered as Mendes and co delivered what is widely regarded as one of the best Bond movies in its fifty year history.
The movie nodded back to the films that have gone before it and yet it still felt incredibly contemporary and fresh. Daniel Craig delivered a knockout performance and Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes and Ben Whishaw made up a great cast.
The movie broke box office records left, right and centre and is the biggest grossing Bond movie of all time and the biggest grossing movie at the UK box office it is closing in on the £100 million mark.
The comic book movies really have been excellent this year and The Dark Knight Rises is one of the movies that really were pushing the boundaries of this genre.
The Dark Knight set the bar for the comic book movie when it was released four years ago but Christopher Nolan was back in the director’s chair to bring the Batman franchise to a close.
Nolan has single-handedly resurrected this character after some poor movies earlier in the franchise and it has gone on to be a truly terrific trilogy.
The movie was set eight years after events of The Dark Knight and both Batman and Bruce Wayne are in hiding.
The story was more complex, the action was bigger and that cast was even more impressive than the two movies that have come before it as Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon Levitt made it one of the best ensemble casts of the year.
Once again it was a triumphant piece of filmmaking from Nolan as we saw the character of Bruce Wayne go on the biggest journey yet.
Much like The Dark Knight before it The Dark Knight Rises was a box office smash as it broke through the $1 billion barrier.
The Hunger Games was another popular film this year as Suzanne Collins’ much loved novel was adapted for the big screen.
The books already had a huge fan base and so the excitement around this movie was there from the moment that it was announced that a film was in the pipeline.
Oscar nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence took on the central role of Katniss Everdeen and we saw her star rocket even further over the summer because of this role.
And it was one of the best book adaptations of the year as director Gary Ross really did honour the spirit and heart of the book.
The Hunger Games won over critics and fans and enjoyed big box office success when it was released earlier this summer. Filming is currently under way on The Huger Games: Catching Fire and that will be released at the end of next year.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey the most recent blockbuster movie to hit the big screen and it came nearly a decade after we last visited Middle Earth.
It may have looked early on that Peter Jackson was not going to helm this adaptation but he was back in the chair to weave his magic once more.
And while some have criticised the decision to make this into a trilogy the first instalment was a triumph that mixed scenes from the book with new moments.
As well as being packed with fantastic action and great characters the movie also looks incredible and Jackson really did deliver.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey became the biggest grossing December movie of all time - beating the record set by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003.
It seems you couldn’t go a few weeks without a comic book movie hitting the big screen and this summer we saw Spider Man make a return.
The Amazing Spider-Man saw the franchise rebooted with Marc Webb in the director’s chair and Andrew Garfield taking over the central role of Peter Parker.
The movie took the story right back to the beginning and Garfield was joined on the cast list by Emma Stone and Martin Sheen.
The movie grossed in excess of $752 million at the global box office and filming on the sequel is set to get underway next year.
But as well as all of these great movies some of the blockbusters haven’t quite been up to scratch with the likes of John Carter, Wrath of the Titans and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 all left a little bit to de desired.
And 2013 looks set to be an even bigger as Iron Man 3, Man of steel, Star Trek Into Darkness, Thor: The Dark World and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire are all on the horizon.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Batman The Hunger Games Avengers