Top 10 Anticipated Movies of 2009

A new online list of the most eagerly awaited films of 2009 is either way off, or its compilers didn't bother to ask genre movie fans what they're waiting for as this year winds down.

Movietickets.com surveyed its readers and came up with "The Top 10 Most Anticipated Films" for next year. The list includes:

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Bros)
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox)
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount)
4. Public Enemies (Universal)
5. Angels & Demons (Sony)
6. Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (Fox)
7. The Informant (Warner Bros)
8. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox)
9. The Day the Earth Stood Still (Fox)
10. The Taking of Pelham 123 (Sony)

No Star Trek? Are the MovieTickets.com readers not real big sci-fi fans?

No G.I. Joe? Don't they realize "knowing is half the battle?"

No Watchmen? Are they assuming Fox will be successful in throwing that Warner Bros. blockbuster out of The Comedian's window?

Another depressing look at the list reveals the complete lack of originality coming out of Hollywood these days. Not a single title here is an original movie based on an original fiction-based script written exclusively for a Hollywood production. Eight out of 10 are either prequels, sequel or remakes — and the remaining two (Public Enemies and The Informant) are based on non-fiction.

As one producer put it to me this week, "Studios aren't in the business of being studios anymore. They don't develop and produce original ideas into movies. With the financial crisis and everyone afraid for their jobs, they only want to deal with pre-developed, pre-packaged material. No one wants to stick their neck out."