The 50 biggest films of 2012 – in pictures

The Iron Lady (6 Jan): Director Phyllida Lloyd gives us Thatcher without the Thatcherism in a perky biopic that amounts to a greatest hits package, bookended by scenes of the legend in her dotage, dancing with the ghost of Dennis and getting lost as she totters out in search of milk. What The Iron Lady has in its favour, though, is an electrifying bit of mimicry from Meryl Streep. The best actress Oscar looks all but guaranteed. (XB) Photograph: PR

Shame (13 Jan): Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan are on peerless form in this stark, compelling tragedy by the British artist Steve McQueen. He’s Brandon, a doomed sex addict prowling the bars of sterile midtown Manhattan, while she co-stars as his brittle, damaged sister. Both, you suspect, are riding for a fall. (XB) Photograph: PR

War Horse (13 Jan): A horse and a boy – we’ve heard that one before, haven’t we? Spielberg goes all Black Beauty with this adaptation of the popular book and play – though before long he’s plunged us into the horrors of the first world war and the Somme trenches. Heartwarming stuff, though perhaps not quite the awards catnip we were expecting. (AP) Photograph: PR

Coriolanus (20 Jan): Ralph Fiennes goes skinhead for his Balkan-war-set take on one of Shakespeare’s more difficult plays. It’s already won plenty of plaudits, and may mark a sea-change in the career of the hallowed homegrown thesp. (AP) Photograph: PR

J Edgar (20 Jan): Leonardo DiCaprio has tried one big-shot director after another in that search for an Oscar: Scorsese, Spielberg, Mendes, Luhrmann, Tarantino. Here he opts for Clint Eastwood and a gloomy, doomy portrait of rule-bending FBI head J Edgar Hoover. The gallons of latex may not help his cause, however. (AP) Photograph: PR

W.E. (20 Jan): Tear up the diary and consult your social secretary – an audience with W.E. is not to be missed. Madonna’s primped, preening ode to Wallis Simpson will have your jaw on the floor and your brains leaking from your ears. Movies that are this rich in idiocy come along so rarely that it’s almost cause for a national holiday. (XB) Photograph: PR

The Descendants (27 Jan): The return of Alexander Payne, seven years after Sideways, must be cause for celebration. He’s come back in style, with George Clooney as his star and Hawaii as his location, for this tale of a man who goes in search of his wife’s boyfriend while she lies in a coma. But some have been thrown by the soap in the mix. Yes – they’re getting a density of flavour, a good nose, but there’s too much treacle, not enough citrus. (CS) Photograph: PR

Albert Nobbs (27 Jan): Glenn Close spent 15 years and tons of her own cash getting his curio off the floor. Small wonder: it’s a classy showcase for her formidable skills, here exercised playing a covertly cross-dressing 19th-century butler in Brenda Fricker’s plague-plagued Dublin hotel. Close has duly picked up acting acclaim (though Streep looks certain to nobble her Oscar chances); the surprise here is how strong the supporting cast are and how moving the once-modish material still manages to be. (CS) Photograph: PR

House of Tolerance (27 Jan): For some, Bertrand Bonello’s tale of a turn-of-the-20th-century brothel is a searing, sensitive portrait of sexual politics; a shocking peek behind closed doors. For others, it’s an opulent softcore melodrama in which a gaggle of soulful beauties totter about in their negligee. Both camps, however, are likely to thrill to a brilliantly anachronistic soundtrack that sits Nights in White Satin alongside Lee Moses’s devastating lost classic Bad Girl. (XB) Photograph: PR

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (3 Feb): A young boy (Thomas Horn) searches New York for a lock that matches the key left for him by his father (Tom Hanks) after he dies in the attacks on the Twin towers. The trailer – a syrupy gloop of precocious kiddie wisdom, doom-laden sound effects and [shudder] U2 – doesn't bode too well, but the cast, including Sandra Bullock, Viola Davis and John Goodman as well as Hanks, is in its favour. (HB) Photograph: PR

Martha Marcy May Marlene (3 Feb): A modern take on Manson family-style cults: kidnapping, murder, brainwashing and rape are all tools of the trade in this creepy American indie. It’s bolstered by an intriguingly fractured structure and a fine central performance from the third Olsen sister, Elizabeth. (AP) Photograph: PR

The Muppets (10 Feb): After 12 years and a couple of dodgy telly outings it's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights, etc etc etc. The Muppets' seventh feature film sees Kermit and co pitted against Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), an evil oil tycoon who's determined to drill through the perky puppets' theatre. A slew of parody ads ('The Pig with the Froggy Tattoo', anyone?) have made it difficult to judge the quality of the movie itself, but we're sure they're on safe hands. (HB) Photograph: PR

Young Adult (10 Feb): Jason Reitman is keen on curveballs. Some are more winding than others – the torn politics in Thank You for Smoking and the romantic bathos at the close of Up in the Air are likely to have delivered bigger slaps than sweet, wise-cracking adoption comedy Juno. But be warned: Reitman's fourth film, and his second with Juno writer Diablo Cody, has real sting in its tail, a brilliant kick and sourness that mushrooms in the mind long after viewing. Charlize Theron gets her teeth into her grisliest role since Aileen Wuornos: Mavis is a high school queen bee who returns to her hometown to try and win back her former sweetheart (Patrick Wilson) – now a happily-married new father. (CS) Photograph: PR

The Woman in Black (10 Feb): Spooky dollies and weepy candles galore in this latest offering from the resurrected Hammer horror studios. Daniel Radcliffe grows up fast as the widowed clerk dispatched to some mist-wreathed hell-hole full of ill children and boggle-eyed locals. Watch out for some scenery-chewing of real substance from Janet McTeer as the deranged wife of local toff Ciarán Hinds. (CS) Photograph: PR

Black Gold (24 Feb): This film could be a game-changer of Manchester City proportions. The biggest-ever Arab-backed film about Arab subject matter has splurged some $55m on a 20s-set story highlighting the beginning of the Middle East oil boom: Tahar Rahim (of A Prophet) is a prince caught between tradition and modernity. Jean-Jacques Annaud has been imported to direct. (AP) Photograph: PR

Michael (2 March): Viewers may require a strong stomach to sit through Austrian director Markus Schleinzer’s austere, affectless portrait of a sexual predator. But the brave, icy handling and strong performances ensure that this steers clear of exploitation and pushes into territory where most films fear to tread. (XB) Photograph: PR

Trishna (2 March): Michael Winterbottom has tackled Thomas Hardy before, with Jude and The Claim, but here he takes aim at Tess of the d’Urbervilles. It’s a very loose adaptation, relocating the story to contemporary India, with flashy UK-raised Jay (Riz Ahmed) seducing hapless country girl Trishna (Freida Pinto). (AP) Photograph: PR

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (16 March): Imagine an episode of CSI transplanted to the steppes and slowed to a crawl and you’re partway towards catching the pedigree of this spare, sparse police thriller from Turkish maestro Nuri Bilge Ceylan. But stick with it. Anatolia reels you in and spins you around. It deservedly won the Grand Prix at last year’s Cannes film festival (which it shared with The Kid with a Bike). (XB) Photograph: PR

We Bought a Zoo (23 March): One of the big Christmas movies in the US is taking a few months to make it to the UK. It’s based on former Guardian contributor Benjamin Mee’s account of running Dartmoor zoo, which he’d bought on a whim in 2006. Matt Damon plays Mee, and Cameron Crowe – making one of his regular departures from his preferred rock’n’roll milieu – directs. (AP) Photograph: PR

The Hunger Games (23 March): Another ‘next Twilight’ contender steps into the arena. This one stars Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) as Katniss Everdeen – a teenager called to fight for her district in a Battle Royale-ish future where gladiatorial battles to the death make for must-see telly. Like Stephenie Meyers before her, Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins has used her books (this film is based on the first of a trilogy) to have a broad bash at social commentary, with reality TV and celebrity culture coming under fire here. Expect the films (there will be sequels) to be similarly righteous. And silly. (HB) Photograph: PR

Into the Abyss (23 March): Werner Herzog’s latest is another idiosyncratic trip into the dark; the larkiest death-row documentary you’ll (probably) ever see. Herzog goes back to a triple homicide in rural Texas 10 years ago, then interviews the friends and family of the victims, as well as the perpetrators: one 10 years into a 40-year sentence, the other with eight days to go before his scheduled execution. Herzog keeps things surreal, dodges the obvious, coaxes out strange tales and shaggy-dog logic. For something with such a morbid draw, Into the Abyss leaves you startled by life. (CS) Photograph: PR

Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (28 March): With Wallace and Gromit, Aardman Animations have firmly wormed themselves into the cultural fabric of the nation, so any film they make is always an event. Their last one, Arthur Christmas, has been a big hit internationally; their next one goes back to Aardman’s first love – stop motion – for an adaptation of Gideon Defoe’s comic yarn. (AP) Photograph: PR

Jeff Who Lives at Home (20 April): Mumblecore maestros Mark and Jay Duplass return with a comedy about Jeff (Jason Segel) – a hapless stoner who's ready to make a giant leap: out of mum's basement and into the adult world. On the way he'll be inspired by his favourite M Night Shyamalan movie – Signs – to start living life a little more impulsively. Advance word from September's Toronto film festival suggested that the Duplass brothers' 'confidently scruffy' comedy has crossover potential. (HB) Photograph: PR

The Three Stooges (4 May): If we’re being honest, the Farrelly brothers haven’t exactly set the world on fire for years, but this might just herald a turnaround in their fortunes. Moe, Larry and Curly were beloved of American movie audiences in the 1930s and 40s (as well as Shemp, who replaced Curly in 1946), and you’d think their story would be right up the Farrellys street. They’ve been trying to make it since 2001 – even without Jim Carrey, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn, this could be a hoot. (AP) Photograph: PR

Dark Shadows (11 May): Arguably the most bankable director-star partnerships of recent years, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp take another trip to the multiplex with the gothic blockbuster Dark Shadows, based on the TV show of the same name. This time around Depp is playing Barnabas Collins, an 18th-century playboy who falls foul of a witch (Eva Green) and wakes up as a vampire. Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Moretz and the inevitable Helena Bonham Carter round out the supporting cast. (XB) Photograph: PR

The Dictator (18 May): Sacha Baron Cohen reunites with Borat and Bruno director Larry Charles to spin the tale of The Dictator, about a wise, brave and proud leader, loved by his people and waging a noble struggle against the forces of democracy. The film is (ever so loosely) based on the novel Zabibah and the King, which was written (again, ever so loosely) by one Saddam Hussein. (XB) Photograph: PR

Snow White and the Huntsmen (1 June): It’s Snow White as Disney never saw her, merrily made over as an ass-kicking angel of vengeance, aided and abetted by a band of armed dwarfs, none of whom are called Dopey or Sneezy. Twilight star Kristen Stewart plays the fair damsel, Thor graduate Chris Hemsworth the huntsman and Charlize Theron the evil queen Ravenna. (XB) Photograph: PR

The Amazing Spider-Man (4 July): Rest assured that 2012 is set fair for its share of sequels and prequels, upgrades and reboots. A decade after Tobey Maguire played a high-school Peter Parker, Columbia studios have decided it’s high time they trade him in for a younger model. So along comes The Amazing Spider-Man, in which Andrew Garfield plays the webslinger, Emma Stone co-stars as Gwen Stacey and Rhys Ifans pops up as Dr Lizard. The clock has been reset to zero. This summer the Marvel Comics saga starts over again. (XB) Photograph: PR

The Dark Knight Rises (20 July): Christopher Nolan's third and and final fling with the DC Comics superhero comes complete with hulking champorone – Bane, an ex-con turned terrorist leader played by Tom Hardy. It's eight years after the caped crusader dealt with the Joker and Gotham is sleepy with wealth, providing an opportunity for Bane to cause havoc and for Nolan to draw the franchise further into the real world. “There's a storm coming, Mr Wayne,” sneers Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) in the trailer. “When it hits you're going to wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.” Sound familiar? The comics saw Bane and Batman's duel end with the dark knight having his back snapped. Surely Warner Brothers can't let Nolan leave their billion-dollar franchise similarly broken? (HB) Photograph: PR

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2 Aug): Those scholars of history unable to wait for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln biopic (out in December) can pacify themselves with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which plunders a lesser-known portion of the emancipator’s life and has him chasing bloodsuckers around old New Orleans. Adapted from the mash-up novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, this stars Benjamin Walker as Abe and the fetching Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Mary Todd. (XB) Photograph: PR

Anna Karenina (17 Aug): Tolstoy’s classic novel has been filmed numerous times before (most famously in 1935 with Greta Garbo) but we have high hopes for this one. After slightly uncertain Hollywood diversions with The Soloist and Hanna, Atonement director Joe Wright is back on the territory he knows best: glorious period melodrama with Keira Knightley (pictured here in David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method) leading the cast. (AP) Photograph: PR

The Bourne Legacy (17 Aug): Also known as Bourne Rebooted. Matt Damon is no more, but do not mourn for Bourne, for Legacy promises a new action hero in the form of Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner, pictured here in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) and a new riff on the old Robert Ludlum adventures. Further details, at this stage, remain classified, redacted and filed in the 'top secret' folder. (XB) Photograph: PR

Brave (17 Aug): Pixar heads north of the border with Brave, the saga of a plucky Highland princess who defies age-old tradition and unleashes havoc on the country. The 3D animation comes buttressed by vocal contributions from Kelly Macdonald (as Princess Merida), Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson (her mum and dad) and Julie Waters as the wise old crone who may just put the world to rights. (XB) Photograph: PR

Gambit (14 Sep): The fun 60s art-theft caper movie with Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine gets an overhaul courtesy of a Coen brothers script and the stewardship of The Last Station’s Michael Hoffman. Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz step into the Caine/MacLaine roles. Let’s hope it’s more Thomas Crown than The Ladykillers. (AP) Photograph: PR

The Sweeney (21 Sep): It’s probably compulsory to cast Ray Winstone in any attempt to revisit the hardnut 70s cop show (pictured); he plays the John Thaw character, Jack Regan, opposite Ben 'Plan B' Drew in the George Carter/Dennis Waterman role. Expect copious amounts of head-cracking and nuts-battering; the man in charge is The Firm’s Nick Love. (AP) Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

Skyfall (26 Oct): Bedevilled by financial trouble at its parent studio, the 23rd official James Bond outing appears to have engineered an escape that would make 007 proud and is now set for release in October. Daniel Craig (pictured with co-stars Bérénice Marlohe and Naomie Harris) returns as Bond, while Judi Dench reprises her turn as M. Elsewhere the supporting cast (Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney) and leftfield choice of director (Sam Mendes) suggests we may be in for the classiest, most actorly 007 outing since Christopher Lee raised that golden gun. (XB) Photograph: PR

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (14 Dec): The mountains are misty, the dungeons are deep and the “trees, like torches, blaze with light”. It’s full-steam back to Middle Earth with the first instalment in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel, as pensive Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) sets off with the dwarfs in search of treasure. Elsewhere, the likes of Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis and Ian McKellen reprise their Lord of the Rings roles. (XB) Photograph: PR

The Great Gatsby (Dec 25): In which Baz Lurhmann chases after the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, bounding through the jazz-age excesses of Fitzgerald’s novel en route to a bloody climax at the swimming pool. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the mercurial millionaire bootlegger; Carey Mulligan the girl that got away (and, fingers crossed, might now be reclaimed). (XB) Photograph: PR

Django Unchained (26 Dec): Having put his inimitable stamp on the second world war with Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino turns his attention to the thorny issue of slavery. Reports suggest Django Unchained will not be sensitive. Instead, it stars Jamie Foxx as an escaped slave who swears a bloody vengeance on the wicked plantation boss (Leonardo DiCaprio) who’s holding his wife as a sexual plaything. Think of it as a loving update of Mandingo, with added fireworks. (XB) Photograph: Dan Steinberg/AP

Take This Waltz (UK release date TBA): Sarah Polley's first film was about adultery. The twist was that the perpetrator – a woman with Alzheimer's disease played by Julie Christie – was unaware she was committing it. The twist in her follow-up, five years on, is that the woman can't bring herself to seal the deal. But while Away From Her rang a little hollow with its airbrushed dementia and its self-absorbed gloss, Take This Waltz, with Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen and Luke Kirby as protagonists, plus Sarah Silverman as a mordant chorus, is a woozy, colour-drenched wonder, full of humanity and compassion. (CS) Photograph: PR

Killer Joe (UK release date TBA): Gina Gershon naked from the waist down is the sight that first greets the viewer of William Friedkin's second adaptation of a Tracy Letts play (the first, Bug, was a claustrophobic appetite-wetter). It's a representative opener: this is full-frontal in every sense, an unabashed pulp romp stuffed with ugly acts and primal screams, the story of a hitman (a career swerve for Matthew McConaughey) who takes naive(ish), well-named 17-year-old Dottie (Juno Temple, brilliant) as his retainer when her duff-brained dad and brother can't pay after Joe bumps off mum. Exhilaratingly nasty stuff. (CS) Photograph: PR

Alps (UK release date TBA): Director Yorgos Lanthimos, the laughing mortician of contemporary Greek culture, chases up his acclaimed Dogtooth with this brilliantly murky, absurdist ghost story of sorts. 'Alps' is an agency comprised of game but limited actors, on call to fill the shoes of your dead husband, daughter or lover. They will live in your home, sleep in your bed and replay precious moments whenever you wish. Lanthimos takes a neat idea and spins it out to its devilish conclusion. (XB) Photograph: PR

The Master (UK release date TBA): Lest there be any doubt, Paul Thomas Anderson’s forthcoming drama is not about Scientology. Rather, it's about an American intellectual called Lancaster Dodd (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) who invents a faith-based religion called 'The Cause' in the years following the second world war. Any resemblance to L Ron Hubbard is therefore entirely coincidental. (XB) Photograph: New Line Cinema

Damsels in Distress (UK release date TBA): Missing, believed gone for good, the mercurial writer-director Whit Stillman wafts back from the wilderness with this delightfully delirious comedy of manners. Damsels in Distress stars Greta Gerwig as the fragrant queen of her sorority, chaperoning her charges through a hyperreal college campus while minding the wolfish frat-boys who snap at their heels. Make a date and mark your card. (XB) Photograph: PR

Nero Fiddled (UK release date TBA): Woody Allen is, like Terrence Malick, a film-maker who doesn’t like to give too much away. But after the surprise box-office success of Midnight in Paris, the Woodman has renewed clout. Originally called The Bop Decameron, this is the latest stop on his long-running European tour: in Rome for a four-part story cycle, accompanied by the usual starry cast – Penélope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg (pictured here on set with Woody), Roberto Benigni and Ellen Page. (AP) Photograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

Untitled Terrence Malick project (UK release date TBA): Painfully little is known about Terrence Malick’s first post-Tree of Life project. The cast includes Ben Affleck, Rachel Weisz and Javier Bardem, and two months were spent shooting in the small Oklahoma town of Bartlesville. It may be about a heartbroken philanderer (Affleck, presumably) who returns to his hometown sweetheart after getting a divorce from his European wife. And it's definitely not called The Burial, as once reported. All of this may not matter – despite a burst of energy, with several more future projects set up, Malick’s snail’s pace workrate means we can’t even be sure we’ll see it in 2012. (AP) Photograph: PR

Cosmopolis (UK release date TBA): Robert Pattinson already looks to be forging the most interesting post-Twilight career of its leads, and here he teams up with David Cronenberg for an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 2003 novel. Cosmopolis is a modern answer to Joyce’s Ulysses: one day in the life of asset manager Eric Packer, who loses billions of dollars in the financial markets in a 24-hour period as his limo traverses New York. (AP) Photograph: PR

Lincoln (UK release date TBA): Steven Spielberg’s long-awaited Lincoln biopic comes based on the acclaimed Doris Kearns Goodwin book Team of Rivals and casts Daniel Day-Lewis as the country lawyer who won the presidency, went to war and preserved the Union. The supporting cast includes Sally Field (Mrs Lincoln), David Strathairn (Seward), Jared Harris (Ulysses S Grant) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (pictured here on set) as Robert Todd Lincoln. (XB) Photograph: Pat Kane/AP

On The Road (UK release date TBA): Could 2012 be the year that Sal (Sam Riley) and Dean (Garrett Hedlund) finally hit the road? Executive producer Francis Ford Coppola has held the film rights to the era-defining beat novel since 1979, but numerous attempts to get the sprawling travelogue by Jack Kerouac (pictured) on to the screen have puttered and died. Filming on this version began in 2010, with director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries, Linha de Passe) in the driving seat, so it's not unreasonable to expect this to come barrelling into town, whooping and hollering "Go Go GO!" some time soon. (HB) Photograph: John Cohen/Getty

The Grandmasters (UK release date TBA): After the sticky mess of My Blueberry Nights (which, lest we forget, starred Norah Jones) all eyes are on Wong Kar-wai (pictured), waiting for the In The Mood for Love director's return to form. Could The Grandmaster – a biopic of Ip Man, the martial arts master who tutored Bruce Lee, have the moves? (HB) Photograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian