As Hollywood pauses to catch its breath after the holiday spectacular of 2011 now is right time to look at ahead at what we'll be buzzing about in months to come.

BEGINNING WITH A BANG

Traditionally January is like the La Brea Tar Pits of cinema, the month where studios send films to die. But not so for 2012.

In weeks to come we have Meryl Streep playing mad Maggie Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Cronenberg comes out with the tepidly received period piece A Dangerous Method. Ralph Fiennes does the bard with his modern update of Coriolanus. But the guilty pleasure I'm most looking forward to? Haywire.

If it looks like a Brenda Bourne knock off, look again. Actual MMA fighter Gina Carano plays the CIA agent who is double crossed by Ewan McGregor who oozes evil. Throw in Michael Fassbender, Antonia Banderas and Michael Douglas, all directed by Steven Soderbergh who claims to be retiring, but he appears to be going out kicking.

SUPER FREAKS AND FAIRY TALES

The spandex obsession shows no sign of stopping in 2012. There's the reboot of Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield as the new Peter Parker. The earlier trailers seem to apply the Dark Knight doom-and-gloom filter to one of Marvel's funniest heroes.

But Spidey will have a whole team of do-gooders to contend with when The Avengers hits screens in May. After years of slowly introducing audiences to their stable of characters Marvel Comics' master plan is finally taking shape with this movie featuring the super-team of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and the Hulk. It's a fanboy's dream come true directed by Lord of the Geeks Joss Whedon. Here's hoping the sharp pen that made Buffy and Firefly snap keeps the larger-than-life-heroes in check.

And there's Bats. Director Christopher Nolan returns to Gotham for his third and final film in the life of Batman in July's The Dark Knight Rises. With the previous Dark Knight, Nolan showed us the true potential in these iconic characters. Given the success of Nolan's Inception, it will be interesting to see how far he's willing to push the genre. The new movie takes place after a time of tranquility in Gotham and features Tom Hardy as the mountainous villain Bane. While I worry about Anne Hathaway vamping it up as Catwoman, it's the brief appearance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt that has me most excited. (Brief aside: Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine...is there anyone from Inception that didn't make the cut? Where's Ken Watanabe? )

While the boys are watching superfolk fly, girls have regressed to fairy tale land once again. There's not one but at least four fairy tale flicks on the way, including competing versions of Snow White films, plus the more action-oriented Jack the Giant Killer and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.

One film that's not about a damsels in distress is The Hunger Games. With the Twilight series finally fading yay Hollywood is hoping the teen-lit sensation will become the next book-to-blockbuster smash. The good news for girls (and their fathers) is the heroine of The Hunger Games is the anti-Bella. Katniss as played by Jennifer Lawrence is a young woman who is wicked with a bow and fights for her family tenaciously. The question remains whether Gary Ross, the director of Seabiscuit and writer of Dave, can do justice to the dark dystopia of Suzanne Collins' novels.

SCI-FI PREQUELS AND SEQUELS OH MY

Ridley Scott hasn't made many science-fiction films, but when the creator of Blade Runner and Alien announced he was getting back in the game with the movie Prometheus , the hype was so unprecedented they actually made a trailer of a trailer.

Some of the gooey images below suggest Prometheus could be a prequel of sorts to Alien. While Scott has been hit or miss the past couple years, the story dealing with the origins of the human race sounds promising as does the cast featuring Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Idris Elba. And let's be honest. It looks freaking gorgeous.

If that's too intense for you, there's always The Hobbit. Director Peter Jackson has returned to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien to tell the story that lead up to The Lord of the Rings. Considering the ground-breaking effects of the 2001 effort, the mind boggles at what Jackson has in store. But with the casting of Martin Freeman as the fumbling, stumbling Bilbo Baggins, he's starting strong. If you want to know why, check out his beautiful befuddlement as Dr. Watson in the BBC's new version of Sherlock.

PERIOD PIECES AND EPIC REMAKES

If you'd rather wallow in the 1920s New York City, The Great Gatsby looks to be one of 2012 most intriguing projects. The adaptation of the novel by F Scott Fitzgerald stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby and Carey Mulligan as Daisy. The lavish production is directed by Baz Luhrman, known for his big boisterous blockbusters. Although his last film, Australia, went bust the wrong way.

And if you prefer your period pieces with a song in their heart Hugh Jackman's long awaited dream project should satisfy.

Yes, he's been Wolverine, he's starred in an art film directed by Darren Aronofsky, but what Jackman really wants to do is storm the barricades in Les Misrables .

In December of 2012 Jackman will have his chance with a premiere cast including Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert and Taylor Swift (!) rumoured to be in the running as ponine. Jackman says they'll be singing live in front of the cameras, no pre-recorded songs here. The last true musical smash with audiences was Chicago in 2002, it's a big risk but Jackman appears to be throwing himself into it with gusto.

OTHER - GASP - ORIGINAL FILMS

Beyond the remakes, the sequels and movies inspired by boardgames (How did Battleship get Liam Neeson anyway?) there are a number of smaller interesting movies on the way. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney star in Gravity, a movie about an astronaut trying to save herself after a repair mission goes wrong. Director Alfonso Cuarn stunned with the dark near-future fable of Children of Men and is experimenting with 3D for the new feature.

Plus with new movies from Spielberg (Lincoln starring Daniel Day Lewis), Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master), Kathryn Bigelow (the Osama Bin Laden Project) and Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom) hopefully there will be lots worth watching in 2012.

What's your most anticipated film of 2012? Chime in below.