A Year in Shadows: Vol 41

Wrapping up the 41st volume of Shadows on the Wall with the 52 covers over the course of 2025. Films featured in order are: Nosferatu, A Real Pain, A Complete Unknown, The Brutalist, Hard Truths, September 5, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Mickey 17, Black Bag, Snow White, Novocaine, A Minecraft Movie, Warfare, Sinners, The Accountant 2, Thunderbolts, The Wedding Banquet, Good One, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, The Phoenician Scheme, Ballerina, How to Train Your Dragon, Elio, F1, Jurassic World: Rebirth, Superman, Smurfs, The Fantastic 4: First Steps, The Naked Gun, Freakier Friday, Materialists, The Life of Chuck, The Roses, The Conjuring: Last Rites, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, The Lost Bus, Dead of Winter, The Smashing Machine, Roofman, Frankenstein, Hedda, Bugonia, Train Dreams, Jay Kelly, Wicked: For Good, Wake Up Dead Man, It Was Just an Accident, Ella MacCay, Avatar: Fire & Ash and Marty Supreme, plus Bafta and Oscar. Full-sized versions can be found in posts here and on social media from throughout the year.

And here's the traditional flurry of unnecessary trivia...

Unusually, only two people appeared on two covers this year: Timothee Chalamet had two all to himself, with A Complete Unknown (in January) and Marty Supreme (in December); Pedro Pascal appears on two alongside his costars in The Fantastic 4: First Steps (in July) and Materialists (in August).

Getting their own solo covers: Adrian Brody, Lily Collias, Kit Connor, David Corenswet, Tom Cruise, Ana de Armas, Benicio del Toro, Tom Hiddleston, Emma Mackey, Robert Pattinson, Brad Pitt, Jack Quaid, Emma Stone, Channing Tatum, Mason Thames, Emma Thompson and Tessa Thompson. And George Clooney shares a cover with his younger self.

Sharing a cover with one or more costars: Ben Affleck, Pamela Anderson, Michele Austin, Ryan Bader, Jonathan Bailey, Leonie Benesch, Jon Bernthal, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Miles Caton, Ben Chaplin, Glenn Close, Olivia Colman, Daniel Craig, Kieran Culkin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jamie Lee Curtis, Britain Dalton, Lily-Rose Depp, Joel Edgerton, Jesse Eisenberg, Ali Elyasmehr, Cynthia Erivo, Chris Evans, Vera Farmiga, Michael Fassbender, America Ferrera, Gal Gadot, Lily Gladstone, Ariana Grande, Christopher Guest, Thomas Haden Church, David Harbour, Oscar Isaac, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hannah John-Kamen, Scarlett Johansson, Dakota Johnson, Dwayne Johnson, Felicity Jones, David Jonsson, Michael B Jordan, Vanessa Kirby, Mila Kunis, Lindsay Lohan, John Magaro, James McAvoy, Matthew McConaughey, Daryl McCormack, Michael McKean, Jason Momoa, Wunmi Mosaku, Liam Neeson, Josh O'Connor, Hadis Pakbaten, Madjid Panahi, Lewis Pullman, Florence Pugh, Joseph Quinn, Jeremy Renner, Wyatt Russell, Andrew Scott, Harry Shearer, Bill Skarsgard, Cailee Spaeny, Sebastian Stan, Kelly Marie Tran, Patrick Wilson, Leo Woodall, Letitia Wright, Renee Zellweger, Rachel Zegler, Kerry Washington andSam Worthington.

On a cover but without their face showing - either obscured or as an animated character they voiced: Jacob Elordi (back), Andrew Barth Feldman (dwarf silhouette), Tituss Burgess (dwarf silhouette), James Corden (smurf), John Goodman (smurf), Yonas Kibreab (Elio), Martin Klebba (dwarf silhouette), Jason Kravits (dwarf silhouette), Olga Kurylenko (masked), Billie Lourd (smurf), Natasha Lyonne (poot), Xolo Maridueña (smurf), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (thing), Rihanna (smurf), George Salazar (dwarf silhouette), Jeremy Swift (dwarf silhouette), Andy Grotelueschen (dwarf silhouette) and Matthew Wood (robot).

The most crowded covers: Wake Up Dead Man (11), Snow White (9), September 5 (8), Smurfs (8) and Thunderbolts (7).

There were no animal covers this year, although critters appear in the margins for Snow White, A Minefield Movie and Jurassic Park: Rebirth. There's a big teddy bear for Roofman. And the most prominent creature is Toothless for How to Train Your Dragon.

And finally, here are some outtake covers that were designed but never used for a reason that seemed good at the time: Opus (bumped for Black Bag on 14 Mar), Jurassic World: Rebirth (alternate draft for 4 Jul), Fantastic 4 (alternate draft for 25 Jul), Caught Stealing (bumped for The Roses on 29 Aug), Plainclothes (bumped for The Lost Bus on 19 Sep) and Wake Up Dead Man (an LFF version bumped for Frankenstein on 17 Oct, then rejigged to use on 28 Nov).

A Year in Shadows: Vol 40

And so the 40th year of Shadows on the Wall wraps as another 51 covers have been published over the past year, featuring these films in order: Good Grief, Poor Things, The Holdovers, All of Us Strangers, American Fiction, The Iron Claw, Bob Marley: One Love, Wicked Little Letters, Dune: Part Two, Drive-Away Dolls, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Mothers' Instinct, Io Capitano, Back to Black, The Book of Clarence, Challengers, The Fall Guy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, IF, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Young Woman and the Sea, The Dead Don't Hurt, Inside Out 2, The Bikeriders, Kinds of Kindness, Unicorns, Fly Me to the Moon, Twisters, Deadpool & Wolverine, Kneecap, Borderlands, Alien: Romulus, The Substance, Black Dog, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, The Critic, Transformers One, Megalopolos, Joker: Folie à Deux, We Live in Time, The Wild Robot, Emilia Pérez, Anora, Paddington in Peru, Wicked: Part I, Maria, Nightbitch, Kraven the Hunter, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Better Man, plus the Oscar cover. Of course, full-sized versions of these covers have been posted here on the blog throughout the year.

Trivia alert!

Appearing on multiple covers this year were Aaron Taylor-Johnson (one solo and one shared), Olivia Colman (2 shared), Ryan Reynolds (2 shared) and Zendaya (2 shared). Two others appeared once as themselves and once as an animated character they voice:  Emily Blunt (unicorn) and Scarlett Johansson (robot).

Getting a cover all to themselves:  Marisa Abela, Amy Adams, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Karla Sofía Gascón, Angelina Jolie, Mikey Madison,Ian McKellan,Jason Patel, Jesse Plemons, Daisy Ridley, Seydou Sarr, LaKeith Stanfield, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jeffrey Wright and Demi Moore, who shares her cover with herself. 

Sharing a cover with costars: Freya Allen, Antonio Banderas, Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Hugh Bonneville, Jesse Buckley, Austin Butler, Timothée Chalamet, Jessica Chastain, Jodie Comer, Carrie Coon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Harris Dickinson, Adam Driver, Winston Duke, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Zac Efron, Nathalie Emmanuel, Cynthia Erivo, Mike Faist, Cailey Fleming, Lady Gaga, Andrew Garfield, Paul Giamatti, Ryan Gosling, Mckenna Grace, Ariana Grande, Ariana Greenblatt, Madeleine Harris, Kevin Hart, Anne Hathaway, Chris Hemsworth, Lachy Hulme, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel Joslin, Michael Keaton, Logan Kim, Vicky Krieps, Dan Levy, Paul Mescal, Viggo Mortensen, Emily Mortimer, Florian Munteanu, Ruth Negga, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Celeste O'Connor, JJ Ó Dochartaigh, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Jenna Ortega, Eddie Peng, Himesh Patel, Glen Powell, Florence Pugh, Margaret Qualley, Anthony Ramos, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Archie Renaux, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Winona Ryder, Andrew Scott, Dominic Sessa, Stanley Simons, Cailee Spaeny, Emma Stone, Channing Tatum, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Geraldine Viswanathan, Hannah Waddingham, Julie Walters, Jeremy Allen White, Finn Wolfhard and Zendaya.

Appearing as an animated character they voiced: Lewis Black (emotion), Emily Blunt (unicorn), Steve Carrell (furball), Kit Connor (goose), Ayo Edebiri (emotion), Adèle Exarchopoulos (emotion), Tony Hale (emotion), Paul Walter Hauser (emotion), Maya Hawke (emotion), Scarlett Johansson (robot), Keegan-Michael Key (robot), Liza Lapira (emotion), Lupita Nyong'o (robot), Pedro Pascal (fox), Amy Poehler (emotion), Reece Shearsmith (gnome), Phyllis Smith (emotion), Owen Teague (ape), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (doll), Ben Whishaw (bear), Ben Whitehead (inventor), Robbie Williams (monkey).

The most crowded covers: Paddington in Peru and Inside Out 2 with 9 each.

And finally, here are three outtake covers that were designed but never used: Kung Fu Panda (which was bumped by the Oscar cover), Broken Bird (which opened FrightFest but was bumped for closing film The Substance) and My Old Ass (bumped by Megalopolis).

A Year in Shadows: Vol 39

 

It was another full set of 52 covers in 2023, featuring the following films in order: A Man Called Otto, M3gan, The Son, The Fabelmans, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Magic Mike's Last Dance, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Creed III, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, John Wick: Chapter 4, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, Air, Renfield, Chevalier, Big George Foreman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Book Club: The Next Chapter, Fast X, The Little Mermaid, Reality, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, The Flash, No Hard Feelings, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Elemental, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Gran Turismo, Blue Beetle, Scrapper, Passages, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, A Haunting in Venice, Expend4bles, The Creator, The ExorcistL Believer, May December, Trolls Band Together, Typist Artist Pirate King, Priscilla, The Marvels, Saltburn, Napoleon, Candy Cane Lane, Wonka, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Maestro and The Color Purple, plus the Bafta and Oscar covers.

Note that full-size versions of these covers can be found in posts that were made here each week throughout the year.

Trivia alert!

Most crowded: There are more than 25 chickens for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, and 11 people for A Haunting in Venice.

On multiple covers: Only Michelle Rodriguez and Jonathan Majors appear on two covers, always alongside costars. Three others appear twice, but the second time is as an animated character they voice: Bradley Cooper (raccoon), Salma Hayek (cat) and Michelle Yeoh (bird). 

Getting one cover all to themselves: Halle Bailey, Fantasia Barrino, Timothee Chalamet, Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, Khris Davis, Amie Donald, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, Kelvin Harrison, Barry Keoghan, Jimmy Kimmel, Gabriel LaBelle, Zachary Levi, Emma Mackey, Xolo Mariduena, Cillian Murphy, Eddie Murphy, Joaquin Phoenix, Keanu Reeves and Sydney Sweeney.

Sharing a cover with their costars: Micah Abbey, Candice Bergen, Orlando Bloom, Kenneth Branagh, Jordana Brewster, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Shamon Brown Jr, Ellen Burstyn, Nicolas Cage, Sasha Calle, Lola Campbell, Nicolas Cantu, George Cobell, John Corbett, Camille Cottin, Harris Dickinson, Vin Diesel, Monica Dolan, Jamie Dornan, Jacob Elordi, Nathalie Emmanuel, Adele Exarchopoulos, Andrew Barth Feldman, Tina Fey, Dominique Fishback, Jane Fonda, Megan Fox, Tyrese Gibson, Ryan Gosling, Hugh Grant, David Harbour, Jude Hill, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Jackman, Michael B Jordan, Elias Kacavas, Elena Kampouris, Sung Kang, Diane Keaton, Michael Keaton, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lawrence, Sophia Lillis, Evangeline Lily, Kelly Macdonald, Archie Madekwe, Louis Mandylor, Andrea Martin, Ezra Miller, Julianne Moore, Carey Mulligan, Brady Noon, Leslie Odom Jr, Rege-Jean Page, Teyonah Parris, Chris Pine, Natalie Portman, Anthony Ramos, Kelly Reilly, Margot Robbie, Franz Rogowski, Paul Rudd, Riccardo Scamarcio, Justice Smith, Cailee Spaeny, Mary Steenburgen, Channing Tatum, Levy Tran, Nia Vardalos, Iman Vellani, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, John David Washington and Ben Whishaw.

Appearing once as an animated character they voice: Mamoudou Athie (water), Antonio Banderas (cat), Camila Cabello (troll), Peter Cullen (robot), Pete Davidson (car), Anna Kendrick (troll), Liza Koshy (robot), Leah Lewis (fire), Thandiwe Newton (chicken), Ron Perlman (gorilla), Bella Ramsey (chicken) and, David Sobolov (rhino). Meanwhile, the cat alongside Tom Hanks on the very first cover seems to be the only actual animal.

And here are four drafts that weren't used: The first is an alternate version for Creed III. Across the Spider-Verse and Asteroid City were anticipated in June but usurped by other films due to late screenings. And The Bikeriders was pulled from its release date and moved into 2024, so this cover may turn up next year.  

A Year in Shadows: Vol 38

There was a full set of 52 covers for 2022, featuring the following films in order: Licorice Pizza, Scream, Nightmare Alley, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Death on the Nile, Uncharted, The Duke, Ali & Ava, The Batman, Deep Water, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, The Lost City, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Downton Abbey: A New Era, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Benediction, Top Gun: Maverick, Men, Jurassic World: Dominion, Lightyear, Elvis, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Railway Children Return, Where the Crawdads Sing, DC League of Super-Pets, Bullet Train, Nope, The Feast, Beast, Tar, Don't Worry Darling, Blonde, Ticket to Paradise, The Woman King, Lyle Lyle Crocodile, The Banshees of Inisherin, Triangle of Sadness, Living, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Menu, Bones and All, Glass Onion, Empire of Light, Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon and Corsage. The Oscar cover was the only one not tied to a specific film.

Trivia alert!

Most crowded: 14 for The Menu, and 13 each for Death on the Nile and Licorice Pizza. 

On the most covers: Cate Blanchett (one solo, one shared); Ana de Armas (one solo, one shared); Letitia Wright (two shared); Bradley Cooper (two shared, one drawn); and Keke Palmer (two shared, one as an animated character).

Getting one cover all their own: Jessie Buckley, Austin Butler, Nicolas Cage, Diego Calva, Jessica Chastain, Olivia Colman, Tom Cruise, Benedict Cumberbatch, Annes Elwy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Holland, Vicky Krieps, Jack Lowdon, Bill Nighy, Brad Pitt and Chris Pratt.

Sharing one cover with one or more other people: Paul Adelstein, Ben Affleck, Jenny Agutter, Adeel Akhtar, Sheila Atim, Angela Bassett, Tom Bateman, Dave Bautista, Vanessa Bayer, Javier Bardem, Annette Bening, Vicki Berlin, Reed Birney, Kenneth Branagh, Russell Brand, Jim Broadbent, Tachel Brosnahan, Sandra Bullock, Zlatko Buric, Warren Burke, Neve Campbell, Aimee Carrero, Jim Carrey, Arturo Castro, Timothee Chalamet, Hong Chau, Jemaine Clement, Madelyn Cline, George Clooney, Michaela Coel, Courteney Cox, Daniel Craig, Penelope Cruz, Jamie Lee Curtis, Willem Dafoe, Hugh Dancy, Viola Davis, Dolly De Leon, Charlbi Dean, Harris Dickinson, Daveed Diggs, Michelle Dockery, Winston Duke, John Early, Idris Elba, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Colin Farrell, Ali Fazal, Winslow Fegley, Ralph Fiennes, Dan Fogler, Dawn FrenchGal Gadot, Brendan Gleeson, Danai Gurira, Kathryn Hahn, Alana Haim, Iyana Halley, Armie Hammer, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Hart, Jessica Henwick, Cooper Hoffman, Nicholas Hoult, Stephanie Hsu, Kate Hudson, Tenoch Huerta, Robert James-Collier, Jameela Jamil, Leah Jeffries, Dwayne Johnson, Daniel Kaluuya, John Krasinski, Zoe Kravitz,  Jude Law, John Leguizamo, Rose Leslie, Judith Light, Phyllis Logan, Diego Luna, Natasha Lyonne,  Emma Mackey, Thuso Mbedu, Scoot McNairy, Janet McTeer, Helen Mirren, Janelle Monae, Edward Norton, Lupita Nyong'o, Leslie Odom Jr, Sophie Okonedo, Robert Pattinson, Sean Penn, Brandon Perea, Dascha Polanco, Florence Pugh, Ke Huy Quan, Eddie Redmayne, Keanu Reeves, Julia Roberts, Claire Rushbrook, Taylor Russell, Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Saunders, Milena Smit, Maggie Smith, Sheridan Smith, Taylor John Smith, Mark St Cyr, Harry Styles, Channing Tatum, Anya Taylor-Joy, Callum Turner, Tom Waits, Christoph Waltz,  Jessica Williams, Penelope Wilton, Sam Worthington, Constance Wu, Rob Yang and Michelle Yeoh (note that a few names from crowded covers are missing).

As an animated character they voiced: Steve Carell, Chris Evans, Shawn Mendes, Colleen O'Shaughnessey,  Ben Schwartz, Peter Sohn, Dale Soules and Taika Waititi.

And there were four drafts of covers that weren't used, bumped out by shifting tides of release dates and press screenings. Here they are: The 355 (Jan), Confess Fletch (Sep), Athena (Sep) and Aisha (Nov).

The Best of 2022: 42nd Shadows Awards

After the first few months of trailing pandemic chaos, 2022 felt much more normal for film critics, as we saw most major releases on the big screen. Oddly, the same can't be said for audiences, who seem happy to watch movies at home now, reserving cinemas for event blockbusters only. The ripple effects on the industry are already beginning to be felt, and it's scary to think that fewer and fewer truly inventive films will be able to be seen in theatres. No home cinema will ever replicate the feeling of watching something with a crowd immersed together in projection and sound.

So here are my favourites from 2022, a mixed bunch that I saw in cinemas, at home, at festivals and even on airplanes. Much more extensive lists are ON THE WEBSITE >

BEST FILM:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once 
2. No Bears
3. The Quiet Girl 
4. The Inspection 
5. The Banshees of Inisherin 
6. Living
7. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
8. Decision to Leave 
9. She Said 
10. Elvis 

DIRECTOR:

1. Park Chan-wook - Decision to Leave
2. Romain Gavras - Athena
3. Charlotte Wells - Aftersun
4. Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert - Everything Everywhere All at Once
5. Sarah Polley - Women Talking
6. Iryna Tsilyk - Rock. Paper. Grenade.
7. Baz Luhrmann - Elvis
8. Georgia Oakley - Blue Jean
9. Maryna Er Gorbach - Klondike
10. Lila Neugebauer - Causeway

SCREENWRITER:

1. Kazuo Ishiguro - Living
2. Martin McDonagh - The Banshees of Inisherin
3. Jafar Panahi - No Bears
4. Marie Kreutzer - Corsage
5. Sarah Polley - Women Talking
6. Elegance Bratton - The Inspection
7. Rian Johnson - Glass Onion
8. Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert - Everything Everywhere All at Once
9. Dimitrij Schaad, Alex Schaad - Skin Deep
10. Lena Dunham - Sharp Stick, Catherine Called Birdy

ACTRESS:

1. Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Letitia Wright - Aisha, The Silent Twins, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
3. Ana de Armas - Blonde, Deep Water, ​​The Gray Man
4. Catherine Clinch - The Quiet Girl
5. Penelope Cruz - Official Competition, Immensity, On the Fringe, The 355
6. Cate Blanchett - Tár
7. Danielle Deadwyler - Till
8. Florence Pugh - The Wonder, Don't Worry Darling
9. Zar Amir Ebrahimi - Holy Spider
10. Jessie Buckley - Men, Women Talking

ACTOR:

1. Colin Farrell - The Banshees of Inisherin, After Yang, The Batman
2. Bill Nighy - Living
3. Jeremy Pope - The Inspection
4. Paul Mescal - Aftersun
5. Mehdi Bajestani - Holy Spider
6. Brian Tyree Henry - Causeway, Bullet Train
7. Park Hae-il - Decision to Leave
8. Oleksandr Yatsentyuk - Pamfir
9. Brendan Fraser - The Whale
10. Austin Butler - Elvis

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1. Hong Chau - The Whale, The Menu
2. Samantha Morton - The Whale, She Said
3. Nina Hoss - Tár
4. Dolly De Leon - Triangle of Sadness
5. Frankie Corio - Aftersun
6. Gabrielle Union - The Inspection
7. Judy Davis - Nitram
8. Kiyohiko Shibukawa - Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
9. Lashana Lynch - The Woman King, Matilda the Musical
10. Jamie Lee Curtis - Everything Everywhere All at Once, Halloween Ends

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1. Diego Calva - Babylon
2. Barry Keoghan - The Banshees of Inisherin
3. Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once
4. Ben Whishaw - Women Talking
5. Andrew Bennett - The Quiet Girl
6. John Boyega - The Woman King
7. Anthony Bajon - Athena
8. Brendan Gleeson - The Banshees of Inisherin
9. Russell Harvard - Causeway
10. Thomas Wodianka - Skin Deep

WORST FILM:

1. Samaritan
2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
3. Padre Pio
4. Dear Zoe
5. Where the Crawdads Sing 
6. The 355 
7. The Bubble
8. Moonfall
9. Mr Malcolm's List
10. Death on the Nile 

N O N - F I L M   D I V I S I O N

TV SERIES:

1. This Is Going to Hurt (BBC)
2. Heartstopper (Netflix)
3. The White Lotus (HBO)
4. Derry Girls (C4)
5. Hacks (HBO)
6. Welcome to Chippendales (Hulu)
7. Acapulco (Apple)
8. Ozark (Netflix)
9. His Dark Materials (BBC)
10. The Great (Hulu)

SINGLE:

1. Break My Soul - Beyoncé
2. Firebabe - Stormzy
3. Boyfriend - Dove Cameron
4. About Damn Time - Lizzo
5. Child of God - Chance the Rapper
6. Lift Me Up - Rihanna
7. Overthinking - Mabel & 24kGoldn
8. Oh My God - Adele
9. Bam Bam - Camila Cabello & Ed Sheeran
10. Psycho - Anne-Marie & Aitch

A Year in Shadows: 2021

Featured on 52 covers were the Oscars, Bafta rising star Bukky Bakray and 50 films, in order of appearance: Pieces of a Woman, Blithe Spirit, The White Tiger, Dig, Malcolm & Marie, Judas and the Black Messiah, I Care a Lot, The Mauritanian, The US vs Billie Holiday, Cherry, Minari, Zack Snyder's Justice League, Chaos Walking, Godzilla vs Kong, Wild Mountain Thyme, The Mitchells vs the Machines, Oxygen, Sound of Metal, A Quiet Place Part II, After Love, The Father, In the Heights, F9, No Sudden Move, Black Widow, Space Jan" A New Legacy, The World to Come, Jungle Cruise, The Suicide Squad, Free Guy, Snake Eyes, The Nest, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Respect, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, The Green Knight, No Time to Die, The Harder They Fall, The Last Duel, Dune, Last Night in Soho, Spencer, Belfast, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Encanto, Boxing Day, Being the Ricardos, Spider-Man: No Way Out, The King's Man, The Tragedy of Macbeth.

TRIVIA ALERT!

The most covers: Emily Blunt (three shared) and Tom Holland (one solo, one shared, one as Spider-Man).

On two shared covers: Jamie Dornan, Ralph Fiennes, Vanessa Kirby, Zendaya (one shared, one as the voice of Lola Bunny).

The most crowded: The Suicide Squad (17), Boxing Day (15), Encanto (13).

Solo on one cover: Adarsh Gourav, Anya Taylor-Joy, Audra MacDonald, Daniel Craig, Dev Patel, Henry Golding, Jennifer Hudson, Joanna Scanlon, Jodie Comer, Kristin Stewart, Max Harwood, Melanie Laurent, Riz Ahmed, Rosamund Pike, Ryan Reynolds, Simu Liu.

Sharing one cover: Aja Naomi King, Alan Kim, Aml Ameen, Anthony Hopkins, Anthony Ramos, Ben Affleck, Bukky Bakray, Carey Mulligan, Carrie Coon, Celeste O'Connor, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Daisy Ridley, Dan Stevens, Daniel Kaluuya, Denzel Washington, Djimon Hounsou, Don Cheadle, Dwayne Johnson, Edgar Ramirez, Ezra Miller, Finn Wolfhard, Florence Pugh, Frances McDormand, Gal Gadot, Gemma Arterton, Henry Cavill, Han Ye-ri, Harris Dickinson, Idris Elba, Isla Fisher, Jack Whitehall, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem, Jesse Plemons, Joel Kinnaman, John Cena, Jodie Foster, John David Washington, Jordana Brewster, Jude Hill, Jude Law, Judi Dench, Kathrine Waterston, LaKeith Stanfield, LeBron James, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Leslie Mann, Logan Kim, Margot Robbie, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Mckenna Grace, Melissa Barrera, Michelle Rodriguez, Millicent Simmons, Nathalie Emmanuel, Nicole Kidman, Noah Jupe, Noel Kate Cho, Olivia Colman, Oscar Isaac, Paul Giamatti, Paul Rudd, Ray Fisher, Rebecca Ferguson, Regina King, Rhys Ifans, Robbie Gee, Scarlett Johansson, Sheyi Cole, Shia LaBeouf, Stephen Dillane, Steven Yeun, Tahar Rahim, Timothee Chalamet, Tyrese Gibson, Vin Diesel, Youn Yuh-jung, Zazie Beetz.

Appearing as animated characters they provided the voice for: Abbi Jacobson, Angie Cepeda, Bob Bergen, Carolina Gaitan, Danny McBride, Diane Guerrero, Eric Bauza, Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Bergman, Jessica Darrow, John Leguizamo, Maria Cecilia Botero, Mauro Castillo, Maya Rudolph, Michael Rianda, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Rhenzy Feliz, Stephanie Beatriz, Sylvester Stallone, Wilmer Valderrama, Zendaya ... mostly as humans, but also as a duck, rabbits and a manshark.

While many cover films were seen in 2020 and had their releases delayed until 2021, only one unused draft from 2020 was reworked: A Quiet Place Part II.

And there were only two drafts that were never used: Without Remorse in May and The Lost Daughter in December. They were discarded when late-arriving press screenings came through for The Mitchells vs the Machines and Spider-Man: No Way Home, respectively.

A Year in Shadows: 2020

52 films, in order of appearance: The Gentlemen, 1917, Waves, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Queen & Slim, Parasite, Emma, Greed, True History of the Kelly Gang, Onward, The Wolf Hour, Uncorked, Trolls World Tour, Love Wedding Repeat, Extraction, Bad Education, The Half of It, Capone, Scoob, Snowpiercer, A Rainy Day in New York, Days of the Bagnold Summer, Da 5 Bloods, Fanny Lye Deliver'd, Eurovision Song Contest, The Old Guard, Palm Springs, Stage Mother, Summerland, An American Pickle, Waiting for the Barbarians, Tesla, Tenet, Mulan, The Roads Not Taken, The Devil All the Time, Monsoon, The Glorias, Mangrove, Supernova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, WolfWalkers, The Human Voice, Ammonite, Small Axe, Happiest Season, Nomadland, The Prom, WW84, Soul.

TRIVIA ALERT!

• Two solo covers: George MacKay and Tilda Swinton.
• Twice on one cover: John David Washington.
• One solo and one shared cover: Henry Golding, Letitia Wright, Robert Pattinson and the film Mangrove.
• Two shared covers: Elle Fanning.
• Two shared covers, one as himself and one as an animated character: James Corden.
• Most crowded: Trolls World Tour (11), The Gentlemen (7).
• Most films on one cover: Small Axe (5).

Solo on one cover: Bong Joon Ho, Chris Hemsworth, Dev Patel, Frances McDormand, Gal Gadot, Mamoudou Athie, Maxine Peake, Naomi Watts, Rosamund Pike, Sacha Baron Cohen, Seth Rogen, Steve Coogan, Tom Hardy, Yifei Liu.

Sharing one cover: Alexa Demie, Alicia Vikander, Allison Janney, Amarah-Jae St Aubyn, Andy Samberg, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Hunnam, Charlize Theron, Clarke Peters, Colin Farrell, Colin Firth, Cristin Milioti, Dan Levy, Daniel Diemer, Daniel Kaluuya, Delroy Lindo, Earl Cave, Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Hugh Grant, Hugh Jackman, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Jacki Weaver, Jeremy Strong, Janelle Monae, Javier Bardem, Jessie Buckley, John Boyega, Johnny Depp, Johnny Flynn, Jodie Turner-Smith, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Kenyah Sandy, Khali Best, Kristen Stewart, Leah Lewis, Luca Marinelli, Mark Rylance, Matthew McConaughey, Matthias Schoenaerts, Meryl Streep, Micheal Ward, Michelle Dockery, Monica Dolan, Norm Lewis, Olivia Munn, Oscar Moreno, Rachel McAdams, Sam Claflin, Saoirse Ronan, Stanley Tucci, Timothee Chalamet, Will Ferrell.

As the voice of an animated character: Amanda Seyfried, Anna Kendrick, Anthony Ramos, Chris Pratt, Eva Whittaker, Frank Welker, Gina Rodriguez, Gustavo Dudamel, Honor Kneafsey, Jamie Dornan, Jamie Foxx, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Kenan Thompson, Kunal Nayyar, Rachel Bloom, Ron Funches, Tina Fey, Tom Holland, Will Forte, Zac Efron ... as elfs, trolls, souls, wolf-girls, a cat and a dog.

And for the first time, here are the covers that were drafted but never used, mainly due to shuffling pandemic release schedules: Just Mercy, Oscar/Parasite, A Quiet Place Part II, All Day and a Night, Can You Keep a Secret, Arkansas, The Wrong Missy, Da 5 Bloods (alternate version), Greyhound, Animal Crackers, The Boys in the Band, The War With Grandpa, Black Box, County Lines. (Note that Mulan was originally designed for 27th March, then revised for 4th September.)

The Best of 2020: 40th Shadows Awards

To put it mildly, this has been an unusual year. So there has been a wider range of films eligible, as I've included titles released direct to streaming services. I saw all of these in the calendar year 2020, regardless of release dates. My top film of the year is a true original, a blur of drama and documentary that has a lot to stay about the state of the world at the moment. The performances, improvised dialog, camerawork and editing are simply gorgeous. Some of these categories were very difficult to whittle down to 10 - it was often painful cutting the list off there, especially for lead performances.

There is rather a lot more posted on the website, including longer lists and a dazzling array of additional categories and trivia to wrap up the year: 40th SHADOWS AWARDS. Here are the top 10s...

BEST FILM:

1. 
   Nomadland (Chloe Zhao)
2. Mangrove (Steve McQueen)
3. The Mauritanian (Kevin Macdonald)
4. System Crasher (Nora Fingscheidt)
5. Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)
6. The Half of It (Alice Wu)
7. Da 5 Bloods (Spike Lee)
8. Soul (Pete Docter)
9. The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al Mansour)
10. On the Rocks (Sofia Coppola)

DIRECTOR:

1. 
   Steve McQueen - Small Axe
2. Kevin Macdonald - The Mauritanian
3. Chloe Zhao - Nomadland
4. Spike Lee - Da 5 Bloods, David Byrne's American Utopia
5. Nora Fingscheidt - System Crasher
6. Florian Zeller - The Father
7. Christopher Nolan - Tenet
8. Haifaa Al Mansour - The Perfect Candidate
9. Sally Potter - The Roads Not Taken
10. Melina Leon - Song Without a Name

SCREENWRITER:

1. 
   MB Traven, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani - The Mauritanian
2. Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers - Soul
3. Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller - The Father
4. Alice Wu - The Half of It
5. Haifaa Al-Mansour, Brad Niemann - The Perfect Candidate
6. Chloe Zhao - Nomadland
7. Alastair Siddons, Steve McQueen - Mangrove
8. Jayro Bustamante, Lisandro Sanchez - La Llorona
9. Eliza Hittman - Never Rarely Sometimes Always
10. James Montague, Craig W Sanger - The Vast of Night

ACTRESS:

1. 
   Julia Garner - The Assistant
2. Helena Zengel - System Crasher, News of the World
3. Jodie Foster - The Mauritanian
4. Elisabeth Moss - The Invisible Man, Shirley
5. Letitia Wright - Mangrove
6. Frances McDormand - Nomadland
7. Joanna Scanlan - After Love
8. Jessie Buckley - Misbehaviour, I'm Thinking of Ending Things
9. Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman, The Dig
10. Aubrey Plaza - Black Bear, Happiest Season

ACTOR:

1. 
   Tahar Rahim - The Mauritanian
2. John Boyega - Red, White and Blue
3. Cosmo Jarvis - Calm With Horses
4. Anthony Hopkins - The Father
5. Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Da 5 Bloods
6. Riz Ahmed - Mogul Mowgli, Sound of Metal
7. Lee Byung-hun - The Man Standing Next
8. Sacha Baron Cohen - The Trial of the Chicago 7, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
9. Christopher Abbott - Possessor, Black Bear, The World to Come
10. Robert Pattinson - Tenet, The Devil All the Time, Waiting for the Barbarians

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1. 
   Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
2. Olivia Colman - The Father
3. Amanda Seyfried - Mank
4. Cherry Jones - A Rainy Day in New York
5. Dhay - The Perfect Candidate
6. Lesley Manville - Misbehaviour, Let Him Go
7. Talia Ryder - Never Rarely Sometimes Always
8. Orla Brady - Rose Plays Julie
9. Shailene Woodley - The Mauritanian, Endings Beginnings
10. Laura Linney - The Roads Not Taken, Falling

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1. 
   Barry Keoghan - Calm With Horses
2. Lance Henriksen - Falling
3. Leslie Odom Jr - Hamilton, One Night in Miami
4. Jonathan Majors - Da 5 Bloods, Jungleland
5. Benedict Cumberbatch - The Mauritanian
6. Nicholas Hoult - True History of the Kelly Gang, Rebel in the Rye
7. Steve Toussaint - Red, White and Blue
8. Sverrir Gudnason - Falling
9. Harris Dickinson - County Lines
10. Alfredo Castro - The Prince

WORST FILM:

1. 
   Fantasy Island (Jeff Wadlow)
2. Jexi (Jon Lucas, Scott Moore)
3. Hillbilly Elegy (Ron Howard)
4. Buddy Games (Josh Duhamel)
5. Love, Weddings & Other Disasters (Dennis Dugan)
6. Fatal Affair (Peter Sullivan)
7. The Last Days of American Crime (Olivier Megaton)
8. Come Away (Brenda Chapman)
9. The Ringmaster (Soren Juul Petersen)
10. Ava (Tate Taylor)

N O N - F I L M   D I V I S I O N

TV SERIES:

1. 
   Schitt's Creek (CBC)
2. The Good Place (Netflix)
3. Ted Lasso (Apple)
4. The Mandalorian (Disney)
5. We Are Who We Are (HBO)
6. Dave (FX)
7. Staged (BBC)
8. Normal People (BBC)
9. I May Destroy You (BBC)
10. Shameless (Showtime)

SINGLES:

1. 
   No Time to Die - Billie Eilish
2. Hurt - Arlo Parks
3. Head & Heart - Joel Corry & MNEK
4. Coffee for Your Head - Powfu & Beabadoobee
5. Cuz I Love You - Lizzo
6. Watch Your Step - Disclosure & Kelis
7. Diamonds - Sam Smith
8. This Is the Place - Tom Grennan
9. Far Away - Jessie Reyez
10. Rainfall - Stormzy & Tiana Major9

A Year in Shadows: 2019

TRIVIA ALERT!

Only one star had two covers to herself: Keira Knightley. Two had one solo cover and a shared one: Brie Larson and Margot Robbie. And these appeared on two shared covers: Christian Bale, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Nicole Kidman, Florence Pugh, Charlize Theron and Bradley Cooper (once as an animated character).

These appeared by themselves on a cover: Antonio Banderas, Jessie Buckley, Judi Dench, Taron Egerton, Idris Elba, Adele Haenel, Linda Hamilton, Nicholas Hoult, Zachary Levi, Ewan McGregor, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Will Smith, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Sophie Turner, Renee Zellweger and Letitia Wright (the only person who appeared on a cover as herself).

Twice on one cover: Samuel L Jackson, Bruce Willis and James McAvoy. And McAvoy is on another shared cover as well, the only actor appearing three times.

On one shared cover: Evan Alex, Mahershala Ali, Yalitza Aparicio, Ana de Armas, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Steve Carell, Jessica Chastain, Emilia Clarke, Toni Collette, Olivia Colman, Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert De Niro, Danny DeVito, Michelle Dockery, Robert Downey Jr, Colin Farrell, Lady Gaga, Henry Golding, Richard E Grant, Eva Green, Danai Gurira, Bill Hader, Laura Harrier, Finley Hobbins, Anthony Hopkins, Lily James, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Scarlett Johansson, Don Johnson, Dwayne Johnson, Viveik Kalra, Michael Keaton, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Rami Malek, Leslie Mann, Melissa McCarthy, Viggo Mortensen, Jeanelle Monae, Isaiah Mustafa, Kumail Nanjiani, Lupita Nyong'o, Al Pacino, Nico Parker, Himesh Patel, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, James Ransone, Jeremy Renner, Daisy Ridley, Seth Rogen, Saoirse Ronan, Jay Ryan, Eliza Scanlen, Michael Shannon, Justice Smith, Maggie Smith, Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, John David Washington, Emma Watson, Rachel Weisz, Nell Williams.

On one shared cover, but unrecognisably (wearing a mask or voicing an animated character): Tim Allen, Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Chadwick Boseman, Blake Clark, Joan Cusack, Adam Driver, Justin Fletcher, Karen Gillen, Tony Hale, Tom Hanks, Tom Holland, James Earl Jones, Ally Maki, JD McCrary, Idina Menzel, Jeff Pidgeon, Annie Potts, Chris Pratt, John Ratzenberger, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Rudd, Wallace Shawn, John Sparkes.

Voiced animated or masked characters include lions, Legos, princesses, toys, superheroes, sheep, a farmer, a dog, a Sith lord and a Pokemon. Unvoiced characters: an Oscar, a Bafta, a dog, some plasticine sheep and a flying elephant.

Most crowded cover: Oscar (12), with a three-way tie for second place: Endgame, Toy Story 4 and Knives Out (11 each).

A Year in Shadows: 2018

TRIVIA ALERT:

This year's stars, who appeared on two covers: Cate Blanchett, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, Dwayne Johnson, Eddie Redmayne* (once as a plasticine caveman),  John C Reilly* (once as a videogame character)

On one cover on their own: Aml Ameen, Chadwick Boseman*, Cher, Glenn Close, Tom Cruise, Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Ryan Gosling, Lily James, Mindy Kaling, Daniel Kaluuya, Rami Malek, Chloe Grace Moretz, Liam Neeson, Evan Peters, Rosamund Pike, Ryan Reynolds*, Amanda Seyfried, Jason Statham, Tilda Swinton, Charlize Theron, Emma Thompson, Alicia Vikander

On one shared cover: Adeel Akhtar, Jack Black, Helena Bonham Carter, Olivia Colman, Steve Coogan, Bradley Cooper, Sandra Bullock, Rob Brydon, Jim Carter, Sam Claflin, Akwafina, Michael Douglas, Alden Ehrenreich, Chris Evans, Laurence Fishburne, Ben Foster, Lady Gaga, Gael Garcia Bernal*, Rupert Graves, Walton Goggins, Anthony Gonzalez*, Stephen Graham, Danai Guria, Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johansson, Hannah John-Kamen*, Jake Johnson*, Anna Kendrick, Jude Law, Evangeline Lilly, Blake Lively, Thomasin Harcourt Mackenzie, Daniel Mays, Shameik Moore*, Sarah Paulson, Michael Pena, Chris Pine, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joaquin Phoenix, Chris Pratt, Jonathan Pryce, Florence Pugh, Koyu Rankin*, Rihanna, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo*, Ekaterina Samsonov, Sarah Silverman*, Justice Smith, Hailee Steinfeld*, Emma Stone, Joonas Suotamo*, Thomas Turgoose, Owen Vaccaro, Rachel Weisz

Twice on one cover: Tye Sheridan (once animated)

Nine times on one cover: Jimmy Kimmel

Plus: a pig, a dinosaur, a shark, nine dogs and a crowd of animated Disney princesses.

* includes animated or face-obscured characters

A Year in Shadows: 2017

TRIVIA ALERT: 

This year's stars, who appeared on three covers: Channing Tatum* (once as Lego Superman) and Wonder Woman (twice as Gal Gadot, once as a Lego).

On two covers: Ben Affleck, John Boyega, Tom Cruise, Judi Dench, Vin Diesel*, Adam Driver, Gal Gadot, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sally Hawkins, Tom Holland, Oscar Isaac, Hugh Jackman, Daisy Ridley

On one cover on their own: Brian Cox, Chris Hemsworth, Charlie Hunnam, Jimmy Kimmell, Jennifer Lawrence, Noomi Rapace, Kristin Scott Thomas, Andy Serkis*, Peter Simonischek, Dan Stevens, Charlize Theron, Kristen Wiig*, Katherine Waterston, Emma Watson

On one shared cover: Ewen Bremner, Alan Arkin, Will Arnett, Pilou Asbaek, Jeff Bauman, Dave Bautista, Hugh Bonneville, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Caine, Steve Carell*, Robert Carlyle, Gwendoline Christie*, Pierre Coffin*, Miranda Cosgrove*, Bradley Cooper, Daniel Craig, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Matt Damon, Anthony Daniels*, Daniel Day-Lewis, Elizabeth Debicki, Johnny Depp, Zac Efron, Taron Egerton, Ali Fazal, Oakes Fegley, Rebecca Ferguson, Carrie Fisher, Ray Fisher, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Josh Gadd, Dana Gaier*, Karen Gillan, Brendan Gleeson, Emily Gordon, Ryan Gosling, Hugh Grant, Mark Hamill, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Dwayne Johnson, Doug Jones*, Diane Keaton, Dafne Keen, Riley Keough, Pom Klementieff, Vicky Krieps, Brie Larson, Charlotte Le Bon, Lewis MacDougall, Peter Mayhew*, Ewan McGregor, Ezra Miller, Jonny Lee Miller, Maribeth Monroe, Jason Momoa, Julianne Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Liam Neeson*, Connie Nielsen, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chris Pratt, Ryan Reynolds, Michael Rooker, Zoe Saldana, Nev Scharrel*, Rose Marie Tran, Millicent Simmonds, Harry Styles, Jason Sudeikis, Beat Takeshi, Jimmy Vee*, Ben Whishaw, Fionn Whitehead

And four times on one cover: James McAvoy

* includes animated or face-obscurred characters

A Year in Shadows: 2016

A Year in Shadows: 2015