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Most-Anticipated Films of 2014?

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It's 2014, so time to look at the year's slate of films. As I do every year, I've made a massive list of films to look out for. While it sways to the arthouse crowd, I also pasted a list of all scheduled films coming out. So check out the list below (included the top 10), and share your most-anticipated.

Our 80 Most-Anticipated Films of 2014



Top 10

10. Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho; TBD)

snowpiercer.jpg


Knowing The Weinstein Company's mischievous ways, there's a chance we won't even get Snowpiercer this year, but we're holding out hope. Following initial word that signaled a bow last summer, it came and went, along with no appearances at the major fall festivals, but as Bong Joon-ho and Harvey Weinstein hash out a new cut, one thing's for certain: you'll be able to import a French Blu-ray by spring. Featuring the unharmed theatrical international cut (aka approved by our director), we can't wait to see this post-apocalyptic tale of class struggle set on a barreling train, even if it's from the comfort of our own home.

9. Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas; TBD)

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After revisiting the hyper-personal Cold Water as a means of crafting Something in the Air, there’s some chronological logic in Olivier Assayas, as a follow-up, going back to the meta-cinematic territory of Irma Vep for Sils Maria. From Maggie Cheung to Juliette Binoche, our next look at the strange life of an international star is coming from an artist who, in this writer’s opinion, has only grown more controlled and assured in the many years since. On this one, it’s hard to maintain any reasonable expectations.

8. Nymphomaniac (Lars von Trier; March/April)

nymphomaniac.jpg


Lars von Trier's name, alone, is enough to garner curiosity, but when his latest project is easily shaping up to be his most ambitious outing yet, it's among our most-anticipated of the year. Unveiled in Denmark late last year, the four-hour, eight-chapter, two-part Nymphomaniac looks to go above and beyond our expectations, judging from early reviews. While we wish we could see the 5.5-hour director's cut of the thing, this should hold us over until later in 2014.

7. Queen of the Desert (Werner Herzog; TBD)

queen_of_the_desert.jpg


Following years of irritating stop-start development, Werner Herzog is finally shooting his first feature since 2009’s Bad Lieutenant and My Son, My Son. Shifts on the casting front are only natural with such long progressions acting as a factor, and now the central spot of legendary cartographer Gertrude Bell has been filled by Nicole Kidman -- buoyed by the likes of Robert Pattinson, James Franco, and Damian Lewis -- and the subject’s staggering impact on history gives the sort of thread this writer-director has proven himself deeply invested in for decades. (Fitzcarraldo being but one obvious reference point.) It might prove a perfect fit, and we can’t wait to see how Queen shapes up to his true classics.

6 The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson; March 7th)

the_grand_budapest_hotel.jpg


Moonrise Kingdom was a wonderful return to quirky form for Wes Anderson -- but let’s face it: the man hasn’t ever strayed far from the idiosyncratic picture-book worlds he began creating with Bottle Rocket. You already know how you feel about the director, and everything we've seen from The Grand Budapest Hotel isn’t likely to change anyone’s mind. Those anxious for their next fix are thus pleased at the mere thought of Ralph Fiennes and the usual menagerie of Anderson regulars running about a European hotel in the 1920s. Executed properly, it could be pure bliss.

5. Two Days, One Night (Dardennes; TBD)

marion_cotillard.jpg


There are few certainties in life: the sun will rise, temperatures will dip well below zero during a Canadian winter, and, every three years, a new Dardenne brothers film will premiere in competition at Cannes. It's with equal certainty that we say it can be great -- but as if to shake up the usual equation, their newest is the first with an international A-list star (Marion Cotillard). Still judging by their consistency, however, it should be no cause for concern.

4. Maps to the Stars (David Cronenberg; TBD)

maps_to_the_stars.jpg


David Cronenberg is working in a different register these days -- more removed (quite literally, in terms of something as essential as camera distance), more clinical, more alien -- so those hoping for Scanners and not Cosmopolis might need to rearrange most expectations. The wicked sense of humor, however, is as cutting as ever, and in coming off a perfectly tuned, pitch-black social satire, his take on the corrosive nature of Hollywood -- which required his first shooting endeavor in the United States -- should be a sight; consider the lineup -- Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska, Olivia Williams, as well as a returning Robert Pattinson & Sarah Gadon -- and it’s hard to imagine many films will incite more of a visceral thrill this year.

3. Knight of Cups and Untitled Project (Terrence Malick; TBD)

knight_of_cups.jpg


As with any looking-ahead list that includes a title from this director, what's here is as much a signal of anticipation as it is, in all honesty, just a big question mark. We don’t know what story Terrence Malick has elected to tell in Knight of Cups -- something about “celebrities and excess”; that’s all we’re going to get for the time being -- and although details on the untitled project (including some insane set photos) point toward a film at least partially concerned with the music festival scene, placing bets is a fool's gambit. Are strictly-defined plot mechanics ever known to concern the man, either? What matters is that he’s completely off, doing his own thing in a more-productive-than-ever state -- and for that, alone, cinema itself does some good in 2014.

2. Boyhood (Richard Linklater; TBD)

boyhood.jpg


After delivering my favorite film of last year, Richard Linklater returns in 2014 with a project arguably even more ambitious than his Before trilogy. Shooting in segments for the past twelve years, Boyhood is a coming-of-age tale the likes of which we've never seen. Reteaming with Ethan Hawke, the story tracks newcomer Ellar Coltrane and his upbringing (thanks to parents, played by Patricia Arquette and Hawke), during the (real-time) ages of 7 to 18. As completion was recently announced, we're betting this one pops up on the film festival circuit in the coming months.

1. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson; TBD)

inherent_vice.jpg


With a little over one year having passed since his last feature was released, it's unorthodox for Paul Thomas Anderson to have his follow-up in the can, but that, happily, is just the case. Inherent Vice, an adaptation of the off-kilter Thomas Pynchon novel, marks a return for PTA to sprawling, varied ensembles, as he makes a Master reteam with Joaquin Phoenix in the role of Doc Sportello, a pot-loving detective who gets entangled in a case when it comes to his missing ex-girlfriend. Without a blemish to Anderson's record yet, Inherent Vice, which we’d peg for fall release, is easily our most-anticipated film of 2014.

All scheduled films.

January
• The Best Offer (IFC) - 1/3
• Beyond Outrage (Magn.) - 1/3
• In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter (mTuck) - 1/3
• Interior. Leather Bar. (Strand) - 1/3
• Open Grave (Trib.) - 1/3
• Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (Par.) - 1/3
• The Great Flood (Icar.) - 1/8
• Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (Elev.) - 1/10
• If You Build It (Long Shot) - 1/10
• In Bloom (BWP) - 1/10
• The Legend of Hercules (LG/S) - 1/10
• The Rocket (2014) (KL) - 1/10
• The Suspect (2014) (WGUSA) - 1/10
• The Wait (Mont.) - 1/10
• Generation War (MBox) - 1/15
• Big Bad Wolves (Magn.) - 1/17
• Devil's Due (Fox) - 1/17
• G.B.F. (VE) - 1/17
• Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Par.) - 1/17
• Life of a King (MNE) - 1/17
• Like Father, Like Son (2014) (IFC) - 1/17
• The Nut Job (ORF) - 1/17
• Ride Along (Uni.) - 1/17
• Summer in February (Trib.) - 1/17
• Anohana The Movie: The Flower We Saw That Day (Elev.) - 1/18
• Knights of Badassdom (E1) - 1/21
• Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys (Argo.) - 1/24
• Gimme Shelter (RAtt.) - 1/24
• Gloria (2014) (RAtt.) - 1/24
• I, Frankenstein (LGF) - 1/24
• Stranger By the Lake (Strand) - 1/24
• Visitors (2014) (Cdgm.) - 1/24
• Best Night Ever (Magn.) - 1/31
• Labor Day (Par.) - 1/31
• Peter Brook: The Tightrope (FRun) - 1/31
• That Awkward Moment (Focus) - 1/31
• Tim's Vermeer (SPC) - 1/31

February
• A Fantastic Fear of Everything (Cdgm.) - 2/7
• Kids For Cash (Pala.) - 2/7
• The Last Of The Unjust (Cohen) - 2/7
• The Lego Movie (WB) - 2/7
• Love and Air Sex (Trib.) - 2/7
• The Monuments Men (Sony) - 2/7
• One Chance (Wein.) - 2/7
• Robocop (2014) (Sony) - 2/12
• About Last Night (2014) (SGem) - 2/14
• Adult World (IFC) - 2/14
• Endless Love (2014) (Uni.) - 2/14
• Girl on a Bicycle (Mont.) - 2/14
• Jimmy P (IFC) - 2/14
• Vampire Academy (Wein.) - 2/14
• Winter's Tale (WB) - 2/14
• 3 Days to Kill (Rela.) - 2/21
• Barefoot (RAtt.) - 2/21
• Blackout (MBox) - 2/21
• Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me (IFC) - 2/21
• In Secret (RAtt.) - 2/21
• Pompeii (TriS) - 2/21
• Souldier (PDF) - 2/21
• The Wind Rises (BV) - 2/21
• The Lunchbox (SPC) - 2/28
• Non-Stop (Uni.) - 2/28
• Son of God (Fox) - 2/28
• Two Lives (IFC) - 2/28
• Welcome to Yesterday (Par.) - 2/28

March
• 300: Rise of An Empire (WB) - 3/7
• The Face of Love (IFC) - 3/7
• A Farewell to Fools (Mont.) - 3/7
• The Grand Budapest Hotel (FoxS) - 3/7
• Grand Piano (Magn.) - 3/7
• Jordorowsky's Dune (SPC) - 3/7
• Journey to the West (Magn.) - 3/7
• Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Fox) - 3/7
• Tasting Menu (Magn.) - 3/7
• Art of the Steal (RTWC) - 3/14
• Bad Words (Focus) - 3/14
• Enemy (A24) - 3/14
• Grace of Monaco (Wein.) - 3/14
• Le Weekend (MBox) - 3/14
• Need for Speed (BV) - 3/14
• On My Way (Cohen) - 3/14
• The Right Kind of Wrong (Magn.) - 3/14
• Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club (LGF) - 3/14
• U Want Me to Kill Him? (Trib.) - 3/14
• Veronica Mars (WB) - 3/14
• The Missing Picture (Strand) - 3/19
• Blood Ties (2014) (RAtt.) - 3/21
• Divergent (LG/S) - 3/21
• Maladies (Trib.) - 3/21
• Muppets Most Wanted (BV) - 3/21
• Nymphomaniac: Part 1 (Magn.) - 3/21
• Stretch (Uni.) - 3/21
• Breathe In (Cohen) - 3/28
• Cesar Chavez (LGF) - 3/28
• A Haunted House 2 (ORF) - 3/28
• Hide Your Smiling Faces (Trib.) - 3/28
• Noah (Par.) - 3/28

April
• The Unknown Known (RTWC) - 4/2
• Alan Partridge: The Movie (Magn.) - 4/4
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (BV) - 4/4
• Dom Hemingway (FoxS) - 4/4
• Island of Lemurs: Madagascar (IMAX) (WB) - 4/4
• Under the Skin (2014) (A24) - 4/4
• Dancing in Jaffa (IFC) - 4/11
• Draft Day (LG/S) - 4/11
• Only Lovers Left Alive (SPC) - 4/11
• Rio 2 (Fox) - 4/11
• Sabotage (2014) (ORF) - 4/11
• St. Vincent (Wein.) - 4/11
• Heaven Is For Real (TriS) - 4/16
• 13 Sins (RTWC) - 4/18
• Bears (BV) - 4/18
• Nymphomaniac: Part 2 (Magn.) - 4/18
• Oculus (Rela.) - 4/18
• Redwood Highway (Mont.) - 4/18
• Transcendence (WB) - 4/18
• Blue Ruin (RTWC) - 4/25
• Chinese Puzzle (Cohen) - 4/25
• Earth to Echo (Rela.) - 4/25
• For No Good Reason (SPC) - 4/25
• Locke (A24) - 4/25
• The Other Woman (2014) (Fox) - 4/25
• The Quiet Ones (LGF) - 4/25
• Walk of Shame (Focus) - 4/25

May
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Sony) - 5/2
• Belle (FoxS) - 5/2
• Chef (ORF) - 5/9
• Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (CE) - 5/9
• Neighbors (Uni.) - 5/9
• Godzilla (2014) (WB) - 5/16
• Million Dollar Arm (BV) - 5/16
• The Trip to Italy (IFC) - 5/16
• Blended (WB) - 5/23
• X-Men: Days of Future Past (Fox) - 5/23
• Maleficent (BV) - 5/30
• A Million Ways to Die in the West (Uni.) - 5/30

June
• Edge of Tomorrow (WB) - 6/6
• The Fault in our Stars (Fox) - 6/6
• Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (RTWC) - 6/6
• 22 Jump Street (Sony) - 6/13
• How to Train Your Dragon 2 (Fox) - 6/13
• Jersey Boys (WB) - 6/20
• The Purge 2 (Uni.) - 6/20
• Think Like a Man Too (SGem) - 6/20
• Transformers: Age of Extinction (Par.) - 6/27

July
• Deliver Us From Evil (SGem) - 7/2
• Tammy (WB) - 7/2
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Fox) - 7/11
• Jupiter Ascending (WB) - 7/18
• Planes: Fire and Rescue (BV) - 7/18
• Hercules (2014) (Par.) - 7/25
• Sex Tape (Sony) - 7/25
• Step Up All In (LG/S) - 7/25

August
• Get On Up (Uni.) - 8/1
• Guardians of the Galaxy (BV) - 8/1
• The Hundred-Foot Journey (BV) - 8/8
• Into The Storm (WB) - 8/8
• Lucy (Uni.) - 8/8
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) (Par.) - 8/8
• The Expendables 3 (LGF) - 8/15
• The Giver (Wein.) - 8/15
• Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (W/Dim.) - 8/22
• When the Game Stands Tall (TriS) - 8/22
• Jane Got a Gun (Rela.) - 8/29
• Jessabelle (LGF) - 8/29
• The Loft (Uni.) - 8/29

September
• Addicted (LGF) - 9/5
• The Green Inferno (ORF) - 9/5
• No Good Deed (2014) (SGem) - 9/12
• Search Party (Uni.) - 9/12
• This is Where I Leave You (WB) - 9/12
• Dolphin Tale 2 (WB) - 9/19
• The Maze Runner (Fox) - 9/19
• The Boxtrolls (Focus) - 9/26
• The Equalizer (Sony) - 9/26
• A Matter of Faith (5&2) - 9/26

October
• Gone Girl (Fox) - 10/3
• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (BV) - 10/10
• The Interview (2014) (Sony) - 10/10
• The Judge (WB) - 10/10
• The Best of Me (Rela.) - 10/17
• Book of Life (Fox) - 10/17
• Dracula Untold (Uni.) - 10/17
• Paranormal Activity 5 (Par.) - 10/24
• Untitled Vince Vaughn Movie (Fox) - 10/24

November
• Big Hero 6 (BV) - 11/7
• Interstellar (Par.) - 11/7
• Blackbird (tentative title) (Rela.) - 11/14
• Brad Pitt/David Ayer Untitled (Sony) - 11/14
• Dumb and Dumber To (Uni.) - 11/14
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 (LGF) - 11/21
• McFarland (BV) - 11/21
• Home (2014) (Fox) - 11/26
• Horrible Bosses 2 (WB) - 11/26

December
• Exodus (Fox) - 12/12
• Paddington (W/Dim.) - 12/12
• The Hobbit: There and Back Again (WB) - 12/17
• Annie (2014) (Sony) - 12/19
• Into the Woods (BV) - 12/25
• Night at the Museum 3 (Fox) - 12/25
• Unbroken (Uni.) - 12/25

What films are you most looking forward to?
 

Blader

Member
Interstellar, Boyhood, and Gone Girl are probably my top 3. Godzilla trailer has me cautiously optimistic for that one too.
 
Until I read otherwise, I'm going to naively believe that it will indeed come out in 2014.

(But yeah, you're probably right.)

If it was a Mud-style movie on that budget scale, I'd believe it. But this is a major Warner Bros film. Can't see it happening. Especially since they've pretty much filled out their release schedule for the year.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Guardians of the Galaxy easily. It's going to be awesome seeing one of these giant big budget tentpole comic movies venture into some truly bizarro material.
 
Boyhood sounds really neat. I'm still catching up, but Before Midnight will probably remain my #1 for 2013.

Also, The Raid 2.
 

Minus_Me

Member
Loved loved loved Inherent Vice, and I can imagine PTA will do it justice. I was hoping he'd get Ariel Pink to do the soundtrack though.
 

Nerdkiller

Membeur
Looking at that Queen of the Desert photo, I'm surprised that Werner went back to digital cinematography (seeing that that's a RED camera in that shot), considering how negative he spoke about his experience with digital cameras when he shot My Son, My Son.

http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/0904-Winter-2009-10/DGA-Interview-Werner-Herzog.aspx

Werner Herzog said:
We used the RED camera for My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. It's an immature camera created by computer people who do not have a sensibility or understanding for the value of high-precision mechanics, which has a 200-year history. It's terrible: Whenever you have to reboot the camera, it takes 4½ minutes or so. It drove me insane, because sometimes something is happening and you can't just push the button and record it. An assistant cameraman said this camera would be ideal if we were filming the National Library in Paris, which has been sitting there for centuries. But everything that moves faster than a library is a problem for the RED. Super 35 mm celluloid is still better.

But regarding what will excite me this year, I supposed The Wolf of Wall Street when it releases here this month. And perhaps that Muppets sequel, seeing how good the new one was. Godzilla as well. Amazing Spiderman 2 can go to hell, for all I care.
 
I was awaiting this article Expendable., Good stuff. Thanks for the heads up.

Glad you enjoyed. Took of a hell of a long time to put together, but hopefully it's informative. I got so tired of seeing the same 2014 previews that just copy and pasted the studio release calendar.
 

hal9001

Banned
I can't wait for Inherent Vice, but having read the book I feel it might turn out to be a really polarising film with Pynchon's postmodernist style of narrative.
Also Interstellar and the next Terrance Malick film are high up in my list.
 

Ultima_5

Member
the movie nymphomaniac sounds a movie title i'd see on the cable tv menu on a friday or saturday night and see that it's rated M and then 13 year old me would decide to camp out in the basement that night so i could watch it with the intention of jacking off , but would end up disappointed cuz there wasn't any nudity so i'd end up using some travel channel show about the 100 best beaches
 
X-Men: Days of Future Past (Fox) - 5/23

Is my most anticipated film, but I also cant wait for Interstellar. Nolan is the best director ever and I cant wait to see what he does next.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Interstellar, because I find the concept very intruiging even though we know next to nothing about the movie.
 
I think I was making a list myself, although its not in any real order and mostly made up of known properties, all the smaller indie films I never pay attention to until people talk them up and they end up as some of my favorites of the year(Short Term 12 and the Spectacular Now come to mind for 2013)

-Under the Skin: Birth is one of the great films of the 2000s. I'm eager to see the follow-up.

-Snowpiercer: I sure hope I get to see an uncut version of this. The 103 minute version of Grandmaster made me cry, and not in the way the artists intended. Y u do dis Harvey Weinstein?

-Edge of Tomorrow: IDK if this is gonna be very good, but it looks like the action movie version of Groundhogs Day starring Tom Cruise, and that a concept that sets my fanboyism on fire. Can't be worse than Jumper or Oblivion or Elysium or

-Big Hero 6: Disney's on a quite a roll recently of enjoyable films, picking up the slack while Pixar figures things out for 2015. As a comic nerd, seeing an actual Disney Big Hero 6 film makes me realize the geeks have indeed won, ladies and gentlemen.

-Gone Girl: Fincher is one of my favorite directors currently working, so of course I'm down for his new film. I hear he's changing quite a bit from the source material, which sounds good to me after being so beholden to it with the Dragon Tattoo. And above all else, Its time Rosamund Pike got a big meaty role, goddamnit!

-Sin City 2: I will not believe this movie exists until I'm sitting in the cinema and black and white hardboiled Josh Brolin is staring me down with a tough Frank Miller monologue playing in the background. And I still might not believe it then.

-Jupiter Ascending: This looks pretty goofy, doesn't it? Still, I kinda got a Fifth Element vibe from this, and anybody who knows me knows I love The Fifth Element. This is the Wachowskis first attempt at the big sci-fi action blockbuster since the Matrix trilogy wrapped up, and I can't say I'm not interested to see what comes out of their heads this time. And that's the true-true.

-Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Wasn't too hot on the first Captain America(sorry Expendable!), but that trailer looked great. And as Man of Steel proved, trailers never lie or exceed the quality of the actual film! Joking aside, I'm a big fan of the original Winter Soldier story from the comics, and I'm interested in seeing how the directors from Community and Arrested Development adapt it to the cinematic Marvel Universe.

-Guardians of the Galaxy: I can't fuckin' believe they're making this. The one with the talking badass racoon and the living tree. And I can't believe that letting James Gunn helm this thing(Super, for all its faults, had a very singular vision that I'm interested to see him hone into something greater). ROCKET RACOON.

-Godzilla: Gareth Edwards impressed me quite a bit with Monsters that I have faith this new Godzilla will actually turn out pretty well. At the very least, it will be better than the last American Godzilla film!

-Boyhood: Linklater just wrapped up maybe my favorite movie trilogy ever with Before Midnight. Well, ya know, until the sequel Before Morning in 2022. So of course I'm down for another time-lapsed cinematic vision of people growing up! It sounds hella ambitious.

-How to Train Your Dragon 2: The last one was maybe the most pleasant surprise of 2010(that and "that 3 hour Fincher Facebook movie" turned out to be really fuckin' good). That teaser trailer was just so damn lovely, I've banned myself from reading/seeing anything else about it and just hope for the best with the sequel. Vikings and dragons, ya'll.

-Inherent Vice: Paul Thomas Anderson...never know how I'm gonna feel about his films. I do so love Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood, and Hard Eight is very underrated I feel, but his other 3 films leave me cold, despite how well-mounted a lot of them are. I had feared, after the Master, he had disappeared up his own ass, high on all the Stanley Kubrick comparisons, frozen like Jack Nicholson in the Shining never to be seen again. Something about Inherent Vice seems different though. Maybe its the quick release turnaround, maybe its the 70s setting with sprawling cast that gives me flashbacks to the goodtimes of Boogie Nights, maybe its the 35mm camera being used instead of 70mm, but it feels like PTA has got "the important one" out his system and wanted to do something quick, cool, and fun again. That's inspiring!

-Mr. Turner: It's the next Mike Leigh film. He makes the best fuckin' movies.

-The Rover: I really enjoyed Animal Kingdom back in 2010, so hey, why not

-Foxcatcher: Bennett Miller makes the best kind of Oscarbait

-Interstellar: Yes, the new Nolan sci-fi movie. This will probably suffer from the same problem that Inception did, in that Nolan has no other way to explain information to the audience except in the most literal way possible, and thus endless amounts of leaden dialog. And yet....well, just look at that cast! Look at that weird teaser! Just what is this shit!? Argh, they've hooked me again.

-Big Eyes: Tim Burton has been inconsistent this past decade, I know that, but listen! This isn't some big CGI grotesquity, its a modest budget biopic from the screenwriters of my favorite Burton film, Ed Wood! And look, Johnny Depp isn't in it! Or Helena Bonham Carter! No, its Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz for a change. Bruno Delbonnel, one of my favorite DPs in the business, is on board, so at the very least it'll look pretty! Finger crossed for this one.
 
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