In 2012 | Hollywood plays it safe

Responding to the profit-suck that is internet piracy, the big studios clung to 3D with all they had: previously just a disposable gimmick, the technology was spit-polished and resurrected by money-raking maestro James Cameron's (Titanic) return to sci-fi with 2009's Avatar.

And not only have they draped all of their heavy-hitters with a 3D enhancement - to movie-going punters, this also means a bumped-up ticket price - this past year, the studios have concentrated on sure-fire franchises and remakes that squarely target the kid-and-young-adult audience.

This had the effect of transforming cinemas into a Disneyland-like environment, leaving the older population to seek out their fix for satisfyingly intelligent, mature dramas on the small screen.

(Indeed, quality blossomed in television over the past couple of years, in parallel to Hollywood's increasing infantilisation.)

And speaking of consolidation, Marvel Studios doubtlessly cracked open many a champagne bottle throughout the year, as all their best laid plans seemed to defy enduring English proverbs by resolutely refusing to 'aft aglay'.

As if the consistent success of their superhero output weren't enough, they launched in the year's first box office behemoth with Avengers Assemble, which brought together Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) thanks to the efforts of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) in an attempt to safeguard our planet from celestial baddie Loki (Tom Hiddelston). The majority of the roundup already got their own film in the run up to the Avengers - a move that matches Marvel's interconnected comic book universe, and hints at the possibility of mainstream cinema becoming more episodic as the years go by. It also helps that the film was very, very satisfying: owing in large part to geek-favourite director Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly), who understands and loves the comics.

Superheroes also worked where they shouldn't have, with The Amazing Spider-Man, directed by the fatefully surnamed Marc Webb, revamping a story that graced our screens barely a decade ago. Webb trumps the Sam Raimi film series by giving the character a now-trendy 'edginess', while also allowing two of our most likeable young actors - The Social Network's Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (The Help, Easy A) - room to be themselves.

It's another sign of the times that instead of treating geeks with scorn - if not outright contempt - and using the source material they're passionate about as little more than a blueprint to manipulate as they see fit, studios have learnt that courting their affections will repay in dividends.

Once again the superheroes are the most indicative: chief of which being the billon-dollar raking The Dark Knight (2008), the second instalment of Christopher Nolan's re-imaging of Batman. While its sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, failed to match its predecessor on numbers - gathering a 'mere' $448 million instead... a fact that could be attributed to its unfortunate association with the shooting in a Colorado cinema that snatched away 12 lives - it remained a much-admired thriller that only just fell short of expectations raised by the sadly deceased Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, whose performance as the film's primary antagonist - the legendary Joker - scored him a posthumous Oscar.

Comics are of course not the only sure-fire cash cow Hollywood can tap into. Before comics there were books (and before books, some of the world's most illustrious writers were farmed out to Hollywood... but alas) and as Harry Potter has demonstrated, the 'young adult' crowd is more than ripe for exploitation.

The success of Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, the final cinematic instalment of Stephenie Meyers's vampire romance, was to be expected. But a new kid on the block came out on top, as The Hunger Games - set in a futuristic world of evenly demarcated haves and have nots where teenagers are forced to risk their lives in televised gladiatorial combat - raked in approximately $400 million to Breaking Dawn #2's $200, ensuring that the rest of Suzanne Collins's book trilogy - Catching Fire and Mockingjay - will also reach the big screen very soon.

It also made a star out of its principal actress, Jennifer Lawrence - who takes on the role of the impoverished but resourceful protagonist Katniss. She's had the fortune of having tested her acting chops early on - with 2010's tough indie Winter's Bone - and Oscar whispers are in the air, following her turn as the neurotic Tiffany in David O. Russel's critically acclaimed mental illness dramedy The Silver Linings Playbook.

Happily, however, amidst all the newfangled technologies, the pandering to kiddie audiences and geek-culture sourced riff-raff one can find a 'vintage' artefact glistening like a proud gem among its 2012 counterparts.

With the Sam Mendes (American Beauty) directed Skyfall, Daniel Craig's James Bond returns to form after the sloppy Quantum of Solace (2008). There's no school like the old school and Mendes and co. know it. Despite retaining the newly-gritty take on the perennial MI6 spy for his 50th anniversary (though this approach is actually closer to the original Ian Fleming source novels), the team slather the proceedings with references to his back catalogue: down to a surprise visit by his old steed, the trusty Aston Martin.

Throw in a squirmingly menacing villain courtesy of fine actor Javier Bardem (once again channelling an intimidating presence coupled with an atrocious wig - see: No Country for Old Men), some genuine drama expressed in Bond's relationship with his mentor and boss M (Judi Dench) and beyond-the-call-of-duty impressive cinematography by Roger Deakins, and you have yourself some good old fashioned entertainment.

And while we're on the subject of more high-end escapist fare, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey predictably made a killing, drawing back the hoards who devoured the Lord of the Rings saga a decade or so ago. But Peter Jackson's return to Middle Earth - with The Hobbit, which will also be a trilogy, he tells the back-story to the 'Rings - wasn't as smooth as most had hoped.

Jackson was previously a humble and hardworking Kiwi director who managed to achieve the impossible: adapting JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - a meticulous and sprawling fantasy epic that despite being populated by monsters and colourful humanoid races, takes itself entirely seriously - to the big screen.

By insisting on a couple of divisive decisions with The Hobbit - stretching what is essentially a glorified bedtime story into three epic-length films and presenting it in the 'immersive' 48 frames-per-second format - Jackson comes across as a more forceful character, and you can't help but feel that the success of LOTR may have gone to his head just a little bit.

The next instalment of The Hobbit - 'The Desolation of Smaug' - will once again close off the blockbuster year, as it's slated for a December 13, 2013 release date. Until then, we can expect more of the same, really, as the big studios have announced their heavy hitters already... and while The Lone Ranger, Star Trek Into Darkness and Pacific Rim sound exciting enough - you may be better off venturing beyond the English-speaking countries if you want to search for something truly unique - as the European Film Awards, which took place in Malta earlier this month, went to great pains to prove to us...

Stats sourced from Box Office Mojo.