Comic-Con 2015 – Suicide Squad, X-Men 8, Sherlock, Warcraft and more

The San Diego Comic-Con of 2015 has arrived in style with some of the biggest announcements of the year. We’ll roundup some of the biggest events of film’s biggest weekend.

Film: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Panelists: Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss, Silver Linings Playbook), Liam Hemsworth (Gale, The Expendables 2), Josh Hutcherson (Peeta, Escobar: Paradise Lost), Willow Shields (Primrose, Beyond the Blackboard), Francis Lawrence (director, I am Legend), Nina Jacobson (producer, One Day), Conan O’Brien (superfan)
Release: November 2015

Show: Doctor Who season 9
Panelists: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor, In the Loop), Jenna Coleman (Clara, Death Comes to Pemberly), Michelle Gomez (Missy, Green Wing), Steven Moffatt (writer, Sherlock)
Release: September 2015

Show: Sherlock season 3.5
Panelists: Rupert Graves (Lestrade, The White Queen), Steven Moffatt (writer, Doctor Who), Sue Vertue (producer, Coupling)
Release: December 2015

Film: Rock the Kasbah
Panelists: Bill Murray (Ghost Busters), Bruce Willis (Die Hard), Zooey Deschanel (Elf), Danny McBride (This is the End), Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), Scott Caan (Ocean’s Eleven), Mitch Glazer (producer, Magic City)
Release: October 2015

Shows: Agents of SHIELD season 3, Agent Carter season 2
Panelists: Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter, Testament of Youth), James D’Arcy (Edwin Jarvis, Cloud Atlas), Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson, Much Ado About Nothing), Chloe Bennett (Daisy Johnson, Nashville), Brett Dalton (Grant Ward, Beyond Still Water), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May, Mulan), Iain De Caestecker (Leo Fitz, In Fear), Elizabeth Henstridge (Gemma Simmons, Delicacy), Nick Blood (Lance Hunter, Babylon), Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse, John Wick), Henry Simmons (Alpohnso McKenzie, No Good Deed), Luke Mitchell (Lincoln Campbell, The Tomorrow People), Jeph Loeb (producer, Heroes)
Release: September 2015 and January 2016 respectively.

Film: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Panelists: John Boyega (Finn, Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Rey, Toast of London), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron, A Most Violent Year), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren, Girls), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux, Ex Machina), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma, Game of Thrones), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker, Arkham City), Carrie Fisher (Leia Solo, When Harry Met Sally), Harrison Ford (Han Solo, Blade Runner), Kathleen Kennedy (producer, Jurassic Park), Lawrence Kasdan (writer, Raiders of the Lost Ark), JJ Abrams (writer/director, Star Trek Into Darkness)
Release: December 2015

Film: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Panelists: Lily James (Elizabeth Bennett, Cinderella), Bella Heathcote (Jane Bennett, Dark Shadows), Sam Riley (Mr Darcy, One the Road), Douglas Booth (Mr Bingley, Noah), Jack Huston (Mr Whickham, American Hustle), Matt Smith (Mr Collins, Doctor Who), Ben Sturr (writer/director, 17 Again), Seth Grahame Smith (author, Dark Shadows)
Release: February 2016

Film: Crimson Peak
Panelists: Mia Wasikowska (Edith Cushing, Stoker), Tom Hiddleston (Thomas Sharpe, Avengers Assemble), Jessica Chastain (Lucille Sharpe, Interstellar), Guillermo Del Toro (writer/director, Pacific Rim)
Release: October 2015

Film: Warcraft
Panelists: Ben Foster (Medivh, Lone Survivor), Paula Patton (Garona, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Dominic Cooper (Llane Wrynn, Captain America: The First Avenger), Travis Fimmel (Anduin Lothar, Vikings), Daniel Wu (Gul’dan, The Man With the Iron Fists), Clancy Brown (Blackhand, The Shawshank Redemption), Ben Schnetzer (Khadgar, Pride), Toby Kebbell (Durotan, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Duncan Jones (director, Source Code)
Release: June 2016

Film: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Panelists: Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne, Argo), Henry Cavill (Clark Kent, The Man From UNCLE), Gal Gadot (Diana Prince, Fast & Furious), Amy Adams (Lois Lane, American Hustle), Jesse Eisenberg (Lex Luthor, The Social Network), Jeremy Irons (Alfred Pennyworth, The Lion King), Holly Hunter (Senator Finch, Cast Away), Zack Snyder (director, 300)
Summary: The superhero smackdown showed off a trailer and Q&A.
Release: March 2016

Film: The Hateful Eight
Panelists: Kurt Russell (John Ruth, The Thing), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Daisy Domergue, Road to Perdition), Walton Goggins (Chris Mannix, The Shield), Michael Madsen (Joe Gage, Donnie Brasco), Tim Roth (Oswaldo Mobray, Selma), Bruce Dern (Sandy Smithers, Nebraska), Quentin Tarantino (writer/director, Pulp Fiction)
Release: January 2016

Film: Fantastic Four
Panelists: Miles Teller (Reed Richards, Whiplash), Michael B Jordan (Johnny Storm, Fruitvale Station), Kate Mara (Susan Storm, House of Cards), Jamie Bell (Ben Grimm, The Adventures of Tintin), Toby Kebbell (Victor Domashev, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Simon Kinberg (writer, Sherlock Holmes), Josh Trank (director, Chronicle)
Release: August 2015

Film: Deadpool
Panelists: Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson, Safe House), Morena Baccarin (Vanessa Carlyle, Serenity), Gina Carano (Angel Dust, Haywire), TJ Miller (Weasel, Cloverfield), Ed Skrein (Ajax, Ill Manors), Brianna Hildebrand (Ellie Phimister, Prism), Tim Miller (director, Gopher Broke)
Release: February 2016

Film: X-Men: Apocalypse
Panelists: James McAvoy (Charles Xavier, Trance), Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr, Prometheus), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven Darkholme, The Hunger Games), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy, Warm Bodies), Oscar Isaac (En Sabah Nur, A Most Violent Year), Evan Peters (Peter Maximoff, American Horror Story), Lucas Till (Alex Summers, Walk the Line), Tye Sheridan (Scott Summers, The Tree of Life), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey, Game of Thrones), Alexandra Shipp (Ororo Munroe, Ray Donovan), Kodi Smit McPhee (Kurt Wagner, The Road), Ben Hardy (Warren Worthington, Eastenders), Lana Condor (Jubilation Lee), Olivia Munn (Betsy Braddock, The Newsroom), Channing Tatum (Remy LaBeau, 21 Jump Street), Hugh Jackman (Logan, The Prestige), Stan Lee (writer, The Fantastic Four), Simon Kinberg (writer, Sherlock Holmes), Bryan Singer (director, The Usual Suspects)
Release: May 2016

Film Suicide Squad
Panelists: Will Smith (Floyd Lawton, Independence Day), Margot Robbie (Harleen Quinzel, The Wolf of Wall Street), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg, RoboCop), Jai Courtney (George Harkness, Terminator Genisys), Cara Delevinge (Enchantress, Paper Towns), Adam Beach (Christopher Weiss, Flags of our Fathers), Jay Hernandez (Chato Santana, Hostel), Karen Fukuhara (Tatsu Yamashiro), Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje (Waylon Jones, Thor: The Dark World), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller, The Help), David Ayer (director/writer, Fury)
Release: August 2016

New images from Force Awakens, concept art for Civil War and Suicide Squad unveiled

Marvel (makers of The Avengers, X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy), DC (makers of The Dark Knight, Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice) and Star Wars (makers of Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens and Rogue One) are all competing for press attention today with a load of material released from all three.

The latest issue of Vanity Fair has debuted with a plethora of reveals for the seventh Star Wars film: The Force Awakens. The shots show off returning characters Harrison Ford (Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark) as Han Solo and Peter Mayhew and Chewbacca but more interestingly we get to see Adam Driver (Girls, This is Where I Leave You) as Kylo Ren – the broadsword wielding villain we got to see in the trailers who is now unmasked. He’s accompanied by the new style of snowtrooper. The snow backdrop may be Hoth but we’ve been wrong footed before when what we thought was Tatooine was in fact Jakku.

Additionally we get to have closer looks at Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones’ Brienne of Tarth) as conflicted antagonist Captain Phasma, Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, Ex Machina) as Resistance pilot Poe Dameron and Oscar winner Lupita Nygon’o (12 Years a Slave) is revealed to be providing motion capture for the alien pirate Maz Kanata. There’s also on set footage of awesome practical effects aliens and fan hero JJ Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8) directing newcomer Daisy Ridley as speeder-biker Rey.

The Force Awakens will also star Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Carrie Fisher (When Harry Met Sally), Mark Hamill (Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Max Von Sydow (Minority Report).

DC are set to shift their focus towards their villains with the instalment Suicide Squad. Director David Ayer (Fury, End of Watch) has tweeted the latest look at the team. From left to right there’s: Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers) as Slipknot, Jai Courtney (Divergent) as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevigne (Anna Karenina) as Enchantress, Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) as Rick Flagg, Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street), Will Smith (Men in Black) as Deadshot, Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje (Thor: The Dark World) as Killer Croc and Scott Eastwood (Gran Torino) as El Diablo. The cast also includes Jared Leto (Panic Room) and Viola Davis (The Help).

Finally, we have some leaked concept art for the superhero sequel Captain America: Civil War and shows the titular hero battling it out with Iron Man. The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo return to helm the cast of Chris Evans (Snowpiercer), Robert Downey Jr (The Judge), Scarlett Johansson (Her), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau), Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla), Chadwick Boseman (Get on Up), Sebastian Stan (Black Swan), Frank Grillo (The Purge: Anarchy) and Daniel Bruhl (Rush).

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – December 18th

Captain America: Civil War – April 29th 2016

Suicide Squad – August 5th 2016

Wallace, Foxx and Diaz in first trailer for Annie and new Captain America 2 posters

Will Gluck’s remake of the classic musical has taken leaps in development today with the first poster (above) and trailer released. If you’re unfamiliar with the original, it sees a young orphan rescued from her monstrous foster Mrs Hannigan by a vastly wealthy businessman. Combine the love for the original and director Gluck’s comic talent showcased in Easy A with the big names of stars Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild, 12 Years a Slave), Jamie Foxx (Ray, Django Unchained), Cameron Diaz (Gangs of New York, Shrek), Bobby Cannavale (Broadwalk Empire), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Thor: The Dark World) and Rose Byrne (X-Men: First Class) and producers Will Smith and Jay Z, we should be in for a big hit.

This month’s biggest release is undoubtedly Marvel’s new thriller Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Today, Sebastian Stan’s titular villain joined the likes of Chris Evans’ Cap, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury and Anthony Mackie’s Falcon as the stars with their own banners for the film. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo also direct Robert Redford, Toby Jones, Hayley Attwell, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp and Dominic Cooper.

Annie – February 6th 2015

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – March 28th

The Super-Bowl 2014 Trailers special: Transformers 4, Noah and more!

We’re not venturing into sports just yet but the American Football extravaganza known as Superbowl is a huge event for advertising. With well over 100 million Americans watching, companies have to pay the whopping sum of $8 million dollars just for a one minute advertising slot. Only the biggest of big budget, big star blockbusters can afford to make the cut so you may be quite surprised when I tell you that among the nine titanic efforts trailered last night is the new project from Darren Aronofsky!

But before we get to that, we have the matter of a movie I recently predicted to make over a billion dollars. I speak of the fourquel of a monster series – Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Director Michael Bay (Armaggedon, Pearl Harbour, Bad Boys) returns to the series after a quick, and unsuccessful, break to make Pain and Gain. The franchise hopes to continue it success with an new human cast with Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor, replacing the old guard of Shia LaBeaouf, Rosie Huntington-Whitley and Megan Fox. This time, the Autobots are at battle with the villainous Dinobots and the technology tycoon Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), the former is revealed in the very first trailer. The film also stars Stanley Tucci and Peter Cullen. July 10th.

The second instalment in this nine-part epic is Marvel’s very own Captain America: The Winter Soldier. We’ve seen footage from this before but Superbowl unveiled the second trailer, which offers more in depth look at new antagonist The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). The plot pitches Captain America (Chris Evans) still adjusting to life in the 21st Century as well as working with SHIELD Agents such as Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Crossbones (Frank Grillo) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to bring down a new menace who’s terrorising Washington. Cap 2 also stars Emily VanCamp, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Attwell and Toby Jones and is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. March 28th.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is next. Marc Webb returns to direct the sequel which increases the stakes for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) who has to balance life between his superhero alter ego Spider-Man, who’s battling Electro (Jamie Foxx), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the sinister father/son double act of Oscorp (Dane DeHaan as Harry and Chris Cooper as Norman), and normal life with the grieving Gwen (Emma Stone) and lonely Aunt May (Sally Field). The new trailer can be found here. To be honest, I’m not that impressed. April 18th.

Following on from their “Across the Internet” campaign, Muppets Most Wanted has launched a new ad in which the new doppelganging villain Clementine literally reaches out to us Across the Internet. Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, Stanley Tucci, Ricky Gervais, Lady Gaga, Tom Hiddleston, Salma Hayek, Christoph Waltz and Danny Trejo make up the human cast alongside the classic Muppets such as Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Sam the Eagle, Beaker, Dr Honeydrew, Walter and Animal. Flight of the Conchords/The Muppets’ James Bobin directs. March 28th.

With a premise of no CG, just expensive cars going ridiculously fast, video game adaptation Need for Speed is actually in good shape. It sees newly released ex-con Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman) getting back into the dragraces that got him locked up for a year. Upon hearing the news, Marshall’s ex racing partner Dino (Dominic Cooper – Marvel’s Howard Stark) puts a bounty on his head. Scott Waugh (Act of Valour) directs a huge cast including Michael Keeton, Dakota Johnson, Scott Mescudi and Imogen Poots. The superbowl spot can be found here. March 12th.

We return to the aforementioned Darren Aronofsky who, after impressing with the likes of Black Swan, The Wrestler, Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, makes his comeback with a huge budget and cast list for his new epic picture Noah. The new trailer is available but I’m shocked that a director as prestigious as Aronofsky would fall to the depths of a Twitter hashtag; this time it’s “#TheFloodIsComing”!. The film stars Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ray Winstone, Kevin Durand, Douglas Booth, Nick Nolte and Frank Langella. April 4th.

Pompeii seems to me like one of the potential box office clunkers of the year with a decent cast list which doesn’t match its huge budget but director Paul WS Anderson (Event Horizon, Resident Evil) may prove me wrong. The new trailer unveils a fair bit of spectacle so the film won’t rely on the cast of Kit Harrington, Carrie Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Jessica Lucas, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jared Harris and Jessica Lucas alone. May 2nd.

3 Days to Kill launched a new trailer too. McG (This Means War, Terminator: Salvation, We Are Marshall, Charlie’s Angles) directs this new action thriller starring Kevin Costner as an dying agent who teams up with his daughter for one last assignment which get him the life saving drug he needs. Also starring Amber Heard, Connie Nielson and Hailee Steinfeld. February 21st.

Lastly, we have another Kevin Costner project. Draft Day sees the manger of American Football’s Cleveland Browns who’s struggling to find the number one draft pick for his team. Costner will star alongside Terry Crews, Jennifer Garner and Ellen Burstyn while director Ivan Reitman (Ghost Busters, No Strings Attached). April 11th