Assassin Creed and Fantastic Four releases announced, Temple Run film confirmed and new Maleficent trailer and poster

2015 is going to be one huge year for movies. Finding Dory, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Independence Day 2 and Star Trek 3 have had to pull out to 2016. Batman vs. Superman (17th July), The Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1st), Star Wars: Episode VII (December 18th), Ant-Man (July 31st), Chappie (March 27th), Jurassic World (June 12th), Warcraft (December 18th), The Good Dinosaur (November 15th), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (November 20th), Cinderella (March 13th) and, potentially, Terminator (July 1st), Legend of Conan and Bond 24 (October 23rd). The Hobbit, Angry Birds, Avatar and The Amazing Spiderman will be glad that their just skimming over, or under, it.

Fox have shuffled their 2015 releases quite a bit too. In a domino effect, Matthew Vaughn’s Colin Firth and Samuel L Jackson starring thriller The Secret Service has gone into the place previously held by Josh Trank’s The Fantastic Four, March 6th. The latter now will be going head to head with Pixar’s Inside Out on June 19th. That used to belong to the Michael Fassbender starring video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed has rolled into August 7th seeing as it’s yet to find a director. Fox also moved comedy Susan Cooper, directed by Paul Feig and starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham and Rose Byrne, to May 22nd, putting it up against Brad Bird/George Clooney sci-fi adventure Tomorrowland.

So many mobile apps have been huge successes; Jetpack Joyride, The Impossible Game and Fruit Ninja are the stuff of legend. Angry Birds is scheduled for a 2016 release and, besides that, it’s hard to think of a film or franchise inspired by the Appstore antics of a mobile game. Warner Bros, however, reckon that they can make the box office goods with an adaptation of Temple Run.

The game sees your everyday adventurer nicking an idol from an Incan temple and he must escape along a precarious pathway from three vengeful demon monkeys. The sequel, cleverly entitled Temple Run 2, evolved into something more oriental with rivers and mines being introduced. It also spawned the film themed spin-offs Temple Run: Brave (you play as Princess Merida in a more dark foresty mood) and Temple Run: Oz (a tie in of the fantasy prequel Oz: The Great and Powerful). If the you think the production sounds like a novelty one, take in mind that David Heyman, producer of Harry Potter, Gravity and I am Legend, is linked to this one.

Finally, a full trailer for the new Angelina Jolie epic Maleficent is online. The film’s plot boils down to a very different retelling of Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. In this reincarnation, the tale is more centred around it’s truly menacing villain. Maleficent concocts an evil plan to trap the young Aurora (Elle Fanning). This is Robert Stromberg’s directorial debut but he worked on the visual effects of Life of Pi, The Hunger Games, Pan’s Labyrinth and Pirates of Caribbean. It also stars Sharlto Copley, Peter Capaldi, Juno Temple, Imelda Staunton, Mirand Richardson, Lesley Manville and Sam Riley. Here’s the new poster:

Assassin Creed – August 7th 2015

The Secret Service – March 6th 2015

The Fantastic Four – June 19th 2015

Susan Cooper – May 22nd 2015

Temple Run – 2016?

Maleficent – May 30th 2014

New Hobbit 2 posters and trailer, Disney plans Cruella De Vil film and the must-sees of October 2013

October 2013 through to January 2014 is bringing us some big releases. This feature will be guiding you along and giving you the opportunity t start filling in your film diary.

October:

The Fifth Estate – Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, the last two Twilight films) directs the true recent story of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The British actor of the moment Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit, Sherlock, Star Trek: Into Darkness) takes the lead role while Spanish star Daniel Bruhl (Rush, The Bourne Ultimatum) plays tech-obsessed activist Daniel Domscheit-Berg as they set out extracting secrets from whistleblowers across the world and publishing them online. Carice van Houten (Repo Men, Valkyrie) and Peter Capaldi (World War Z and the new Doctor Who) also star. OCT 11th

Emperor – Tommy Lee Jones (Men In Black, Lincoln, No Country for Old Men) and Matthew Fox star in Peter Webber’s (Girl With A Pearl Earring) WW2 drama about the two leads character’s deciding the fate of surrendered Japanese Emperor’s daughter Hirohito (Eriko Hatsune). OCT 4th

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 – Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn are the directors of the animated sequel to the 2009 oddball family comedy. James Caan, Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Adam Sandberg are the stars of a plot that sees all the animals in the safe-haven of Swallow Falls turn into bizarre food-animal hybrids. OCT 25th

Captain Phillips – Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan) is the title character in the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and his ordeal at the hands of Somali pirates. Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Green Zone) is the director of the hostage thriller that could see him and Hanks in  contention for Oscars. OCT 18th

Machete Kills – Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) directs this action sequel. Danny Trejo (Breaking Bad) returns in a plot that sees his character, Machete, thrown back into action when the US Government appoints him with the task of charging into Mexico and taking down on of the US’s most wanted drug lords. Pop-star Lady Gaga stars in a revamped cast featuring Amber Heard (Drive Angry, Zombieland), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar, Fast and Furious) and Carlos Estevez (AKA Charlie Sheen) as the US President. OCT 11th

Ender’s Game – Scott Orson Card’s sci-fi novel is finally adapted into a big-budget action film. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield – Hugo) is a seemingly ordinary teen whose chosen to go to outer space and begin training as one of the first of a new breed of war commanders who must fight back against the impending alien threat. Harrison Ford (Star Wars, Indiana Jones), Sir Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3, Gandhi, Hugo), Viola Davis (The Help), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) also star in Gavin Hood’s (Tsotsi, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) space set thriller.

Romeo and Juliet – The aforementioned Steinfeld also has a lead role in this Shakespeare adaptation. If you don’t know the plot 1) HOW??? 2) Romeo Montague (Douglas Booth) falls for Juliet Capulet (Steinfeld) but their protective head of one of the rivalling famlies Lord Capulet (Damian Lewis) prevents them from meeting so Romeo’s friend Friar Laurence (Paul Giamatti) concocts a dangerous plan to get the romantic pair together. Ed Westwick and Kodi Smit-McPhee also star in the period drama that has a Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey, The Young Victoria) script to it’s name. OCT 11th

You’ll have heard plenty about Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World in recent months. Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Jaimie Alexander, Natalie Portman, Christopher Eccleston, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba and Stellan Skarsgard all play roles in a plot that sees Norse god brothers heroic Thor and sinister Loki forced to team-up to end the potential destruction caused by revived evil race the Dark Elves and their diabolical leader Malekith (30th). October also brings the release of horror sequel V/H/S/2 (14th). There’s also Dexter Fletcher’s Proclaimers based, Scottish, comedy musical Sunshine on Leith (4th). Ken Jeong, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Maya Rudolph, Michelle Rodriguez, Bill Hader, Michael Pena, Samuel L Jackson, Luis Guzman and Snoop Dogg are all voicing characters in the story of a snail who dreams of becoming the fastest thing in the world titled Turbo (18th). James Corden and Julie Walters star in the true story of Paul Potts as he aspires to become a world renowned opera singer. His dreams are crushed over and over again until he auditions for the little known, in 2007 that is, talent show Britain’s Got Talent in One Chance (25th). Finally, we’ve got stupid, crass daredevil sequel Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (23rd). Our coverage of each month’s must-sees continues at the beginning of November with the November must-sees featuring Gravity, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Counsellor, Grace of Monaco, Last Vegas, The Family, Kill Your Darlings, Escape Plan, Philomena, Dom Hemingway and many more.

Cruella De Vil was the iconic villain of 101 Dalmations. She’s now set to have her own spin-off film. This seems to be part of Disney’s apparent plan to turn a lot of their animated classics into more grown-up live-action films. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was the first and it’s been followed by Rupert Sander’s Snow White and the Huntsman and the upcoming Maleficent (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty directed by Robert Stromberg and starring  Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning) and Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh directing with Lily James, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter and Cate Blanchett building up the cast). Aline Brosh McKenna (writer of The Devil Wears Prada and We Bought a Zoo) has been hired to script the film as well as Branagh’s Cinderella.

Moving on, we’ve got fresh new The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug posters for you to admire.

Director Peter Jackson’s imagery is as stunning as ever in these character teasing banners. At the bottom, we’ve got returning company members Kili (Aidan Turner), Fili (Dean O’Gorman), Dwalin (Graham McTavish), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman). Above them is the ever menacing presence of the Elven King Trandruil (Lee Pace). At the top we find a more cryptic poster. We know that it’s the legendary Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) with the bow in the foreground. Behind him we find the Master of Laketown (Stephen Fry) accompanied by a more sinister, knife wielding figure. Much internet searching in my behalf as to who this actor or his character is has been fruitless so I challenge YOU to wildly guess his true identity in the comments.

Following the posters was an epic new trailer for the film which you can find over at The Verge. Anyone trying to avoid any plot details of the film (seeing as it does now differ from original book by JRR Tolkien) may want to skip to the next paragraph. Sauron is in it! The return of Lord of the Rings’ big bad was teased by The Necromancer in the previous film, An Unexpected Journey, but his eye does flash up on the screen. His distinctive orc army also looks like it’ll make an appearance in the dark land of Mordor. We’re also teased more of likely the most terrifying dragon in recent film history in the form of the titular villain Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). The Desolation of Smaug looks like it could be a more open with roaming special effects rather than An Unexpected Journey which was, at time, a little cramped into tight sets and the adventure really got going as soon as we got out of the enclosed areas.

“His name is Bilbo!”

Cruella De Vil – 2016?

Cinderella – March 13th 2015

Maleficent – May 30th 2014

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – December 13th

The November Preview Special – Early November here on Tuorhoth Movies

Divergent posters, first Cinderella pic, more Warcraft casting and Radcliffe denies Mercury rumours

Kenneth Branagh (Harry Potter’s Lockhart, Shakespeare regular and director of Marvel blockbuster hit Thor) directs Cinderella, Disney’s live-action adaptation of their animated classic of the same name. The production started recently and the first picture was unveiled.

Lily James (Downton Abbey, Wrath of the Titans, Fast Girls) will play the titular character, whose name is now shortened to Ella. Cate Blanchett (The Lord of the Rings, Blue Jasmine), Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter, The King’s Speech), Stellan Skarsgard (Thor, Good Will Hunting), Derek Jacobi (Gladiator, Doctor Who), Holliday Grainger (The Borgias, Jane Eyre), Sophie McShera (Waterloo Road, Downton Abbey), Hayley Atwell (Marvel’s Agent Carter from Captain America) and Nonso Anozie (The Grey, Conan the Barbarian) are all also going to The Ball. Richard Madden (BBC’s Birdsong and Robb Stark in Game of Thrones) will be giving a very different tone to the often generic Prince Charming.

“It is impossible to think of Cinderella without thinking of Disney and the timeless images we’ve all grown up watching. And those classic moments are irresistible to a filmmaker. “With Lily James we have found our perfect Cinderella. She combines knockout beauty with intelligence, wit, fun and physical grace. Her Prince is being played by Richard Madden, a young actor with incredible power and charisma.” If you can’t wait until 2015 to see Branagh’s work, you’ll be excited about Jack Ryan: Shadow One – a kind of prequel to The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger and various other Jack Ryan films which Branagh directs and plays the villain in, alongside Chris Pine, Kiera Knightley and Kevin Costner.

It was announced yesterday by Duncan Jones (Source Code, Moon and son of David Bowie) that Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and Colin Farrell (Total Recall, In Bruges) where potential stars of his World of Warcraft film. The new possible stars are Anton Yelchin and Paul Dano. Yelchin starred in Like Crazy, Terminator Salvation and Fright Night as well as playing Chekov in Star Trek: Into Darkness. Dano has just finished promoting new thriller hit Prisoners and 12 Years a Slave and will be known for his roles in Looper, Little Miss Sunshine and There Will Be Blood. They amongst a few names that Jones has put into consideration for Warcraft. The others were Travis Fimmel (lead of hit TV series Vikings) and Anson Mount (Jason Statham’s Safe).

Ever since Sacha Baron Cohen’s (Borat, Ali G, The Dictator, Les Miserables, Madagascar, Hugo) leaving of the project, the internet has had much speculation on who will take up his position in the now troubled Freddie Mercury biopic. Daniel Radcliffe was the favourite but he’s been quick to gun down the rumours of him playing the Tanzanian born, glam star and Queen frontman.

“There is no truth to it at all,” he tells Empire, half laughing, “Everyone on the internet who I presume is saying I’m totally wrong for that part is correct. I am completely wrong for that part!”

Finally, we’ve got some new Divergent posters. Neil Burger’s sci-fi follow in the footsteps of other young-adult adaptations hits like Twilight and The Hunger Games as well as this year’s flops The Host, Beautiful Creatures and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Hopefully, Neil Burger’s previous experience, with Limitless, The Asset, The Lucky Ones and The Illusionist on his CV, as well as successful stars like Kate Winslet joining rising stars like Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Zoe Kravitz means he could could it balance right. Here’s the trailer. I do hope this sparks some interest in you for the upcoming big projects.

Cinderella – March 13th 2015

Jack Ryan: Shadow One – December 26th

Warcraft – 2015

Divergent – March 21st 2014

Helena Bonham Carter cast as Fairy Godmother for new Cinderella

The star of Les Miserables, Harry Potter, Sweeney Todd, The Wings of a Dove and BAFTA award winner for The King’s Speech, has joined the cast of Cinderella. Director of Thor and numerous Shakespeare adaptations, Kenneth Branagh will direct this new live-action Disney based on their 1950 animated classic. Bonham Carter will play the Fairy Godmother who gives the long suffering Cinderella the chance to go to the ball. Lily James, despite rumours about Emma Watson and Amanda Seyfried, will take on the lead role with Cate Blanchett (The Lord of the Rings, Curious Case of Benjamin Button) as her punishing stepmother. Holiday Grainger will play one of the notorious Ugly Stepsisters but still no other word on who will play the other. Richard Madden has been cast as Prince Charming.

Cinderella is out 2014