The 2015 Tuorhoth Awards

The BAFTAs and Golden Globes all favoured Boyhood while other awards have crowned the likes of Birdman, The Imitation Game or The Grand Budapest Hotel. Far more prestigious than any of those however is our own ceremony. Succeeding Hugo, Les Miserables and Captain Phillips is our new winner: Guardians of the Galaxy, a space adventure that took both Marvel and the audience into the reach universe of outer space. Get the full list of winners below.

Best Film:

Guardians of the Galaxy
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
The Lego Movie
Locke
Mr Turner
The Theory of Everything

Best British Film:

Paddington
The Imitation Game
Locke
Mr Turner
The Theory of Everything

Best Director:

Christopher Nolan – Interstellar
Bryan Singer – X-Men: Days of Future Past
Mike Leigh – Mr Turner
Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Best Actor:

Andy Serkis – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Martin Freeman – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Matthew MacConaughey – Interstellar
Timothy Spall – Mr Turner
Tom Hardy – Locke

Best Actress:

Emily Blunt – Edge of Tomorrow
Anne Hathaway – Interstellar
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Zoe Saldana – Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Supporting Actor:

Bradley Cooper – Guardians of the Galaxy
Chris O’Dowd – Calvary
Richard Armitage – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Toby Kebbell – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Tyler Perry – Gone Girl

Best Supporting Actress:

Jessica Chastain – Interstellar
Elizabeth Olsen – Godzilla
Emma Stone – Birdman
Kim Dickens – Gone Girl
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Best Original Screenplay:

Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
John Michael McDonagh – Calvary
Christopher and Jonathan Nolan – Interstellar
Phil Lord, Chris Miller – The Lego Movie
Steven Knight – Locke

Best Adapted Screenplay:

James Gunn, Nicole Perlman – Guardians of the Galaxy
Christopher McQuarrie, Jez and John Henry Butterworth – Edge of Tomorrow
Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl
Mike Leigh – Mr Turner
Paul King, Hamish McColl – Paddington

Best Sci-Fi:

Guardians of the Galaxy
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Edge of Tomorrow
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Fantasy:

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The Boxtrolls
Godzilla
Into the Woods
Noah

Best Comedy:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie
Paddington

Best Drama:

The Theory of Everything
Birdman
The Imitation Game
Locke
Mr Turner

Best Thriller:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Before I Go to Sleep
Fury
Gone Girl
The Two Faces of January

Best Animated Film:

The Lego Movie
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2

Best Newcomer:

Dave Bautista
David Gyasi
Tony Revolori

Best Original Score:

Howard Shore – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Henry Jackman – Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Alexandre Desplat – Godzilla
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar

Best Original Song:

Tegan & Sara, The Lonely Island – “Everything is AWESOME!!!” – The Lego Movie
Alicia Keys – “It’s on Again” – The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Billy Boyd – “The Last Goodbye” – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Best Cinematography:

Interstellar
Edge of Tomorrow
Godzilla
Guardians of the Galaxy
Mr Turner

Best Special Effects:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Paddington

Here’s the winner’s leaderboard.

Guardians of the Galaxy – 5

Interstellar – 3

The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Lego Movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – 2

Paddington, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Edge of Tomorrow, The Theory of Everything – 1

The Best Films of 2014 – the Half-Way Point

Looking at any annual film schedule, its evident that the first half of the year can never quite live up to the second and 2014 is no exception. This year really did get off to a rotten start with 47 Ronin, The Legend of Hercules and I Frankenstein dragging their heals at the box-office but this did pave a way for others; The Wolf of Wall Street and Ride Along both enjoyed three consecutive weeks at the top of the UK and US box-office respectively. Following that came some genuine surprises. Wes Anderson’s ensemble comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel reached 1st and 3rd in the UK and US against all odds and The Lego Movie, one of the most poorly marketed films in recent years, was an unexpected treat and certainly and future cult classic.

The biblical format seemed to increase in popularity around Easter with the low-key Christian dramas Heaven is For Real, Son of God and God’s Not Dead taking nearly thirty times their micro-budgets but these religious flicks aren’t proving successful outside of America, besides Aronofsky’s star-driven epic Noah. The “Katniss-effect” of The Hunger Games has evidently given studios the faith to put stronger female characters into the fray of action and adventure with Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent and Shailene Woodley’s Divergent winning out over Johnny Depp’s Transcendence or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Sabotage financially. Edge of Tomorrow even managed it to the extent of Tom Cruise needing saving from Emily Blunt’s ultimate warrior.

In the last six months, certain individuals are lighting up the box-office left, right and centre. Former comedian Kevin Hart has lead a trio of success, Ride Along, About Last Night and Think Like a Man Too, while the Jump Street quartet (director Phil Lord and Chris Miller/stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill) have a cinematic Midas-touch. It’s evident that Lego’s Chris Pratt can do no wrong and, with Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy coming soon, he’s well on his way to man-of-the-year status. The biggest winners of the year have to be Marvel. Even though their heroes are divided across Sony, Fox and Disney, Stan Lee’s creations of Spider-Man, Captain America (kind-of) and the X-Men are currently the three biggest films of the year so far and they’ll only continue to grow bigger.

Below you can find the international box-office top ten followed by our own personal picks of the year so far as well as the ten to look for in the rest of 2014:

International Box-office Top 10:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Director: Anthony and Joe Russo – Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp, Samuel L Jackson, Hayley Attwell, Toby Jones – Box-office: $710.8 million
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper – $703.3 million
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Josh Helman, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Lucas Till – $700 million
4. Maleficent – Robert Stromberg – Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville – $531.8 million
5. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche – $478.7 million
6. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Bruno Mars, Jemaine Clement, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am – $469.4 million
7. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders – $467.2 million
8. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Anthony Hopkins – $356.2 million
9. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton, Lena Headey, Jack O’Connell, Rodrigo Santoro, Callan Mulvey, David Wenham – $331.1 million
10. Edge of Tomorrow – Doug Liman – Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong – $298.8 million

Tuorhoth’s Top 10:

1. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Josh Helman, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Lucas Till
2. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp, Samuel L Jackson, Hayley Attwell, Toby Jones
5. Edge of Tomorrow – Doug Liman – Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong
6. The Two Faces of January – Hossein Amini – Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac, Kirsten Dunst
7. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – Justin Chadwick – Idris Elba, Naomi Harris
8. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Kenneth Branagh – Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Costner, Nonso Anozie, Gemma Chan
9. RoboCop – Jose Padilha – Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Abbie Cornish, Michael Keaton, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Ehle, Jackie Earle Haley, Aimee Garcia, Michael K Williams, Samuel L Jackson
10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper

Top 10 Anticipated:

1. Interstellar – Christopher Nolan – Matthew MacConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Topher Grace, Casey Affleck, David Oyelowo, John Lithgow, Matt Damon
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Sylvester McCoy, Lee Pace, Manu Bennett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee
3. Gone Girl – David Fincher – Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris, Rosamund Pike
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Samuel L Jackson, Mark Hamill, Mark Strong
5. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, John C Reilly
6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – Jason Clarke, Andy Serkis, James Franco, Judy Greer, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit McPhee
7. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Jena Malone, Sam Clafin, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Natalie Dormer, Philip Seymour, Hoffman
8. Fury – David Ayer – Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Jason Isaacs, Michael Pena, Shia LeBeouf
9. Exodus: Gods and Kings – Ridley Scott – Christian Bale, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley
10. The Judge – David Dobkin – Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga

Weekend box-office – 26th of April to 2nd of May 2014 – Can Spider-Man 2 swing past Rio 2?

2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man did impressive numbers worldwide but it still undergrossed its Sam Raimi helmed predecessors. Last week, we predicted that the new sequel would top the UK box office but we may have slightly underestimated its success. Meanwhile, Johnny Depp is hoping for better things after the commercial flop of The Lone Ranger with his sci-fi drama Transcendence, which is also the directorial debut of Chris Nolan veteran Wally Pfister.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo – $25.6 million
2. Heaven is for Real – Randall Wallace – $22.5 million
3. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – $22.2 million
4. Transcendence – Wally Pfister – $10.9 million
5. A Haunted House 2 – Michael Tiddes – $8.8 million

UK:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – £9 million
2. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £1.1 million
3. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – £0.9 million
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £0.8 million
5. The Love Punch – Joel Hopkins – £0.6 million

Transcendence is probably this year’s first flop that was actually expected to succeed, there was never much hope for Legend of Hercules or I Frankenstein. It’s a genuine shock to find Johnny Depp no longer a bankable Hollywood star and that Pfister, the greatly talented cinematographer of Inception and The Dark Knight fame, is miles from Nolan’s billion dollar successes. Meanwhile, The Winter Soldier is close to surpassing Thor: The Dark World’s takings, reaching $610 million.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has made a deep impression in its opening weekend, higher than the UK debuts of both The Winter Soldier and The Dark World but the judge of its success will likely be in America. Comedy drama The Love Punch and horror spoof sequel A Haunted House 2 round off both of this week’s charts. From my predictions, I’ve scored 3/10 taking my running total to 118/250.

US:

1. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. Heaven is For Real – Randall Wallace
4. Brick Mansions – Camille Delamarre
5. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha

UK:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
2. The Other Woman – Nick Cassavetes
3. Transcendence – Wally Pfister
4. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
5. Tracks – John Curran

Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, this week’s Uk number one.

Anthony Mackie in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this week’s US number one.

Weekend box-office – 19th to 25th of April 2014 – can The Winter Soldier chill Rio 2?

After setting alight the US box-office last week with a $95 million debut, Marvel’s thriller Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s real test comes this week when we discover if it’ll have a lasting effect. However, it faces a huge threat in the form of star-studded animated sequel Rio 2. Meanwhile in the UK, The Winter Soldier is attempting to regain its financial hold after slipping down last week.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Director: Anthony and Joe Russo – $41.4 million
2. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – $39 million
3. Oculus – Mike Flanagan – $12 million
4. Draft Day – Ivan Reitman – $9.8 million
5. Divergent – Neil Burger – $7.5 million

UK:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £1.8 million
2. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – £1.6 million
3. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £1.6 million
4. Divergent – Neil Burger – £1 million
5. The Quiet Ones – John Pogue – £0.7 million

Subversive superhero action adventure The Winter Soldier has slashed into its critical and financial expectations with five star reviews all round and a recent push past $500 million worldwide but horror flicks Oculus and The Quiet Ones have had to make do with modest entries. Biblical epic Noah has sank from second to sixth suddenly while Kevin Costner baseball comedy has fared poorly with the competition. From last week’s predictions, I’ve scored 5/10, taking my running total to 115/240.

US:

1. Transcendence – Wally Pfister
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
4. A Haunted House 2 – Michael Tiddes
5. Oculus – Mike Flanagan

UK:

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
4. Locke – Stephen Knight
5. Divergent – Neil Burger

Robert Redford and Chris Evans in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this week’s UK and US number one.

Weekend box-office – 12th to 18th of April 2014 – can Captain America shield its success from Rio?

Last week, Marvel’s Captain America sequel The Winter Soldier made an excellent entry into the UK box office but it was a fair bit behind recent Marvel instalments such as Thor: The Dark World in terms of financial success. We were unsure of its fortune in the US but it seems as if the patriotic hero has triumphed in his home country. Meanwhile in the UK, The Winter Soldier came into its second week in the chart against three huge new entries: animated sequel Rio 2, biblical epic Noah and teen-novel adaptation (and number one US smash hit) Divergent.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Director: Anthony and Joe Russo – $96 million
2. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – $17 million
3. Divergent – Neil Burger – $13 million
4. God’s Not Dead – Harold Cronk – $7.7 million
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson – $6.3 million

UK:

1. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – £2.9 million
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £2.8 million
3. Noah – Darren Aronkofsky – £2.5 million
4. Divergent – Neil Burger – £1.8 million
5. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin – £0.9 million

The Winter Soldier has done excellently in the US, a cut above Thor: The Dark World’s $86 million, while Noah is quickly surpassing financial expectations. Quirky comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel made a surprise entry at fifth place and God’s Not Dead, despite possessing no famous stars and no critical acclaim, has now taken eighteen times its small budget at the box-office. Rio 2 has taken the UK top spot while Noah makes a decent debut. Divergent however has fallen surprisingly flat of its expectations. This week, I’ve scored a solid 6/10, taking my running total to 110/230.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
2. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
3. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
4. Draft Day – Ivan Reitman
5. Divergent – Neil Burger

UK:

1. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. The Raid 2 – Gareth Evans
4. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
5. The Quiet Ones – John Pogue

Anne Hathaway in Rio 2, this week’s US number one.

Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this week’s US number one.

Weekend box-office – 5th to 11th of April 2014 – can Noah flood Divergent away?

Religion focused films seemed to have taken a hold on the recent US box office, despite having no genuine stars in them IE God’s Not Dead and Son of God. Now, genesis story Noah has arrived to take the weekend by storm, with heavy biblical themes, huge star quality and immense directing talent. Last week, we predicted that it’d shove aside the recent strong entries Divergent and Muppets Most Wanted. Meanwhile, The Winter Soldier’s UK debut could tell if the sequel could live up to the financial success of other recent Marvel work.

US:

1. Noah – Director: Darren Aronofsky – $44 million
2. Divergent – Neil Burger – $26.5 million
3. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin – $11.4 million
4. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff – $9.5 million
5. God’s Not Dead – Harold Cronk – $9 million

UK:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – £6 million
2. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin – £2.2 million
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson – £0.8 million
4. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – £0.4 million
5. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh – £0.3 million

Noah has, unsurprisingly, made a deep impression into the box office in the States but the more interesting events are in the UK. A low taking week all-in-all but Captain America seem to have done well. Still, it’s way off from Thor: The Dark World’s initial takings of £8.8 million but the latter has Tom Hiddleston, a hugely popular presence in the UK, in a lead role while the latter, being the most patriotic of all superheroes, should dominate more in the US. Muppets Most Wanted performed well against competition but the previous films total UK earnings were near £30 million – a figure this film can’t hope to achieve. This week’s score of 6/10 takes our running total up to 104/220.

US:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
2. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
3. Divergent – Neil Burger
4. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin
5. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff

UK:

1. Divergent – Neil Burger
2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
3. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
4. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha
5. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin

Sebastian Stan in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, this week’s UK box-office number one.

Russell Crowe in Noah, this week’s US box-office number one.

Weekend box-office – 28th of March to 4th April 2014 – will Divergent be dauntless against The Muppets?

It’s likely that this week is the one to cram in your major but risky releases before Captain America arrives to dominate the box office and so we’ve got a battle between sci-fi thriller Divergent and comedy sequel Muppets Most Wanted. On paper, Muppets should triumph due to it’s huge fan base but it’s possible that the young adult novel adaptation Divergent could follow the likes of Twilight and Hunger Games with huge success and not sink like Mortal Instruments, Beautiful Creatures or The Host. Find out what we thought would happen last week before checking out what went down at the box office below.

US:

1. Divergent – Director: Neil Burger – $56 million
2. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin – $16.5 million
3. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff – $11.7 million
4. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – $8.7 million
5. God’s Not Dead – Harold Cronk – $8.6 million

UK:

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson – £1.3 million
2. Need for Speed – Scott Waugh – £1 million
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – £0.8 million
4. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – £0.8 million
5. Non-Stop – Juanne Collet Serra – £0.7 million

The Muppets have genuinely underperformed in the US but they’re an international sensation and could attempt to recoup oversees. Divergent’s success however may well have greenlighted it’s sequel, most likely called Insurgent. Anderson’s Budapest Hotel has crept up the box office to the top while Need for Speed, Lego Movie, 300 and Non-Stop have all slipped. This week I’ve scored 5/10 taking my running total to 98/210.

US:

1. Noah – Darren Aronofsky
2. Divergent – Neil Burger
3. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin
4. Sabotage – David Ayer
5. Mr Peabody and Sherman – Rob Minkoff

UK:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo
2. Muppets Most Wanted – James Bobin
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
4. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller
5. The Legend of Hercules – Renny Harlin

Theo James and Shailene Woodley in Divergent, this week’s US number one.

Ralph Fiennes and Saoirse Ronan in The Grand Budapest Hotel, this week’s UK number one.

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

Mission Impossible 5 could fit in 2015, first Noah trailer, Chris Pratt in talks for Jurassic World and new Doctor Who mini-sode

Jack Reacher was last year’s mediocre action thriller. It starred Tom Cruise in the title role and Christopher McQuarrie directed the story based on the Lee Child novel One Shot. Cruise and McQuarrie will be reuniting, now with Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce, soon in the all action spy sequel Mission: Impossible 5 and it’s coming earlier than we thought.

In the vast summer of 2015, we didn’t think we’d be watching the adventures of Ethan Hunt of the  big screen until the year after  but the studios are determined. It’ll actually be released of Christmas Day so we’re not expecting an overly successful first day box-office but this could be another move to get the growing Chinese market in. In addition, film’s such as Sherlock Holmes have benefited from Boxing Day openings. It’s only direct competition will be the Ben Affleck (Argo, The Town) directorial effort Live By Night but it could suffer from coming out just a week after Star Wars: Episode VII.

We don’t know if Hunt’s colleagues from Ghost Protocol, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg, will return but we should expect Ving Rhames’ series regular Luther Stickell to feature

Colin Trevorrow’s epic dinosaur reboot Jurassic World only has three confirmed stars so far: Bryce Dallas Howard (Spiderman 3, The Help), Ty Simpkins (Iron Man Three, Insidious) and Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer). A further Josh Brolin, Idris Elba and David Oyelowo are rumoured to be part of the new reincarnation of the Steven Spielberg classic adventure and now another name has been thrown into the mix. He’s proved himself in comedy, with the much loved US TV sitcom Parks and Recreation, and drama, see Moneyball and Zero Dark Thirty, and scored two leads in huge productions of next year, he’s the voice of Emmet in The LEGO Movie and will play Peter Quill/Star Lord in Marvel adventure Guardians of the Galaxy.

If you haven’t guessed, Chris Pratt is the man for the prehistoric job, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s announced that he’s early in negotiations for a role as an ex-military man.

We finish with a couple of fresh new clips. The first is the brand new trailer for Darren Aronofsky’s biblical epic Noah. Aronofsky’s five feature films, Pi, Requiem For A Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler and Black Swan, have all risen to critical acclaim leading to a whopping budget for his new production. Noah will have stunning visuals marrying likely brilliant performances from Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly, Douglas Booth, Logan Lerman and Ray Winstone. As long as they don’t ponder on the on-ship events, it should be one of the biggest cinematic spectacles of 2014.

There’s an awesome new mini-sode in preparation for the forthcoming Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special. Matt Smith, David Tennant, Billie Piper, Jenna Coleman and John Hurt will be starring in that very episode, titled The Day of the Doctor. The Night of the Doctor is this new short film featuring the dashing but short lived Eight Doctor, played by Paul McGann. This isn’t really a prequel but we get the bridge-gapping between McGann’s reincarnation and John Hurt’s The War Doctor. It’s cleverly skipped over the fault of the number of regenerations not quite adding up. Get the youtube link here. I think I will rate the short a 9/10 but bare in mind it’s really only for Doctor Who fans, or Whovians if you will. By for now!

Mission: Impossible 5 – Christmas 2015

Jurassic World – June 12th 2015

Noah – March 28th

The Day of the Doctor – November 23rd on BBC One