Fresh off the Comic-Con trailer, the latest issue of Empire has released some awesome new stills from Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Man of Steel sequel is directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and stars Ben Affleck (Argo, Gone Girl), Henry Cavill (The Man From UNCLE, The Cold Light of Day), Amy Adams (American Hustle, Her), Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious, Triple 9), Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland, The Social Network), Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones, Conan the Barbarian), Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Trainwreck), Holly Hunter (The Piano, The Incredibles), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Apocalypse Now), Scoot McNairy (12 Years a Slave, Monsters), Diane Lane (Unfaithful, Inside Out) and Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune, The Lion King).
Fellow SDCC 2015 favourite Deadpool features in the new Empire additionally. The spin-off of the X-Men franchise is directed by newbie Tim Miller and stars the likes of Ryan Reynolds (Safe House, Woman in Gold), Morena Baccarin (Serenity, Gotham), TJ Miller (Cloverfield, Silicon Valley), Gina Carano (Fast & Furious 6, Haywire), Brianna Hildebrand (Prism, First Girl I Loved) and Ed Skrein (The Transporter Refueled, Ill Manors).
The fifth instalment of the epic spy action saga Bourne has added class to its ranks with the addition of Tommy Lee Jones. The Oscar winning star of JFK, The Fugitive, Men in Black, No Country For Old Men, In the Valley of Elah and Lincoln has joined the cast in an unspecified role. Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, United 93) directs the cast of Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, The Departed), Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About Me, Silver Linings Playbook), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, A Royal Affair) and Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings, A History of Violence).
Deadpool – February 12th 2016
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice – March 25th 2016
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
The superhero satire from the world of the X-Men comes to life as Ryan Reynolds (Safe House, Buried) takes on the fan favourite comic book antihero Deadpool. Tim Miller directs a cast including Morena Baccarin (Serenity, Gotham), TJ Miller (Silicon Valley) and Gina Carano (Haywire).
Man of Steel sequel Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice may not have inspired confidence with its controversial castings and underwhelming trailer but these new photos may entice more hype. Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) directs the cast of Henry Cavill (Immortals, The Man From UNCLE) as Clark Kent, Amy Adams (American Hustle, Big Eyes) as Lois Lane, Ben Affleck (Gone Girl, Good Will Hunting) as Bruce Wayne, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious, Triple Nine) as Diana Prince, Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Zombieland) as Lex Luthor, Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones, Conan) as Arthur Curry, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Hannibal) as Perry White, Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Perks of Being A Wallflower) as Barry Allen, Diane Lane (A Perfect Storm, Inside Out) as Martha Kent and Jeremy Irons (Die Hard With A Vengeance, The Lion King) as Alfred Pennyworth.
Deadpool – February 5th 2016
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice – March 26th 2016
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
A few years ago, DC were beating Marvel off with the brilliance of their Dark Knight trilogy but their now lagging far behind the development of Marvel’s cinematic universe. The franchise’s newest chapter, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, is now beginning its advertising campaign with the very first trailer but it already has a new rival.
Said rival is Disney’s sci-fi adventure sequel Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens which has simultaneously launched its own teaser.
In terms of which trailer is the most effective, we’d have to go in the favour of Star Wars. While Dawn of Justice looks undeniably stylish and thrilling, DC have already made the film redundant with the announcement of Justice League – we already know that the Bat and the Man of Steel be on the same side in the near future. The Force Awakens meanwhile has still left everything a mystery.
Dawn of Justice is directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and stars Henry Cavill (Stardust, Immortals), Ben Affleck (Argo, Gone Girl), Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious), Amy Adams (American Hustle, The Master), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Zombieland), Jeremy Irons (The Lion King, Reversal of Fortune), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Mystic River), Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones), Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine), Scoot McNairy (Monsters, 12 Years a Slave), Diane Lane (Unfaithful, Hollywoodland) and Holly Hunter (Broadcast News, The Piano, The Incredibles).
The Force Awakens is directed by JJ Abrams (Super 8, Star Trek Into Darkness) and stars Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Toast of London), Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Adam Driver (Tracks), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Max Von Sydow (Minority Report) and Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) with the returning cast of Mark Hamill (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Carrie Fisher (When Harry Met Sally) and Harrison Ford (Blade Runner).
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – December 18th
Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice – March 25th 2016
Warner Bros suffered a major setback on their highly anticipated fantasy reboot of the DC hero Winder Woman. Director Michelle MacLaren, behind some of the best episodes of Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, pulled out of the film leaving a gap to fill but the replacement has been announced as Patty Jenkins (Monster) is hired. Jenkins was in fact connected to Marvel’s superhero sequel Thor: The Dark World, long before the Edgar Wright/Ant–Man split, and left based on creative differences. Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious) is the Israeli star who’ll bring the new Wonder Woman to the screen.
Gladiator’s Ridley Scott sadly passed on the new Blade Runner sequel but BAFTA nominated director Denis Villeneuve (Enemy, Incendies, Prisoners) is taking his place. Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, The Fugitive) is confirmed to be reprising his role as the futuristic detective Rick Deckard but some new castings are now poised to be made. The latest report shows that Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Ides of March, Crazy Stupid Love, Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) is in talks for a a so far unspecified role but you can’t deny some likeness to the original’s Rutger Hauer.
Festivals like Cannes are now major platforms for indie films to get the platform they need to campaign their way to the Oscars and the following list might show some early awards favourites, considering last year the films included Foxcatcher, Mr Turner, Two Days One Night, Maps to the Stars, Leviathan, The Homesman, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Force Majeure but also included the massive flop Grace of Monaco. Here’s this years selection, which’ll each be scrutinised by the jury (led by Fargo and No Country For Old Men directors Joel and Ethan Cohen) for the prestigious prize of Palme D’Or.
Film: Dheepan Director: Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) Starring: Vincent Rottiers, Marc Zinga Premise: The story of a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior who flees to France and ends up working as a caretaker outside Paris. Nation: France
Film: Marguerite et Julien Director: Valerie Donzelli (Declaration of War) Starring: Anais Demoustier, Frederic Pierrot Nation: France
Film: The Tale of Tales Director: Matteo Garrone (Gamorra) Starring: Salma Hayek (Frida), Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), John C Reilly (The Aviator), Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) Nation: Italy
Film: Carol Director: Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, I’m Not There) Starring: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Rooney Mara (The Social Network), Kyle Chandler (Super 8), Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story), Cory Michael Smith (Gotham) Premise:Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman. Nation: United States
Film: Shan He Gu Ren (Mountains May Depart Director: Zhangke Jia (Still Life, A Touch of Sin) Starring: Tao Zhao Nation: China
Film: Out Little Sister Director: Hirokazu Koreeda (Nobody Knows, Still Walking) Starring: Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa Nation: Japan
Film: Macbeth Director: Justin Kurzel (Snowtown) Starring: Michael Fassbender (12 Years A Slave), Marion Cotillard (Inception), David Thewlis (The Theory of Everything), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby), Sean Harris (Prometheus), Jack Reynor (What Richard Did), Paddy Considine (The World’s End) Premise: Macbeth, a duke of Scotland, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself. Nation: United Kingdom, France, United States
Film: The Lobster Director: Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth) Starring: Colin Farrell (Minority Report), Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas), John C Reilly (The Aviator), Olivia Colman (Tyranasour) Premise: In a dystopian near future, single people are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days or are transformed into animals and released into the woods. Nation: Greece
Film: Mon Roi Director: Maiwenn (Polisse) Starring: Vincent Cassel, Louis Garrel Nation: France
Film: Mia Madre Director: Nanni Moretti (The Son’s Room) Starring: Margherita Buy (The Caiman), John Turturro (Barton Fink) Nation: Italy
Film: La giovinezza (The Early Years) Director: Paolo Sorrentino (This Must Be the Place) Starring: Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Michael Caine (Batman Begins), Jane Fonda (Coming Home), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs) Premise:Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Nation: Italy
Film: Louder Than Bombs Director: Joaquim Trier (Oslo August 31st) Starring: Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Amy Ryan (Birdman), Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards), David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck) Nation: Norway, France, Denmark, United States
Film: The Sea of Trees Director: Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) Starring: Matthew MacConaughey (Interstellar), Naomi Watts (King Kong), Ken Watanabe (Letters Form Iwo Jima) Premise: A suicidal American befriends a Japanese man lost in a forest near Mt. Fuji and the two search for a way out. Nation: United States
Film: Sicario Director: Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Incendies) Starring: Emily Blunt (Looper), Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men), Jon Beranthal (Fury), Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) Premise: A young female FBI agent joins a secret CIA operation to take down a Mexican cartel boss, a job that ends up pushing her ethical and moral values to the limit. Nation: United States
Films not competing:
Film: Mad Max: Fury Road Director: George Miller (The Road Warrior) Starring: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Charlize Theron (Prometheus), Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class) Premise: In a post-apocalyptic world, in which people fight to the death, Max teams up with a mysterious woman, Furiousa, to try and survive. Nation: Australian, United States
Film: Irrational Man Director: Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Midnight in Paris, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) Starring: Emma Stone (The Help), Joaquin Phoenix (Her) Premise: On a small town college campus, a philosophy professor in existential crisis gives his life new purpose when he enters into a relationship with his student. Nation: United States
Film: The Little Prince Director: Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda) Starring: Rachel McAdams (Sherlock Holmes), Mackenzie Foy (Interstellar), Paul Giamatti (Saving Mr Banks), James Franco (127 Hours), Marion Cotillard (Inception), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo), Ricky Gervais (The Office) Premise: A pilot crashes in the desert and meets a little boy from a distant planet. Nation: France
Marvel (fresh off X-Men, Spider-Man and Blade) and DC (looking for a hit after rival the latter) both commissioned female lead superhero films with Batman spin-off Catwoman and Daredevil spin-off Elektra but both were critical flops. With Sony’s Black Cat plans falling apart, the chase is back on to bring the next big female superhero film to the screen and DC were ahead when they confirmed Wonder Woman and its director, Michelle MacLaren (Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead), but those plans are in difficulty too.
We’ve learnt of disappointing news signalling that MacLaren has left the project. Warner Bros have only produced the nondescript comments of “citing creative differences” but they ought to find a replacement to make the 2017 release date. Israeli actress Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious) taking up the role.
Marvel meanwhile are actually making strides with their production, Captain Marvel. Guardians of the Galaxy scribe Nicole Perlman and Meg LeFauve (writer of the upcoming Pixar effort Inside Out) are rumoured to be collaborating of the film. It depicts a human, Carol Danvers, who receives powers from an alien race known as the Kree, like some of the characters in a recent Agents of SHIELD plotline. Rumours for casting have included Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Gallactica), Emily Blunt (Looper), Natalie Dormer (Rush), Brie Larson (Short Term 12) and Saoirse Ronan (Hanna).
James Wan is a filmmaker best known for his work on horror with hits such as The Conjuring, Insidious and Saw but is making his most box-office grounds on Fast & Furious 7, which just grossed $800 million in 12 days and is already set to smash the billion mark. This being Wan’s first full on action flick, studios are now very interested in snapping him up for their own franchises – which is exactly what Warner Bros just did.
It’s reported that Wan is now in early talks to be helming DC’s reboot of the amphibious adventurer Aquaman, who’ll make his screen debut as Game of Thrones’ Jason Momoa in next year’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film comes in a long line of DC Universe related spin offs including Michelle MacLaren’s (Breaking Bad) Wonder Woman, David Ayer’s (Fury) Suicide Squad, Zack Snyder’s (300) Justice League and the so far officially unassigned Green Lantern, Cyborg, Shazam and Flash films.
Despite the muted success of Man of Steel, DC thought this was good enough grounds to launch their own mega-franchise with ten films getting confirmed – Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, Cyborg, Green Lantern and Justice League parts 1 and 2. One of the few of the projects that might actually need to be made is The Flash because who wouldn’t want Quicksilver feature film. With Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) nailed in as the lead star, the search for a director is on.
The BAFTA winning duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller are reportedly getting headhunted for the film. They’re the brilliant geniuses behind 21 & 22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie but their commitment to the Jump Street and Lego franchises and (potentially) the new Ghostbusters series may put them off this comic book spin off. Warner Bros had this to say:
“We’ve heard a bit of a tug of war going on between Warner Bros. and Sony, which would like the same two directors for one of its big franchise movie. If Warner Bros. wanted them for The Flash, and Sony wanted them for a Ghostbusters movie, which would Lord and Miller do?”
DC’s new shared universe of films is likely to be not as successful as Marvel’s but two projects that I do have interest in released some interesting news. The first is Wonder Woman, the only one of the new films that feels necessary. Fast and Furious’ Gal Gadot is confirmed to be playing the Amazonian princess but hiring a director seems to be a more strenuous challenge seeing as DC hoped that this’d be the first major comic book movie with a female at the helm. The last candidate was Penny Marshall who bailed on Thor: The Dark World.
Michelle MacLaren is now set to direct the film. Although yet to release a feature film, MacLaren has directed numerous episodes of Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, three of TV’s biggest crazes. The hiring makes logical sense I just hope she wasn’t hired purely based on gender.
The other genuinely exciting prospect is Suicide Squad, a film depicting a team of classic DC supervillains. Among them is Deadshot, a pinpoint accurate gunman and Gotham’s top hitman for hire. DC have opted in favour of the casting of Divergent and A Good Day to Die Hard star Jai Courtney, who can next be seen in sci-fi reboot Terminator: Genisys.
David Ayer, director of acclaimed police drama End of Watch and the recent tank thriller Fury, is looking for the castings of Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club, Panic Room) as The Joker, Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, About Time) as Harley Quinn and Will Smith (Men in Black, The Pursuit of Happyness) as Captain Boomerang. Tom Hardy (Inception, Locke) and Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines) are also rumoured to joining team leader Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network, Zombieland, Now You See Me).
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