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

Angry Birds hires it’s directors

Rovio’s gaming phenomenon Angry Birds has been an icon of this decade. It’s unlikely that you seen or played it or any of it’s sequels (e.g Angry Birds Space, Angry Birds Star Wars, Angry Birds Fast and Furious, Angry Birds Rio) but the object of the game is simple: you must catapult birds to their death at the evil pigs, hidden in wooden fortresses, who’ve stolen the eggs of the titular heroes! It seems almost unfilmable but they said that about The Lord of the Rings, Life of Pi and Cloud Atlas and they all did remarkably well (LOTR and Cloud Atlas you would find inn my personal top 20 films of this century). We now know who has the mammoth task of transferring the Birds to the big-screen.

Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly have been confirmed. For both, this will be a first time directing experience though they are both prolific in the credits for Art Department. Kaytis worked on Tangled, Mulan and Wreck-It Ralph while Reilly is known for Spider-Man 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Smurfs. John Cohen, producer of both this and Despicable Me, “They both have an extraordinary range of talents, and we’re looking forward to working with them to bring the birds and pigs to life on the big screen.”

Sorry this post isn’t as long as you may have liked but I have been. We’ve also got some fun stuff from the other side of the internet. Empire Magazine Online brings us The Hollywood Pronunciation Guide for all the stars and directors’ names you never get your head around and the correct pronunciations of the ones you’ve been saying wrong all this time.

The Angry Birds Movie – July 1st 2016