Robert Downey Jr weighs in on Black Widow and LFF line up announced

In just six years, Marvel have introduced and greatly developed seven central characters – Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury – three of whom now have their own mulit-billion franchises. There’s now a great demand for Black Widow, played by Lost in Translation’s Scarlett Johansson, to at last get her own standalone film; she’s so far only had supporting roles in Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers. X-Men and Watchmen’s writer David Hayter and Game of Thrones’ Neil Marshall have both expressed interest in directing the project while Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) has criticised Marvel for not yet confirming the film.

Robert Downey Jr is now weighing in on the discussion. “It just seems like whatever Scarlett does people want to go see it,” the star of Zodiac, Chaplin, Tropic Thunder and Sherlock Holmes explained. “The funny thing is honestly at this point everyone deserves a franchise,” Downey continued. “I think Jeremy Renner is — when folks see the Avengers: Age of Ultron –  he’s just a rockstar. And Ruffalo is pumped. He does great work. I’d like to hear them talk even more seriously about a Hulk franchise, because that’s been one of the toughest ones to get right. But I’m sure that my parent company is feeling expansive and bold after the summer they’ve had.”

The British Film Industry’s London Film Festival (BFI LFF) is back this autumn and at last the full line up has been announced. The festival opens with wartime drama The Imitation Game. Headhunters’ Morten Tyldum directs the biopic of codebreaker Alan Turing. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness), Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean, Never Let Me Go), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Kick-Ass), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Gosford Park), Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Stoker) and Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, Southcliffe).

Also featuring in the festival are the following: Sporting drama Foxcatcher, although it is far from its wide release, is already an Oscar favourite after causing a great stir at Cannes. Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) directs the cast of Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller and Mark Ruffalo. Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Judy Greer, JK Simmons, Jennifer Garner and Emma Thompson star in Jason Reitman’s (Juno) comedy Men Women & Children. Timothy Spall is the title character of multi-award winning Mr Turner, from Mike Leigh (Topsy Turvy, Another Year).

Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Mud) may be on her way to a second Oscar with Wild, the new directorial effort from Jean Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club, The Young Victoria). A slightly more mainstream event arrives in the form of epic sequel Monsters: Dark Continent, from first time director Tom Green. The festival’s conclusion will be marked by a screening of WW2 thriller Fury. David Ayer (End of Watch) directs the cast of Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Jason Isaacs.

London Film Festival – October 8th-19th

Black Widow – 2017?

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

Fiennes, Tatum and Swinton join Coen’s Caesar, first clip from Mockingjay, Black to helm Predator and new trailer and poster for Fury

No release date has yet been set but the new Hollywood-set comedy Hail Caesar, from legendary writer/directors the Coen brothers (Fargo, Inside Llewyn Davis, True Grit, Miller’s Crossing, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou, A Serious Man, Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, No Country for Old Men), is quickly becoming one of the most hyped upcoming films. With George Clooney (The Descendants, Gravity, Oceans Eleven) and Josh Brolin (Guardians of the Galaxy, Milk, Gangster Squad, The Goonies) already confirmed to be reteaming with the writing maestros as private eyes Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling, a trio of excellent actors have joined them to make their Coen debuts.

Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Skyfall, The English Patient, The Grand Budapest Hotel, In Bruges) and Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Moonrise Kingdom, Snowpiercer, Michael Clayton) have been cast as fictional Hollywood stars Laurence Lorenz and Hedda Hopper while Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, Foxcatcher, Haywire, The Vow, Side Effects, White House Down) has been cast in an undisclosed role. It sounds as if these additions will be portraying caricature versions of themselves on screen which could be immensely fun to watch.

You may remember back at SDCC (which returns this year) 2013 that a short trailer appeared to be teasing a new Predator film but turned out, to our disappointment, to be an anniversary rerelease of the original. Even if it is just an Arnie vehicle, Predator has hugely stood the test of time and is easily most glorious piece of ’80s awesomeness. Back in ’87, Shane Black portrayed the supporting character of Hawkins (the guy who points out that Phillips is bleeding) but has now become renowned as the writer of Lethal Weapon and The Monster Squad and the director of Iron Man 3 and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Since then, Predator has starred in an additional four films (1990’s Predator 2, 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, 2007’s Aliens vs. Predator and 2010’s Predators) and remains an icon of horror and of sci-fi, only Alien and The Thing could pose a challenge. Black is now confirmed to be writing and directing a new reboot of the franchise and he seems like a solid choice for the gig. Not only does he bring the original’s DNA but he can make his films fun, thrilling and really to the tone of John McTiernan’s forever quotable masterpiece of cheese and gore. Some die-hard fans are rooting for McTiernan (The Hunt for Red October, The Thomas Crown Affair, Die Hard, With a Vengeance) to return now that he’s out of prison but Black’s take seems too promising to pass on.

It’s not irregular for modern blockbusters to take the path of promoting your film with a viral website. Days of Future Past had Trask Industires/The Bent Bullet and RoboCop had OmniCorp but no tie-in site has become as detailed or consumed as the propaganda of The Hunger Games’ benevolent massacrer the Capitol. President Snow’s (Donald Sutherland) chilling new address to Panem has an excellently crafted twist that may well prove spoilery for those who haven’t read the books or seen the most recent film, Catching Fire. Mockingjay Part 1 is directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) will star Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Sam Clafin, Jena Malone, Liam Hemsworth, Willow Shields, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Natalie Dormer, Toby Jones and Stanley Tucci as well as featuring one of the final performances of the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master, Synecdoche New York, Capote).

Finally today we’re excited to present the very first trailer for WWII thriller Fury which tells the loosely true story of its titular tank and its crew. The footage shown is oddly promising so we can safely name it as a major Oscar contender for next year, alongside The Judge, Foxcatcher, Interstellar and Gone Girl. David Ayer (writer of Training Day and director of Harsh Times/End of Watch) directs Brad Pitt, Michael Pena, Jon Beranthal, Shia LaBeouf and Jason Isaacs.

Fury – October 24th

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – November 21st

Predator – 2017?

Hail Caesar – 2015