Rebecca Furguson rumoured for Captain Marvel

The Phase 1 Avengers lineup (Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner) was added to in Phase 2 (Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd). We know that Phase 3’s additions include Chadwick Boseman, Tom Holland and Benedict Cumberbatch but Marvel’s new major female hero Captain Marvel has been elusive to cast.

Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones), Katee Sackhoff (Oculus), Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road), Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street), Alice Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) and Emily Blunt (Looper) had previously been mentioned or rumoured but now Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and The White Queen’s Golden Globe nominated actress Rebecca Ferguson is reportedly in line for the role.

Sadly, Ava DuVernay (Selma) ruled out directing so there currently isn’t a serious candidate for directing. However, some rumours have included Angelina Jolie (Unbroken), Adam McKay (Anchorman) and Joss Whedon (Serenity).

Captain Marvel – October 26th 2018

Disney’s D23 announcements – The Force Awakens, Toy Story 4, Doctor Strange, Finding Dory and more!

If you felt that Comic-Con didn’t lift the lid on Disney’s upcoming works enough than D23 is for you. The expo of all things Disney enlightened us on all of their properties from Star Wars to Pixar to Marvel and all of the studio’s very own animated and live action features. Sadly there’s been no word on the likes of in the works projects such as Wreck-It Ralph 2, Frozen 2 or proposed remakes of Dumbo and Pinocchio. Firstly…

Pixar!

After critical and commercial triumph of Inside Out, the studio is rolling out its slate of six upcoming movies. The Good Dinosaur will tell the story of an alternate reality where humans are the Earth’s secondary species and dinosaurs still rule. It comes from director Peter Sohn (Partly Cloudy) and stars Anna Paquin (X-Men), Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale), Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) and Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading). November 25th 2015

Thirteen years after Finding Nemo, Finding Dory will pick up with the characters of the previous instalment when Dory finds herself in a marine study institute. Newly announced cast members include Hayden Rolence (Whom I Fear), Ed O’Neill (Modern Family) and Kaitlin Olson (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) and Angus MacLane (Toy Story of Terror) direct the cast of Ellen DeGeneres (Ellen), Albert Brooks (Drive), Diane Keaton (The Godfather), Eugene Levy (American Pie), Ty Burrell (Modern Family), Dominic West (The Wire), Idris Elba (Pacific Rim) and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man). June 17th 2016

Toy Story 4 is also on the way and a teaser poster graced and it was revealed that it will focus on a love story between Woody and Bo Peep. John Lasseter (Toy Story 1-2) and Josh Cooley (George and AJ) direct while we expect Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump), Joan Cusack (Say Anything) and Tim Allen (Galaxy Quest) to star. June 16th 2017

Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) has long been developing a film centred on the Mexican celebration of The Day of the Dead. It has finally been given a release date and a title, Coco. No casting announcements have yet been made. November 22nd 2017

Another sequel on the way is Cars 3. No plot details were offered but we do know that John Lasseter (Cars 1-2) will write and we’d expect Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers) and Larry the Cable Guy (Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector) to reprise their roles as Lightning McQueen and Mater respectively. June 15th 2018

The sequel Pixar fans have actually asking for will finally come out, 15 years after they asked for it. Assuming that the studio don’t want two sequels in the same year, The Incredibles 2 will head for a 2019 release. Brad Bird (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation) will direct while we’d expect Craig T Nelson (Poltergeist), Holly Hunter (The Piano) and Samuel L Jackson (Avengers Assemble) to star.

Next up…

Disney Animation!

Disney’s latest animation Zootopia will portray a metropolis populated by mammals. Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Ginnifer Goodwin (Once Upon a Time) and Alan Tudyk (Serenity) were already set to star but the latest addition is pop star/actress Shakira. The directors are Byron Howard (Tangled), Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph) and Jared Bush (behind the creative team of Big Hero 6). March 4th 2016

Next, the team behind Aladdin, Hercules and The Princess and the Frog arrived to unveil more from their latest work, Moana. Dwayne Johnson (Fast Five) and Alan Tudyk (Serenity) will star in the story of a plucky young woman who is assisted by a demi-god to reach a fabled island. November 23rd 2016

The newest announcement was Gigantic. Tangled‘s Nathan Greno will collaborate with Frozen’s songwriters, Robert and Kristen Lopez to bring the story of Jack and the Beanstalk to Spain in the age of exploration. March 9th 2018

Following that was…

Disney live action (aka Worlds, Galaxies and Universes)

True life disaster thriller The Finest Hours will depict the struggle for survival of a group of sailors in 1952. Craig Gillespie (Million Dollar Arm) directs with a cast including Chris Pine (Star Trek Into Darkness), Ben Foster (Lone Survivor), Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Holliday Grainger (Cinderella) and Eric Bana (Munich). January 29th 2016

The latest adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book was promoted by director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) as well as Oscar winning stars Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) and Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) and newcomer Neel Sethi. The classic story of an orphan raised by the animals of the jungle also stars Scarlett Johansson (Avengers Assemble), Idris Elba (Pacific Rim), Bill Murray (Ghostbusters), Giancarlo Esposito (The Usual Suspects) and Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter). April 15th 2016

Alice Through the Looking Glass will build upon the established world built in the Lewis Carroll books and the Tim Burton’s 2010 billion dollar hit. James Bobin (The Muppets) directs a cast featuring Mia Wasikowska (Crimson Peak), Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean), Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises), Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech), Alan Rickman (Die Hard), Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat), Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), Andrew Scott (Pride), Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill), Toby Jones (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Lindsay Duncan (About Time), Stephen Fry (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) and Timothy Spall (Mr Turner). May 27th 2016

Next up was the family fantasy adventure Pete’s Dragon, about a young boy who seeks refuge from his family with a dragon. David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) directs while the film stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), Wes Bentley (Interstellar), Karl Urban (Dredd) and Robert Redford (Captain America: The Winter Soldier). August 12th 2016

Two films delivered no material as such but were teased or mentioned. Firstly, Queen of Katwe – a drama about a girl from Uganda who trains to become a world chess champion. Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) and David Oyelowo (Selma) will star with director Mira Nair (The Namesake). 2016

Also, Disney’s new iteration of Beauty and the Beast was present. The reboot (telling the story of a relationship between a monstrous prince and a young woman) is directed by Bill Condon (Mr Holmes) and stars Emma Watson (Harry Potter), Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey), Luke Evans (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Josh Gad (Frozen), Gugu Mbatha Raw (Belle), Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting), Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games), Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wonda), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks) and Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings). March 17th 2017

Finally, there was news from the fifth instalment of a legendary franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. This one will see Captain Jack in search of the trident of Poseidon. Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings) was announced to be returning as Will Turner for the first time since 2007. The duo of Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki) direct an ensemble including Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands), Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech), Kaya Scodelario (The Maze Runner), Brendon Thwaites (Maleficent), David Wenham (300), Stephen Graham (This is England) and Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men). July 17th 2017

Marvel

We won’t include Marvel’s full extensive line up but two of their instalments next year. Because of the studio’s infamous secrecy, none of the material shown has made it to the public. Captain America: Civil War showed off its trailer to the D23 audience. Anthony and Joe Russo (The Winter Soldier) direct with a cast including Chris Evans (Snowpiercer), Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau), Scarlett Johansson (Lucy), Daniel Bruhl (Rush), Sebastian Stan (Black Swan), Frank Grillo (The Purge: Anarchy), Emily VanCamp (Revenge), Robert Downey Jr (Sherlock Holmes), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla), Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind), Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), Tom Holland (The Impossible), William Hurt (Artificial Intelligence) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit). April 29th 2016

Doctor Strange is another of Marvel’s latest. Scott Derickson (Sinister) directs the supernatural thriller of which the recent concept art many likened to Inception. Marvel head Kevin Feige (Iron Man trilogy) could neither confirm or deny the rumours of Rachel McAdams joining the film but we do know that Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave). November 4th 2016

Star Wars

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was heralded by this stunning poster from Drew Struzan – the legendary poster designer who craft iconic works for Back to the Future and Blade Runner. JJ Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness) directs a cast including Harrison Ford (Blade Runner), Mark Hamill (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Carrie Fisher (When Harry Met Sally), Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), John Boyega (Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Toast of London), Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Adam Driver (Frances Ha) and Max Von Sydow (Shutter Island). December 18th 2015

The first spin-off has had a full title announcement, cast reveals and first still. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has added to its ranks Alan Tudyk (Serenity), Donnie Yen (Ip Man), Wen Jiang (Devils on the Doorstep) and Mads Mikkelson (Casino Royale). Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) will direct with the cast of Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Ben Mendelsohn (Killing Them Softly), Diego Luna (Elysium), Jonathan Aris (Sherlock), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler) and Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland). December 16th 2017

There wasn’t any news on Star Wars: Episode VIII – directed by Looper’s Rian Johnson and coming out May 26th 2017 – or the Han Solo spin off – directed by 21 Jump Street’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller and coming out May 25th 2018.

It was revealed that the third and final instalment of the new sequel trilogy (Star Wars: Episode IX) will be directed by Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World) but the returning cast members are yet to be announced!

New Star Wars stills and Mission Impossible 6 details

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is pumping up its promotion by headlining the latest Entertainment Weekly issue. The sci-fi reboot is directed by JJ Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8) and stars Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, A Most Violent Year), John Boyega (Attack the Block, Imperial Dreams), Daisy Ridley (Toast of London, Mr Selfridge), Adam Driver (Tracks, Girls), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time, Ex Machina), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Non Stop), Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blade Runner), Carrie Fisher (The Blues Brothers, When Harry Met Sally), Mark Hamill (The Big Red One, Kingsman The Secret Service), Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Max Von Sydow (Minority Report, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close).

The Mission Impossible series has a tradition of hiring a new director and style for each instalment from Brian De Palma’s high stakes Hitchcockian espionage to John Woo’s blend of romantic thriller and martial arts, the lensflare and shaky cam of JJ Abrams to the wonder and gadgetry of Brad Bird. With the fifth film (Rogue Nation) hitting cinemas, its director Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher, The Way of the Gun) isn’t therefore able to comment on the future of the franchise but we seem likely to be getting it sooner rather than later.

With five films over 19 years, the time between movies has ranged from four to six years but MI6 seems to be bucking the trend. Reports suggest that filming will be commencing in summer 2016 meaning that we might be expecting the sequel for June or July 2017. It seems that Paramount will need to recruit McQuarrie’s replacement fast: how about The Raid’s Gareth Evans or potentially Nightcrawler’s Dan Gilroy! Maybe Cruise himself!

MI6 is likely to star the likes of Tom Cruise (Edge of Tomorrow, Jerry Maguire), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek Into Darkness), Rebecca Ferguson (The White Queen, Hercules), Ving Rhames (Only in America, Dawn of the Dead) and Jeremy Renner (American Hustle, Avengers Assemble).

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – December 18th

Mission: Impossible 6 – summer 2017?

Summer box-office part 1 – Ant-Man, M:I-5, Ted 2, Terminator 5, Minions and more!

Its been a while since our last box-office update so in this instalment we’ll roundup the best of the summer so far. The pre-Summer cash-in period was dominated by the likes of superhero smash hit sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1396 million), Pixar’s acclaimed animation Inside Out ($556 million), fast follow up Furious 7 ($1512 million), musical comedy Pitch Perfect 2 ($282 million), disaster thriller San Andreas ($461 million), action reboot Mad Max: Fury Road ($367 million) and the multi-record breaking dinosaur mayhem of Jurassic World ($1547 million). Moving into July, here some major favourites.

Film: Ted 2
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Patrick Stewart
Budget: $68 million
Opening weekend: $33.5 million
Box-office: $160 million
Summary: A very disappointing follow up to 2012’s Ted ($549 million). After the mediocre performance of MacFarlane’s western A Million Ways to Die in the West ($86 million), there’s increasing doubt in the Family Guy creator’s popularity.

Film: Terminator Genisys
Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, JK Simmons
Budget: $155 million
Opening weekend: $27 million
Box-office: $318 million
Summary: While it was a healthy opening but the franchise has long lost its previously stellar hype.

Film: Magic Mike XXL
Director: Gregory Jacobs
Starring: Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Amber Heard, Jada Pinkett Smith
Budget: $14 million
Opening weekend: $12.9 million
Box-office: $102 million
Summary: The progressive stripper comedy sequel has decreased from Steven Soderbergh’s 2012 original ($167 million) and other raunchy blockbusters have been more profitable – for example Fifty Shades of Grey ($569 million) – but it’s still an impressive tally.

Film: Minions
Directors: Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Pierre Coffin, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Geoffrey Rush
Budget: $74 million
Opening weekend: $115 million
Box-office: $854 million
Summary: This triumphant spin off managed to surpass and compete with the previous instalments of the beloved Despicable Me franchise.

Film: Ant-Man
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Pena, Michael Douglas
Budget: $130 million
Opening weekend: $57 million
Box-office: $291 million
Summary: It’s an underperformance in comparison to Marvel’s fellow Phase 2 superhero flicks such as Avengers Assemble ($1519 million), Iron Man 3 ($1215 million), Thor: The Dark World ($644 million), Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million), Guardians of the Galaxy ($774 million) and The Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1396 million) but is a worthy reception for the kings of summer blockbusters.

Film: Trainwreck
Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Tilda Swinton
Budget: $35 million
Opening weekend: $30.1 million
Box-office: $80 million
Summary: A traditional fooled-around-and-fell-in-love rom-com might have sank but the presence of rising star Amy Schumer has elevated this to the likes of Apatow’s The 40 Year Old Virgin ($177 million) or Knocked Up ($219 million).

Film: Pixels
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage
Budget: $88 million
Opening weekend: $24 million
Box-office: $102 million
Summary: This sci-fi adventure’s financial reception didn’t live up to the premise but a budget half the size of Tomorrowland’s means that it may actually breakeven at the box-office.

Film: Southpaw
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Oona Laurence, Naomie Harris, Rachel McAdams
Budget: $25 million
Opening weekend: $16.7 million
Box-office: $34.2 million
Summary: This sport drama failed to rekindle the mass popularity of boxing flicks such as Rocky ($225 million).

Film: Paper Towns
Director: Jake Schreir
Starring: Nat Wolff, Cara Delevingne, Halston Sage, Jaz Sinclair, Austin Abrams
Budget: $12 million
Opening weekend: $12.7 million
Box-office: $49.5 million
Summary: A decent opening for the young adult romantic drama but well off the other John Green adaptation The Fault in Our Stars ($307 million).

Film: Vacation
Directors: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley
Starring: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann, Chris Hemsworth, Chevy Chase
Budget: $31 million
Opening weekend: $14.9 million
Box-office: $22 million
Summary: The comedy reboot of the adored Chevy Chase franchise didn’t inspire a great amount of nostalgia for fans of the originals.

Film: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin
Budget: $150 million
Opening weekend: $56 million
Box-office: $121 million
Summary: The Cruise action vehicle builds off the wobble of Edge of Tomorrow ($369 million). The spy series returned in style and will grow throughout the summer.

The Best of 2015 – Half way review

In the first sixth months of 2015, we haven’t quite yet found a release worthy of the prestigious 10/10 score but there’s been no shortage of box-office goods with three films already breaching the $1 billion mark with more to come.

Worldwide:

1. Furious 7 – Director: James Wan – Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker – $1,511,636,779
2. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Joss Whedon – Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson – $1,372,063,254
3. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard – $1,259,873,609
4. Fifty Shades of Grey – Sam Taylor Johnson – Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan – $569,651,467
5. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – Lily James, Cate Blanchett – $538,986,777
6. San Andreas – Peyton Reed – Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario – $441,858,144
7. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – Colin Firth, Taron Egerton – $403,788,617
8. Home – Tim Johnson – Jim Parsons, Rihanna – $367,811,449
9. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller – Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron – $356,649,491
10. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton – Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker – $325,771,424

US:

1. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard – $514,374,155
2. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Joss Whedon – Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson – $452,963,254
3. Furious 7 – James Wan – Vin Diesel, Paul Walker – $351,032,910
4. Inside Out – Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen – $200,844,477
5. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – Lily James, Cate Blanchett – $200,286,777
6. Pitch Perfect 2 – Elizabeth Banks – Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson – $181,513,690
7. Home – Tim Johnson – Jim Parsons, Rihanna – $174,901,605
8. Fifty Shades of Grey – Sam Taylor Johnson – Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan – $166,167,230
9. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Paul Tibbitt – $162,994,032
10. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller – Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron – $147,594,972

UK:

1. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Joss Whedon – Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson – £49,096,981
2. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard – £39,216,914
3. Furious 7 – James Wan – Vin Diesel, Paul Walker – £38,399,325
4. Fifty Shades of Grey – Sam Taylor Johnson – Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan – £33,065,566
5. Home – Tim Johnson – Jim Parsons, Rihanna – £24,908,077
6. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – Lily James, Cate Blanchett – £20,886,693
7. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh – Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones – £20,446,079
8. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams – TJ Miller, Maya Rudolph – £19.527,404
9. Pitch Perfect 2 – Elizabeth Banks – Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson – £17,466,588
10. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller – Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron – £17,260,896

Here’s our personal top 7 for January to June. To give you a taste of our opinions, 2014’s top picks were Interstellar, Nightcrawler, Boyhood, Guardians of the Galaxy and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

8) Into the Woods

Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine
Budget: $50 million
Box-office: $212.9 million

7) Tomorrowland

Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Raffey Cassidy, Pierce Gagnon, Hugh Laurie
Budget: $190 million
Box-office: $202 million

6) Minions

Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Geoffrey Rush
Budget: $74 million
Box-office: $141 million

5) The Theory of Everything

Director: James Marsh
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis
Budget: $15 million
Box-office: $121.2 million

4) Still Alice

Directors: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Alec Baldwin, Hunter Parrish, Kate Bosworth
Budget: $5 million
Box-office: $41.8 million

3) Selma

Director: Ava DuVernay
Starring: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Roth
Budget: $20 million
Box-office: $66.8 million

2) The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner
Budget: $280 million
Box-office: $1.3 billion

1) Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevorrow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Jake Johnson, Vincent D’Onofrio
Budget: $150 million
Box-office: $1,2 billion

Tom Holland is the new Spider-Man

Tobey Maguire had an impressive five year run playing Spider-Man from 2002 to 2007 in three films directed by Sam Raimi. Following him was Andrew Garfield who starred in two films of two years from 2012 to 2014 under the supervision of Marc Webb. The latest pairing of director and star to be bringing Spidey to the screen have just been revealed.

Nineteen year old Brit Tom Holland will take on the role of Peter Parker in the new reboot for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and there’s various pros and cons for the casting. While Garfield was at least a decade over the preferred age for the role, Holland fits the bill for a teen Peter and he impresses in The Impossible and TV’s Wolf Hall. However, considering the other candidates (Asa Butterfield, Nat Wolff, Timothee Chalamet, Liam James) there wasn’t one black actor in the mix. Holland makes his debut as Spider-Man in next year’s Captain America: Civil War.

The director whose been appointed is Jon Watts, who is behind the upcoming thriller Cop Car. He may not seem like the candidate most suited to the job but Marvel made unexpected talents out of newbies such as The Winter Soldier’s Anthony and Joe Russo and underrated filmmakers such as Avengers’ Joss Whedon (Serenity) and Guardians’ James Gunn (Slither) while directing veterans The First Avenger’s Joe Johnston (The Wolfman), The Incredible Hulk’s Louis Leterrier (Red Dragon) or Thor’s Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet).

For the supporting cast, we’d propose rumours about Matthew MacConaughey (Interstellar, Dallas Buyers Club) as Green Goblin or Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as Mary Jane Watson – replacing the abandoned Shailene Woodley casting. Or perhaps Vincent D’Onofrio (Jurassic World) will step up from Netflix’s Daredevil to play Kingpin on the big screen.

Civil War also stars Chris Evans (Snowpiercer), Scarlett Johansson (Lucy), Robert Downey Jr (Sherlock Holmes), Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau), Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind), Daniel Bruhl (Rush), William Hurt (Humans) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit).

Captain America: Civil War – April 29th 2016

Spider-Man – July 28th 2017

Julia Stiles returns to Bourne and new look at Ghostbusters

The Jeremy Renner-led spin off The Bourne Legacy didn’t inspire much confidence and in its place we have Matt Damon (The Departed, Good Will Hunting, Interstellar, Saving Private Ryan) as Jason Bourne and director Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, United 93) are returning to the series for the first time since 2007. The franchise’s key recurring ensemble has been defined by the likes of Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Joan Allen, Gabriel Mann, Scott Glenn, Corey Johnson, David Strathairn and Albert Finney as well as one off gigs for Chris Cooper, Karl Urban, Paddy Considine, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton.

Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You, Silver Linings Playbook, Dexter) will reprise the essential role of CIA operative Nicky Parsons, who changes affiliations to help Bourne uncover the agency’s conspiracies. Other rumours about the sequel’s cast include Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, A Royal Affair, The Man From UNCLE, The Danish Girl) and Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence, The Two Faces of January, Eastern Promises, The Lord of the Rings).

Next today there’s the first on set photos from the new all-female reboot of Ghostbusters. The team behind Bridesmaids are behind the film – stars Kristen Wiig (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) and Melissa McCarthy (St Vincent) and director Paul Feig (Spy, The Heat) – while the cast also SNL alumna Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Cecily Strong as well as Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers, The Cabin in the Woods, Rush).

Ghostbusters – July 22nd 2016

Bourne 5 – July 29th 2016

Mission: Impossible 5 posters, James Gunn teases Guardians 2 title and Star Wars director rumours

The new Disney-owned Star Wars franchise has assembled a brilliant set of filmmakers including writers Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) and Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past), producer Kathleen Kennedy (Lincoln) and directors JJ Abrams (Super 8), Rian Johnson (Looper) and Gareth Edwards (Godzilla). When Josh Trank (Chronicle) departed the second spin off film he left a vacancy that’s looking to be filled. The latest rumour indicates that the two directors in contention for the job are Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Zathura, Elf, Chef). Thematically, Favreau is more in tune with the Star Wars spirit but Vaughn’s consistency gives him the edge. The current rumours on this spin off are that it’ll focus on an adventure involving Han Solo and Boba Fett.

Marvel’s entries tend to vary between having a subtitle or not. In one camp there’s the Iron Man trilogy, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Avengers Assemble and the upcoming Ant-Man and on the other there’s Captain America: The First Avenger, The Winter Soldier and Civil War, Thor: The Dark World and Ragnarok and the recent Avengers: Age of Ultron. We’d assumed that the follow up to last year’s smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy would simply be titled Guardians of the Galaxy 2 but in a recent tweet director James Gunn (Slither, Super), who has just finished the script, suggested that there’d be a new title:“No spoilers – not even the title.” We’d suspect that the title will give away a key villain or location in the film.

We’re expecting the cast to include Chris Pratt (Jurassic World) as Quill, Zoe Saldana (Avatar) as Gamora, Vin Diesel (Pitch Black) as Groot, Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) as Rocket, Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) as Thanos, Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) as The Collector, Dave Bautista (Spectre) as Drax, Karen Gillan (Oculus) as Nebula, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) as Yondu, John C Reilly (Chicago) as Denarian Dey, Glenn Close (Dangerous Liaisons) and Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Howard the Duck.

Finally, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation has begun the obligatory character poster campaign. In the spy sequel, Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) directs the cast of Tom Cruise (Edge of Tomorrow, Minority Report), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, Avengers Assemble), Rebecca Ferguson (The White Queen, Hercules), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Stark Trek), Sean Harris (Prometheus, ’71), Simon McBurney (Rev, The Theory of Everything) and Alec Baldwin (Still Alice, 30 Rock).

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – July 30th

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – April 28th 2017

Untitled Star Wars Anthology – May 2018

The Avengers: Age of Ultron review

Director: Joss Whedon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, James Spader, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Samuel L Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Andy Serkis, Stellan Skarsgard, Claudia Kim, Thomas Kretschmann, Linda Cardellini, Anthony Mackie, Julie Delpy

It’s fair to say that Joss Whedon’s 2012 superhero smash hit Avengers Assemble has reached phenomenon status. With $1.5 billion hauled in at the international box office, the film paved the way for a massive cult following as well as consecutive hits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s second phase including The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. Whedon is now reassembling the team for a sequel that has anticipation and dread at fever pitch.

The Avengers – arms dealer Tony Stark (Downey Jr), war veteran Steve Rogers (Evans), ex-spy Natasha Romanoff (Johansson), split-personality scientist Bruce Banner (Ruffalo), expert archer Clint Barton (Renner) and alien prince Thor (Hemsworth) – return to combating Earth’s biggest threats their days may be numbered. When Stark and Banner harness the power of the Infinity Stone from Loki’s sceptre, they use as the basis of an advanced AI to shield Earth from extra-terrestrial threats. However, the machine they create, Ultron (Spader), sees evil in humanity and views them as the threat in need of extinction.

The highest compliment one can give Age of Ultron is that Whedon revives the character-driven, quotable dialogue that makes spies, robots, monsters and gods as human and grounded as possible. Each and every ingenious gag and one liner fleshes out the Avengers from mere heroes to a band of characters as iconic, engaging and lovable as his previous creations such as Buffy and her vampire slaying troop or the crew of the Serenity.

His directorial flair also comes to light in some fantastically constructed action sequences with the excellent special effects we’ve come to expect from Marvel, even if they don’t quite reach the epic or thoroughly detailed levels of Godzilla or Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Sadly the finale resorts to the series’ cliche of the heroes defending a city from an aerial threat but at least this applies the twist of the city itself being the threat. Overall the ridiculousness of the action only serves as an uncanny reflection of the comic’s brash, adventurous tone.

Reinforcing the incredible character dynamic is a brilliantly acted ensemble that may be the films curse as well. We get to witness Stark’s decaying assurance as his own brainchild becomes his downfall in a series best performance from Sherlock Holmes star Robert Downey Jr. Snowpiercer’s Chris Evans and Lucy’s Scarlett Johansson excellently revive their likeable charisma to roles that could easily be annoying as Captain America and Black Widow respectively. There’s nothing wrong with Rush’s Chris Hemsworth performance but the character of Thor struggles with a lack of purpose without his brother Loki driving the plot.

The standouts really are Shutter Island’s Mark Ruffalo (who harnesses the power of donning motion capture to make his Hulk the best and most emotional depicted on screen) and The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner. The latter finally brings in the wise-cracking class that Hawkeye missed out on last time and re-establishes him as the everyman who rallies the team in their time of need.

There’s of coarse some new blood to shake up the lineup. The Blacklist star James Spader brings menace, malice and unnerving showmanship to Ultron, a villain distinguishing himself by being taken far more seriously. Ultron resembles and manifests every Avengers’ fear of an opponent who is more of a frightening concept of their hopelessness rather than a straight forward villain. His recruits are twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (AKA Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver). Accents aside, Wanda is an engaging, powerful character to watch tanks to the agency of Elizabeth Olsen’s first rate performance but Aaron Taylor Johnson’s Quicksilver is far less fun or interesting than the Evan Peters incarnation seen in last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, and the filmmakers know this.

The roster doesn’t end there. Paul Bettany expands his long running role as Stark’s digital personal assistant JARVIS into Vision, a synthetic android whose deeds will have fans raving for months to come. The likes of Samuel L Jackson, Don Cheadle, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie and Stellan Skarsgard all reprise their roles from various MCU films while Andy Serkis, Thomas Kretschmann, Linda Cardellini and Claudia Kim join the fun plus there’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em cameos from Julie Delpy, Idris Elba and more. With fifteen plus principal characters, there’s a clear flaw in messy overcrowding.

There’s a possibility that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting too big for its shoes with overpopulation and the increasing pressure to go even bigger than last time. And so its fitting that (alongside bonkers comic book spectacle) Age of Ultron thrives in its smaller moments, It’s a hilarious, extravagant, worthy sequel to a film whose cult status is only boosted by the follow up.

8/10

“The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims! But not the screams of the dead, of course. No, no…wounded screams…mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and… gout.”

Alicia Vikander rumoured for Bourne, first look at Martian and Dheepan wins at Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival sometimes foretells the winners of the next awards season. The prestigious Palme D’or prize has predicted success for The Third Man, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, The Pianist and The Tree of Life but neither of the two previous winners managed to match the same standard as both Blue is the Warmest Colour and Winter Sleep went Oscar-less. The winners of this years festival have been announced and at the 2016 Oscars we should be looking out for Dheepan, Chronic, Son of Saul, The Assassin and Carol. The jury included The Coen Brothers (The Big Lebowski, Burn After Reading), Guillermo Del Toro (Pacific Rim, Pan’s Labyrinth), Sienna Miller (America Sniper, Layer Cake) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Brokeback Mountain).

Palme D’or:

Dheepan

Grand Prix:

Son of Saul

Best Director:

Hou Hsiao-hsien – The Assassin

Best Screenplay:

Michel Franco – Chronic

Jury Prize:

The Lobster

Best Actress:

Rooney Mara – Carol
Emmanuelle Bercot – Mon Roi

Best Actor:

Vincent Lindon – The Measure of a Man

Alicia Vikander is one of the biggest rising stars of the moment. The Swedish star has been acclaimed in period drama A Royal Affair and sci-fi thriller Ex Machina and is seen in this summer’s spy action The Man From UNCLE. She’s now in talks for two more upcoming blockbusters. Firstly, she’s in talks for the fifth Bourne film which is directed by Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, United 93, Green Zone) and stars Matt Damon (The Departed, Good Will Hunting, Ocean’s Eleven) and Jeremy Renner (The Avengers, The Hurt Locker, The Town). She’s also set to join the cast of video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed with Macbeth director Justin Kurzel and stars Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, X-Men: First Class, Prometheus) and Marion Cotillard (Inception, Rust and Bone, Two Days One Night).

Some of Ridley Scott’s recent work has failed to hit the mark: The Counsellor flopped while Prometheus and Exodus remain extremely divisive. His upcoming sci-fi epic The Martian is looking significantly more promising from the first still from the film. Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Blade Runner, American Gangster, Alien) directs the cast of Matt Damon (Saving Private Ryan, The Departed), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Children of Men), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar), Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Black Swan), Kate Mara (House of Cards, Transcendence), Jeff Daniels (Looper, The Newsroom) and Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones).

The Martian – November 27th

Bourne 5 – July 29th 2016