Oscars 2016 first predictions: Spielberg! Tarantino! Del Toro! Stone! Boyle! Star Wars! Bond! Pixar! Mad Max!

There’s a good seven or so months until the Oscars really kick off but even now we might be able to make a few early predictions for some of the big hitters. This list will be rapidly changing over the coming months depending on the reception of some of these films. Gus Van Sant/Matthew MacConaughey drama The Sea of Trees seemed like a viable candidate until its Cannes flop. In some cases, we’re basing the predictions off their critical reception, festival buzz and hype and in other cases the popularity of a filmmaker involved. We’re ranking the selections in order of likelihood.

Best Picture:

40) The Good Dinosaur

Director: Peter Sohn (Partly Cloudy)
Starring: Anna Paquin (True Blood), Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club), Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading)
Premise: An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend.
Odds: Pixar’s second effort of the year may get overshadowed by their first but the studio’s good form might transfer into this look at an alternate history.

39) Creed

Director: Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)
Starring: Michael B Jordan (Chronicle), Tessa Thompson (Dear White People), Sylvester Stallone (First Blood)
Premise: The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Creed, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
Odds: The Rocky franchise had seriously drifted after the Best Picture winning original but, by shifting Stallone into and supporting role and bringing new hero Adonis Creed to the foreground, we might have a contender.

38) Secret in Their Eyes

Director: Billy Ray (Breach)
Starring: Julia Roberts (Erin Brockivich), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Nicole Kidman (The Hours)
Premise: A tight-knit team of FBI investigators, along with their District Attorney supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.
Odds: The Argentinian adaptation of the same book won an Oscar for Foreign Language in 2009 but this might turn ought to be another unpopular remake.

37) By the Sea

Director: Angelina Jolie (Unbroken)
Starring: Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Melanie Laurent (Beginners)
Premise: Set in France during the mid-1970s, Vanessa, a former dancer, and her husband Roland, an American writer, travel the country together. They seem to be growing apart, but when they linger in one quiet, seaside town they begin to draw close to some of its more vibrant inhabitants, such as a local bar/café-keeper and a hotel owner.
Odds: Jolie hasn’t yet cemented her position as an accomplished director but last year’s Unbroken got three Oscar nods meaning that By the Sea might follow suit.

36) Trumbo

Director: Jay Roach (Meet the Parents)
Starring: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Helen Mirren (The Queen), John Goodman (Argo)
Premise: The successful career of Hollywood screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, comes to an end when he is blacklisted in the 1940s for being a Communist.
Odds: The Oscars have a track record of stories about Hollywood and redemption and Bryan Cranston should shine in the role but communist sympathies might not sit too well with the Academy.

35) Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition)
Starring: Daniel Craig (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
Premise: A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre.
Odds: Prior to 2012’s Skyfall, Bond hadn’t had a Oscar win in nearly 50 years. If Spectre is an improvement, than the series may be on the way to a first ever Best Picture nomination.

34) Legend

Director: Brian Helgeland (42)
Starring: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Taron Egerton (Kingsman), Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind)
Premise: The film tells the story of the identical twin gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray, two of the most notorious criminals in British history, and their organised crime empire in the East End of London during the 1960s.
Odds: The main Oscar buzz about the film surrounds Tom Hardy’s performance(s) but the crime biopic might be a dark horse in the contest.

33) The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott (Blade Runner)
Starring: Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
Premise: During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
Odds: After back to back success with Gladiator and Black Hawk Down followed by the snubbing of American Gangster, acclaimed director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic The Martian may have the goods to put him back on top.

32) Beasts of No Nation

Director: Cary Fukanga (True Detective)
Starring: Abraham Attah (Out of the Village), Ama K Abebrese (The Cursed Ones), Idris Elba (Pacific Rim)
Premise: A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
Odds: The Academy may take a big step by nominating a Netflix original production for the first time

31) Everest

Director: Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaald (Nightcrawler), Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty)
Premise: A climbing expedition on Mt. Everest is devastated by a severe snow storm.
Odds: A traditional disaster flick will hopefully be elevated by the fantastic ensemble.

30) Concussion

Director: Peter Landesman (Parkland)
Starring: Will Smith (Ali), Gugu Mbatha Raw (Belle), Alec Baldwin (The Hunt For Red October)
Premise: The story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in professional football players.
Odds: It’s been years since Smith’s last major critical success but the more serious tone surrounding this true life thriller may lead it Oscar bound.

29) The Walk

Director: Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away)
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper), Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island), Charlotte Le Bon (Mood Indigo)
Premise: The story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit’s attempt to cross the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.
Odds: The fact that the same story was turned into an Oscar winning documentary (Man on Wire) several years ago proves that the premise is more Academy friendly than blockbuster cool but the fact that the story has been visited successfully before may also hinder it.

28) Freeheld

Director: Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist)
Starring: Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire), Ellen Page (Juno)
Premise: New Jersey police lieutenant, Laurel Hester, and her registered domestic partner, Stacie Andree, both battle to secure Hester’s pension benefits when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Odds: Moore is on fine form after her win for Still Alice but there hasn’t yet been a remarkable amount of Oscar buzz surrounding it.

27) 45 Years

Director: Andrew Haigh (Weekend)
Starring: Charlotte Rampling (Melancholia), Tom Courtenay (Doctor Zhivago), Geraldine James (Gandhi)
Premise: In the week leading up to their 45th wedding anniversary, a couple receive an unexpected letter which contains potentially life changing news.
Odds: The low key British drama might prove to be a contender but given the recent snubbing of Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner, the Academy may have turned away from that genre the larger scale Brit flicks such as The Imitation Game

26) The Danish Girl

Director: Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
Starring: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair), Ben Whishaw (Skyfall)
Premise: The remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
Odds: The Danish Girl has all the makings of a Best Picture winner – lavish period setting, Oscar friendly cast and director – but it’ll have to overcome its so far mixed-negative reception.

25) Straight Outta Compton

Director: F Gary Gray (Friday)
Starring: Jason Mitchell (Contraband), Corey Hawkins (Non-Stop), Paul Giamatti (Sideways)
Premise: The group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
Odds: Sharing its name with the rap sensation, this unlikely candidate surprised critics and was a smash hit with audiences but that won’t necessarily translate into Oscar success for the musical biopic.

24) Macbeth

Director: Justin Kurzel (Snowtown)
Starring: Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Marion Cotillard (Inception), Paddy Considine (Dead Man’s Shoes)
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.
Odds: Kurzel might not be experienced with this scale of filmmaking but injecting a flavour of war epic to Shakespeare’s classic should shake things up, not to mention the roles Fassbender and Cotillard were born to play.

23) The Program

Director: Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Starring: Chris O’Dowd (Calvary), Ben Foster (Lone Survivor), Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man)
Premise: An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong’s performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will expose Armstrong.
Odds: The events depicted might be considered too recent to have a major effect on voters and O’Dowd (while talented) hasn’t yet reached Oscar appeal but Frears’ impressive back catalogue should accelerate hype.

22) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Director: Alfonso Gomez Rejon (The Town that Dreaded Sundown)
Starring: Thomas Mann (Project X), Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), Nick Offerman (The Kings of Summer)
Premise: High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
Odds: The Fault in Our Stars for the Kings of Summer audience. This charming romance with undoubtedly win the hearts of fans and critics but it might be too low key for the Academy.

21) Snowden

Director: Oliver Stone (JFK)
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt (Inception), Nicolas Cage (Face/Off), Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)
Premise: CIA employee Edward Snowden leaks thousands of classified documents to the press.
Odds: Snowden’s story was told recently in the Oscar winning documentary Citizenfour meaning the source material has awards-friendly buzz but all of Oliver Stone’s recent work (Alexander, Money Never Sleeps, Savages) has been a let down. However, anti-American undertones didn’t do Zero Dark Thirty any harm.

20) Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Director: JJ Abrams (Stark Trek Into Darkness)
Starring: John Boyega (Attack the Block), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
Premise: New heroes must fight the rising threat of the New Order.
Odds: While the reboot of a franchise that hasn’t been good since 1983 may make the Oscars treat The Force Awakens as Bantha fodder, it seems to possess the game changing level of effects that brought Avatar to success and made the original Star Wars a Best Picture nominee.

19) Hail Caesar

Directors: Joel and Ethan Cohen (The Big Lebowski)
Starring: Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men), George Clooney (Gravity), Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
Premise: A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio’s stars in line.
Odds: With four Oscar wins, the Coens are probably the most acclaimed screenwriters of our time but Inside Llewyn Davis’ snubbing might mean trouble for the pair’s more quirky efforts.

18) Silence

Director: Martin Scorsese (The Aviator)
Starring: Andrew Garfield (The Social Network), Tadanobu Asano (Thor). Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List)
Premise: In the seventeenth century, two Jesuit priests face violence and persecution when they travel to Japan to locate their mentor and to spread the gospel of Christianity.
Odds: Silence seems Oscar bound but production delays and rumours that it’ll debut in Cannes 2016 suggest that the film might not be in competition until the 2017 Oscars.

17) The End of the Tour

Director: James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now)
Starring: Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Anna Chlumsky (In the Loop), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Premise: A magazine reporter recounts his travels and conversations with author David Foster Wallace during a promotional book tour.
Odds: The new Almost Famous? Segel and Eisenberg’s pairing will undoubtedly pick up a cult following but might be a bit abrasive for the Oscar crowd.

16) In the Heart of the Sea

Director: Ron Howard (Apollo 13)
Starring: Chris Hemsworth (Rush), Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges)
Premise: Based on the 1820 event, a whaling ship is preyed upon by a sperm whale, stranding its crew at sea for 90 days, thousands of miles from home.
Odds: Ron Howard has experienced mass success with the disaster thriller genre but the merciless snub of his brilliant racing drama Rush hints at an anti-Howard agenda.

15) Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller (The Road Warrior)
Starring: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Charlize Theron (Monster), Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies)
Premise: In a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, two rebels just might be able to restore order: Max, a man of action and of few words, and Furiosa, a woman of action who is looking to make it back to her childhood homeland.
Odds: This bold action sequel received rave reviews but the fact that its plot can be sketched out on a napkin might put off some of the more traditional Academy voters.

14) Joy

Director: David O. Russell (American Hustle)
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Robert De Niro (Casino)
Premise: The story of a family across four generations and the woman who rises to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty.
Odds: Russell has a surprising three consecutive Best Picture nominees but the flop of his abandoned rom-com Accidental Love earlier this years prevents Joy from being his fourth.

13) Brooklyn

Director: John Crowley (Is Anybody There)
Starring: Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Julie Walters (Billy Elliot)
Premise: In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Ellis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.
Odds: This star studded effort could be a major contender so long as it avoids the pitfalls of a procedural romantic drama (IE Anna Karenina).

12) The Lobster

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth)
Starring: Colin Farrell (In Bruges), John C Reilly (Chicago), Rachel Weisz (Enemy at the Gates)
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.
Odds: Merging comedy, romance and sci-fi with a bonkers concept from a Greek director making his English language debut. The Gilliam-esque level of weirdness will attract a lot of attention but may also backfire.

11) Youth

Director: Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty)
Starring: Michael Caine (The Dark Knight), Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)
Premise: Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again.
Odds: Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty picked up a triple with Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globes in the Foreign Language category so Youth should continue form but Sorrentino’s only other English language feature, This Must Be the Place, was one of his weakest.

10) Suffragette

Director: Sarah Gavron (Brick Lane)
Starring: Carey Mulligan (Drive), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd)
Premise: The foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal state.
Odds: The all-female writing directing team may face the snubs that Ava DuVernay suffered with Selma last year but the feminist story may tie into the Academy’s own changing times.

9) Black Mass

Director: Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart)
Starring: Johnny Depp (Public Enemies), Joel Edgerton (Zero Dark Thirty), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
Premise: The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
Odds: A dark and intense modern gangster thriller akin to The Departed and Donnie Brasco. Hopefully, Pirates star Johnny Depp will prove his worth for the first time in years. The massively positive early response is greatly promising.

8) Crimson Peak

Director: Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth)
Starring: Mia Wasikowska (Stoker), Tom Hiddleston (War Horse), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
Premise: In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds…and remembers.
Odds: A lavish Gothic mood will elevate Crimson Peak from repetitive formulaic horror (The Conjuring, Insidious, Sinister, Annabelle) or even hits like the Carpenter-esque It Follows and indie smash The Babadook. Del Toro might exceed Pan’s Labyrinth’s three Oscar wins while busting the myth that horrors are Oscar immune (see Jaws, The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, Aliens, The Silence of the Lambs).

7) The Hateful Eight

Director: Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction)
Starring: Samuel L Jackson (Jurassic Park), Kurt Russell (The Thing), Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Premise: In post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunters try to find shelter during a blizzard but get involved in a plot of betrayal and deception. Will they survive?
Odds: Tarantino’s three Best Picture nominations may well be added to with this Western thriller. It’d be unlikely for this not to be an seventh consecutive hit for the filmmaker.

6) Carol

Director: Todd Haynes (I’m Not There)
Starring: Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Kyle Chandler (Super 8)
Premise: Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
Odds: Carol has been the bookies’ favourite from the start but more recently more praise has gone towards its stars than the film itself.

5) Sicario

Director: Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners)
Starring: Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow), Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men)
Premise: An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by an elected government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Odds: American Sniper, Argo, Captain Phillips, District 9, Gravity, The Hurt Locker, Inception and Zero Dark Thirty have redefined the Oscar’s favour for the action thriller genre.

4) Inside Out

Directors: Pete Docter (Up), Ronaldo Del Carmen
Starring: Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation), Bill Hader (Trainwreck), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks)
Premise: After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness – conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.
Odds: The animation has gained the best reception of any of Pixar’s work since 2010’s Toy Story 3 but it has been five years since the studio has had a major nomination besides Animated Feature.

3) Bridge of Spies

Director: Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List)
Starring: Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Amy Ryan (Birdman), Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall)
Premise: An American lawyer is recruited by the CIA during the Cold War to help rescue a pilot detained in the Soviet Union.
Odds: Spielberg’s career has had nine Best Picture films (including Jaws, The Colour Purple, Saving Private Ryan, War Horse and Lincoln) and 118 Oscar nods are most likely to be added to but the acclaimed director isn’t immune to snubs (Catch Me if You Can, Jurassic Park). Also, Hanks hasn’t had an Oscar nod since 2001’s Cast Away and even his career best in Captain Phillips didn’t sway the Academy.

2) The Revenant

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)
Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio (Inception), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises)
Premise: The frontiersman, Hugh Glass, who in the 1820s set out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.
Odds: Considering the grueling shoot and huge budget, the civil-war era epic could be the new Dances With Wolves (multi-Oscar winner with Kevin Costner) or the new Heaven’s Gate (world renowned flop with Jeff Bridges). Either way, the footage is incredible.

1) Steve Jobs

Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Starring: Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), Kate Winslet (Titanic)
Premise: The true story of the life of visionary Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Odds: While it suffered major development issues – loss of cast members (Christian Bale, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo Di Caprio, Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise, Matthew MacConaughey, Charlize Theronl, Jessica Chastain, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman) and director David Fincher – we reckon Steve Jobs is your next Best Picture winner.

Here’s a quickfire of the directors and stars we reckon will make the cut.

Best Director:

1. Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies
2. Denis Villeneuve – Sicario
3. Danny Boyle – Steve Jobs
4. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – The Revenant
5. George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
6. Oliver Stone – Snowden
7. Guillermo Del Toro – Crimson Peak
8. JJ Abrams – Star Wars: The Force Awakens
9. Scott Cooper – Black Mass
10. F Gary Gray – Straight Outta Compton
11. Paolo Sorrentino – Youth
12. Ron Howard – In the Heart of the Sea
13. Sarah Gavron – Suffragette
14. David O. Russell – Joy
15. Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight

Best Actor:

1. Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs – Steve Jobs
2. Michael Caine – Fred Ballinger – Youth
3. Leonardo Di Caprio – Hugh Glass – The Revenant
4. Johnny Depp – Whitey Bulger – Black Mass
5. Tom Hanks – James Donovan – Bridge of Spies
6. Jason Segel – David Foster Wallace – The End of the Tour
7. Bryan Cranston – Dalton Trumbo – Trumbo
8. Eddie Redmayne – Lili Elbe – The Danish Girl
9. Ian McKellen – Sherlock Holmes – Mr Holmes
10. Jake Gyllenhaal – Billy Hope – Southpaw
11. Tom Hardy – Ronald/Reginald Kray – Legend
12. Joseph Gordon Levitt – Edward Snowden – Snowden
13. Colin Farrell – David – The Lobster
14. Tom Hardy – “Mad” Max Rockatansky – Mad Max: Fury Road
15. Tom Hiddleston – Hank Williams – I Saw the Light

Best Actress:

1. Rooney Mara – Therese Belivet – Carol
2. Marion Cotillard – Lady Macbeth – Macbeth
3. Alicia Vikander – Gerda Wegener – The Danish Girl
4. Emily Blunt – Kate Macer – Sicario
5. Jennifer Lawrence – Joy Mangano – Joy
6. Cate Blanchett – Carol Aird – Carol
7. Charlotte Rampling – Kate Mercer – 45 Years
8. Saoirse Ronan – Ellis Lacey – Brooklyn
9. Juliette Binoche – Maria Enders – Clouds of Sils Maria
10. Carey Mulligan – Maud – Suffragette
11. Mia Wasikowska – Edith Cushing – Crimson Peak
12. Charlize Theron – Imperator Furiosa – Mad Max: Fury Road
13. Julianne Moore – Laurel Hester – Freeheld
14. Angelina Jolie – Vanessa – By the Sea
15. Amy Schumer – Amy – Trainwreck

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Seth Rogen – Steve Wozniak – Steve Jobs
2. Harvey Keitel – Mick Boyle – Youth
3. Benedict Cumberbatch – Bill Bulger – Black Mass
4. Benicio Del Toro – Alejandro – Sicario
5. Mark Rylance – Rudolf Abel – Bridge of Spes
6. Jesse Eisenberg – David Lipsky – The End of the Tour
7. Robert De Niro – Rudy Mangano – Joy
8. Christoph Waltz – Hans Oberhauser – Spectre
9. Samuel L Jackson – Marquis Warren – The Hateful Eight
10. Tom Hardy – John Fitzgerald – The Revenant
11. Chris O’Dowd – David Walsh – The Program
12. Josh Brolin – Matt – Sicario
13. Tom Hiddelston – Thomas Sharpe – Crimson Peak
14. Will Poulter – Jim Bridger – The Revenant
15. Harrison Ford – Han Solo – Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Rachel Weisz – Lena Ballinger – Youth
2. Kate Winslet – Joanna Hoffman – Steve Jobs
3. Shailene Woodley – Lindsay Mills – Snowden
4. Amy Ryan – Mary Donovan – Bridge of Spies
5. Ellen Page – Stacie Andree – Freeheld
6. Jessica Chastain – Lucille Sharpe – Crimson Peak
7. Jane Fonda – Brenda Morel – Youth
8. Kristen Stewart – Valentine – Clouds of Sils Maria
9. Julie Walters – Mrs Kehoe – Brooklyn
10. Melissa Leo – Laura Poitras – Snowden
11. Rachel McAdams – Maureen Hope – Southpaw
12. Helen Mirren – Hedda Hooper – Trumbo
13. Anna Chlumsky – Sarah – The End of the Tour
14. Helena Bonham Carter – Edith New – Suffragette
15. Jennifer Jason Leigh – Daisy Domergue – The Hateful Eight

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Youth – Paolo Sorrentino
2. The Hateful Eight – Quentin Tarantino
3. Inside Out – Pete Docter, Ronald Del Carmen, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley
4. Bridge of Spies – Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen, Matt Charman
5. Ex Machina – Alex Garland
6. Joy – David O. Russell, Annie Mumulo
7. Sicario – Taylor Sheridan
8. Hail Caesar – Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen
9. Demolition – Bryan Sipe
10. The Good Dinosaur – Enrico Casarosa, Bob Peterson
11. Suffragette – Abi Morgan
12. Trainwreck – Amy Schumer
13. Southpaw – Kurt Sutter
14. Crimson Peak – Guillermo Del Toro, Matthew Robbins
15. Irrational Man – Woody Allen

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Steve Jobs – Aaron Sorkin
2. Carol – Phyllis Nagy
3. The End of the Tour – Donald Marguiles
4. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – Jesse Andrews
5. The Revenant – Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Mark L Smith
6. Mad Max: Fury Road – George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris
7. Silence – Jay Cocks
8. Snowden – Oliver Stone, Kieran Fitzgerald
9. Brooklyn – Nick Hornby
10. The Danish Girl – Lucina Coven
11. Spectre – John Logan, Neil Purvis, Robert Wade
12. Macbeth – Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso
13. Black Mass – Scott Cooper, Mark Mallouk
14. The Martian – Drew Goddard
15. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan

Lawrence and Spielberg team, Hawke joins Magnificent 7, new Avengers shots, Goddard set for Spider-Man and new still of Gordon Levitt in Snowden

Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, Munich, War Horse, Lincoln) has had some difficulty getting his upcoming projects of the ground. Having passed on Best Picture nominee American Sniper, sci-fi Robopocalypse falling through and various projects including Grapes of Wrath, Napoleon and West Side Story failing to get off their feet, Tom Hanks thriller St James Place and Mark Rylance fantasy The BFG are set for the next couple of years.

The war photography biopic of Lynsey Addario, titled It’s What I Do, is now on its feet had has cast its lead in Oscar winning star Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, X-Men: First Class). The script, based on the autobiography called “A Photographer’s Life of Love and War”, has been doing the rounds at Working Title, The Weinstein Company and Noah director Darren Aronofsky before settling at Warner Bros.

Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen were the headlining acts of the original film but the new western remake Magnificent Seven, from Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, has assembled its own team. As well as Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lego Movie), Fuqua may be gathering a Training Day reunion with lead Denzel Washington (Flight, Inside Man, Man on Fire, American Gangster) now accompanied by Ethan Hawke (Boyhood, Before Sunrise, Sinister, Dead Poets Society).

The announcement of Marvel’s new attempt at Spider-Man may go down as one of the biggest shock stories of 2015. With star Andrew Garfield and director Marc Webb dropped, new hirings are in order and its rumoured that Drew Goddard is entering negotiations to helm the reboot. Goddard, who directed the brilliant horror spoof The Cabin in the Woods, was previously attached to the now scrapped Sinister Six spin off. In terms of casting, Logan Lerman (Fury), Dylan O’Brien (Maze Runner) and Donald Glover (Community) are in consideration.

Next up, Captain America (Chris Evans – Snowpiercer) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker) are next on the roll call of the Avengers in their new adventure Age of Ultron. The returning cast includes Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher), Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin), Robert Downey Jr (Sherlock Holmes), Chris Hemsworth (Rush), Paul Bettany (Margin Call) and Samuel L Jackson (The Incredibles) with newbies Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla), Aaron Taylor Johnson (Kick-Ass) and James Spader (The Blacklist).

A depiction of the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Citizenfour, was this year’s winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary but Oliver Stone, the acclaimed director and historian behind JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Platoon and Wall Street, has been handling the theatrical adaptation. Its our favourite for headlining next year’s Oscars. The first stills from the film have been released.

It’ll star Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper, Inception), Tom Wilkinson (Selma, Michael Clayton), Shailene Woodley (Fault in Our Stars, Divergent), Rhys Ifans (Amazing Spider-Man, Notting Hill), Melissa Leo (Prisoners, The Fighter), Zachary Quinto (Star Trek Into Darkness, Heroes) and Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas, Lord of War, Face/Off, Kick-Ass).

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – April 23rd

Snowden – December 25th

The Magnificent Seven – 2017?

It’s What I Do – 2017?

Spider-Man – July 28th 2017

The 2015 Preview Issue

2015 is the new 2012 (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, The Hunger Games, The Hobbit), which itself was the new 1999 (The Sixth Sense, The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, Two Story 2). Its releases should not only be huge financial successes but promise to be delightful watches as well. Here’s what we reckon will be topping the year’s box office in twelve months time.

1. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Director: Joss Whedon – $1.7 billion
2. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – JJ Abrams – $1.4 billion
3. Spectre – Sam Mendes – $1.2 billion
4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – $925 million
5. Furious 7 – James Wan – $875 million
6. Minions – Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin – $800 million
7. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – $775 million
8. Inside Out – Pete Docter – $725 million
9. Mission: Impossible 5 – Christopher McQuarrie – $700 million
10. Ant-Man – Peyton Reed – $675 million
11. The Good Dinosaur – Peter Sohn – $625 million
12. Ted 2 – Seth MacFarlane – $600 million
13. Terminator Genisys – Alan Taylor – $575 million
14. The Fantastic Four – Josh Trank – $550 million
15. Tomorrowland – Brad Bird – $525 million

We reckon The Avengers sequel will edge Star Wars seeing as the former series’ commercial success is actually growing. Pixar’s double-billed return to original storytelling with Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur should score them impressively but Minions will triumph on the animation front. The only other original work we expect to see doing well is sci-fi adventure Tomorrowland. The race in the new crop of reboots will be won by Jurassic World, beating off competition from Terminator and Fantastic Four. Close to gracing the Top 15 will be sequels to YA franchises (The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, Insurgent) and there might be an upset for Chris Columbus/Adam Sandler comedy Pixels and Joe Wright/Hugh Jackman fantasy adventure Pan. Should it finally get a major release, The Interview may well be a smash hit.

Now here are our top twenty to one most anticipated releases of the year.

20) The Fantastic Four

Director: Josh Trank
Writers: Josh Trank, Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater, TS Nowlin
Starring: Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, Michael B Jordan, Toby Kebbell
Premise: For a very long time, next to nothing had been revealed about Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. Star Wars took a similar approach and that sent fans running wild with speculation but no such hype surrounded the FF, exposing a serious lack of interest. Still, Chronicle’s Trank is a promising hope and the the high-end castings of Teller (Whiplash), Bell (Bill Elliot), Mara (House of Cards), Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Jordan (Fruitvale Station) ought to liven things up.
Release: August 6th

19) Everest

Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Writers: William Nicholson, Mark Medoff, Justin Isbell, Lem Dobbs, Simon Beaufoy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, Jason Clarke, Elizabeth Debicki, John Hawkes, Emily Watson
Premise: An absolute first-rate cast from two teams who embark on an expedition to the peak of the world’s highest mountain, where they also face the world’s toughest terrain. The stills so far reveal some spectacular drama.
Release: October 2nd

18) Mission: Impossible 5

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Drew Pearce, Will Staples
Starring: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Ving Rhames
Premise: It’s hard to get excited when all we have to go on is a few on-set snaps but we can still expect a high-end spectacle of action. Uniting Cruise and McQuarrie (star/writer of Edge of Tomorrow) is a solid move and the returning cast of Ghost Protocol (Pegg, Renner, Patton) hints at more franchise continuity than before.
Release: December 26th

17) The Man From UNCLE

Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wigram, Jeff Kleeman, David Campbell Wilson
Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris
Premise: Bond and Hunt are both set in stone in their nationalities but spy reboot The Man From UNCLE pitches a teaming up of the American Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and the Russian Illya Kuryakin (Hammer). With Sherlock Holmes/Snatch director Guy Ritchie helming it ought to be a truly gripping thriller.
Release: August 14th

16) Child 44

Director: Daniel Espinosa
Writers: Richard Price
Starring: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Paddy Considine, Jason Clarke, Dev Patel, Joel Kinnaman, Charles Dance
Premise: In Stalin-era Soviet Union, a detective investigates a series of murder, the complication is that the state believes crime doesn’t exist. The cast alone is enough of a reason to get interested and Daniel Espinosa proved his action credentials in Safe House.
Release: April 17th

15) Minions

Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Writer: Brian Lynch
Starring: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton
Premise: There are very few well favoured comedy spin offs but the first trailer for Despicable Me’s spawn the Minions looked promising.
Release: June 26th

14) Untitled Steven Spielberg Cold War Project

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Matt Charman, Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Tom Hanks, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Mark Rylance
Premise: We know nothing more than the title suggests but another collaboration between Spielberg (Jaws, ET, AI, Minority Report, Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park) and Hanks (Forrest Gump, Captain Phillips, Cast Away, The Green Mile, Road to Perdition) is a huge attention grabber. The pair’s previous collaborations are Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and Saving Private Ryan.
Release: October 9th

13) Chappie

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writers: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Hugh Jackman, Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver
Premise: The director of District 9 takes on a slightly more light hearted venture as Chappie, a discarded robotic cop, us taken under the wing of a group of scientists who teach it. Soon, others realise that Chappie is potentially dangerous.
Release: March 6th

12) The Walk

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Robert Zemeckis, Christopher Browne
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale
Premise: As chronicled in the Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire, stuntman Philippe Petit begins his ultimate accomplishment by wire walking from one Twin Tower to the other. This is the first teaming up of the duo Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Cast Away) and Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception).
Release: October 2nd

11) Ant-Man

Director; Peyton Reed
Writers: Gabriel Ferrari, Andrew Barrer, Adam McKay, Edgar Wright
Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Judy Greer

10) Inside Out

Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Writers: Michael Arndt, Pete Docter
Starring: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Lane
Premise: Pixar’s second release of 2015 is the brilliantly madcap concept of emotions, symbolised as the characters above, controlling the emotions within our mind. Unlike The Good Dinosaur, this has a Pixar regular, Pete Docter (Monsters Inc, Up), at the helm as well as Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt.
Release: July 24th

9) Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevorrow
Writers: Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Omar Sy, Judy Greer, Jake Johnson, Vincent D’Onofrio
Premise: We’re well prepared for a sequel that won’t live up to the original’s same magic. Still, Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) and his new set of leads – Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy), Howard (The Help), Robinson (The Kings of Summer) and Simpkins (Insidious) – look set to give a fresh rebranding.
Release: June 12th

8) Tomorrowland

Director: Brad Bird
Writers: Damon Lindelof, Brad Bird
Starring: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Judy Greer
Premise: One f the year’s most secretive releases comes from Pixar protogee Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and, while it is a fairly original prospect, it’s in fact roughly based upon Walt Disney’s own bright and bold vision of the future.
Release: May 22nd

7) Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller
Writers: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Zoe Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult
Premise: Pleasing the die hard fans of the original will be a tough task but the footage so far revealed for this sequel is phenomenal. It’ll be massively entertaining to see Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Locke) in a rawer action role.
Release: May 15th

6) The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Drew Goddard
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessican Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kirsten Wiig, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Michael Pena, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean
Premise: The film’s tone, either epic or dramatic, has yet to have been established but it sees Damon’s astronaut stranded on the red planet. Still, we’re immediately excited to see what legendary Brit director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Black Hawk Dawn, Alien, Blade Runner) can bring next.
Release: November 27th

5) Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: John Logan, Neil Purvis, Robert Wade
Starring: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci, Andrew Scott, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen
Premise: After Skyfall became one of the undisputedly great Bond films (rivalling Dr No, Goldfinger, GoldenEye and Casino Royale) and its follow up is hoping to be just as successful. In this new adventure, Bond (Craig) tracks a mysterious signal from a previous mission and finds a secret organisation, led by Waltz’s Oberhauser.
Release: October 23rd

4) In the Heart of the Sea

Director: Ron Howard
Writers: Charles Leavitt, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Charlotte Riley, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson
Premise: Fresh off of smash hit racing drama Rush, Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) returns with a period thriller based on the true story that inspire Moby Dick. Hemsworth’s whaling crew are stranded in the see for weeks on end as the most fearsome whale they have ever witnessed haunts them. The trailer is awesome, terrifying and truly monstrous.
Release: March 13th

3) Crimson Peak

Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Writers: Guillermo Del Toro, Matthew Robbins, Lucinda Coxon
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, Doug Jones, Burn Gorman
Premise: The masterful Mexican Del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim/writer of The Hobbit trilogy, returns to properly gothic horror as aspiring author Edith Cushing (Wasikowska) moves into a new home with her sinister new husband Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston). If it’s what it promises to be, we could have a chilling masterpiece on our hands.
Release: October 16th

2) The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, James Spader, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Samuel L Jackson, Andy Serkis, Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Stellan Skarsgard, Hayley Atwell, Thomas Kretschmann
Premise: Stark’s robot peacekeeping program gets out of hand as his creation begins its own global dominations. Marvel’s other properties (Inhumans and Doctor Strange) are being set up elsewhere but this is sowing the seeds of Civil War, Black Panther and Infinity War. Still Whedon’s superhero sequel will be darker, bolder, bigger and better.
Release: April 24th

1) Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens

Director: JJ Abrams
Writers: JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Andy Serkis, Max Von Sydow, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Warwick Davis, Christina Chong, Iko Uwais, Maisie Richardson Sellers
Premise: Besides the setting (30 years on from Return of the Jedi) we know almost nothing but how could anything else be number one? Perhaps it would have been lower down before that trailer landed but it just blew 90% of our worries out the water. We’re equally terrified and excited to what JJ will produce. Others may be surefire hits but this is the one we hope for the most.
Release: December 18th

Al Pacino confirms discussions with Marvel and first trailer for Zemeckis’ The Walk

Al Pacino is perhaps the greatest actor of the past fifty years. The Oscar winning star of Scarface, Serpico, Heat, Scent of a Woman, Dog Day Afternoon, Insomnia, Carlito’s Way, Donnie Brasco and The Godfather trilogy did, earlier in the year, express interest in a collaboration with Marvel following his viewing and immediate delight in their space-set smash hit Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s now confirmed that he’s met up with Marvel’s studio head Kevin Feige about the possibility of a role in the films.

“I would imagine either there’s something he feels is right for me,” he explained. For different roles the mysterious part of Star Lord’s father is still up for grabs; hopefully he won’t get stuck as a generic villain. Other more venerable actors to take the step into the fray of Marvel’s action packed world include Anthony Hopkins in Thor, Michael Douglas in Ant-Man, Jeff Bridges in Iron Man, Tommy Lee Jones in The First Avenger and Robert Redford in The Winter Soldier. It’s no long stretch to imagine Pacino accepting such a role. The Marvel movies up for casting are Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Inhumans and The Avengers: Infinity War.

Although the story was comprehensively covered in the Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire, the death defying accomplishment of tightrope walker Philippe Petit, who walked on wire from one Twin Tower to the other, will be seen on screen again in The Walk, the first trailer for which has been released. Robert Zemeckis, director of Back to the Future, Cast Away, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact and Forrest Gump, commands the cast of Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper, Inception, Lincoln), Charlotte Le Bon (Mood Indigo, The Hundred Foot Journey), James Badge Dale (Iron Man 3, World War Z) and Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Hugo, Shutter Island).

The Walk – October 2nd 2015

Bryan Cranston and Matt Damon join Yimou’s latest and Joseph Gordon Levitt cast as Edward Snowden

The case of NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden was one of the biggest to rock the world this decade. Oliver Stone (JFK, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, Platoon) announced his intention to make a biopic of the man and has now found his leading actor. Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper, The Dark Knight Rises, 500 Days of Summer, Inception) has officially joined the film.

The masterful Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers, The Flowers of War) is one of the generation’s greatest and yet is without an Academy Award nomination, although two BAFTA wins. His latest, a mystery centred on the creation of the Great Wall of China titled The Great Wall, appears to be adding a few more western stars. These are reported to include Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity, Saving Private Ryan, Good Will Hunting, Ocean’s Eleven, The Adjustment Bureau) and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Godzilla, Argo, Drive, Contagion). It is based upon a short story by World War Z’s Max Brooks.

The Great Wall – 2016

The Snowden Files – 2016

Comic-Con 2014 – Round-Up – Avengers, Wonder Woman, Thrones, Godzilla and more!

Welcome all to the first big parts of news in our coverage of the 2014 San Diego Comic Con. You can check out yesterday’s various teaser poster reveals in the last post but it’s here that we begin the huge confirmations and castings that make this event so special. First off we ask you to recall an announcement made several months back about Spider-Man/Evil Dead director Sam Raimi announcing his intentions to produce a film adaptation of zombie action drama The Last of Us, widely regarded as one of the greatest games of all time and certainly the most cinematic.

As soon as this story came out, fan speculation rose as to who would be portraying the two lead roles. There were a host of great suggestions for the grizzled Joel, ranging from Josh Brolin to Hugh Jackman, but casting the young icon Ellie was proving more difficult. Ellen Page was a popular option due to her uncanny resemblance to the character but  was probably around ten years above the ideal casting net. From Comic Con, it has now emerged that seventeen year old Brit Maisie Williams, best known as Game of Thrones’ Ayra Stark, has entered early negotiations for the lead of Ellie. Tell us in the comments of what you think of Williams taking on the role as well as who should/could be playing Joel or if a Last of Us movie is a good idea at all. 2017?

Legendary Pictures have released some fantastic films since their first back in 2005 with Batman Begins and have gone onto produce Man of Steel, 300, Godzilla, Watchmen, The Hangover and The Dark Knight trilogy. Their upcoming movies are gaining huge hype and the herds of fans were delighted by their presence at the panel were their various projects were introduced.

Earlier this month we named Christopher Nolan’s new space epic Interstellar as our most hyped movie of this year’s second half. So then you can imagine the immense reaction received when Nolan (Memento, The Prestige, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception) lead a surprise panel for the film, accompanied by his leading man Matthew MacConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective, Mud, The Wolf of Wall Street).

MacConaughey arrived first and described his first meeting with the modern legend. “I met with Christopher Nolan for three hours,” McConaughey said of joining the project, “and he didn’t say one word about the film, and I remember leaving thinking: ‘What the hell was that about?’ Anyway, he liked me and a week later the script arrived and I liked it and said, ‘I’m in.’

Nolan himself then graced the stage an shared some remarkable ambition for his project. “The single biggest influence for me was Kubrick’s 2001. I was able to go with my dad and see it in London on the big screen. We have the opportunity to tell a similarly ambitious story. That’s my ambition for the film, and I’m striving towards it.” Interstellar will star MacConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Casey Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon and Michael Caine. November 7th

Warcraft, the third directorial feature from Duncan Jones (Source Code, Moon) and adaptation of the legendary online game, is up next and Jones was offering a teaser. In order to respect the fans attending, we can’t show you the footage but we can report what Jones had to say.

“It’ll be an origin story that addresses how war breaks out between orcs and humans on the world of Azeroth.” He also mentions that “The film will be accessible to a wider audience thus, opening the property up to moviegoers unfamiliar with the brand, similar to the approach on past fantasy series such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings.” Warcraft will star Ben Foster, Toby Kebbell, Paula Patton and Dominic Cooper and is out March 11th 2016.

Following this, our first two mega announcements have been made. The first is an all new confirmation of a project Legendary have done a fantastic job of keeping under wraps. According to MTV, the events transpired something like this:

“The short clip raced over a restless ocean, then through the foliage and rocks on a deserted island, before the giant gorilla was finally revealed from the shadows. “Being alone in the wilderness, it had gone mad,” a voiceover intoned. “It looked at you with a vengeful aspect.” The film will explore the fictional island that is the mythical home of King Kong. The title card for the film simply read “Skull Island.””

There’s still no word on directors, stars or plots but we can confirm a November 4th 2016 release.

Following the phenomenal success of both Monsters and Godzilla, Gareth Edwards is proving to be a greatly busy man having been recruited by Star Wars for the first of three spin offs from the franchise. However, fans are desperate for two more Godzilla 2 to become the second act of a monstrous trilogy. Edwards arrived at Legendary’s panel to confirm that he was directing the sequel as well as showing off an awesome teaser containing a trio of huge confirmations that may contain tiny spoilers for those who want the reveal to be saved for the film. According to MTV:

An old-school Monarch film clip was then shown — that’s the group that studies and keeps tabs on the monsters in the rebooted series — that confirmed the existence of…

Rodan!

Mothra!

King Ghidorah!

The Monarch analysis concluded that a battle is inevitable: “Let them fight.” Godzilla 2 – 2017?

Our second preview of a video game adaptation is the action thriller Agent 47, based on the gaming sensation Hitman. Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto and Ciaran Hinds serve under debut director Aleksander Bach while Total Film has the scoop on how the very first trailer went down.

The trailer opens with a remixed version of ‘Voodoo Child’, with Friend’s antihero handcuffed to the table in an interrogation room. The back of his head (which is stubbly, as opposed to clean-shaven) bears the trademark barcode tattoo, albeit in a slightly redesigned form. Asked for his name, he answers, “47.” His interrogator retorts, “That’s not a name!” “No, but it is mine…”

The action kicks off when 47 shows off his Bourne-esque skills. Jumping up from his seat, he pulls his handcuff-chain into the line of fire of a rifle that’s been mounted on the table and pointed at him. All in slow-motion, naturally.

Also spotted in the trailer is 47 walking through a security gate metal detector, and drawing back his coat to reveal that he’s armed to the hilt with various guns, Matrix-style. A line of dialogue acts as the voiceover, intoning: “He’s an engineered human being: stronger, faster, more intelligent than normal people.”

There’s plenty of slo-mo gunplay, plus a helicopters blades smashing into the side of a skyscraper, as well as the impressive sight of 47’s car being pinned by several grappling wires, which the SWAT team then slide down. It all looked very slick and glossy, with the film’s Berlin and Budapest locations also shown off. March 20th 2015

We don’t usually dip into the world of television unless it’s for something truly huge and Game of Thrones truly fits that bill. We won’t explain the character’s role in the plot in fear of spoiling. Joining the stellar ensemble on the fifth season of the fantasy show are Alexander Siddig (Da Vinci’s Demons) as Doran Martell, Toby Sebastian (After the Dark) as Trystane Martell, Nell Tiger Free (Broken) as Myrcella Baratheon, Deobia Oparei (Dredd) as Areo Hotah, Enzo Cilenti (The Rum Diary) as Yezzan, Jessica Henwick (Silk) as Nymeria Sand, Keisha Castle Hughes (The Nativity Story) as Obara Sand and Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean) as the High Sparrow. We’d expect season 5 to also star Emilia Clarke (Terminator: Genesis), Kit Harington (Pompeii), Maisie Williams (The Last of Us), Peter Dinklage (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Lena Headey (300, Dredd). April 2015

The panel for Dreamworks Animation was one of the first to take place this weekend and, while they’ve got plenty of projects going for them, they put their main focus on Madagascar spin off Penguins. John Malkovich (RED, Being John Malkovich, Burn After Reading, Dangerous Liaisons) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, Sherlock, War Horse, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) both featured in the panel and so, due to the latter’s presence, fans were requested to avoid all questions related to a certain detective although the Hall H attendees weren’t in a hurry to forget a Marvel rumour from earlier this year.

Clearly referring to Doctor Strange, Cumberbatch and co were asked which comic book character they’d like to play and they both had some fun with it. Malkovich confided “Lois Lane” while Cumberbatch teased “Nurse Normal. I’ll let the penny drop that’s a joke about Doctor Strange!” Returning to subject, the voice of Smaug had this to say about his new role, a smooth talking wolf spy named Classified. He claims he prepared for the role by “Working in Yellowstone park as a wolf for awhile. I was accepted by the pack quite quickly. It got a bit hairy, no pun intended, when I became the alpha male. Eventually I realized that two of the other wolves were Christian Bale and Daniel Day-Lewis.” December 5th

Most of the footage shown at Comic Con remains unseen to those who did not attend for several months in order to preserve the exclusives but we are rarely treated to the teasers immediately afterwards. Thankfully that’s exactly what happened with Mockingjay, the third instalment of The Hunger Games. The chilling first trailer is at last online and it’s given us plenty to discuss.

There’s no sign of a lot of key characters here (Peeta, Johanna, Haymitch, Finnick, Caesar, Effie, Prim, Beetee) but we do get glimpses of Julianne Moore as Alma Coin, Liam Hemsworth’s more militaristic Gale and Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final roles. I am Legend’s Francis Lawrence directs the cast of Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Jena Malone, Sam Clafin, Natalie Dormer, Jeffrey Wright, Willow Shields, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland. November 21st

Proving that the young adult fantasy adaptations are no fad, action mystery The Maze Runner races into cinemas this autumn while it’s Comic Con panel unveiled the all new poster (above) and debut director Wes Ball hinted at the series’ future. “If the first film is a success, shooting on a sequel will begin in the northern fall this year.” The Maze Runner’s sequels are titled The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure and we might be able to expect them in time for 2016. The Maze Runner will star Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf), Kaya Scodelario (Moon) and Will Poulter (Wild Bill). October 10th

Another project we’re massively excited for is the comic book adaptation Kingsman: The Secret Service. It has long been known that Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Arkham City) has been set to make a cameo in the film, similarly to Mark Millar’s comic book, but at the panel he confirmed that his appearance may differ to the original one. In printed form, Hamill himself turns up but in the film he’ll play a character called James Arnold. He’ll have the same effect on the plot. The Secret Service is directed by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, X-Men: First Class, Layer Cake, Kick-Ass) and will star Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Samuel L Jackson and Michael Caine. October 17th

The long awaited sequel to crime classic Sin City, titled A Dame to Kill For, is mere weeks away from release and, while the main attention was on this second instalment, one or two minds were beginning to consider a third. When asked, director Frank Miller explained “Robert (Rodriguez) and I are already talking about Sin City 3. So you’d better show up for number two or they won’t pay for it.” Sin City 2 will star Joseph Gordon Levitt, Eva Green, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson and Josh Brolin and is released August 25th.

Warner Bros was of the biggest studios to host a panel, in which they introduced four new projects. The first of which was new from the continuation of the DC universe kickstarted last year with Man of Steel. Director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) returns for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice which has at last given its very first look at the all new Wonder Woman, played by Fast and Furious’ Gal Gadot.

In other news for the franchise, Dawn of Justice writer Chris Terrio (Argo) is set to return for 2017’s Justice League however we are yet to receive the Shazam announcement that Dwayne Johnson had teased. A short clip of footage, reportedly of Superman spying a glowing-eyed Batman dusting off the Bat-signal, was briefly leaked but torn down by Warner Bros although this much finished work is a promising sign. Dawn of Justice will star Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Holly Hunter, Scoot McNairy, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane and Jeremy Irons. April 29th 2016

It’s fair to say that we’ve had our doubts about whether director George Miller and star Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) could pull off Mad Max sequel Fury Road but the awesome first trailer could quench any worries. It seems to be promising one long action set piece, similarly to Dredd, which may be greatly difficult to pull off but we’d love to see what they make of it. Fury Road will star Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult and Charlize Theron. May 15th 2015

For the finale to Warner’s presentation, the ensemble cast of The Hobbit’s concluding chapter The Battle of the Five Armies descended upon Comic Con and were granted the chance to share their incredible experiences of bringing Middle Earth to life one final time. “It was a very, very strange experience, ten years on, going back into, to Miramar, to the studios. And it was like nothing had changed,” said Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), who plays Elven queen Galadriel.

“Peter and Fran and Philippa and all of the guys at WETA had made these extraordinarily successful – financially and creatively successful films – but their filmmaking practice hadn’t changed at all. You still felt like you were making an independent film that was ridiculously well-resourced.” Next up was the infamous archer Legolas, portrayed on screen by Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean). “I feel weird. We were just talking today. Peter’s youngest has just turned 18. She was 3 when I arrived in New Zealand, you know. Which is nuts, right? I was 21,

“It’s sad to say goodbye in many, many ways. I felt very lucky to do it actually. I felt like I got a chance to create a backstory for a character that goes into ‘Lord of the Rings.’ And I think this movie will tie up beautifully all of the characters’ stories into a nice little bow so that you’ll be able to go straight in and watch ‘Lord of the Rings.’ You’ll be able to do the whole thing at some point.”

Peter Jackson directs the cast of Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace, Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt, Lawrence Makoare, Manu Bennett, Sylvester McCoy, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving.

Finally we get to the big one that we’ve all been waiting for. The Marvel panel stole the show last year with a guest appearance by Loki himself and so they were always going to struggle topping that this year. Our calender of confirmed Marvel projects doesn’t stretch beyond 2016’s Doctor Strange and so we’re hoping that Kevin Feige and co would at last fill in the seven dates with empty spaces for titles. Sadly, we only got one of these seven but I think the simple answer as to why would be that Marvel themselves don’t quite know yet. Also, there’s no official title so far for Captain America 3 there’s still plenty of excitement in store.

It’ll have been almost four years since her on screen debut but Agent Carter (played by Hayley Atwell) at last has her own TV show, set after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger. We sincerely want Dominic Cooper and Toby Jones to reprise their roles of Howard Stark and Arnim Zola respectively for the series but Marvel are going ahead with appointing directors. We knew that Lou D’Esposito, mastermind of many a One Shot short film, would direct the pilot however the MCU’s feature film directors are being recruited. The Winter Soldier’s Anthony and Joe Russo are set for episodes two and three while The First Avenger’s Joe Johnston will tackle ep 4, adding a flavour of the cinematic universe to the show. January 2015

Marvel’s first crack at a huge live action TV series tied into their films was unveiled almost a year ago in the form of Agents of SHIELD. Some found it greatly disappointed but, while there are undeniable issues, MAOS has picked up a strong following – thanks to the shocking twists, betrayals and bumping offs the second half of the series – and season two has got the go ahead. In a panel introduced via video by Patton Oswalt (Eric Koenig), a host of new characters and stars were introduced to pose intriguing predicaments for our Agents.

Lucy Lawless, best known as Xena: Warrior Princess, will play the original character of Isabelle Hartley, a veteran SHIELD agent. Lance Hunter, head of SHIELD’s British counterpart STRIKE (Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies) will be portrayed by Nick Blood (The Bletchley Circle). The uber villainous HYDRA recruiter Daniel Whitehall/The Kraken is under the acting expertise of Whedonite Reed Diamond (Much Ado About Nothing, Moneyball) and finally superhero Bobbi Morse (aka Mockingbird) has been confirmed to be a part of the show but there’s yet to be any word on a star. We’d expect Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, Chloe Bennett, BJ Britt and Patton Oswalt while we may expect surprise returns for Ron Glass, Cobie Smulders, Adrian Pasdar, Ruth Negga, David Conrad and J August Richards. This Autumn

Until the shocking departure of Edgar Wright, three main stars and composer Steven Price, Ant-Man was shaping out to be a hugely awesome prospect and the last minute appointment of Peyton Reed may not save an unrecoverable set back for Marvel but the greatly positive reaction to the footage shown is an exciting sign. The main commotion was the announcement of supporting roles. The Hobbit’s Evangeline Lilly will not play Janet Van Dyne as expected but will in fact be Hank Pym’s daughter Hope who we can assume will soon inherit the role of Wasp. House of Cards star Corey Stoll has revealed that he plays Pym’s protoge Darren Cross who attempts to succeed Pym’s company and becomes the villain Yellowjacket. Ant-Man stars Paul Rudd, Corey Stoll, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena and Michael Douglas. July 17th 2015

Now we get back to those seven unannounced projects landing from 2017 to 2019. Marvel will take to space this weekend with the stellar release of Guardians of the Galaxy and it was boldly announced that a sequel would arrive in July 2017. James Gunn (Slither) is already confirmed to be returning while we can expect writer Nicole Perlman and stars Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Josh Brolin to reprise their roles as Star Lord, Rocket, Groot, Gamora, Drax and Thanos. Supporting stars such as John C Reilly, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Rooker and Glenn Close may also return depending on where Guardians leaves us. July 28th 2017

Director Scott Derickson’s (Deliver Us From Evil, Sinister) extensive search for a casting for Marvel’s Doctor Strange has conjured greatly varied suggestions for who should play the Sorcerer Supreme. Wild accusations of Johnny Depp, Viggo Mortensen and Adrien Brody came up, Jared Leto, Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch were the focus of a shortlist rumour, fans begged for the likes of Jon Hamm and Joel Edgerton while there was a persistent claim that it would be Andy Serkis. However, the search may have ended with the report that Joaquin Phoenix has entered negotiations.

Phoenix is of coarse the three time Oscar nominated star of The Master, Her and Gladiator although the experience of a lead blockbuster action role may be new to him. We’re gonna go ahead and say that we reckon he can pull it off but we want to here what you think of the casting in the comments. July 8th 2016

Finally today we’ve got the biggest possible poster imaginable for mega-sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel are keeping their cards close to their chests this time around but it’s reported that the footage shown unveiled a non-motion capture Andy Serkis.

Joss Whedon (Serenity, Firefly, Toy Story, Buffy) directs the cast of Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, James Spader, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Thomas Kretschmann, Hayley Atwell, Don Cheadle, Cobie Smulders and Samuel L Jackson.

That’s all for our Comic Con coverage this year and thanks for seeing it out, we know it took a while to publish. Please tell us in the comments who your’re most impressed by: Mad Max, Avengers 2, Dawn of Justice, Godzilla 2, Skull Island, Warcraft, Interstellar or Hobbit 3? Here’s to Comic Con 2015. Bye for now!

Ant-Man confirms director and Cumberbatch and Hardy named in Marvel’s Doctor Strange shortlist

Since Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End) quit, the directing job of Marvel’s action adventure Ant-Man has reportedly been offered to various other comedic directors such as Rawson Marshall Thurber (We’re the Millers), Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) and Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy). Marvel’s pursuit of someone with a comedic background to helm the film has led to the frankly disappointing hiring of Peyton Reed (The Break-Up, Bring It On, Down With Love, Yes Man).

Not to say that he was the only man for the job, I don’t see the film succeeding without Wright on board, although I’d be intrigued to see what McKay (who has been hired for a new rewrite) or Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) would have made of Hank Pym. On the other hand, seemingly bizarre appointments have given huge success to certain Marvel films, chiefly Anthony and Joe Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Solider. Ant-Man will star Paul Rudd, Michael Pena, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Patrick Wilson, Matt Gerald and Michael Douglas.

In other Marvel news, many names have been passed around in (very loose) connection to the supernatural action Doctor Strange, a film recently confirmed to be directed by Scott Derickson (Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose): Jon Hamm, Adrien Brody, Johnny Depp, Matt Bomer, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Jared Leto to name just a few. Word is quickly spreading that a pair of today’s finest young actors are among Marvel’s shortlist for the lead role. First off is Benedict Cumberbatch who came into mainstream view with supporting roles in War Horse and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy before becoming accustomed to leads with 12 Years a Slave, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Star Trek Into Darkness and TV’s Sherlock.

The other name mentioned in contention was fellow Brit Tom Hardy – yet another superhero role going to the UK, is that? Hardy was the star of Inception, Lawless, Warrior and Bronson but is probably best known as the brilliant reinvention of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and is currently impressing many in Locke. Tell us in the comments which star you’d prefer to see as Stephen Strange as we’d still be leaning towards Jon Hamm for the role.

Doctor Strange – 2016

Ant-Man – July 17th 2015

Derrickson to direct Doctor Strange, Trank appointed for Star Wars and Jupiter Ascending’s release gets pushed

Andy and Lana Wachowski are yet to find real success beyond The Matrix. Across its three instalments, the sci-fi phenomenon has made near $2 billion while their follow ups Speed Racer (an infamous flop) and Cloud Atlas (greatly underrated) have underperformed at the box-office. This year, every financial prediction for the summer’s cinema pitched Captain America 2, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men 7, Transformers 4, Godzilla and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes dominating while the Wachowski’s new sci-fi adventure Jupiter Ascending was expected to fail, despite its ensemble cast and $150 million budget, and now the release date has been pushed back.

We don’t like to see films get delayed but it seems as if this is for Jupiter’s own good. As well as the competition, difficulties with visual effects have been cited but it is frustrating to see it falling into a January/February slot, notoriously poor fare for blockbusters hoping to pushover the awards contenders – this year producing flops such as The Legend of Hercules and I Frankenstein with only Ride Along and The Lego Movie really making good returns. Jupiter Ascending will star Mila Kunis (Black Swan, Ted), Channing Tatum (White House Down, 21 Jump Street), Douglas Booth (Noah), Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables), Doona Bae (Cloud Atlas), James D’Arcy (Hitchcock), Terry Gilliam (Monty Python) and Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings, Goldeneye, Equilbrum, Sharpe, Game of Thrones).

It’s no secret that George Lucas’ sci-fi phenomenon Star Wars is making its return next year. In 2015, JJ Abrams (Super 8, Star Trek Into Darkness) is bringing us Episode VII; that’ll be flanked by a yet unrevealed spin off in 2016, helmed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla); following that is Abrams’ Episode VIII, a second spin off, Episode IX and a final spin off in 2020. With that short summary in mind, we’re pleased to announce that Josh Trank will direct the second standalone film. Trank made his feature debut in 2012 with the brilliant superhero horror Chronicle but you may remember that he’s also attached to The Fantastic Four. That superhero action wouldn’t conflict with its 2015 release but the planned sequel may prove problematic. We’re yet to find out which characters will be getting their own adventures but the rumours point towards Han Solo, Yoda and Red Squadron.

Edgar Wright’s departure from Ant-Man has left Marvel in a pickle in a battle to appoint a new director. Its reported that Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) and Rawson Marshall Thurber (We’re the Millers) have already passed on the opportunity to be a replacement but strides are being made in Marvel’s other projects. The director of fantasy action Doctor Strange has finally been announced as Scott Derrickson and we are thrilled. Derrickson directed the horror hits Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose so its obvious that Marvel chief Kevin Feige’s vision is to bring some more frightening elements into Strange’s world. Derrickson will be experimenting with a bit more action in this August’s gothic thriller Deliver Us From Evil. Should progress continue, we can expect casting announcements before the end of the year but fan polls seem to be proving Joseph Gordon Levitt, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jon Hamm as popular choices.

Doctor Strange – 2016

Ant-Man – July 17th 2015

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

Star Wars spin-off 1 – December 16th 2016

Star Wars spin-off 2 – 2018?

Jupiter Ascending – February 6th 2015

Weekend box-office – 4th to 11th of November 2013 – can Thor fly to the top and can it defy Gravity?

There’s been two huge openings both sides of the Atlantic this week and they’ve both risen to the top of their respective charts, as I predicted last week. Let’s take a look at how I did in a week that looks like places 2 – 5 were decided by the flip of a coin in the US.

US

1. Thor: The Dark World – Director: Alan Taylor – $86.1 million
2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Jeff Tremaine – $11.3 million
3. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward – $11.2 million
4. Last Vegas – Jon Turteltaub – $11.1 million
5. Ender’s Game – Gavin Hood – £10.2 million

UK

1. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron – £6.2 milliom
2. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor – £2.9 million
3. Philomena – Stephen Frears – £1.4 million
4. Captain Phillips – Paul Greengrass – £1 million
5. Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 – Kodi Cameron, Kris Pearn – £0.9 million

Well, it seems I was a bit two optimistic about the more indie releases of About Time, The Book Thief and Parkland, none of which scratched either top 5. Only $1.2 million separated places 2 – 5 in the US. Ender’s Game has dropped dramatically while Free Birds has gone up a place, likely because we’re getting closer to Thanksgiving which is Free Birds’ theme. Philomena is holding much stronger than I thought it would. I had incorrectly predicted Last Vegas in it’s place last week as the latter has been pushed back to January next year. I scored a dismal 1/5 in the US and a non overwhelming 2/3 in the UK taking my total to a disappointing 3/10 but I’m new at this! Here’s what I feebly foresee for next week:

US

1. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
2. The Best Man Holiday – Malcom D. Lee
3. Free Birds – Jimmy Hayward
4. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Jeff Tremaine
5. Nebraska – Alexander Payne

UK

1. Gravity – Alfonso Cauron
2. The Butler – Lee Daniels
3. Thor: The Dark World – Alan Taylor
4. The Counsellor – Ridley Scott
5. Don Jon – Joseph Gordon Levitt

I’m hoping for more pleasing results next week. My current total is 9/20 so let’s see if I can take it up to over 50%. Find out next week, here on Tuorhoth Movies. There’s a whole quartet of major but not quite mainstream releases in the UK next week. They are The Butler, The Counsellor, Don Jon and Dom Hemmingway. I think that they’ll rank commercially as I just listed them.

Chris Hemsworth and Jaimie Alexander in Thor: The Dark World, the US number one.

Sandra Bullock in Gravity, the UK number one.

The Must Sees of November 2013

This one comes a few days late but we need a round up of November’s huge releases. First up, we’ve got the new film from Stephen Frears (two time Oscar nominated director famed for The Queen and High Fidelity). Philomena is the true story of a pregnant Irish teenager who’s child was stolen by nuns and put up for adoption in America. Decades on in the present day, the old woman’s (Judi Dench – Skyfall, Shakespeare in Love, Iris) story is found by political journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan – Alan Partridge, The Look of Love, Despicable Me 2) and they set out to America to find Philomena’s son. This bitter comedy is sweeping up recognition from everywhere, BAFTAs are certain and Oscars are a possibility, and opens November 1st.

Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall and Jim Broadbent star in Closed Circuit. John Crowley is the director of this mystery thriller which sees a regular court case uncovering a huge terrorist plot (Nov 1st). Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, James Badge Dale and Paul Giamatti play characters in their response to the death of President John F Kennedy in 1963 for the new drama Parkland from director Peter Landesman (Nov 8th). Last Vegas is the new big billing comedy. The premise is four sixty something guys (played by four Oscar winners – Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline) hitting Vegas for the final bachelor party of their lives as the last on of them ties the knot. Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) is the director (Nov 8th).

The biggest release of the month has got to be Gravity. It’s burst into IMDB’s Top 250 films of all time and sits at about 50th. Alfonso Cauron (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) is the director of what’s being praised as one of the most technically astonishing films of all time. Sandra Bullock plays Dr Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first trip to space. She’s on a spacestation with veteran Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) when debris crashes into them leaving them stranded and tumbling towards Earth (Nov 7th).

Kill Your Darlings is the new biography drama set in 1944. A murder draws in great Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William Burroughs (Ben Foster). Also with Dane DeHaan, Elizabeth Olsen, David Cross and director John Krokidas (Slo-Mo) (8th). Shia LaBeouf (Lawless, Transformers) is the titular character Charlie Countryman. Rupert Grint, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelson, Melissa Leo, James Buckley and John Hurt. Countryman is an American traveller who falls for a Romanian criminal. Frederick Bond is the director (Nov 8th).

The Counsellor is Ridley Scott’s new thriller. Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Javier Bardem star in this Oscar tipped feature about a lawyer getting too deep into drug trafficking (Nov 15th). Iain De Caestecker is currently starring on the small screen as one of the Agents of SHIELD. He’s also starring with Alice Englert for In Fear. Jeremy Lovering’s horror sees a young couple thrown into the tormenting of a dark forest after a night out (Nov 15th). Richard Shepard (The Matador) directs and writes his new crime filled comedy Dom Hemmingway where Jude Law has the role of the ex-con titular lead alongside Richard E. Grant and Emilia Clarke (Nov 15th) while Joseph Gordon Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, Looper) directs, writes and stars in edgy rom-com Don Jon about a regular guy struggling to maintain a happy relationship. Also with Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore. Rounding off the stellar releases of November 15th is Blue is the Warmest Colour, winner of the Palme D’Or award earlier this year at the Canne Film Festival after being voted by an elite panel of judges including Steven Spielberg. This foreign language hit is from Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche and is tipped to be this year’s Amour.

Escape Plan sees the 1980s’ two greatest action stars,  Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Predator) and Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo), teaming up for the first proper time, The Expendables wasn’t really about them. They play two prison experts locked away in the most secure cell on the Earth and devise a route out in this mystery thriller from director Mikael Hafstrom. Also with 50 Cent, Sam Neill and Vinnie Jones (Nov 22nd).

We now have a trio of award contenders. Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones star in The Family. Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) is the director and the story is the one of the Manzoni family, a notorious Mafia clan now hiding out in Normandy, France, but are soon noticed (Nov 22nd). A Most Wanted Man is the story of a Muslim immigrant in Hamburg caught  in the crossfire of the international war on terror. Rachel McAdams, Daniel Bruhl, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright and Phillip Seymour Hoffman all star for director Anton Corbjin, famed for The American, (Nov 22nd). Nicole Kidman is the current Oscar favourite for Grace of Monaco. It’s the true story of legendary actress Grace Kelly who, at the age of 25, has just one her first Oscar and is the rising star of the moment, that moment being 1955. But she gives up her career just as it was taking off she marries the Monacan Prince Ranier III (Tim Roth). Director Oliver Dahan explains frequently that it’s not a biography but an exploration of the reasons behind a seemingly bizarre decision (Nov 29th).

Three other films will finish our November preview. Their all likely to make great box-office hits but two of them are in contention for Oscar noms. Carrie is one of them and I reckon stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore are in the running for an Academy Award shortlist. The story, based on the Stephen king novel and Brian De Palma film, is of the titular teenage girl Carrie who finds herself with strange abilities as she enters puberty. She decides to use them to gruesome effect against her tormentors. Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry which won Hilary Swank an Oscar) is the director (Nov 29th).

Homefront boasts an impressive cast in the form of Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo as well as screenwriter Sylvester Stallone and director Gary Fleder (The Express, Runaway Jury). A former DEA officer hopes to start a new life when he moves to a new quiet town with his young daughter but he gets on the wrong side of local meth dealer Gator and violence soon follows. We like to call it: Breaking Dad! (Nov 29th)

Destined for greatness is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the sequel to last year’s surprise sci-fi success and adaptation of the Suzanne Collins young adult novel. Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) is the director this time as Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) realises that her Hunger Games victory with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) may have sparked the ideals of revolution within the starving people of Panem. Confronted by President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland), she must dampen the rebellious fire before it causes a head on collision with the Capitol. Also with Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Jeffery Wright, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Sam Clafin, Jena Malone, Willow Shields and Phillips Seymour Hoffman (Nov 21st).

Thanks for reading the whole of this one through. It means that you now have November 2013’s releases laid out in front of you for you to pick and that you have a much longer attention span than I d