Star Wars adds two cast members, Singer confirms X-Men director’s cut, first look at McKellen’s Holmes and first trailer for Exodus

Earlier this year, Days of Future Past, the fantastic seventh instalment in the X-Men franchise, became a phenomenal success critically and commercially; it’s easily the best of the series so far and the highest grossing of the year so far but those yet to see it may want to avoid the next SPOILER HEAVY paragraph.

You may well remember that Anna Paquin’s Rogue was initially set to return in the sequel/prequel/crossover as part of the 2023 team but she was completely cut bar the lineless cameo alongside James Marsden, Famke Janssen and Kelsey Grammer in the alternate future. Since then we’ve learned that the original plan was for Rogue to have been captured by the Sentinels prompting an attempted rescue by Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) whilst Wolverine is being sent back, a scene briefly glimpsed in the trailer. We’d love to see this scene in an extended cut of the film as it’d provide more screentime to the criminally underused McKellen.

Taking to Twitter for a Q&A, director Bryan Singer (X-Men 2, Valkyrie, The Usual Suspects) responded to a fan’s plea for a director’s cut with the above scene with “Yes! Coming later this year.” Hopefully out for Christmas, the director’s cut will star Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Halle Berry and Ian McKellen.

Last year, the production of Star Wars: Episode VII took to the road across the UK holding numerous auditions with thousands turning up for the chance of a part. When the main cast was unveiled only young Brit Daisy Ridley seemed to have come from the auditions but now a pair of unknowns are confirmed as part of the new ensemble. The UK’s Pip Andersen and America’s Crystal Clarke have been selected for roles yet to be revealed by the new Star Wars brain trust, the writing/directing combination of Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back), Josh Trank (Chronicle), Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla), Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), JJ Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Lost, Super 8) and Rian Johnson (Breaking Bad, Brick, Looper).

Episode VII will star Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Lord of the Rings), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Harrison Ford (Blade Runner), Mark Hamill (Arkham City), Carrie Fisher (The Blues Brothers), Adam Driver (Tracks), John Boyega (Imperial Dreams, Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Toast of London), Peter Mayhew (Killer Ink), Kenny Baker (Amadeus, Labyrinth), Anthony Daniels (The Lego Movie), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, The Two Faces of January), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) and Max Von Sydow (The Exorcist, Minority Report, Shutter Island).

There have been countless on screen incarnations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary Victorian detective Sherlock Holmes but three are running simultaneously right now. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law star in the blockbuster big screen adaptation, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman take the leads in BBC’s modern reinvention and Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu in the indirect US remake Elementary. Our perception of the character could well be rewritten with the new portrayal coming from two time Oscar nominee Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, X-Men, Apt Pupil).

Mr Holmes, previously titled A Slight Trick of the Mind, sees an elderly version of the detective retiring to a beekeeping home in the mid-twentieth century and recalling his one unsolvable case. Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, The Fifth Estate) also directs Laura Linney (Kinsey, The Truman Show, Mystic River. A first look at the film (above) was revealed earlier today.

The upcoming biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings is finally beginning to take shape. Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, American Gangster, Gladiator) directs the Oscar hopeful which may well be the grandest scale seen on film yet. If it’s as good as it promises there should be masses of box office interest. Get a very first glimpse at the film here and find the first poster below. Exodus will star Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley, Aaron Paul and Sigourney Weaver.

Exodus – December 26th

Mr Holmes – 2015

X-Men: Days of Future Past – The Director’s Cut – late 2014

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

Kelsey Grammer talks reprising Beast role, Daniel Radcliffe hints at Batman and new images from Guardians

There were worries that, post-Deathly Hallows, the Harry Potter franchise’s titular star Daniel Radcliffe would never by able to become a credible actor in the shadow of his famous role. He’s yet to star in any blockbuster action but he’s building himself up as a genuine star with roles in indie films such as Horns, What If and Kill Your Darlings. He is set to be returning to the land of mainstream with Victor Frankenstein and Tokyo Vice but he’s now hinting at a far bigger gig.

“If they reboot that again, I’ll do that too,” said Radcliffe of the Batman series. “It’s happening, isn’t it? With Ben Affleck. I could be Robin! I’m perfect.” It’s quite likely that the Brit is teasing the media who so often inflate any loose statement from him into a full blown confirmation. Even if this is reliable, Robin is no longer a credible character so an appearance from Nightwing would be more probable. Zack Snyder’s (300, Watchmen, Man of Steel) sequel Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will star Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Amy Adams, Ray Fisher, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons and Laurence Fishburne.

Looking into the future, only certain projects have been confirmed to be expanding (or X-panding) the X-Men universe. They are Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse (focussing on the First Class graduates of Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Channing Tatum and Hugh Jackman) and James Mangold’s Wolverine 3 as well as the in-development X-Force (Jeff Wadlow), Mystique, Gambit and Deadpool (Tim Miller/Ryan Reynolds). One instalment that fans are beginning to cry out for is a follow up for stars of the original trilogy (Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Daniel Cudmore, Anna Paquin, Ben Foster and Ian McKellen). Golden Globe winner Kelsey Grammer, who brilliantly portrayed Beast/Hank McCoy in the disappointing The Last Stand, has expressed interest in returning. “I hope to do another,” confirms the star. “I hope they find some way to come up with a new story that involves Beast in my timeline.”

Well X-Men, Godzilla, Lego and Cap have been and gone and it’ll be another few months before Interstellar and Hobbit get to fill our screens so right now Guardians of the Galaxy and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes have our attention for this summer. Today, we’re talking about the former as our buddies from the ever-brilliant Empire have unveiled the very first look at Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Lincoln) flanked by fellow villains Nebula (Karen Gillan – Doctor Who, Oculus) and Korath (Djimon Hounsou – Gladiator, Blood Diamond). James Gunn (Slither, Super) commands the cast of Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, John C Reilly, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin.

X-Men: Days of Future Past review

Director: Bryan Singer

Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Omar Sy, Josh Helman, Lucas Till, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Daniel Cudmore, Evan Jonigkeit, Mark Camacho

Across fourteen years and seven movies, the X-Men have always been far behind their other Marvel counterparts, such as the multi billion Avengers or Spider-Man, at the box office and in recent years have slipped back from their critical credibility; the series only three three instalments to really be proud of, namely 1, 2 and First Class. Fox’s masterplan to return X-Men to its status as the superhero monopoly is to bring back Bryan Singer (the man who made the mutants into a success), take one the most famous X-Men storylines (Phoenix and Hellfire Club are already taken), unite two very different casts and ramp up the budget to $200 million, risky business for a franchise yet to individually surpass the $500 million mark.

The year is 2023 and The Sentinels, adapting robots programmed to kill all mutants and humans carrying the X-Gene, have ravaged the world into an apocalyptic wasteland. The remaining X-Men, Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (McKellen), Storm (Berry), Colossus (Cudmore) and Iceman (Ashmore), opt to use the powers of Kitty Pryde (Page) to project Wolverine’s (Jackman) consciousness into his body fifty years ago in order to prevent Mystique (Lawrence) from inadvertently instigating The Sentinels’ creation. To do this, Logan must unite the younger Charles (McAvoy) and Erik (Fassbender) at a time that they couldn’t be further apart.

Days of Future Past has divided opinion but it’s indisputable that its increase in scale confirms it as the first truly epic mutant adventure. It’s immensely exciting for X-Men comic fans to, at last, see the series finally reaching The Avengers’ heights. It may well be overshadowed by the recent Godzilla but, painstakingly trying to not give too much away, Magneto’s stadium sequence is one of the great set pieces of the year.

While arguably scattershot and rough in its plot, the film’s script, constructed in chief by Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, is the first to have genuine power in its dialogue – fans may get teary. The decision to make Mystique the villain who has to be stopped philosophically rather than physically is inspired. The Dark Knight can sleep easy and its still the best superhero film of all time but DOFP is by far the most emotional.

Across the giant ensemble, the majority of that emotional power comes from a masterful performance from James McAvoy. His Xavier is a broken one since his crippling incident eleven years before, regularly taking a serum that gives his legs life but crucially takes away his telepathic powers. Logan was once a recluse reformed by Xavier and, although the Canadian is infamously intolerant, he must now return the favour. This leads to the most electrifying discussion there’s been in an action movie in a meeting of minds between McAvoy and the equally admirable Patrick Stewart.

Hugh Jackman meanwhile is channelling his usual action steeliness but thankfully this is the first time that he’s really owned the role since X2. Wolverine’s action in this instalment is excellently wince inducing, at last ridding the artificial feel of the other films’ violence. The rebar sequence is exactly how to genuinely horrify within the 12A region

She may not have a scratch on Katniss (The Hunger Games) or Tiffany (Silver Linings Playbook) but Mystique is fastly becoming an icon of Jennifer Lawrence’s career and the X-Men franchise in general. Here, she finally has a role pivotal to the plot and Lawrence portrays the shapeshifter with a perfect mix of angst and mysterious allure.

Despite the mega cast, all the buzz seems to be around Evan Peters’ scene-stealingly charismatic portrayal of Quicksilver and deservedly so. Pietro Maximoff’s super speed antics during the Pentagon raid are undoubtedly the funniest action scenes there have ever been. I’ve now got serious doubts in Aaron Taylor Johnson’s performance in the upcoming Avengers sequel Age of Ultron.

Nick Hoult’s Beast (who subscribes to the same serum as Xavier) and Ellen Page’s Kitty (who’d be killed should the dormant Logan lash out at any given moment) are as lovable as ever while I admire the extension of continuity with the inclusion of minor roles such as Toad (Jonigkeit), Styker (Helman)and Havok (Till) but many classic characters are undernourished in a Xavier-centric storyline, most obviously Magneto. The series’ most formidable actor Ian McKellen is given frustratingly little to do while it seems that his younger counterpart Michael Fassbender never quite has the full on menace that he had in First Class.

Also criminally underused is fan favourite Storm, the only mutant who actually needs an origin story. While Berry herself brilliantly kicks off the most devastating scene in the film, she hardly gets a line in within the sprawling action and the same goes for Shawn Ashmore’s (now) bearded Iceman. Less surprisingly, Colossus is again deprived of the development he gets in the comics; casting Magik for future films could bring him to the forefront of the narrative. Maybe we shoud just feel lucky that they made it; we all know what happened to Anna Paquin’s Rogue

Alongside the traditional X-Men, DOFP introduces a new roster of mutants, Bishop, Warpath, Sunspot and Blink, about 50% of which are awesome. Blink, played by China’s Fan Bingbing, can essentially play Valve’s Portal in real life (the dream of every gamer) without the device while time traveller Bishop (French star Omar Sy), as well as giving the team some much needed ethnic diversity, just has a boss blaster. They both accelerate the mayhem of the frantic but ingenious opening set piece. Sadly, the addition of Sunspot (Adan Canto) and Warpath (Booboo Stewart) may excite the fans but their lack of contribution to anything but the spectacle only increased frustration that so many got so little.

The spectacle is something that Days of Future Past gets bang on. Singer doesn’t formulaically stream the CG into our eyes but uses to terrifying effect with the mutant targeting robots known as the Sentinels, the creation of falsely martyred monster Bolivar Trask (impeccably played by Peter Dinklage). They do begin as a bit of a standard giant robot in the ’70s setting but, in the future, they become truly demonic beasts.

Singer’s return to X-Men isn’t as dark as Watchmen, as smart as The Dark Knight or as plainly fun as The Avengers yet it has read a page of all of their books and is easily the most emotional superhero film of all time. It ramps the scale up to 11 and still retains its human drama. Way too many major stars get stuck in tiny roles but arguably that allows leads McAvoy, Stewart, Lawrence, Hoult, Jackman, Page and Peters to excel and it finally has a narrative that revolutionizes what we thought we knew about X-Men.

9/10

“The past: a place of potential promise, and possibility. We are the sum of our choices, as what we do now defines what we will do. Infinite decisions mean infinite consequences, for the future is never truly set.”

Cuaron retreats from Fantastic Beasts and Kinberg teases original mutants for X-Men: Apoclypse

The spin off of the most successful film franchise of all time (Harry Potter) has a confirmed writer (JK Rowling), release date (November 2016) and title (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). The fantasy adventure will depict legendary wizard Newt Scamander travelling the world in search of its most fearsome creatures, seventy years before Harry and co read the textbook based on his notes. The next logical step is the appointment of a director and the only one of those to be mentioned in contention for the job was Oscar winner Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gravity). However, the Mexican has confirmed that it’s not in his plans. He’s taking a quick break from directing but has expressed interest in making a back to roots horror with fewer time-consuming visual effects. He’s still yet to offer comment on the rumour of his part in The Shining prequel The Overlook Hotel.

Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men, X2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Apt Pupil, Valkyrie) is set to bring sci-fi disaster epic X-Men: Apocalypse (the eight in the series) to us in 2016 with the First Class graduates Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and James McAvoy as well as Channing Tatum and Hugh Jackman (still waiting for word on Evan Peters, Lucas Till and Rose Byrne). We weren’t sure if the main cast would expand beyond this until writer Simon Kinberg announced that “It will focus primarily on the First Class cast but it will certainly have some of the original cast involved, too.”

The return of the original X-Men (James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Kelsey Grammer, Ben Foster, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn) cast has long been rumoured but this is the first real confirmation. Many of them (Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Daniel Cudmore, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Ian McKellen) do reappear in this month’s DOFP, which is making a huge impact on the box office.

Also today, the ever excellent Empire Magazine are celebrating their 301st issue and their 25th birthday with a poll of the 301 greatest films of all time, voted for by the fans. So, to find out if Rocky knocked out Raging Bull, if Lord of the Rings (You Shall Not) passed Avatar, if The Dark Knight rised over Avengers or if Star Wars shrieked “Noooooo!” as Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Inception, Fight Club or Godfather beat it to the top spot, click here. You can find the full list as well as Empire’s monthly goodness in their next issue this Thursday.

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – November 18th 2016

ABC calls for more Marvel TV, Bourne 5 gets a new writer and John Goodman and Ken Watanabe

The Bourne Legacy was a fairly mediocre action spin-off to a modern masterpiece trilogy, and was a minor box office let down, and yet Universal want to expand on Aaron Cross’ (Jeremy Renner) story, despite Matt Damon, the original Jason Bourne, saying he’s willing to do another with director Paul Greengrass. We had believed that Sherlock Holmes’ Anthony Peckham would be the new Bourne’s writer but newcomer Andrew Baldwin has been appointed. Baldwin has no existing credits but has multiple projects in development such as Bastille Day and The Outsider. As long as the script has smarts to it, my only existed issue would be the style. The Bourne films are far more hard hitting when they subscribe to less CG effects but that’s unlikely with Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) aboard.

The principal photography of Michael Bay’s action sequel Transformers: Age of Extinction wrapped up long ago but that hasn’t stopped it from making a few last minute castings. These aren’t your run of the mill extras or post production stand ins. Golden Globe winner John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, Monsters Inc, Argo, The Artist, Barton Fink) and Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, Inception, Letter From Iwo Jima, Godzilla, Batman Begins) will be voicing their own transformers named Hound and Drift respectively. They join the likes of Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, Peter Cullen, Nicola Peltz, TJ Miller, Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci in the cast.

Agents of SHIELD hasn’t been the ratings smash many expected but the meticulous twists of the second half of its first season have been great fun. That lead to the making of Netflix’s The Defenders but ABC will be looking to install future Marvel adventures. It’s pleasing to hear that a second series has been confirmed, most likely in time for the new season.

As well as this, Captain America star Hayley Atwell took to Twitter to confirm a 13 part Agent Carter series which, if successful, will likely be extended to 22. The expansion of 2013’s Agent Carter short film will likely explore the origins of SHIELD shortly after WW2. Hopping and dancing around MAOS and The Winter Soldier spoilers, we’d be surprised if the eagle eyed Carter doesn’t find something askew in the intelligence organisation. Although there’s been no word on this, it’d be awesome if the films’ stars Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark) and Toby Jones (Arnim Zola) reprised their roles to become series regulars.

Agent Carter – 2015 on ABC

Agents of SHIELD season 2 – this autumn on ABC

The Bourne Betrayal? – August 21st 2015

Transformers: Age of Extinction – July 10th

James Cameron talks Avatar’s script and Transformers 4 paves way for new trilogy

Following up from the highest grossing film of all time is no simple achievement, especially with the seven year gap its leaving. 2009’s Avatar became the first film to gross over $2 billion worldwide and its director James Cameron (Titanic, Aliens, True Lies, The Abyss, The Terminator, Terminator 2) has spoken up about the development of Avatar 2, 3 and 4.

“The second, third and fourth films all go into production simultaneously. They’re essentially all in pre-production now because we are designing creatures, settings and characters that span all three films. And we should be finished with all three scripts within the next, I would say, six weeks.” Remember that Shane Salerno (Armageddon), Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds) and Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have all been appointed to work on the various sequels.

“There’s always pressure, whether it’s a new film or whether it’s a sequel, to entertain and amaze an audience,” he said. “I’ve felt that pressure my entire career, so there’s nothing new there. The biggest pressure I feel right now is cutting out things I love to get the film down to a length that is affordable. There hasn’t been a problem finding new and wonderful things to include in the movie.” The future Avatar films are expected to star Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver.

Three years have passed since the critical hammering but billion dollar takings of Dark of the Moon, Michael  Bay (Bad Boys, Pain and Gain, Pearl Harbour) will release his third Transformers film, this one titled Age of Extinction. The revamped human cast of Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci will feature alongside the classic Autobots we know and love in a sequel which looks like it’s in a pleasingly different tone to its predecessors.

This is most likely because Age of Extinction has plans to be the first in a new trilogy of ‘Formers movies, although Bay expressed doubt in directing these future instalments. We can’t argue with that decision – since 2007’s Transformers he hasn’t made a single good movie and a fresh view can solve that, leaving Bay free to make the long-desired Bad Boys 3. It’s been hinted that the central character of the new set of films could be Lockdown so we should look out for some secretive cameos in the next film.

Transformers: Age of Extinction – July 10th

Transformers 5 – 2016?

Transformers 6 – 2018?

Avatar 2 – December 2016

Avatar 3 – December 2017

Avatar 4 – December 2018

Toby Kebbell cast as Fantastic Four’s Doctor Doom and Stallone, Statham, Schwarzenegger, Snipes and more in Expendables 3 posters

The recent trend of having a dozen character banners for a blockbuster hasn’t taken a new twist today. Normally, each poster’s unveiling is staggered up to the release but ensemble action sequel The Expendables 3 has taken the risky step of going for every member of the giant cast all at once. It’d be pretty extensive work to publish them all so we’re only going to unveil a quick sample but you can enjoy all of the cast here. The film features Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Terry Crews, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Kelsey Grammer, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Victor Ortiz and Glen Powell. Red Hill’s Patrick Hughes directs.

It’s fair to say that Fox have missed out on a major opportunity to cast Dredd and About Time’s brilliant Domhnall Gleeson, who was rumoured alongside Eddie Redmayne and Sam Riley, as Doctor Doom. The Fantastic Four’s nemesis has been confirmed to be portrayed by The Counsellor and Dead Man Shoes star Toby Kebbell. We shouldn’t judge too quickly; Kebbell will be raising his profile with major roles in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Warcraft. The four titular superheroes will be played by Michael B Jordan, Kate Mara, Miles Teller and Jamie Bell and are directed by Chronicle’s Josh Trank.

The Expendables 3 – August 15th

The Fantastic Four – June 18th 2015

The Super-Bowl 2014 Trailers special: Transformers 4, Noah and more!

We’re not venturing into sports just yet but the American Football extravaganza known as Superbowl is a huge event for advertising. With well over 100 million Americans watching, companies have to pay the whopping sum of $8 million dollars just for a one minute advertising slot. Only the biggest of big budget, big star blockbusters can afford to make the cut so you may be quite surprised when I tell you that among the nine titanic efforts trailered last night is the new project from Darren Aronofsky!

But before we get to that, we have the matter of a movie I recently predicted to make over a billion dollars. I speak of the fourquel of a monster series – Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Director Michael Bay (Armaggedon, Pearl Harbour, Bad Boys) returns to the series after a quick, and unsuccessful, break to make Pain and Gain. The franchise hopes to continue it success with an new human cast with Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor, replacing the old guard of Shia LaBeaouf, Rosie Huntington-Whitley and Megan Fox. This time, the Autobots are at battle with the villainous Dinobots and the technology tycoon Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), the former is revealed in the very first trailer. The film also stars Stanley Tucci and Peter Cullen. July 10th.

The second instalment in this nine-part epic is Marvel’s very own Captain America: The Winter Soldier. We’ve seen footage from this before but Superbowl unveiled the second trailer, which offers more in depth look at new antagonist The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). The plot pitches Captain America (Chris Evans) still adjusting to life in the 21st Century as well as working with SHIELD Agents such as Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Crossbones (Frank Grillo) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to bring down a new menace who’s terrorising Washington. Cap 2 also stars Emily VanCamp, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Attwell and Toby Jones and is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. March 28th.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is next. Marc Webb returns to direct the sequel which increases the stakes for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) who has to balance life between his superhero alter ego Spider-Man, who’s battling Electro (Jamie Foxx), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the sinister father/son double act of Oscorp (Dane DeHaan as Harry and Chris Cooper as Norman), and normal life with the grieving Gwen (Emma Stone) and lonely Aunt May (Sally Field). The new trailer can be found here. To be honest, I’m not that impressed. April 18th.

Following on from their “Across the Internet” campaign, Muppets Most Wanted has launched a new ad in which the new doppelganging villain Clementine literally reaches out to us Across the Internet. Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, Stanley Tucci, Ricky Gervais, Lady Gaga, Tom Hiddleston, Salma Hayek, Christoph Waltz and Danny Trejo make up the human cast alongside the classic Muppets such as Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Sam the Eagle, Beaker, Dr Honeydrew, Walter and Animal. Flight of the Conchords/The Muppets’ James Bobin directs. March 28th.

With a premise of no CG, just expensive cars going ridiculously fast, video game adaptation Need for Speed is actually in good shape. It sees newly released ex-con Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman) getting back into the dragraces that got him locked up for a year. Upon hearing the news, Marshall’s ex racing partner Dino (Dominic Cooper – Marvel’s Howard Stark) puts a bounty on his head. Scott Waugh (Act of Valour) directs a huge cast including Michael Keeton, Dakota Johnson, Scott Mescudi and Imogen Poots. The superbowl spot can be found here. March 12th.

We return to the aforementioned Darren Aronofsky who, after impressing with the likes of Black Swan, The Wrestler, Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, makes his comeback with a huge budget and cast list for his new epic picture Noah. The new trailer is available but I’m shocked that a director as prestigious as Aronofsky would fall to the depths of a Twitter hashtag; this time it’s “#TheFloodIsComing”!. The film stars Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ray Winstone, Kevin Durand, Douglas Booth, Nick Nolte and Frank Langella. April 4th.

Pompeii seems to me like one of the potential box office clunkers of the year with a decent cast list which doesn’t match its huge budget but director Paul WS Anderson (Event Horizon, Resident Evil) may prove me wrong. The new trailer unveils a fair bit of spectacle so the film won’t rely on the cast of Kit Harrington, Carrie Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Jessica Lucas, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jared Harris and Jessica Lucas alone. May 2nd.

3 Days to Kill launched a new trailer too. McG (This Means War, Terminator: Salvation, We Are Marshall, Charlie’s Angles) directs this new action thriller starring Kevin Costner as an dying agent who teams up with his daughter for one last assignment which get him the life saving drug he needs. Also starring Amber Heard, Connie Nielson and Hailee Steinfeld. February 21st.

Lastly, we have another Kevin Costner project. Draft Day sees the manger of American Football’s Cleveland Browns who’s struggling to find the number one draft pick for his team. Costner will star alongside Terry Crews, Jennifer Garner and Ellen Burstyn while director Ivan Reitman (Ghost Busters, No Strings Attached). April 11th

Action triple-bill special with Need for Speed, The Expendables 3 and Fast and Furious 7

After the tragic death of Paul Walker last month, the production Fast and Furious 7 has been in a halt; the summer 2014 release date fell apart. The sequel will now have to deal with the huge competition of 2015. Star Trek 3 , Warcraft (March 11th), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Avatar 2, Finding Dory (June 17th) and Angry Birds (July 1st) have already spilled into 2016 to avoid ’15’s Batman vs. Superman (July 17th), Ant-Man (July 31st), The Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1st), Cinderella (March 13th), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (November 20th), The Bourne Betrayal (August 14th), Assassin’s Creed (August 7th), San Andreas (June 5th), Bond 24 (October 23rd), Mission: Impossible 5 (25th December), The Good Dinosaur (November 25th), Inside Out (June 19th), The Minions (July 10th) and Star Wars: Episode VII (18th December). Fast 7 is directed by James Wan (The Conjuring, Insidious, Saw) and stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham and the late great Paul Walker.

Need for Speed is a plotless game franchise that relies on the thrill of its gameplay alone for success. While the series has constantly churned out excellence year by year, you wouldn’t think this format would be decent cinematic material but Act of Valor director Scott Waugh is confident that with his brilliant cast, Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Dakota Johnson (The Social Network), Imogen Poots (The Look of Love), Michael Keaton (Batman) and Dominic Cooper (Captain America), he can make Need for Speed a hit. An awesome new poster has come in for your own admiration.

You can now relish in the first teaser for The Expendables 3. Red Hill’s Patrick Hughes directs the overgrown cast in this action sequel which features, from left to right in the trailer, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Randy Couture, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Victor Ortiz, Kelsey Grammer, Wesley Snipes, Kellan Lutz, Glen Powell and Ronda Rousey (aka the least feminine ensemble you’ve ever seen)! Jackie Chan, Milla Jovovich and Nick Cage are still rumoured for roles.

Need for Speed – March 14th 2014

Fast and Furious 7 – April 10th 2015

The Expendables 3 – August 25th 2014

(World of) Warcraft delayed to 2016 and eight new pics from Transformers 4

Duncan Jones, as well as being son of pop royalty David Bowie, is one of the most accomplished science fiction directors of this century after calling the shots on the brilliant Moon and Source Code. He’s been signed on for a video game adaptation titled Warcraft for a long while now with stars such as Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, Paula Patton, Anton Yelchin, Anson Mount and Travis Fimmel in contention for roles in the fantasy. It was scheduled for December 18th 2015 but, as you may know, a minor sci-fi instalment called Star Wars: Episode VII moved, from Lost, Super 8 and Into Darkness’ JJ Abrams, into that date so Jones has had to pull out into March 2016. It couldn’t go a week earlier thanks to Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible 5 filling in the Christmas spot. The only release close to it now is Mama director Andres Muschietti’s reboot of Stephen Sommers’ Mummy franchise which arrives in April 2016.

Next in this shorter than usual post, we’re going to show some new pics from behind the production as well as some stills from Michael Bay’s new sci-fi sequel Transformers: Age of Extinction. If you’re screaming “but where’s Sam ?” you’ve missed some production details such as the fact that previously key stars like Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington Whitley, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Kevin Dunn and Julie White won’t feature and move over for a new cast featuring Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci and Jack Reynor. We won’t get to see any fully animated pics of Optimus Prime or the new villainous Dinobots as they’ll take a long time to digitally paint these detailed characters in post production.

Transformers: Age of Extinction – July 10th 2014

Warcraft – March 2016