Above is the first official image from this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special or, as we must now call it, The Time of the Doctor. The title stems from this year’s “of the Doctor” mini series. It started with the series seven finale The Name of the Doctor. The second major instalment of this trilogy was last Saturday’s 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor but that was preceded by the short film The Night of the Doctor. The Time of the Doctor will conclude Matt Smith’s time as the Doctor and will also introduce Peter Capaldi as the new incarnation. We won’t see Capaldi properly until Autumn next year when series eight begins with a two part episode directed by Ben Wheatley.
We know Jenna Coleman will star as Clara but no other castings are confirmed. The Silence, the Weeping Angels, the Cyberman and the Daleks are confirmed to be just some of the villains to feature and I think that they’re unlikely to leave Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and Commander Strax (Dan Starkey) or indeed River Song (Alex Kingston).
Two Hercules films are to battle it out in 2014. We’ve no idea how the studios managed this but it’s awfully bad luck as their both hovering over August. One, Hercules, is from director Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand, Rush Hour, Red Dragon), stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the title role with John Hurt, Peter Mullan, Rebecca Ferguson, Ian McShane and Joseph Fiennes and goes for a tale set after the traditional Twelve Labours of Hercules legend.
The other is Hercules: The Legend Begins. Renny Harlin, director of Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and Deep Blue Sea, is calling the shots on a production which doesn’t seem to have many major stars beside Twilight’s Kellan Lutz. The first trailer reveals that this may have enough action and stun in it to go beyond the seemingly limited cast. With two versions of the Greek tale in production, the release is subject for change but it should come in August 8th.
The new trailer for The Boxtrolls has also landed. It serves as a cinematic teaser and a peek behind the scenes of an animation style that’s notoriously technical. Laika are the team behind brilliant stop-motion hits such as ParaNorman and Coraline so we can expect great things from this dark fantasy comedy. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Elle Fanning, Toni Collete, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade, Jared Harris and Isaac Hempstead Wright all lend their voices while Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi direct.
We’ve now got some lovely new pics fresh from the editing room of Academy Award winning director Peter Jackson’s fantasy sequel The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (click next to cycle through). Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Dean O’Gorman, Ian McKellen, Sylvester McCoy and Luke Evans are the focus of today’s update.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – December 13th
The Boxtrolls – September 12th 2014
Hercules: The Legend Begins – August 8th 2014
Doctor Who 2013 Christmas Special/The Time of the Doctor – December 25th
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