Comic-Con 2015 – Suicide Squad, X-Men 8, Sherlock, Warcraft and more

The San Diego Comic-Con of 2015 has arrived in style with some of the biggest announcements of the year. We’ll roundup some of the biggest events of film’s biggest weekend.

Film: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Panelists: Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss, Silver Linings Playbook), Liam Hemsworth (Gale, The Expendables 2), Josh Hutcherson (Peeta, Escobar: Paradise Lost), Willow Shields (Primrose, Beyond the Blackboard), Francis Lawrence (director, I am Legend), Nina Jacobson (producer, One Day), Conan O’Brien (superfan)
Release: November 2015

Show: Doctor Who season 9
Panelists: Peter Capaldi (The Doctor, In the Loop), Jenna Coleman (Clara, Death Comes to Pemberly), Michelle Gomez (Missy, Green Wing), Steven Moffatt (writer, Sherlock)
Release: September 2015

Show: Sherlock season 3.5
Panelists: Rupert Graves (Lestrade, The White Queen), Steven Moffatt (writer, Doctor Who), Sue Vertue (producer, Coupling)
Release: December 2015

Film: Rock the Kasbah
Panelists: Bill Murray (Ghost Busters), Bruce Willis (Die Hard), Zooey Deschanel (Elf), Danny McBride (This is the End), Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), Scott Caan (Ocean’s Eleven), Mitch Glazer (producer, Magic City)
Release: October 2015

Shows: Agents of SHIELD season 3, Agent Carter season 2
Panelists: Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter, Testament of Youth), James D’Arcy (Edwin Jarvis, Cloud Atlas), Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson, Much Ado About Nothing), Chloe Bennett (Daisy Johnson, Nashville), Brett Dalton (Grant Ward, Beyond Still Water), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May, Mulan), Iain De Caestecker (Leo Fitz, In Fear), Elizabeth Henstridge (Gemma Simmons, Delicacy), Nick Blood (Lance Hunter, Babylon), Adrianne Palicki (Bobbi Morse, John Wick), Henry Simmons (Alpohnso McKenzie, No Good Deed), Luke Mitchell (Lincoln Campbell, The Tomorrow People), Jeph Loeb (producer, Heroes)
Release: September 2015 and January 2016 respectively.

Film: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Panelists: John Boyega (Finn, Attack the Block), Daisy Ridley (Rey, Toast of London), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron, A Most Violent Year), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren, Girls), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux, Ex Machina), Gwendoline Christie (Captain Phasma, Game of Thrones), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker, Arkham City), Carrie Fisher (Leia Solo, When Harry Met Sally), Harrison Ford (Han Solo, Blade Runner), Kathleen Kennedy (producer, Jurassic Park), Lawrence Kasdan (writer, Raiders of the Lost Ark), JJ Abrams (writer/director, Star Trek Into Darkness)
Release: December 2015

Film: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Panelists: Lily James (Elizabeth Bennett, Cinderella), Bella Heathcote (Jane Bennett, Dark Shadows), Sam Riley (Mr Darcy, One the Road), Douglas Booth (Mr Bingley, Noah), Jack Huston (Mr Whickham, American Hustle), Matt Smith (Mr Collins, Doctor Who), Ben Sturr (writer/director, 17 Again), Seth Grahame Smith (author, Dark Shadows)
Release: February 2016

Film: Crimson Peak
Panelists: Mia Wasikowska (Edith Cushing, Stoker), Tom Hiddleston (Thomas Sharpe, Avengers Assemble), Jessica Chastain (Lucille Sharpe, Interstellar), Guillermo Del Toro (writer/director, Pacific Rim)
Release: October 2015

Film: Warcraft
Panelists: Ben Foster (Medivh, Lone Survivor), Paula Patton (Garona, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Dominic Cooper (Llane Wrynn, Captain America: The First Avenger), Travis Fimmel (Anduin Lothar, Vikings), Daniel Wu (Gul’dan, The Man With the Iron Fists), Clancy Brown (Blackhand, The Shawshank Redemption), Ben Schnetzer (Khadgar, Pride), Toby Kebbell (Durotan, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Duncan Jones (director, Source Code)
Release: June 2016

Film: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Panelists: Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne, Argo), Henry Cavill (Clark Kent, The Man From UNCLE), Gal Gadot (Diana Prince, Fast & Furious), Amy Adams (Lois Lane, American Hustle), Jesse Eisenberg (Lex Luthor, The Social Network), Jeremy Irons (Alfred Pennyworth, The Lion King), Holly Hunter (Senator Finch, Cast Away), Zack Snyder (director, 300)
Summary: The superhero smackdown showed off a trailer and Q&A.
Release: March 2016

Film: The Hateful Eight
Panelists: Kurt Russell (John Ruth, The Thing), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Daisy Domergue, Road to Perdition), Walton Goggins (Chris Mannix, The Shield), Michael Madsen (Joe Gage, Donnie Brasco), Tim Roth (Oswaldo Mobray, Selma), Bruce Dern (Sandy Smithers, Nebraska), Quentin Tarantino (writer/director, Pulp Fiction)
Release: January 2016

Film: Fantastic Four
Panelists: Miles Teller (Reed Richards, Whiplash), Michael B Jordan (Johnny Storm, Fruitvale Station), Kate Mara (Susan Storm, House of Cards), Jamie Bell (Ben Grimm, The Adventures of Tintin), Toby Kebbell (Victor Domashev, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Simon Kinberg (writer, Sherlock Holmes), Josh Trank (director, Chronicle)
Release: August 2015

Film: Deadpool
Panelists: Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson, Safe House), Morena Baccarin (Vanessa Carlyle, Serenity), Gina Carano (Angel Dust, Haywire), TJ Miller (Weasel, Cloverfield), Ed Skrein (Ajax, Ill Manors), Brianna Hildebrand (Ellie Phimister, Prism), Tim Miller (director, Gopher Broke)
Release: February 2016

Film: X-Men: Apocalypse
Panelists: James McAvoy (Charles Xavier, Trance), Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr, Prometheus), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven Darkholme, The Hunger Games), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy, Warm Bodies), Oscar Isaac (En Sabah Nur, A Most Violent Year), Evan Peters (Peter Maximoff, American Horror Story), Lucas Till (Alex Summers, Walk the Line), Tye Sheridan (Scott Summers, The Tree of Life), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey, Game of Thrones), Alexandra Shipp (Ororo Munroe, Ray Donovan), Kodi Smit McPhee (Kurt Wagner, The Road), Ben Hardy (Warren Worthington, Eastenders), Lana Condor (Jubilation Lee), Olivia Munn (Betsy Braddock, The Newsroom), Channing Tatum (Remy LaBeau, 21 Jump Street), Hugh Jackman (Logan, The Prestige), Stan Lee (writer, The Fantastic Four), Simon Kinberg (writer, Sherlock Holmes), Bryan Singer (director, The Usual Suspects)
Release: May 2016

Film Suicide Squad
Panelists: Will Smith (Floyd Lawton, Independence Day), Margot Robbie (Harleen Quinzel, The Wolf of Wall Street), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg, RoboCop), Jai Courtney (George Harkness, Terminator Genisys), Cara Delevinge (Enchantress, Paper Towns), Adam Beach (Christopher Weiss, Flags of our Fathers), Jay Hernandez (Chato Santana, Hostel), Karen Fukuhara (Tatsu Yamashiro), Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje (Waylon Jones, Thor: The Dark World), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller, The Help), David Ayer (director/writer, Fury)
Release: August 2016

The Best Films of 2014 – the Half-Way Point

Looking at any annual film schedule, its evident that the first half of the year can never quite live up to the second and 2014 is no exception. This year really did get off to a rotten start with 47 Ronin, The Legend of Hercules and I Frankenstein dragging their heals at the box-office but this did pave a way for others; The Wolf of Wall Street and Ride Along both enjoyed three consecutive weeks at the top of the UK and US box-office respectively. Following that came some genuine surprises. Wes Anderson’s ensemble comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel reached 1st and 3rd in the UK and US against all odds and The Lego Movie, one of the most poorly marketed films in recent years, was an unexpected treat and certainly and future cult classic.

The biblical format seemed to increase in popularity around Easter with the low-key Christian dramas Heaven is For Real, Son of God and God’s Not Dead taking nearly thirty times their micro-budgets but these religious flicks aren’t proving successful outside of America, besides Aronofsky’s star-driven epic Noah. The “Katniss-effect” of The Hunger Games has evidently given studios the faith to put stronger female characters into the fray of action and adventure with Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent and Shailene Woodley’s Divergent winning out over Johnny Depp’s Transcendence or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Sabotage financially. Edge of Tomorrow even managed it to the extent of Tom Cruise needing saving from Emily Blunt’s ultimate warrior.

In the last six months, certain individuals are lighting up the box-office left, right and centre. Former comedian Kevin Hart has lead a trio of success, Ride Along, About Last Night and Think Like a Man Too, while the Jump Street quartet (director Phil Lord and Chris Miller/stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill) have a cinematic Midas-touch. It’s evident that Lego’s Chris Pratt can do no wrong and, with Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy coming soon, he’s well on his way to man-of-the-year status. The biggest winners of the year have to be Marvel. Even though their heroes are divided across Sony, Fox and Disney, Stan Lee’s creations of Spider-Man, Captain America (kind-of) and the X-Men are currently the three biggest films of the year so far and they’ll only continue to grow bigger.

Below you can find the international box-office top ten followed by our own personal picks of the year so far as well as the ten to look for in the rest of 2014:

International Box-office Top 10:

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Director: Anthony and Joe Russo – Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp, Samuel L Jackson, Hayley Attwell, Toby Jones – Box-office: $710.8 million
2. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper – $703.3 million
3. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Josh Helman, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Lucas Till – $700 million
4. Maleficent – Robert Stromberg – Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville – $531.8 million
5. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche – $478.7 million
6. Rio 2 – Carlos Saldanha – Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Bruno Mars, Jemaine Clement, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am – $469.4 million
7. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders – $467.2 million
8. Noah – Darren Aronofsky – Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Anthony Hopkins – $356.2 million
9. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton, Lena Headey, Jack O’Connell, Rodrigo Santoro, Callan Mulvey, David Wenham – $331.1 million
10. Edge of Tomorrow – Doug Liman – Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong – $298.8 million

Tuorhoth’s Top 10:

1. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Josh Helman, Omar Sy, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Lucas Till
2. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins, Juliette Binoche
3. The Lego Movie – Phil Lord, Chris Miller – Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Charlie Day, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily Van Camp, Samuel L Jackson, Hayley Attwell, Toby Jones
5. Edge of Tomorrow – Doug Liman – Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson, Jonas Armstrong
6. The Two Faces of January – Hossein Amini – Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac, Kirsten Dunst
7. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – Justin Chadwick – Idris Elba, Naomi Harris
8. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Kenneth Branagh – Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Costner, Nonso Anozie, Gemma Chan
9. RoboCop – Jose Padilha – Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Abbie Cornish, Michael Keaton, Jay Baruchel, Jennifer Ehle, Jackie Earle Haley, Aimee Garcia, Michael K Williams, Samuel L Jackson
10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Chris Cooper

Top 10 Anticipated:

1. Interstellar – Christopher Nolan – Matthew MacConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Topher Grace, Casey Affleck, David Oyelowo, John Lithgow, Matt Damon
2. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Peter Jackson – Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Sylvester McCoy, Lee Pace, Manu Bennett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee
3. Gone Girl – David Fincher – Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris, Rosamund Pike
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Samuel L Jackson, Mark Hamill, Mark Strong
5. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, John C Reilly
6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – Jason Clarke, Andy Serkis, James Franco, Judy Greer, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit McPhee
7. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Jena Malone, Sam Clafin, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Natalie Dormer, Philip Seymour, Hoffman
8. Fury – David Ayer – Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Jason Isaacs, Michael Pena, Shia LeBeouf
9. Exodus: Gods and Kings – Ridley Scott – Christian Bale, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley
10. The Judge – David Dobkin – Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga

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

Simon Kinberg talks X-Men: Apocalypse and new poster for Scarlett Johansson thriller Lucy

You’re lucky enough to be getting not one but two review from Tuorhoth this week. Firstly, we’ve got Hossein Amini’s thriller The Two Faces January before we assess our most anticipated film of the year (just ahead of Interstellar, Godzilla, Battle of the Five Armies and Guardians), Bryan Singer’s superhero historical epic X-Men: Days of Future Past. We know of coarse that Singer (Valkyrie, X-Men, X-Men 2, The Usual Suspects) will follow this up with his fourth film in the franchise (the series’ eighth instalment) X-Men: Apocalypse but we’ve refrained from making too many assumptions until we know where DOFP has left us.

Long term X-Men writer/producer Simon Kinberg has given word on the scale of the upcoming film, developing from Future Past’s historical/time-travel feel. “The kind of scope and scale we’re talking about is like disaster movie, extinction level event,” he informs IGN. “Sort of Roland Emmerich-style moviemaking, which you’ve never seen in an X-Men movie, or any superhero movie, which I think is exciting.” This is no reason for the many suffering fatigue of a formulaic, urban, destructive finale to worry. “We’ve also been talking about how to give him a real emotional and philosophical underpinning.

“So he’s (Apocalypse) not just somebody who’s out there destroying the world because he can. What he’s doing is – in his mind – justified and validated by a real compelling, coherent philosophy.” The film will star James McAvoy (Atonement, The Last King of Scotland), Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, 300), Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games, American Hustle), Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Warm Bodies), Channing Tatum (White House Down, 21 Jump Street) and Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables, The Prestige) while we hope for the return of Evan Peters (American Horror Story, Kick-Ass), Lucas Till (Walk the Line, Stoker) and Rose Byrne (Insidious, Bad Neighbours).

Also today, we’ve got our hands on the brand new poster for Luc Besson’s (The Big Blue, Nikita, Leon) superhero thriller Lucy. It pitches an assassin’s brain elevated to full capacity and the actions and repercussions that follow. It stars four time Golden Globe nominee Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers, Lost in Translation, The Prestige, Girl With a Pearl Earing) and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (Seven, Million Dollar Baby, Driving Mrs Daisy, Invictus, The Lego Movie, The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Shawshank Redemption).

Lucy – August 22nd

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Ejiofor rumoured as Bond villain, new X-Men posters and Star Wars 7 already shooting

X-Men returns in a big way with Fox’s tentpole release of Days of Future Past and their publicity campaign took a huge step with the unveiling of ten new posters, which you can admire here. Bryan Singer (Valkyrie, The Usual Suspects, X-Men 2) directs the story of our mutants being hunted down by machines and so they plot to send Wolverine back in time to change events and prevent their apocalyptic world from happening. The action sci-fi stars Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Halle Berry, Daniel Cudmore, Lucas Till, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

British star Chiwetel Ejiofor was a highly respected supporting actor in the likes of Children of Men, American Gangster and Serenity but his career took flight with the lead role of Solomon Northup in Oscar Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave, a film which got him an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA win. He’s now being seriously considered for a villainous role in the next James Bond film.

According to The Wrap, Ejiofor is the studio’s favourite to join the likes of Christopher Walken, Mads Mikkelson, Javier Bardem and Christopher Lee on the prestigious list of Bond villains. He could be joining Daniel Craig, Naomi Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear as well as director Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition, American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Skyfall) for the so far untitled 24th instalment of the James Bond series.

It’ll probably be the highest grossing film of 2015 and yet we don’t know one cast member of Star Wars: Episode VII. As well as the original’s Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford there’s Michael B Jordan, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Flemyng, Sullivan Stapleton, Adam Driver, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugo Weaving, Michael Fassbender, Jack O’Connell, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jack Reynor, Matt Smith, Jesse Plemons, Ed Speelers, Ray Fisher, John Boyega, Matthew James Thomas and Gary Oldman.

It’s director, JJ Abrams (Super 8, Star Trek Into Darkness, Lost, Felicity), had originally announced that filming would kick off this May but he’s just dropped the bombshell that the film is already shooting. We’re not sure if they were just minor scenes or if the scheduled production date was just a ruse to send the press of the spoiler-scent. Abrams also had this to say about the casting development. “We have a lot of them. We’re just not completely done yet.” Surely then we can only be weeks away from an official casting.

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

Bond 24 – October 23rd 2015

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd

Alan Partridge confirms sequel, Holly Hunter and Tao Akamoto join Batman vs Superman and new X-Men Days of Future Past posters

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa was undoubtedly the most surprising British comedy hit of 2013, although, on paper, it sounded terrible. It sees TV’s beloved hapless presenter (brilliantly played by Philomena’s Steve Coogan) reduced to being a washed up North Norfolk Digital broadcaster who takes advantage of being in the limelight when fired-presenter Pat (Colm Meaney) takes the radio station hostage. A sequel now has been confirmed with Patridge and The Thick of It veteran Armando Ianucci working on the script. As long as they can keep up the same kind of comedy, less of the slapstick window-escaping and toilet-entering ventures that slightly dragged down the otherwise brilliant original.

300 and Watchmen’s Zack Snyder has already appointed an incredible ensemble for his Man of Steel sequel Batman vs Superman, although it hasn’t been titled yet. Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane reprise their roles while the film introduces Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg and Jeremy Irons. As if this wasn’t enough, another trio has been added but we’re not sure if they’ll be taking on the parts of Justice League members or classic DC villains.

The Wolverine’s Tao Okomato has been confirmed to star alongside four time Oscar nominee Holly Hunter (Broadcast News, The Piano, Raising Arizona, The Incredibles) and New Zealand’s rising star Callan Mulvey (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 300: Rise of an Empire, Zero Dark Thirty).

This year’s riskiest blockbuster X-Men: Days of Future Past is attempting to further penetrate its place in the summer release status by planting the words “Hugh Jackman” onto each poster. Bryan Singer (X-Men 2, The Usual Suspects, Valkyries) directs the ensemble cast of Jackman, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Halle Berry, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Lucas Till, Daniel Cudmore, Fan Bingbing, Booboo Stewart, Morgan Lily, Omar Sy, Adan Canto, Gregg Lowe, Josh Helman, Evan Jonigkeit, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd

Batman vs. Superman – May 6th 2016

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa 2 – 2016

New X-Men Days of Future Past poster and Fox schedules sequels to Fantastic Four and Wolverine plus mystery Marvel project

Fox is overseeing the release of its tentpole X-Men sequel Days of Future Past but it’s going further to launch new Marvel projects into the future. Following DOFP is X-Men: Apocalypse (May 29th 2016), you can find more about that here, and then a reboot of The Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank, the man behind chilling superhero horror Chronicle, and was recently confirmed to be starring Michael B Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell. The latter is over a year away from release but Fox are confident enough to put in a rudimentary July 2017 release date for a potential sequel.

But that’s not all; we can pencil in the return of Hugh Jackman and James Mangold for March of that year as well as a mystery superhero outing in 2018. We’ve no lead on this so we can timidly speculate these three options First, there’s X-Force, an potential spin off for Days of Future Past’s Bishop directed by Kick Ass 2 and Never Back Down’s Jeff Wadlow. The other obvious choice is Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds’ oddball fantasy Deadpool. Perhaps it’s the long awaited Gambit spin off, starring Channing Tatum and produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, that we’ve heard so much about.

We finish today with another bit of exciting X-Men news. An awesome new poster has been launched. The time travelling thriller stars Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen Page, Lucas Till, Evan Peters, Anna Paquin, Booboo Stewart, Omar Sy, Adan Canto, Josh Helman, Fan Bingbing, Evan Jonigkeit, Daniel Cudmore and Halle Berry. It’s the biggest X-Men movie in terms of scale so far and will hopefully be the best.

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Deadpool – July 3rd 2018?

Gambit – July 3rd 2018?

X-Force – July 3rd 2018?

The Fantastic Four – June 18th 2014

The Fantastic Four 2 – June 14th 2017

The Wolverine 2 – March 3rd 2017

Nightcrawler and Gambit considered for X-Men Apocalypse

Bryan Singer (director of X-Men, The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil and Valkyrie) follows up from this May’s Days of Future Past with another mutant sequel, this time titled Apocalypse. It’ll see the First Class graduates, most likely James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne and Lucas Till, in their second outing where they are the full centre of attention. It’s now confirmed that Singer is considering adding two iconic X-Men to the fold. First there’s Gambit, a staff-wielding, card-throwing fan favourite who saw a half decent incarnation from Taylor Kitsch in the heavily maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Since then, X-producer (?) Laura Shuler Donner has repeatedly expressed interest in bringing Gambit to the big screen with 21 Jump Street star Channing Tatum.

The other mutant in the mix is my personal favourite Nightcrawler, who was last seen in the brilliant X-Men 2 where he was portrayed by Alan Cumming. The blue skinned teleporter is traditionally the offspring of Mystique (Lawrence) and Azazel (Jason Flemyng) but we can’t guarantee that here. This was accompanied with the confirmation that the film will be set in the 1980s. This is an oddly similar setting to that of 2009’s Origins so it may actually be the perfect time to reintroduce Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and we know that Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) hanging around America at that time. Despite this, we don’t want Singer trying to cramp too many mutants into the story, the character overload didn’t do wonders for previous X-adventures. Before we consider any of this, we’ve still got to figure out who’ll be playing the new titular villain I don’t think we’re quite in the position to predict cast or plots for future instalments just yet, we’ll have to wait and see where Days of Future Past leaves us – they’ve got to bump someone off haven’t they?

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Fassbender and McKellen in Days of Future Past posters and peek at Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise

The Irish-Germanic Michael Fassbender is one of the most talked about stars of the moment having just picked up a supporting actor Oscar nomination for his acclaimed portrayal of slave trader Edwin Epps in 12 Years a Slave. However, his best known role is as X-Men’s Magneto, a role he reprises in this year’s hotly tipped sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past. Sir Ian McKellen, aka The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit’s Gandalf, will also revive his part the older version of Magneto, fifty years on. In official new posters that look pretty cool, they’ve been showcased. I hope this is the first in a new series of X-Men character bannerss. Bryan Singer’s superhero thriller also stars Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Shawn Ashmore, Peter Dinklage, Evan Peters, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, Lucas Till, Josh Helman, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart and Evan Jonigkeit.

Another hugely anticipated superhero release of this year is Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Glimpses of the Guardians, played by Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Vin Diesel, have only been seen in concept art and one official still but the intergalactic vigilantes have now been immortalised in toy form in these new pics.

Additionally, the Guardians have been confirmed to soon be in LEGO form as this set is announced:

This intricate design will hopefully not only shows a first look at new villain Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) but proves that the film can’t be far from releasing a trailer – which we’ll look forward to immensely. Karen Gillan, John C Reilly, Benicio Del Toro, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Rooker and Glenn Close also star while James Gunn (Super, Slither) directs.

Guardians of the Galaxy – August 1st

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd