Luc Besson’s Valerian announced, new Mad Max title, Ed Zwick in talks for Reacher 2 and first Maze Runner 2 trailer

The latest work of BAFTA nominated French filmaker Luc Besson has been announced. The director of The Big Blue, Nikita, Leon, The Fifth Element and Lucy will helm sci-fi comic book adaptation Valerian. The film will reportedly star Dane DeHaan (Chronicle, Lawless) and Cara Delevingne (Anna Karenina, Paper Towns) and is heading for a summer 2017 release.

Action thriller and adaptation of the Lee Child novels Jack Reacher may have been a mild disappointment to some but was a decent box-office hit with $220 million from a $60 million budget. Director Christopher McQuarrie is now preoccupied with Mission: Impossible but a new director is in line for the sequel. Oscar winner Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond, Legends of the Fall, The Last Samurai, Glory) is reportedly in talks for Never Go Back which has Tom Cruise (Minority Report, A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Edge of Tomorrow) confirmed to reprise his role.

With respectable box office numbers and critical acclaim, action reboot Mad Max: Fury Road is the most talked about film of the moment. Director George Miller (who also helmed the original trilogy has revealed that his plans for Mad Max 5 are going ahead. He’s also announced the current title, Mad Max: The Wasteland. We can expect Tom Hardy (Bronson, Inception, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Warrior, Lawless, Locke, The Dark Knight Rises) to reprise his role as Max Rockatansky.

Finally, we have our hands on the first poster and trailer for the sequel to smash hit The Maze Runner. It’s slightly understated in comparison to larger young adult franchises such as The Hunger Games but it easily outgrossed the likes of Divergent with $340 million from a small $35 million. The Scorch Trials is directed by Wes Ball and stars Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf), Kaya Scodelario (Moon), Thomas Brodie Sangster (Wolf Hall), Nathalie Emmanuel (Furious 7), Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones), Giancarlo Esposito (The Usual Suspects), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan) and Patricia Clarkson (Shutter Island).

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials – September 18th

Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets – July 21st 2017

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – 2017?

Mad Max: The Wasteland – 2018?

Weekend box-office – 11th to 17th of April 2015 – is it a top gear opening for Furious 7?

The Fast and Furious franchise has always been varying in financial success: the first three films (The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) achieved B-movie levels of success and a cult following on around $150 million to $250 million. The series then exploded into success with Fast & Furious ($360 million), Fast Five ($630 million) and Fast & Furious 6 ($790 million). The seventh instalment is now getting its delayed release, after the tragic death of star Paul Walker, under the new direction of James Wan (The Conjuring). Last week, we predicted it’d take top spot but its surprisingly become a bigger that then we’d imagined.

US:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan – $147.2 million
2. Home – Tim Johnson – $27 million
3. Get Hard – Etan Cohen – $13.1 million
4. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – $10.2 million
5. Insurgent – Robert Schwentke – $10.1 million

UK:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan – £12.8 million
2. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh – £3 million
3. Home – Tim Johnson – £2.4 million
4. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Paul Tibbitt – £1.1 million
5. Get Hard – Etan Cohen – £0.8 million

Hopefully this debut is a pre-cursor to upcoming commercial greatness in 2015’s box office. Furious 7’s opening weekend has already outdone that of Guardians of the Galaxy ($95 million), Transformers: Age of Extinction ($100 million), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay ($120 million), Fifty Shades of Grey ($85 million), X-Men: Days of Future Past ($95 million), Godzilla ($95 million), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($90 million) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($95 million) as well as predecessors Fast Five ($85 million) and Six ($97 million). We’d have to stretch back to 2013 or 2012 to find this kind of box-office smashing with the likes of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($155 million), Man of Steel ($115 million), The Dark Knight Rises ($160 million), Iron Man 3 ($175 million) and The Avengers ($210 million). This week I’ve scored 5/10.

US:

1. Fast & Furious 7 – James Wan
2. Home – Tim Johnson
3. Ex Machina – Alex Garland
4. Get Hard – Etan Cohen
5. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh

UK:

1. Furious 7 – James Wan
2. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh
3. John Wick – Chad Stahelski, David Leitch
4. Home – Tim Johnson
5. The Duff – Ari Sandel

Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Nathalie Emmanuel in Fast & Furious 7, this week’s US and UK number one.