Radcliffe boards Now You See Me 2 plus new trailers for Chappie and The Minions

The eight-part thrill ride of the Harry Potter franchise culminated in a certain trio becoming an icon of the century. It was always going to be difficult for lead star Daniel Radcliffe to build his own career post-Potter but he seems to be trying to reinvent himself as a rising indie star. The underrated The Woman in Black was followed up by poetry drama Kill Your Darlings, rom com What If and new horror Horns as well as co starring with Jon Hamm on TV’s A Young Doctor’s notebook. He’s getting a lot of buzz ahead of playing Igor in Frankenstein but he’ll be taking a more mainstream role soon.

He’s joined the sequel to last year’s surprisingly successful caper Now You See Me. Also signed on to return are Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers, Foxcatcher), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Zombieland), Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games, True Detective), Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield, Master of Sex), Dave Franco (21 Jump Street, Superbad) and Michael Caine (The Dark Knight trilogy, Children of Men). John M Chu directs.

The decade’s most beloved animated creatures are getting their very own spin off. Following the accumulative grossing of the two Despicable Me instalments, The Minions will dominate the 2015 film slate (in a year including Avengers 2, Star Wars 7, Terminator 5, Jurassic Park 4, Bond 24, Mission Impossible 5, Ted 2 and more). Sandra Bullock (Gravity, Crash) and Jon Hamm (Mad Men, Million Dollar Arm) will star as the villainous duo Scarlet and Herb Overkill while Gru, voiced by Foxcatcher/Anchorman’s Steve Carell, will play a imposing presence on the plot.

Some of 2015’s releases may well get swamped by the packed schedule, including Chappie. This new sci-fi thriller comes courtesy of District 9 and Elysium’s Neill Blomkamp. The stars include Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, The Newsroom), Sharlto Copley (Maleficent, District 9), Sigourney Weaver (Avatar, Alien) and Hugh Jackman (X-Men, The Fountain, Les Miserables, The Prestige).

Chappie – March 6th 2015

Minions – June 26th 2015

Now You See Me 2 – June 10th 2016

Assassin Creed and Fantastic Four releases announced, Temple Run film confirmed and new Maleficent trailer and poster

2015 is going to be one huge year for movies. Finding Dory, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Independence Day 2 and Star Trek 3 have had to pull out to 2016. Batman vs. Superman (17th July), The Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1st), Star Wars: Episode VII (December 18th), Ant-Man (July 31st), Chappie (March 27th), Jurassic World (June 12th), Warcraft (December 18th), The Good Dinosaur (November 15th), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (November 20th), Cinderella (March 13th) and, potentially, Terminator (July 1st), Legend of Conan and Bond 24 (October 23rd). The Hobbit, Angry Birds, Avatar and The Amazing Spiderman will be glad that their just skimming over, or under, it.

Fox have shuffled their 2015 releases quite a bit too. In a domino effect, Matthew Vaughn’s Colin Firth and Samuel L Jackson starring thriller The Secret Service has gone into the place previously held by Josh Trank’s The Fantastic Four, March 6th. The latter now will be going head to head with Pixar’s Inside Out on June 19th. That used to belong to the Michael Fassbender starring video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed has rolled into August 7th seeing as it’s yet to find a director. Fox also moved comedy Susan Cooper, directed by Paul Feig and starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham and Rose Byrne, to May 22nd, putting it up against Brad Bird/George Clooney sci-fi adventure Tomorrowland.

So many mobile apps have been huge successes; Jetpack Joyride, The Impossible Game and Fruit Ninja are the stuff of legend. Angry Birds is scheduled for a 2016 release and, besides that, it’s hard to think of a film or franchise inspired by the Appstore antics of a mobile game. Warner Bros, however, reckon that they can make the box office goods with an adaptation of Temple Run.

The game sees your everyday adventurer nicking an idol from an Incan temple and he must escape along a precarious pathway from three vengeful demon monkeys. The sequel, cleverly entitled Temple Run 2, evolved into something more oriental with rivers and mines being introduced. It also spawned the film themed spin-offs Temple Run: Brave (you play as Princess Merida in a more dark foresty mood) and Temple Run: Oz (a tie in of the fantasy prequel Oz: The Great and Powerful). If the you think the production sounds like a novelty one, take in mind that David Heyman, producer of Harry Potter, Gravity and I am Legend, is linked to this one.

Finally, a full trailer for the new Angelina Jolie epic Maleficent is online. The film’s plot boils down to a very different retelling of Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. In this reincarnation, the tale is more centred around it’s truly menacing villain. Maleficent concocts an evil plan to trap the young Aurora (Elle Fanning). This is Robert Stromberg’s directorial debut but he worked on the visual effects of Life of Pi, The Hunger Games, Pan’s Labyrinth and Pirates of Caribbean. It also stars Sharlto Copley, Peter Capaldi, Juno Temple, Imelda Staunton, Mirand Richardson, Lesley Manville and Sam Riley. Here’s the new poster:

Assassin Creed – August 7th 2015

The Secret Service – March 6th 2015

The Fantastic Four – June 19th 2015

Susan Cooper – May 22nd 2015

Temple Run – 2016?

Maleficent – May 30th 2014