Jurassic World review

Director: Colin Trevorrow

Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Irrfan Khan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jake Johnson, Lauren Lapkus, Omar Sy, BD Wong, Judy Greer, Andy Buckley, Katie McGrath, Brian Tee

Steven Spielberg was the driving force behind 1993’s Jurassic Park, the adaptation of Michael Chrichton’s techno-thriller novel, but even his presence didn’t rescue the disappointing sequel The Lost World. The franchise went into development hell the further it strayed from the books with various story proposals including Dr Grant investigating dino-related murders. Indie director Colin Trevorrow is behind exhuming a sequel 65 million (or 22) years in the making.

Twenty years after the “InGen Incident” on Isla Nublar, the island has been successfully transformed into a functioning dinosaur theme park experience. As her nephews (Simpkins, Robinson) pay a visit, park manager Claire Dearing (Howard) is set to unveil the latest attraction – a genetically modified creature named the Indominus Rex. Meanwhile, Velociraptor trainer Owen Grady (Pratt) resists the offer from security head Vic Hoskins (D’Onofrio) to weaponise his animals. When the Indominus escapes, Owen and Claire must track it down before it makes its move on the park’s attendees.

Easily the best decision made on this sequel is to properly address what brought its predecessors to a crushing low. Both the second and third instalments purely focus on a group of humans alone in a dino-infested jungle without the wonder of the park itself. The addition of the awe of the original concept in many ways contrasts with and exaggerates the terror.

While Trevorrow’s CV only extends to the indie sci-fi drama Safety Not Guaranteed (a film that nails its depiction of the relationship of its lonely lead protagonists and remains without flashy camerawork), he brings a stunning level of spectacle and visual bombast to the picture with perfect sense of timing and suspense in one of the best indie to mainstream step ups since the Wachowskis released The Matrix.

With the exception of the original film’s Henry Wu (BD Wong), an entirely new cast has been drafted in to replace the likes of Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill. At the centre of the Jurassic mayhem is the odd-couple pairing of laddish ranger Owen Grady (Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy) and manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard, The Help). The portrayal of the couple came under fire, especially from Buffy creator Joss Whedon who labelled it as “’70s level sexism.” with the free spirited man charming the uptight woman. While Trevorrow unashamedly bases the characters on the leads of 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1980’s Empire Strikes Back or 1984’s Romancing the Stone, there’s just as much of a likeness to classic romances such Whedon/Shakespeare’s verbally sparring lovers Beatrice and Benedick in 2013’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Also at the heart of the action are Dearing’s estranged nephews, played by rising stars Ty Simpkins (Insidious) and Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer). Gray and Zach have a fractured relationship with each other and their aunt due to their parents’ impending divorce making them engaging if standard chase fodder.

Any and all human villains are traditionally overshadowed by their scaly counterparts in this series and Jurassic World is no exception. Here the duties of the most venerable actor on the call sheet (an honour previously awarded to acting greats such as Richard Attenborough or Pete Postlethwaite) fall to the excellent and criminally underrated Vincent D’Onofrio – last seen as the villain Kingpin in Netflix’s Daredevil. Sadly, this is one of his weaker performances as the militaristic security head Vic Hoskins who fails to conjure menace or believability.

Rounding off the supporting cast is a hilarious Jake Johnson (TV’s New Girl), finally giving a better name to Isla Nublar’s technicians while still maintaining the morbid sense of humour of Samuel L Jackson and Wayne Knight. Seeing as the talent of Omar Sy and Judy Greer are written out into smaller parts, the only other significant lead is Irrfan Khan’s billionaire investor Simon Masrani who never truly contributes a great amount to the plot.

While the dinosaur exhibits do easily outperform their human inferiors, their portrayal isn’t entirely perfect. As terrifying as newbie the Indominus Rex is (as well as being stunningly brought to life by some truly photorealistic effects), the film insists on not updating on any dinosaur knowledge garnered since 1993 – IE denying the accepted fact of feathered dinosaurs.

The film lacks an unforgettable iconic moment such as the shaking water upon the arrival of the T-Rex but Jurassic World strives when its dinosaurs are at their most awesome: the suspense of the jump scare as the Indominus Rex stalks its prey was a delight; a sequence in which Grady leads his velociraptor pack on a chase is stunning; the brutal attack of the ptersaurs on Jurassic World’s main street evokes memories of the gleeful carnage of Gremlins.

Overall tonally different to its predecessors. Much like the geneticists did with the Indominus Rex, Trevorrow and his co-writers Derek Connolly, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have engineered a new breed of Jurassic Park packed with as much excitement as there is dark humour. On occasion the scripting and characters are clunky and off key but on the whole this is a stupendous thrill ride of a summer popcorn action flick.

9/10

“Monster is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We’re just used to being the cat.”

Han Solo spin-off to be directed by Lord and Miller – casting: Aaron Paul? Miles Teller? Chris Pratt?

The development problems of the second Star Wars spin-off began with the quitting of Josh Trank (Chronicle, Fantastic Four) but the latest report states that replacements have been found in the form of Phil Lord and Chris Miller (the duo behind The Lego Movie and the Jump Street movies) and writers Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and his son Jon (The First Time). This confirms that Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past) has been given the boot. Additionally, we now know that it’ll be a prequel centred on legendary smuggler Han Solo.

Here’s a list of actors who’ll make awesome Hans.

Name: Aaron Paul
Age: 35
Nationality: USA
Previous works: Breaking Bad (2008-2013), Need for Speed (2014), Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), Bojack Horseman (2014-)

Name: Chris Pratt
Age: 36
Nationality: USA
Previous works: Parks and Recreation (2009-2015), The Lego Movie (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Jurassic World (2015)

Name: Jamie Bell
Age: 29
Nationality: UK
Previous works: Billy Elliot (2000), King Kong (2005), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Fantastic Four (2015)

Name: Nick Robinson
Age: 20
Nationality: USA
Previous works: Broadwalk Empire (2012), The Kings of Summer (2013), Jurassic World (2015), Being Charlie (2015)

Name: Dave Franco
Age: 30
Nationality: USA
Previous works: 21 Jump Street (2012), Warm Bodies (2013), Now You See Me (2013), Bad Neighbours (2014)

Name: Michael B Jordan
Age: 28
Nationality: USA
Previous works: Chronicle (2012), Fruitvale Station (2013), That Awkward Moment (2014), Fantastic Four (2015)

Name: Shia LaBeaouf
Age: 29
Nationality: USA
Previous works: Transformers (2007), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), Lawless (2012), Fury (2014)

Name: Ellen Page
Age: 28
Nationality: Canada
Previous works: Hard Candy (2005), Juno (2007), Inception (2010), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) (*played Han Solo in an Empire Strikes Back script read)

Name: Miles Teller
Age: 28
Nationality: USA
Previous work: The Spectacular Now (2013), Divergent (2014), Whiplash (2014), Fantastic Four (2015)

Name: Jack O’Connell
Age: 24
Nationality: UK
Previous work: Skins (2009-2013), Starred Up (2014), ’71 (2014), Unbroken (2014)

Name: Taron Egerton
Age: 25
Nationality: UK
Previous works: Testament of Youth (2015), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015), Legend (2015), Eddie the Eagle (2016)

Name: Bradley Cooper
Age: 40
Nationality: USA
Previous works: The Hangover (2009), American Hustle (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), American Sniper (2014)

Name: Michael Fassbender
Age: 38
Nationality: Germany
Previous works: X-Men: First Class (2011), Prometheus (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Steve Jobs (2015)

Name: Ryan Gosling
Age: 34
Nationality: Canada
Previous works: Drive (2011), Crazy Stupid Love (2011), The Ides of March (2011), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Name: Harrison Ford
Age: 72
Nationality: USA
Previous works: Star Wars (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Blade Runner (1982), The Fugitive (1993)

Star Wars Anthology: Han Solo – May 2018

The 2015 Super-Bowl Special – Jurassic World, Terminator 5, Insurgent, Furious 7 and more!

America’s biggest sporting event attracts America’s biggest crowd (around 100 million viewers). The Super-Bowl Sunday’s Phoenix setting saw a showdown between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots but we’re a bit more focused on those movie exclusives showcased inbetween. With this audience, film studios are willing to dish out $8 million per sixty seconds of advertising. Firstly:

Film: Terminator Genisys
Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, Matt Smith, JK Simmons
Premise: He’s back. In the new timeline, Kyle Reese travel back in time to discover that Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and T-800 (Schwarzenegger) have long been fighting the machines.
Release: July 3rd

Film: Insurgent
Director: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Zoe Kravitz, Octavia Spencer
Premise: Divergent’s sequel gets a Matrix-style revamp sees Tris (Woodley) preventing all out chaos in her dystopian future.
Release: March 20th

Film: Furious 7
Director: James Wan
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Djimon Hounsou, Kurt Russell
Premise: Deckard Shaw (Staham) is out for revenge on the gang. Watch the trailer and you may well have found the best stunt of 2015
Release: April 3rd

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Film: Jurassic World
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Judy Greer, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jake Johnson, Lauran Lapkus, Omar Sy
Premise: The park is finally open but an attempt to breed a new species, Indominus Rex, goes disastrously.
Release: June 12th

Film: Tomorrowland
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie
Premise: Walt Disney’s vision of a secret metropolis (where science can do the work of miracles) comes to life.
Release: May 22nd

Film: Seventh Son
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Starring: Ben Barnes, Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Kit Harrington, Alicia Vikander, Djimon Hounsou, Olivia Williams, Antje Traue
Premise: Local hermit and magician Gregory (Bridges) recruits the young Thomas (Barnes) to battle the evil Malkin (Moore)
Release: March 27th

Film: Inside Out
Directors: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Starring: Kaitlyn Dias, Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan
Premise: Pixar explores the literally conflicting emotions inside the head of a young girl as she moves across the country.
Release: July 24th

Various releases (Ant-Man, San Andreas, Chappie, Avengers 2) missed out on cashing in on this advertising goldmine but we still look forward to seeing them soon.

The 2015 Preview Issue

2015 is the new 2012 (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, The Hunger Games, The Hobbit), which itself was the new 1999 (The Sixth Sense, The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, Two Story 2). Its releases should not only be huge financial successes but promise to be delightful watches as well. Here’s what we reckon will be topping the year’s box office in twelve months time.

1. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – Director: Joss Whedon – $1.7 billion
2. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – JJ Abrams – $1.4 billion
3. Spectre – Sam Mendes – $1.2 billion
4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – $925 million
5. Furious 7 – James Wan – $875 million
6. Minions – Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin – $800 million
7. Jurassic World – Colin Trevorrow – $775 million
8. Inside Out – Pete Docter – $725 million
9. Mission: Impossible 5 – Christopher McQuarrie – $700 million
10. Ant-Man – Peyton Reed – $675 million
11. The Good Dinosaur – Peter Sohn – $625 million
12. Ted 2 – Seth MacFarlane – $600 million
13. Terminator Genisys – Alan Taylor – $575 million
14. The Fantastic Four – Josh Trank – $550 million
15. Tomorrowland – Brad Bird – $525 million

We reckon The Avengers sequel will edge Star Wars seeing as the former series’ commercial success is actually growing. Pixar’s double-billed return to original storytelling with Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur should score them impressively but Minions will triumph on the animation front. The only other original work we expect to see doing well is sci-fi adventure Tomorrowland. The race in the new crop of reboots will be won by Jurassic World, beating off competition from Terminator and Fantastic Four. Close to gracing the Top 15 will be sequels to YA franchises (The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials, Insurgent) and there might be an upset for Chris Columbus/Adam Sandler comedy Pixels and Joe Wright/Hugh Jackman fantasy adventure Pan. Should it finally get a major release, The Interview may well be a smash hit.

Now here are our top twenty to one most anticipated releases of the year.

20) The Fantastic Four

Director: Josh Trank
Writers: Josh Trank, Simon Kinberg, Jeremy Slater, TS Nowlin
Starring: Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, Michael B Jordan, Toby Kebbell
Premise: For a very long time, next to nothing had been revealed about Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. Star Wars took a similar approach and that sent fans running wild with speculation but no such hype surrounded the FF, exposing a serious lack of interest. Still, Chronicle’s Trank is a promising hope and the the high-end castings of Teller (Whiplash), Bell (Bill Elliot), Mara (House of Cards), Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Jordan (Fruitvale Station) ought to liven things up.
Release: August 6th

19) Everest

Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Writers: William Nicholson, Mark Medoff, Justin Isbell, Lem Dobbs, Simon Beaufoy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright, Jason Clarke, Elizabeth Debicki, John Hawkes, Emily Watson
Premise: An absolute first-rate cast from two teams who embark on an expedition to the peak of the world’s highest mountain, where they also face the world’s toughest terrain. The stills so far reveal some spectacular drama.
Release: October 2nd

18) Mission: Impossible 5

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Drew Pearce, Will Staples
Starring: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Ving Rhames
Premise: It’s hard to get excited when all we have to go on is a few on-set snaps but we can still expect a high-end spectacle of action. Uniting Cruise and McQuarrie (star/writer of Edge of Tomorrow) is a solid move and the returning cast of Ghost Protocol (Pegg, Renner, Patton) hints at more franchise continuity than before.
Release: December 26th

17) The Man From UNCLE

Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Guy Ritchie, Lionel Wigram, Jeff Kleeman, David Campbell Wilson
Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris
Premise: Bond and Hunt are both set in stone in their nationalities but spy reboot The Man From UNCLE pitches a teaming up of the American Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and the Russian Illya Kuryakin (Hammer). With Sherlock Holmes/Snatch director Guy Ritchie helming it ought to be a truly gripping thriller.
Release: August 14th

16) Child 44

Director: Daniel Espinosa
Writers: Richard Price
Starring: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Paddy Considine, Jason Clarke, Dev Patel, Joel Kinnaman, Charles Dance
Premise: In Stalin-era Soviet Union, a detective investigates a series of murder, the complication is that the state believes crime doesn’t exist. The cast alone is enough of a reason to get interested and Daniel Espinosa proved his action credentials in Safe House.
Release: April 17th

15) Minions

Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Writer: Brian Lynch
Starring: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton
Premise: There are very few well favoured comedy spin offs but the first trailer for Despicable Me’s spawn the Minions looked promising.
Release: June 26th

14) Untitled Steven Spielberg Cold War Project

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Matt Charman, Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Tom Hanks, Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Mark Rylance
Premise: We know nothing more than the title suggests but another collaboration between Spielberg (Jaws, ET, AI, Minority Report, Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park) and Hanks (Forrest Gump, Captain Phillips, Cast Away, The Green Mile, Road to Perdition) is a huge attention grabber. The pair’s previous collaborations are Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and Saving Private Ryan.
Release: October 9th

13) Chappie

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writers: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Hugh Jackman, Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver
Premise: The director of District 9 takes on a slightly more light hearted venture as Chappie, a discarded robotic cop, us taken under the wing of a group of scientists who teach it. Soon, others realise that Chappie is potentially dangerous.
Release: March 6th

12) The Walk

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Robert Zemeckis, Christopher Browne
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale
Premise: As chronicled in the Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire, stuntman Philippe Petit begins his ultimate accomplishment by wire walking from one Twin Tower to the other. This is the first teaming up of the duo Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Cast Away) and Joseph Gordon Levitt (Looper, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception).
Release: October 2nd

11) Ant-Man

Director; Peyton Reed
Writers: Gabriel Ferrari, Andrew Barrer, Adam McKay, Edgar Wright
Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Judy Greer

10) Inside Out

Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Writers: Michael Arndt, Pete Docter
Starring: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Lane
Premise: Pixar’s second release of 2015 is the brilliantly madcap concept of emotions, symbolised as the characters above, controlling the emotions within our mind. Unlike The Good Dinosaur, this has a Pixar regular, Pete Docter (Monsters Inc, Up), at the helm as well as Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt.
Release: July 24th

9) Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevorrow
Writers: Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Omar Sy, Judy Greer, Jake Johnson, Vincent D’Onofrio
Premise: We’re well prepared for a sequel that won’t live up to the original’s same magic. Still, Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) and his new set of leads – Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy), Howard (The Help), Robinson (The Kings of Summer) and Simpkins (Insidious) – look set to give a fresh rebranding.
Release: June 12th

8) Tomorrowland

Director: Brad Bird
Writers: Damon Lindelof, Brad Bird
Starring: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Judy Greer
Premise: One f the year’s most secretive releases comes from Pixar protogee Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and, while it is a fairly original prospect, it’s in fact roughly based upon Walt Disney’s own bright and bold vision of the future.
Release: May 22nd

7) Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller
Writers: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Zoe Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult
Premise: Pleasing the die hard fans of the original will be a tough task but the footage so far revealed for this sequel is phenomenal. It’ll be massively entertaining to see Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Locke) in a rawer action role.
Release: May 15th

6) The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Drew Goddard
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessican Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kirsten Wiig, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Michael Pena, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean
Premise: The film’s tone, either epic or dramatic, has yet to have been established but it sees Damon’s astronaut stranded on the red planet. Still, we’re immediately excited to see what legendary Brit director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Exodus: Gods and Kings, Black Hawk Dawn, Alien, Blade Runner) can bring next.
Release: November 27th

5) Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: John Logan, Neil Purvis, Robert Wade
Starring: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci, Andrew Scott, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen
Premise: After Skyfall became one of the undisputedly great Bond films (rivalling Dr No, Goldfinger, GoldenEye and Casino Royale) and its follow up is hoping to be just as successful. In this new adventure, Bond (Craig) tracks a mysterious signal from a previous mission and finds a secret organisation, led by Waltz’s Oberhauser.
Release: October 23rd

4) In the Heart of the Sea

Director: Ron Howard
Writers: Charles Leavitt, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Charlotte Riley, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson
Premise: Fresh off of smash hit racing drama Rush, Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) returns with a period thriller based on the true story that inspire Moby Dick. Hemsworth’s whaling crew are stranded in the see for weeks on end as the most fearsome whale they have ever witnessed haunts them. The trailer is awesome, terrifying and truly monstrous.
Release: March 13th

3) Crimson Peak

Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Writers: Guillermo Del Toro, Matthew Robbins, Lucinda Coxon
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, Doug Jones, Burn Gorman
Premise: The masterful Mexican Del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim/writer of The Hobbit trilogy, returns to properly gothic horror as aspiring author Edith Cushing (Wasikowska) moves into a new home with her sinister new husband Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston). If it’s what it promises to be, we could have a chilling masterpiece on our hands.
Release: October 16th

2) The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, James Spader, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Samuel L Jackson, Andy Serkis, Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Stellan Skarsgard, Hayley Atwell, Thomas Kretschmann
Premise: Stark’s robot peacekeeping program gets out of hand as his creation begins its own global dominations. Marvel’s other properties (Inhumans and Doctor Strange) are being set up elsewhere but this is sowing the seeds of Civil War, Black Panther and Infinity War. Still Whedon’s superhero sequel will be darker, bolder, bigger and better.
Release: April 24th

1) Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens

Director: JJ Abrams
Writers: JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Andy Serkis, Max Von Sydow, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Warwick Davis, Christina Chong, Iko Uwais, Maisie Richardson Sellers
Premise: Besides the setting (30 years on from Return of the Jedi) we know almost nothing but how could anything else be number one? Perhaps it would have been lower down before that trailer landed but it just blew 90% of our worries out the water. We’re equally terrified and excited to what JJ will produce. Others may be surefire hits but this is the one we hope for the most.
Release: December 18th

First Jurassic World trailer, Now You See Me sequel gets an official title and new images from Hobbit 3

Heist thriller was the surprise hit of 2013, with a decent critical reception well above expectation at $350 million made from a $75 million budget. Its sequel sees John M Chu succeeding directing duties from Louis Leterrier and his new title has been revealed. Now You See Me: The Second Act seems an appropriate title for the magic themed franchise but the potential third film would need to be titled The Third Act (establishing a Godfather Part II/III aura as oppose to the pitfalls of a gimicky Shrek the Third subtitle.

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher, Zodiac, The Avengers), Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland, The Social Network), Woody Harrelson (No Country For Old Men, The Hunger Games), Dave Franco (21 Jump Street, Bad Neighbours) and Michael Caine (The Dark Knight, Zulu) return with the new cast members of Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield, Masters of Sex) and Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, Horns).

Empire Magazine’s 12-Part Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Special, featuring the Directors Cut (Spielberg, Boyle and more), the twenty five varieties X-Men special and the 301st Greatest Films of All Time (3: The Dark Knight; 2: The Godfather; 1: Empire Strikes Back), concludes in this next issue, a farewell to Middle-Earth guest-edited by Peter Jackson himself. The main feature is the preview of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and the covers are dedicated one to each army.

The film stars Martin Freeman (Sherlock, Fargo), Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters, X-Men: Days of Future Past), Cate Blanchett (The Aviator, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Richard Armitage (Captain America: The First Avenger), Evangeline Lilly (Lost, Ant-Man), Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean, Kingdom of Heaven), Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, 12 Years a Slave), Lee Pace (Halt and Catch Fire, Guardians of the Galaxy), Luke Evans (The Great Train Robbery, Dracula Untold), James Nesbitt (The Missing, Bloody Sunday), Manu Bennett (Spartacus, Arrow), Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who), Christopher Lee (Dracula, Hugo) and Hugo Weaving (V For Vendetta, The Matrix, Cloud Atlas) as Elrond.

A short teaser was unveiled earlier in the week but the trailer for sci-fi adventure sequel Jurassic World has been released. This fourth instalment in the classic Spielberg series (slightly soured by the step back of respectable The Lost World and the dreadful third part) is directed by Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) and stars Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help, 50/50), Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lego Movie), Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer), Ty Simpkins (Iron Man 3, Insidious), Omar Sy (Untouchable, X-Men: Days of Future Past), Jake Johnson (New Girl, Drinking Buddies), Judy Greer (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Carrie) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket, Men in Black). Check out the first trailer below. While being no Age of Ultron, this is pretty promising stuff – so long as they correctly mix the grander scale with the stripped back chilling thrills. Gotta love the touch with the flare (1:58).

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – December 12th

Jurassic World – June 12th 2015

Now You See Me: The Second Act – June 10th 2016

San Diego Comic-Con 2014 – Pre-convention roundup of posters for Mad Max, Ant-Man, Jurassic World and many more

We’ve been gone for some time but we are finally back just in time for the 2014 SDCC, this summer’s greatest movie themed event. Of coarse the major announcements begins on the 24th but due to time delay we don’t have any of the big confirmations, exclusive footage or celebrity guests the convention is famed for but the movie industry press are on the scene tracking down all of the awesome new stuff on display. First up we’ve got the very first poster for Chappie, a sci-fi thriller from the brilliant mind of South African Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) that depicts the titular android/child prodigy. It stars Hugh Jackman (The Wolverine, Les Miserables), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Sigourney Weaver (Aliens, Avatar) and Sharlto Copley (Maleficent, District 9). March 6th 2015

Secondly we’ve got the all new banner for Agent 47, the highly anticipated adaptation of video game smash hit Hitman. Rupert Friend (The Young Victoria) plays the iconic bald assassin alongside Ciaran Hinds (Road to Perdition) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek Into Darkness) while debut director Aleksander Bach helms. March 20th 2015

It may not be expecting the biggest gross but apocalyptic reboot Mad Max: Fury Road is shaping up to be one of 2015’s biggest releases. The Road Warrior’s George Miller directs the stellar cast of Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Bronson), Charlize Theron (Monster, Prometheus) and Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Warm Bodies). May 15th 2015

It’s hard to imagine a film more tailor made for the SDCC fans than Warcraft. Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) helms the adaptation of the fantasy gaming phenomenon with the cast of Dominic Cooper (Captain America: The First Avenger, The Devil’s Double), Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, Lone Survivor), Paula Patton (2 Guns, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, RocknRolla). March 11th 2016

We got the big reveal of Zack Snyder’s reinvention of Batman earlier this year but the 300/Watchmen/Man of Steel director has given an all new look at Batfleck in the first close up ahead of the release of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. DC aren’t set to present any kind of panel but we could expect some major surprise announcements. Dawn of Justice stars Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Holly Hunter, Scoot McNairy, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane and Laurence Fishburne. April 19th 2016

When the SDCC schedule was announced a few weeks ago the clear frontrunner for the most popular panel was Marvel. We’re hoping that Kevin Feige’s team could shed light on those seven unconfirmed projects, Avengers 2 (more on that later) and the sci-fi adventure Ant-Man, which got its first awesome poster. Peyton Reed (Yes Man) recently replaced The World’s End’s Edgar Wright as director with the cast of Paul Rudd (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), Corey Stoll (House of Cards), Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Michael Pena (Shooter) and Michael Douglas (Wall Street). July 17th 2015

Transformers: Age of Extinction is well on its way to both $1 billion and becoming this year’s highest grossing films but the most likely candidate for surpassing it is the third (of four) instalment of the ever phenomenal The Hunger Games. The first part of the adaptation of Mockingjay is directed by Francis Lawrence (I am Legend) and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Jena Malone, Josh Hutcherson, Willow Shields, Sam Clafin, Elizabeth Banks, Jeffrey Wright, Natalie Dormer with Donald Sutherland as President Snow as well as one of the final performances of Philip Seymour Hoffman. 21st November

Possibly the coolest of all of these SDCC posters is the stunning teaser for Jurassic World. Thanks to this, we can confirm the presence of the velociraptors and there seems to be some kind of underground exhibit of the park opening its doors to the left while the cranes suggest that the centre is still being built. Indie director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) helms the cast of Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Judy Greer and Vincent D’Onofrio. June 12th 2015

Seeing as we may not get a trailer till this autumn, it’s a great relief to finally have something tangible from the production of the final instalment of Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth sextet. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will star Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace, Manu Bennett with Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug and Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Sylvester McCoy, Ian McKellen and Cate Blanchett as The White Council. December 12th

Finally we’ve got the day’s biggest news as we return to Marvel for some awesome concept posters for Joss Whedon’s mega sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron. While these have been presenting themselves as standalone posters they’ll likely combine into one great banner (get it?) once Thor and The Hulk get their one sheets. Age of Ultron will star Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Hayley Atwell, Thomas Kretschmann, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L Jackson and Andy Serkis. 24th April 2015

Expect much more Comic Con coverage from us across the weekend. Bye for now!

Whedon discusses Dark Knight effect, Transformers and Bourne 5 slot into 2016 and first look at Jurassic World’s dinosaur

I, and countless other fans, find themselves in fits of uncontrollable excitement whenever a news story features geek god Joss Whedon, the writer of TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Agents of SHIELD, Dollhouse, Dr Horrible, Firefly and Toy Story and the director of Much Ado About Nothing, Serenity and The Avengers (the third highest grossing film of all time). Today’s news is of coarse surrounding The Avengers’ sequel titled Age of Ultron and Whedon has spoken out about the modern pressure of making a follow up an Empire Strikes Back, a Godfather Part 2 or (in particular) a Dark Knight. “Now, I watched ‘The Dark Knight’ and I thought of that as riffing on the genre. That was a superhero movie as ‘The Godfather.’ And I was like, ‘But I just still want to see a superhero movie!’ We had just gotten the technology to make it awesome, and I wasn’t ready to be post-modern about it yet.

“You’re trying to make a populist film with fascist iconography that is just bigger, and better, and longer, and trying to break that down and find a weakness and humanity.” Age of Ultron will star Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, James Spader, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Don Cheadle, Thomas Kretschmann, Hayley Attwell, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Josh Brolin, Samuel L Jackson and Robert Downey Jr.

As we all know, 2015 is the new 2012 which was the new 1999 in terms of 12 months of mega-releases one after the other. Next year it’s Avengers 2, Bond 24, Hunger Games 4, Cinderella, Ant-Man, Inside Out, The Man From UNCLE, Jurassic World, Terminator: Genesis, Fast and Furious 7, Jupiter Ascending, Mission: Impossible 5 and Star Wars 7 jamming the schedule from April through to Christmas. Despite this, 2016 is becoming a quick rival (Star Trek 3, X-Men: Apocalypse, The Amazing Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Doctor Strange, Captain America 3, Warcraft, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Finding Nemo, Through the Looking Glass, Avatar 2) and it’s just added three more films to its roster. Michael Bay’s (Bad Boys, Armageddon, The Island) Age of Extinction follow up Transformers 5 with Mark Whalberg, Gregory Plotkin’s Paranormal Activity 5 with Katie Featherson and Justin Lin’s (Fast and Furious) untitled Bourne film with Jeremy Renner.

Certain members of sci-fi reboot Jurassic World’s human cast have been revealed already but indie director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) has got trigger-happy on Twitter and unveiled a small insight into Jurassic World’s main villains. We’re unsure but I’d bet that this is a teaser for the upcoming big reveal, similar to the Batmobile earlier this year. Jurassic World will star Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, Judy Greer, BD Wong, Katie McGrath and Vincent D’Onofrio.

Jurassic World – June 12th 2015

The Bourne Betrayal – 2016

Transformers 5 – 2016

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – May 1st 2015

Chris Pratt and Nick Robinson in new Jurassic World stills and rumoured DC movies timeline

It’s no secret that 2013’s admirable Man of Steel was the beginning of DC’s hopes to have a huge multi-series franchise in similar fashion to Marvel’s two-pictures-a-year routine (slotting in Guardians, Avengers 2, Ant-Man, Cap 3 and Doctor Strange for the near future with many other projects in development). Former Deadline editor Nikki Finke has reportedly unveiled the company’s plans in details for the future starting with Dawn of Justice in 2016.

• Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice – May 2016
• Shazam! – July 2016
• Sandman – Christmas 2016
• Justice League – May 2017
• Wonder Woman – July 2017
• Flash/Green Lantern team-up – Christmas 2017
• Man of Steel 2 – May 2018

Comic book fans may be hyperventilating after this that but there are numerous indications that this is either a complete lie or DC have revealed a catalogue of flaws. Firstly, I don’t buy that seven films will be confirmed after the moderate success of one, particularly as there’ll have been a three year wait between. Next, releasing Shazam so soon after Dawn of Justice can only end in disaster; no one will go to see Shazam, even if DoJ is a guaranteed success. Next, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s lauded Sandman comic book run could be a great success but again could be poor should it be part of a hurried franchise. Happily welcomed would be both Justice League and Wonder Woman, the latter finally being a female-geared superhero blockbuster although they have to scrap the blatant misogyny surrounding the character. Additionally, there’s no sign of solo films for Ben Affleck’s Batman nor Stephen Amell’s Arrow and I don’t see TV’s Grant Gustin making the transition into the Flash on the big screen. Also how come there’ll be a five year wait for Man of Steel 2? Lastly it just doesn’t seem feasible to produce seven films in two years, should the rumours be true. Amidst these projects are one too many surefire bombs.

The series will likely star Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Callan Mulvey, Tao Okamoto, Grant Gustin, Holly Hunter, Stephen Amell, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane and Laurence Fishburne and we’d expect director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300, Man of Steel) and David S Goyer (The Dark Knight trilogy).

Next up tonight we’ve got some the very first official stills from Jurassic World, a reboot of Spielberg’s beloved Park. The pics unveil a motorcycle-clad Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Parks and Recreation) being contacted by a business-type played by Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help, Spider-Man 3) while two brothers, Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer) and Ty Simpkins (Insidious, Iron Man 3), are very very lost on Isla Nublar. There’s still no glimpse of the dinosaurs themselves but we hope to have trailers for this, and 2015’s other huge releases (Avengers, Star Wars, Terminator, Mad Max, The Minions), before the end of the year. Indie wrtier/director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed) also helms the cast of Jake Johnson (New Girl), Judy Greer (Archer), Omar Sy (Untouchable, X-Men: Days of Future Past), BD Wong (Mulan), Katie McGrath (Merlin) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket).

Jurassic World – June 12th 2015

Juassic World hires Giacchino, Simon Kinberg talks Fantastic Four/X-Men’s future, Tatum is Gambit and the new Batmobile unveiled

As Fox confirmed that they were making a reboot of The Fantastic Four, we speculated that it could be tying in with Fox’s existing X-Men universe and, until recently, we weren’t so sure. Writer Simon Kinberg brought to our mind a problem we hadn’t quite considered. How will the quartet be special in a world full of mutants? “The Fantastic Four acquire their powers,” he explains, “so for them to live in a world where mutants are prevalent is kind of complicated. You’re like, ‘What’s so fantastic about you?’ No, they live in discrete universes.”

“People have a very different relationship to the Fantastic Four movies than they have to Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. Raimi’s Spider-Man is a beloved movie that sort of redefined, tonally, what comicbook movies could do. Rebooting a beloved movie fewer than ten years after it came out is challenging. We approach Fantastic Four with a different set of challenges.” The superhero action will star Jamie Bell, Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B Jordan, Tim Blake Nelson, Toby Kebbell and Reg E Cathey and is directed by Chronicle’s Josh Trank.

In other X-Men news, we finally have the confirmation we’ve been talking about for months – we do have the official casting for Marvel’s Gambit. You may remember that the “ragin’ Cajun’s” on screen journey began with 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine where he was decently portrayed by Taylor Kitsch but we all knew that the fan favourite deserving of a better script and bigger screen time. Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, Magic Mike, The Vow, White House Down) has been confirmed for the role of the mutant, although producer Lauren Shuler Donner has been talking about the collaboration for a long while. Gambit has been rumoured to play a part in Days of Future Past follow up X-Men: Apocalypse. Should he appear there, Tatum would join director Bryan Singer (X-Men 2, Valkyrie, Apt Pupil, The Usual Suspects) and cast of Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Hugh Jackman. If not, there are still plans for Gambit to have his own solo film.

One of John Williams’ greatest known musical works, besides Indy, Star Wars, Jaws, Harry Potter, ET or Superman, is the theme of Jurassic Park; the tune has essentially become synonymous with dinosaurs. Despite the theme’s iconic presence in the series, there were doubts that the five time Oscar winner would return, seeing as usual collaborator Steven Spielberg is only a producer this time – Safety Not Guaranteed’s Colin Trevorrow directs. No matter as an admirable replacement has been found in the form of Michael Giacchino.

His fantastic work spans from the bombastic reimaging of Star Trek, the poignant Super 8 score and the Oscar winning efforts of Up (Giacchino is a Pixar veteran with credits also on Cars 2, Ratatouille and The Incredibles). “While this new score will honour the indelible work of John Williams,” Giacchino elaborates, “our mission is the same as the film itself – to create something bold and new for people who love dinosaurs.” Jurassic World will star Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Judy Greer, Jake Johnson, Kate McGrath, Omar Sy, BD Wong, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins and Vincent D’Onofrio.

Finally, it’s over to the big news of the day which reveals the first proper look at Zack Snyder’s (Watchmen, Man of Steel, Dawn of the Dead, 300) new Batman and Zack Snyder’s new Batman’s new Batmobile. It was teased yesterday with this pic but this is the real thing, but it’s hard to tell with the chiselled Ben Affleck (Argo, The Town) facing down – Batman is the definitive brooder after all. We want to hear your thoughts on both the Bat-Suit and the new Batmobile as well as just queries about the film itself. Will it work with no Batman villains? Is it more Burton or Tumbler? What’s with the tiny ears or the faded logo? Just tell us what you think. DC’s so far untitled Justice League set up will star Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Holly Hunter, Callan Mulvey, Tao Okamoto, Diane Lane and Laurence Fishburne.

X-Men: Apocalypse – May 19th 2016

Gambit – 2018?

Batman vs. Superman – April 29th 2016

Fantastic Four – June 18th 2015

Jurassic World – June 12th 2015

Tuorhoth returns with the latest on Hobbit 3, Justice League, Avengers 2, Star Trek 3, Spider-Man, Jungle Book and more!

We’re sad to say that we’ve been away on a week of huge movie news, which we’re now dubbing MEGA-NEWS. We’ve got the scoop on pretty much every major movie coming our way in the next couple of years, and beyond, besides an official casting for Star Wars: Episode VII but we’re not completely in the dark with Star Trek Into Darkness’ JJ Abrams’ sequel to the world’s biggest movie franchise.

There’s a huge amount of spin offs to Star Wars in various medias. TV shows like Clone Wars and (now) Rebels, video games such as Battlefront, Knights of the Old Republic and the hugely successful Force Unleashed saga and numerous comic books and graphic novels have revived the series through some difficult times. However, some the most renowned SW side stories are from the novels such as Timothy Zahn’s work (above) and Darth Plagueis. Some of these books are light fan-fiction but most of it is genuine, George Lucas-approved canon to the main films. Despite this, we now know that the storytelling works of Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) and Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) are not to take off from the novels.

Producer and writer Simon Kinberg informs us that “For the movies, the canon is the canon, and the canon is the six films that exist. It’s all about honouring the movies and telling a new story.” We still don’t know of a single cast member or title but that’s set to change as, all going well, filming finally begins this May. Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

The life of technological visionary Steve Jobs has once, unsuccessfully, been told on screen with Ashton Kutcher in the lead role. Sony’s alternative to this has been in their minds for a long time and it seemed quite promising when it appeared that David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Seven, The Social Network) was to direct with Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, American Hustle, The Prestige) starring.

It’s now apparent that Sony are negotiating with Danny Boyle for the directing job. Boyle, the British writer and director behind Trainspotting, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Trance, Shallow Grave and Slumdog Millionaire as well as the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, is the second highly esteemed director Sony have approached after Fincher but the most exciting reveal of all of this is that Boyle may be reuniting with his star of The Beach, and five time Oscar nominee, Leonardo Di Caprio (The Wolf of Wall Street, Titanic, Inception, Django Unchained, The Departed) for the film.

Ray Fisher has only one on-screen acting role so far, 2008 short film The Good The Bad and The Confused, and yet he’s swiftly becoming one of the most talked about young stars in Hollywood. He came into competition for the male lead in Star Wars, which he may be unlikely to get, but has just landed the biggest role in his career: he’s been cast as DC comics hero Cyborg in Zack Snyder’s (300, Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead) Man of Steel sequel Batman vs Superman. Despite that unconfirmed title, it seems as if this’ll much more of a Justice League themed adventure than we’d thought at the 2013 Comic-Con announcement. Fisher joins Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Callan Mulvey, Gal Gadot, Tao Okamoto and Laurence Fishburne in the cast. Batman vs Superman – May 6th 2016

Disney and Warner Bros are in a highly heated race to get a new remake of The Jungle Book to are screens. The latter found a great choice of director in Ron Howard (Rush, Apollo 13) before his replacement set up Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings/King Kong star and The Hobbit’s second unit director) for the job. Meanwhile Disney is far ahead; Elf and Iron Man’s Jon Favreau is nailed in to direct and we know that Idris Elba (Pacific Rim, The Wire, Luther, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) will voice Shere-Kahn but another two stars are part of a new rumour. 12 Years a Slave’s Oscar winning supporting star Lupita Nyong’o is up for the role of Rackcha, Mowgli’s adoptive wolf-mother, while Scarlett Johansson (four time Golden Globe nominee of The Avengers and Lost in Translation fame) could be putting an interesting spin on Kaa, the hypnotising and villainous snake whose charms put the heroes in peril. The Jungle Book – October 9th 2015

Celebrating their 300th issue and their 25th anniversary, Empire Magazine are giving some incredible coverage of upcoming films including Marvel’s sci-fi sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Joss Whedon, writer of The Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Serenity and Toy Story, had this to say about the various villains in the film. “I fiercely dislike the idea of just throwing in more people for the sake of doing that. But last time I had all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes versus one British character actor, and I needed more conflict.”

The chief villain is obviously the robotic Ultron and he may be Whedon’s highlight “I’m having a blast with Ultron,” Whedon said. “He’s not a creature of logic – he’s a robot who’s genuinely disturbed. We’re finding out what makes him menacing and at the same time endearing and funny and strange and unexpected, and everything a robot never is.” Star Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man) recently shared the very first on-set pic from the film (above) that also stars Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Samuel L Jackson, Cobie Smulders, James Spader, Thomas Kretschmann, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Jeremy Renner, Hayley Atwell, Don Cheadle and Paul Bettany. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – May 1st 2015

Taking off from indie sci-fi hit Safety Not Guaranteed, writer/director Colin Trevorrow, who’s hinted at further instalments, takes on a huge role with the lead gig on dinosaur action reboot Jurassic World which has finally revealed some pics from their island photography. These sneak peeks offer a more futuristic style than we’d initially expected. The Jurassic Park sequel stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, Katie McGrath, BD Wong Ty Simpkins, Jake Johnson, Judy Greer and Vincent D’Onofrio. Jurassic World – June 12th 2015.

Sadly, Star Trek and Fringe writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are going their seperate ways in order to focus on the bigger directing projects that have attracted them both. Kurtzman is the current candidate to direct Spider-Man spin-off Venom but Orci has expressed his desire to become the director of Star Trek 3.

Several directors, including Rupert Wyatt and Joe Cornish, had previously been rumoured after JJ Abrams opted out in favour of Star Wars. Should he get the job, it’d be the Mexican’s directorial debut while Kurtzman does have a shot-calling credit on indie drama People Like Us. Star Trek 3 – 2016

The Bourne Identity’s Doug Liman is the man behind the new Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible, Minority Report, Top Gun) sci-fi action Edge of Tomorrow. It sees a soldier forced to constantly relive a battle again and again until its success and unveiled a new poster today. With the impressive supporting cast of Emily Blunt (The Adjustment Bureau, Looper), Bill Paxton (Aliens, Agents of SHIELD) and Lara Pulver (Da Vinci’s Demons, Sherlock), it could surprise us but it’s set to be another throwaway Cruise flick that treads too closely to other films (in Oblivion’s case Moon and in this case Source Code). Edge of Tomorrow – May 30th.

There have already been some intriguing castings for Joe Wright’s (Hanna, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) reboot of Disney animation Peter Pan. Unknown star Levi Miller will play a younger version of the titular role while Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy, Inside Llewyn Davis, Death Sentence) plays Pan’s adversary Hook, who currently serves under the flag of Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman – X-Men, Les Miserables, The Prestige). Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network, Side Effects) will play American-Indian chief’s daughter Tiger Lily. Now an additional Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia, Les Miserables), Kathy Burke (Nil By Mouth, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Nonso Anozie (Ender’s Game, The Grey) have officially joined the ensemble. Pan – July 17th 2015.

We were as thrilled as any when it was revealed that the five remaining members of Monty Python, the legendary British comedy sextet behind Life of Brian, The Flying Circus, The Meaning of Life and The Holy Grail, would be bravely running away onto the O2 stage for their final reunion but were as equally disappointed when the tickets sold out in an incredible 43 seconds. However, there may be a new way for the millions of fans missing out to enjoy the return of Mesrs Cleese, Jones, Gilliam, Idle and Palin. It’s been announced that 1500 screens (including 450 in the UK) across the globe will be presenting the show’s closing night as part of a worldwide live cinema event. Monty Python Live – June 20th.

One of the Spider-Man franchises biggest icons is one who is neither a superhero nor supervillain but Peter Parker’s chain-smoking, media-dictating Daily Bugle boss John Jonah Jameson Junior, portrayed excellently by JK Simmons in Sam Raimi’s original trilogy. However, he’s yet to appear in Marc Webb’s recent reiteration The Amazing Spider-Man. Webb, flanked by Amazing Spider-Man 2’s stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan, spoke out about the possibility of JJJ’s return for future films at a Google+ fan Q&A.

“I like the idea very much of him coming up in the next film. It was more easy to accept a new Spider-Man than someone who could outdo J.K. Simmons in that role. He is so iconic. That’s something we’ve really talked about. Obviously I love that character because he poses such an interesting dilemma for Spider-Man. The answer is I don’t know, but I think you can expect to see him in the future.” The Amazing Spider-Man 3 – June 10th 2016. The Amazing Spider-Man 4 – 2018.

The final part of Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy trilogy, and Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit is approaching fast but a report from TheOneRing hinted at a potential title change from There and Back Again to Into the Fire. Neither sounded quite as previous subtitles such as An Unexpected Journey or The Desolation of Smaug. It then took us by surprise to hear that the title as officially change to The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The Oscar winning writer/director Jackson himself stepped out to say this.

“Our journey to make The Hobbit Trilogy has been in some ways like Bilbo’s own, with hidden paths revealing their secrets to us as we’ve gone along. “There and Back Again” felt like the right name for the second of a two film telling of the quest to reclaim Erebor, when Bilbo’s arrival there, and departure, were both contained within the second film. But with three movies, it suddenly felt misplaced—after all, Bilbo has already arrived “there” in the “Desolation of Smaug”.

“When we did the premiere trip late last year, I had a quiet conversation with the studio about the idea of revisiting the title. We decided to keep an open mind until a cut of the film was ready to look at. We reached that point last week, and after viewing the movie, we all agreed there is now one title that feels completely appropriate.”

Without trying to give too much away for the Tolkien-illiterate, The Battle of the Five Armies is a defining moment in Middle-Earth history and so I think it get’s a well deserved place on the titles. It’s been hinted that There and Back Again hasn’t been completely ditched and will appear on the various boxsets for the films so The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies will be the three films that make up our The Hobbit: There and Back Again trilogy.

Battle of the Five Armies will star Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Lee Pace, Manu Bennett, Ian Holm, Sylvester McCoy, Aidan Turner, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Mikael Persbrandt, Billy Connolly, Graham McTavish, Hugo Weaving and Christopher Lee. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – December 12th