New pics from X-Men: DOFP, Exodus, Captain America 2, Gone Girl, Dawn of Planet of Apes and Spider-Man 2 plus Gal Gadot on Wonder Woman

We’re still unsure if Gal Gadot will play a major role in the yet untitled superhero showdown of Batman vs. Superman. The Israelian star of Fast and Furious has already been confirmed to be playing Wonder Woman but we’re not sure of how much screen time she’ll get with Ben Affleck (Batman), Henry Cavill (Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Laurence Fishburne (Perry White), Joaquin Phoenix (Lex Luthor?) and Jason Momoa (Hawkman?) already beefing up the cast. After initial controversy over the casting due to Gadot not having Wonder Woman’s exaggerated size and posture, she said this: “I represent the Wonder Woman of the new world,” she told the Israeli press, “If I really go ‘by the book’, it’d be problematic.”

Batman vs. Superman’s Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot

Finally, we’ve got a huge compilation behind the scenes pics and fresh new stills courtesy of Empire’s new 2014 preview extravaganza. Gone Girl. Directed by David Fincher (The Social Network, Fight Club, Se7en, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and adapted from the Gillian Flynn novel, the crime thriller has built an impressive cast including Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris and Rosamund Pike.

Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl

We move swiftly on to Jamie Foxx as the new Spider-Man villain Electro in Marc Webb’s Marvel sci-fi superhero sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Andrew Garfield, Paul Giamatti, Emma Stone, Sally Field and Dane DeHaan.

Jamie Foxx in The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Another Marvel project but on Disney’s side of things now. It’s Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the second character to be referenced in the title, played by Sebastian Stan, is today’s focus. Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Robert Redford, Samuel L Jackson, Anthony Mackie, Emily Van Camp, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Hayley Attwell and Frank Grillo also star.

Sebastian Stan in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Legendary British director Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Prometheus, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangsters, Black Hawk Down) puts his spin on the Bible with epic Exodus. Starring Christian Bale, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, Indira Varma, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro and Ben Kingsley. The film seems to be going for huge practical sets as oppose the the more modern, generic use of CG, perhaps in homage to Ben-Hur and Cleopatra.

Christian Bale in Exodus.

Andy Serkis leads the way for the cast of dark fantasy sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes as he strides round a picturesque lake in his trademark mo-cap suit, donned by Serkis previously in The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves directs additional cast members such as Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Judy Greer.

Andy Serkis on set of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

We finish with a behind the scenes peaks at X-Men: Days of Future Past, with director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) hanging out with the 70s mutants, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Michael Fassbender and Hugh Jackman, on a 70s car in front of a suspiciously modern greenscreen.

Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Bryan Singer, Hugh Jackman and Nicholas Hoult on set for X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Batman vs. Superman – July 17th 2015

Gone Girl – October 3rd 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – April 18th 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – March 28th 2014

Exodus – December 12th 2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – July 17th 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 22nd 2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes trailer lands and amazing new Amazing Spider-Man 2 poster

The first trailer for the new Planet of the Apes film dawned onto the internet about seven or eight hours ago and it’s pretty epic. It’s not as extensive as we’d hoped but it confirms some of the key tones and styles of the film that we didn’t expect. The following contains some major spoilers for Rise of the Planet of the Apes so beware.

So, there’s been eight years of violence on the earth since ALZ 113 spread around the globe, likely killing several billion. It’s not yet post apocalyptic, according to the production team, and we can assume that both the humans area still overpowering the intelligently advanced apes (Caeser, Andy Serkis, and co are still using tribal weapons) but we can tell the tides are to turn. Caeser’s growing nation certainly have set their sights on one of the large groups of human survivors who are defiantly threatening their territory.

Serkis, Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke are the only key actors from the prequel to feature in the new teaser however Judy Greer, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell and Kodi Smit McPhee also make up the impressive cast. The talent goes beyond the cast however. Let Me In and Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves directs and the film also has the brilliant duo of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver writing. It’s still hugely unlikely that DOTPOTA (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will feature stars of ROTPOTA (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) such as James Franco, Freida Pinto, Tom Felton, Brian Cox, David Oyelowo and John Lithgow. Charlton Heston’s George Taylor from the ’68 original popping up in this spin franchise would be an interesting concept but nothings been said about it.

The only other bit of news is the new poster from Marc Webb’s superhero sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx, Emma Stone, Sally Field, Paul Giamatti, Dane DeHaan, Chris Cooper and Felicity Jones all star Enjoy!

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – July 17th 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – April 18th 2014

Don Cheadle joins Avengers 2 and Sony confirms Spider-Man spin offs

In the last two Iron Man films, Jim Rhodes/War Machine and, later on, Iron Patriot has impressed us as Iron Man’s sidekick but his second portrayer (Don Cheadle) wasn’t considered into the plot by director and writer Joss Whedon. Whedon returns for the biggest sequel of 2015, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and we thought he’d completed his main cast with Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L Jackson, Mark Ruffallo, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson, James Spader and Anthony Mackie but Don Cheadle has been added to the cast so we might expect other character traditionally starring in the Iron Man films such as J.A.R.V.I.S., (Paul Bettany), Happy Hogun (Jon Favreau) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), none of whom have been confirmed yet.

The next  Marvel news comes from Sony’s expanding The Amazing Spider-Man universe. We reported about a month ago that Sony were to develop a new Spider-Man spin off, possibly more centred around the villains. Later, we told you that The Amazing Spider-Man producer Avi Arad and comic-book legend Stan Lee were working together on a new project, which we presumed to be Venom.

We can now announce that Avi Arad and another team of writers and producers are developing both Venom and The Sinister Six. They’ve got three of JJ Abrams’ team, namely Star Trek’s Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci plus Alias’ Jeff Pinker, on to make Venom with Kurtzman directing as well as writing. Meanwhile, The Sinister Six will be written by The Cabin in the Woods director and World War Z scribe Drew Goddard and Now You See Me’s Ed Solomon but we wouldn’t be surprised if the five were to crossover and work with eachother on both projects. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach will produce with Stan Lee being an integral part of the production.

In terms of casting, Vemon appeared once before in 2007’s Spider-Man 3 where he was played by Topher Grace but that was part of Sam Raimi’s trilogy which was updated by last year’s Amazing Spider-Man. The Sinister Six are likely to be made up of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan or Chris Cooper), Rhino (Paul Giamatti), Doctor Octopus (played by Alfred Molina in 2004’s Spiderman 2, we know Doc Oc will be rebooted with a new star thanks to The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s trailer), Vulture (hasn’t been seen on screen yet but we know he’s going to arrive thanks to the new trailer again) and then either Mysterio or Sandman (previously played  by Thomas Haden Church).

The next Spidey related adventure is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, Chris Cooper and Felicity Jones.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – May 1st 2015

Venom – 2016

The Sinister Six – 2017

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – April 18th 2014

Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer, four more join Warcraft and David Magee writing a new Narnia

Sadly, Duncan Jones’ video game adaptation of World of Warcraft has been postponed into 2016. Colin Farrel, Paula Patton, Anton Yelchin, Anson Mount and Paul Dano are the key stars who are at least in negotiation. Others are now being drafted in as possibly new characters or replacements for those above who are no longer in the project and they are some truly major names. Dominic Cooper is best known for Captain America:The First Avenger and The Devil’s Double and he could be joining X-Men: The Last Stand, 3:10 to Yuma and The Mechanic’s Ben Foster as well as Eastenders and then Pacific Rim’s Robert Kazinsky and Rock ‘n’ Rolla’s Toby Kebbell. Vancouver filming starts next month.

A couple of months ago, we reported that a new instalment could be on the way from the CS Lewis created world of Narnia. Producer Mark Gordon is still the man responsible for adapting The Silver Chair but now David Magee, writer of Life of Pi and Finding Neverland, is working on a screenplay. The Silver Chair’s plot sees Voyage of the Dawn Trader’s Eustace assigned by Aslan to find for an elderly Prince Caspian his long lost son but Eustace’s unsuspecting school friend Jill complicates things a little. Will Poulter, Liam Neeson and Ben Barnes have played some of the above roles in the past but it’s unknown if any of them are returning. Neeson’s voice role as Aslan has often defined the series and Will Poulter and Ben Barnes’ careers have/are set to take off over the next couple of years with their roles in We’re the Millers, The Maze Runner and The Seventh Son.

Finally, the very first trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has swung into action. Check it out here. It’s quite a spectacle and we only have to wait till April. The only villains we new of so far for this Marvel instalment were Electro (Jamie Foxx), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the Osbornes (Dane DeHaan and Chris Cooper replacing James Franco and Willem Dafoe from Sam Raimi’s franchise) with hints at building up the Sinister Six but we didn’t realise it’d happen so quick. It’s safe to say that Harry Osborne will be the Green Goblin and we’ve got surprising cameos, ish, from Vulture and Dr Octopus, one of whom hasn’t been seen since 2004 and the other hasn’t been on our screens once, do correct me if I’m wrong as I don’t care for some of the poor, cheesy and failed adaptations of Spider-Man from the 20th century. Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Sally Field also star while Marc Webb directs.

The Amazing Spider-Man – April 18th 2014

Warcraft – March 11th 2016

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair – 2016

Wonder Woman confirmed for Batman/Superman, Amazing Spider-Man 2 publishes new pics and Louis Leterrier and Sacha Baron Cohen for Grimsby

Louis Leterrier’s career has been a little sticky. His directorial debut Unleashed, starring Morgan Freeman, Jet Li and Bob Hoskins, put him forward and he was soon some lovely big budgets but all Transporter 2, The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans fell flat. However, this year’s Now You See Me was quite a brilliant magician themed thriller. Read our review here. Sequel talk has been floating around a bit but his project after that is today’s focus.

Grimsby is the unambitious title of the new spy comedy that Leterrier’s now attached to direct. The premise, written by Borat’s Baron Cohen and Wreck It-Ralph’s Phil Johnston, is of a couple of comedic spec ops brothers on a secret mission. I think it’s going for less of the James Bond/Jason Bourne parody road that’s been well covered by Johnny English and various other attempts so I think it’ll try and go for a satirical take on say Call of Duty. Variety says that Leterrier won the job of calling the shots over I am Number Four’s DJ Caruso.

Previous Spider-Man films have suffered from a key problem. As soon as Peter Parker gets costumed and swings around he turns into a often disappointing 3-D model. It looks as if Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 it’s trying to capture a more physical Spidey (Andrew Garfield) and these new pics unveil that a bit of that as well as Jamie Foxx as the menacing Electro. Press next to cycle through. Emma Stone, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Dane DeHaan, Martin Sheen and Chris Cooper.

Finally we’ve come the big news of the day which is a bit of news about Wonder Woman. Joss Whedon performed an Amazonian dance around the project for a while before he became Marvel’s main man and names such as Cobie Smulders, Megan Fox and Jaimie Alexander thrown into the mix. However, Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) will be the one to bring Wonder Woman to the screen but I think we guessed that. The surprise is that we’ll get to see her in 2015’s superhero clash Batman vs. Superman, as it’s titled for now.

In addition, Fast and Furious’ Gisele, or her actual name Gal Gadot, is now set to play her. Batman vs. Superman isn’t the only time we’ll be able to see Bat, Supe and Wonder Woman share the screen. Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s The LEGO Movie comes before and features the aforementioned trio as well as Green Lantern for good measure. The Danish figures will be voiced by Will Arnett, Channing Tatum, Cobie Smulders and Jonah Hill as well as Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pratt, Liam Neeson, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Alison Brie and Charlie Day meanwhile Batman vs. Superman has Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman as well as Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane and Amy Adams.

Batman vs. Superman – July 17th 2015

The LEGO Movie – February 14th 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – April 18th 2014

Grimsby – 2015?

The Must Sees of November 2013

This one comes a few days late but we need a round up of November’s huge releases. First up, we’ve got the new film from Stephen Frears (two time Oscar nominated director famed for The Queen and High Fidelity). Philomena is the true story of a pregnant Irish teenager who’s child was stolen by nuns and put up for adoption in America. Decades on in the present day, the old woman’s (Judi Dench – Skyfall, Shakespeare in Love, Iris) story is found by political journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan – Alan Partridge, The Look of Love, Despicable Me 2) and they set out to America to find Philomena’s son. This bitter comedy is sweeping up recognition from everywhere, BAFTAs are certain and Oscars are a possibility, and opens November 1st.

Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall and Jim Broadbent star in Closed Circuit. John Crowley is the director of this mystery thriller which sees a regular court case uncovering a huge terrorist plot (Nov 1st). Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, James Badge Dale and Paul Giamatti play characters in their response to the death of President John F Kennedy in 1963 for the new drama Parkland from director Peter Landesman (Nov 8th). Last Vegas is the new big billing comedy. The premise is four sixty something guys (played by four Oscar winners – Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline) hitting Vegas for the final bachelor party of their lives as the last on of them ties the knot. Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) is the director (Nov 8th).

The biggest release of the month has got to be Gravity. It’s burst into IMDB’s Top 250 films of all time and sits at about 50th. Alfonso Cauron (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) is the director of what’s being praised as one of the most technically astonishing films of all time. Sandra Bullock plays Dr Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first trip to space. She’s on a spacestation with veteran Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) when debris crashes into them leaving them stranded and tumbling towards Earth (Nov 7th).

Kill Your Darlings is the new biography drama set in 1944. A murder draws in great Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston) and William Burroughs (Ben Foster). Also with Dane DeHaan, Elizabeth Olsen, David Cross and director John Krokidas (Slo-Mo) (8th). Shia LaBeouf (Lawless, Transformers) is the titular character Charlie Countryman. Rupert Grint, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelson, Melissa Leo, James Buckley and John Hurt. Countryman is an American traveller who falls for a Romanian criminal. Frederick Bond is the director (Nov 8th).

The Counsellor is Ridley Scott’s new thriller. Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Javier Bardem star in this Oscar tipped feature about a lawyer getting too deep into drug trafficking (Nov 15th). Iain De Caestecker is currently starring on the small screen as one of the Agents of SHIELD. He’s also starring with Alice Englert for In Fear. Jeremy Lovering’s horror sees a young couple thrown into the tormenting of a dark forest after a night out (Nov 15th). Richard Shepard (The Matador) directs and writes his new crime filled comedy Dom Hemmingway where Jude Law has the role of the ex-con titular lead alongside Richard E. Grant and Emilia Clarke (Nov 15th) while Joseph Gordon Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, Looper) directs, writes and stars in edgy rom-com Don Jon about a regular guy struggling to maintain a happy relationship. Also with Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore. Rounding off the stellar releases of November 15th is Blue is the Warmest Colour, winner of the Palme D’Or award earlier this year at the Canne Film Festival after being voted by an elite panel of judges including Steven Spielberg. This foreign language hit is from Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche and is tipped to be this year’s Amour.

Escape Plan sees the 1980s’ two greatest action stars,  Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Predator) and Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo), teaming up for the first proper time, The Expendables wasn’t really about them. They play two prison experts locked away in the most secure cell on the Earth and devise a route out in this mystery thriller from director Mikael Hafstrom. Also with 50 Cent, Sam Neill and Vinnie Jones (Nov 22nd).

We now have a trio of award contenders. Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones star in The Family. Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) is the director and the story is the one of the Manzoni family, a notorious Mafia clan now hiding out in Normandy, France, but are soon noticed (Nov 22nd). A Most Wanted Man is the story of a Muslim immigrant in Hamburg caught  in the crossfire of the international war on terror. Rachel McAdams, Daniel Bruhl, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright and Phillip Seymour Hoffman all star for director Anton Corbjin, famed for The American, (Nov 22nd). Nicole Kidman is the current Oscar favourite for Grace of Monaco. It’s the true story of legendary actress Grace Kelly who, at the age of 25, has just one her first Oscar and is the rising star of the moment, that moment being 1955. But she gives up her career just as it was taking off she marries the Monacan Prince Ranier III (Tim Roth). Director Oliver Dahan explains frequently that it’s not a biography but an exploration of the reasons behind a seemingly bizarre decision (Nov 29th).

Three other films will finish our November preview. Their all likely to make great box-office hits but two of them are in contention for Oscar noms. Carrie is one of them and I reckon stars Chloe Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore are in the running for an Academy Award shortlist. The story, based on the Stephen king novel and Brian De Palma film, is of the titular teenage girl Carrie who finds herself with strange abilities as she enters puberty. She decides to use them to gruesome effect against her tormentors. Kimberly Pierce (Boys Don’t Cry which won Hilary Swank an Oscar) is the director (Nov 29th).

Homefront boasts an impressive cast in the form of Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo as well as screenwriter Sylvester Stallone and director Gary Fleder (The Express, Runaway Jury). A former DEA officer hopes to start a new life when he moves to a new quiet town with his young daughter but he gets on the wrong side of local meth dealer Gator and violence soon follows. We like to call it: Breaking Dad! (Nov 29th)

Destined for greatness is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the sequel to last year’s surprise sci-fi success and adaptation of the Suzanne Collins young adult novel. Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) is the director this time as Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) realises that her Hunger Games victory with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) may have sparked the ideals of revolution within the starving people of Panem. Confronted by President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland), she must dampen the rebellious fire before it causes a head on collision with the Capitol. Also with Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Jeffery Wright, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Sam Clafin, Jena Malone, Willow Shields and Phillips Seymour Hoffman (Nov 21st).

Thanks for reading the whole of this one through. It means that you now have November 2013’s releases laid out in front of you for you to pick and that you have a much longer attention span than I d

Tuorhoth’s first predictions for the 2014 Academy Awards

October and November are seeing the releases of some of the huge contenders for the Oscars next year well before award season has begun. We’ve no idea how well any of these films are going to do critically seeing as none of them have actually been released to mainstream audiences. This isn’t an award by award breakdown but we’re giving you a brief guide as to what could be nominated in “the big six” awards at world’s biggest annual movie event. I’m also ranking the potential nominees by their likelihood of winning by colour: red means most likely to win, blue means second most likely and green means I’ve ranked them third.

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett – The Monuments Men

Cameron Diaz – The Counsellor

Julianne Moore – Carrie

Michelle Pfeiffer – The Family

Kristen Wiig – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Benedict Cumberbatch – 12 Years A Slave

Jean Dujardin – The Monuments Men

Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tommy Lee Jones – The Family

Best Leading Actress

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Nicole Kidman – Grace of Monaco

Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Chloe Grace Moretz – Carrie

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Leading Actor

George Clooney – Gravity

Steve Coogan – Philomena

Leonardo di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips or Saving Mr. Banks (undecided)

Ben Stiller – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Director

Alfonso Cauron – Gravity

George Clooney – The Monuments Men

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Ben Stiller – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Picture

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

The Counsellor

Gravity

The Monuments Men

Out of the Furnace

Saving Mr. Banks

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Wolf of Wall Street

So, these are my beginning of season suggestions for who will be nominated at this prestigious event. We’re now going to talk through those films and actors that I haven’t included but could be major contenders. There’s a huge cast for The Monuments Men which I haven’t fully gone over. I’ve put George Clooney, who I’ve already selected for Best Director for this film, in for Best Leading Actor for Gravity not The MM but he could easily win for both. Stars of The Monuments Men like Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban could squeeze into the supporting actor position that I placed Dujardin in. Dujardin is already popular with the academy after his Lead Actor win in 2012 for The Artist and as likely could get a nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street instead of The Monuments Men.

Wolf of Wall Street could do very well. Jonah Hill may seem like a surprise nominee but remember that he got similar recognition at the 2012 Oscars for Moneyball. I’ve only put Nicole Kidman forward for this film but Grace of Monaco is a noteworthy contender for a Best Pic nomination. American Hustle is only in one award on my list but the stellar cast of Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence (whose already in for Hunger Games 2), Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale. I think it will win Best Original Screenplay however.

Other potential nominees are the aforementioned Bale for Out of the Furnace, for which Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana could also be in contention. Dame Judi Dench could get into the actress categories for Philomena. Robert De Niro stars in both American Hustle and The Family and could crack into the shortlists. Colin Farrel and Paul Giamatti came close to my lists for Saving Mr. Banks. 12 Years A Slave could through in Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano and Quvenzhane Wallis back into the award scene while The Counsellor could do the same for Fassbender, Pitt, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem as well as it’s director Sir Ridley Scott. We can’t rule out other entries like All is Lost with Robert Redford, The Book Thief with Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson or Inside Llewyn Davis (the Coen brothers’ folk tale with Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan). Spike Lee’s mysterious action remake Oldboy could creep in with it’s stars Josh Brolin, Samuel L Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, Hannah Simone and Sharlto Copley.

It’s not too late to remove this year’s earlier hits like The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann directing Leonardo di Caprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton), Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen directing Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin), Prisoners (Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard and Jake Gyllenhaal in the directing of Denis Villeneuve) and Rush (Ron Howard’s biopic with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl). Blockbuster action films like the upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Ender’s Game or 47 Ronin have been known to do well as the Oscars (see The Dark Knight, Inception and a few others) and there’s usually a surprise foreign language film in the mix (like Amour). There’s a whole variety of films that could be next year’s nominees but I think the leaders are: Gravity, Captain Phillips, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Monuments Men and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Find out more about these films at our Future Films pages for 2013 and 2014.

The 86th Academy Awards will be hosted by Ellen De Generes and will be on ABC on March 2nd 2014

Tell us in the comments who YOU think will win big at the 2014 Oscars.

New Hobbit 2 posters and trailer, Disney plans Cruella De Vil film and the must-sees of October 2013

October 2013 through to January 2014 is bringing us some big releases. This feature will be guiding you along and giving you the opportunity t start filling in your film diary.

October:

The Fifth Estate – Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, the last two Twilight films) directs the true recent story of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The British actor of the moment Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit, Sherlock, Star Trek: Into Darkness) takes the lead role while Spanish star Daniel Bruhl (Rush, The Bourne Ultimatum) plays tech-obsessed activist Daniel Domscheit-Berg as they set out extracting secrets from whistleblowers across the world and publishing them online. Carice van Houten (Repo Men, Valkyrie) and Peter Capaldi (World War Z and the new Doctor Who) also star. OCT 11th

Emperor – Tommy Lee Jones (Men In Black, Lincoln, No Country for Old Men) and Matthew Fox star in Peter Webber’s (Girl With A Pearl Earring) WW2 drama about the two leads character’s deciding the fate of surrendered Japanese Emperor’s daughter Hirohito (Eriko Hatsune). OCT 4th

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 – Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn are the directors of the animated sequel to the 2009 oddball family comedy. James Caan, Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Adam Sandberg are the stars of a plot that sees all the animals in the safe-haven of Swallow Falls turn into bizarre food-animal hybrids. OCT 25th

Captain Phillips – Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan) is the title character in the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and his ordeal at the hands of Somali pirates. Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Green Zone) is the director of the hostage thriller that could see him and Hanks in  contention for Oscars. OCT 18th

Machete Kills – Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) directs this action sequel. Danny Trejo (Breaking Bad) returns in a plot that sees his character, Machete, thrown back into action when the US Government appoints him with the task of charging into Mexico and taking down on of the US’s most wanted drug lords. Pop-star Lady Gaga stars in a revamped cast featuring Amber Heard (Drive Angry, Zombieland), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar, Fast and Furious) and Carlos Estevez (AKA Charlie Sheen) as the US President. OCT 11th

Ender’s Game – Scott Orson Card’s sci-fi novel is finally adapted into a big-budget action film. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield – Hugo) is a seemingly ordinary teen whose chosen to go to outer space and begin training as one of the first of a new breed of war commanders who must fight back against the impending alien threat. Harrison Ford (Star Wars, Indiana Jones), Sir Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3, Gandhi, Hugo), Viola Davis (The Help), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) also star in Gavin Hood’s (Tsotsi, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) space set thriller.

Romeo and Juliet – The aforementioned Steinfeld also has a lead role in this Shakespeare adaptation. If you don’t know the plot 1) HOW??? 2) Romeo Montague (Douglas Booth) falls for Juliet Capulet (Steinfeld) but their protective head of one of the rivalling famlies Lord Capulet (Damian Lewis) prevents them from meeting so Romeo’s friend Friar Laurence (Paul Giamatti) concocts a dangerous plan to get the romantic pair together. Ed Westwick and Kodi Smit-McPhee also star in the period drama that has a Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey, The Young Victoria) script to it’s name. OCT 11th

You’ll have heard plenty about Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World in recent months. Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Jaimie Alexander, Natalie Portman, Christopher Eccleston, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba and Stellan Skarsgard all play roles in a plot that sees Norse god brothers heroic Thor and sinister Loki forced to team-up to end the potential destruction caused by revived evil race the Dark Elves and their diabolical leader Malekith (30th). October also brings the release of horror sequel V/H/S/2 (14th). There’s also Dexter Fletcher’s Proclaimers based, Scottish, comedy musical Sunshine on Leith (4th). Ken Jeong, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Maya Rudolph, Michelle Rodriguez, Bill Hader, Michael Pena, Samuel L Jackson, Luis Guzman and Snoop Dogg are all voicing characters in the story of a snail who dreams of becoming the fastest thing in the world titled Turbo (18th). James Corden and Julie Walters star in the true story of Paul Potts as he aspires to become a world renowned opera singer. His dreams are crushed over and over again until he auditions for the little known, in 2007 that is, talent show Britain’s Got Talent in One Chance (25th). Finally, we’ve got stupid, crass daredevil sequel Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (23rd). Our coverage of each month’s must-sees continues at the beginning of November with the November must-sees featuring Gravity, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Counsellor, Grace of Monaco, Last Vegas, The Family, Kill Your Darlings, Escape Plan, Philomena, Dom Hemingway and many more.

Cruella De Vil was the iconic villain of 101 Dalmations. She’s now set to have her own spin-off film. This seems to be part of Disney’s apparent plan to turn a lot of their animated classics into more grown-up live-action films. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was the first and it’s been followed by Rupert Sander’s Snow White and the Huntsman and the upcoming Maleficent (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty directed by Robert Stromberg and starring  Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning) and Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh directing with Lily James, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter and Cate Blanchett building up the cast). Aline Brosh McKenna (writer of The Devil Wears Prada and We Bought a Zoo) has been hired to script the film as well as Branagh’s Cinderella.

Moving on, we’ve got fresh new The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug posters for you to admire.

Director Peter Jackson’s imagery is as stunning as ever in these character teasing banners. At the bottom, we’ve got returning company members Kili (Aidan Turner), Fili (Dean O’Gorman), Dwalin (Graham McTavish), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman). Above them is the ever menacing presence of the Elven King Trandruil (Lee Pace). At the top we find a more cryptic poster. We know that it’s the legendary Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) with the bow in the foreground. Behind him we find the Master of Laketown (Stephen Fry) accompanied by a more sinister, knife wielding figure. Much internet searching in my behalf as to who this actor or his character is has been fruitless so I challenge YOU to wildly guess his true identity in the comments.

Following the posters was an epic new trailer for the film which you can find over at The Verge. Anyone trying to avoid any plot details of the film (seeing as it does now differ from original book by JRR Tolkien) may want to skip to the next paragraph. Sauron is in it! The return of Lord of the Rings’ big bad was teased by The Necromancer in the previous film, An Unexpected Journey, but his eye does flash up on the screen. His distinctive orc army also looks like it’ll make an appearance in the dark land of Mordor. We’re also teased more of likely the most terrifying dragon in recent film history in the form of the titular villain Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). The Desolation of Smaug looks like it could be a more open with roaming special effects rather than An Unexpected Journey which was, at time, a little cramped into tight sets and the adventure really got going as soon as we got out of the enclosed areas.

“His name is Bilbo!”

Cruella De Vil – 2016?

Cinderella – March 13th 2015

Maleficent – May 30th 2014

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – December 13th

The November Preview Special – Early November here on Tuorhoth Movies

James McAvoy is Frankenstein and new poster for Romeo and Juliet

Next year, two Frankenstein films are to be released but at different ends of 2014. The first is I, Frankenstein and is from director Stewart Beattie (writer of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Australia and GI Joe: Rise of Cobra plus director of Tomorrow, When the War Began). It’s set in modern day with Aaron Eckhart as the Frankenstein Monster as he’s caught up in a war between two immortal clans and stars Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean, Love Actually) and Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings, War of the Worlds). The year’s other release is simply titled Frankenstein.

It has a screenplay by Max Landis (son of horror legend John Landis) and directed by Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin). The only casting so far was Daniel Radcliffe. The English star is most likely to be remembered by all for the Harry Potter films but has done excellent post-Potter work with The Woman In Black (with Ciaran Hinds), Kill Your Darlings (with Dane de Haan, Elizabeth Olsen and Ben Foster) and the upcoming Horns (with Juno Temple).

He will play Igor, the assistant of Victor Frankenstein who’s casting is the subject of this post. James McAvoy will be taking the main role as the lonely, mad scientist who robs the local cemeteries to put body parts into his monster. We’re still not sure who will be playing The Monster itself and whether this will introduce the Bride or if they’ll be producing something similar Danny Boyle’s stage-play where Johnny Lee Millar and Benedict Cumberbatch play both Victor and the Monster.

McAvoy will be best known for The Last King of Scotland (for which he won multiple awards), Wanted, The Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and is now the young Charles Xavier in the X-Men films. He’s got plenty of upcoming projects now. After early this year’s Welcome to the Punch and Trance, he has Filth, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Hers and next year’s Bryan Singer superhero adaptation X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Finally, a new poster for Carlo Carlei’s new Shakespeare adaptation. It’s adapted by the Elizabethan playwright’s most famous production: Romeo and Juliet. True Grit’s Academy Award nominee Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth play the leading duo with Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Ed Westwick and Stellan Skarsgard. The man who made Downton Abbey a worldwide success, Julian Fellowes writes a screenplay that’ll hopefully be staying truer to Shakespeare’s original than Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet’s modern setting or the complete garden themed revamp animation seen in Gnomeo and Juliet. Here’s the poster and an earlier trailer for Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet is out September 6th

Frankenstein is out October 17th 2014

Seventh Son and Saving Mr Banks reveal first trailers

Joseph Delaney, English fantasy author, had the first book in the Spooks series (or in America The Wardstone Chronicles) published in 2004 and has since then wrote twelve books in the series, with book thirteen coming December this year. A new film adaptation of The Spook’s Apprentice is in post-production and will be released later this year title Seventh Son. It’s under the direction of Russian Sergei Bodrov and stars Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart, Tron, The Big Lebowski, True Grit), Ben Barnes (Chronicles of Narnia), Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right) and Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair).

It tells the story of a wizard, known in this world as a Spook, called John Gregory. As the long gone Mother Malkin returns, Gregory recruits the young Tom Ward to become a better Spook than himself with one rule: when you see a witch, kill it. Tom’s allegiances are torn when he falls for Alice (a witch who claims to be good).

The new trailer for Seventh Son showed more darkness and great special effects than I expected. The dark warriors, dragons and deserted landscapes looked surprisingly realistic and provided a different tone to what we’ve seen of recent fantasy movies (which usually take after a more Game of Thronesey Scandinavian feel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyZAooQBDrY

The other trailer released was for Saving Mr Banks. Disney are making a film featuring their own founder Walt Disney who is played now by Tom Hanks. Emma Thomas plays the English author P.L Travers who, after experiencing international success, flies to Los Angeles to visit Walt and discuss with him the arrangements for the film adaptation of her beloved book Mary Poppins, which she is adamantly against.

Mr Banks is of coarse the father character who’s children are looked after by nanny Mary Poppins, whose magic umbrellas and musical numbers are misunderstood for what Travers really intended with her book. In the film, Travers remembers and tells, in detail, to Walt Disney her Australian childhood and the real-life inspirations for the characters: herself being one of the children, her father being Mr Banks and of coarse their nanny.

It looks like it’s going to be Disney writing a love letter to it’s founder Walt and we can expect to see Tom Hanks having fun with a show stealing role. It also looks to be much funnier and full of in-jokes than I had thought previously (with songwriters subtly hiding Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Although it looks similar in structure to Finding Neverland, it’ll most certainly be a very original and eccentric piece that also stars Paul Giamatti and Colin Ferrel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5kYmrjongg

Seventh Son is out 25th October

Saving Mr Banks is out 17th January 2014