68th British Academy Film Awards Live

Welcome to our BAFTA hub for 2015. Tonight is the biggest night of the British film calender as the esteemed academy elects its triumphant films, directors and stars. Keep on refreshing the page for the latest updates.

If you’re not preoccupied before the ceremony, try out our prediction game. Rank the nominees for Best Film, Director, Actor/Actress, Supporting Actor/Actress, Cinematography, British Film and Rising Star from 1-5. If your number one pick is correct you receive five points, number two gets four, number three gets three and so on. Comment your score from a maximum of 59. Unsure where to start? Try our own predictions as a primer. Get the full nominations list here.

The red carpet lineup is amassing: Benedict Cumberbatch! Eddie Redmayne! Keira Knightley! Steve Carell! Ralph Fiennes! Ethan Hawke! Mike Leigh! Jack O’Connell! Michael Keaton! Mark Strong!

Here we go!

Stephen Fry begins his annual interrogation of the esteemed audience members. Rosamund Pike! Julie Walters! Edward Norton!

Outstanding British Film:

The Theory of Everything
Pride
Under the Skin
The Imitation Game
’71
Paddington

Beckham awards the first win of the night. Does that put Theory in the front seat for Best Film?

Special Visual Effects:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Guardians of the Galaxy

It missed out on the main categories but it made up here. Jones and Hawking’s humour shining through again.

Supporting Actor:

Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Edward Norton – Birdman
Ethawn Hawke – Boyhood
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Witherspoon on her way to Leading Actress as she awards J Jonah Jameson a BAFTA.

Next two British greats award a third.

Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema:

BBC Films (Revolutionary Road, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Jane Eyre, Made in Deganham, Notes on a Scandal, Billy Elliott, Coriolanus, Pride, An Education, Quartet, In the Loop, Philomena, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa)

The Butler’s Cuba Gooding Jr dishes out the second acting category.

Supporting Actress:

Rene Russo – Nightcrawler
Emma Stone – Birdman
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Imelda Staunton – Pride

A rising star and Bilbo himself award Birdman’s first win.

Cinematography:

Mr Turner (Dick Pope)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert Yeoman)
Interstellar (Hoyte Van Hoytema)
Ida (Lukasz Zal)
Birdman (Emmanuel Lubezki)

The ever sharply suited Loki and MI6 Head celebrate a great career beginning.

British Debut:

’71
Northern Soul
Lilting
Kajaki
Pride

A fitting tribute to a true great, Lord Richard Attenborough, from Prince William and Robert Downey Jr.

Best Actress favourite Julianne Moore arrives.

Best Original Screenplay:

Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro Gonalez Inarritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone, Armando Bo -Birdman
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler

Two JJ Abrams collaborators on stage. Shared universe? It’s all a conspiracy!

Foreign Language:

Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Two Days, One Night
Ida
Trash

He’s semi-bald! Future Lex Luthor Jesse Eisenberg and Noomi Rapace turn up.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Jason Dean Hall – American Sniper
Paul King – Paddington

We taking a minute off to honour the In Memoriam section.

X-Men’s James McAvoy arrives – we forgot he was Scottish again.

EE Rising Star:

Gugu Mbatha Raw
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley
Jack O’Connell
Margot Robbie

Your new one to watch is Jack O’Connell, one of the many protogee’s of E4’s Skins who’s starred in the acclaimed likes of Starred Up, Unbroken and ’71.

Brick is back.

Director:

Alejandro Gonzale Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
James Marsh – The Theory of Everything
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Only God Forgive’s Kristen Scott Thomas compliments her opposite number.

Leading Actor:

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Another crossover in the work: Superman V Captain America!

Leading Actress:

Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Amy Adams – Big Eyes
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

That was a surprise: Tom Cruise!

Film:

The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Boyhood
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Fellowship:

Mike Leigh (Mr Turner, Life is Sweet, High Hopes, Career Girls, Abigail’s Party, All or Nothing, Topsy Turvy, Secrets and Lies, Naked, Vera Drake, Happy Go Lucky, Another Year)

Here comes the quickfire awards.

Original Music:

Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Documentary:

Citizenfour

Makeup and Hair:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Production Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

British Short Film:

Boogaloo and Graham

British Short Animation:

The Bigger Picture

Editing:

Whiplash

Sound:

Whiplash

Animated Film:

The Lego Movie

Costume Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel

We managed 53/59 so comment how you did. Here’s the winners leaderboard.

The Grand Budapest Hotel – 5
Boyhood, The Theory of Everything, Whiplash – 3
Ida, Interstellar, The Lego Movie, Pride, Citizenfour, Still Alice, Birdman – 1

Weekend box-office – 7th to 13th of January 2015 – will Kingsman be a service to the UK?

Some of the UK’s most influential filmmakers of the past few years include Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Interstellar), Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, The Bourne Ultimatum) and Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trance) while James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything is flying our flag at the Oscars but today’s focus is on London born Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, Stardust, Layer Cake) who is releasing the Colin Firth-starring spy thriller Kingsman: The Secret Service this week. It’s a major departure from his more studio-oriented material of late so it’ll be interesting to see how it fares. Meanwhile last week, we predicted that (in the US) American Sniper would keep on top.

US:

1. American Sniper – Director: Clint Eastwood – $30.7 million
2. Project Almanac – Dean Israelite – $8.3 million
3. Paddington – Paul King – $8.3 million
4. Black or White – Mike Bender – $6.2 million
5. The Boy Next Door – Rob Cohen – $6.1 million

UK:

1. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams – £4.3 million
2. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – £4.2 million
3. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood – £1.6 million
4. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh – £1 million
5. Taken 3 – Oliver Megaton – £0.8 million

Kingsman has arrived in second but it’s still a very respectable entry. Disney’s animated superhero adventure Big Hero 6 has beaten it to the post in a very tight competition. While it slipped up in the UK, American Sniper is still reigning in the US for the third week is a row, fending off rivals such as time-travel action Project Almanac and racial drama Black or White. This week I’ve scored 2/10.

US:

1. Jupiter Ascending – The Wachowskis
2. American Sniper – Clint Eastwood
3. The Seventh Son – Sergei Bodrov
4. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Paul Tibbitt
5. Paddington – Paul King

UK:

1. The Interview – Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
2. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams
3. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn
4. Shaun the Sheep Movie – Mark Burton, Richard Starzak
5. Jupiter Ascending – The Wachowskis

Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller in American Sniper, this week’s US number one.

The character of Scott Adsit in Big Hero 6, this week’s UK number one.

Birdman tops Indie Spirit nominations and Andy Serkis discusses Age of Ultron

Andy Serkis is one of Britain’s great innovative actors of the century, providing the iconic roles of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit’s Gollum, Rise/Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Caesar and King Kong. While also starring in the flesh in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, he’s still by far best known for his legendary motion capture work but its unclear which format he shall take for his upcoming works, an unspecified role in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, directing and starring as Baloo in Jungle Book: Origins and a mystery shrouded appearance in Marvel’s blockbuster sequel.

In The Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer Serkis’ part was teased in a single shot in which, bearded, he turns toward the camera. He bares a great resemblance to the Marvel villain Ulysses Klaw, which’d make him the lead antagonist in 2017’s Black Panther alongside hero Chadwick Boseman. As well as this he’s assisting with the film’s mo-cap work with the characters Hulk and Ultron. He’s shed some light on that process.

“We did some work on Ultron,” Serkis reveals to Empire on their visit to his Imaginarium Studio. “On the development of Ultron before James Spader came on board. In terms of movement styles: was he gonna be human-like? Was he going to be robot-like? So we worked with a bunch of different people, from body-popping experts to dancers, to this guy called Neil who’s nearly eight feet tall.”

“We gave Mark weights, we had voice projections so he could do his Hulk roar. On screen we could have a virtual representation of the low-resolution avatar of The Hulk, so he could come out and feel that sense of scale.”

Written and directed by Joss Whedon (Serenity, Buffy and the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story), the sequel stars Robert Downey Jr (The Judge, Sherlock Holmes) as Tony Stark, James Spader (Stargate, Lincoln) as Ultron, Chris Hemsworth (Rush, The Cabin in the Woods) as Thor, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town) as Clint Barton, Chris Evans (Snowpiercer, The Iceman) as Steve Rogers, Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Lucy) as Natasha Romanoff, Mark Ruffalo (Shutter Island, Foxcather) as Bruce Banner, Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla, Liberal Arts) as Wanda Maximoff, Aaron Taylor Johnson (Kick-Ass, Anne Karenina) Pietro Maximoff, Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Margin Call) The Vision, Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) as Maria Hill, Don Cheadle (Crash, Flight) as James Rhodes, Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist, King Kong) as Wolfgang von Strucker, Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting, Melancholia) as Erik Selvig and Samuel L Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, The Incredibles, Django Unchained) as Nick Fury.

Followed by Martin Luther King biopic Selma and drumming drama Whiplash, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman, a dark comedy centred on a former but now fledging and arrogant superhero star played by Beetlejuice’s Michael Keaton, is leading the pack in The Independent Spirit Awards with six nominations. The lack of a mention for acclaimed British wartime drama The Imitation Game has caused some controversy (a calculated conspiracy to snub the Brits?). Take a look at the full list.

Best Feature:

Birdman
Boyhood
Love is Strange
Selma
Whiplash

Best Director:

Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Ava DuVemay – Selma
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
David Zellner Kumiko – The Treasure Hunter

Best Screenplay:

Big Eyes
A Most Violent Year
Nightcrawler
Only Lovers Left Alive
Love is Strange

Best Female Lead:

Marion Cotillad – The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi – The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Jenny Slate – Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive

Best Male Lead:

Andre Benjamin – Jimi: All is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman
John Lithgow – Love is Strange
David Oyelowo – Selma

Best Supporting Female:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo – Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz – Stand Clear of Closing Doors
Emma Stone – Birdman

Best Supporting Male:

Riz Ahmed – Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Alfred Molina – Love is Strange
Edward Norton – Birdman
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best Cinematography:

The Immigrant
Birdman
It Felt Like Love
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Selma

Best Editing:

Boyhood
Whiplash
Nightcrawler
A Most Violent Year
The Guest

Best International Film:

Force Majeure
Ida
Leviathan
Mommy
Norte, The End of History
Under the Skin

Robert Altman Award:

Inherent Vice; Director: Paul Thomas Anderson; Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Jena Malone, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon

Special Distinction Award:

Foxcatcher; Director: Bennett Miller; Starring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – May 1st 2015

New Jason Clarke in Terminator Genisys images and Carell, Tatum and Ruffalo in new Foxcatcher poster

A star studded cast is being lined up for Terminator: Genisys, a sci-fi thriller sequel which’ll completely rework James Cameron’s franchise. Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Zero Dark Thirty), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Jai Courtney (Jack Reacher) feature on a pair of covers for Entertainment Weekly. Although their exciting their making a bad move not marketing the Arnold Schwarzenegger (Predator, Total Recall, True Lies) reprising his iconic role as T-800. The film is directed by Thor: The Dark World’s Alan Taylor.

Finally today you can see three Hollywood heavyweights made unrecognisable in the stunning makeup work of Foxcatcher. This new dark sports drama won Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote) the Best Director award at Cannes earlier this year and is generating major Oscar buzz. Foxcatcher stars Steve Carell (The 40 Year-Old Virgin, The Office), Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, White House Down), Sienna Miller (Layer Cake, Stardust) and Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers, Zodiac, Shutter Island).

Foxcatcher – January 9th 2015

Terminator: Genisys – July 3rd 2015

Sean Harris joins Mission: Impossible 5 and Zoe Saldana and more cast in Live By Night

A key problem with the Mission: Impossible franchise is the lack of continuity between each instalment. Each director (Brian De Palma, John Woo, JJ Abrams, Brad Bird) has only seen through one film and so each new set of characters who are instantly replaced by the next one. The only stars, besides the Michelle Monaghan cameo in MI4, with multiple appearances to their name would be Tom Cruise (Minority Report, Edge of Tomorrow, Collateral, The Last Samurai, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Interview With the Vampire, A Few Good Men, Born of the Fourth of July, Rain Man, Top Gun), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Dawn of the Dead) and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End, Star Trek).

Jack Reacher’s Christopher McQuarrie will be directed the series’ fifth instalment and has reinstated Ghost Protocol’s cast of Cruise, Rhames, Pegg, Paula Patton (Precious) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Avengers). He’s now lining up a villain in the form of Prometheus’ Sean Harris. Other additions to the cast include Rebecca Ferguson (The White Queen) and Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October, 30 Rock, Beetlejuice).

In the early nineties, Ben Affleck was one of the rising stars of the moment following Good Will Hunting however the turn of the century transformed him into what we can best describe as a joke with the infamous flops Daredevil, Pearl Harbour and Gigli. The star’s resurgence came when he tried his hand at directing with the critical hits Gone Baby Gone and The Town which were followed by the Best Picture winning Argo. His hopes to release crime drama Live By Night were put on hold, sadly, when he accepted the role of Batman. The film is now back on track with a new release date and a trio of stars. Affleck will be acting alongside Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avatar), Elle Fanning (Super 8, Maleficent, We Bought a Zoo) and Sienna Miller (Casanova, Foxcatcher, Stardust).

Live By Night – October 14th 2016

Mission: Impossible 5 – December 26th 2015

Robert Downey Jr weighs in on Black Widow and LFF line up announced

In just six years, Marvel have introduced and greatly developed seven central characters – Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury – three of whom now have their own mulit-billion franchises. There’s now a great demand for Black Widow, played by Lost in Translation’s Scarlett Johansson, to at last get her own standalone film; she’s so far only had supporting roles in Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers. X-Men and Watchmen’s writer David Hayter and Game of Thrones’ Neil Marshall have both expressed interest in directing the project while Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) has criticised Marvel for not yet confirming the film.

Robert Downey Jr is now weighing in on the discussion. “It just seems like whatever Scarlett does people want to go see it,” the star of Zodiac, Chaplin, Tropic Thunder and Sherlock Holmes explained. “The funny thing is honestly at this point everyone deserves a franchise,” Downey continued. “I think Jeremy Renner is — when folks see the Avengers: Age of Ultron –  he’s just a rockstar. And Ruffalo is pumped. He does great work. I’d like to hear them talk even more seriously about a Hulk franchise, because that’s been one of the toughest ones to get right. But I’m sure that my parent company is feeling expansive and bold after the summer they’ve had.”

The British Film Industry’s London Film Festival (BFI LFF) is back this autumn and at last the full line up has been announced. The festival opens with wartime drama The Imitation Game. Headhunters’ Morten Tyldum directs the biopic of codebreaker Alan Turing. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness), Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean, Never Let Me Go), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Kick-Ass), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Gosford Park), Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Stoker) and Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, Southcliffe).

Also featuring in the festival are the following: Sporting drama Foxcatcher, although it is far from its wide release, is already an Oscar favourite after causing a great stir at Cannes. Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) directs the cast of Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller and Mark Ruffalo. Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Judy Greer, JK Simmons, Jennifer Garner and Emma Thompson star in Jason Reitman’s (Juno) comedy Men Women & Children. Timothy Spall is the title character of multi-award winning Mr Turner, from Mike Leigh (Topsy Turvy, Another Year).

Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Mud) may be on her way to a second Oscar with Wild, the new directorial effort from Jean Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club, The Young Victoria). A slightly more mainstream event arrives in the form of epic sequel Monsters: Dark Continent, from first time director Tom Green. The festival’s conclusion will be marked by a screening of WW2 thriller Fury. David Ayer (End of Watch) directs the cast of Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Jason Isaacs.

London Film Festival – October 8th-19th

Black Widow – 2017?

Captain America writers talk new villain and Man From UNCLE gets a new release date

With a summer packed full of potential $1 billion plus movies (Avengers 2, Star Wars 7, Bond 24, The Hunger Games 4, Mission: Impossible 5, Jurassic World, Fast and Furious 7 and The Minions all prime contenders) box office goods are assured for some but not for all. Dozens of riskier projects are frantically scrapping for golden release dates in fear of the saturated 2016 schedule. It has now been announced that spy thriller The Man From UNCLE has leapt from January to a lucrative August release. The film is directed by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and stars Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, Immortals) and Armie Hammer (The Social Network, The Lone Ranger).

Also, action American Sniper has shifted into a much more awards friendly Christmas opening (could it be a genuine awards contender alongside Boyhood, Foxcatcher, Interstellar or Gone Girl?). Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Invictus, Changeling, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima) directs, after succeeding Steven Spielberg, with Bradley Cooper (Limitless, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook, The Hangover, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Sienna Miller (Stardust, Casanova, GI Joe) starring.

Marvel’s thriller sequel Captain America: The Winter Solider has become of the year’s biggest financial and critical hits and directing pair Anthony and Joe Russo are confirmed to return. So far we know nothing to with characters or even a title. With Marvel’s rich expanse of unexploited villains, most of the speculation is on who could be the new instalment’s chief wrongdoer. Writer Christopher Markus, partner in crime of Stephen McFeely, has expressed his preferences. “I don’t know if there’s anybody that we had in the wings that we couldn’t pull off. There are people that I’m always wanting to bring in. I want to put Modok into something.”

However he did state that Modok’s presence may be hard to pull off. “You can’t just drop a giant floating head in! It’s not like “Oh, we have to go talk to this guy – there’s something I should tell you about him first.” Suddenly the whole movie needs to take on that structure in order to accommodate him. I never win that fight!” Modok, who many would suggest as the ideal role of Torchwood/Pacific Rim star Burn Gorman, may be a possibility for future MCU films but we’ve got a few more spoiler heavy suggestions below.

The concept of AIM, and therefore Modok, could be possible following the corporation’s introduction back in Iron Man 3. Then there’s the real Mandarin, the leader of The Ten Rings, who was teased by Scoot McNairy’s assassin in the One Shot short film All Hail the King although The Ten Rings are more of Iron Man’s story arc. The most likely suggestion would be the trilogy coming full circle with Cap’ battling the forces of Hydra, fronted by Toby Jones (Harry Potter, Berberian Sound Studio) as Arnim Zola, Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist, Stalingrad) as Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker or Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, V For Vendetta) as a revived Red Skull – I’d say the Baron is more likely.

Captain America 3 will likely star Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier), Emily Van Camp (Agent 13), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Cobie Smulders (Agent Hill), Frank Grillo (Crossbones) and Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury) while I reckon Thomas Kretschmann (Baron Von Strucker), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson) or Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) could crop up.

American Sniper – December 25th

The Man From UNCLE – August 14th 2015

Captain America 3 – May 6th 2016

Channig Tatum in new poster for Foxcatcher, first stills from Exodus and Sherlock likely for Christmas return

Around four years ago, Doctor Who’s Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss set about realising their dream of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Victorian detective in the modern day. And thus born was the brilliant Sherlock, the sharpest, slickest and frankly best British drama around. The 2012 follow up to the more experimental first series was the Empire Strikes Back of second series, darker, grander but just as ingeniously complex as the original. Then earlier this year came season three, a tragically terrible bulking disappointment, chock full of poorly constructed twists and stripped of the smarts that once made the show great. Moffat divided attention between Sherlock and Doctor Who has derailed both of them.

It’ll be a long while until the series does return. Its co-lead Martin Freeman (The Hobbit trilogy, The World’s End, Fargo) has spoken out about when it will. “It looks pretty likely,” Freeman explains, breaking the silence of the tight-lipped BBC. “I’m speaking off-message here – if this was New Labour I’d get fired but a Christmas special is what I understand.” I’d expect this seasonal special to land in 2015 before another three part series taking shape for Summer 2016. Sadly, the third run of the show was a ratings smash as so there’ll be no rush to revoke the brainless format. The series will star Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Amanda Abbington, Mark Gatiss, Louise Brealey, Rupert Graves, Una Stubbs and Andrew Scott.

Around this time of the year, those who don’t find blockbusters their thing may be lost for a film choice during this summer and may well turn their eye to the Oscar frontrunners arriving later in the year. Gone Girl, The Judge, Boyhood, Fury and Interstellar are proving popular choices but the one film everyone’s going crazy about is Foxcatcher, a wrestling drama building up to horrifying but secretive conclusion. Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) won Best Director and was nominated for Palme D’Or when the film caused a stir at Cannes this year and directs the stellar cast of Channing Tatum (The Vow, White House Down, 21 Jump Street), Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac, The Avengers, Now You See Me, Shutter Island), Sienna Miller (Stardust, American Sniper), Vanessa Redgrave (Julia, Mary Queen of Scots, Mission: Impossible) and Steve Carell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Despicable Me, The Office). The brand new poster (above) has just been released.

Another film generating masses of hype is the new biblical epic from legendary British director Ridley Scott (Thelma and Louise, Black Hawk Down, American Gangster, Prometheus, Blade Runner, Alien, Gladiator). Exodus: Gods and Kings (which’ll go head to head with Foxcatcher at the box office) promises some of the biggest live action sets and battles in film history, paying debt to the lavish classics of grand scale of the ’60s such as Ben-Hur, Cleopatra and of coarse The Ten Commandments. Some awesome new stills have arrived, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, of the cast, including, Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, American Hustle), Joel Edgerton (Warrior, The Great Gatsby), Aaron Paul (Need for Speed, Breaking Bad), Sigourney Weaver (Avatar, Aliens) and Ben Kingsley (Hugo, Gandhi).

Exodus: Gods and Kings – December 26th

Foxcatcher – December 25th

Sherlock Christmas special – December 25th 2015?

Star Wars 7 sights Lupita Nyong’o, Sienna Miller targets American Sniper and Marc Webb leaves Amazing Spider-Man 4

There’s a stellar list of actors who’ve discussed or been rumoured for roles in JJ Abrams’ (Star Trek: Into Darkness, Lost, Super 8) Star Wars: Episode VII. There’s been Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Gary Oldman, Sullivan Stapleton, Jack O’Connell, Saoirse Ronan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matt Smith, Hugo Weaving, Michael Fassbender, Adam Driver, Jack Reynor, Jesse Plemons, Jason Flemyng, Michael B Jordan and most recently John Boyega, Ed Speelers, Ray Fisher and Matthew James Thomas. However, the only character who’s actually been cast is R2D2.

Continuing the theme of 12 Years a Slave stars (see Fassbender, Cumberbatch and Ejiofor – can we soon expect Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano and Brad Pitt?), the Oscar winning Lupita Nyong’o has been named in connection with the female lead in the film, the same role (presumably) Ronan was rumoured for, while Jesse Plemons and John Boyega are the favourites for the male lead and Adam Driver as the villain. Still, none of the cast have been confirmed but, the closer we get to the shooting, more stars will officially join the cast.

Legendary director Steven Spielberg (ET, Saving Private Ryan, AI, Schindler’s List, Empire of the Sun, The Colour Purple, War Horse, Lincoln, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, Munich, Amistad, War of the Worlds, The Terminal, Catch Me if You Can, Raiders of the Lost Ark) was set to begin pre-production on thriller American Sniper alongside star Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, The Hangover, Limitless) but then Spielberg opted out of the project. The whole development seemed to slow until another legend, this time Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino, Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Invictus, Mystic River, Letters From Iwo Jima, Changeling, The Bridges of Madison County, A Perfect World), in fact a five time Oscar winner, joined the production.

There’s been a major development in American Sniper with the word that Sienna Miller will be portraying the film’s female lead alongside Cooper. Miller is likely better known for Stardust, Factory Girl and GI Joe and picked up high praise plus BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for her lead role in TV movie The Girl. The Wrap’s report states that Miller was selected over other considered stars such as Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Kate Mara (127 Hours) and Jaimie Alexander (Thor: The Dark World) for the role and has entered negotiations. At least we know that, should this proposed deal fall through, there are some fine acting talents for plan b.

You may have picked up on our report that Marc Webb was to direct The Amazing Spider-Man 3. However, the man behind 500 Days of Summer will not call the shots on the fourth instalment, although he states that he’d like to become a “consultant” on the sequel. For the idea of a heir, the most popular suggestion is Drew Goddard, director of The Cabin in the Woods and the upcoming spinoff Venom.

The Amazing Spider-Man 4 – May 2018

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

American Sniper – 2016