Promtheus 2 retitled

Alien revolutionised sci-fi and horror in 1979 with stars Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt and Ian Holm while small time director Ridley Scott was given the boost to go on to films such as Blade Runner, Black Hawk Dawn and Gladiator.

Aliens gave Sigourney Weaver an Academy Awards nominated return as Ripley in 1986 with iconic co-stars Lance Henriksen, Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton while director James Cameron (Terminator 2, Avatar, Titanic) turned the series into an epic action masterpiece.

Alien3 gave the director’s chair to rookie David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, Gone Girl, Social Network) with poor results for the 1992 directorial debut. Weaver and Henriksen returned with Paul McGann and Charles Dance.

Alien: Resurrection saw Weaver and Winona Ryder team up with director Jean Pierre Jeunet and flopped, seemingly killing off the franchise in 1997.

Prometheus saw Ridley Scott’s return in 2012. The prequel – starring the new lineup of Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba and Michael Fassbender – proved to be immensely polarizing and underrated but gave a new lease of life to the series.

The follow up to Prometheus has confirmed that it’ll be connecting with its franchise again with the new title. Alien: Paradise Lost. Ridley Scott confirmed the title while promoting this month’s The Martian. Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, X-Men: First Class, Steve Jobs) and Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, A Game of Shadows, The Drop) reprise their roles.

We’re still not sure what effect – if any – this announcement will have on Neill Blompkamp’s (District 9) planned Ripley-based sequel.

Alien: Paradise Lost – May 30th 2017

Review of 2015 from January to August

A couple of months ago we released our top picks for the first half of the year but, with the summer season finishing, we’ll give an overview of the year’s films from a commercial and critical perspective.

Film: Taken 3
Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Dougray Scott
IMDb/RT: 6.1/10 – 9%
Budget: $48 million
Opening weekend: $39 million
Box-office: $325 million
Summary: The second highest grossing outing in the series is thankfully the last. There’s been growth since Taken ($226 million) but less than Taken 3 ($376 million).

Film: Blackhat
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Leehom Wang, Ritchie Coster, Holt McCallany, Viola Davis
IMDb/RT: 5.4/10 – 34%
Budget: $70 million
Opening weekend: $4 million
Box-office: $18 million
Summary: The star of Thor ($644 million) and Rush ($90 million) and the director of Heat ($187 million) and Collateral ($217 million) should have been a match-up to enjoy but somehow Blackhat flopped.

Film: The Wedding Ringer
Director: Jeremy Garelick
Starring: Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Kaley Cuco Sweeting, Alan Richson, Jorge Garcia
IMDb/RT: 6.7 – 27%
Budget: $23 million
Opening weekend: $20 million
Box-office: $79 million
Summary: A slip up in comparison to Kevin Hart’s 2014 hit Ride Along ($154 million).

Film: Mortdecai
Director: David Koepp
Starring: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Paul Bettany
IMDb/RT: 5.5/10 – 12%
Budget: $60 million
Opening weekend: $4 million
Box-office: $30 million
Summary: This disastrous caper is proof of former superstar Johnny Depp’s dwindling popularity outside of Pirates.

Film: Jupiter Ascending
Directors: Andy and Lana Wachowski
Starring: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, Terry Gilliam
IMDb/RT: 5.5/10 – 25%
Budget: $176 million
Opening weekend: $18 million
Box-office: $182 million
Summary: This effort from the creators of The Matrix ($463 million) suffered from its release delays and ridiculously overpriced budget.

Film: Fifty Shades of Grey
Director: Sam Taylor Johnson
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eloise Mumford, Jennifer Ehle, Marcia Gay Harden
IMDb/RT: 4.2/10 – 25%
Budget: $40 million
Opening weekend: $85 million
Box-office: $570 million
Summary: Being critically reviled didn’t get in the way of this erotic drama.

Film: Kingsman: The Secret Service
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Samuel L Jackson, Sophie Cookson, Mark Strong
IMDb/RT: 7.8/10 – 75%
Budget: $81 million
Opening weekend: $35 million
Box-office: $406 million
Summary: The spy thriller from Kick-Ass ($96 million) Vaughn turned out to be his most acclaimed and profitable yet, even out grossing the likes of The Bourne Legacy ($276 million).

Film: Focus
Director: Glenn Ficara, John Requa
Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney, BD Wong
IMDb/RT: 6.6/10 – 57%
Budget: $50 million
Opening weekend: $19 million
Box-office: $159 million
Summary: A strong performance from Smith renews his popularity after the mediocre After Earth ($243 million).

Film: Chappie
Director: Neill Blompkamp
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, Die Antwoord
IMDb/RT: 7.0/10 – 30%
Budget: $49 million
Opening weekend: $13 million
Box-office: $102 million
Summary: A let down in comparison to Blomkamp’s more lucrative works – District 9 ($210 million) or Elysium ($286 million).

Film: Cinderella
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgard, Helena Bonham Carter
IMDb/RT: 7.1/10 – 85%
Budget: $95 million
Opening weekend: $68 million
Box-office: $542 million
Summary: Branagh’s lavish take on the period fantasy romance has successfully found a new following for the fairy tale.

Film: Insurgent
Director: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Kate Winslet
IMDb/RT: 6.4/10 – 30%
Budget: $110 million
Opening weekend: $53 million
Box-office: $295 million
Summary: The Divergent series has quickly turned out to be the inferior of The Hunger Games.

Film: Home
Director: Tim Johnson
Starring: Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Matt Jones, Steve Martin
IMDb/RT: 6.7/10 – 45%
Budget: $135 million
Opening weekend: $52 million
Box-office: $387 million
Summary: Dreamworks are struggling to stand out with their new properties in a market dominated by the likes of Warner Bros’ The Lego Movie or Disney’s Frozen.

Film: Get Hard
Director: Etan Cohen
Starring: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison Brie, Tip Harris, Craig T Nelson
IMDb/RT: 6.1/10 – 29%
Budget: $40 million
Opening weekend: $34 million
Box-office: $106 million
Summary: The combination of these celebrated comics ought to have been special but didn’t come close.

Film: Furious 7
Director: James Wan
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham
IMDb/RT: 7.4/10 – 81%
Budget: $190 million
Opening weekend: $147 million
Box-office: $1.512 billion
Summary: The blockbuster sequel made seven times more than the original did 14 years ago ($207 million) but the series might not have much room to grow into for film eight.

Film: The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, James Spader
IMDb/RT: 7.8/10 – 74%
Budget: $280 million
Opening weekend: $191 million
Box-office: $1.401 billion
Summary: A slight slip up from 2012’s Avengers Assemble ($1.520 billion), the sequel still delivered the goods for the fans.

Film: Pitch Perfect 2
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld, Elizabeth Banks
IMDb/RT: 6.7 – 67%
Budget: $29 million
Opening weekend: $69 million
Box-office: $285 million
Summary: Pitch Perfect is quickly rivaling Jump Street and Bridesmaids to be the best comedy of the decade so far, while growing from the original’s $115 million.

Film: Mad Max: Fury Road
Director: George Miller
Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Rosie Huntington Whitely, Zoe Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult
IMDb/RT: 8.3/10 – 98%
Budget: $150 million
Opening weekend: $45 million
Box-office: $374 million
Summary: A stunningly successful return from the road warrior.

Film: Tomorrowland
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw, Hugh Laurie
IMDb/RT: 6.6/10 – 50%
Budget: $190 million
Opening weekend: $33 million
Box-office: $208 million
Summary: While it polarized critics, concealing many secrets during marketing may have been the financial downfall of the underrated sci-fi adventure and another disappointment for Disney after John Carter ($284 million) and The Lone Ranger ($260 million).

Film: San Andreas
Director: Brad Peyton
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Ioan Gruffudd, Paul Giamatti
IMDb/RT: 6.4/10 – 50%
Budget: $110 million
Opening weekend: $55 million
Box-office: $469 million
Summary: The disaster thriller was a success but not a 2012 ($769 million) style smash hit.

Film: Spy
Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Jude Law
IMDb/RT: 7.3/10 – 94%
Budget: $65 million
Opening weekend: $29 million
Box-office: $236 million
Summary: After striking big with Bridesmaids ($288 million) and The Heat ($229 million), Paul Feig is continuing to put himself on a good track for the Ghost Busters reboot.

Film: Jurassic World
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Vincent D’Onofrio
IMDb/RT: 7.3/10 – 71%
Budget: $150 million
Opening weekend: $208 million
Box-office: $1.642 billion
Summary: With a sequel coming in 2018, the franchise (dormant for fourteen years) is now set for big things.

Film: Inside Out
Directors: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Starring: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Kyle MacLachlan
IMDb/RT: 8.6/10 – 98%
Budget: $175 million
Opening weekend: $90 million
Box-office: $701 million
Summary: Inside Out has become Pixar’s third biggest original feature.

Film: Ted 2
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Patrick Stewart
IMDb/RT: 6.6/10 – 46%
Budget: $68 million
Opening weekend: $33.5 million
Box-office: $180 million
Summary: A very disappointing follow up to 2012’s Ted ($549 million). After the mediocre performance of MacFarlane’s western A Million Ways to Die in the West ($86 million), there’s increasing doubt in the Family Guy creator’s popularity.

Film: Terminator Genisys
Director: Alan Taylor
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, JK Simmons
IMDb/RT: 6.9/10 – 26%
Budget: $155 million
Opening weekend: $27 million
Box-office: $352 million
Summary: While it was a healthy opening but the franchise has long lost its previously stellar hype. Still not an improvement on 2009’s Terminator Salvation ($371 million).

Film: Magic Mike XXL
Director: Gregory Jacobs
Starring: Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Amber Heard, Jada Pinkett Smith
IMDb/RT: 6.3/10 – 65%
Budget: $14 million
Opening weekend: $123 million
Box-office: $117 million
Summary: The progressive stripper comedy sequel has decreased from Steven Soderbergh’s 2012 original ($167 million) and other raunchy blockbusters have been more profitable – for example Fifty Shades of Grey ($569 million) – but it’s still an impressive tally.

Film: Minions
Directors: Pierre Coffin, Kyle Balda
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Pierre Coffin, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Geoffrey Rush
IMDb/RT: 6.7/10 – 54%
Budget: $74 million
Opening weekend: $115 million
Box-office: $1.004 billion
Summary: This triumphant spin off managed to surpass and compete with the previous instalments of the beloved Despicable Me franchise ($543 million – $970 million).

Film: Ant-Man
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Pena, Michael Douglas
IMDb/RT: 7.8/10 – 79%
Budget: $130 million
Opening weekend: $57 million
Box-office: $363 million
Summary: It’s an underperformance in comparison to Marvel’s fellow Phase 2 superhero flicks such as Iron Man 3 ($1215 million), Thor: The Dark World ($644 million), Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million) or Guardians of the Galaxy ($774 million) but is a worthy reception for the kings of summer blockbusters.

Film: Trainwreck
Director: Judd Apatow
Starring: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, John Cena, Tilda Swinton
Budget: $35 million
Opening weekend: $30 million
Box-office: $123 million
Summary: A traditional fooled-around-and-fell-in-love rom-com might have sank but the presence of rising star Amy Schumer has elevated this to the likes of Apatow’s The 40 Year Old Virgin ($177 million) or Knocked Up ($219 million).

Film: Pixels
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage
IMDb/RT: 5.6/10 – 17%
Budget: $88 million
Opening weekend: $24 million
Box-office: $174 million
Summary: This sci-fi adventure’s financial reception didn’t live up to the premise but a budget half the size of Tomorrowland’s means that it may actually breakeven at the box-office.

Film: Southpaw
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Oona Laurence, Naomie Harris, Rachel McAdams
IMDb/RT: 7.8/10 – 60%
Budget: $25 million
Opening weekend: $17 million
Box-office: $67 million
Summary: This sport drama failed to rekindle the mass popularity of boxing flicks such as Rocky ($225 million).

Film: Paper Towns
Director: Jake Schreir
Starring: Nat Wolff, Cara Delevingne, Halston Sage, Jaz Sinclair, Austin Abrams
IMDb/RT: 6.9/10 – 55%
Budget: $12 million
Opening weekend: $13 million
Box-office: $75 million
Summary: A decent opening for the young adult romantic drama but well off the other John Green adaptation The Fault in Our Stars ($307 million).

Film: Vacation
Directors: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley
Starring: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann, Chris Hemsworth, Chevy Chase
IMDb/RT: 6.3/10 – 26%
Budget: $31 million
Opening weekend: $15 million
Box-office: $69 million
Summary: The comedy reboot of the adored Chevy Chase franchise didn’t inspire a great amount of nostalgia for fans of the originals.

Film: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin
IMDb/RT: 7.8/10 – 93%
Budget: $150 million
Opening weekend: $56 million
Box-office: $445 million
Summary: The Cruise action vehicle builds off the wobble of Edge of Tomorrow ($369 million). The spy series returned in style and will grow throughout the summer.

Film: Fantastic Four
Director: Josh Trank
Starring: Miles Teller, Michael B Jordan, Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, Toby Kebbell
IMDb/RT: 4.0/10 – 8%
Budget: $120 million
Opening weekend: $26 million
Box-office: $134 million
Summary: A superhero reboot full of hope and promise morphed into the year’s most depressing car crash. It was even a decrease from the 2005 film ($330 million) and its sequel ($289 million).

Film: Straight Outta Compton
Director: F Gary Gray
Starring: O’Shea Jackson Jr, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Aldis Hodge, Paul Giamatti
IMDb/RT: 8.4/10 – 89%
Budget: $28 million
Opening weekend: $60 million
Box-office: $125 million
Summary: The musical biopic has become one of August’s biggest hits but did smaller numbers than 2002’s Eminem effort 8 Mile ($242 million).

Film: The Man From UNCLE
Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Grant
IMDb/RT: 7.6/10 – 67%
Budget: $75 million
Opening weekend: $13 million
Box-office: $57 million
Summary: The star studded spy thriller from the director of the Sherlock Holmes films ($524 million – $545 million) has struggled to find a home with fans.

Weekend box-office – 14th to 20th of March 2015 – is Chappie rebooting at the box-office?

In the aftermath of the smash hit Fifty Shades of Grey, various films have been scrambling for the top spot. Last week, hustling romance Focus (starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie) took top spot but now Neill Blomkamp (the South African behind the Best Picture nominated District 9, Matt Damon sci-fi thriller Elysium and the next Alien film) is releasing his third feature, Chappie – a robo-action with Sharlto Copley (Maleficent), Hugh Jackman (X-Men), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), Sigourney Weaver (Avatar) and the rap duo Die Antwood. Its rival is the equally star studded The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, starring Judi Dench (Philomena), Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Maggie Smith (Harry Potter) and Richard Gere (Chicago).

US:

1. Chappie – Director: Neill Blomkamp – $13.4 million
2. Focus – Glenn Ficarra, John Requa – $10 million
3. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – John Madden – $8.5 million
4. Kingsman: The Secret Service – Matthew Vaughn – $8.3 million
5. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Paul Tibbitt – $6.7 million

UK;

1. The Second Exotic Marigold Hotel – John Madden – £2 million
2. Focus – John Ficarra, John Requa – £1.3 million
3. Fifty Shades of Grey – Sam Taylor Johnson – £1.1 million
4. Chappie – Neill Blomkamp – £1 million
5. Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams – £0.8 million

Chappie’s opening is slightly disappointing but it is still set to surpass the $50 million budget. The comedy sequel to Marigold Hotel is performing well but not well enough to outgross its predecessor. The Vince Vaughn comedy Unfinished Business has flopped, landing in 10th. This week I’ve scored 5/10.

US:

1. Cinderella – Kenneth Branagh
2. Run All Night – Juame Collet Serra
3. Chappie – Neill Blomkamp
4. Focus – Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
5. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – John Madden

UK:

1. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – John Madden
2. Focus – Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
3. Run All Night – Juame Collet Serra
4. Fifty Shades of Grey – Sam Taylor Johnson
5. Chappie – Neill Blomkamp

Sharlto Copley in Chappie, this week’s US number one.

Maggie Smith in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, this week’s UK number one.

Sigourney Weaver discusses Alien 5 and new poster for Tomorrowland

Control of the Alien franchise has passed through various great directors: firstly Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator) then James Cameron (Avatar, Terminator, Titanic) and a disastrous debut for David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Social Network). Not counting the AVP or Prometheus spin offs, the fifth film in the series will be helmed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9) and, during promotion for his new robo-thriller Chappie, he offered a bit of insight on the project.

“I had a bunch of different ideas for different films. My favourite, on a gut instinct, artistic level, was Alien, by a long way. But I had this inhibiting mental roadblock about wanting to work on my own stuff – and not being held accountable, whether it’s by a studio or by fans, or whoever, I just wanted to be left alone to do my stuff. That’s kind of a big deal for me. If you go back even three or four years, I’ve wanted to make a film in that genre, in that franchise. I’d come up with an idea, and when I met Sigourney (Weaver) on the set of Chappie, I presumed that she would never want to play Ripley again. Rightly or wrongly, I had that in my head. I also didn’t know where you could go with her, given Alien 3 and 4.

“So when I started speaking to her, I just wanted to know more about the process of making the first two films. The first two are the ones that I care about. Then I started to realise there was a whole film – at least a film, if not more – that still contained Ripley, which I was really surprised by.” Weaver herself has approved the South African filmmaker. “I can’t think of a better director. He’s a real fan. I think he’ll be true to the world and take it in unexpected directions. It’s got a lot of sinew in it. It will certainly stand up to the others and probably break a lot of new ground as well.”

Its been one of 2015’s most secretive films but the brand new poster for Tomorrowland may have fans scouring for clues. The film, directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) sees a young woman and a reclusive scientist discovering a hidden metropolis where science can do the work of magic. It’ll star George Clooney (Ocean’s Eleven, Gravity, The Descendants), Britt Robertson (Under the Dome), Judy Greer (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Hugh Laurie (House).

Tomorrowland – May 22nd

Alien 5 – 2017?

Avengers 2 poster, Blomkamp directing new Alien and Boyhood, Kingsman, Interstellar and Imitation Game rule Empire Awards

Neill Blomkamp has been busy giving sci-fi and the South African film industry a good name with the Best Picture nominated District 9, the Matt Damon-starring Elysium and his new thriller Chappie but he was secretly developing ideas for a new Alien film. When the bold concept art was released it showcased a brilliant insight of the project he’d envisioned and the acclaim it received has sparked some level of interest. The Johannesburg-born filmmaker’s Alien instalment has been officially commissioned in addition to Ridley Scott’s Prometheus sequel. Details such as a release date or cast are yet to be confirmed but we might see appearance from Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley (Maleficent, Powers) or a return for Sigourney Weaver (Avatar, The Cabin in the Woods) AKA Ripley.

Birdman, Boyhood, Still Alice and Whiplash took centre stage at the Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes in the past few months but the Empire Awards are set to amalgamate the mainstream and the arthouse in their public-voted awards. Previous winners include The Bourne Ultimatum, Men in Black Seven, Skyfall, Inception and Gravity. Click here for the voting while you can admire all of the nominees below.

Best Film:

The Imitation Game
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Boyhood

Best Director:

Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Matt Reeves – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Christopher Nolan – Interstellar
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Actress:

Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Emily Blunt – Edge of Tomorrow
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina

Jameson Best Actor:

Andy Serkis – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Richard Armitage – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Best British Film:

The Imitation Game
Paddington
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Under the Skin
The Theory of Everything

Best Thriller:

The Imitation Game
Gone Girl
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Locke

Best Comedy:

The Inbetweeners 2
Paddington
The Lego Movie
22 Jump Street
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Horror:

The Guest
Oculus
The Babadook
Annabelle
Under the Skin

Best Sci-fi/Fantasy:

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

Best Female Newcomer:

Carrie Coon (Gone Girl)
Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy)
Essie Davis (The Babadook)
Sophie Cookson (Kingsman: The Secret Service)
Gugu Mbatha Raw (Belle, Beyond the Lights, Jupiter Ascending)

Best Male Newcomer:

Jack O’Connell (Unbroken, ’71, Starred Up)
Dan Stevens (The Guest, A Walk Among the Tombstones)
Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Testament of Youth)
Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood)
Daniel Huttlestone (Into the Woods)

Here’s the leaderboard:

The Imitation Game – 6
Dawn of the Planet if the Apes, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Kingsman: The Secret Service – 4
Boyhood, Gone Girl, Interstellar, The Theory of Everything – 3
The Babadook, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Guest, Oculus, Paddington, Under the Skin, X-Men: Days of Future Past – 2

Finally today, we have the first major poster of The Avengers: Age of Ultron, tipped to be the biggest blockbuster of 2015. Joss Whedon (Serenity, Toy Story, The Cabin in the Woods) directs the cast of Robert Downey Jr (The Judge), Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher), Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation), Chris Hemsworth (Rush), Chris Evans (Snowpiercer), Jeremy Renner (American Hustle), Samuel L Jackson (Pulp Fiction), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Don Cheadle (Crash), James Spader (The Blacklist), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Aaron Taylor Johnson (Kick-Ass), Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist), Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting), Andy Serkis (The Hobbit) and Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind).

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – April 23rd

Alien 5 – 2017?

Exodus: Gods and Kings review

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul, Ben Kingsley, Issac Andrews, Maria Valverde, John Turturro, Ben Mendelsohn, Sigourney Weaver

Off the back of the classics Alien and Blade Runner, Ridley Scott has cemented his place in the twenty first century with the hits Black Hawk Down, American Gangster and Prometheus. However, his 2013 crime thriller The Counsellor flopped dramatically. Exodus: Gods and Kings may be the film to revive the epic.

Born a Jew but raised amongst the kings of Egypt, Moses (Bale) is respected and befriended by the Prince Ramesses (Edgerton). Upon King Seti’s (Turturro) death Ramesses’ tyrannical reign begins and God recruits Moses to free his people and take them to their promised land.

What Scott applies in brilliant abundance an level of epic unachieved in his previous work. The direction is consistently grand, bold, stylish and thrilling. This effect reaches its peak in the brutality of the battles and the horrific element of Egypt’s plagues and has a technical scale to rival or even succeed Interstellar or The Lord of the Rings.

Still however stunning the filmmaking is, the film is never especially thoughtful: character development is at a standstill; the female roles are far under-attended. Even the spiritual elements are fairly broadly handled. The ever amazing Christian Bale’s performance tends to disappointingly devolve into generic Heston-esque bellows and grunts. The likes of Edgerton (Warrior), Paul (Breaking Bad), Kingsley (Gandhi) and Weaver (Alien) elevate this from the procedural action even if they never get the chance to actually flex their dramatic muscles.

Exodus is best when it is at its biggest and most brash but is a letdown in the smaller, more personal scenes. Still, Scott’s uncanny ability for the visually sublime and the large, if underused, ensemble combine for a spectacular and truly modern epic. As the monumental event it promised to be, it underachieves.

7/10

“Remember this. I am prepared to fight. For eternity.”

Del Toro’s Crimson Peak releases trailer, SNL 40 lineup, Cotillard joins Assassin’s Creed and castings and images fro Deadpool

Until fairly recently, the gaming adaptation Assassin’s Creed was still set for a ridiculous August 2015 release date, before production and most of the casting, but there was then a eighteen month delay. Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Prometheus, 300, Shame, 12 Years a Slave) will star as a modern day man who’s forced to relive the memories of his ancestors, who are members of an ancient order while Justin Kurzel (Snowtown) directs.

A new addition is Marion Cotillard, the French-born Oscar winning star of Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Big Fish, Two Days One Night, Rust and Bone, Contagion, La Vie en Rose, Midnight in Paris and Public Enemies. She teams with her future Macbeth co-star Fassbender in a undisclosed role.

Safe House star Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller have been lobbying for a greenlight for so long on mutant spinoff Deadpool and it’s finally on its way. On on set image reveals Wade Wilson’s iconic mask, pleasingly not tampered with from the comic book depiction, while some strides are being made in the casting department. Gina Carano (Fast and Furious 6, Haywire) has joined while three time X-Men star Daniel Cudmore will reprise his rule as Colossus.

It came close to topping our most anticipated list for 2015 and we can now reveal the very first look at Crimson Peak. Pan’s Labyrinth’s Guillermo Del Toro brings us this bold new horror entry which sees a young author lured into a reclusive house by her secretive new husband. It stars Mia Wasikowska (Stoker, Maps to the Stars), Tom Hiddleston (Thor, War Horse), Jessica Chastain (Interstellar, Zero Dark Thirty), Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim, Sons of Anarchy) and Doug Jones (Hellboy).

Many Americans will know that this weekend heralds the fortieth anniversary of the sketch show Saturday Night Live and we’ll give a special mention to the phenomenal ensemble of their new special including:

Adam Sandler (actor – Happy Gilmore)
Alec Baldwin (actor – 30 Rock, The Departed, Beetlejuice, The Hunt for Red October)
Amy Poehler (actress – Parks and Recreation)
Andy Samberg (actor – Brooklyn Nine Nine)
Bill Hader (actor – The Skeleton Twins)
Bill Murray (actor – Ghost Busters, Lost in Translation, Groundhog Day)
Billy Crystal (actor – Monsters Inc, When Harry Met Sally)
Bradley Cooper (actor – Guardians of the Galaxy, American Sniper, The Hangover)
Catherine Zeta Jones (actress – The Terminal, Chicago)
Charlie Day (actor – Horrible Bosses, The Lego Movie)
Chris Rock (actor – Madagascar, Top Five)
Christopher Walken (actor – Catch Me if You Can, Pulp Fiction)
Dan Aykroyd (actor – Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers)
Eddie Murphy (actor – Shrek, Beverly Hills Cop)
Edward Norton (actor – Fight Club, The Bourne Legacy, Birdman)
Emma Stone (actress – Easy A, The Amazing Spider-Man)
George Lucas (director – Star Wars, American Graffiti)
Glenn Close (actress – Guardians of the Galaxy, Mars Attacks)
JK Simmons (actor – Whiplash, Spider-Man)
Jack Nicholson (actor – The Shining, The Departed, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Batman)
James Franco (actor – 127 Hours, Spider-Man, The Interview)
Jim Carrey (actor – The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dumb and Dumber)
John Goodman (actor – The Artist, Argo, Monsters Inc, The Big Lebowski)
Kristen Wiig (actress – Bridesmaids, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
Martin Short (actor – Innerspace, !Three Amigos!)
Maya Rudolph (actress – Bridesmaids, Away We Go)
Melissa McCarthy (actress – Bridesmaids, The Heat, St Vincent)
Michael Douglas (actor – The Game, Wall Street, Ant-Man)
Mike Myers (actor – Wayne’s World, Shrek, Austin Powers)
Paul Rudd (actor – Anchorman, Knocked Up)
Robert De Niro (actor – The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Heat, Casino)
Sarah Silverman (actress – School of Rock, Wreck It Ralph)
Sigourney Weaver (actress – Avatar, Aliens)
Steve Martin (actor – Cheaper by the Dozen)
Steven Spielberg (director – ET, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws, Raiders)
Tina Fey (actress/writer – 30 Rock, Mean Girls)
Tom Hanks (actor – Toy Story, Cast Away, Forrest Gump, Captain Phillips, Saving Private Ryan, Big)
Will Ferrell (actor – Anchorman, The Lego Movie, Elf, Step Brothers)
Zach Galifianakis (actor – The Hangover, The Campaign, Into the Wild, Birdman)

Crimson Peak – October

Deadpool – February 2016

Assassin’s Creed – December 2016

Chris Pratt sought for Indy role and Wiig and McCarthy in talks for Ghostbusters

Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade (also known as the Indiana Jones trilogy) are arguably the finest works of director Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park) and Harrison Ford (Blade Runner, Star Wars, The Fugitive) but the recent fourth instalment, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, left a sour taste to the franchise. You’d think that’d deter both the filmmakers as well as the fans from making a fifth but Disney’s Lucasfilm purchase gave them the chance to remilk both Star Wars and Indy.

Disney appear to be looking into a reboot method with Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lego Movie, Parks and Recreation) taking the fedora-donning lead role. The sequel may follow the route of Mad Max: Fury Road, a direct sequel with a recast star. The ever busy Spielberg could be returning as it’d be hard to imagine anyone besides him at the helm.

Ivan Reitman’s original Ghostbusters is one of the few true immortal cult classics but the cast’s (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis) surviving or still working members weren’t likely to return for a reboot. The responsibility for the new castings falls to Bridesmaids director Paul Feig who’s recruited a pair from his previous work. Oscar nominees Kristen Wiig (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Skeleton Twins) and Melissa McCarthy (St Vincent, The Heat) will be flanked by Saturday Night Live alumni Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.

Meet the new team below.

Ghostbusters – July 22nd 2016

Indiana Jones 5 – 2017?

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

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

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

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

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

Chappie – March 6th 2015

Minions – June 26th 2015

Now You See Me 2 – June 10th 2016

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!