ABC calls for more Marvel TV, Bourne 5 gets a new writer and John Goodman and Ken Watanabe

The Bourne Legacy was a fairly mediocre action spin-off to a modern masterpiece trilogy, and was a minor box office let down, and yet Universal want to expand on Aaron Cross’ (Jeremy Renner) story, despite Matt Damon, the original Jason Bourne, saying he’s willing to do another with director Paul Greengrass. We had believed that Sherlock Holmes’ Anthony Peckham would be the new Bourne’s writer but newcomer Andrew Baldwin has been appointed. Baldwin has no existing credits but has multiple projects in development such as Bastille Day and The Outsider. As long as the script has smarts to it, my only existed issue would be the style. The Bourne films are far more hard hitting when they subscribe to less CG effects but that’s unlikely with Justin Lin (Fast and Furious) aboard.

The principal photography of Michael Bay’s action sequel Transformers: Age of Extinction wrapped up long ago but that hasn’t stopped it from making a few last minute castings. These aren’t your run of the mill extras or post production stand ins. Golden Globe winner John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, Monsters Inc, Argo, The Artist, Barton Fink) and Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, Inception, Letter From Iwo Jima, Godzilla, Batman Begins) will be voicing their own transformers named Hound and Drift respectively. They join the likes of Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, Peter Cullen, Nicola Peltz, TJ Miller, Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci in the cast.

Agents of SHIELD hasn’t been the ratings smash many expected but the meticulous twists of the second half of its first season have been great fun. That lead to the making of Netflix’s The Defenders but ABC will be looking to install future Marvel adventures. It’s pleasing to hear that a second series has been confirmed, most likely in time for the new season.

As well as this, Captain America star Hayley Atwell took to Twitter to confirm a 13 part Agent Carter series which, if successful, will likely be extended to 22. The expansion of 2013’s Agent Carter short film will likely explore the origins of SHIELD shortly after WW2. Hopping and dancing around MAOS and The Winter Soldier spoilers, we’d be surprised if the eagle eyed Carter doesn’t find something askew in the intelligence organisation. Although there’s been no word on this, it’d be awesome if the films’ stars Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark) and Toby Jones (Arnim Zola) reprised their roles to become series regulars.

Agent Carter – 2015 on ABC

Agents of SHIELD season 2 – this autumn on ABC

The Bourne Betrayal? – August 21st 2015

Transformers: Age of Extinction – July 10th

James Cameron talks Avatar’s script and Transformers 4 paves way for new trilogy

Following up from the highest grossing film of all time is no simple achievement, especially with the seven year gap its leaving. 2009’s Avatar became the first film to gross over $2 billion worldwide and its director James Cameron (Titanic, Aliens, True Lies, The Abyss, The Terminator, Terminator 2) has spoken up about the development of Avatar 2, 3 and 4.

“The second, third and fourth films all go into production simultaneously. They’re essentially all in pre-production now because we are designing creatures, settings and characters that span all three films. And we should be finished with all three scripts within the next, I would say, six weeks.” Remember that Shane Salerno (Armageddon), Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds) and Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have all been appointed to work on the various sequels.

“There’s always pressure, whether it’s a new film or whether it’s a sequel, to entertain and amaze an audience,” he said. “I’ve felt that pressure my entire career, so there’s nothing new there. The biggest pressure I feel right now is cutting out things I love to get the film down to a length that is affordable. There hasn’t been a problem finding new and wonderful things to include in the movie.” The future Avatar films are expected to star Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver.

Three years have passed since the critical hammering but billion dollar takings of Dark of the Moon, Michael  Bay (Bad Boys, Pain and Gain, Pearl Harbour) will release his third Transformers film, this one titled Age of Extinction. The revamped human cast of Mark Wahlberg, Jack Reynor, Nicola Peltz, Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci will feature alongside the classic Autobots we know and love in a sequel which looks like it’s in a pleasingly different tone to its predecessors.

This is most likely because Age of Extinction has plans to be the first in a new trilogy of ‘Formers movies, although Bay expressed doubt in directing these future instalments. We can’t argue with that decision – since 2007’s Transformers he hasn’t made a single good movie and a fresh view can solve that, leaving Bay free to make the long-desired Bad Boys 3. It’s been hinted that the central character of the new set of films could be Lockdown so we should look out for some secretive cameos in the next film.

Transformers: Age of Extinction – July 10th

Transformers 5 – 2016?

Transformers 6 – 2018?

Avatar 2 – December 2016

Avatar 3 – December 2017

Avatar 4 – December 2018

The Super-Bowl 2014 Trailers special: Transformers 4, Noah and more!

We’re not venturing into sports just yet but the American Football extravaganza known as Superbowl is a huge event for advertising. With well over 100 million Americans watching, companies have to pay the whopping sum of $8 million dollars just for a one minute advertising slot. Only the biggest of big budget, big star blockbusters can afford to make the cut so you may be quite surprised when I tell you that among the nine titanic efforts trailered last night is the new project from Darren Aronofsky!

But before we get to that, we have the matter of a movie I recently predicted to make over a billion dollars. I speak of the fourquel of a monster series – Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Director Michael Bay (Armaggedon, Pearl Harbour, Bad Boys) returns to the series after a quick, and unsuccessful, break to make Pain and Gain. The franchise hopes to continue it success with an new human cast with Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor, replacing the old guard of Shia LaBeaouf, Rosie Huntington-Whitley and Megan Fox. This time, the Autobots are at battle with the villainous Dinobots and the technology tycoon Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), the former is revealed in the very first trailer. The film also stars Stanley Tucci and Peter Cullen. July 10th.

The second instalment in this nine-part epic is Marvel’s very own Captain America: The Winter Soldier. We’ve seen footage from this before but Superbowl unveiled the second trailer, which offers more in depth look at new antagonist The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). The plot pitches Captain America (Chris Evans) still adjusting to life in the 21st Century as well as working with SHIELD Agents such as Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Crossbones (Frank Grillo) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to bring down a new menace who’s terrorising Washington. Cap 2 also stars Emily VanCamp, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Redford, Cobie Smulders, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Attwell and Toby Jones and is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. March 28th.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is next. Marc Webb returns to direct the sequel which increases the stakes for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) who has to balance life between his superhero alter ego Spider-Man, who’s battling Electro (Jamie Foxx), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the sinister father/son double act of Oscorp (Dane DeHaan as Harry and Chris Cooper as Norman), and normal life with the grieving Gwen (Emma Stone) and lonely Aunt May (Sally Field). The new trailer can be found here. To be honest, I’m not that impressed. April 18th.

Following on from their “Across the Internet” campaign, Muppets Most Wanted has launched a new ad in which the new doppelganging villain Clementine literally reaches out to us Across the Internet. Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, Stanley Tucci, Ricky Gervais, Lady Gaga, Tom Hiddleston, Salma Hayek, Christoph Waltz and Danny Trejo make up the human cast alongside the classic Muppets such as Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Sam the Eagle, Beaker, Dr Honeydrew, Walter and Animal. Flight of the Conchords/The Muppets’ James Bobin directs. March 28th.

With a premise of no CG, just expensive cars going ridiculously fast, video game adaptation Need for Speed is actually in good shape. It sees newly released ex-con Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman) getting back into the dragraces that got him locked up for a year. Upon hearing the news, Marshall’s ex racing partner Dino (Dominic Cooper – Marvel’s Howard Stark) puts a bounty on his head. Scott Waugh (Act of Valour) directs a huge cast including Michael Keeton, Dakota Johnson, Scott Mescudi and Imogen Poots. The superbowl spot can be found here. March 12th.

We return to the aforementioned Darren Aronofsky who, after impressing with the likes of Black Swan, The Wrestler, Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, makes his comeback with a huge budget and cast list for his new epic picture Noah. The new trailer is available but I’m shocked that a director as prestigious as Aronofsky would fall to the depths of a Twitter hashtag; this time it’s “#TheFloodIsComing”!. The film stars Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ray Winstone, Kevin Durand, Douglas Booth, Nick Nolte and Frank Langella. April 4th.

Pompeii seems to me like one of the potential box office clunkers of the year with a decent cast list which doesn’t match its huge budget but director Paul WS Anderson (Event Horizon, Resident Evil) may prove me wrong. The new trailer unveils a fair bit of spectacle so the film won’t rely on the cast of Kit Harrington, Carrie Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Jessica Lucas, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jared Harris and Jessica Lucas alone. May 2nd.

3 Days to Kill launched a new trailer too. McG (This Means War, Terminator: Salvation, We Are Marshall, Charlie’s Angles) directs this new action thriller starring Kevin Costner as an dying agent who teams up with his daughter for one last assignment which get him the life saving drug he needs. Also starring Amber Heard, Connie Nielson and Hailee Steinfeld. February 21st.

Lastly, we have another Kevin Costner project. Draft Day sees the manger of American Football’s Cleveland Browns who’s struggling to find the number one draft pick for his team. Costner will star alongside Terry Crews, Jennifer Garner and Ellen Burstyn while director Ivan Reitman (Ghost Busters, No Strings Attached). April 11th

Predictions: The Highest Grossing Movies of 2014

January’s been a fairly rough month in the box office. The big budget action fests have ranged from a little disappointing (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, $75 million) to really awful (The Legend of Hercules, $18 million, and I Frankenstein, $25 million – both from $60 million budgets). The studios behind The Nut Job ($40 million for $40 million) and Devil’s Due ($18 million for $7 million) will be disappointed and the only huge success were buddy cop movie Ride Along, $75 million from $25 million, and the franchising Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, which cost just $5 million and took $82 million. Nothing yet has reached the blockbuster status of $100 million and so we may have to wait until the summer for the main, box office smashing events. Here’s what I think will be the biggest movie moneymakers this year.

1. The Hobbit: There and Back Again – Dir: Peter Jackson – Grossing: $1.3 billion
2. Transformers: Age of Extinction – Michael Bay – $1.1 billion
3. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Francis Lawrence – $900 million
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Anthony and Joe Russo – $850 million
5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Marc Webb – $800 million
6. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer – $750 million
7. Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn – $700 million
8. How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois – $650 million
9. Godzilla – Gareth Edwards – $600 million
10. Interstellar – Christopher Nolan – $575 million
11. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Matt Reeves – $500 million
12. 300: Rise of an Empire – Noam Murro – $450 million
13. RoboCop – Jose Padhila – $400 million
14. Maleficent – Robert Stromberg – $350 million
15. A Million Ways to Die in the West – Seth MacFarlane – $300 million

The hype surrounding Jackson’s sixth and final Middle-Earth adventure is just too immense for the ever disappointing Transformers anthology. The Hunger Games’ popularity only seems to rise and rise and so Part 3 should bring huge box office spills. The first while the star studding of Days of Future Past, Interstellar, Cap 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy should lead them to success. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 however won’t significantly increase from the first film’s takings; the interest in the franchise really doesn’t seem that great. Other releases that may just miss out on the top 15 include Edge of Tomorrow, Divergent, Muppets Most Wanted, Fury and Rio 2.