While we haven’t gotten used to writing 16 on our checks just yet, the New Year’s Eve hangover has thankfully subsided, and it’s now OK to look on to the year ahead. Now, 2015 was a great year for movies, from overlooked flicks to the best of the best. But 2016 looks promising, too, with new films from auteurs the Coen Brothers, Terrence Malick, and Tim Burton, to a bevy of blockbusters including the Star Wars spinoff Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and the superhero-studded Captain America: Civil War, pitting Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man against Chris Evans’s Captain America. So without further ado, here’s our comprehensive list of all the most anticipated movies of 2016.
Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast
Sony is really hoping that this adaptation of Rick Yancey’s sci-fi novel of the same name will be the next big YA series now that The Hunger Games has passed. Earth has been decimated by four deadly waves of alien attacks, and as the fearful brace for the fifth wave, teen Cassie Sullivan (Chloe Grace Moretz) teams up with a mysterious drifter named Evan (Alex Roe) to find her missing younger brother. The film also stars Maria Bello, Liev Schreiber, and rising star Maika Monroe of It Follows fame.
Columbia Pictures
Based on Mitchell Zuckoff’s book 13 Hours, filmmaker Michael Bay and screenwriter Chuck Hogan (The Town) have crafted this action flick that purports to tell the true story of six CIA security contractors who defended the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, against a group of Islamic terrorists on Sept. 11, 2012, the eleventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The film features a reunion of The Office, with John Krasinski (Jim) and David Denman (Roy) joining forces to play two of the six sentinels, and also stars Max Martini and Pablo Schreiber. Interesting to see how the GOP will exploit this as an anti-Hillary Clinton tool.
Directed by Borat co-writer Dan Mazer, this comedy—like The Intern before it—sees Robert De Niro making a yuppie’s life a living hell. Here, he plays a randy former Army man who tricks his grandson (Zac Efron) into driving him to Florida for spring break right before the young man is about to head to the altar. The combination of Efron and spring break means you can expect plenty of shirtless shots of the star, if that's your thing.
Lionsgate
Yes, I’m also confused as to why the latest film from two of our greatest living filmmakers, Joel and Ethan Coen, is being released in February, but apparently it just wasn’t ready in time for awards season. In this 1950s-set screwball comedy, Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is a fixer for the studios, keeping their actors’ names out of the tabloids. When A-list star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped while filming the mega-production Hail Caesar, it’s Mannix who must negotiate his release. The film also boasts Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Jonah Hill, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, and Channing Tatum.
Universal Pictures
Directed by Tim Miller, this is the first hard R-rated Marvel superhero flick we’ve had since the Blade movies, and will hopefully make us forget about Ryan Reynolds’s other foray into spandex world-saving, Green Lantern. The film stars Reynolds as Wade Wilson, a former special forces operative who undergoes a risky experiment to cure his cancer—only to be left disfigured, mentally unstable, and with special healing powers a la Wolverine. He becomes Deadpool, seeking vengeance on those that wronged him. The film also stars Morena Baccarin (Homeland), Ed Skrein (Game of Thrones), and T.J. Miller (Silicon Valley).
Twentieth Century Fox
It’s been 15 years (really) since the first Zoolander debuted—just weeks after the 9/11 attacks—but filmmaker/star Ben Stiller and his partner-in-strut, Owen Wilson, aka Hansel, are back. The world’s biggest music stars are being systematically killed with Zoolander’s Blue Steel look on their faces, so Interpol recruits Derek and Hansel to go deep undercover and find the culprit. To make matters worse, their former nemesis Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell) is on the loose. The film also stars Penelope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Christine Taylor, and features a gaggle of cameos from the likes of Justin Bieber, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kimye, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, and more.
Paramount Pictures
Directed by Stephen Hopkins (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers), this biopic focuses on track and field superstar Jesse Owens, a black man who defeated the odds to win four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games—in front of Adolf Hitler, no less. The film also stars Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt, and Game of Thrones’ Carice van Houten as Leni Riefenstahl.
Focus Features
I’m a big fan of Alex Proyas’s earlier films The Crow and Dark City, but he seems more than a little lost with a mega-sized budget, and this $140 million CG-heavy blockbuster seems like an iffy cross between 300 and Exodus: Gods and Kings. It stars Gerard Butler as the Egyptian god of darkness Set, who takes over the throne of Egypt. Bek (Brenton Thwaites), a mortal man, teams up with the Egyptian god Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to fight back. The film also stars Geoffrey Rush, Chadwick Boseman, and Rufus Sewell.
Lionsgate
One of the big surprises of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival was this 17th-century horror film by Robert Eggers about a Puritan family in New England whose daughter is suspected by locals of witchcraft when their baby boy disappears. Eggers’s inventive film features loads of organic supernatural scares, as well as a game cast of newcomers led by Anya Taylor-Joy.
A24 Films
Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Crazy Stupid Love), and written by 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt co-showrunner Robert Carlock, this wartime comedy stars Tina Fey as a journalist embedded in Afghanistan and Pakistan during America’s global war on terrorism. Along the way, she embarks on a wild romantic fling with a Scottish journo (Martin Freeman). The film also stars Margot Robbie, Christopher Abbott, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfred Molina.
Paramount Pictures
The latest experimental—and experiential—film from auteur Terrence Malick is a dark Hollywood satire of sorts, centering on an L.A. screenwriter (Christian Bale) who, in a quest to find himself, dives headfirst into the excesses of Tinseltown. Boasting gorgeous lensing by two-time Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki, the film also stars Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Brian Dennehy, and Antonio Banderas.
Broad Green Pictures
Aussie filmmaker John Hillcoat has proven to be quite gifted at Westerns, with films like The Proposition and Lawless. Here, he tackles a thriller about a gang of corrupt cops in deep with the Russian mob who plan a big-time heist—including the murder of a fellow officer (Casey Affleck) to distract the rest of the police. Joining Affleck is a huge cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Woody Harrelson, and Kate Winslet.
Open Road Films
This British action flick/spy comedy centers on a top-level U.K. spy (Mark Strong) who must team up with his idiotic football hooligan brother (Sacha Baron Cohen) to save the world. It’s directed by Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me), co-written and produced by Baron Cohen, and also stars Rebel Wilson, Isla Fisher, Penelope Cruz, and Gabourey Sidibe.
Daniel Smith
Any movie by filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter) is well worth your time, and here, he tackles the realm of science fiction with an all-out chase film centering on a father (Michael Shannon) desperately trying to get his otherworldly 8-year-old son to a secret location before he’s captured by a dangerous religious leader (Sam Shepard) and government agents (led by Adam Driver) hot on their tail. The film also stars Joel Edgerton and Kirsten Dunst.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Already a modest hit in its native France, Mark Osborne’s 3D stop motion film is a loose adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s seminal 1943 children’s book of the same name, weaving elements of it into a story about a young girl who teams up with an elderly aviator in order to avoid her suffocating mom. The film features the voice talents of Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, James Franco, Marion Cotillard, Benicio del Toro, and more.
Paramount Pictures
The superhero schedule is getting more and more crowded, which explains why we’re being hit with this blockbuster behemoth in late March. Directed by Zack Snyder, and following the events of his Man of Steel, the film pits Ben Affleck’s Batman against Henry Cavill’s Superman, while the pair also deal with megalomaniacal businessman Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Doomsday. The film also stars Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jeremy Iron as Alfred the butler, Holly Hunter as a U.S. senator, and features the first appearances of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, Ezra Miller’s The Flash, and—maybe—Jena Malone as Robin.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Director Greg Mottola brought us the hilarious coming of age comedy Superbad and the touching coming of age drama Adventureland. Now, he’s back with this inventive new twist on The ‘Burbs, with Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher starring as a ho-hum suburban couple who get embroiled in an international espionage plot when they discover that their new neighbors, played by Jon Hamm (who would’ve made a great Superman) and Gal Gadot (who is Wonder Woman), are top spies.
© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
The last film directed by Akiva Schaffer and starring Andy Samberg was the underappreciated comedy Hot Rod. Here, he’s teamed up with his fellow Lonely Island-er Jorma Taccone behind the camera for this flick about a white rapper (Samberg) who, after his career implodes, is forced to reunite his old boy band. In addition to The Lonely Island trio of Samberg, Schaffer, and Taccone, the film also stars Sarah Silverman, Imogen Poots, and Tim Meadows.
The opening night film of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, Demolition is the latest from filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee (Wild, Dallas Buyers Club) and tells the tale of Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal), a handsome investment banker whose life unravels when he loses his wife in a car accident. He leans on a kind customer service representative (Naomi Watts) and her bullied son (Judah Lewis), who help talk him off the proverbial ledge.
AMF PHOTOGRAPHY 310.779.0710
The fourth film directed by Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster, who’s also helmed episodes of House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, is this thriller about a Jim Cramer-esque financial TV guru (George Clooney), host of the show Money Monster, who’s held hostage by an enraged viewer (Jack O’Connell) that lost all his money on one of the money man’s bad tips. The film also stars The Affair’s Dominic West and Outlander’s Caitriona Balfe.
© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
The latest from criminally underrated genius Richard Linklater, who was robbed of a Best Director Oscar for his masterful last film, Boyhood, is this, his “spiritual sequel” to his 1993 classic Dazed and Confused. The film follows a group of college freshmen baseball players in the 1980s (think: Mitch Kramer and Co. after graduation), and stars Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Will Brittain, and Wyatt Russell, the son of screen icon Kurt Russell.
Van Redin
After establishing the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the first two Iron Man flicks and helming his foodie passion project Chef, filmmaker Jon Favreau is back to blockbuster entertainments with this CGI 3D live-action remake of the 1967 Disney animated film. It centers on Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi) a boy raised by wolves (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, Giancarlo Esposito) in the jungle who’s forced to leave when he’s threatened by the imposing tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba). Along the way, he encounters animals helpful and harmful voiced by the talents of Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, and Christopher Walken.
Disney
No, this movie does not have anything to do with Keanu Reeves—at least I don’t think it does. It’s the first project from the comedy duo of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele since their hit Comedy Central series Key and Peele left the air. It stars Key and Peele as a couple of friends who must pose as drug dealers for a vicious gang in order to retrieve a beloved stolen cat. The film also stars Method Man, Gabrielle Union, Will Forte, and Nia Long.
© Danny Moloshok / Reuters
After the first impressive Huntsman film ended in tabloid ire, director Rupert Sanders and star Kristen Stewart exited the sequel, which is now focused on Chris Hemsworth’s boozy Huntsman character. The evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) from the first film is resurrected by her ice queen sister (Emily Blunt), who’s amassed an army to take over the kingdom. The only two who can stop them are The Huntsman (Hemsworth) and his warrior-lover Sara (Jessica Chastain), who have a bone to pick with Freya.
The highly anticipated superhero extravaganza Captain America: Civil War is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: Winter Soldier), and will feature Chris Evans’s Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man squaring off over the Superhero Registration Act, a draconian measure forcing every superhero to register as such and be monitored by the government. The film boasts an Avengers-level all-star cast of world-savers that includes Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), and more.
You know that gnarly beard Matthew McConaughey’s been sporting? It’s not because he’s JKL-ing too strong. It’s for this Civil War action-drama helmed by Gary Ross (The Hunger Games) about Newton Knight (McConaughey), a pig farmer from Mississippi who leads a rebel faction of anti-slavery Confederate army soldiers against the Confederacy. He marries Rachel (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), an African American, and establishes one of the first mixed-race communities in the South. The film also stars Keri Russell, Brendan Gleeson, and Mahershala Ali.
This long-delayed film from Oliver Stone sees Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who last played real-life French high-wire walker Philippe Petit, step into the shoes of Edward Snowden, an NSA and CIA security specialist who leaked classified NSA intel, thereby exposing the agency’s mass-spying on civilians. The film also stars Shailene Woodley as Snowden’s ballerina-girlfriend Lindsay Mills, as well as Melissa Leo as Laura Poitras, Zachary Quinto as Glenn Greenwald, Scott Eastwood, Rhys Ifans, Tom Wilkinson, and—yes—Nicolas Cage.
Jürgen Olczyk
The first Neighbors film, pitting new parents Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne against Zac Efron’s maniac frat boy, was an absolute riot. In this sequel, filmmaker Nicholas Stoller and the gang are all back, as the couple joins forces with Efron and his fellow frat superstar Dave Franco to try to vanquish a sorority that moves in next door. The evil sorority sisters are played by Chloe Grace Moretz, Kiersey Clemons, and Selena Gomez, and Ike Barinholtz and Carla Gallo also return as the couple’s wacky friends.
Directed by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), this dark comedy-thriller is set in seedy 1970s Los Angeles, as a private eye (Ryan Gosling) pairs up with a hotheaded cop (Russell Crowe) in order to solve the mystery of a missing girl (Margaret Qualley) and a dead porn star. The film also stars Matt Bomer, Keith David, and Kim Basinger, who’s reuniting with her L.A. Confidential costar Crowe. Hopefully lightning strikes twice.
Daniel McFadden
The latest from acclaimed filmmaker Rebecca Miller (Personal Velocity) is this romantic comedy about a thirtysomething woman (Greta Gerwig) desperate to have a baby on her own who finds herself falling for a married man (Ethan Hawke), thereby blowing up his relationship with his brilliant, accomplished wife, played by Julianne Moore. Rounding out the great cast are Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, and Wallace Shawn.
Jon Pack/Hall Monitor Inc.
Disney’s live-action 2010 adaptation of Alice in Wonderland grossed over $1 billion worldwide, so here is the inevitable sequel—minus original director Tim Burton. Alice (Mia Wasikowska) stumbles upon a magical looking glass and goes back down the rabbit hole to Underland, where she must save the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), who’s lost his Muchness. The film also stars Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and new character Sacha Baron Cohen as Time, a time-traveling half-clock/half-human hybrid.
Controversial filmmaker Bryan Singer, who’s weathered a litany of sexual-abuse allegations, is back to helm the sequel to his Days of Future Past. Whereas that film was too crammed with actors, combining the casts of his original X-Men and Matthew Vaughn’s reboot, this one rightly focuses on the gifted new cast as they square off against Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), a god-like mutant hell-bent on exterminating the humans. Original stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, and Rose Byrne are joined by newcomers Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Olivia Munn (Psylocke), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler), Ben Hardy (Archangel), and Lana Condor (Jubilee).
Photo: Alan Markfield
Filmmaker Duncan Jones’s sci-fi drama Moon is one of the more underrated flicks of the last decade, and here, the son of David Bowie is back with a decidedly bigger budget. It’s a blockbuster adaptation of the Warcraft series of games and novels set in the fictional realm of Azeroth. The humans there are facing an army of orc warrior invaders fleeing their dying world, so the leader of the humans (Travis Fimmel) and the orc leader (Toby Kebbell) try to hatch a plan to prevent world war. The film also stars Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, and Enter the Badlands’ Daniel Wu.
Pixar’s long-awaited sequel to 2003’s Finding Nemo sees original writer/director Andrew Stanton return, along with its beloved characters Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), Nemo, Marlin, and Co. Set six months after the events of Nemo, this 3D animated film follows Dory on a quest to find her family. Along the way, she crosses paths with Bailey, a white beluga whale (Ty Burrell); Destiny, a whale shark (Kaitlin Olson); Hank, a cranky octopus who guides Dory (Ed O’Neill); as well as Idris Elba and Dominic West voicing unspecified characters.
Pixar
If you thought Finding Dory took a long time, well, this sequel is coming 20 years after the original Independence Day—and minus star Will Smith, whose character has been killed off. In filmmaker Roland Emmerich’s follow-up, 20 years have passed since the War of 1996, but before the aliens were vanquished, they were able to fire off a signal to their remaining fleet. Now the aliens are back to wreak havoc on the world once more. Original cast members Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, and Vivica Fox are back, and joined by newcomers Joey King, Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe, Sela Ward, and Jessie Usher as Will Smith’s character’s son.
Directed by the one and only Steven Spielberg, this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s celebrated children’s book of the same name tells the story of Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) and the Queen of England (Penelope Wilton), who joins forces with the titular Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance) to rid the world of the villainous man-eating giants plaguing humanity. The film also stars Bill Hader, Rebecca Hall, and Jemaine Clement, and features lensing by Spielberg regular Janusz Kaminski and music by the legendary John Williams, who composed the scores to the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.
Doane Gregory
Directed by David Yates, who helmed the final four films in the Harry Potter franchise—as well as the upcoming Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them—this rendition of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character opens with Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) settled down in London as Lord Greystoke with his lovely wife, Jane Porter (Margot Robbie). However, he finds himself drawn back to the Congo as a trade emissary, where he finds himself caught in a sadistic scheme headed by corrupt Belgian Captain Rom (Christoph Waltz). The film also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Hounsou, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent.
Jonathan Olley
Filmmaker Paul Feig has reunited with his Bridesmaids duo of Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy for this all-female Ghostbusters reboot, about a pair of authors (Wiig, McCarthy) who penned a book about ghosts that team up with a nuclear engineer (Kate McKinnon) and an NYC subway worker (Leslie Jones) to defend Manhattan against an invading legion of ghosts. The film also stars Chris Hemsworth as the Ghostbusters’ hunky receptionist, Andy Garcia, Elizabeth Perkins, and Cecily Strong, and features cameos from the original Ghostbusters cast of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts (RIP Harold Ramis).
Hopper Stone
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who exhibited great chemistry in Crazy Stupid Love, have reunited for this musical-comedy by Damien Chazelle, the writer/director of Whiplash. Set in modern-day L.A., the film follows the romance between Sebastian (Gosling), a jazz pianist, and Mia (Stone), a glamorous up-and-coming actress, and boasts plenty of musical numbers and dancing, for those of you that enjoyed their little Dirty Dancing pas de deux in the aforementioned dramedy.
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
The sequel to 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness—and the 13th Star Trek movie overall—sees Fast Five director Justin Lin take the reins from J.J. Abrams, who’s busy with another galaxy far, far away. When the USS Enterprise is destroyed by a mysterious group of aliens, the crew find themselves stranded on an unknown planet and squaring off against the villainous Krall, played by Idris Elba. The original cast of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin are all back setting phasers to stun.
Photo credit: Zade Rosenthal
There’s precious little known about the plot of the latest film in the Bourne Identity series. What we do know is that Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross likely won’t feature—he’ll star in his own sequel skedded for 2017, to be directed by Justin Lin. Meanwhile, this one has Paul Greengrass back at the helm and original star Matt Damon in the lead, who will square off against a villain played by Vincent Cassel. They’re joined by Alicia Vikander as the female lead, Tommy Lee Jones, Julia Stiles, and Riz Ahmed.
Directed by David Ayer—and sadly rated PG-13—the third film in the DC cinematic universe centers on a group of villains who are banded together by government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) to dispatch the psychopathic villain The Joker, played by Jared Leto. The Suicide Squad consists of Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Katana (Karen Fukuhara), Diablo (Jay Hernandez), and Slipknot (Adam Beach). Supermodel Cara Delevingne will also star as the mystical Enchantress, and Ben Affleck’s Batman is rumored to make an appearance as well.
This remake of the 1959 William Wyler-Charlton Heston multiple Oscar winner is directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and co-written by John Ridley, who penned 12 Years a Slave. It tells the tale of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a nobleman enslaved by the Romans after being falsely accused of a crime by his childhood friend, Messala (Toby Kebbell), who’s hell-bent on revenge. The film also stars Morgan Freeman, Nazanin Boniadi, Rodrigo Santoro, and Ayelet Zurer.
Directed by The Hangover’s Todd Phillips, this crime drama is based on a real-life story documented in Rolling Stone about a pair of arms dealers, Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill) and David Packouz (Miles Teller), who somehow secure a $300 million contract to run guns to U.S. allies in Afghanistan. Needless to say, things don’t exactly go as planned, and the pair of knuckleheads find themselves wanted by both the U.S. government and other nefarious forces. The film also stars Cuban stunner Ana de Armas and J.B. Blanc.
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU
Sharon Maguire’s sequel to the 2001 romantic comedy (and forgettable 2004 Edge of Reason) sees Renee Zellweger return as Bridget Jones, as well as Colin Firth as Mark Darcy. Hugh Grant, however, pulled out so his scummy Daniel Cleaver will not be in this one—replaced by a new character played by Patrick Dempsey. Filming took place in London and while the plot is under wraps, it presumably involves Bridget and Darcy experiencing baby problems. Jim Broadbent and Shirley Henderson also star, and Irish singer Ed Sheeran makes an appearance as well.
This remake of the celebrated 1960 western of the same name (which was a remake of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai) is directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), and tells the story of a widow (Haley Bennett) who hires a team of seven bounty hunters to avenge the murder of her husband. The all-star cast includes Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Matt Bomer, Peter Sarsgaard, and Wagner Moura, the star of Netflix’s Narcos.
© Vincent West / Reuters
Filmmaker Peter Berg (Lone Survivor) is at the helm of this mega disaster film, based on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico which killed 11 workers and caused a massive oil spill—the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson, Gina Rodriguez, and Dylan O’Brien.
Directed by Gavin O’Connor, who helmed the excellent sports films Miracle and Warrior, this action-thriller stars Ben Affleck as a forensic accountant who moonlights as a government assassin. The film also stars Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Lithgow.
é Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
Director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) has taken the helm of this troubled superhero action film after Rupert Wyatt jumped ship—and star Channing Tatum almost did as well. It will star Tatum as Remy LeBeau/Gambit, a superhero in the X-Men universe who can wield kinetic energy—usually in the form of explosive throwing cards. While the plot is heavy under wraps, Lea Seydoux is also rumored to co-star alongside Tatum as Bella Donna Boudreaux, LeBeau’s vengeful ex-wife imbued with her own mutant powers. While scheduled for an Oct. 7 release, since filming hasn’t started yet don’t be surprised if this one moves to 2017.
Directed by Tate Taylor (The Help) and adapted from Paula Hawkins’s best-selling novel of the same name, this is poised to be this year’s Gone Girl. Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) is an alcoholic who rides the train every day, fantasizing about the life she had before her husband Tom (Justin Theroux) left her for his mistress, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson). Rachel is also fixated on Megan (Haley Bennett), an attractive stranger who lives near Tom. When Megan goes missing, Rachel—who was blacked out at the time—begins questioning her own judgment.
é Luke MacGregor / Reuters
Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona has helmed the 2007 haunted house horror film The Orphanage, as well as the 2012 disaster flick The Impossible. Now, he’s returned to the supernatural with this adaptation of Patrick Ness’s 2011 novel about a young boy (Lewis MacDougall) struggling to cope with his mother (Felicity Jones) dying of cancer, who is comforted in the night by a gigantic tree monster (Liam Neeson) who tells him stories. The film also stars Sigourney Weaver, Toby Kebbell, and Geraldine Chaplin.
The latest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes courtesy of filmmaker Scott Derrickson (Sinister), and stars the inimitable Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, the world’s top neurosurgeon, who is gifted with a mastery of magic after surviving a car crash. The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, Rachel McAdams as Strange’s fellow surgeon, Mads Mikkelsen as a villainous sorcerer, and Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One.
é Neil Hall / Reuters
The Life of Pi team of director Ang Lee and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy have reunited for this adaptation of Ben Fountain’s novel about Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn), a member of Bravo Squad during the Iraq War who returns to America as a war hero, and is tasked by the government with embarking on a “Victory Tour” across America, including serving among guests of the Dallas Cowboys during a game. There, he falls hard for a cheerleader—only to become disenchanted with the military when he realizes he’s been duped, and is about to be shipped back to Iraq. The film also stars Kristen Stewart as Billy's sister, Garrett Hedlund, Steve Martin, Vin Diesel, and Chris Tucker.
ÃÂé Mark Blinch / Reuters
All we know about this comedy is that it’s directed by John Hamburg (I Love You, Man), and stars Bryan Cranston as an overprotective father who squares off against his daughter’s (Zoey Deutch) rich boyfriend, played by James Franco. Cranston and Franco butting heads in a screwy comedy seems like a recipe for success.
Directed by David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter films, this spinoff adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s book of the same name stars Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a wizard who’s forced to go on the run after evil creatures escape from a magical briefcase—sending New York City’s wizardry and witching community of 1926 into upheaval. The film also stars Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller, and Colin Farrell.
Jaap Buitendijk
Precious little is known about the latest from Chinese master Zhang Yimou, the man behind films like Raise the Red Lantern and Hero. What we do know is the film is set in the Northern Song Dynasty and involves the story of the Great Wall of China. It’s also Yimou’s first time helming a Hollywood production with a major star, Matt Damon. The 3D film also stars Andy Lau, Willem Dafoe, Pedro Pascal, and more.
ChinaFotoPress
Co-directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (The Princess and the Frog), the latest entry from Walt Disney Animation Studios features a rare ethnic lead. Set in ancient Oceania in the South Pacific, it centers on Moana Waialiki (Auli’i Cravalho), a gifted navigator who teams up with the demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson) to set sail in search of a mystical island. The CG film also features music by Mark Mancina and Hamilton mastermind/certified genius Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future) and written by Steven Knight (Locke), this war thriller is set in 1942, and centers on an Allied counter-intelligence agent (Brad Pitt) who’s informed that the French agent he fell in love with (Marion Cotillard) may in fact be a Nazi spy. Frankly, any film with the brilliant Marion Cotillard is a must-see.
© Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
After Birdman and Spotlight, Michael Keaton is vying to be in the awards conversation for the third year in a row with this biopic on Illinois businessman Ray Kroc (Keaton) directed by biopic specialist John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks). The film follows how Kroc maneuvered to take control of the fast-food chain McDonald’s from brothers Mac and Dick McDonald, eventually purchasing the chain from them for just $2.7 million in 1961. Today, it’s worth close to $40 billion.
é Danny Moloshok / Reuters
This sci-fi thriller directed by The Imitation Game’s Morten Tyldum stars Jennifer Lawrence as the passenger of a spacecraft traveling to a distant planet who suddenly awakens, and, instead of living the rest of her life alone, decides to wake up another passenger (Chris Pratt). So yes, this film combines the biggest female movie star and arguably the hottest male movie star right now in an outer space romance. Yes, please.
© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) and scripted by Gary Whitta (After Earth) and Chris Weitz (About a Boy), this is the first spinoff in Disney’s new Star Wars cinematic universe that began with The Force Awakens. It centers on a band of Rebel spies who embark on a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star before the Galactic Empire can create their superweapon. The dogfighting film stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, and Mads Mikkelsen.
Jonathan Olley & Leah Evans
Will this be the best video game movie adaptation ever? Lord knows the bar isn’t very high. Directed by Aussie filmmaker Justin Kurzel (Macbeth), it stars Michael Fassbender as Callum Lynch, a man who realizes he’s a descendant of the 15th-century Spanish assassin Aguilar, a member of a secret society of assassins. Once he regains his powers, he squares off against the Knights Templar in the present-day. The film also stars Marion Cotillard, Brendan Gleeson, Jeremy Irons, and Michael K. Williams.
The latest from visionary filmmaker Tim Burton is this adaptation of Ransom Riggs’s 2011 novel of the same name about Jacob Portman (Asa Butterfield), a 16-year-old boy who finds himself on a mysterious island where he must protect the gifted kids of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children from the monsters that hunt them. The film also stars Eva Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Terence Stamp, Judi Dench, Kim Dickens, Rupert Everett, and Ella Purnell.
