10. “Love & Friendship”
Director: Whit Stillman (“Metropolitan”)
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Chloe Sevigny, Stephen Fry, Xavier Samuel, Tom Bennett
Synopsis: The widowed Lady Susan Vernon sets out to dispel rumors about her private life by finding husbands for both herself and her daughter.
What You Need To Know: Whit Stillman’s had a sizable fanbase for 25 years now, but those who’ve never taken to the filmmaker often complain of a certain archness and artificiality to his comedies of manners. But he might have found a perfect fit of material with “Love & Friendship,” his adaptation of Jane Austen’s lesser-known novel “Lady Susan,” which has been winning over even confirmed Stillman-skeptics since its Sundance premiere. Reuniting him with his “Last Days Of Disco” stars Beckinsale and Sevigny, the film is, per our review from Park City by Noel Murray, a “rich trifle” with a turn by its star that’s “so funny that it sucks a lot of the air out of the room for her co-stars,” though relative unknown Tom Bennett gets a scene-stealing supporting turn. Stillman’s never really come close to the mainstream, but this stands a good chance at being his biggest crossover hit to date.
Release Date: May 13th.
9. “Kubo & The Two Strings”
Director: Travis Knight
Cast: Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey, Rooney Mara, Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes
Synopsis: In ancient Japan, the young Kubo must track down a suit of armor owned by his late father in order to save his mother from ancient spirits.
What You Need To Know: In less than a decade, Portland’s Laika have come from nowhere to become a major player in the feature animation world, with all three of their films to date, “Coraline,” “ParaNorman” and “The Boxtrolls” winning strong reviews and Oscar nominations. None have been Pixar-level hits, but the company seem to be quite happy occupying their cool little niche and still doing financially well out of it, and that looks to continue with “Kubo & The Two Strings.” Seemingly more action-adventure leaning than previous pics, and with a Japanese feel reminiscent of a stop-motion Miyazaki, this directorial debut of the company’s founder Travis Knight looks to be Laika’s most beautiful film yet, and probably has their starriest cast too, with Rooney Mara, Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes and George Takei all involved. A late summer date makes it unlikely that it’ll cross over to “Zootopia”-style numbers, but this could well still be their biggest hit to date.
Release Date: August 19th
8. “The BFG”
Director: Steven Spielberg (“E.T.” )
Cast: Ruby Barnhill, Mark Rylance, Jemaine Clement, Bill Hader, Rebecca Hall
Synopsis: A young orphan girl strikes up a friendship with a Big Friendly Giant, and they set out to stop Bigger, Unfriendly Giants from invading the human world.
What You Need To Know: This year’s seen more than one filmmaker attempt to capture that ineffable sense of Spielberg-ness — Jeff Nichols and David Lowery first and foremost among them — but there’s nothing quite like the master himself, and “The BFG” promises to be the most Spielberg-y film the director’s made in a long time. With the almost irresistible family-movie team up of the director, Disney and Roald Dahl, this adapts one of the author’s later classics, blending live-action with motion-capture, and with Spielberg’s current muse, Oscar-winner Mark Rylance, as the title character. Footage so far suggest something with real magic and a ton of heart, not least from Rylance while young newcomer Ruby Barnhill seems to continue the director’s career-long streak of getting great performances out of kids. A Cannes premiere would seem to cement this as a rare blockbuster that should keep both broad audiences and critics happy this summer.
Release Date: July 1st
7. “Pete’s Dragon”
Director: David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”)
Cast: Oakes Fegley, Robert Redford, Bryce Dallas Howard, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban
Synopsis: A near-feral child is found in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, who claims to have been raised by a giant green dragon called Elliott.
What You Need To Know: Disney’s recent run of live-action remakes reached something of a peak last month with “The Jungle Book.” Jon Favreau’s version of Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale didn’t have all that much long-lead buzz, but word got glowing as soon as people saw it, and the result is a movie that does the original justice (and a massive box-office hit) too. “Pete’s Dragon,” the company’s latest remake, is a much riskier prospect, but one that could rise to even greater heights if it works. Indie darling Lowery was a curveball choice for taking on a film that, in its original form, was a somewhat goofy musical, but early footage suggests he’s brought a certain Spielberg-ish, “E.T.”-like sense of wonder to the tale, while Robert Redford’s presence ensures the film retains some indie cred. Disney seem to be happy with the results: they’ve already hired Lowery to turn his talents to a new version of “Peter Pan.”
Release Date: August 12th
6. “Captain America: Civil War”
Director: Joe & Anthony Russo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”)
Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Chadwick Boseman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland
Synopsis: After an incident with the Avengers causes collateral damage, the world’s government try to regulate the world’s superheroes, pitting Captain America against his old ally Iron Man.
What You Need To Know: Perhaps the lackluster reviews and general underperformance (ie not-getting-to $1bn) of “Batman v Superman” might have eased the pressure on this Marvel mash-up slightly, but coming off the less golden ‘Age of Ultron‘ and the financially disappointing “Ant-Man” there’s no real sense that they can rest on their laurels either. However early reviews, including our own, for this de facto ‘Avengers’ film (the absence of Hulk and Thor notwithstanding) are good-to-glowing, obviously because Marvel’s has bought off all the critics. Anyway, joke’s on them, because even if we hadn’t had our summer houses funded by the comics giant, we’d be hopeful for ‘Civil War’ — the Russo brothers delivered probably the best non-‘Avengers’ Marvel film to date with ‘Winter Soldier’ and Marvel had enough confidence in them to put them in charge of the two-part ‘Infinity War’ which marks the next phase in the MCU. And that probably would not have happened had they felt they had a turkey on their hands.
Release Date: May 6th
5. “Suicide Squad”
Director: David Ayer (“Fury”)
Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jared Leto
Synopsis: The U.S. government gathers a team of supervillains together in order to take on a powerful threat.
What You Need To Know: With the dust now settled, most would concur that “Batman V. Superman” was not the start that Warner Bros must have been hoping for from the launchpad for their DC Movie Universe. But it could get a second wind later in the summer, thanks to David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad.” This superheroic spin on “The Dirty Dozen” has been building buzz since Comic-Con last year, when it was just a few weeks into production. That’s in part thanks to its all-star cast, led by Will Smith and an already-iconic Margot Robbie, but in part due to a highly confident marketing campaign from the studio that makes it look like a fun midpoint between Zack Snyder grimdark and colorful “Guardians Of The Galaxy”-style antics. We still need to be convinced of Jared Leto’s juggalo Joker, but this has a good chance at washing the “Dawn Of Justice” taste from our mouths, though its greatest feat might prove to be making people see the value of Jai Courteney at long last…
Release Date: August 5th
4. “Ghostbusters”
Director: Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids”)
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Chris Hemsworth
Synopsis: When a supernatural crisis threatens Manhattan, two paranormal researchers, a nuclear engineer and a New York subway worker team up to save the world.
What You Need To Know: After three back-to-back female-driven comedy hits, Paul Feig was handed the keys to one of the most beloved 80s geek properties, the long-awaited return of the “Ghostbusters.” And much to the consternation of the internet’s baby-men population, Feig stuck with the approach of “Bridesmaids,” “The Heat” and “Spy,” and made his new take revolve around a band of female Ghostbusters. Four extremely talented ones, in fact, in the shape of Wiig, McCarthy, Jones and McKinnon (but fans of the original should take comfort that, bar the retired Rick Moranis, virtually every living cast member of the original is cameo-ing here). With some fun effects, the near-genius move of casting Thor as the Ghostbuster secretary, and Feig & McCarthy’s team ups being 3/3 so far, there’s every reason to believe that this could be an example of the comedic reboot done right.
Release Date: July 15th
3. “Jason Bourne”
Director: Paul Greengrass (“Captain Phillips”)
Cast: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, Riz Ahmed
Synopsis: After years in hiding, Jason Bourne is forced out into the world again.
What You Need To Know: For a while, it felt like the Bourne movies were going to the great franchise retirement home: star Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, the director most associated with the films, had walked away, and attempted continuation “The Bourne Legacy” failed to take off with audiences. But then, two years ago, Damon and Greengrass announced that they were returning to the spy series, with a script they’d co-written with Christopher Rouse (who edited Greengrass’s earlier pictures). The new movie promises to bring the former amnesiac hero into a new era, with austerity riots and Snowden-style leaks on the agenda, but with action sequences that seem to be bigger and more thrilling than ever. This doesn’t quite appear to be breaking new ground, but the original films were so good, and Greengrass looks to be bringing the same kind of brains he always has, that we’ll be there opening day, especially if it lives up to the terrific recent trailer, which suggested the action-est instalment yet, while keeping plot details still shrouded in mystery
Release Date: July 29th.
2. “The Lobster”
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth”)
Cast: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw, Lea Seydoux
Synopsis: In a world where people are turned to animals if they stay single for too long, a bachelor checks into a hotel in the hope of meeting a new mate.
What You Need To Know: “The Lobster” has had a harder road to theaters than expected: premiering a full year ago at Cannes, the English-language debut of brilliant Greek helmer Yorgos Lanthimos was acquired by Alchemy, but had its release delayed when the company hit financial troubles. Fortunately, A24 stepped in, and you’re just weeks away from getting to see what we’ve been banging on about for the last twelve months. The film might seem like it has a one-joke absurdist comedy premise, but Lanthimos’s film takes it to unexpected places, making it both rawly funny and surprisingly thought-provoking and moving, while proving to be the director’s most accessible film to date. It’s, per Oli’s review, “an atypically rich and substantial comedy that’s stuffed with great scenes and performances… the first great relationship movie of the Tinder and match.com age.” And we can’t wait for you to see it.
Release Date: May 13th
1. The Nice Guys (May 20th)
Director: Shane Black (“Iron Man 3”)
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Kim Basinger, Matt Bomer, Margaret Qualley
Synopsis: In 70s L.A, a private eye and a hired muscle team up to find a missing girl, and uncover a criminal conspiracy.
What You Need To Know: “The Nice Guys” is a spiritual sequel to “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” Surely that’s all you need to know? But fine, if you want a little more, this sees Black, white-hot suddenly after the billion-dollar success of “Iron Man 3,” returning to his favorite kind of story, the buddy-buddy action-comedy, albeit jumping back to a period L.A. setting reminiscent of “The Long Goodbye” and “Inherent Vice.” The mix of ultraviolence, quips and convoluted plotting looks to be all in effect, but trailers have suggested that Black’s perfected the formula with this, with more style and flair than we’ve seen from him before. And just as ‘Kiss Kiss’ helped restore Robert Downey Jr to stardom, this could give a boost to Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, stars whose choices haven’t always been golden of late, but who look to be relishing a rare chance to try comedy. This is bowing at Cannes, and there’s little on the Croisette we’re as excited about as this.
Release Date: May 20th
What else is landing over the summer? Well, among the highlights or potential highlights are racehorse doc “Dark Horse” (May 6th), a look at some “Star Wars” bit-parters with “Elstree 1976” (May 6th), political and cult docs “Weiner” (May 20th) and “Holy Hell” (May 20th), app-turned movie “Angry Birds” (May 20th), Polanski-esque chiller “The Ones Below” (May 27th), the the docu hyrbid “Life, Animated” (July 8) which intersperses classic Disney animated film footage with verite doc style ; Greek comedy/drama “Chevalier” (May 27th), Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke in weepie “Me Before You” (June 3rd), the return of the heroes in a half shell in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2” (June 3rd) and Sundance hit “The Fits” (June 3rd).
Also coming, Jacques Audiard collaborator Thomas Bidegain moves into directing with jihad Western “Les Cowboys” (June 24th), Frank Zappa doc “Eat That Question” (June 24th), Todd Solondz’s return with “Wiener Dog” (June 24th), Blake Lively facing off against a shark in “The Shallows” (June 29th), Frank Grillo cracking heads again in “The Purge: Election Year” (July 1st), Le Carre adaptation “Our Kind Of Traitor” with Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris (July 1st), Sundance and Cannes approved Viggo Mortensen-starring indie “Captain Fantastic” (July 8th), promising-ish animation “The Secret Life Of Pets” (July 8th) from the “Despicable Me” folks, Zac Efron and Adam DeVine hooking up with Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza for “Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates” (July 8th), and creepy horror “Lights Out” (July 22nd).
That’s not to forget animation “Ice Age: Collision Course” (July 22nd), Brit sitcom escapee “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” (July 22nd), ensemble comedy “Bad Moms” (July 29th) with Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell, financial drama “Equity” (July 29th), prestige-y literary drama “Genius” (July 29th) starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Jude Law), Phillip Roth adaptation “Indignation” (July 29th), Kevin Spacey as a cat in “Nine Lives” (August 5th), which is an actual movie and not a joke, Meryl Streep as a terrible singer in Stephen Frears’ “Florence Foster Jenkins” (August 12th), and James Badge Dale and Emily Mortimer in action-horror “Spectral” (August 12th).
And finally, there’s also John Krasinski directing himself in the “Garden State”-esque “The Hollars” (August 12th), Timur Bekmambetov going Biblical with “Ben Hur” (August 19th), lo-fi sci-fi “The Space Between Us” starring Asa Butterfield (August 19th), home invasion thriller “Don’t Breath” (August 26th), Edgar Ramirez and Robert De Niro boxing pic “Hands Of Stone” (August 26th), and Jason Statham sequel “Mechanic: Resurrection” (August 26th). Anything else coming that you think needs a mention? Let us know in the shiny new comment section.
– Oliver Lyttelton & Jessica Kiang
