The BIG 2015 Preview

2015 looks set to be a massive year for film! The Bigger Boat Reviews is giving you the heads up on which films to keep an eye out for this year!

January

Birdman

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Starring: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts

Release Date: January 1

Keaton plays a faded Hollywood star made famous for portraying a superhero. That rings a bell a bit.

Foxcatcher

Director: Bennett Miller

Starring: Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo.

Release Date: January 9

Based on the true story surrounding John du Pont (Carrell) hires Mark Schultz (Tatum) to lead a team to Olympic triumph leading to life changing events.

The Theory of Everything

Director: James Marsh

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, David Thewlis, Emily Watson

Release Date: January 1

Biographical film focusing on the life of renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and his diagnosis with motor neuron disease.

American Sniper

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller.

Release Date: January 16

Based on the life of Chris Kyle (Cooper), a US sniper and decorated tour of Iraq.

Ex_Machina

Director: Alex Garland

Starring: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac

Release Date: January 23

IT worker Caleb (Gleeson) wins a competition to spend a week working with boss Nathan (Isaac), assessing a controversial artificial intelligent robot he has built.

Whiplash

Director: Damien Chazelle

Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Bennet

Release Date: January 16

Promising drummer, Andrew (Teller) wants to be the best drummer he can whilst attending a prestigious music school aiming to impress conductor Fletcher (Simmons).

Big Hero 6

Director: Don Hall, Chris Williams

Starring: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit , Daniel Henney

Release Date: 30 January

First official collaboration between Disney and Marvel. A young robotics enthusiast Hiro (Potter) forms a team of superheroes to combat a masked villain.

February

The Interview

Director: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco.

Release Date:TBA

Potentially the most controversial film of the year before it even gets released in the UK. Franco and Rogen play journalists who get permission to interview North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. During the interview they are instructed by the US government to assassinate the North Korean leader.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Director: John Madden

Starring: Dev Patel, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Richard Gere

Release Date: 27 February

Follow up to the 2012 Brit-hit, sees the ensemble cast head back out to India along with newcomer Richard Gere.

March

In the Heart of the Sea

Director: Ron Howard

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Benjamin Walker

Release Date: 13 March

Biographical film based on the book by Nathaniel Philbrick about the sinking of the whaleship Essex crewed by Captain George Pollard Jr (Hemsworth).

Chappie

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Hugh Jackman, Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver

Release Date: 6 March

Neill Blomkamp reunites with Sharlto Copley after 2009’s District 9, with this sci-fi about an experimental robot designed to learn and feel.

Cinderella

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgard

Release Date: 27 March

Live action remake of the 1950 Disney classic with Blanchett taking up the role of The Wicked Stepmother

April

Furious 7

Director: James Wan

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriquez.

Release Date: 3 April

Deckard Shaw (Statham) seeks vengeance against Dominic Toretto (Diesel) over the death of his brother. It will be interesting to see how the film copes with the tragic death of one of its leading faces half way through the production of the film.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Josh Wheddon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, James Spader

Release Date: 24 April

Earth’s mightiest heroes return for another barnstorming outing, where the Avengers are faced with a new foe in the form of James Spader’s chilling Ultron. Expect carnage porn.

May

Tomorrowland

Director: Brad Bird

Starring: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie.

Release Date: May 22

Frank (Clooney) and Casey (Robertson) travel to an unknown place simply known as Tomorrowland where actions have adverse effects on the surrounding world and themselves.

Pitch Perfect 2

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Elizabeth Banks, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow.

Release Date:May 15

Follow up to everyone’s favourite guilty pleasure of 2012. The Barden Belles a Capella group return to compete in an international competition in which no American group has ever won. Aca-scuse me?

Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller

Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult.

Release Date: 15 May

Fourth film in Miller’s Mad Max franchise see’s Tom Hardy as the titular Max in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is broken and fighting breaks out over the provisions of life.  

June

Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevrow

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Omar Sy

Release Date: 12 June

Fourth dino-frolic, this time with a fully functioning park opened on Isla Nublar. Needless to say, things don’t go to plan.

Minions

Director: Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda

Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton

Release Date: 26 June

Everyone’s favourite tic-tac shaped creatures get their own spin off in what promises to be one of the funniest films of the year, telling the story of how the Minions came to be under the service of Gru.

July

Terminator Genysis

Director: Alan Taylor

Starring: Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matt Smith, Jason Clarke, J.K. Simmons.

Release Date: 3 July

After finding himself in a completely different timeline, Kyle Reese (Courtney) teams up with Sarah Connor (Clarke) and an ageing Terminator cyborg (Schwarzenegger) and once again attempt to stop Judgement Day.

Ant-man

Director: Peyton Reed

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Hayley Atwell, Michael Douglas

Release Date: 17 July

Originally scheduled to be directed by TBBR favourite Edgar Wright, Marvel’s most unusual film yet sees Paul Rudd as the titular character who has the ability to shrink in scale but maintaining the strength of his normal size.

Pan

Director: Joe Wright

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara, Amanda Seyfried

Release Date:17 July

Live action retelling of the classic Disney tale about the boy from Neverland who will never grow old.

Inside Out

Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen

Starring: Diane Lane, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling.

Release Date: 24 July

Disney-Pixar’s latest outing, focusing on Riley who is controlled by her emotions. Her emotions reside in their headquarters inside Riley’s mind, but are spiralled out of control about her new job in San Francisco.

Ted 2

Director: Seth McFarlane

Starring: Seth McFarlane, Mark Whalberg, Mila Kunis, Amanda Seyfried

Release Date: 10 July

Sequel to the hilarious 2012 sees the foul mouthed teddy bear return. Expect plenty of ‘effin and jeffin’

Grimsby

Director: Louis Leterrier

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Rebel Wilson, Ian Mcshane.

Release Date: 24 July

A black-ops spy (Strong) is ordered to team up with his football hooligan brother (Cohen) as part of his latest assignment.

August

The Fantastic Four

Director: Josh Trank

Starring: Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell

Release Date: 6 August

Reboot of the Marvel Comic superhero team who, after teleporting to another universe, have their physical form altered giving them new abilities.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E

Director: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Henry Cavill, Hugh Grant, Alicia Vikander, Armie Hammer.

Release Date: 14 August

Based on the 1960s TV series set in the height of the Cold War. Following U.N.C.L.E members Napoleon Solo (Cavill) and Kuryakin (Hammer) in their attempts to stop an international criminal organization.

September

Black Mass

Director: Scott Cooper

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Johnny Depp, Sienna Miller, Joel Edgerton.

Cumberbatch and Depp make for some mouth-watering screen time in this true story of Whitey Bulger, a violent criminal who becomes an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family.

October

Crimson Peak

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska.

Release Date: 16 October

After a family tragedy, an author is torn between love for her childhood friend and a, enigmatic outsider.

Everest

Director: Baltasar Kormakur

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke

Release Date: 2 October

Icelandic director Kormakur returns with the story of an expedition to ascend Mt Everest is devastated by a severe storm.

November

Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Daniel Craig, Ben Whishaw, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Dave Bautista, Monica Belluci, Andrew Scott, Naomi Watts.

Release Date: 23 October

Bond 24. Need we say more?

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

Director: Francis Lewis

Starring: Jeniffer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Donald Sutherland.

The concluding chapter of the hugely popular adaptation of Suzanne Collins book series where the revolution continues against the autocratic Capitol.

The Martian

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Kristen Wigg, Matt Damon.

Release Date: 27 November

Based on the 2012 novel by Andy Weir, following an astronaut who becomes stranded along on Mars.

December

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Director: JJ Abrams

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domnall Gleeson, Lupoita Nyong’o, Max von Sydow, John Boyega

Release Date: 18 December

Set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. That’s about all we know.

Mission Impossible 5

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris.

Release Date: 26 December

Fifth outing for the Impossible Missions Force with Cruise reprising his role as agent Ethan Hunt.

Which films are you most excited about?

Have we missed any that you think look to set 2015 alight?

Have your say below!