It's that time of year again. Not just the season for frostbite and presents (socks, again, Grandma? Yay!), but also when Hollywood starts rolling out a lot of the teaser trailers for the forthcoming year. In the last few days alone there's been a raft of promotion for films - some of which won't be out until towards the end of 2014.
So we're going to do a rundown of some of the most notable and there will be more to come...
The Edge of Tomorrow - out March 2014.
Thematically, this film (directed by Doug Liman) is a mix of Independence Day and Groundhog Day - set against the invasion of earth by aliens called 'Mimics'. Cruise plays Lt. Col. Bill Cage who has never seen active duty on the battlefield and is suddenly demoted and dropped onto the frontline. He doesn't last very long, being killed in an encounter with the mysterious aliens. However he finds himself suddenly alive again and living the same day over and over. Can he use this time-loop to learn more and more about the invading menace and a real way to defeat them, depsite all the obstacles. He teams-up with a Special Forces operative, Rita Vrataski (Looper's Emily Blunt) for the final, definitive task to save Earth.
The movie is based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka's book and was the first production to lens at the newly-renamed Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden near London
Amazing Spider-man 2 - out May 2014.
Sony's reboot of the Spider-man franchise was a decent success and therefore a sequel was inevitable. The trailer for The Amazing Spider-man 2 hit in the same week that it was announced theat there are major plans not only for the trilogy of the new Spider-man incarnation, but likely spin-offs for both the Sinister Six and Venom.
First things first, however and the 2014 chapter will see Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and his alter-ego go up against Electro (Jamie Foxx), The Rhino ( Paul Giamatti) and the Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan). Anyone who knows their Spider-mythology may know that Peter may have to pay a hefty price for his victory...
Jupiter Ascending - out July 2014.
Their Cloud Atlas was a sprawling and spectacular but also a very divisive movie for Lana and Andy Wachowski. For the follow-up, Jupiter Ascending, the backdrop is equally expansive but the story is a more traditional cat-and-mouse game played out on a cosmic scale. Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) was born under a night sky with predictions that she was destined for greatness, but now an adult she lives a boring, dead-end life cleaning houses in Chicago. However the arrival of a genetically-engineered soldier, Caine (Channing Tatum) suggests that some of the prophecies may be true. The film also stars Sean Bean. We're betting he dies at some point in the film...
Interstellar - out November 2014
According to its publicity-blurb, Interstellar 'chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage'. However it's hard to tell from this teaser trailer (admittedly nearly a full year out) that slightly resembles the opening credits of Star Trek: Enterprise, if Christopher Nolan's next project will have its focus on technologial advancements or the human condition.
Obviously Nolan made a huge impact with the likes of the Dark Knight movies and Inception, but we've often found his work to be precise, ambitious and effective, like a cutting-edge time-piece rather than actually heartfelt, majestic and passionate that makes us grasp the edge of our seats.... However Matthew McConaughey is always watchable and the cast also includes the equally reliable Sir Michael Caine, Caset Affleck and Anne Hathaway...
