JANUARY IS ALWAYS an exciting time for those who love nothing better than a trip to the cinema.
It’s the time of year when, in the run-up to the Oscars, a load of top quality films are released.
But there’s also the anticipation of what the rest of the year has in store. With so many films due out in 2016, we had a look at the main contenders and picked some of the most interesting ones – but there are even more to come.
Got any films you’re particularly looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.
Room
This Irish-directed and written movie is based on the fantastic book by Emma Donoghue, and has Lenny Abrahamson at the helm. He got the job after writing her a 10-page letter about why he was the best person to direct the film, and it’s a perfect partnership. You’ll have all your heartstrings pulled watching this. It has been nominated in the Golden Globes and we suspect it’ll get a few Oscar nods too. Expected to land in cinemas on 15 January.
Hail, Caesar
The Coen brothers gather a huge cast of familiar faces for this look at 1950s Hollywood. George Clooney is a top actor who’s kidnapped on set – and Josh Brolin is the fixer who has to find out what happened. Release date: 5 February
Deadpool
Based on the Marvel comic of the same name, this is the origin story of a super hero who names himself Deadpool after experimental treatment leaves him with super healing powers. Ryan Reynolds stars as the dude himself in this quirky take on the genre. Release date: 12 February
Revenant
Leonardo di Caprio, Domhnall Gleeson and Tom Hardy star in this film set in the wilderness in the 1800s. They play frontiersman battling to survive in a very tough climate. Directed by Alejandro G Iñárritu, who directed last year’s Birdman.
Knight of Cups
This Terrence Malick-directed film stars Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett. It’s about a screenwriter in LA who’s haunted by his brother’s death and suffers an existential crisis. All the while, he’s making the most of Hollywood’s excessive side. As this is Malick, don’t expect things to be boring.
Silence
Good ol’ Martin Scorsese is behind this movie – which stars Liam Neeson as a Christian missionary in 17th-century Japan, who is sought by two young priests, played by Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield. It’s based on the 1966 novel by Shusaku Endo.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Tina Fey plays a real-life reporter who goes to cover the conflict in Afghanistan. Margot Robbie and Alfred Molina star, along with some perhaps unfortunate cultural stereotypes.
Certain Women
Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff) wrote and directed this American drama based on the short story collection Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy. It’s about the intersecting lives of three women in a small town, and stars Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern and Michelle Williams.
Zama
Lucrecia Martel (The Headless Woman) directs this film (produced by Pedro Almadovar), which is based on Antonio di Benedetto’s novel of the same name. Set in an unnamed Latin American country in 1790, Variety says it: “turns on Don Diego de Zama (Daniel Gimenez Cacho), an officer of the Spanish Crown, who serves out his time in a provincial backwater, awaiting a promotion and transfer to Buenos Aires that never comes… Zama leaves to distant lands inhabited by wild Indians and gains, finally, the chance to live.”
The Light Between Oceans
Our own Michael Fassbender joins Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz for this adaptation of the novel of the same name. It’s from director Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines) and Collider has more info about it here.
Midnight Special
This is directed by Jeff Nichols, the man behind Mud, which helped relaunch Matthew McConaughey’s career. It’s influenced by John Carpenter’s Starman and features a whole host of great actors. Nichols has also signed on to direct Loving, the true story of inter-racial couple Mildred and Richard Loving, who took the civil rights case Loving vs Virginia in 1967. This will star Joel Edgerton (Black Mass) and our own Ruth Negga.
Money Monster
Directed by Jodie Foster, this is a political thriller starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O’Connell, Dominic West and our own Caitriona Balfe. Hollywood Reporter said back in January of this year that:
Clooney is set to star as Lee Gates, a bombastic television stock huckster, whose program —Money Monster — and life are taken hostage by an outraged gunman (O’Connell). As much of the world watches live, Gates must keep himself alive and, with help from the woman who produces the show (Roberts), uncover the truth behind a tangle of big-money lies.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
To plug the gap between The Force Awakens and the second film in the trilogy, this is the first in the Star Wars Anthology series. It’s set to star Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker and Alan Tudyk among others. StarWars.com says: “Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Monsters) is directing Rogue One, which tells the story of resistance fighters who have united to steal plans to the dreaded Death Star.”
Passengers
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are to star in this US sci-fi romance film that’s due out at the end of 2016. It’s said to be about a spacecraft being sent to a distant planet, on which all the passengers are kept asleep for the journey… until one wakes up and has to decide if he should wake up someone else for company. Directed by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game).
Ghostbusters
This all-female reboot of the classic eighties film is in the safe hands of Paul Feig (if you’ve seen Spy, you’ll know what we mean). All we have to go on are two pictures from the set, but with Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig involved, it’ll be quite a treat.
Everybody Wants Some
Loved Dazed and Confused? Well, this is Richard Linklater’s spiritual sequel, this time set in the 1980s. It’s about students in their first year of college, and is a coming of age story.
Also coming out: Assassin’s Creed, Suicide Squad, American Pastoral, Independence Day 2, Bad Neighbours 2, Jumanji, Zoolander 2, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Doctor Strange, La La Land, Batman v Superman.
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