Reboots, videogame adaptations, and a few long awaited sequels are all due for release next year
Now that Fast & Furious 7 has formally opened summer blockbuster season 2015 up, it's time for us to take our traditional look at the big movies gracing multiplexes this time next year.
2016 is set to be a pivotal summer, too. There are big movies in both the DC and Marvel cinematic universes. Warner Bros is looking to launch the first of six KingArthur movies, whilst Universal may get cracking with its classic monster cinematic universe. And - yep - we may even get the world's first great film based on a videogame.
Summer blockbuster season 2016 stretches from March through to August, and here's what treats are lined up. Please note, we've gone with US release dates, for the purposes of this feature, as that's where most of the films will debut first.
Warcraft - March 11
The curtain-raiser for next summer's blockbuster season is the eagerly-awaited third film from director Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code). And we're backing him - no pressure - to make the first ever really good movie based on a video game.
For he's steering the long in gestation Warcraftproject to the big screen, and it looks as if little expense has been spared. The film has been in post-production for some time, and Jones has co-written the script, along with Charles Leavitt. Ben Foster and Paula Patton lead the cast. And whilst the exact story is under wraps, and footage has been in, well, no supply, we suspect this may end up being one of 2015's must-sees.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant - Part 1 - March 18
Two films in, and the Divergentmovies, charitably, seem content to be ordinary. The first, directed by Neil Burger, set things up reasonably well. But Robert Schwentke's Insurgent hardly turned up the heat. Instead, it was a long recap following by some stuff about a box. Thank goodness for Shailene Woodley, else the Divergentfilms would really be in trouble.
Schwentke is back to direct the opening part of the third book, Allegiant. Allegiantrounds off the story of Tris, although since the movies starting coming, author Veronica Roth has penned a prequel by the name of Four. That may well end up on the big screen too in due course.
Here's hoping Allegianttakes the basic concept of Divergentand does something more interesting with it. Certainly, the ending of Insurgent, at the least, does set things up for a more intriguing adventure.
Kung Fu Panda 3 - March 18
DreamWorks Animation picked up lots of negative stories early in 2015, as it streamlined its production faciltiies, laid off staff, cut costs, and trimmed the number of movies it's been planning to make. And then Home - a film of which not much was expected - turned out to be its biggest hit since The Croods.
Kung Fu Panda 3was originally set to be released in December 2015, but DreamWorks moved the sequel out of the way of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As such, its new slot should give it a better chance of box office gold.
Not that the odds are stacked against it anyway. The first two Kung Fu Panda movies both hit big, and the third sees Jennifer Yu returning to direct. Furthermore, the second film left things primed for a third movie to pick up. Which it will. Jack Black is back as the voice of Po, too.
Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice - March 25
Ladies and gentlemen, the DC movie universe effectively starts here. Ostensibly the sequel to Man Of Steel, this is nonetheless the film that reintroduces a fresh Batman (Ben Affleck), and brings to the screen new iterations of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), Alfred (Jeremy Irons), quite possibly The Flash (Ezra Miller) and maybe some of the Suicide Squad too. How much of it becomes a Superman story remains to be seen.
Zack Snyder directs this one (from a script by Oscar-winning Argo writer, Chris Terrio), before jumping onto the two-part Justice League movie. And the next five or six years of Warner Bros' blockbuster output is hinging on Batman v Superman being a success. No pressure, Zack.
The Jungle Book - April 15
The first of two competing live action Jungle Book projects, this is the Disney one, and thus it's a sort-of-live action updating of the animated classic. Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Swingers) is directing, and his voice cast for his CG animals includes Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken, Idris Elba and Scarlett Johansson. There's one live action character in the movie, with newcomer Neel Sethi playing Mowgli. Justin Marks has penned the script.
The Huntsman - April 22
The Snow White And The Huntsman sequel, that just happens to drop the Snow White part of the story. As such, there's no Kristen Stewart this time around. Instead, the story is going to centre on Chris Hemsworth's Huntsman, with Charlize Theron returning too as the villain. Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Nick Frost, Sheridan Smith and Alexandra Roach are also aboard.
Frank Darabont was once going to direct this one, and he's likely to keep a screenplay credit. But it's Cedric Nicolas-Troyan who will be calling the shots now (marking his feature directorial debut). We understand that reports suggesting The Huntsman is a prequel may be incorrect, incidentally, but we won't find out for certain until next April...
Things kick off in earnest when we get to May...