Movies
Upcoming ‘BIG’ Ones…
Summer Releases 🙂
Summer releases, anchored by that period of the year in the West where schools are on break and people just wanna have fun, (lay man’s explanation, for a more precise explanation go to school 😉 ) define every year’s movie calender. It’s during that period that Hollywood roles out its big guns, the productions that cost more than, on average, $200 Mill on production alone and probable another $100 Mill on marketing… anyone feeling broke?
To cut it short, ‘Summer’ (i put it in quotes cause here in Kenya, it only impacts us in terms of movies and not in terms of the actual season itself) is when we see major Super-hero flicks, action blockbusters, comedies and Sci-Fis role out one by one, starting off in May. And so, keeping up with the wheels of marketing Hollywood has going on to promote them, here they are, the BIG ONES of ‘Summer’ 🙂 In order of release. So mark the dates and enjoy…
” …. The Avengers
Summer kicks on May 4 with Marvel Studios and Disney’s The Avengers, the superhero extravaganza that features Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor(Chris Hemsworth), The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson),Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Captain America(Chris Evans) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). It’s the first Marvel Studios title distributed and marketed by Disney since Disney bought Marvel.
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The Dictator
Opens: May 11th
Sacha Baron Cohen, dressed as his title character in The Dictator, nearly hijacked the Oscars by showering Ryan Seacrest with “ashes” on the red carpet. But the danger is that the gonzo performer’s trademark stunts will overshadow the movie. And Baron Cohen needs this one to work. Borat, his first foray into Candid Camera-style comedy, earned an eye-popping $261.6 million worldwide in 2006. But his follow-up, Bruno (2009), was considered a disappointment when it grossed $138.8 million globally.
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Dark Shadows
Opens: May 11
As a kid, Johnny Depp was such a fan of the TV soap opera Dark Shadows that he wished he was the vampire Barnabas Collins. All these years later, Warner Bros. and Tim Burton, his frequent collaborator (the two have made eight films together), have granted him his wish by bringingDark Shadows to the big screen. The campy fantasy is a gamble because younger moviegoers won’t remember the daytime soap — the first to feature vamps, ghouls, ghosts and time travel — which ran on ABC from 1966 to 1972.
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Battleship
Opens: May 18
Universal’s $200 million Battleship is a big-budget adaptation of the Hasbro game and the lone nonsequel among the big three. The movie, starring Taylor Kitsch of the late John Carter, has precious little breathing room: It opens May 18, a week before Sony’s Men in Black 3 debuts May 25, the start of the lucrative Memorial Day weekend.
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Hysteria
Opens: May 18
Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hysteria is a romp about the creation of the vibrator. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the film in the U.S.
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Moonrise Kingdom
Opens: May 25 (limited)
Not only is Focus Features confident enough to openWes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom over Memorial Day weekend in a limited run, hoping to dazzle adults bored by more popcorn fare, the film is opening the Cannes Film Festival on May 16.Moonrise, about a pair of young lovers who flee their New England island town, prompting a crazed search, sports an ensemble cast that includes Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton.
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MIB 3
Opens: May 25
Sony’s Men in Black 3 debuts May 25, the start of the lucrative Memorial Day weekend. Will Smithand Tommy Lee Jones are reteaming for MiB 3, returning the franchise to its roots. (Jones appeared only briefly in the first sequel.) But it has been a decade since Men in Black II was in theaters, and box-office observers will be watching to see if the lengthy hiatus hurts. It also has been nearly four years since Smith appeared onscreen, so MiB 3 will be a fresh test of his genuine star status.
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Snow White and the Huntsman
Opens: June 1
On June 1, Universal serves up Snow White and the Huntsman, starring Charlize Theron andKristen Stewart, who in this retelling becomes a woman warrior. The studio is determined to make the film accessible to males as well as females, but Hollywood has had a hard time turning fairy tales into four-quadrant hits, as evidenced by the poor performances of Red Riding Hood and Mirror Mirror.
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Prometheus
Opens: June 8
Fanboys are salivating for Ridley Scott’sPrometheus, headlining Noomi Rapace andMichael Fassbender. The Fox release isn’t intended as a prequel, per se, to Scott’s 1979 classicAlien, but there is a definite connection — though the filmmakers are trying to keep a lid on it.
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Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
Opens: June 8
After it premieres at the Cannes Film Festival in May, DreamWorks Animation and Paramount’s third outing in the popular Madagascar franchise opens in North America on June 8. The threequel finds the gang in Europe, and opens in Monte Carlo, where the lovable penguins wreak havoc in the famous casino.
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Rock of Ages
Opens: June 15
Rock of Ages, which opens June 15 opposite Sony’sAdam Sandler/Andy Samberg comedy That’s My Boy, headlines singer Julianne Hough andDiego Boneta with an ensemble cast includingTom Cruise as a heavy-metal rocker, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwinand Mary J. Blige.
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That’s My Boy
Opens: June 15
June’s tentpole comedy is Adam Sandler‘s That’s My Boy. The actor stars opposite Andy Sambergand Leighton Meester and features Sandler as a derelict dad who tries to reunite with his son on the eve of his son’s wedding. Sandler’s most recent film,Jack and Jill, was a mild disappointment for Sony and the the studio is counting on That’s My Boy to restore Sandler to his full box-office glory.
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Brave
Opens: June 22
Brave is the first title in Pixar history to be built around a female heroine. The story, set in Scotland, centers on the determined Merida, voiced byBoardwalk Empire’s Kelly Macdonald. A skilled archer, she vows to chart her own course in life, much to the horror of her royal parents, King Fergus and Queen Elinor, played by Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson.
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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Opens: June 22
The Fox release might be the most unusual film on the summer calendar. It definitely isn’t your usual history lesson. Based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, the genre mash-up reimagines a young Abe Lincoln as a vampire hunter. Wanted’sTimur Bekmambetov directed from a script by Grahame-Smith and Simon Kinberg. Benjamin Walker plays Lincoln, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Mary Todd Lincoln and Dominic Cooper appears to school the future president in the art of vampire-fighting.
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People Like Us
Opens: June 29
Starring Elizabeth Banks and Chris Pine, the film has the classic boy-meets-girl storyline, but not in the normal big screen way: Banks and Pine’s characters are long-lost siblings, though only Pine knows it. The film is the directorial debut of Alex Kurtzman, who has worked with star Pine on Star Trek.
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G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Opens: June 29
This time, G.I. Joe features Dwayne Johnson, who has morphed into a wildly successful worldwide star and his addition to the cast should boost the sequel’s potential, as well as Bruce Willis. Returning cast members include Channing Tatum.
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The Amazing Spiderman
Opens: July 3
A retelling of the familiar origins story, The Amazing Spider-Man is headlined by Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, the high schooler who becomes the iconic superhero, and Emma Stone as his love interest. Although it has been only five years since the previous Spider-Man movie (directed by Sam Raimi), the studio is calculating that a redo will refresh its marquee franchise. The bar is high: The three Spider-Man films starring Tobey Maguire were among the most successful titles in Hollywood history, with the third entry grossing more than $890 Million worldwide.
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Kate Perry: Part of Me
Opens: July 5
The Paramount pic will reveal the pop sensation’s life both on stage and off, and includes footage from her California Dreams Tour.
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Ice Age: Continental Drift
Opens: July 13
Fox Animation and its Blue Sky Studios, which most recently released 2011’s Rio, return to their blockbuster franchise this month. Ice Age: Continental Drift couldn’t have a better date; it is the only studio animated film in the marketplace for the rest of the summer. Still, box-office observers will be watching to see if there’s Ice Age fatigue for this fourth installment. That certainly wasn’t the case with the threequel Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which earned a massive $886.7 million worldwide in summer 2009, a franchise best.
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The Dark Knight Rises
Opens: July 20
Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film could easily be the biggest hit of summer 2012, considering that The Dark Knight grossed $1 billion worldwide for Warner Bros. after opening in summer 2008. Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after Dark Knight left off and, in addition toChristian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman, sees the return of characters played by Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman. New to the franchise are Anne Hathaway as Catwoman andTom Hardy as the villainous Bane.
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Neighborhood Watch
Opens: July 27
Fox debuts its big summer comedy Neighborhood Watch, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn andJonah Hill, on July 27. Although its premise is pure escapism — the Akiva Schaffer-directed movie centers on a neighborhood watch group that fights off an alien invasion.
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Total Recall
Opens: August 3
Sony has franchise hopes for Total Recall, a remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi movie now featuring Colin Farrell in the lead role. Directed by Len Wiseman (the Underworldfranchise, Live Free or Die Hard), the remake follows a different storyline and is set in a dystopian future when Euroamerica (formerly the U.S.) battles New Shanghai (formerly China) for global power. Kate Beckinsale, Wiseman’s wife, stars opposite Farrell.
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The Bourne Legacy
Opens: August 3
The future of Universal’s marquee action franchise is riding on the latest installment, which featuresJeremy Renner in the lead instead of Matt Damon. Tony Gilroy, who wrote the first threeBourne movies, is in the director’s chair this time.
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Hope Springs
Opens: August 10
Meryl Streep is back in theaters in Sony’s dramedy Hope Springs, starring opposite Steve Carell and Tommy Lee Jones. The film reteams her with David Frankel, director of The Devil Wears Prada, and tells the story of a longtime married couple who attend a marriage counseling retreat where Carell pops up as their counselor.
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The Expendables 2
Opens: August 17
Can lightning strike twice? Lionsgate is betting it can as it preps The Expendables 2. Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, the firstExpendables became an unexpected sensation in August 2010, grossing $274.5 million worldwide. This time, while Stallone penned the script, Simon West takes the directing reins. The follow-up marks the return of Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgrenand Bruce Willis, along with newbies Yu Nan, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris.
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Sparkle
Opens: August 17
In the wake of Whitney Houston’s death, Sony’sSparkle — which Houston stars in and executive produced — suddenly finds itself in the spotlight. The original Sparkle, released in 1976, told the tale of a Supremes-like group. Houston and her former producing partner Debra Martin Chase were the driving force behind the redo, with Houston originally wanting the singer Aaliyah to play the title character before she died in 2001.
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ParaNorman
Opens: August 17
ParaNorman, Focus Features’ upcoming film fromCoraline animation studio Laika, follows Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who uses his gift of communicating with the dead to protect his town from a zombie invasion. …”
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Opening dates and summary credited to Hollywood Reporter
And here’s a ‘cookie’ i came across. The new ‘Amazing Spiderman’ International trailer. July 4th… 😉
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xij6DMm5vmk]