With summer starting to wrap up (after "Guardians Of The Galaxy" in two weeks, blockbusters get considerably thinner on the ground), it’s time to start looking even further ahead to big movies planned for the fall, or even for next summer. And happily, with Comic-Con just around the corner, the studios have obliged, releasing a slew of images for some new upcoming movies.
First up is "Exodus: Gods & Kings," Ridley Scott‘s first attempt at the Biblical epic. The first live-action big-screen version of the story of Moses since "The Ten Commandments," Scott’s picture is taking the big-budget "Gladiator"-style approach, but has drawn controversy due to casting Caucasian actors in Jewish and Egyptian roles, and for casting Australian actor Joel Edgerton as a tangerine with eyebrows drawn on with a magic marker. Christian Bale, Aaron Paul, Ben Kingsley, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Mendelsohn and Indira Varma star alongside Edgerton, and it hits theaters on December 12th.
A week later, we’ll see the arrival of "The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies," and that’s good news, because it means that there will only be nine more Peter Jackson ‘Hobbit’ movies to go. Last year’s ‘The Desolation Of Smaug‘ was marginally creatively more satisfying than the first entry, but again mostly proved to be a rather unworthy successor to Jackson’s "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and it seemed to show at the box office, with the film significantly under-grossing its predecessor. Warner Bros. are hoping to rectify that by putting the words ‘Battle’ and ‘Armies’ into the title of the new one rather than the less commercial ‘Desolation’ and ‘Smaug,’ and that’s demonstrated with a new image from EW that sees Ian McKellen and Luke Evans in fighting mode. Look for it to showcase all kinds of weightless impossible CGI camera movements and indistinguishable dwarves on December 19th.
And then there’s next summer, and another prospective summer blockbuster that’ll be showing off its wares at Comic-Con is "Goosebumps," the first big-screen incarnation of the popular young-adult horror series. It’s not the kind of thing that would ordinarily seem that promising, but the premise (that author R.L. Stine, to be played by Jack Black, traps the monsters in his books, only for them to escape) is promisingly Amblin-y, and there’s good names involved in scripting, including "Enlightened" writer Mike White and "Ed Wood" scribes Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and in casting, with Amy Ryan, Ken Marino, Jillian Bell, Timothy Simons and Ryan Lee all cropping up. The first look at Black and co-stars Dylan Minnette and Odeya Rush can be found below, and the movie hits on August 7, 2015.
And finally, on a more comedic note, the New York Times debuted the first official on-set image from Judd Apatow‘s comedy "Trainwreck." Written by and starring ace comedian Amy Schumer (who plays the titular terrible human being), it’s a welcome change of pace from the bro-heavy comedies that Apatow made his name with, and given that we’re fans of his directing work in general, we’d be excited anyway. But the film stars, alongside Schumer, Bill Hader, Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Barkhad Abdi, Mike Birbiglia, Jon Glaser, Vanessa Bayer, John Cena, Ezra Miller, LeBron James, Method Man, Norman Lloyd, Jim Norton, Daniel Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei, which might be the most esoteric group of actors ever assembled for a comedy, and maybe also the best. Bring. It. On. You’ll be able to catch the film on July 24, 2015.
