Leigh Paatsch’s guide to the big movie blockbusters of the summer

WHAT will you be watching at the movies this summer? Leigh Paatsch has the lowdown on what’s on the big screens in coming months.

WHAT will you be watching at the movies this summer? Leigh Paatsch has the lowdown on what’s on the big screens in coming months.

DECEMBER

Annie

December 18

Stars: Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhane Wallis, Rose Byrne

They say: In 2014 New York, the hard-knock life of a happy, self-reliant orphan may change forever when she is taken in by a rich tycoon.

We say: The classic musical gets a major modernising here. As long as they don’t mess about with the beloved songs (“Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow!”), everything should be fine.

Close Up: Has been a long time in the making, with several casting revisions along the way. Will Smith’s daughter Willow originally held the title role, before being replaced by young Oscar nominee Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild).

Wide Shot: Australian musician Sia played a key role in the new score, penning three new songs and co-arranging several more.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

December 26

Stars: Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly

They say: Bilbo and the gang are forced into the midst of a raging war that might prove to be the end for all of Middle-earth.

We say: Peter Jackson’s time inside the Tolkien bubble is finally about to pop. Though The Hobbit series has been sluggish at times, everything is perfectly poised for a grand, gripping finale.

Close Up: If the Five Armies tag seems a little unfamiliar, there is good reason. Jackson never really liked his original title of There and Back Again, and finally changed it after much deliberation in April.

Wide Shot: Sources close to Jackson are freely dropping hints that an epic 45-minute battle sequence late in this final instalment is the crowning achievement of the Kiwi filmmaker’s decorated career.

The Water Diviner

December 26

Stars: Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Jai Courtney

They say: An Australian man travels to Turkey after the Battle of Gallipoli to try to locate his three missing sons.

We say: Russell Crowe has worked with many of the world’s best directors and now he’s calling the shots himself. Traditionalist subject matter should bring the best out of a proudly old-fashioned Rusty.

Close Up: Some of Crowe’s comments regarding a “mythology” surrounding events at Gallipoli have drawn heat in certain circles. The coming centenary of that ill-fated battle will only intensify the debate.

Wide Shot: At the end of what has been the worst year for Australian cinema in decades, the box-office performance of The Water Diviner could point the way forward or seal the fate of our ailing local film industry.

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ALSO OPENING IN DECEMBER

Exodus: Gods and Kings (Dec 4): Get your bibles at the ready, ’cos here comes the story of Moses, as retold by director Ridley Scott (Gladiator). Christian Bale tunics it up in the title role.

Horrible Bosses 2 (Dec 11): Sequel to the edgy ensemble comedy hit of 2011. All regulars (Bateman, Aniston, Spacey, Foxx etc) return, along with gun new recruit Christoph Waltz.

St Vincent (Dec 26): A young boy in need of a role model settles for the wacky wastrel of a war veteran living next door. Stars the great Bill Murray, which should be recommendation enough.

JANUARY

The Imitation Game

January 1

Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Mark Strong

They say: English mathematician and logician Alan Turing helps crack the Enigma code during World War II.

We say: This prestige British biopic has had serious Oscar contender scrawled all over it for several months. Primed to be the biggest maths-driven movie since A Beautiful Mind.

Close Up: Cumberbatch has freely admitted he was pushed to the brink of a breakdown by his attachment to the role of Turing — who experienced serious personal persecution from his own government after the war.

Wide Shot: Producers will be hoping you haven’t seen the 2001 drama Enigma, which tells much of the same story with a few names changed here and there.

Birdman

January 15

Stars: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton

They say: A washed-up actor who once played an iconic movie superhero must overcome his ego and family trouble as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim his past glory.

We say: The casting of Keaton — whose own career crashed and burned after he became the original big-screen Batman — is nothing short of perfect. He is a lock for an Oscar nomination, as is the movie itself.

Close Up: Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel) originally intended to shoot the film in one single take. Though talked out of it, Inarritu still demanded marathon takes from his entire cast.

Wide Shot: The film was shot almost entirely on the one location, in and around the iconic St James Theatre on the Broadway strip.

The Interview

January 22

Stars: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Lizzy Caplan

They say: After a hot-shot TV reporter and his producer land the story of a lifetime in North Korea, the CIA recruits them to assassinate that country’s infamous leader, Kim Jong-un.

We say: An idea for a comedy so off the wall, it just might work. Even if it turns out to be Team America: World Police minus the puppets, that will be enough.

Close Up: In June, the North Koreans promised “merciless retaliation” against unnamed US interests should the film be released. Producers should count on more free publicity propaganda in the new year.

Wide Shot: Naturally, Rogen and his co-director Evan Goldberg (who teamed up on last year’s This is the End) were unable to shoot in North Korea. Apparently there are parts of Canada that could be nicely substituted for North Korea.

Foxcatcher

January 29

Stars: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo

They say: Elite wrestler Mark Schultz forms a strange relationship with his new sponsor, millionaire John du Pont, as he trains for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

We say: Another sports film with a deep, dark difference from Bennett Miller, the brains behind the superb Moneyball? Yes, please.

Close Up: Stay off Wikipedia and the internet in general in the run-up to the release of Foxcatcher, as there are shock twists and turns to this true story that are best experienced cold.

Wide Shot: The unsettling performance and dramatically altered appearance of Steve Carell in the lead role will definitely wrong-foot the fanbase of the easygoing funnyman.

ALSO OPENING IN JANUARY

Penguins of Madagascar (Jan 1): Those flappy, yappy unquiet achievers of the Madagascar franchise finally get their own movie. Sure to be a monster all-ages hit, as everyone loves ’em.

Into the Woods (Jan 8): Meryl Streep is a mad old witch conspiring revenge against every major fairytale character she can think of. Based on a hit Broadway musical. Could be anything, this one. Co-stars Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt.

American Sniper (Jan 22): Director Clint Eastwood goes to war once more ... just in time for the Oscars. Bradley Cooper plays a legendary Navy SEAL who killed over 150 enemy operatives.

Mortdecai (Jan 29): Johnny Depp plays an eccentric art dealer looking for a stolen painting linked to the whereabouts of missing Nazi millions. Rumours abound this a lively return to form for Depp.

FEBRUARY

Jupiter Ascending

February 5

Stars: Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Eddie Redmayne

They say: In the future, a young destitute human woman gets targeted for assassination by the Queen of the Universe, and begins her destiny to end the Queen’s reign.

We say: The wildest wildcard of the US summer. This is the brainchild of sibling creatives Andy and Lana Wachowski, who haven’t wowed the world since the days of The Matrix trilogy.

Close Up: The first trailer gives off multiple signals: Is it sci-fi, a superhero flick, a supernatural fantasy, a radical romantic drama, or all of the above?

Wide Shot: This marks the first time the Wachowskis have tried 3D, so a major spectacle can be expected. Tatum’s character is apparently an, err, albino half-man/half-wolf.

50 Shades of Grey

February 12

Stars: Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Luke Grimes

They say: Literature student Anastasia Steele’s life changes forever when she meets handsome yet tormented billionaire Christian Grey.

Close Up: The producer’s choice of two conspicuously unknown leads only adds to the building mystique around this picture. Irish-born Dornan has only a handful of TV credits to his name (most notably, The Fall), while Johnson is best known for being the daughter of stars Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths.

Wide Shot: The June release of the first 50 Shades trailer broke all online movie launch records.

Big Eyes

February 19

Stars: Christoph Waltz, Amy Adams, Jason Schwartzman

They say: A drama centred on painter Margaret Keane, whose husband stole the credit for a famous series of works in the 1960s.

We say: Yet another fact-based feature for the summer where the truth hurts all involved. The X-factor is director Tim Burton, conspicuously stepping away from the realm of surreal fantasy for the first time in ages.

Close Up: Keane was the creator of a signature style where the doe-eyed appearance of her young subjects was derided by critics and beloved by the public in equally intense measure.

Wide Shot: This is the first Burton film not to carry Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter in the cast since the mid-1990s.

ALSO OPENING IN FEBRUARY

Kingsman: The Secret Service (Feb 5): The team behind the original Kick-Ass take to another terrific comic book, this time centred on old-school espionage. All-star cast includes Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.

Blackhat (Feb 19): High-concept cyber-thriller written and directed by the great Michael Mann (Heat, Public Enemies). Starring role for Aussie Chris “Thor” Hemsworth sure to be new career peak.

The Second Best Marigold Hotel (Feb 26): They’re old, they’re living the dream in India and they’re back to charm the socks off the mature-age crowd. Intriguing cast addition of Richard Gere will only broaden the mass-appeal factor.

Originally published as Leigh Paatsch’s guide to the big movie blockbusters of the summer