From Mad Max to Jurassic World: The 40 movies you must see this year

FROM Mad Max reborn to Star Wars rebooted and Minions gone solo, meet the blockbusters vying for your cinema bucks in the year to come.

HOW to shake off a flat 2014 at the box office? By looking forward to the movie blockbusters that we’ll be rushing out to see on opening day — or avoiding Twitter spoilers like the plague until we do — in 2015.

It’s pretty much guaranteed that, come December 31, the list of the 10 highest-grossing films of 2015 will include some combination of Marvel superheroes, decades-old franchises, reboots, cute animations and dystopian future finales.

Mad Max leads a reinvigorated Aussie line-up at the 2015 box office (Warner Bros)

But the No.1 film of 2015?

The list of potential winners can probably be whittled to four: Fast & Furious 7, The Avengers’ second get-together, the 24th Bond flick or the much-hyped Star Wars comeback.

Rev-head franchise Fast & Furious has grown exponentially since its reinvigorated fourth outing. The seventh film, to be released April 2, will come with a turbo-boost, albeit a sad one: farewelling original star Paul Walker, who died in a car crash part-way through filming.

In 2012, the first Avengers dominated the worldwide box office; in Australia it’s the third highest-grossing film ever. While all those other Marvel titles — Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy — have kept the seat warm in the meantime, combining the heroes into one package broadens the appeal. The Avengers: Age of Ultron dawns April 23.

The late Paul Walker in one of his final scenes with Fast & Furious 7 co-stars Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, Chris Ludacris Bridges (Universal)

The name Bond, James Bond, may not have superhero connotations, but Daniel Craig’s last stint in the suit, 2012’s Skyfall, was spectacular. It ran second to The Avengers at the Australian box office and broke all records in the UK.

The announcement of title and cast for 007’s next outing was a production in itself, so expect great things of Spectre (November 19), in which Bond receives a cryptic message from his past and the new M (Ralph Fiennes) plays politics.

The Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens trailer was viewed more than 60 million times in its first 10 days of online release, so one can only imagine what the actual film will do when it opens December 17.

The steady hands of writer-director J.J. Abrams (who has already resurrected Star Trek) appear to have erased the trauma of Jar Jar Binks from the collective memory, so the Force will be with us once again in a big way.

Daniel Craig’s 007 won’t be short of beauties in Spectre, joined by (from left) Naomie Harris, Lea Seydoux and Monica Bellucci. Christoph Waltz rounds out the team as a baddie who may or may not be Blofeld (AFP)

There is still hope for young heroine Katniss Everdeen, but The Hunger Games finale, Mockingjay — Part 2 (November 19) will need to lift after Part 1 lagged behind the 2013 instalment, Catching Fire.

Nipping at her heels for a Top 10 spot will be Fifty Shades of Grey (released just in time for Valentine’s Day, naturally),Jurassic World (the dinos will run rampant once more on June 11), Ted 2 (the bear will swear again June 25) and Terminator Genisys(Arnie will be back July 2), while Tom Cruise’s latest stunt-fest,Mission: Impossible 5, looks set to rule Boxing Day now The Hobbit has played its last hand.

School holiday fare always gives the box office a shake, too. Kids will flock to Minions, in which those cheeky little yellow guys from Despicable Me take the spotlight. It’s going head to head on June 18 with Pixar’s Inside Out, a new, non-sequel film that goes inside a girl’s head to meet the five emotions (Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear and Sadness) who guide her through life.

Meet the voices inside your head in Pixar’s Inside Out (Walt Disney Studios)

Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons lends his voice to an alien taking over Earth in DreamWorks’ Home (March 19), while Aardman Animation will cater for an even younger crowd withShaun the Sheep Movie(March 26).

The young-adult market will also have its school holiday picks, with new instalments in the Maze Runner (Scorch Trials, September 17) and Divergent (Insurgent, March 19) franchises, plus an adaptation of another John “The Fault in Our Stars” Green novel, Paper Towns (June 4).

Then there are the unknown quantities dotted across the 2015 release schedule.

Will Marvel’s magic touch extend to lesser-known comic-book propertyAnt-Man (July 16)? Can Fox reboot Fantastic Four (August 6) in modern Marvel style after those daggy Jessica Alba-starring efforts?

Chris Hemsworth will tell the story that spawned Moby Dick in Ron Howard’s epic In the Heart of the Sea (Warner Bros)

Did everyone’s favourite Swayze/Reeves action thriller Point Break (August 20) really need a remake? Are the glory days of HBO’s hip series Entourage fresh enough in fans’ minds to make its movie comeback (June 4) a hit?

Will the rise and rise of Aussie Thor star Chris Hemsworth continue with his two prestige outings: Michael Mann-directed cyber thriller Blackhat (February 19) and Ron Howard-steered In the Heart of the Sea (March 19)?

Can Disney translate another theme park attraction into a film franchise? With George Clooney on board, Tomorrowland (May 21) will sure give it a go. The studio’s reimagining of Maleficent with Angelina Jolie was a masterstroke in 2014, but early signs are Kenneth Branagh’s live-action Cinderella (March 26) will stick closer to the fairytale script, even with Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother.

Mirror mirror on the wall, Cate Blanchett is the wickedest stepmother of all in Disney’s live-action Cinderella (Walt Disney Studios)

Is Hugh Jackman camping it up in Pan (September 10) enough to convince the world it needs another Peter Pan movie?

But perhaps that’s over-thinking it all. Going to the movies is supposed to be about big, dumb, escapist fun, right? On that front, 2015 already has us smiling.

Take Pixels (September 3), starring Adam Sandler, Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad as ’80s arcade gamers recruited to save Earth when aliens mistake a transmission of Space Invaders for a hostile attack.

Or Spy (May 21), in which funny lady Melissa McCarthy will wrestle real-life action toughie Jason Statham. Or Antonio Banderas playing a pirate called Burger-Beard in SpongeBob SquarePants’ excursion onto dry land, Sponge Out of Water (April 2).

Peter Dinklage’s mullet is just one reason to be excited about Pixels, co-starring (from left) Michelle Monaghan, Adam Sandler and Josh Gad. (Sony)

The teaming of Reese Witherspoon and Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara in tentatively-titled comedy Don’t Mess with Texas (June 11) sounds like a brilliant idea, while it’s good to see comedy overlord Judd Apatow putting a female to the fore in Trainwreck (July 23), about a commitment-phobe (Amy Schumer) who sabotages all her relationships.

Channing Tatum’s male stripper troupe will be bigger (ooer!) and better in Magic Mike XXL (July 2). Astronaut Matt Damon will be stranded on Mars by Ridley Scott in The Martian (November 26). Mother’s Day will come early when veterans Maggie Smith and Judi Dench revisit India in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ... now with added Richard Gere (February 26).

Hands up who wants to see Maggie Smith check back into The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel? (Twentieth Century Fox)

And some are already calling Trash (March 26) — about three plucky Brazilian kids who find a dangerous treasure in the tip they call home — 2015’s Slumdog Millionaire.

After much talk of a dismal 2014 for local productions, 2015 will explode for Aussie films ... well, at least one.

Anticipation is high for George Miller’s long-delayed Mad Max: Fury Road (May 14), 30 years after his original trilogy dumped an angry Mel Gibson in the middle of post-apocalyptic Australia.

OK, technically in Fury Road it will be an Englishman, Tom Hardy, dumped in the middle of an African desert, and US studio Warner Bros will be calling all the major marketing shots, but we’re still claiming it.

SquarePants and the gang hit dry land in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (Paramount)

Also turning international heads this way will be The Dressmaker (October 1), starring British Oscar-winner Kate Winslet. Set in the 1950s, the comedy/drama follows a young woman who returns from Europe to rural Australia and transforms the style of the ladies in her hometown.

An Aussie classic will be given a CGI makeover — and the voice of Ryan Kwanten — inThe Blinky Bill Movie (undated).

And the title of “This Year’s Red Dog” likely won’t go to the guy who actually directed Red Dog (Kriv Stenders’ more niche Kill Me Three Times has been getting mixed reviews), but to family comedy Oddball (undated). It’s the feel-good true story of a colony of penguins saved by a chicken farmer (Shane Jacobson) and his dog.

White Dog: Shane Jacobson and Kai the Maremma star in Aussie family film Oddball, to be released in 2015 (Roadshow)

Originally published as From Mad Max to Jurassic World: The 40 movies you must see this year