X-Men: First Class

Starring: James McAvoy, Kevin Bacon, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Release Date: 3rd June 2011
The X-Men franchise wasn’t on the boil for long. Bryan Singer’s semi-good X-Men was the movie that kicked off the superhero boom at the turn of the century, its sequel remains one of the best superhero movies ever made, but the third movie was weak and spin-off Wolverine fared no better .

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris
Director: Guy Ritchie
Release Date: 16th December 2011
Guy Ritchie surprised a lot of people with the first Sherlock Holmes, fast paced, humorous and full of adventure. In contrast to the staid adaptations of Holmes that have gone before, Ritchie managed to inject some real excitement into the proceedings.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Bill Nighy, John Hurt
Director: David Yates
Release Date: 15th July 2011
Expected to be a rousing finale to one of the most spectacular film series ever made. Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort’s final horcruxes, but when ‘Ol Snake Nose finds out about their mission, you see school totally trashed by Harry and foe firing enough bolts at each other to keep local glaziers in work for years.

Green Lantern
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong
Director: Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Edge Of Darkness)
Release Date: 17th June 2011
Based on a comic, the story follows a test pilot who is given a ring by a dying alien which turns him into the Green Lantern, part of a collective who protect the galaxy from similarly powered villains.

Scream 4
Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts
Director: Wes Craven
Release Date: 15th April 2011
Scream transformed the horror landscape when it came out in ’96, kicking off the second slasher cycle (the first was after Halloween) and bringing a truly unique tone to the genre. Brilliantly directed as it was, it was Kevin Williamson’s script that really was a cut above. Scream 2 was largely a success too. We’re excited about Scream 4 because Williamson is back, and there are 10 years of horror movies.

Super 8
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning
Director: J.J. Abrams
Release Date: 10th June 2011
The movie is heavily influenced by the films of producer Steven Spielberg, and that it involves Area 51. It involves a group of kids in 1979 playing around making movies with their Super 8 cameras who accidentally capture something sinister, possibly alien, on film. One of the stars is Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Starring: Johnny Depp, Ian McShane, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush
Director: Rob Marshall
Release Date: 20th May 2011
Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are out. Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush are in. The story sees Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard (McShane) and his daughter (Cruz) are after it too. There’s a new director, Rob Marshall, whose only non-musical was Memoirs of a Geisha

Fast Five (Fast & Furious 5)
Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson
Director: Justin Lin
Release Date: 29th April 2011
Fast & Furious (4) felt like a last role of the dice for Vin Diesel’s career as a leading man, but it paid off huge at the box office. So now he’s sticking around to be joined by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and the co-star of 2 Fast 2 Furious, Tyrese Gibson. The plot sees former cop Brian (Walker) and Mia (Brewster) break Dom out of custody and flee to Brazil where they must pull one last job to gain their freedom. But a hard-nosed federal agent (Johnson) is on their trail.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci
Director: Joe Johnston
Release Date: 22nd July 2011
During World War II, Steve Rogers (Evans) volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America’s ideals. His enhanced body enables him to survive being accidentally frozen for several decades. He is thawed in the present day, where he continues his fight with skull-faced Nazi ‘Red Skull’ (Weaving). This is Marvel’s first period movie then, at least in part. Chris Evans was a surprising choice, since he was already known for playing the much-more-physically-suited-to-him Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four. Most now accept Evans as Cap. But not all. We’d be more relaxed if director Joe Johnston’s last movie The Wolfman wasn’t an expensive mess. Why isn’t this being released on July 4th?

World Invasion: Battle LA
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Peña, Bridget Moynahan
Director: Justin Lin
Release Date: 11th March 2011

A Marine platoon faces off against an alien invasion in Los Angeles. The director of Darkness Falls and T’ C’ Massacre: The Beginning is shooting in the Saving Private Ryan handheld style. The Comic-Con footage went down well. The movie’s probably fairly good as it put Liebesman in the running for the Superman job

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