This summer, you’ve got it relatively easy. Captain America 2. Spider-Man 2. Transformers 4. Apes 2. Dragon 2. And a lot of original flicks. You’re able to space out your movie watching. If you don’t want to go every week, you don’t have to. Next year? You’ll be hit with a never ending barrage of franchise films and sequels. Not to mention, attempting big budget original tentpoles. Let’s take a glance, shall we?
JANUARY:
January’s biggest entry right now is Taken 3. The last two films each made over 100M, and the first one even was a January release to begin everything. Neeson does well in January/February, and with Taken 3, that shouldn’t change. Also opening: The Man From UNCLE, an abandoned tentpole with two failed rising stars (Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer); Underdogs, the animated foozball movie that’s been doing well in Brazil; Kevin Hart’s The Wedding Ringer; and Project Almanac, the found footage time travel movie.
FEBRUARY:
Shit gets real in February, starting with the release of Spongebob Squarepants 2, which will test the market to see how popular the cartoon hero is (still). The last Spongebob movie came out 11 years ago, but Spongebob is still one of the most recognizable characters out there. If anything, this could reboot the Spongebob franchise if it does well. Women everywhere are anticipating the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, which opens for Valentines. The recently shifted Jupiter Ascending now opens in February. There’s the Poltergeist remake. Somehow, they made Hitman: 47, a sequel/reboot of the Hitman franchise. Also, Ryan Reynolds has a sci-fi film that could do well called Selfless, Will Smith has a comedy called Focus, and Johnny Depp has Mortdecai.
MARCH:
Insurgent, the second film in the Divergent series, will anchor the month, alongside Disney’s reboot of Cinderella. Fox Animation will open Home. Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart star in Get Hard. Neill Blomkamp teams up with Hugh Jackman for his sci-fi actioner Chappie. Scouts Vs Zombies goes after a niche audience, but so does The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2.
APRIL:
April’s kicked off with Insidious Chapter 3 (which opens against a Nicholas Sparks adaptation), but the months biggest film is definitely Fast & Furious 7. The underpopulated month also features Paul Blart 2.
MAY:
The biggest film, possibly of the year, is Avengers: Age Of Ultron, but it does not have May all to itself. An attempt to reboot Mad Max: Fury Road, as well as Pitch Perfect 2, will go for immediate franchise recognition, with Disney’s Tomorrowland, and Paramount’s animated Monster Trucks trying to create original franchises. Also, banking on stars will happen with Pixels, starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James, and Spy starring Melissa McCarthy.
JUNE:
The most anticipated film of June is Jurassic World. It’ll face off in June against Inside Out, the next Pixar film, as well as Ted 2. The Fantastic Four reboot is slated for this month, as well as Fox Animation’s BOO: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations. Warner Bros is banking on Dwayne Johnson’s actioner San Andreas, the Entourage movie opens, and Diablo Cody and Meryl Streep are teaming for Ricki and the Flash.
JULY:
July 4th weekend brings the Terminator reboot, as well as Magic Mike 2. After that, Universal opens Minions, the Despicable Me spinoff. Marvel is hoping to get Ant-Man done in time. Warner Bros is opening a Peter Pan movie. Judd Apatow team with buzzy comedian Amy Schumer for Trainwreck. Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest Grimsby opens, and the adaptation of Peregrine’s Home For Peculiars opens.
AUGUST:
Start out the month with the Assassin’s Creed film, which opens against the Point Break remake, and the Goosebumps film. August also has the NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton.
SEPTEMBER
Always the slowest month of the year, it features Universal’s Everest, and Hotel Transylvania 2.
OCTOBER
Daniel Radcliffe’s Frankenstein kicks off the month, against the Olympus Has Fallen sequel London Has Fallen, followed by Disney’s The Jungle Book, Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak, and The Conjuring 2.
NOVEMBER
The untitled James Bond film and Peanuts kickstart the month, followed by another Friday The 13th, and another Pixar effort The Good Dinosaur. And, oh yeah, the final Hunger Games: Mockingjay pt 2 opens.
DECEMBER
Well, obviously Star Wars: Episode VII is the talk of the town, but did you know that December also features Mission Impossible 5, Kung Fu Panda 3, and Inferno (the sequel to The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons)? Fox has also announced David O’Russell’s Joy, and Universal will open The Nest with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
RELEASE DATE UNDETERMINED, BUT SCHEDULED FOR 2015
John Green’s (The Fault In Our Stars) next film adaptation Paper Towns; Johnny Depp in Black Mass; another Resident Evil sequel; Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy in The Revenant; Clint Eastwood directs Bradley Cooper in American Sniper; potentially Now You See Me 2; Mrs Doubtfire 2; The Mechanic 2; M Night Shyamalan and Bruce Willis reteam for Labor Of Love; the third VHS movie; Crouching Tiger, HIdden Dragon 2; The Adventures of Tin-Tin 2;
