Here, in alphabetical order, are the films about which we’re most excited this year, but haven’t yet seen. So it doesn’t include the likes of The Falling, Carol Morley’s latest, nor the Joshua Oppenheimer’s excellent The Look of Silence, Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Contemplating Existence or Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young, which had festival premieres last year and are due to be released this. Nor, even does it include those movies which made this piece, which covers the big premieres out this spring in the UK (some of which are out in 2015 in the US, too). And there’s still 88 of them. 2015’s shaping up to be a great year.
45 Years
Andrew (Weekend) Haigh follows up his low-budget success with this complex marital drama, in which decades-old secrets are disinterred as a couple (Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtney) celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. Due for unveiling at Berlin, with a summer release in the UK.
American Honey
Andrea Arnold’s first film shot on foreign soil is a US-set story about a teenage girl who joins a “travelling magazine sales crew”. Hard-partying, law-breaking and young love ensue.
Ant-Man
Edgar Wright was, apparently, wrong for Marvel’s big-screen adaptation of a superhero story about a scientist (Paul Rudd) who can decrease in stature and increase in strength. Let’s see if new director Peyton Reed (Yes Man) can make something of the down-sizing. Out in the US and UK on 17 July.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Joss Whedon calls another assembly, with cool kids Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Captain America (Chris Evans) jostling with sinister robot Ultron (voiced by James Spader) for the best seat. Out in the UK on 24 April and US on 1 May.
Black Mass
Long-gestating gangster yarn, with Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger, the Irish-American crime boss who was given a free hand for decades by the FBI due to his value as an informer. Kevin Bacon plays the Fed who eventually takes him down. US release is set for September, with Toronto festival slot possible beforehand.
Brooklyn
Directed by John Crowley – and adapted by Nick Hornby from the book by Colm Tóibín – this is set in 1950s Ireland and features Jim Broadbent. But it’s not as grim as that might suggest: it’s billed as a romcom, and stars Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson and Emory Cohen (Bradley Cooper and Rose Byrne’s son from The Place Beyond the Pines). Premieres at Sundance.
Carol
Todd (I’m Not There) Haynes adapts Patricia Highsmith’s lesbian romance, The Price of Salt, with Rooney Mara as the young shopgirl who falls in love with Cate Blanchett’s sophisticated older woman in 1950s New York. Autumn release planned, so Venice/Toronto premiere likely.
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith’s thriller about a Soviet secret policeman gets a screen makeover with Tom Hardy as Leo Demidov, charged with investigating a string of gruesome child murders. US release is set for April.
Crimson Peak
Guillermo del Toro creaks open the door to another haunted house horror. Tom Hiddleston is the husband of questionable morality who is starting to scare his innocent young bride (Mia Wasikowska). Out everywhere in October.
The D Train
Jack Black and James Marsden are high school acquiantances who become buddies at their 20th reunion. Kathryn Hahn and Jeffrey Tambor also feature. Premieres at Sundance.
The Death and Life of John F Donovan
Prolific French-Canadian wonderkid Xavier Dolan (he’s on to his sixth feature, at only 25 years old) excavates the life of an actor who is accused of paedophilia, in his English language debut. Kit Harington and Jessica Chastain star. It’s shooting early 2015, so there’s a chance it may be finished for the end of the year.
Demolition
Dark comedy. Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club, Wild) puts Jake Gyllenhaal through hell as an investment banker who goes to bits after the tragic death of his wife. Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper are there to help pick up the pieces.
Digging for Fire
Joe Swanberg, Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick reunite a couple of years after Drinking Buddies for another relationship tale. Also features post-mumblecore cohorts Rosemarie DeWitt, Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell – and Orlando Bloom. Premieres at Sundance.
Don Verdean
A faith comedy from Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared and Jerusha Hess in which Sam Rockwell plays a biblical archeologist. Also features Jemaine Clement, Amy Ryan, Danny McBride, Leslie Bibb and Will Forte. Premieres at Sundance.
The Early Years
Michael Caine plays an aging conductor asked to perform for the queen in Paolo Sorrentino’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning The Great Beauty. Rachel Weisz will play Caine’s daughter, who’s holidaying with him in Switzerland when he gets the call from Her Maj. The 21 May Italian release date suggests a Cannes premiere. A word of caution: this is only Sorrentino’s second English-language movie, and the first was This Must Be The Place.
Elle
Isabelle Huppert and Paul Verhohen make a weirdly heavenly match, and the plot of this thriller - about the CEO of a computer gaming company with a sex kitten mother, serial killer con father, plus assorted lovers and a stalker who she handles with “icy equanimity” sounds lots of fun.
The End of the Tour
Jason Segel is David Foster Wallace and Jesse Eisenberg the Rolling Stone journalist following him on a five-day book tour in this eagerly-anticipated drama about the late novelist. Premieres at Sundance.
Equals
Drake Doremus won Sundance’s audience and jury prizes with Like Crazy, but that film didn’t have the same legs as, say, Whiplash, and sexual tension muso drama Breathe In also failed to score long-term. This one co-stars Nicholas Hoult and Kirsten Stewart and is set in a future in which emotions have been eradicated. Guy Pearce and Jacki Weaver are the chief support, which bodes well.
Everest
Baltasar Kormákur’s film is based on a disastrous 1996 expedition on which several climbers died. Up the mountain they go: Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington. Icy misadventure awaits them at the top. Out early October.
Every Thing Will Be Fine
German auteur Wim Wenders returns to drama after a string of documentaries, casting James Franco as a man spending years agonising over the death of a small girl he accidentally hits with his car. No word on release, but Wenders will no doubt command a high-profile festival slot.
Far From the Madding Crowd
It’s been a while in the edit suite, but Thomas Vinterberg’s Thomas Hardy is finally barelling down the tracks (presumably towards the Croisette), with a cast including Juno Temple, Michael Sheen, Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts.
Ferryman
Wong Kar Wai and Tony Leung reunite once more for The Ferryman, in which he plays a married painter who has an affair with a younger woman. Jiajia Zhang has adapted her own short story from the collection I Belonged to You, much of which was first released on a Chinese social media site.
Flashmob
A Cannes debut hopefully awaits Michael Haneke’s first film since Amour, about a group of people who meet online and explore “the fragile relationship between media and reality”. Yet last summer the film’s shoot was delayed because Haneke was waiting on the availability of one specific (though unnamed) female actor. The film is partially set in the US, so that may not necessarily be Juliette Binoche.
The Good Dinosaur
Pixar’s latest is a what-if dinosaur toon (ie, what if they never became extinct?) Expect the usual smarts and all-ages shenanigans, with Peter Sohn (storyboard artist on Up) making his feature debut as director. A late November release is already nailed down.
Going Clear
Alex Gibney’s new documentary, backed by HBO, is billed as an exposé of Scientology “and the things they do in the name of religion”. Not much else is being detailed, for obvious reasons, and all will be revealed at Sundance, when it has its world premiere.
Grimsby
Louis Leterrier looks an increasingly weird choice to direct this football hooligan comedy co-written by star Sacha Baron Cohen also featuring Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, and – together at last - Johnny Vegas and Gabourey Sidibe. Those with long-ish memories will recall its shoot managed to anger both residents of Grimsby itself and Telford, the town which stands in for it.
Hail Caesar!
The Coen brothers return to Barton Fink territory with a Hollywood set tale of an actor who disappears during the filming of a 1950s sword and sandals epic (Hail Caesar!). It’s set for a February 2016 theatrical release, but there’s every chance it’ll show up in Venice or Toronto in autumn – or, even, Cannes.
The Hateful Eight
Quentin Tarantino rounds up a new posse to once again revamp the old west. A group of bounty hunters get caught up in vicious goings-on after seeking shelter from a storm. QT got into a hissy when plot details were leaked earlier this year. The dust has since settled. Let the carnage begin. Out in the US 13 November, maybe with a Cannes debut.
High-Rise
Excitement mounts for Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of the JG Ballard novel set inside an out-of-control tower block. Tom Hiddleston stars; Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller and Elisabeth Moss are also rattling round the building. Fingers crossed for a Cannes debut.
A Hologram for the King
Dave Eggers’s 2012 novel gets a quick cinema transfer, courtesy of director Tom “Cloud Atlas” Tykwer. Tom Hanks is down to play the salesman looking to sell IT to the Saudis, as well as taking on producer duties. A possible awards contender, so autumn festival and late-year release planned.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is out of the Arena, into the fire. The people’s champion must lead her raggedy army against the might of the Capital and its villainous despot President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Can she fight when the cameras aren’t rolling? Out in the UK and US on 20 November.
I Am Michael
James Franco plays a gay activist who rejects his homosexuality and becomes a Christian pastor. Zachary Quinto is his boyfriend. Premieres at Sundance.
I Smile Back
Sarah Silverman is a horny mum off her meds in the suburbs. But this isn’t a comedy: it’s an adaptation of Amy Koppleman’s Sylvia Plath-ish second novel. Premieres at Sundance.
Inside Out
Impeccable voice credentials add to the anticipation about Pete Docter’s first feature since Up - and, fingers crossed, a return to Pixar’s glory days. It’s set inside a little girl’s head and told from the perspective of her emotions. Mindy Kaling is Disgust, Amy Poehler Joy, Bill Hader Fear, Kyle MacLachlan Dad.
The Intern
Romcom specialist Nancy Meyers directs a generation-clash comedy, with Robert de Niro as a crotchety widower who bags a position as an intern at Anne Hathaway’s online fashion firm. Sparks, you assume, will fly. US release is set for September.
In the Heart of the Sea
Like Rush, but on the seas, and with a sperm whale as the other car: Ron Howard’s latest is based on the real-life 1820 tale of a fishing crew stranded in a briny wasteland for 90 days. Our crew includes Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson. Out globally in mid March.
Jane Got a Gun
A widowed homesteader (Natalie Portman) seeks the help on an ex (Joel Edgerton) after her husband is murdered by a ruthless wrong’un (Ewan McGregor). Director Lynne Ramsay left the production after rowing with the producers. Let’s see if new director Gavin O’Connor (Warriors) made the on-screen sparks fly. Autumn release suggests Venice/Toronto premiere.
Joy
Jennifer Lawrence and David O Russell pair up for the third time for a biopic of Joy Mangano, the real-life inventor of the Miracle Mop. No doubt another prime role for Lawrence, and already an Oscar contender, with a Christmas day release set in the US.
Knight of Cups
Christian Bale stars in the increasingly prolific Terrence Malick’s closely-guarded latest, apparently a fable about Hollywood lifestyles a la The Great Beauty. World premiere set for Berlin in February.
Last Days of the Devil
Ewan McGregor is Jesus and the devil in an imagined chapter from the Bible’s desert-set bit. Premieres at Sundance.
Life
James Dean’s friendship with Life photographer Dennis Stock is the subject of the new film from Anton Corbijn (himself a photographer). Dane DeHaan plays Dean, and Robert Pattinson is the snapper; a September release is planned for the UK.
The Lobster
Greek oddity Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, Alps) directs his first English-language film, a romantic drama where lonely people must find a mate within 45 days, or get turned into animals. Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw and Olivia Colman are in the pot.
Louder than Bombs
Jesse Eisenberg plays the son of war photographer Isabelle Huppert in a New York-set family drama directed by Joachim Trier, making his English language debut.
Love
Arch-controversialist Gaspar Noé is back with his first feature since 2009’s Enter the Void. Described as “a sexual melodrama about a boy and a girl and another girl”, there will be plenty for everyone to get stuck into, as it were. Likely to show up at Cannes.
Love in Kohn Kaen
More spiritual noodling from 2010 Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul. A soldier contracts sleeping sickness and falls into a hallucination of mystery, wonder and romance. Unlikely to be short.
Macbeth
Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard play Lord and Lady M in Shakespeare’s gothic, gore-soaked tragedy, with Justin Kurzel, director of Australian serial-killer drama Snowtown, behind the camera. The Weinstein Company have taken US rights, so expect an awards run and an end-of-year release.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Tom Hardy hits the Australian outback in a reboot of the post-apocalyptic thriller franchise that starred - gulp - Mel Gibson. Hardy’s Max must escort a mysterious woman (Charlize Theron) across the desert. He could get tetchy. Released 14 and 15 May worldwide.
The Martian
Ridley Scott heads for the red planet as the dust settles on Exodus: Matt Damon plays an astronaut stranded on Mars, in what is billed as realistic depiction of survival in space. Already pegged for a November release in US and UK.
Midnight Special
Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) sets Michael Shannon running in a sci-fi chase thriller. Shannon’s protecting his gifted son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) as he’s chased by a religious sect AND a relentless government toady (Adam Driver).
Mission Impossible 5
Ghost Protocol’s surprise global success put lots of gas in the tank for a fifth bite at the Tom Cruise spy series. The plot is still under wraps, but Jack Reacher director Chris McQuarrie steps behind the camera, with London the main shooting base. It snagged Christmas Day for its US release, and Boxing Day for the UK.
Mistress America
While We’re Young has only just premiered (at Toronto last year) and already Noah Baumbach has another movie out. This looks to further regress Greta Gerwig from the post-grad of Greenberg and Frances Ha; here she plays a lonely New York freshman. Premieres at Sundance.
Mountains May Depart
Chinese director Jia Zhangke had his highest-profile success with the Cannes award-winner A Touch of Sin; his new one is a fable about a man revisiting his former lover. A slot at Cannes has no doubt already been reserved.
Mr Holmes
Ian McKellen is old Sherlock in Bill Condon’s non-kosher yet very interesting imagining of the sleuth in his final years. We detect Laura Linney, Roger Allam and Frances de la Tour in the supporting cast.
Nina
Nina Simone biopic. Zoe Saldana plays the singer and civil rights activist, feeling good about the music and angry about injustice. Simone’s daughter has already called the project into question. She claims that Clifton Henderson, the love interest played by Selma’s David Oyelowo, was actually gay.
Our Brand Is Crisis
George Clooney produces and Sandra Bullock stars in an unlikely sounding political comedy about an American campaign director hired by a Bolivian presidential candidate, drawing on a documentary of the same title. David Gordon Green directs. Aiming at a year-end release.
Queen of the Desert
Nicole Kidman is Gertrude Bell, Robert Pattinson TE Lawrence, Damien Lewis and James Franco bring up the rear; Werner Herzog’s first biopic since Grizzly Man looks set for a Telluride/Toronto debut.
Racing Extinction
The new documentary from Louie (The Cove) Psihoyos examines animal extinction by means of grisly and traumatic undercover footage. Premieres at Sundance.
The Revenant
Alejandro González Iñárritu is following Birdman with a western starring Leonardo DiCaprio, playing a fur trapper left for dead who somehow survives to wreak vengeance. Seeming like a real powerhouse already, this is due for release on Christmas Day in the US.
Ricki and the Flash
Meryl Streep plays a rocker attempting to reunite the family she abandoned years earlier in search of fame, with Streep’s real-life daughter Mamie Gummer playing one of her children. Diablo Cody scripts, and the US release is set for August.
The Sea of Trees
Matthew McConaughey walks to despair and back again in Gus Van Sant’s story of two suicidal men saved by a random encounter in Japan’s “suicide forest”. Ken Watanabe is his companion on the path to redemption.
Silence
Scorsese returns to religious themes with this adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel, following the travails of Jesuit missionaries in 17th century Japan. Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield lead the way. An awards run is in the air, so end of year release likely.
Sisters
The awards-show dream team of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler get back to the serious business of big screen comedy, with a laffer about two estranged sisters throwing a final shindig at the family home which is about to be sold off. Formerly called The Nest, this is looking at a Christmas release in the US.
Spectre
Bond for the reload. Daniel Craig + cars + “girls” (Lea Seydoux, Monica Bellucci) + gadgets + baddie (Christoph Waltz) + director (Sam Mendes) = the British film industry’s profits for the next 12 months. A licence to fill the plexes. Released late October in the UK and a week or two later round the rest of the world.
Slow West
Michael Fassbender is mysterious traveller who joins Kodi Smit-McPhee trekking across America in end of 19th century. Along the way they encounter Ben Mendelsohn. It’s also been shot in New Zealand and Scotland. Premieres at Sundance.
Spy
A housecat CIA analyst (Melissa McCarthy) heads into the wild after her partner goes missing on a mission. Bridesmaids’s Paul Feig directs. Jason Statham, Jude Law and Rose Byrne are enlisted as support. Out early June.
St James Place
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks play spy games in a Coen brothers scripted cold war thriller that has a lawyer tasked with negotiating the release of a pilot shot down over the Soviet Union. Out early October.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Having captained the Star Trek franchise JJ Abrams jumps ship for a galaxy far, far away. The cast includes original stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford alongside new additions John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson. Will have to be a forceful reminder of the power of George Lucas’s original vision to match the galactic hype. Out throughout the universe in mid December.
Stockholm Pennsylvania
Saoirse Ronan returns home to parents Cynthia Nixon and Jason Isaacs after 17 years living with her abductor. Premieres at Sundance.
Straight Outta Compton
F Gary Gray (Law Abiding Citizen) directs a NWA biopic set on the mean streets of south LA, chronicling the influential rap act’s rise to fame. Ice Cube and Dr Dre are on board as producers (the former’s son stars as his dad). US release set for August.
Strangerland
Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes’s kids disappear in the Australian desert. Local cop Hugo Weaving isn’t much help. Premieres at Sundance.
Suffragette
Meryl Streep plays Emmeline Pankhurst in this timely dramatisation of the struggle for women’s voting rights in the UK, backed up by a starry cast including Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Whishaw. Prime awards fodder, with autumn festival run and September release in the UK planned.
Sunset Song
Long-gestating adaptation of the classic Scottish novel, directed by Terence Davies, with Agyness Deyn as Chris Guthrie, the young woman nearly crushed by her tough upbringing in northeast Scotland before the first world war. A prime festival slot looks likely.
Tale of Tales
Gomorrah director Mateo Garrone returns with an English-language fantasy horror adapted from a collection of fairy tales by 17th century Italian author Giambattista Basile and featuring some of the earliest incarnations of the likes of Rapunzel and Cinderella. Given Reality, his last film, a radical change of pace seems like a good plan.
Ted 2
Ted (Seth Macfarlane) and Johnny (Mark Wahlberg) head back to the sofa in Macfarlane’s sequel to the crudely hysterical stoner comedy. Ted’s an anthropomorphic bear who must find a place in a world that doesn’t understand him. Like Paddington, with wanking. Out early July.
Ten Thousand Saints
The latest from American Splendor’s Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, this again has Ethan Hawke as the father to a teenage son; in this case Asa Butterfield, growing up alongside Hailee Steinfeld in 1980s New York. Emily Mortimer is mum. Premieres at Sundance.
Terminator: Genysis
Back back back. Arnie materialises, nude and smouldering - in the middle of a reboot that will have John Connor (Jason Clarke) hopping timelines in an attempt to avert Judgement Day. Out worldwide at the start of July.
(T)error
A documentary following a covert counterterrorism sting as it unfolds and offering “an unprecedented glimpse of the government’s counterterrorism tactics, and the murky justifications behind them”. Premieres at Sundance.
That’s What I’m Talking About
Back to Bad News Bears territory for Richard (Boyhood) Linklater, with an 80s-set comedy about college baseball that’s posited as a sequel to his fondly-recalled high-school yarn Dazed and Confused. Glee’s Blake Jenner stars.
Tomorrowland
A world of endless possibility awaits Frank (George Clooney) and Casey (Britt Robertson) who touch a magical badge and are whisked to a land free of rules, restrictions and nasty journalists who say horrible things about The Monuments Men. Released in the US and UK on 22 May.
Trainwreck
Judd Apatow follows navel-gazing snoozer This is 40 with a comedy about a woman (stand-up and sketch star Amy Schumer in her feature debut) recovering from a breakdown. Little else is known other than it also stars Tilda Swinton, Bill Hader and Brie Larson. Released late August.
Triple Nine
Lawless’s John Hillcoat directs a tough corrupt-cop thriller, with a bunch of renegade policemen aiming to murder a rookie (999 being code for “officer down”) to distract from a heist they are planning. US release is set for September.
True Story
British theatre director Rupert Goold’s debut movie is a headline grabber. Disgraced New York Times reporter Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill) meets Christian Longo (James Franco) – an accused killer who’s also taken on Finkel’s identity. Felicity Jones co-stars. Premieres at Sundance.
Untitled Cameron Crowe
Crowe’s long dormant rom-com was sparked back into life with the casting of Emma Stone as an Air Force officer who falls for the military contractor (Bradley Cooper) she’s been tasked with escorting around a Honolulu military base. The working titles - “Deep Tiki”, “Volcano Romance” - are worth the price of admission alone.
Untitled Woody Allen
Magic in the Moonlight was a considerable comedown following Blue Jasmine, and Emma Stone – who’s also in this new one – wasn’t immune from blame. But Woody’s 50th directorial credit also features Joaquin Phoenix as a philosophy professor having an existential crisis. And Parker Posey.
The Walk
Philippe Petit decided to spend August 7 1974 walking unharnessed on a wire strung up between the twin towers. Robert Zemickis’s film, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the French daredevil, dramatises the story. As if it needed it. Released early October.
A Walk in the Woods
This comedy road movie unfolds Wild style (ie: on foot). Robert Redford plays Bill Bryson in an adaptation of his memoir about hiking the Appalachian Trail with his best pal (Nick Nolte). Emma Thompson and Mary Steenburgen are the love interests. Premieres at Sundance.
The Visit
Another chance for M Night Shyamalan after the thudding failure of the Will and Jaden Smith puff-piece After Earth. Kathryn Hahn plays a single mum who sends her two kids to their grandparents only to have them returned ... changed in this low-budget thriller. Spoiler: they were dead THE WHOLE TIME. Out 11 September.
Z for Zachariah
Chris Pine once starred in This Means War, in which he battled Tom Hardy for the hand of Reese Witherspoon. This is pretty much the same, except that his co-stars are Chiwetel Ejiofor and Margot Robbie and they’re they last people left on post-apocalyptic Earth. Premieres at Sundance.
