Bryan Durham explores Hollywood's continuing (and unending?) fascination with superheroes
Up until a couple of years ago, with the exception of the biggest studios and their most reliable (read: tried and tested) draws, the superhero movie calendar had all but dried up. Sure, we had franchise favourites (even the new ones) but they came few and far between.
By that measure 2013 was a good year for the genre and 2014-15 will continue in that vein, going by the number of films due for release the rest of this year and in the next and even after that (Marvel/Disney has released dates for five untitled projects, running all the way till 2019 while DC/Warner Bros have big projects in 2016 and sometime in 2017-18).
Here's looking at the superpowered lot and those who, despite the absence of 'powers', might as well be.
Lucy
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman
Luc Besson has made something of a habit making films with strong female leads. In this sci-fi flick, ScarJo plays an ordinary gal at the wrong end of a bad deal, transforming into "a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic". If that doesn't spell seedhi-turned-super, we don't know what does.
Releases August 1.
Hercules
Stars: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Joseph Fiennes, Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell
This one's being called a 'revisionist' version of an ancient Greek myth... of a demi-god known for his great strength. Here, 'The Rock' battles a lion and a three-headed water monster and wins... no prizes for guessing that!
Releases August 1
Guardians of the Galaxy
Stars: Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, David Bautista, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro
Billed an "epic space adventure", this outing by Marvel has a group of misfits (rogues, really) band together on a bounty hunt that also involves protecting the cosmos from an evil super-villain called Ronan.
Out August 8.
The Expendables 3
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mel Gibson and other action heroes... the list is a pretty long one!
The battle gets personal as an ex-founder of the ageing team comes back from the dead and is out to end the Expendables. Sly as Barney Ross gets in new blood to fight "old blood". Take one look at the stunts and you know these action heroes just have to be too super to be real.
Releases August 22
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Stars: Megan Fox, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Johnny Knox, Jeremy Howard Noel Fisher, Tony Shalhoub
The latest reboot of the franchise, this one's a grimmer, darker version. Shredder is still the baddie. The outcast brothers still live in the sewer and "discover their destiny". Hell, even April O'Neil (Fox) returns for some cinema that is supposedly not "for geniuses".
Release date: To be announced (TBA)
Birdman
Stars: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts
Keaton used to play a superhero who's now a struggling actor staging his own adapation of a play as he copes with his daughter, a co-star, an actress and a crazy girlfriend. Takes a superhero to deal with that kind of stress!
Releases in 2015.
Jupiter Ascending
Stars: Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne
Jupiter Jones's birth predicted she was destined for great things. But reality itself has very ordinary designs. Only when a genetically engineered ex-military hunter tracks her down, does she realise that she's "next in line for an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos". Life-altering words, those!
Out February 2015
Ant Man
Stars: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas
This little-known DC comic get a movie send-up featuring funnyman Rudd playing ex-con Scott Lang aiding mentor Dr Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) in safeguarding the mystery of the Ant-Man technology, which allows its user to decrease in size but increase in strength and what else... protect the earth. Expect this one close to July 2015.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
In this post-apocalyptic story set in a desert, where everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life, exist a man of action and a woman of action, who are rebels with a cause and lead warriors into a battle for survival.
Sometime mid-2015.
Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johannson, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chris Helmsworth
Its predecessor was a game-changer for the superhero genre. Will this much-anticipated sequel repeat the feat? Features two new names: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. And the sentient robot/villain in the title? He's voiced by James Spader.
Releases May 2015.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Stars: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg
Apart from the superheroes mentioned in the title, also expect Aquaman and Wonder Woman. This one is expected to blow all the other fish out of the water when it releases.
Releases 2016.
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