1) How to Talk to Girls at Parties

Neil Gaiman’s science fiction comedy short story has been adapted by screenwriter Philippa Goslett and directed by John Cameron Mitchell – making his first movie since 2010’s Rabbit Hole. Some nervy teenage boys show up at a party in, amazingly, Croydon, and are tongue-tied when it comes to chatting up the opposite sex. But then they discover that the “exchange student” girls at the party are from a different planet. Nicole Kidman stars.

2) Silence

Andrew Garfield and Shin’ya Tsukamoto in Silence

A new film by Martin Scorsese is always an event, and this looks intriguing. It is based on the prizewinning 1966 novel by Japanese author Shusaku Endo (filmed twice before, by Japanese director Masahiro Shinoda in 1971 and Portuguese director João Mário Grilo in 1996 as The Eyes of Asia). It is the true story of a 17th-century Christian missionary in Japan, played here by Liam Neeson, who was forced to recant his faith. Two younger priests, played by Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield, come looking for him and themselves face the same ordeal.

3) Manchester-by-the-Sea

A man is forced to take care of his nephew after the boy’s father dies. This is the bare outline of Kenneth Lonergan’s new film, a drama that stars Casey Affleck as the uncle who shoulders the burden of childcare, while at the same returning to his Massachusetts hometown and attempting to make peace with his ex-wife, played by Michelle Williams. Lonergan is respected as an auteur after his critically adored Margaret struggled to get a proper release after a colossal row over editing and ownership.

4) American Honey

Andrea Arnold is another heavy-hitting British director heading to the US in 2016. Her new movie, American Honey, stars Sasha Lane as a teenager who travels across the US midwest with one of the now notorious magazine sales crews. These groups of young people peddle magazine subscriptions door to door, sleeping three or four to a room in cheap motels with the lowest seller getting the floor. Arnold was reportedly inspired by the scandalised press coverage of these groups and their drug abuse. The cast also includes Shia LaBeouf.

5) Nocturnal Animals

Fashion designer Tom Ford was much admired for his movie-directing debut A Single Man (2009), which starred Colin Firth. He follows this up with Nocturnal Animals, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams and Armie Hammer. It’s an intriguing story within a story based on the cult 1993 novel Tony & Susan by Austin Wright. A divorced and remarried woman receives the manuscript of a novel entitled Nocturnal Animals, written by her first husband, who has become a writer since they split. It appears to be a strange melodramatic thriller, composed in a coded way to disturb and upset his ex-wife.

6) Hail, Caesar!

We might have been hoping for an actual Roman epic from the Coen brothers, with George Clooney as Caesar. Actually it’s about 1950s Hollywood and the frantic behind-the-scenes quarrelling and ego-tripping during production of a sword-and-sandals extravaganza. Josh Brolin plays legendary spin doctor and fixer Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins played him the movie Hollywoodland) who has to cover up various crises, including the kidnap of the pampered leading male – played by Clooney.

7) Everybody Wants Some

After his epic masterpiece Boyhood, Richard Linklater now gives us a more conventional picture, though with a comparable preoccupation with masculinity. It’s a comedy-drama set in the early 80s about a group of first-year college students dealing with the dizzying prestige and freedom of being star baseball players. Everybody Wants Some (the title is taken from a Van Halen track) is a coming-of-age story and has been described as a followup to Linklater’s breakthrough movie Dazed and Confused.

8) Julieta

‘It’s a hard-hitting drama’ … Pedro Almodovar. Photograph: Kena Betancur/Reuters

This new film from Pedro Almodóvar is understood to portray, in David Lynch’s words, a “woman in trouble”. It was originally called Silence, which is what the director calls the main component of any woman’s emotional trauma, but Almodóvar changed the title to avoid confusion with Scorsese’s forthcoming work. Julieta is played at two different times of her life by Adriana Uguarte and Emma Suárez. “It’s a return to the cinema of women, of great female protagonists, and it’s a hard-hitting drama, which excites me,” says Almodóvar.

9) Weightless

Once a director of almost Salingeresque reclusiveness, Terrence Malick is now very prolific. His new picture is understood to be about the intersection of two love triangles. Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Rooney Mara and Ryan Gosling are all supposed to be in the cast, but Malick can be ruthless in cutting entire characters from his final edit. Weightless is set amid the music scene of Austin, Texas, where Malick filmed concert scenes in 2011 and 2012 featuring Arcade Fire, Iron and Wine, Fleet Foxes and Black Lips.

10) Free Fire

Ben Wheatley’s new film, co-written with Amy Jump, is a move to something like a straight-ahead Hollywood thriller. Could he be heading into the Christopher Nolan league? Free Fire is set in Boston in 1978. A big meet between criminals in a deserted warehouse turns sour: Cillian Murphy and Michael Smiley play Irishmen who have arranged to buy guns from mobsters played by Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley. But things go badly wrong, and a shootout begins.

11) Sing

One of the year’s oddest propositions sees the return of Son of Rambow’s Garth Jennings who directs this animated musical with Scarlett Johansson voicing a “punk-rock porcupine”, Matthew McConaughey as a “dapper koala” and Reese Witherspoon behind an “overtaxed pig mother”.

12) Certain Women

Michelle Williams reunites with Kelly Reichardt for Certain Women.

Yet to truly put a foot wrong, Meek’s Cutoff director Kelly Reichardt has assembled an impressive cast for her new ensemble drama about the lives and loves of people living in a small Montana town. The lineup includes Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams and Laura Dern.

13) Wiener-Dog

Revisiting his greater work hasn’t always worked for Todd Solondz (the loose Happiness sequel Life During Wartime was a letdown) but recruiting Greta Gerwig to play Welcome to the Dollhouse’s bullied outcast Dawn Weiner is reason to be excited. Especially with a cast that also includes Julie Delpy and Ellen Burstyn.

14) Salt and Fire

Werner Herzog directing a romantic thriller about a supervolcano might sound strange but this is the man who re-imagined Bad Lieutanant with Nicolas Cage in the lead role. Set to premiere at Sundance, the South American-set film stars Michael Shannon and Gael García Bernal.

15) War Machine

Beasts of No Nation proved a confident start to Netflix’s move into original movies and their major film of 2016 sounds like an equally high profile success story in the making. Brad Pitt stars in this black comedy that takes a satirical look at America’s war with Afghanistan. Animal Kingdom’s David Michod directs.

16) Russ & Roger Go Beyond

After his Amanda Knox-inspired drama The Face of an Angel underwhelmed, Michael Winterbottom is sticking to safer ground with the true story of the strange relationship between Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer, who worked together on Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Will Ferrell stars as Russ and Josh Gad as Roger.

17) Neon Demon

Elle Fanning in Nicolas Winding Refn’s horror movie Neon Demon.

After Spike Lee’s impressively angry Chi-Raq, Amazon are set to continue their relationship with daring directors by releasing the latest from Drive’s Nicolas Winding Refn. He’s giving the horror genre a stab with this cautionary tale about beauty-obsessed women in LA. Keanu Reeves, Elle Fanning and Christina Hendricks star.

18) Story of Your Life

After Prisoners, Enemy and Sicario, Denis Villeneuve has avoided the often troublesome transition from acclaimed foreign-language director to successful Hollywood player. He’s moving from the thriller genre to sci-fi with this tantalising set-up: Amy Adams plays a linguist recruited to uncover whether aliens have come to earth in peace or for war.

19) Zama

Female directors will be continuing their ascent in 2016 after a year of calls for more visibility, and this ambitious Latin American film from The Headless Woman’s Lucrecia Martel is set to be one of the most high profile. Produced by Pedro Almodóvar, it’s a historical epic about an official of the Spanish crown on a dangerous mission.

20) Doctor Strange

For anyone tired of superhero movies, Marvel’s latest addition to their expanded universe might tempt you back to the fold. Teased as a “mind trip action film” it boasts one of the year’s greatest casts: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams and Mads Mikkelsen.

21) Ghostbusters

The all-female cast of Ghostbusters. Photograph: Sony Pictures

Paul Feig’s female-fronted reboot of the adventures of the ghoul-squishing quartet has met with some worrying blowback from fans of the original concerned that ladies wouldn’t be able to cut it. But the film itself looks like a cracker, with Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig among those donning a jumpsuit, plus cameos from almost all the original crew.

22) Snowden

Oliver Stone’s biopic of the NSA whistleblower has moved to 2016, potentially eyeing a Cannes premiere. Joseph Gordon-Levitt takes the lead, with Shailene Woodley as his girlfriend, plus Tom Wilkinson, Zachary Quinto and Melissa Leo as the Guardian journalists and the documentary maker to whom he first told his story.

23) It’s Only the End of the World

Still just 26, Xavier Dolan continues his remorseless rise to the top with a drama about a writer (Gaspard Ulliel) returning to his hometown after 12 years to announce that he is dying. This family – including Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard and Vincent Cassel – aren’t wholly sympathetic.

24) Love and Friendship

Eighteen years after Last Days of Disco, director Whit Stillman reunites with Chloë Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale for a loose version of Jane Austen’s 1790s-set novella Lady Susan. Beckinsale is the lead, a beautiful widow intent on both securing her inheritance and snagging a new husband for herself and a fresh one for her deb daughter. Stephen Fry, James Fleet and Jemma Redgrave are on call.

25) The BFG

Now Steven Spielberg has finally got his mitts on Mark Rylance (he first chased him in the 80s, only to be turned down in favour of the RSC), he’s not letting up. Eight months after the release of Bridge of Spies (in which Rylance starred as Soviet agent Rudolf Abel opposite Tom Hanks), we have this much-anticipated adaptation of the Roald Dahl book about a little girl befriended in her orphanage by a benign giant.

26) The Light Between Oceans

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander play a lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia who raise a baby they find adrift in a rowboat. Rachel Weisz co-stars in the latest from Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance.

27) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Formerly known as The Taliban Shuffle, this is a war reporter satire headed up by Tina Fey with cracking support from Margot Robbie, Alfred Molina, Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton. It’s based on the book by Kim Barker, who arrived in Kabul as a clueless journalist in 2002 before finding her feet amid the crossfire. The directors, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, previously took the reins on Robbie’s vehicle Focus, as well as Crazy Stupid Love and I Love You Phillip Morris.

28) A United Kingdom

Amma Assante follows Belle with another true-life tale of racial difference bucking high society. In this 1940s-set drama, David Oyelowo plays Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana, who causes an international stir on marrying a white woman from London (Rosamund Pike). Jack Davenport, Tom Felton, Laura Carmichael – and Nicholas Lyndhurst! – co-star.

29) The Lost City of Z

Having been let go from the shackles of starring in Fifty Shades of Grey, Charlie Hunnam has a pop at another strapping lad with whip – real-life jungle explorer Percival Fawcett, who never returned from a 1925 trip in search of a lost Amazon civilisation. Sienna Miller plays his missus, Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland also don the khaki.

30) La La Land

Damien Chazelle! JK Simmons! Jazz! The breakout Whiplash director sticks with the familiar for his next project – but also chucks into the mix Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. They’re replacing Miles Teller and Emma Watson as an ivory-tickler and the aspiring actress he falls for in LA.

31) Loving

Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as Richard and Mildred Loving. Photograph: Ben Rothstein/AP

Jeff Nichols (Mud) has quietly become one of Hollywood’s more significant auteurs, and here he is taking on a big, real-life subject. In 1959, Mildred and Richard Loving were convicted of interracial marriage in a Virginia court and went all the way to the supreme court to get the ruling overturned. Ruth Negga plays Mildred, and Joel Edgerton is Richard, while Nichol’s ever-present collaborator Michael Shannon turns up as Grey Villet, the Life photographer who covered the story and helped turn it into a key test of civil rights.

32) LBJ

Every president must get their movie, and here is one of those previously overlooked, despite having a bit part in every account of the Kennedy assassination. Lyndon Baines Johnson may have a bellicose reputation, but his record on civil rights, ending poverty and gun control makes his presidency a high water mark in US liberalism. Interest in him cinematically seems to have been piqued by his portrayal in Selma as a tough-nosed, savvy political operator, and this biopic – directed by Rob Reiner with Woody Harrelson as the man himself, with a script plucked from the 2014 Black List – looks as if it will cover familiar ground, starting with LBJ’s abrupt ascent to the presidency and battles over civil rights and Vietnam.

33) The Real Wound

Abdellatif Kechiche won the Palme d’Or in 2013 with Blue Is the Warmest Colour, an impassioned study of same-sex coming-of-age. This time, the subject is not dissimilar, but it’s about a teenage boy on the lookout for girls. It’s adapted from a novel by François Bégaudeau, who is perhaps best known for writing and starring in another Palme winner, The Class, in 2008; if nothing else, The Real Wound has pedigree. It’s also got Gérard Depardieu, on something of a roll after Welcome to New York and The Valley of Love, so definitely worth looking out for.

34) Zootopia

After Pixar released both Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur this year, sister studio Walt Disney Animation has two films lined up for 2016. South Pacific yarn Moana is due in November, but earlier in the year will come this sprightly sounding animal-noir tale, inspired apparently by Disney’s now rather forgotten 1973 cartoon Robin Hood. Named after the town filled with animals where it all goes down, Zootopia revolves around a bunny rabbit cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), who teams up with unreliable scam artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to track down a missing otter.

35) Assassin’s Creed

Macbeth director Justin Kurzel reunites with his stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard for this adaptation/extension of the blockbusting video game, which concerns itself with the descendants of a secret society (The Assassins) who over the centuries must confront those of another (The Knights Templar). Fassbender plays Callum Lynch, a character created especially for the film, which, like the game, is part of a series of interlocking stories set in a larger game universe. There’s no word yet on whether he spends the entire time wandering around a faux medieval Scottish landscape with the scars of battle still visible on his flesh. Still, game producers Ubisoft deserve kudos for going down what looks like the arthouse route for their film.

36) Money Monster

Jodie Foster’s last directorial effort, The Beaver, was a not-likely-to-be-popular oddity thoroughly swamped by the unpleasantness surrounding its leading man, Mel Gibson, in the run-up to its release in 2011. Now she’s back for more, however, and has cast another heavyweight lead actor – George Clooney – in the central role. Clooney plays one of those financial advice guys who dispenses stock tips on his TV show; a disgruntled viewer, played by 71’s Jack O’Connell, turns up and holds him hostage after losing money. Julia Roberts is in there, too, playing the show’s producer.

37) A Cure for Wellness

Gore Verbinski is best known as the purveyor of effervescent family entertainments, from Mouse Hunt to Pirates of the Caribbean, but he also has a nice line in horror: to wit, the US remake of the Japanese classic Ring. A Cure for Wellness sees him dive back into the horror pool, with Dane DeHaan playing a young employee attempting to extricate his boss from a sinister “wellness” spa run by Jason Isaacs, who has dastardly designs on his patients, who include Mia Goth. With Verbinski’s track record for handling a big canvas, this is sure to be worth a look.

38) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice



It’s taken them years, but finally DC Comics are catching up with the Marvel’s interlinked-stories concept as applied to cinema. This film, originally conceived as the sequel to the forehead-kneading Man of Steel, sees the Caped Crusader (Ben Affleck) make his way to Superman’s Metropolis, there to confront the phone-box-bothering superhero (Henry Cavill) who he suspects may wreak chaos if left unchecked. The trailers make it look pretty fun (as they would) and it all sets up future movies, such as the long pined for Wonder Woman, whose lead actor Gal Gadot is getting a prominent cameo here.

39) Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Ang Lee has been quiet since winning the best director Oscar for Life of Pi in 2013, so it’s excellent news that the soft-spoken Taiwanese-American master is back. He’s gone for another literary adaptation, of Ben Fountain’s 2012 novel about an Iraq war veteran who is sent back to the US on a promotional “victory” tour, culminating in an appearance at the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving-day game. The script is by Slumdog’s Simon Beaufoy, and newcomer Joe Alwyn (a Bristol University graduate) is playing Billy. Possibly time to start practising those Oscar speeches.

40) The Unknown Girl

A new Dardenne brothers film is always an event on the Euro arthouse circuit, with a Cannes berth all but guaranteed for the two-time Palme d’Or winners and their brand of intense, low-key naturalism. Adèle Haenel plays a GP who takes it on herself to identify the eponymous fille inconnue, a girl who dies after being denied medical care. Having achieved their biggest hit to date with the Marion Cotillard-starring Two Days One Night, the brothers appear to be returning to the slightly less box-office-friendly fare of their earlier work.

41) Star Wars: Rogue One



Star Wars: Rogue One features Riz Ahmed, Diego Luna, Felicity Jones, Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen. Photograph: Jonathan Olley, Leah Evans/AP

You’re ready for another, right? Barely a year after the seismic upheaval of JJ Abrams’s franchise reboot, there are yet more wars on the way. Gareth Edwards’ spin-off stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna and Ben Mendelsohn. Set before the original trilogy, we’ll be following a bunch of resistance fighters plotting to steal plans to the Death Star. Let the hype be your guide.

42) The Free State of Jones

The title comes from a small outpost in Jones county, Mississippi, where – according to legend – a confederate soldier called Newton Knight set up a tiny mixed-race community in the middle of the civil war. Knight, a confederate army deserter, was in a common-law marriage with a former slave. He led a rebellion against the confederacy, though whether he did this for noble reasons is still debated. And who will play this morally patchwork man? The charismatic southerner with a gift for leadership and a tendency for roguishness? Matthew McConaughey? Alright alright alright.

43) Florence Foster Jenkins



Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant in Florence Foster Jenkins. Photograph: Nick Wall/Nick Wall Photography

New York socialite Florence Foster Jenkins made a living as an opera singer, despite not sounding like one. She had no pitch, rhythm nor tone yet became a popular curiosity for punters keen to see her foul up an aria. Jenkins, who remained convinced of her own talent, was the X-Factor first-rounder of her day, making sure that her performances were reviewed only by her friends or herself. She played one her final shows in 1944 in – due to public petition – Carnegie Hall. In Stephen Frears’ biopic, she’ll be played by Meryl Streep, with Hugh Grant and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation star Rebecca Ferguson in support.

44) Nine Lives

Don’t ask meow Kevin Spacey got involved with this one. Barry Sonnenfeld’s comedy will have him play a man trapped in the body of a cat. Plot details are scarce, but Jennifer Garner and Christopher Walken have taken roles, hopefully not as Scratching Post and Sand Pit. As to which breed of cat Kevin will inhabit? The film-makers haven’t made their felines known.

45) The Founder

Biopic of Roy Kroc, the businessman who wrested McDonalds away from its founders – brothers Mac and Dick McDonald – and set a meat and potatoes fast food joint on its way to ubiquitousness. Written in the style of The Social Network by The Wrestler scriptwriter Robert Siegel, it stars Michael Keaton as Kroc and is directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr Banks). If it can stay warm enough to seem appetising to Oscar voters come 2017, Keaton will have pulled off a remarkable remarkable run: he was a fixture of awards season with Birdman last year and is likely to be popping up again with Spotlight this time. The Founder would make for a tasty triple.

46) Warcraft



Blizzard Entertainment’s video game phenomenon gets a film off-shoot courtesy of Moon and Source Code director Duncan Jones. Orcs and humans will clash, scores of grunts will fall in a mighty battle between the two races for control of the mystical world of Azeroth and gamers will experience dizzying ecstasy as their passion for the film’s click-crazy origin is channeled by someone who shares their love. Along with the Assassin’s Creed (see No 35), Warcraft could be the start of a movement previously unprecedented: game-based films that don’t embarrass fans of both. No Gamer-style meta narrative, Duncan. Please.



47) Brothers Grimsby

A must-see ahead of the release of its worryingly cruddy trailer, Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest might be still worth a watch for all the wrong reasons. He plays Norman “Nobby” Grimsby, a pub schlub and football lout whose search for his long-lost brother ends disastrously after he fouls up his black ops-trained sibling’s assassination attempt and forces them to go on the run. The film angered the people of Grimsby by insinuating the town was full of drunken dossers. Could anger many more if the jokes don’t manage to hop over the extremely low bar set by the trailer. Still, Baron Cohen’s rarely completely unfunny. Maybe the promo has a smarter bigger brother?

48) Finding Dory

Finding Nemo’s forgetful, faithful sidekick gets her spin-off. Convinced she remembers a family and where they might be, Dory heads back out into open water with Nemo and Marlin in her wake. All the original cast are slinging in their hook, including Ellen Degeneres as Dory and Albert Brooks as Nemo’s fretful dad, Marlin. Plus, there’s room in the ocean for Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory’s parents and Idris Elba, in an as yet unannounced role. Probably not a minnow.

49) Suicide Squad



We’ve done dark, we’ve done poppy, now let’s try naughty. Directed by David Ayer and based on the DC comic about a gang of antiheroes co-opted by the US government, Suicide Squad might be more raw, more vicious than your average do-gooder superhero story. The cast list has some whack: Will Smith is the squad’s de facto leader as expert marksman Deadshot, Margot Robbie is popular Batman villain Harley Quinn, and Jared Leto will prance around the outskirts as The Joker, the first new big-screen take on the character since Heath Ledger played him in the Dark Knight trilogy. Subtlety isn’t Ayer’s superpower. He won’t need it for material this wacky.

50) Passengers

Way out in space sits Jim (Chris Pratt), twiddling his thumbs after the breakdown of his sleep unit has left him the only passenger awake on a giant space cruiser heading for a planet that’s still 90 years away. Does he die alone? Or push the button and wake up beautiful, smart Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence)? It’s a simple premise but Sony’s sci-fi epic, directed by The Imitation Game’s Morten Tyldum, has cost an astronomical $150m. Of that, $20m goes to Lawrence, with $12m shuttled off to Pratt. That’s significant, since it was Sony subsidiary Columbia who were embarrassed by the leaked news that Lawrence was paid a lesser percentage of the profits of American Hustle than her male co-stars. With Keanu Reeves, Michael Sheen and Laurence Fishburne also on board, Passengers is full of stars, but it’s still a big gamble for Sony.

51) The Limehouse Golem



Alan Rickman wades into a bloody mess in a Victorian gothic adapted from Peter Ackroyd’s novel Dan Leno and The Lighthouse Golem. A rapacious killer’s on the loose in London’s east end. Their crimes are so heinous that the locals (Rickman, joined by Douglas Booth and Olivia Cooke) are convinced the murders must be the work of a monstrous, mythical beast, the Golem. Said to be similar to Se7en and The Woman in Black. Could be precious.

52) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

JK Rowling’s first screenplay - a Harry Potter spin-off - is escorted to the big screen by regular Hogwarts wrangler David Yates. Eddie Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander, a scholar whose studies are complicated by the escape of a menage of magical creatures from his briefcase. Ezra Miller, Katherine Waterson and Colin Farrell are among those joining Eddie on the hunt through 1920s New York.

53) Elvis and Nixon

Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey ham-off in a recreation of the real-life meeting. Shannon will play the King, who’s meeting with the Commander-in-Chief was sparked by Elvis’s desire to distance himself from the counter-culture he’d inspired and Nixon’s attempt to appeal to teeny-boppers. Presley even went so far as to offer his services as an undercover agent to the FBI, though J Edgar Hoover never took him up on it. The film, which is directed by Hateship, Loveship’s Liza Johnson, will play off the absurdity of it all.



54) The Accountant



Action-thriller in which Ben Affleck plays a financial whizz who’s also great at adding bullets to targets as a hitman for hire. This will be Affleck’s first role since Gone Girl and the last before he becomes the Batman in Dawn of Justice (see 38). Affleck + Anna Kendrick + JK Simmons + John Lithgow + Jeffrey Tambor + Jon Bernthal + dodgy dealings on Wall Street = killer potential.

55) Personal Shopper

Kristen Stewart plays a fashion lackey working the fringes of Paris couture, assisted by her psychic superpowers. Personal Shopper is scripted by Olivier Assayas, who helped Stewart to Cesar win for her turn in Clouds of Sils Maria. A second collaboration would seem like a good fit.

56) The Legend of Tarzan

More Margot Robbie, this time as Jane opposite Alexander Skarsgård’s smalls-wearing Tarzan in David Yates’ take. The trailer (above) promises a dark thriller set in a jungle that “consumes everything” and “preys on the weak”. Probably closer to Peter Jackson’s apery of King Kong than George of the Jungle.

57) Yoga Hosers

Premieres at Sundance soon. Kevin Smith takes acting as well as directing duties in an adventure spinning-off from Depp’s hammy cameo as a French-Canadian detective Guy LaPointe in Smith’s comedy-horror Tusk. This one stars Depp’s daughter, Lily-Rose and Smith’s daughter, Harley, as a pair of convenience store clerks who’ll bend over backwards for their love of yoga, but - when Canada is invaded by hordes of demonic creatures - find themselves in an uncomfortable position.



58) Bad Neighbours 2



So sue us: we enjoyed the first one. Zac Efron and Seth Rogen return as the once-warring neighbours, now united against a common foe: a brattish pack of sorority sisters who’ve moved in next door. The original stirred up good chemistry between Efron (as the hunky alpha-frat boy, Teddy) and Rogen (party-starved new dad Mac). Rose Byrne and Dave Franco are returning, as is director Nicholas Stoller.

59) Independence Day 2

“Today ... we celebrate ... OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!” etc etc etc. Some 20 years after Roland Emmerich blew up the White House, he’s back to wreck more destruction on pitiful humanity. That said, perhaps the film won’t be so bad? The trailer (above) offers up a doomy vision of alien invasion, perhaps better suited to our times than the 90s original’s poppy spirit. And the cast is good - Liam Hemsworth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jeff Goldblum. Will Smith isn’t returning, but - given recent form - that might not be a catastrophe.

60) Bourne 5

Both Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon are back after the Jeremy Renner side story, The Bourne Legacy, slumped. Damon will play the titular super-spy, apparently OK now after the truth about his manipulation by the naughty government caused a grandscale breakdown. Joining him in some kind of accord will be franchise regular Julia Stiles and newbie Alicia Vikander. Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel will be on the other side of a conflict with more sides than Nandos.



61) Untitled Woody Allen

Yes, the two since Blue Jasmine have been disappointing; as was American Ultra, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart’s most recent team-up. But we’re still holding out hope. Plot details are - as ever with Allen projects - scarce, but Eisenberg and Stewart’s third film together will see them head a drama set in New York’s Chinatown in the 1940s. Bruce Willis, Steve Carell and Blake Lively are among the actors ticking the ‘Worked with Woody’ box this time around.



62) Anthropoid

Czech soldiers assassinate notoriously brutal Nazi commander Reinhard Heydrich, one of the engineers of the Holocaust. Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy star as two of the allied special operatives assigned with taking down the SS-Obergruppenführer who Hitler called “the man with the iron heart”. Directed by Sean Ellis, whose Metro Manila was a hit with critics in 2013.

63) Zoolander 2



Second helping of Derek’n’Hansel, which is a good thing – even if Zoolander’s adoption by humourless fashionista types wore out the welcome mat. This time around the author of Le Tigre, Blue Steel and Magnum is out of fashion, but in-demand as he’s the only dim bulb who can shed light on a spat of celebrity deaths linked to his signature look. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson walked the Valentino catwalk at Paris fashion week last March. Having jumped the shark, can the pair turn it into a nice bit of clobber?

64) Midnight Special

Take Shelter director Jeff Nichols is changing tack with his latest and aiming for a Close Encounters vibe with this intriguing drama. His second film of the year (his first is romantic drama Loving, featured at No 31) might also be a breakout for him, telling the tale of a child with magical powers with a set of impressive special effects on hand.

65) A Quiet Passion

Terence Davies’ passion project about poetic shut-in Emily Dickinson is a must. It’s only this low on the list because it may not actually materialise in 2016.

66) Elle

Paul Verhoeven’s first film in a decade sees him in “erotic and perverted” mode, though what that means in connection with a film about a businesswoman who is raped is anyone’s guess. Isabelle Huppert, as fearless as ever, plays the lead.

67) The Nice Guys

A Chinatown-y ’tec thriller set in 70s LA ought to float everyone’s boat, especially with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe pairing up, and Shane Black directing.

68) Genius

Highbrow subject matter – like the relationship between author Thomas Wolfe and his literary editor – doesn’t always mean great cinema, but leads Jude Law and Colin Firth ought to give it some welly.

69) The Standoff

A curious set-up – two people have to stand next to each other for three days to win the car of their dreams – could go either way in this teen comedy from the writer of, ahem, A Cinderella Story.

70) American Pastoral

Philip Roth’s original novel is an unarguable masterpiece, but as with Genius (see No 68) that’s no guarantee, cinematically. It’s also the directorial debut of Ewan McGregor, which may or may not be a good thing.

71) Deepwater Horizon

Peter Berg’s directorial output has been patchy (Hancock was fun, Battleship really wasn’t) but a script by the on-a-roll JC Chandor should help this oil spill thriller with Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell starring.

72) 13 Hours

Michael Bay gets serious and goes to Libya; but this politically charged thriller about the death of a US ambassador could go all Pearl Harbor. Or it could be good.

73) Deadpool

With fans forever bemoaning the sanitised adaptations of edgy comic book fare, this confidently adult take on the sweary antihero fan favourite should be a refreshing change and might finally gift star Ryan Reynolds with a successful franchise.

74) The Girl on the Train

This year’s Gone Girl, with The Help’s Tate Taylor behind the camera and Emily Blunt in front of it. What price a David Fincher-style trash masterwork?

75) David Brent: Life on the Road

Ricky Gervais is returning to the tragicomic creation that originally brought him fame for this look at Brent’s post-Office private life.