A reel fun year in films

Popcorn at the ready... these are the 12 movies you won't want to miss in 2016
Dawn of JusticeDawn of Justice
Dawn of Justice

HAIL, CAESAR!

Released: March 4

Cast: George Clooney, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Jonah Hill

Story: Brolin plays a “fixer” in Fifties Hollywood, tasked with trying to keep an epic movie under control – but he has his work cut out when its glamorous, but idiotic, lead (Clooney) is kidnapped by a group calling themselves The Future.

THE WITCH

Released: March 11

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Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Julian Richings

Story: Set in New England in the 17th century, a family appears to be taunted by black magic when the youngest member suddenly vanishes and horror ensues.

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

Released: March 25

Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Jesse 
Eisenberg

Story: Affleck’s Batman decides that Cavill’s Superman needs bringing down to earth – until Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor starts getting up to his old tricks, this time unleashing the Doomsday threat, and differences need to be set aside.

THE JUNGLE BOOK

Released: April 15

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Cast: Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o (left), Bill Murray, Christopher Walken

Story: An orphaned boy, Mowgli (Neel Sethi), is brought up in the jungle by an array of friendly animals, voiced by the likes of Johansson and Elba.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

Released: April 29

Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett 
Johansson, Robert Downey Jr

Story: Picking up from last year’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Evans’ Captain America and Downey Jr’s Iron Man can’t agree whether superheroes should be regulated by an international agency.

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

Released: May 19

Cast: Oscar Isaac (left), Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult

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Story: Set in the mullet-tastic Eighties, it’s Isaac’s villainous mutant Apocalypse who’s set to terrorise the world this time round. And it’s left to McAvoy’s Xavier and his motley crew of mutants to stop him.

GHOSTBUSTERS

Released: July 15

Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon

Story: Actual details of the narrative remain a mystery for now, with only a teaser trailer to go by, but suffice to say there will be ghosts, some gunge (perhaps), and a lot of laugh-out-loud scenes.

THE BFG

Released: July 22

Cast: Mark Rylance, Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader, Ruby Barnhill

Story: A little girl called Sophie (Barnhill) makes friends with a big friendly giant, aka the BFG, who’s been ousted by his fellow giants for not gobbling up children.

STAR TREK BEYOND

Released: July 22

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Cast: Chris Pine (below), Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba, Simon Pegg

Story: The plot is being kept tightly under wraps for now, but the trailer hints at the Frontier “pushing back” and each of the crew facing their own life-or-death situation.

BOURNE SEQUEL

Released: July 29

Cast: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Julia Stiles

Story: The title’s unconfirmed, the script’s shrouded in secrecy, but given the time lapse, it’s not difficult to imagine we’ve a more grizzled Bourne to look forward to – and there will be a car chase, of course.

BRIDGET JONES’S BABY

Released: September 16

Cast: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey, Jim Broadbent

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Story: This isn’t an adaptation of Helen Fielding’s so-so latest Bridget Jones book Mad About The Boy, but based on a new script written by the author and David Nicholls. Bridget’s now in her 40s and she’s pregnant. Apart from that, we’ll have to wait and see.

It’s 12 years since the last instalment, which suggest the script was strong to see the likes of Zellweger and Firth (no Hugh Grant this time, though) come back for more.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Released: November 18

Cast: Eddie Redmayne (above), Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Samantha Morton

Story: Some 70 years before Harry Potter reads his book, we follow Redmayne’s Newt Scamander, a “magizoologist”, as he travels through New York’s secret magic society.

Adapted from her 2001 book, JK Rowling herself penned the script, the first of a trilogy, and promises a host of new magical creatures.