On Day 4 of CinemaCon 20th Century Fox presented a broad range of films that are on their slate for the next few years. Ranging from 3D animations such as the Peanuts Movie to over the top superhero films such as Fantastic Four, 20th Century Fox has a broad appeal in their upcoming movies for the next few years. It seems that with their partnerships with Regency and Blue Sky Productions, 20th Century Fox will create some of the more dynamic films of all of the major studios.
The presentation opened with a remix of the Peanuts iconic theme song performed live by DJ Inferno and a fun dance number from the dance troupe Academy of Villains. This was followed by an extended trailer for the 3D animated Peanuts Movie where Charlie Brown is resolved to finally talk to the little Red Haired Girl and Snoopy helps him overcome his fears. The film’s trailer shows the whole gang doing their usual antics and it looks to be a fun and endearing film for all generations. After the Peanuts film another fun comedy was up, this one with more adult themes.
SPY by director Paul Feig stars Melissa McCarthy as CIA agent who is thrown into the field after her partner (Jude Law) is killed by a mob princess (played by Rose Byrne.) This is the 3rd collaboration between Feig and McCarthy and from the trailer it looks to be one of the best. Jason Statham also appears in the film as an overzealous agent and the film releases on June 5th.
On a more sinister tone, the next film up in the presentation was an extended trailer for Poltergeist set to release May 22nd. This is a remake of the classic 1982 supernatural thriller and judging from the trailer it looks be stay pretty close to the original. The highlight of the film is one of the scariest moments of the original where a clown doll springs to life.
The only other horror lined up for 20th Century Fox is Victor Frankenstein, a reimagining of the classic book by Mary Shelley. Starring James McAvoy as the infamous doctor and Daniel Radcliffe as his faithful servant Igor, this film is set to release October 2nd, just in time to give audiences chills for Halloween.
Another sneak peek into 20th Century’s line up showed an extended trailer for the second installment of the Maze Runner trilogy The Scorch Trials. In Scorch Trials, the characters are faced with harsh new challenges as they have escaped the Maze into the desolate landscape around it. Scorch Trials is set to release in September and looks to be an exciting and powerful sequel to the first.
Another action packed sequel set for this summer is Hitman: Agent 47. This follow-up to the 2007 hit film follows Agent 47 as he teams up with a woman with similar abilities as they track down her father and uncover their origins.
Speaking of action packed films, 20th Century Fox gave us a glimpse into the newest Marvel franchise, The Fantastic Four. This origins film stars Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell as the iconic super hero scientists as they gain their powers in an experiment that has gone awry. The cast made an appearance on stage before showing the trailer and talked about what it was like to portray such famous characters. They are also recipients of the 2015 CinemaCon Best Ensemble Award given out at the awards ceremony on Thursday. While no big announcements were made for other Marvel ventures with 20th Century Fox, they did mention a new Deadpool movie coming to theaters in 2016 as well as X-Men Apocalypse and another Wolverine film that is currently untitled set to release in 2017.
But the most promising of films that 20th Century Fox presented were their films in conjunction with Regency and Fox Searchlight. David O. Russel’s Joy will be hitting theaters December of this year and stars Jennifer Lawrence as the matriarch of a powerful family dynasty. This film has an all-star ensemble including Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Isabella Rossellini.
Another harrowing film on their docket is The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. This film by the Academy Award winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (who wrote and directed Birdman) tells the story of a frontiersman who seeks vengeance against the others who left him for dead in the Canadian wilderness. We got to see a sneak peek at some of the footage from the film that showed Leonardo DiCaprio in a vast snowy landscape as well as an intense battle between frontiersman and Native Americans. This film is set to release January 8th 2016 and judging from the sneak peek it may be a contender for the Oscars next year.
But the film that I am most intrigued by is Ridley Scott’s delve into Science Fiction known as The Martian. We got to see a full trailer for this film which releases in November of 2015 that shows a Mars crew fighting to get off the planet during a massive sandstorm. But as they leave, one crew member gets left behind. Played by Matt Damon, this crew member must find a way to stay alive long enough in the Martian compound in order to be rescued in 4 years. This chilling trailer left me with goosebumps as the reality of a Mars mission gets closer every day.
While 20th Century Fox’s line up has many sequels and remakes for the next few years, there is still hope in their docket of original and compelling stories. Their partnerships with companies such as Regency, Fox Searchlight and Scott Free Productions will keep this giant contenting in all genres for many years to come.
Laurel Way is a writer for film, television, websites, and blogs. She is based in Phoenix, Arizona in the U.S., and has two fat cats and a loving husband. Laurel is a geek to her core and loves all things within horror, sci-fi/fantasy, and more. When she is not writing films, she is watching them, and her go-to movie snack is popcorn and Milkduds.
