The month of May is technically not part of the summer, but in the film industry, it is the first month where some of the year’s biggest summer blockbusters start to come out. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Year-Long Film Preview for 2013. This is Part 5 and today we’re looking at the May lineup.
*Since 2007, Marvel Studios has released the only major release for the first week of May and they will do so again this year (and for at least the next two years) with ‘Iron Man 3’, the first in Marvel’s ‘Phase Two’ project following the success of ‘The Avengers’. ‘Lethal Weapon’ writer and ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ director Shane Black takes over for Jon Favreau in this new movie which sees Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), AKA Iron Man, fighting his most dangerous enemy yet, The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle reprise their roles as Pepper Potts and James Rhodes, respectively, alongside newcomers Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall.
*The following week will finally see the release of director Baz Luhrmann’s (1996’s ‘Romeo+Juliet, Moulin Rouge) adaptation of ‘The Great Gatsby’. This new take on author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic book was originally supposed to hit theaters in December 2012 but, like many films this year it was pushed back to a later date. In the case of this film, it was mainly due to production schedule issues. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the titular Jay Gatsby alongside Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, and Joel Edgerton.
*Another single film hits theaters the following week of May 17th. ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ is the sequel to director J.J. Abrams’ 2009 ‘Star Trek’ reboot which helped revitalize the franchise after it had faded out after 2002’s ‘Star Trek Nemesis’. Abrams returns as director (who is now set to direct the first in Disney’s new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy) along with the main cast of the previous film. This film sees Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) pursuing a new enemy, John Harrison (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), who is described as one of ‘Starfleet’s best agents’.
*While the first three weeks of May will only see one major release a week, three films will theaters on May 24th. The first is ‘Epic’, the latest film from Blue Sky Studios (the makers of the ‘Ice Age’ series and ‘Rio’). The film is based on the children’s book ‘The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs’, written by William Joyce. It focuses on a young girl who comes across a group of forest warriors after she is suddenly shrunken down one day while looking for her father. The film stars an ensemble cast including Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, and Christoph Waltz.
*’Fast and Furious 6’ is the latest entry in the popular ‘Fast and the Furious’ series. Director Justin Lin (who helmed the last three films in the series) returns to direct this new one, which sees professional criminal Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew team up with DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), the same person who chased after them in the previous film, to take on a mercenary organization. The mission gets personal for Dom, however, when he learns that the organization’s second-in-command is his ex-girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who supposedly died in ‘Fast and Furious’, the fourth entry in the series.
*The final release of the week is ‘The Hangover Part III’, the final entry in the successful Hangover trilogy. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis return along with director Todd Phillips in this third film. This time, the Wolfpack run into a gang while taking Alan (Galifianakis) to a mental facility. The gang leader (played by John Goodman) demands that they find their ‘friend’ Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong), who had recently stolen 21 million dollars from him and takes Doug (Justin Bartha) as insurance.
*A pair of new films close out the month on May 31st. The first film, ‘After Earth’, is directed by M. Night Shyamalan (‘The Sixth Sense’, and (ugh!) ‘The Last Airbender’) and stars Will and Jaden Smith as a father-son team who get stranded on Earth after it has been decimated by cataclysmic events.
*The final major release of the month is ‘Now You See Me’, a crime-thriller from director Louis Leterrier (‘The Incredible Hulk’). The film follows a magic group known as the Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco) who are on the run from an FBI Special Agent (played by Mark Ruffalo) after they rob a bank during one of their magic shows. The film also stars Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine.
And that’s the lineup of films for the month of May. Stay tuned for Part 6 next month.
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