2015 Preview: August

Summer may be coming to a close but the 2015 year in film is still going strong. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films that are set to come out in 2015. This is Part 8 of 12 and today we’ll be looking at all of the films that will be hitting theaters this August. It’s commonly said that this is when the Summer Movie Season begins to fizzle out but I think that there are still quite a few noteworthy films coming out this month. So without further ado, here are the films of August 2015.

AUGUST 7- A pretty busy weekend with four new wide releases kicking off the month, including the last major Marvel film of the year.

*Director Josh Trank (‘Chronicle’) helms the third major film adaptation of Marvel’s First Family, the ‘Fantastic Four’. As with previous adaptations of this particular franchise, the film centers on the foursome of Reed Richards AKA Mr. Fantastic (Miles Teller), Susan Storm AKA the ‘Invisible Woman’ (Kate Mara), her brother Johnny Storm AKA the ‘Human Torch’ (Michael B. Jordan), and Ben Grimm AKA ‘The Thing’ (Jamie Bell), who gain unique superpowers during a scientific experiment. The film also stars Toby Kebbell as Dr. Doom and Reg E. Cathey as Susan and Johnny’s father Franklin.

*Joel Edgerton makes his directorial debut with ‘The Gift’, in which Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall star as a married couple whose relationship becomes complicated when the arrival of an old acquaintance (played by Edgerton) of Bateman’s character leads into the reveal of an old dark secret from their past.

*Meryl Streep stars in ‘Ricki and the Flash’, directed by Jonathan Demme (‘The Silence of the Lambs’) and written by Diablo Cody (‘Juno’). Streep plays a former musician who returns home for the first time in years after leaving it all behind to pursue a music career. The film also stars Kevin Kline and Sebastian Stan.

*Finally this week there is the ‘Shaun the Sheep Movie’, a feature film adaptation of the British stop-motion animated series ‘Shaun the Sheep’, which centered around the titular character of the same name who had first appeared in the ‘Wallace and Gromit’ short film ‘A Close Shave’. In this film, Shaun decides to take a day off but ends up having to get everyone he knows back home following a mix-up.

AUGUST 14- Three major wide releases this month, including a spy flick, a musical biopic, and an animated sports film.

*An adaptation of the 1960’s spy TV series of the same name, ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ is directed by Guy Ritchie (director of the Robert Downey Jr. starring ‘Sherlock Holmes’ films) and stars Henry ‘Superman’ Cavill and Armie ‘Lone Ranger’ Hammer as CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin, respectively, who are forced to work together in order to stop a criminal organization from using nuclear weapons on the world. The film also stars Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, Jared Harris, and Hugh Grant.

*Directed by F. Gary Gray (‘Friday’), ‘Straight Outta Compton’ is the true story of hip-hop group N.W.A. and the intense controversy that spurred from their music, particularly in their hometown of Compton, California. Produced by band members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, the film features Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr. in the role of his father and also stars Paul Giamatti as the group’s manager.

*Originally released in Argentina and the United Kingdom in 2013, ‘Underdogs’ focuses on a boy named Jake (Amadeo in other regions) who attempts to defeat an old rival in a game of Foosball. Along the way, he discovers that he can actually talk to the board’s ‘foosball’ players. The film’s US voice cast includes Matthew Morrison, Ariana Grande, Bella Thorne, Nicholas Hoult, and Taran Killam.

AUGUST 21- A stoner comedy and video game adaptation headline the weekend.

*In ‘American Ultra’, Jesse Eisenberg stars as a stoner who learns that he’s actually a ‘sleeper’ agent for the government who must now deal with being labeled a ‘liability’ and marked for elimination. The film also stars Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, and John Leguizamo.

*The second major film adaptation of the ‘Hitman’ video game series, ‘Hitman: Agent 47’ (which was written by the same writer of the 2007 ‘Hitman’ film), Rupert Friend stars as the titular ‘Agent 47’, a secret agent who takes on assassination missions for an organization known as the International Contracts Agency. The film also stars Zachary Quinto and Thomas Kretschmann.

AUGUST 28- Finally we have three flicks that will conclude both the August lineup and the Summer Movie Season.

*The sequel to 2012’s horror hit ‘Sinister’, ‘Sinister 2’, not directed by Scott Derrickson but still written by him and C. Robert Cargill (AKA ‘Carlyle’ from the old Spill.com film review website), centers on a young mother (Shannyn Sossamon) who moves into a new home with her two sons but must then deal with the mysterious demon known as ‘Bughuul’.

*Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson star in ‘Regression’, in which Hawke plays a detective who investigates a case in which a young teenager (Watson) accuses her father of a crime that he has no memory of.

*Finally, in ‘We Are Your Friends’, Zac Efron stars as an up-and-coming DJ looking to become a record producer. However, things get complicated when he gets involved with the girlfriend (Emily Ratajkowski) of his ‘mentor’ (Wes Bentley). The film also stars Jonny Weston and Jon Bernthal.

And those are the films that will be coming out this August. Check back next month for Part 9 as we start up the last third of the year with the films of September. 

2014 Preview: August

We’ve come to the month of August, the time of the year when the Summer Movie Season starts to come to a close but still a while before the Oscar movie season officially begins. However, I will say that, compared to the films that came out this July, this month’s lineup of films is actually a bit more promising. So with that said welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films set to come out in 2014. This is part 7 of 11 (previously 12) and today we’ll be looking at the films that will be released in the month of August.

AUGUST 1- The month opens up with the last major comic-book film of the year though this time it’s not the only wide release of the week as it will be accompanied by a musical biopic.

*Probably the riskiest project that Marvel Studios has ever done (and considering their resume, that’s saying a lot), ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, directed by James Gunn (‘Slither’, ‘Super’) is based on an comic book series of the same name that initially began in 1969 before it was revived in 2008 (this film is primarily based off of the more recent series). It centers on a group of misfits, consisting of human thief Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) AKA Star-Lord, assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), warrior Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), genetically-engineered raccoon Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), and Rocket’s accomplice, the tree-like creature Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), who team up after Quill comes across a mysterious orb that’s coveted by the villainous Ronan (Lee Pace), an ally of Thanos (AKA the purple alien seen at the end of ‘Avengers’ (played here (and in next year’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’) by Josh Brolin)). The film also stars Karen Gillan as Gamora’s adopted sister Nebula, Michael Rooker as Quill’s friend/father figure Yondu, and Glenn Close and John C. Reilly as members of the Nova Corps.

*After playing Jackie Robinson in ‘42’ to solid success, Chadwick Boseman takes on his second role as a major historical figure in ‘Get on Up’, in which he plays the ‘Godfather of Soul’, James Brown. The film, directed by Tate Taylor (‘The Help’), will focus on Brown’s life and also stars Nelsan Ellis, Viola Davis, and Octavia Spencer.

AUGUST 8- The busiest movie week of the month, four new releases will hit theaters this weekend.

*Produced by Michael Bay and directed by Jonathan Liebesman, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ is a reboot of the TMNT film franchise based off of the media franchise created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird of the same name. This new film follows the ‘heroes in a half-shell’ as they face off against Shredder and the Foot Clan in New York. The film stars Megan Fox as April O’Neil, the fearless reporter who befriends the Turtles, and also stars Will Arnett, William Fichtner, and the voices of Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub.

*Directed by Lasse Hallstrom (‘Cider House Rules’) and produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’ is based off of the book of the same name by Richard C. Morais. The film centers on an Indian family who open a restaurant in France after being displaced from their home in India, resulting in them coming into conflict with the owner of another restaurant down the street (played by Helen Mirren).

*The fifth film in the ‘Step Up’ dance film franchise, ‘Step Up All In’ features an ensemble cast consisting of multiple characters from previous installments of the franchise as they all travel to Las Vegas in order to compete in a dance competition.

*In ‘Into the Storm’, directed by Steven Quale (‘Final Destination 5’), a group of high school students document the events and aftermath of a tornado. The film also stars Richard Armitage (‘The Hobbit’).

AUGUST 15- Two films hit theaters this weekend along with a film that will see an early release two days early on August 13^th.

*The ‘Expendables’ franchise returns with ‘The Expendables 3’, this time directed by Patrick Hughes (‘Red Hill’ and the upcoming American remake of ‘The Raid’) and is the first film in the series with a PG-13 rating. In this film, The Expendables, led by co-founder Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), face off against the group’s other co-founder, arms trader Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, and Arnold Schwarzenegger (among others) reprise their roles from the previous films and are joined in this one by Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, and Antonio Banderas (also among others).

*Based off of the 1993 novel of the same name by Lois Lowry, ‘The Giver’ centers on a 16-year old boy named Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) who lives in a utopian society. Jonas is selected to be the society’s ‘Receiver of Memory’, someone who stores away past memories that may one day be needed for future use. However, Jonas soon learns the darker side of the ‘perfect world’ he lives in. The film also stars Jeff Bridges as the titular ‘Giver’ along with Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgard, and Taylor Swift.

*Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. star in ‘Let’s Be Cops’ in which they play a pair of friends who pretend to be cops but soon find themselves in way over their heads. The film opens early on August 13^th.

AUGUST 22- Another trio of films hit theaters this weekend.

*Nearly a decade after the original ‘Sin City’ film was released in 2005, directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller return to helm the sequel, ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’, also based on Miller’s graphic novel ‘Sin City’. Like the previous film, the film is a collection of stories (AKA ‘yarns’) set in the fictional Basin City (commonly referred to as ‘Sin City’). This also includes two original stories written by Miller exclusively for the film. Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke, and Clive Owen (among others) reprise their roles from the previous film and are joined here by Eva Green, Josh Brolin, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (among others).

*Based off of the book of the same name by Gayle Forman, ‘If I Stay’ stars Chloe Grace Moretz as a young musician who ends up in a coma after her entire family is killed in a car crash. She then ends up in limbo and is forced to decide whether or not she will eventually wake up.

*‘When the Game Stands Tall’ is the true story of the De La Salle High School Football team and their record-breaking 151-game winning streak that ran from 1992 to 2004. The film stars Jim Caviezel as head coach Bob Ladouceur, Laura Dern, and Michael Chiklis.

AUGUST 29- The month closes out with two films, one of whom gets an early release on August 27^th.

*Pierce Brosnan reunites with director Roger Donaldson (‘Dante’s Peak’) for ‘The November Man’, based off of the book ‘There are No Spies’ by Bill Granger. Brosnan stars as an ex-CIA operative who is brought back into action where he faces his protégé (played by Luke Bracey) in a deadly game. The film also stars Olga Kurylenko and Will Patton. The film opens on August 27^th.

*The final release of the month, ‘As Above, So Below’ is a found footage film focusing on a group of explorers who venture into the catacombs of Paris, France in search for treasure but they soon come across some paranormal terrors.

And those are the films that will be coming out in August 2014. Check back next month for Part 8 as we’ll be looking at the films coming out in September.

2013 Preview: August

Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Year-long preview of the films set to come out during 2013. This is Part 8 and today we’ll be looking into the final month of summer with the films coming out during the month of August.

AUGUST 2- While one holdover from July, ‘Smurfs 2’, opens early on the Wednesday of that week, one new release is set to come out on the first Friday of the month.

*The first major release of the month is ‘2 Guns’, an action/crime comedy from director Baltasar Kormakur, whose last project was 2012’s ‘Contraband’. Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg star as a DEA and NCIS agent, respectively, who investigate one another, believing that they are stealing money from the mob. They are then forced to work together when they learn that they were both set up by the mob. The film is an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by Steven Grant.

AUGUST 7- The weekend of August 9-11 is going to be busy. Four films are set to come out, 2 of which are opening early on the 7^th.

*‘Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters’ is the second installment in the ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympian’ film series (based off of Rick Riordan’s bestselling novels) and the sequel to 2010’s ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief’. Thor Freudenthal (‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’) takes over directing duties from Chris Columbus for this film, which sees Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman), the demigod son of Poseidon, embark on a journey to find the Golden Fleece in order to save his training ground, Camp Half-Blood. Brandon T. Jackson and Alexandra Daddario reprise their roles as the satyr Grover and Annabeth, demigod daughter of Athena, respectively, alongside newcomers Stanley Tucci as Dionysus and Nathan Fillion as Hermes.

*‘We’re the Millers’ is a comedy directed by Rawson Thurber, who directed 2004’s ‘Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story’. Jason Sudeikis stars as a drug-dealer tasked with transporting some marijuana over the border. To do so inconspicuously, he hires a fake family, including his stripper ‘wife’ (Jennifer Aniston) and their two ‘kids’ (Emma Roberts and Will Poulter).

AUGUST 9- As for the two releases that are set to come out officially on the Friday of that weekend…

*After the success of 2009’s ‘District 9’, Neill Blomkamp returns with another original story, ‘Elysium’. In this film, which takes place in the year 2154, the rich live on a luxurious crime-free habitat called Elysium while everyone else remains on the war-torn Earth and are struggling to escape the planet. Matt Damon stars as a factory worker who attempts to get to Elysium after he ends up with a cancer virus. The film also stars Jodie Foster as the secretary of Elysium and Sharlto Copley as the leader of her secret police force.

*The final release of the August 9-11 weekend is ‘Planes’, a spinoff of Disney/Pixar’s ‘Cars’ franchise. Produced by DisneyToon Studios (the company behind Disney’s direct-to-video projects), the film was originally supposed to be a direct-to-video release. But, because Disney was impressed by some of the completed sequences, they decided to have it released in theaters. The film follows a small-town plane named Dusty (Dane Cook, who replaced Jon Cryer in the role) who dreams of becoming a racing plane, despite the fact that he’s not built for racing and he’s also afraid of heights. The film’s supporting cast also includes John Cleese, Val Kilmer, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

AUGUST 16- Another big week with four major releases.

*While the original ‘Kick-Ass’ was not a huge hit at the box office when it was released in 2010, its solid critical and audience reception has led to a sequel, ‘Kick-Ass 2’, which will hit theaters this weekend. Jeff Wadlow (‘Never Back Down’) takes over for Matthew Vaughn as director for this new film. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloe Grace Moretz reprise their roles as Kick-Ass and Hit Girl, respectively, who join forces with a team of up-and-coming superheroes, led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) to take on Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who is reborn as the super villain known as ‘The MotherF***er’.

*Two historical dramas are set to hit theaters this weekend. The first is ‘Jobs’, a biopic based on the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away on October 5, 2011. Ashton Kutcher stars as the entrepreneur/inventor while Josh Gad stars as Apple I/II inventor and company co-founder Steve Wozniak. It’s the story of how Jobs and Wozniak started the personal computer revolution with the help of Wozniak’s invention, the Apple I.

*The other ‘biopic’ is ‘The Butler’, which is based off of the real-life story of Eugene Allen, who served as the official butler at the White House for eight presidencies from 1952-1986. The film is directed by Lee Daniels (‘Precious’) and stars Forest Whitaker as the fictional version of Allen, Cecil Gaines. The film also stars Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, and for the Presidents of the United States; Robin Williams as Dwight D. Eisenhower, James Marsden as John F. Kennedy, Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson, John Cusack as Richard Nixon, and Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan.

*The final release that weekend is ‘Paranoia’, a thriller that stars Liam Hemsworth as a worker at a technology corporation who is tasked with an espionage assignment at a rival company when he is faced with losing his job after a prank. Gary Oldman stars as the CEO of the company Hemsworth’s character works for while Harrison Ford stars as the CEO of the rival company.

AUGUST 21- Three films come out this weekend, although one opens early on Wednesday

*‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’ is the latest adaptation of a popular book franchise; in this case, ‘The Mortal Instruments’ series from author Cassandra Clare. Directed by Harald Zwart (the 2010 ‘Karate Kid’ remake), the film stars Lily Collins as Clarissa ‘Clary’ Fray, a young girl who learns that she is the daughter of a Shadowhunter, a half-angel/half-human warrior and that she also has the abilities of these warriors despite the fact that she is not one of them. She uses these powers in order to rescue her mother (Lena Headey).

AUGUST 23- As for the two films set to come out on that Friday…

*While it was released in the U.K. on July 19^th, ‘The World’s End’ will hit U.S. theaters on August 23^rd. It is the third and final film in the ‘Cornetto Trilogy’, a series of comedy films from director Edgar Wright which also includes 2004’s ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and 2007’s ‘Hot Fuzz’. This film follows five friends (played by Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, and Eddie Marsan) as they attempt an epic pub crawl in their hometown, which they had attempted years ago but failed to complete. However, they soon learn that things have changed in their town and completing this pub crawl becomes the least of their problems.

*‘You’re Next’ is a horror-thriller directed by Adam Wingard (who worked on the anthology films ‘V/H/S’ and ‘V/H/S 2’). The film, which made its debut at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, is about a group of serial killers who descend upon a family reunion.

AUGUST 30- Two films close out the month

*In ‘Closed Circuit’, Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall play a pair of lawyers (and ex-lovers) who take on the case of an alleged terrorist.

*Finally, there is, for the fans of the group, ‘One Direction: This is Us’, the latest 3-D concert film (directed by Morgan Spurlock (‘Super-Size Me’) following the boy band ‘One Direction’.

2013 Preview: July

2013 is now halfway over, but there’s still six months of movies left to go before 2014. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films coming out during 2013. This is Part 7 and today we’ll be looking at the films that will hit theaters during the month of July, which include a couple of sequels and some big blockbusters.

JULY 3- A pair of blockbusters hit theaters during Fourth of July Weekend, both of which will be opening early on the Wednesday before July 4^th.

*The first major release of the month is ‘Despicable Me 2’, the sequel to 2010’s surprise hit ‘Despicable Me’, which followed a super-villain named Gru (Steve Carell) who adopted three girls (Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher). These four return for the sequel, which sees Gru recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help deal with a powerful new super-villain. The rest of the voice cast includes Kristen Wiig (in a different role than the one she played in the previous film), Benjamin Bratt (who replaced Al Pacino, who left the project due to creative differences), and Steve Coogan.

*The other release that week is ‘The Lone Ranger’, the newest film from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The project was plagued by budget concerns but is now finally set to come out this week after being pushed back from a 2012 release. Armie Hammer stars in the main role of John Reid, a Texas Ranger who survives an ambush from a bunch of outlaws and takes on the new identity of ‘The Lone Ranger’, fighting crime alongside an Indian warrior named Tonto (Johnny Depp).

JULY 12- This weekend sees an Adam Sandler comedy and a big-budget sci-fi film from Guillermo Del Toro coming out.

*The follow-up to 2010’s ‘Grown-Ups’, ‘Grown-Ups 2’, will hit theaters this weekend. The majority of the main cast from the previous film (save for Rob Schneider) and director Dennis Dugan return for this new film, which sees Adam Sandler’s Lenny move back to his old hometown with his wife and their kids. Some new members of the cast include Andy Samberg, Taylor Lautner, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, and Shaquille O’Neal.



*The latest film from director Guillermo Del Toro, ‘Pacific Rim’, is the other major release of the week. This film takes place in the near future, where giant monsters known as ‘Kaiju’ emerge from a ‘portal’ in the Pacific Ocean and begin to wreak havoc on the planet. Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, and Rinko Kikuchi star as members of a Defense Corporation that builds giant robots called Jaegars to take on the invading Kaiju.

JULY 17- While there are quite a couple of films coming out only 2 days later, one film will hit theaters early on the Wednesday before July 19^th.



*After grossing more than 576 million worldwide with ‘The Croods’, DreamWorks will release their second major release of the year, ‘Turbo’. Ryan Reynolds (who also starred in ‘Croods’) stars as the titular ‘Turbo’, a garden snail who dreams of becoming a famous racer. This dream starts to come true after a freak accident gives him super speed. This movie will soon be followed by a TV series, Turbo F.A.S.T. (Fast Action Stunt Team) that will debut exclusively on Netflix in December.

JULY 19- Not including Turbo, a staggering 4 films will hit theaters this weekend (plus one for those in the U.K.).



*Speaking of Ryan Reynolds, another movie of his, R.I.P.D., will hit theaters two days after ‘Turbo’.  This film, based off of the Dark Horse comic ‘Rest in Peace Department’ by Peter M. Lenkov, follows a cop (Reynolds) who is killed in action and is then ‘enlisted’ in a ‘dead’ police department known as the R.I.P.D. He is then partnered with Roy (Jeff Bridges) and the two officers team up in order to take on evil spirits. The film is directed by Robert Schwentke (‘Red’) and also stars Mary Louise Parker and Kevin Bacon.



*Meanwhile, Schwentke’s 2010 action comedy ‘Red’ will get a sequel in ‘Red 2’, which hits theaters the same weekend. Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) takes over for Schwentke behind the camera for this film, which finds ex-CIA agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) on the run from Interpol. John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, and Brian Cox reprise their roles from the previous film alongside newcomers Catherine Zeta Jones, Lee Byung-hun, and Anthony Hopkins.



*For the horror crowd, ‘The Conjuring’ hits theaters this weekend. The film is directed by James Wan (‘Saw’, ‘Insidious’, and the latter’s sequel, which comes out in September) and stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as a pair of paranormal investigators that try to help a family deal with a dark presence that is in their farmhouse.



*Finally, in the U.S. (in a more limited release), there’s ‘Only God Forgives’, which reunites Ryan Gosling with ‘Drive’ director Nicholas Winding Refn. In this film, Gosling plays a drug smuggler in Bangkok, Thailand who is compelled to find out who is responsible for the death of his brother. The film was previously screened at Cannes, where it was actually booed by the Festival audience.



*For those in the U.K., ‘The World’s End’ will be released this weekend. The final film in Edgar Wright’s ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ will be released later in the U.S. in August (more on the film next month).

JULY 26- This weekend, there’s one release in the U.S. and another in the U.K.



*Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as Wolverine in two movies that are set to come out; 2014’s ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ and ‘The Wolverine’; the latter hitting theaters this year. Based off of the 1982 limited series ‘Wolverine’ by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, the film follows Wolverine as he travels to Japan, where he comes across a mysterious figure from his past and ends up losing his immortality. James Mangold (the 2007 remake of ‘3:10 to Yuma’) directs this film, which is set after the events of ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’.



*The latest adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ will be released in the U.K. this weekend. The first since Baz Luhrmann’s modern day remake in 1996, this version is a traditional take on the story (similar to Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film adaptation). Hailee Steinfeld (2010’s ‘True Grit’) and Douglas Booth star as Romeo and Juliet, along with Damian Lewis (Homeland) as Lord Capulet, Paul Giamatti as Friar Laurence, and Kodi Smit-McPhee (‘Let Me In’, ‘Paranorman’) as Benvolio.

JULY 31- The final release of the month is another early Wednesday release, two days before the first releases of August.



*Two years after 2011’s ‘The Smurfs’ grossed over 500 million worldwide, the miniature blue creatures return for a sequel, ‘The Smurfs 2’. The main cast from the previous film returns for this film along with director Raja Gosnell. In this film, the Smurfs’ nemesis Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette after creating two ‘evil’ Smurfs called the Naughties.

And that’s the lineup of films hitting theaters during July. Check back next month for Part 8, where we’ll be looking at the film lineup for August.