Royalty Goes Berserk in 'The Favourite'

This is apparently Fox Searchlight's big Oscar bet for the fall, and it looks to be a showcase for actresses Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone (that's right, Emma Stone, who has never looked to me like she fits into period pieces). It's from director Yorgos Lanthimos, who made The Lobster, one of the strangest comedies I've ever seen, but this one wasn't written by him apparently, so that may make it more accessible to audiences. We'll see. It's likely to premiere at Venice or Telluride in a couple months.

Timothee Chalamet Goes for Another Oscar Nomination in 'Beautiful Boy'

Boy does this look like a tearjerker. Heartthrob Timothee Chalamet (from last year's Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird) is back in the role of a meth addict and Steve Carell is the devastated dad trying to reach out to him. The material may seem familiar, but I happen to have seen this director's previous film The Broken Circle Breakdown from 2012 and he does have an eye for family tragedy. And Chalamet's a good actor, so who knows. It comes out October 12th, so it's definitely an Oscar play.

Michael B. Jordan Returns for 'Creed II' This Thanksgiving

I thought the first Creed was actually a really good movie, but I don't know what else there is to say for a sequel....then again, Rocky went on for a ton of sequels, so who knows. And of those, Rocky II was probably the best one, so maybe this will be in that vein. Looks fairly typical, but it appears that Adonis Creed will be fighting the son of Ivan Drago, the man who killed his father back in Rocky IV. This one has a new director in Steven Caple, Jr., since Ryan Coogler left, and the screenplay was written by Sylvester Stallone and Cheo Hodari Coker (showrunner for Luke Cage). 

Tim Burton Brings the Flying Elephant to Life in Disney's 'Dumbo'

So, I thought this would actually look a lot worse, but it's been so long since Tim Burton made a decent movie (not since 2007's Sweeney Todd, in my opinion) that he unfortunately demands skepticism until the movie proves otherwise. The circus stuff in this does remind me of Big Fish a little bit. I'm surprised they're keeping the famous "Baby Be Mine" song- will it have any of the other songs, like "When I See an Elephant Fly"? Dumbo is the first live action remake from Disney's Golden Age- what's next, Pinocchio, I assume? Bambi? Snow White seems like an obvious one. I'm sure the success or failure of this will dictate it. It's coming out next March.

See Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong in 'First Man'

So, this drama about the mission to land Neil Armstrong on the moon is directed by Damien Chazelle, who also made Whiplash and La La Land, not that you can tell from this trailer. I'm actually kind of surprised to see him making a movie like this- looks a lot more like the docudrama Apollo 13 than something the highly stylized Chazelle would do. Still, I suppose it could be interesting. Funny to see The Crown's Claire Foy showing up in a lot of things all of a sudden.

Chris Hemsworth and Jeff Bridges Get Crazy in 'Bad Times at the El Royale'

Drew Goddard, who directed The Cabin in the Woods, has a new movie coming out this fall, which looks nuts, in the best way possible. Cabin in the Woods wasn't exactly a hit with audiences (I think it was hated by them, actually), but it was so bizarre and unpredictable that I kind of loved it for its weirdness. This one looks similar, so I can't wait.

Toothless Gets a Girlfriend in 'How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'

Yay! I happen to love this series (the only good animated films from Dreamworks anymore), and the conclusion to the trilogy is finally coming out in March of next year. All the films are written and directed by Dean BeBlois, so I'm sure it'll measure up to the first two in quality. This time it looks like a mate for Toothless is introduced as the Vikings rally again to save their pet dragons.

Claire Foy Takes Over the Role of Lisbeth Salander in 'The Girl in the Spider's Web'

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a hit back in 2011, but it's taken forever to get going on the sequels, which are based on the book series. Now it's finally here, but with a new director (Fede Alvarez, who directed Don't Breathe) and new lead (The Crown's Claire Foy) taking over for David Fincher and Rooney Mara (who was Oscar nominated for her role in the last one). This is meant to be a reboot of the entire series, but who knows how it'll turn out. I thought the success of the first one was largely due to Fincher's direction and Mara's performance specifically, so losing both of those things....I don't know. It comes out November 9th.

Miles Morales is the New Spidey in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'

Hey, this actually looks...kinda good? I'll be honest, any kind of animation that doesn't look like the typical Disney/Pixar style catches my eye at this point, but aside from that, it looks like it might have a good story, too. Sony is producing this, so it stands aside from the usual Marvel canon in any way, as Spider-Man teaches teenager Miles Morales that there are multiple universes out there with a different Spider-Man in each one. I know there were some people looking forward to this for a while, but I hadn't paid much attention until now. It's coming out December 14th, in time for Christmas this year.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga Turn Out New 'A Star is Born'

Trailer week continues, as this highly anticipated fourth version of A Star is Born is done for a new generation, more than forty years after the last one with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson (before that was 1937's Janet Gaynor/Fredric March version, followed by 1954's Judy Garland/James Mason one, in case you want to be a completist). Cooper is making his directorial debut with this and perhaps unsurprisingly, it looks a lot like the Bradley Cooper Show. He's a good actor and look guys, he sings! Gaga is a little more sidelined in this trailer, with her lack of acting experience showing a tad in some of those early scenes, but we know she'll at least get some big performance numbers. Funnily enough, it'll probably be the first version of this story where the "star" in question gets less focus than the guy (you were never going to get away with sidelining Streisand or Garland in their star vehicles), but the movie itself looks pretty good. Looking forward to it!

Trailer Drops for 'The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part'

It may feel like there's been other Lego movies in the last four years, but Lego Batman and Lego Ninjago were spinoff entries, and this is the first direct sequel to the original 2014 hit, believe it or not. I actually didn't like that one much (even though I did think the Batman one was hilarious), but this trailer does look pretty funny. Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks are back as the leads, with new pop culture references galore, and original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller return as producers and co-writers. It's set to come out next February.