The Movie Waffler TMW's 2016 Movie Preview - Part 12: December | The Movie Waffler

TMW's 2016 Movie Preview - Part 12: December

Part 12 of our look ahead to the movies coming our way in 2016.



Words by Eric Hillis (@hilliseric)

All dates are based on the current UK release calendar and are subject to change.


Moana
Disney's latest concerns the adventures of a young girl from the Pacific Islands who sets off in search of a mythical island, accompanied by a demi-god voiced by Dwayne Johnson. Having previously directed Disney's 2D animation The Princess and the Frog, the duo of Ron Clements and John Musker move into the now conventional sphere of CG animation.



Rogue One
**TMW Must See** The first of a planned series of standalone movies set in the Star Wars universe deals with the heist pulled off by a group of rebels to steal the plans for the Death Star. It's the first Star Wars movie not to feature Jedis and it's being pitched as a sci-fi take on classic war movies. With Gareth Edwards directing and Felicity Jones, Ben Mendelsohn and Mads Mikkelsen starring, this promises to make up for the anti-climactic The Force Awakens.

Passengers
Starring arguably the two most bankable stars in Hollywood right now, Passengers is billed as a sci-fi romance. The pair become romantically involved after being woken up from their cryogenic slumber on a centuries long voyage into space, accompanied by Michael Sheen's robot. Morten Tyldum, of Headhunters and The Imitation Game fame, directs.

Assassin's Creed
We're still awaiting a great video game adaptation; perhaps Justin Kurzel's Assassin's Creed will change that? The cast - Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Michael K Williams, Ariane Labed, Jeremy Irons, and Brendan Gleeson - certainly instills confidence, and the theme of the game (an assassin taking on the Knights Templar) certainly should translate comfortably to cinema.

Bad Santa 2
This sequel was originally aiming for a 2011 release but it's finally coming our way at the end of 2016. With shooting about to begin, Billy Bob Thronton returns in the title role, joined by Kathy Bates as his mother. Mean Girls' Mark Waters directs.

Sully
Clint Eastwood's previous film, American Sniper, had audiences split on whether its subject was a hero or a villain. There's no such ambiguity with this biopic of Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who saved the lives of his passengers and crew by crash-landing his plane in the Hudson river in 2009. Tom Hanks (who else?) plays Sully, with Laura Linney as his wife.


Help support The Movie Waffler by sharing this post