The 30 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015

For people who love watching movies, 2014 was an exceptional year. Just look at this murderer’s row of instant classics: Guardians of the Galaxy, Boyhood, Selma, Under the Skin, The Babadook, The Grand Budapest Hotel. How could you not look back at last year with pure joy? Well, you could if you work in the movie business, that’s how. The numbers don’t lie—the year's overall box office intake, $10.3 billion, was down 5.2% from 2013. (Yes, earnings of over $10 million are considered disappointing in Hollywood.)

Those same insiders, though, aren’t gloomily signaling a cinematic apocalypse—they’re currently standing by with champagne bottles on ice, ready to pop an ocean’s worth of bubbly come December 31, 2015. Why? Because this new year is ridiculously stacked with no-brainer tentpole smashes. Maybe you’ve heard of a little movie called Star Wars: The Force Awakens, or a nondescript sequel titled Avengers: Age of Ultron. Your mother, bless her smut-loving heart, will probably break out in a cold sweat if you mention Fifty Shades of Grey. And, of course, anyone with a pulse should perk up at the sight of Chris Pratt going all SAMCRO with velociraptors in that Jurassic World trailer.

Yes, it's about to rain dollar bills at every multiplex in sight. Next week, we'll show love to all of this year’s must-see independent films, but for now, it's all about the star power. These are The 30 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015 (listed chronologically), which, a year from now, should make $10 million sound like chump change.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson

Stars: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eloise Mumford, Rita Ora, Luke Grimes, Victor Rasuk, Max Martini, Dylan Neal, Callum Keith Rennie, Jennifer Ehle, Marcia Gay Harden

Release date: February 13

An alternate title for Fifty Shades of Grey: How You'll Spend Valentine's Day 2015, Bro. Your girlfriend is already dying to see this adaptation of E.L. James' amateurishly written, glorified fan-fiction novel, the one infamous for its rampant sex and kinky BDSM. She's probably got two tickets on hold via Fandango. You'll be seated in the nearest multiplex on Valentine's night, watching the virginal Anastasia Steele (newcomer Dakota Johnson) get turned out both physically and emotionally by suave, fetishistic playboy Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan, the next Robert Pattinson, sans the emo-ness).

Now let's just hope that Fifty Shades of Grey is more than just a hard-R-rated Lifetime movie. The source material makes Stephanie Meyer's Twilight books read like Hemingway, and the chemistry displayed by stars Johnson and Dornan at this weekend's Golden Globes was about as steamy as a broken iron. It's also worth noting that Sons of Anarchy's Charlie Hunnam—originally cast as Christian Grey—abandoned ship for a reason, and you'd be naive to think it was only because of I-don't-want-to-be-Pattinson-status cold feet.

Either way, Fifty Shades of Grey is about to whip box office into submission. Your best bet, if you want to make wifey happy, is put on that Pulp Fiction gimp suit and grab some popcorn. —Matt Barone

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Stars: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Sophie Cookson, Sofia Boutella, Jack Davenport, Mark Strong, Mark Hamill

Release date: February 13

How does this sound: James Bond meets Kick-Ass?

Trust, whatever you’re thinking that’d look like, it’s nowhere near as batshit as Kingsman: The Secret Service, a balls-out action flick that’s like 007 on a Jolt Cola bender. Based on Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar’s comic book, director Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class follow-up has a similar energy to Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim adaptation, part bonkers video game and part old-school spy movie. Newcomer Taron Egerton plays the new recruit of a secret organization of young Bond wannabes, with Colin Firth upending his typically stuffed-shirt demeanor to play Egerton’s mentor and Samuel L. Jackson going full weirdo to play the villain with a lisp and a penchant for hip street wear.

Kingsman: The Secret Service has “sleeper hit” written all over it, assuming it’s marketed properly. If I worked for its marketing team, I’d emphasize one scene in particular: an insane one-versus-many fight sequence set inside a church, in which Firth annihilates an entire congregation as if he’s in The Raid 3. —Matt Barone

Focus

Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Stars: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney, BD Wong

Release date: February 27

Will Smith's last leading role was almost three years ago, and in the perfectly mediocre Men in Black 3 at that. Since then there were ill-advised Jaden Smith vehicles and a cameo here and there, but Focus is his first time back in the hot seat. And since he's still one of the foremost bankable blockbuster kings of our generation, any Will Smith movie must be paid due attention.

If this is a comeback movie, it's an odd choice. The trailers suggest an odd mix of tones: Is Focus a breezy con artists cum rom-com, with Smith opposite the alluring Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street)? Or is it a darker crime tale? Not to mention, a new Fresh Prince movie so early in the year, not during the summer? Focus will end up as either a surprisingly fun appetizer for Smith and Robbie's next collaboration, the DC Comics flick Suicide Squad, or a brick in the duo's bid for relevancy until...yes, Suicide Squad. But with a Hollywood veteran and one of the game's most intriguing new actresses, we'll be there no matter what. —Frazier Tharpe

In the Heart of the Sea

Director: Ron Howard

Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, Brendan Gleeson, Michelle Fairley, Charlotte Riley

Release date: March 15

Is Chris Hemsworth a legitimate action star, or merely just Thor? We'll get part of the answer to that question this weekend, when Hemsworth's first of two 2015 leading man looks, Michael Mann's hacker-centric thriller Blackhat, opens, although the chances of Blackhat smashing box offices worldwide seem minimal at best. Don't be surprised if the garbage Taken 3 holds over enough to beat it.

Hemsworth's strongest bid for Avengers-free A-list status is Ron Howard's awesome-looking In the Heart of the Sea, which may also be the closest we'll get to a modern-day Moby Dick. Because, well, it's based on the 1820 incident that plagued the whaleship Essex and inspired Herman Melville, who was on the Essex, to write that destructive whale novel. Hemsworth plays the ship's first mate and the crew member who's best-quipped (see: dude's bulging muscles) to knuckle up against the powerful sperm whale, withstand 90 days spent shipwrecked, and, unfortunately for him, the most appetizing-looking when it comes time to survive via cannibalism.

If In the Heart of the Sea, pun intended, sinks, Hemsworth needn't fret—Avengers: Age of Ultron will be right around the corner. Not a bad consolation prize at all. —Matt Barone

Get Hard

Director: Etan Cohen

Stars: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Alison Brie, Craig T. Nelson, T.I., Jay Pharoah

Release date: March 27

Feeling any Kevin Hart fatigue yet? If not, congratulations, you've been able to withstand the seemingly endless onslaught of The Wedding Ringer promotions. Buckle up. though, because in only two more months, the Kevin Hart hype machine will restart and kick into an even stronger overdrive.

The good news: He'll be joined by Will Ferrell. The two comedy heavyweights star together in Get Hard, produced by Ferrell and his go-to director/friend Adam McKay (the Anchorman movies, Step Brothers). Ferrell plays a rich, stuck-up businessman set to live in jail for upwards of ten years; Hart's the street-wise ex-con who helps Ferrell's character toughen up before going behind bars, only Hart's really a suburban deadbeat posing as a thug to make some money. And, just because her presence in anything is always welcome, it's worth mentioning that Community's Alison Brie is their co-star.

Yes, Get Hard is perhaps the ultimate pause-worthy movie title of all time, but it's also potentially one of the year's funniest movies. The first trailer, which appeared online a few weeks back, suggests that this could be Will Ferrell's best comedy since Step Brothers. —Matt Barone

Furious 7

Director: James Wan

Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Lucas Black, Jason Statham, Tony Jaa, Kurt Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel, Rhonda Rousey

Release date: April 3

A new Fast & Furious movie is usually a reason to watch your local movie theater turn into an all-out party—after all, the Vin-Diesel-led franchise is the definition of harmless fan-servicing and guaranteed satisfaction. The filmmakers know what their audience wants and expects, and they always deliver upon those promises. Furious 7, though, is the first sequel to arrive on a note of sadness, following regular star Paul Walker's tragic death in late-2013. He'll be in this one, of course, but through a combination of real performance, CG (placing his face onto the bodies of his brothers), and other technology that, hopefully, won't look as creepy as it sounds.

Because this is a Fast & Furious movie, though, don't expect that somberness to turn Furious 7 into the summer's most funereal blockbuster. If anything, it'll be ten times more celebratory. It'll also be much bigger than ever before, with the cast additions of Jason Statham (playing the film's villain), Kurt Russell (the '80s action god), Ronda Rousey (MMA's killer beauty queen), and Tony Jaa (a martial arts god).

More exciting than those new faces is Furious 7's director: James Wan, Hollywood's current master of horror who's ready to fully exploit his lifelong love of James Cameron-style action. If you've seen Wan's Charles-Bronson-esque film Death Sentence, you've seen its brilliantly staged centerpiece, an extended chase sequence that ends in a parking garage—well, Wan pulled that off with peanuts for a budget. Just think what he'll be able to do with a couple-hundred-million dollars. —Matt Barone

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Director: Joss Whedon

Stars: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Don Cheadle, James Spader, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Samuel L. Jackson

Release date: May 1

Now that we know Marvel will be releasing a movie (or more) a year until the sun explodes or the Shi'ar Empire invades Earth, comic book movies have become more like $150 million TV installments than singular films in their own right. But that doesn't mean some Marvel movies aren't bigger than others, and the biggest of all is, of course, The Avengers—the veritable sweeps week of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It's where the company's disparate heroes come together to battle evil (and each other) under the guiding master-hand of Joss "please, let's not talk about Buffy anymore" Whedon, where B- franchises like Thor meet A+ franchises like Iron Man and, most exciting, the only place that Mark Ruffalo's Hulk gets to SMASH. Age of Ultron looks to be even bigger than the first one, because of course. Not an easy feat, considering the last movie destroyed most of New York City with giant space worms.

This time our regular heroes will be joined by Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)—comic book mutants remade as Inhumans for copyright reason—in a fight against a robot version of James Spader. How Whedon interlocks all these moving parts remains to be seen, as is whether Ultron will sport a Cool Dad fedora.

Resistance is futile. You will see this film. —Nathan Reese

Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller

Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Nathan Jones, Hugh Keays-Byrne

Release date: May 15

Everything is fire these days. Fire tweets. Fire alphets. Fire TV shows. But what about a movie that is actually, literally, burn-you-to-a-motherfucking-crisp explosive? That's Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller's fourth film set it in a post-apocalyptic Australian outback filled with muscle cars, face paint, and all manner of dangerously sharp objects.

While what we know about the film so far is just what can be seen in the mind-blowingly epic trailer, it's clear that the Road Warrior's mantle has been taken up by Tom Hardy and that he says things like, "My world is fire and blood." Sick. We also know that there's a great supporting cast, rounded out by Charlize Theron who plays a character named Imperator Furiosa. IMPERATOR FURIOSA.

It now occurs to me that I've done you a great disservice by not writing this preview in all caps the whole time, but I'm too busy studying the preview's dust storm scene to redo it. Maybe just see the damn movie on May 15, yeah? —Nathan Reese

Pitch Perfect 2

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Stars: Anna Kendrick, Hailee Steinfeld, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Katey Sagal, Ester Dean, Alexis Knapp, Skylar Astin, Hana Mae Lee

Release date: May 15

Before Pitch Perfect opened in 2012, the thought of a movie about a bunch of acapella-singing girls singing a lot of acapella seemed, well, tone-deaf. Blame if on post-Glee weariness. But now that we've seen Pitch Perfect, the thought of a sequel sounds like sweet, bring-it-on music.

Led by the ever-lovable Anna Kendrick, Pitch Perfect remains one of the funniest movies of the last few years, a sneakily weird movie with the kind of irreverence you'd find in an FX comedy. Think It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for the songbird crowd. The stakes are much higher in this sequel, in which the Bellas head overseas for an international acapella competition that Americans teams have consistently tanked.

And this time, it's directed by first-timer Elizabeth Banks, one of Hollywood's best comedic actresses who's worked with everybody from Judd Apatow to Kevin Smith. She knows a thing or three about getting people to laugh. —Matt Barone

Tomorrowland

Director: Brad Bird

Stars: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie, Kathryn Hahn, Tim McGraw, Keegan-Michael Key, Judy Greer

Release date: May 22

With so many superhero movies and blockbuster sequels on deck, the proposition of Tomorrowland just feels so damn refreshing: It’s a sci-fi/fantasy special-effects extravaganza that, get this, is based on an original concept. Yes, they do exist.

Conceived by Damon Lindelof and Entertainment Weekly reporter Jeff Jensen, Tomorrowland sounds like Disney’s riff on Steven Spielberg’s old wide-eyed and sweetly optimistic Amblin mentality. Fresh-faced Britt Robertson (Under the Dome) leads as a Florida girl who dreams of leaving her troubled world and escaping to somewhere better; that’s exactly what she finds with the help of a mysterious pin and an antisocial inventor (played by George Clooney). He teaches her about the pin and its magical powers—with it, you can travel to magical worlds.

If that sounds hokey to you, keep in mind that Tomorrowland’s director is Brad Bird, the former Pixar shotcaller and first-class filmmaker responsible for The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. Bird’s first live-action movie was Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, home to some of the ballsiest and most impressive action set-pieces of the last five years. He hasn’t made a bad movie yet. One look at Tomorrowland’s teaser trailer suggests that he’s not about to start now. —Matt Barone

The Fantastic Four

Director: Josh Trank

Stars: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Tim Blake Nelson

Release date: June 2

Franchise reboots that happen within the same decade are a horrible trend—there's no doubt about that. But when said franchise originally came to an end not because it was time, but because each movie in the series was an absolutely worthless brick, then maybe there's something noble in trying to help a property with the potential reach the greatness it can achieve.

It is within the Fantastic Four to deliver a breezy good time. The two films that effectively ended Ioan Gruffud's film career, nearly rendered Chris Evans ineligible for Avengers enlistment, and gave Jessica Alba something to do, are not that—they're craftless garbage, exercises in mediocrity that threatened the superhero genre's longevity. Now, a restart featuring four of the buzziest young actors in the game, directed by the guy who helmed the awe-inspiring-on-a-budget cult favorite Chronicle, and created in such a pro-superhero atmosphere, could possibly take a Fantastic Four film beyond our expectations.

With so much talent on deck, don't be surprised if Mr. Fantastic, the Storm siblings, and The Thing steal some shine from that other super-group this summer. —Frazier Tharpe

Entourage

Director: Doug Ellin

Stars: Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jeremy Piven, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Perrey Reeves, Rex Lee, Scott Caan, Debi Mazar, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Constance Zimmer, Rhys Coiro, Nora Dunn, Bow Wow

Release date: June 5

It's the bromantic event of the year, the decade, possibly even the century.

When Vince, his new wife, and perennial hangers-on Turtle and Drama flew off into the sunset, all while E went his own way with expecting baby mama Sloan, no one actually thought the rumored talks of continuing the gang's misadventures with a movie would amount to much, Sex in the City's precedent notwithstanding. Furthermore, no one, especially not the show's most honest fans, were sure that's what they wanted. When the series finally ended it was far from peak form. Telling a story that plays out episodically over two hours is tough enough, so what would a two-hour movie look like if the show was already approaching dry land (read: washed)?

Welp, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and here's hoping it gave writer-director Doug Ellin enough of a recharging period to get back in the season two zone. Because that trailer and photos like this reveal just how exciting it is to see the boys from Queens back together. Hit your squad up in the group chat and let them know—spring's closing out with a mandatory man-date. —Frazier Tharpe

Jurassic World

Director: Colin Trevorrow

Stars: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jake Johnson, BD Wong, Irrfan Khan, Brian Tee, Judy Greer

Release date: June 12

The park is now open.

There's no other way to justify returning to Jurassic Park, both the franchise and would-be tourist destination, than by just pushing the button and creating what John Hammond could only envision. Like many franchise reboots this year, the promise in Jurassic World lies in that its director, Colin Trevorrow, is a genuine lifelong fan. And while dino-crocs, mysterious new beasts, and whatever the hell's going on with that horde of raptors are all very exciting prospects, those all come secondary to Trevorrow's ability to turn his own love for the material into a worthy sequel that resonates on a similar level, beyond the special effects.

We were hooked from the second that chopped-and-screwed version of John Williams' timeless theme played in the teaser. With America's Favorite Son™ Chris Pratt leading the charge (and the raptors?), we're hopeful for a new adventure that will make doctors Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm proud. —Frazier Tharpe

Terminator Genisys

Director: Alan Taylor

Stars: Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Matt Smith, Lee Byung-hun, Dayo Okeniyi, Courtney B. Vance, Sandrine Holt

Release date: July 1

Yes, "Genisys" is spelled really, really dumb. And also, yes, Schwarzenegger is way too old for this sort of thing. Still, Terminator Genisys director Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) looks like he's got his head in the right place. The explanation that Arnold's body is aging around his endoskeleton is actually a pretty cool write-around, and Lee Byung-hun is an inspired choice for the shape-shifting T-1000-esque baddie. I'm not even mad at Jason Clarke, who—if you include The Sarah Connor Chronicles—plays the fifth iteration of John Connor​. (Though if they were really going for post-apocalyptic realism they'd have found a way to get Edward Furlong back in the saddle.)

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and I just can't help myself when it comes to the Terminator franchise. Can we please get through T:5 without another cloying "I'll be back" this time around? (Damn.) —Nathan Reese

Magic Mike XXL

Director: Gregory Jacobs

Stars: Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Amber Heard, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Strahan, Gabriel Iglesias, Adam Rodriguez, Andie MacDowell

Release date: July 3

Admit it, Magic Mike is a really good movie. Despite its surface-level beefcake traits, the qualities that made women flock to theaters on some Rocky Horror Picture Show crowd participation ish back in the summer of 2012, Steven Soderbergh’s dramedy about male strippers is funny, charming, heartfelt, and the official coming-out party for Channing Tatum, gotta-love-him leading man. If you’re too macho to embrace a film in which dudes disrobe and gyrate, it’s time to grow up.

And do so before July, because Tatum and his stage-mates are back in Magic Mike XXL, which will find the crew heading to Myrtle Beach for a "stripping convention." Because those exist. The bad news, though, is that Magic Mike M.V.P. Matthew McConaughey isn’t back for a second amazing turn as HSIC (Head Stripper in Charge) Dallas, a glaring omission that could’ve sank XXL before it even began. Also, Soderbergh’s only producing this time, with Soderbergh’s longtime assistant director Gregory Jacobs taking over.

Although there’s no McConaissance, Tatum—who co-wrote the sequel—and company have re-stacked the cast’s deck nicely. Joining the half-naked fray are Jada Pinkett Smith, Amber Heard (who could, finally, be in a movie worthy of her untapped potential), Elizabeth Banks, Donald Glover, and, best of all, the wrestling god Ric Flair. If it’s good enough for the Nature Boy, it should be good enough for you. —Matt Barone

Ant-Man

Director: Peyton Reed

Stars: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena, Judy Greer, T.I., David Dastmalchian, Wood Harris

Release date: July 17

Avengers: Age of Ultron may be 2015's most anticipated Marvel release on paper, but all eyes are on Ant-Man. Film nerds everywhere stowed their doubts over whether the third-stringer superhero could carry his own movie because fan-favorite director Edgar Wright was just so damn passionate about it. Too passionate for the suits at Marvel Studios and Disney apparently. Now, the movie about a superhero who can shrink himself and, like, communicate with bugs or whatever, is down one auteur and up a director whose filmography boasts...Bring It On and Yes Man.

Mileage on Marvel movie quality has varied, but this marks the first time the blockbuster behemoth is going into the ring with a few sustained bruises. Who knew Phase Three would rest in the tiniest of superhero hands? —Frazier Tharpe

Poltergeist

Director: Gil Kenan

Stars: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie Dewitt, Jared Harris, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jane Adams

Release date: July 24

Normally, news of yet another horror movie remake would be cause for blogger vitriol and Hollywood slandering, but the new Poltergeist is a special case. For once, a scary movie reboot actually sounds pretty great. or, at least, promising enough to leave you cautiously optimistic.

In the wake of James Wan’s hugely successful haunted house movies (the subversive Insidious, the more traditional The Conjuring), a Poltergeist remake feels like a no-brainer. Thankfully, producer Sam Raimi loves the horror genre enough to stock it with top-shelf talent. Sam Rockwell, one of the best actors in the game, co-stars alongside the equally strong Rosemarie DeWitt (who’s been excellent in indie flicks like Your Sister’s Sister) in what’s already the best-cast horror remake of all time. The script was written by a Pulitzer Prize winner (David Lindsay-Abaire), and its director is the man behind the lively and delightful animated kiddie-horror flick Monster House.

No horror remake has sounded this could-be-amazing since Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead back in 2004. —Matt Barone

Trainwreck

Director: Judd Apatow

Stars: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Barkhad Abdi, Mike Birbiglia, Daniel Radcliffe, LeBron James, Ezra Miller, Jon Glaser, Method Man, Jim Norton

Release date: July 24

Get ready for the official Amy Schumer takeover. Already brewing, thanks to her hit Comedy Central sketch series, Inside Amy Schumer, the stand-up comedian’s about to fully cross over. And she’ll do so with the help of the man who pushed Lena Dunham into the mainstream: comedy kingpin Judd Apatow. His last directorial effort was the disappointingly bland This is 40. He needs another The 40 Year Old Virgin or Knocked Up.

This could be it. Co-written by Schumer and Apatow, Trainwreck is about…well, nobody really knows. Based on its title, though, it’ll probably mirror Kristen Wiig’s character arc in Bridesmaids, with Schumer playing a thirtysomething woman trying to get her shit together while, presumably, falling in love with co-star Bill Hader.

Meanwhile, the singularly weird and brilliant Tilda Swinton will finally get to do straightforward comedy, and Schumer will do some awkwardly hilarious things with the year’s strangest lineup of cameos and bit-part players, including—in no particular order of randomness—LeBron James, Daniel Radcliffe, Method Man, Barkhad Abdi, and John Cena. —Matt Barone

Straight Outta Compton

Director: F. Gary Gray

Stars: Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Aldis Hodge, Neil Brown, Jr., Paul Giamatti, Corey Reynolds, Keith Stanfield, Alexandra Shipp, Sheldon A. Smith, Carra Patterson

Release date: August 14

F. Gary Gray, the director behind this N.W.A. movie, should thank the Lifetime Network and VH1—those channels’ awful music industry biopics have set the bar subterranean-level low for Straight Outta Compton. People now equate films of this kind with laughably amateur productions like CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story and Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, giving Gray the opportunity to shock and awe, since, you know, he’s a real filmmaker working for a real studio with a real money.

A better comparison would be the Biggie Smalls biopic Notorious, which, despite not turning star Gravy into a full-fledged Hollywood player, isn’t half-bad. Something tells me that Straight Outta Compton will make Notorious seem more like Guerrilla Black than Christopher Wallace, though. Starring a group of unknowns, Straight Outta Compton has an incredible story to tell, that of the collective ascension of taboo-crushers Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. Not a soulless cash-in, it’s being overseen by Dre and Cube, the latter upping the film’s authenticity by casting his son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., as the young version of himself.

And then there’s Straight Outta Compton’s trump card: Paul Giamatti, whose presence instantly pushes the film to must-see status and undeniable credibility. He’s playing N.W.A.’s infamous manager, Jerry Heller. It’s already our nomination for 2015’s Best Supporting Actor awards, just because. —Matt Barone

Triple Nine

Director: John Hillcoat

Stars: Woody Harrelson, Kate Winslet, Aaron Paul, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Norman Reedus, Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie, Gal Gadot, Teresa Palmer, Clifton Collins, Jr.

Release date: September 11

Come on, just look at that cast—they could be in a movie about a Tiddlywinks competition and it’d still be the epitome of must-see entertainment.

Fortunately, Triple Nine has nothing to do with silly children’s games. Woody Harrelson leads a group of excellent co-stars (Aaron Paul, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Norman Reedus, Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie, and Kate f’n Winslet) in what sounds like a slam-dunk crime thriller: A bunch of corrupt cops are forced, via blackmail, to execute a high-stakes heist, and in order to pull the whole thing off, they’ll need to murder one of their rookie colleagues.

Think the terrible Armored if it weren’t straight garbage, starred people better than Columbus Short, and came from the director of great films like The Proposition and The Road. —Matt Barone

Black Mass

Director: Scott Cooper

Stars: Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Jesse Plemons, Sienna Miller, Dakota Johnson, David Harbour, Rory Cochrane, Julianne Nicholson, Kevin Bacon, W. Earl Brown, Juno Temple, Corey Stoll, Peter Sarsgaard

Release date: September 18

Early prediction: Mortdecai will be one of the worst movies of the year. That’s solely based on the movie’s commercials and trailer, which show Johnny Depp hamming it up in what looks like the kind of goofy, throwaway Pink Panther-esque comedy Rowan Atkinson would even turn down. It’s the latest entry in Depp’s ongoing King of the Fall-Off Tour. It makes you wish he’d start giving a fuck again.

Could that tour of shame end later this year, though? Everything about Black Mass suggests that it very well could. Directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace), it’s a starry, gangster-fied biopic about infamous Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, played by Depp in what, as you’ll see above, looks like the kind of vanity-free, chubby-cheeked physical transformation that Oscar pundits adore. Bulger was a huge influence on Jack Nicholson’s character in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, which implies that Depp could be channeling Frank Costello’s greatness here.

Even better, Depp won’t be required to carry Black Mass’ whole weight. The rest of the cast is superb, with Benedict Cumberbatch playing Bulger’s politician brother, Jesse Plemons (so amazing as Breaking Bad’s sociopathic Todd) as one of Bulger’s righthand men, and Joel Edgerton (rebounding off of the terrible Exodus: Gods and Kings) as the corrupt FBI agent keeping Beantown criminals out of prison. —Matt Barone

Crimson Peak

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, Jessica Chastain, Doug Jones, Leslie Hope, Burn Gorman

Release date: October 16

Fans of old-school Gothic horror already know what 2015 is all about: Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak, the beloved genre movie master’s should-be-glorious return to scary movies, following his work on The Hobbit and directing Pacific Rim. An outspoken horror nerd, del Toro’s love is right there in Crimson Peak’s main character’s name: Edith Cushing, an unsubtle nod Peter Cushing, the legendary British horror studio Hammer Films’ go-to actor.

That Edith Cushing is played by the always intriguing Mia Wasikowska—so dynamite in 2013’s underrated Stoker—is a wonderful bonus. The story, set in a decrepit and spooky-looking old English mansion, revolves around the increasingly problematic relationship between Edith and her new husband, Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston, another victory for del Toro), who is “not who appears to be.” Considering del Toro’s affinity for simplistic horror, Hiddleston’s identity will probably be one of the following: a vampire, a Jack-the-Ripper-esque serial killer, or a Jekyll/Hyde-like madman. Or, perhaps, something else entirely new.

Jessica Chastain and Charlie Hunnam (fresh off Sons of Anarchy’s sack finale) will help Wasikowska figure out the truth. Any horror fan worth his or her salt will be there to watch it all go down. —Matt Barone

Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes

Stars: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear

Release date: November 6

Some movies don’t need plot descriptions to drum up excitement. Spectre is one such movie. For one, it’s the next James Bond movie, reuniting Daniel Craig with director Sam Mendes; the last time they worked together, we got the 007 knockout Skyfall, the best Bond movie of the Daniel Craig era. Two, the antagonist this time is Christoph Waltz, who was basically born to play a Bond villain, the same way the stunning Monica Bellucci was destined to play a Bond girl (or, in her case, a Bond woman).

With rumblings that Spectre will be Craig’s last turn as the iconic secret agent, expectations are sky-high for Spectre. You may want to keep those in check—through the Sony email leak fiasco, Spectre’s script leaked; the responses weren’t exactly glowing. Further reports that its budget had ballooned to a way-overboard $300 million didn’t reignite any optimism.

Until there’s any actual footage to watch, though, it’s only fair to give Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig the benefit of the doubt. Besides, any movie co-starring both Christoph Waltz and Monica Bellucci deserves the largest cut of slack. —Matt Barone

The Hateful Eight

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Bruce Dern, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Demián Bichir, Channing Tatum

Release date: November 13

Were you one of the thirsty cinephiles who downloaded and read Quentin Tarantino’s leaked The Hateful Eight script early last year? If so, don’t feel too cool or ahead of the curve—since that cyber debacle, which led to a heated Tarantino vs. Gawker legal feud, the prolific filmmaker has reconfigured the story. So, sorry, you’re not that cutting-edge.

And that’s not a bad thing. The joy in new Tarantino movies is the element of surprise, watching his homage-heavy genre exercises completely at his mercy. He makes 20-minute scenes of all dialogue feel like action-packed nail-biters, which is why The Hateful Eight is so damn promising. Billed as a western, Tarantino’s latest takes place largely in one location: Minnie’s Haberdashery, where a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell), the fugitive he’s apprehended (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a second bounty hunter (Samuel L. Jackson), and a sheriff (Walton Goggins) run into some hostile company (including Bruce Dern and Tim Roth).

We’re thinking The Hateful Eight could play like an extended version of Inglourious Basterds’ amazing bar scene, the one where Michael Fassbender pretends to be a German. If that doesn’t excite you, also consider this—the suddenly great Channing Tatum has a mysterious role in this. In Django Unchained, Jonah Hill was blessed with a hilarious Ku Klux Klan part, so just imagine what Tatum will get. —Matt Barone

Midnight Special

Director: Jeff Nichols

Stars: Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Joel Edgerton, Paul Sparks, Sam Shepard, Scott Haze

Release date: November 25

Last month, Jeff Nichols’ name made waves for a not-so-good reason. Amidst all of those leaked Sony emails, the indie filmmaker was mentioned as Warner Bros’ choice to direct their big-deal Aquaman movie. One of the best directors working in the non-studio space these days, Nichols is an odd choice for such a large, effects-heavy production like that water-based DC Comics superhero. Nichols’ best movie so far, Take Shelter, is a somber, psychologically taut chamber piece starring Michael Shannon, the Michael Fassbender to his Steve McQueen; last year’s Mud, meanwhile, is a tender coming-of-age flick that’s thick with Mark Twain storytelling DNA. So Aquaman?

Clearly Warner Bros. executive have already seen Nichols’ next movie, Midnight Special, and know something the rest of us don’t—most likely that it’s amazing. Billed by Nichols as “a sci-fi chase film” in the spirit of ‘80s John Carpenter movies, Midnight Special is a bit of a mystery. No plot details exist beyond the writer-director’s own vague description, but the prospect of Take Shelter’s filmmaker making something akin to Starman by way of Escape from New York is an immediate cause for enthusiasm. Not to mention, it’ll be our first chance to see what kind of action movie chops Girls star Adam Driver has before he shows up in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. —Matt Barone

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Director: J.J. Abrams

Stars: John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domnhall Gleeson, Max von Sydow, Lupita Nyong'o, Gwendoline Christie, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Iko Uwais

Release date: December 18

The most important sequel/franchise restart/whatever of all time, made by its biggest fan. Somewhere, someone is going to stunt like they couldn't give a single, solitary fuck about black Stormtroopers, three-pronged lightsabers, and the return of freaking Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker. Ignore that soulless human. This is the film event of the century. Freak out accordingly. T-minus eleven months until the force that we didn't even know was slumbering finally awakens. —Frazier Tharpe

Mission Impossible 5

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Sean Harris, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon McBurney, Zhang Jingchu

Release date: December 25

The Mission: Impossible franchise's consistency seems like a quiet opinion. Why? Is it, perhaps, the long stretches of time between installments? (The shortest gap is four years.) Whatever the reason, it's about time we gave Tom Cruise his due praise: The adventures of Ethan Hunt are just as exciting as James Bond's missions.

The star remains the same but the director changes each time, giving each film its own identity and feel: Brian De Palma's modernized throwback (Mission: Impossible); John Woo's awesomely absurd action epic (Mission: Impossible II); J.J. Abrams' understated, feature-length Alias episode (Mission: Impossible III); Brad Bird's set-piece extravaganza (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol). With the fourth being arguably the best in the series, there's as much life in Ethan Hunt as ever. Hopefully Christopher McQuarrie, he of The Usual Suspects screenwriting fame, has his own new flavor to bring to the table. —Frazier Tharpe

The Revenant

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Stars: Leonardo Dicaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domnhall Gleeson, Kristoffer Joner

Release date: December 25

Enjoy that image of Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy yucking it up at a basketball all you can here. When The Revenant opens in December, the smiles will be long gone. Expect, in their places, looks of agony and fury.

The next effort from current awards-season It-guy Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (the director of Birdman), The Revenant, labeled a “western thriller,” goes back to the 19th century to pit DiCaprio—playing fur trapper Hugh Glass—against a bear. Spoiler: DiCaprio loses. A bloody mess after the man-versus-beast confrontation, he’s injuries get insults heaped onto them when his three friends (played by Hardy, Domnhall Gleeson, and Will Poulter) rob him and leave him for dead. In classic western form, DiCaprio’s vengeful Glass recovers and tracks his former crew down.

After Django Unchained’s twisted insanity and The Wolf of Wall Street’s hedonistic fun, The Revenant sends DiCaprio back to the misery and anguish of movies like Revolutionary Road and Shutter Island. Since his performances in those two psychologically draining flicks are both stellar, this is a very good thing. —Matt Barone

Beasts of No Nation

Director: Cary Fukunaga

Stars: Idris Elba, Ama K. Abebrese, Grace Nortey, David Dontoh, Opeyemi Fagbohungbe

Release date: To be determined

Say what you will about True Detective's story, or its at times overbearing dialogue, but one thing that's undeniable is the HBO drama's incredible direction. With all eight episodes helmed by indie filmmaker turned Hollywood hot-boy Cary Fukunaga (whose previous works were the underrated Sin Nombre and the fascinatingly macabre period piece Jane Eyre), True Detective broke new ground for what television can accomplish. While watching that six-minute one-take sequence at the end of the show's fourth episode, it became clear that viewers were in the hands of an audacious and technically next-level filmmaker. Whatever his first post-Detective project became, you knew it'd be must-see material.

The fact that Fukunaga's Beasts of No Nation also happens to star Idris Elba only makes it that much more exciting. Leaving the backwoods of Louisiana for West Africa, Fukunaga directs this story about a young boy, Agu, who's forced to join a militant group after his dad's killed and his family is destroyed. Elba plays Commandant, the take-no-prisoners leader of Agu's new gun-toting family.

Beasts of No Nation couldn't sound any more different than True Detective. But it'll also couldn't be any more promising—that is, assuming Matthew McConaughey doesn't make a surprise cameo as Commandant's cynical friend from the outskirts of Carcosa. —Matt Barone

Southpaw

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Naomie Harris, Forest Whitaker, Victor Ortiz, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Tyrese Gibson

Release date: To be determined

At one point, that could’ve been a shredded, diesel Marshall Mathers you see up above. Written by Sons of Anarchy showrunner Kurt Sutter, the boxing drama Southpaw was initially designed as a starring vehicle for Eminem. Obviously that didn’t pan out, but, all due respect to Em and his strong 8 Mile acting, it’s for the better.

Instead of the world’s greatest lyricist, Sutter and director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) made the film with Jake Gyllenhaal, an absolutely on-fire actor who gave two of 2014’s best performances in Enemy and Nightcrawler. The latter currently has Gyllenhaal in every "possible Best Actor nominee" conversation, and by the looks of how jacked he got for Southpaw, we should anticipated the same thing happening again later this year. He plays Billy "The Great" Hope, a Junior Middleweight boxing champion who "faces a personal tragedy" while trying to become a world-class ring king.

And based on that pic, he’s not fucking around. —Matt Barone