2016 movies to geek out for (pictures)
New Star Trek, Star Wars and Harry Potter adventures are among the sci-fi, fantasy, animated and action treats heading to theaters in the coming year.
Captain America: Civil War
There's a rift among Marvel's mightiest as Chris Evans' Captain America faces off against Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man. Hero Black Panther makes his big screen debut, while Spider-Man finally joins the official Marvel cinematic universe.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
In another superhero scrap, DC's man of steel, Henry Cavill, faces off against dark knight Ben Affleck in Zack Snyder's in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." Also along for the ride are Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred the butler and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.
Ghostbusters
Who ya gonna call? Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones ain't afraid of no ghosts.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Expecto a new adventure in the magical world of "Harry Potter," based on the story by JK Rowling. Eddie Redmayne is Newt Scamander, a wizard hunting magical creatures in 1920s New York.
Star Trek Beyond
Simon Pegg is on co-writing duties, and "Fast and Furious" director Justin Lin directs the action at warp speed for the third in the rebooted Trek series. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana are joined on their continuing mission to explore strange new worlds by Idris Elba and "Kingsman" star Sofia Boutella.
Independence Day: Resurgence
Director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin return to the 1996 alien invasion hit. Jeff Goldblum is back, pictured above being photo-bombed by co-star Liam Hemsworth. Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox and Brent Spiner also return, but Will Smith won't be welcoming anybody to earth this time round.
Keanu
Comic double act Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele bring along Method Man, Gabrielle Union and Will Forte for their own movie, inexplicably named Keanu. Woah.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Former "Doctor Who" star Matt Smith mashes up Jane Austen and the undead.
Patient Zero
Matt Smith turns zombie-whisperer once again in this undead adventure, this time alongside "Game Of Thrones" and "Hunger Games" star Natalie Dormer.
Suicide Squad
A lineup of villains from the pages of DC Comics join forces for a suicide mission against Jared Leto's Joker. Will Smith, Cara Delevingne and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje are on the team along with Margot Robbie as cosplay favorite Harley Quinn.
Deadpool
Hotly anticipated comic book action with Ryan Reynolds as the fast-talking "merc with a mouth," Wade Wilson. Oscar-winning animator Tim Miller, the man behind the stylish opening sequences of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "Thor: The Dark World," makes his directorial debut. Very adult carnage ensues.
X-Men: Apocalypse
The ninth X-Men movie sees Marvel's heroes face off against Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant, played by "Star Wars" star Oscar Isaac (pictured above with blue on his face). James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence lead the cast of multiple mutants.
Doctor Strange
People are strange as Benedict Cumberbatch takes on the role of Marvel's mystical medic, joined by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen and Tilda Swinton.
Gambit
The ragin' cajun is the latest X-Men character to get his own movie, with Channing Tatum holding all the cards.
Passengers
Speaking of Marvel stars, it doesn't get much hotter than Guardian of the Galaxy Chris Pratt and X-Woman Jennifer Lawrence in this original story of space travellers thawed out early from cryogenic sleep. "The Imitation Game" director Morten Tyldum is in charge.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant
Shailene Woodley diverges once again in the third of four movies based on the novels by Veronica Roth.
The 5th Wave
Chloë Grace Moretz battles aliens in this adaptation of the young adult novel by Rick Yancey.
Bourne 5
Matt Damon is Bourne again, with Paul Greengrass back in the director's chair for more amnesiac action adventure. Tommy Lee Jones joins "Ex Machina" star Alicia Vikander.
The Great Wall
Zhang Yimou, director of "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers," directs Matt Damon and Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau in this English language 3D fantasy adventure, the most expensive ever shot in China.
War Machine
Hollywood power couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are both bringing feature-length films to Netflix in 2016. Jolie's next directorial outing is an adaptation of harrowing memoir "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" for the streaming service. And Pitt stars as a general embroiled in the Afghanistan conflict in real-life-inspired political comedy "War Machine", directed by David Michôd.
The Neon Demon
"Drive" auteur Nicolas Winding Refn directs Elle Fanning (pictured) and Keanu Reeves in this horror movie for Amazon.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny
The belated sequel to the 2000 martial arts classic sees Michelle Yeoh defying gravity once again on Netflix.
The BFG
Roald Dahl's beloved children's tale of snozzcumbers and gizzardgulpers gets the live action treatment from Steven Spielberg, with Mark Rylance as the big friendly giant, Bill Hader as The Bloodbottler and Jemaine Clement as The Fleshlumpeater.
The Jungle Book
Disney continues its run of live action-ifying its library of animated classics. Jon Favreau directs with Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson and Christopher Walken lending their voices.
The Huntsman: Winter's War
Ditching Snow White for not one but two evil queens, this fairy tale sequel stars Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt alongside Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain and Nick Frost.
Alice Through the Looking Glass
This one's a sequel to Tim Burton's movie "Alice in Wonderland" based on the Lewis Carroll classic, starring Mia Wasikowska, with Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, Michael Sheen and Barbara Windsor lend their voices.
Finding Dory
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Ellen DeGeneres is back as absent-minded Dory with Albert Brooks in the animated sequel to "Finding Nemo."
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Michael Bay's mean green merchandise machine shells out again, with fan favorite villains Bebop and Rocksteady joining the antics. Megan Fox returns as April O'Neil, while Johnny Knoxville and wrestler Sheamus are among the voices
The Angry Birds Movie
Remember Angry Birds? "Game of Thrones" star Peter Dinklage is joined by "Saturday Night Live" stars Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph and Bill Hader as they lend their voices to the big-screen animated versions of the furious fowl from 2009's most vexed mobile game.
Warcraft: The Beginning
"Moon" director Duncan Jones takes us into the world of Warcraft, the popular fantasy role-playing game.
Ratchet & Clank
Fans of the game will recognize the voices of James Arnold Taylor as mechanic Ratchet and David Kaye as escaped robot Clank, not to mention Jim Ward as Captain Qwark. Paul Giamatti, Rosario Dawson and Sylvester Stallone also lend their voices.
Assassin's Creed
Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard sneak about in a movie adaptation of the time-bending Ubisoft video game.
Midnight Special
Inspired by the John Carpenter classic "Starman," Jeff Nichols directs "Boardwalk Empire" star Michael Shannon and "Star Wars" baddie Adam Driver, pictured above left showing some love to his "Force Awakens" co-star Oscar Isaac.
Criminal
Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones have a craggy-old-man-off as Alice Eve and Gal Gadot (pictured above) star alongside Ryan Reynolds in a tale about a death row inmate implanted with superspy knowledge.
The Brothers Grimsby
Small-town loser Sacha Baron Cohen gets into the spy game with his long-lost brother, top agent Mark Strong.
Spectral
It's special-ops vs specters in this supernatural action thriller starring Emily Mortimer and James Badge Dale (pictured above in "Iron Man 3").
Kubo and the Two Strings
Charlize Theron (pictured), Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes and George Takei lend their voices to this stop-motion animation about an aspiring samurai.
Hail, Caesar!
Get ready for a star-studded homage to the golden age of Hollywood from Joel and Ethan Coen, directing Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, and Ralph Fiennes.
The Finest Hours
Chris Pine and Casey Affleck face disaster on the high seas in this 3D recounting of the true-life Pendleton rescue of 1952, when US Coast Guard crewmen heroically battled to save the crews of two stricken oil tankers.
Snowden
Firebrand director Oliver Stone directs Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the true-life story of Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee who leaked classified information about government surveillance to the media. Zachary Quinto and Nicolas Cage co-star.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Tim Burton and Jane Goldman, writer of "Kingsman", "Kick Ass" and "X-Men: First Class" send Eva Green (pictured above in Penny Dreadful), Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson to a mysterious island in this adaptation of the Ransom Riggs novel.
The Boy
Lauren Cohan, pictured above dodging the undead in "The Walking Dead", is in horror territory once again as a nanny who discovers the young boy she's hired to look after is actually a porcelain doll. Creepiness ensues.
The Forest
"Game of Thrones" and "Hunger Games" star Natalie Dormer can't see the woods for the trees in this macabre horror set in Aokigahara, a reputedly haunted real-life forest at the base of mount Fuji in Japan where many people have ended their own lives.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a group of rebel spies attempt to steal the plans for the first Death Star. Wonder how that will end... "Godzilla" helmer Gareth Edwards directs Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, and Alan Tudyk.