20 Biggest Movies Of 2015: What Do We Already Know?
17. Mission: Impossible V
Who's involved? Tom Cruise returns for a fifth outing as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, making you wonder whether studio Paramount really understands the meaning of the word "impossible." Hunt's team from Ghost Protocol - Jeremy Renner, as analyst William Brandt, Paula Patton, as field agent Jane Carter, and Simon Pegg, as tech-geek Benji Dunn - are all set to return, adding a little sense of continuity to the series. Cruise has followed the franchise pattern of a different director for each instalment, bringing in Christopher McQuarrie having worked with him on Jack Reacher, Valkyrie and Edge of Tomorrow. Iron Man 3's Drew Pearce has written the script. What's the story? Paramount have earned over two billion dollars on the Mission: Impossible series, so a fifth outing is perhaps more financially than story motivated. Nothing has been revealed about the plot, but a Christmas release opposite former M:I director J.J. Abrams and a little film called Star Wars suggests a certain amount of confidence. As it is the fifth film of the series audiences should no what to expect anyway: plenty of spies being framed and double-crossed, with lots of stunts that involve Cruise hanging from or climbing up things.
16. Frankenstein
Who's involved? Just a few years after the acclaimed theatre Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Cumberbatch's Sherlock director Paul McGuigan is developing this new version of Mary Shelley's gothic sci-fi. The Sherlock connection doesn't end there, as McGuigan has brought along actors Andrew Scott, Mark Gatiss and Louise Brealey. The leads, though, are being played by Hollywood stars 0 albeit British ones - James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe alongside Downton Abbey's Jessica Brown Findlay. The script has been written by Chronicle's Max (son of John) Landis. What's the story? Likely to be much less faithful to Shelley's story of The Modern Prometheus than the stage play, albeit much more so than this year's dreadful I, Frankenstein, little has been revealed about the plot but that it focuses on the relationship between Victor von Frankenstein (McAvoy) and his deformed servant Igor (Radcliffe). Igor is a character originated in the Universal film series rather than Shelley's novel, suggesting that these are a greater inspiration. The focus on the doctor-servant relationship rather than the traditional doctor-creation Frankenstein relationship, combined with the lack of casting for the creature, suggests that the movie story may only go up to the creation or that Igor himself becomes the creature.
