2015 Preview: May

It is here; the summer movie season has begun and boy there are quite a lot of exciting movies hitting theaters these next three to four months. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films that are coming out in 2015. This is Part 5 of 12 and today we’ll be looking at the films that will be hitting theaters in May, the first official month of the summer movie season (even though technically May is a spring month but when it comes to movies, we ignore that). So let’s not waste any time and get started with this month’s film preview.

MAY 1- It’s the first week of May! You know what that means… That’s right, it’s the week of Marvel.

*Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are back, once again under the direction of Joss Whedon, for the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’. In this film, the Avengers reunite to stop their latest threat, Ultron (James Spader), an A.I. created by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) meant to be part of a new peacekeeping program but goes bad once it gains a god complex. The main cast of ‘The Avengers’; Downey Jr., Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), among others, return for the sequel. They’re joined by Spader, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver), and Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), among others.

MAY 8- Another single release this week, this one a comedy.

*In ‘Hot Pursuit’, Reese Witherspoon stars as an inept cop who has to protect the widow of a drug dealer (Sofia Vergara) from criminals while transporting her to a court case in Dallas.

MAY 15- Two sequels come out this weekend; one a sequel to one of 2012’s surprise hits and the other being the first major installment of its franchise in three decades.

*2012’s ‘Pitch Perfect’ was a surprise hit with both critics and audiences, grossing over $110 million worldwide and attracting a massive fan following. This year, the Barden Bellas are back in ‘Pitch Perfect 2’, this one directed by Elizabeth Banks, who produced and co-starred in the first film. In this film, the Bellas enter into a worldwide competition where no American a-Capella group has ever won before. Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson, and the main cast of the first film all return for this new film.

*Tom Hardy takes over for Mel Gibson in the role of Max Rockatansky in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, the fourth entry in the post-apocalyptic action franchise directed by George Miller. In this film, Max joins forces with Furiosa (Charlize Theron) as they try to cross the desert in order to escape from the clutches of gang leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, who starred as another gang leader named Toecutter in the original ‘Mad Max’). The film also stars Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

MAY 22- A remake of a classic horror film comes out alongside the latest from visionary director Brad Bird.

*Brad Bird (‘The Iron Giant’, ‘The Incredibles’, ‘Ratatouille’, ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’) brings us his latest film, ‘Tomorrowland’, co-written by Bird and Damon Lindelof. George Clooney and Britt Robertson star as a grizzled inventor and young optimistic teenager, respectively, who travel to the futuristic world of Tomorrowland, a place ‘where nothing is impossible’ and your actions will actually change the world. The film is inspired by both a mysterious box of items from the archives of Walt Disney Imagineering and the Disney Park land of the same name and also stars Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, and Kathryn Hahn.

*Sam Raimi produces the remake of the Steven Spielberg-produced horror classic ‘Poltergeist’. Similar to the original film, this film focuses on a family whose house is invaded by spirits. The film stars Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Jared Harris.

MAY 29- Finally, to close out the month, we have a Dwayne Johnson-led action film and a Bradley Cooper-led comedy.

*Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson re-teams with ‘Journey 2’ director Brad Peyton for a much bigger project, ‘San Andreas’. Not based off of the hit GTA game of the same name, ‘San Andreas’ actually revolves around an earthquake that occurs in California along the titular San Andreas Fault. Johnson stars as a rescue helicopter pilot who, along with his ex-wife (Carla Gugino), heads to San Francisco in order to rescue his daughter (Alexandra Daddario).

*Bradley Cooper stars in director Cameron Crowe’s ‘Aloha’. In it, he plays a defense contractor assigned to oversee the launch of a new weapons satellite in Hawaii. While there, he falls for an Air Force pilot (Emma Stone). The film’s ensemble cast also includes Rachel McAdams, John Krasinski, Danny McBride, and Alec Baldwin.

And those are the films that will be hitting theaters in May 2015. Check back next month for Part 6 as we continue the Summer Movie Season with the films of June.