People with pencils and big erasers have been making some diary changes at 20th Century Fox, affecting the release schedules for Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot, Matthew Vaughn's The Secret Service and videogame adaptation **Assassin's Creed. The upshot: yet more releases in the already extraordinary summer of 2015. The days are just packed!
The Secret Service is Vaughn's spy yarn starring Colin Firth and Taron Egerton, based on the comic by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. It was originally due in November next year, but is now earmarked for March 6, 2015. Yup, summer is starting earlier and earlier.
That has created a knock-on effect, since The Secret Service now occupies the slot that previously belonged to The Fantastic Four. So the newly revivified FF will now hit on June 19 (going up against Pixar's **Inside Out **on current schedules). And Assassin's Creed, starring Michael Fassbender, which *was *due on June 19, has swan-dived onto the straw cart of August 7. Fox have also placed Paul Feig's Susan Cooper, starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham, on May 22 (the same day as Brad Bird's Tomorrowland).
Just so we're clear, 2015 is also a year that includes Superman/Batman, Star Wars: Episode VII, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Jurassic World, Ant Man, Neill Blomkamp's Chappie, World Of Warcraft, Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, and possibly a fifth Terminator and Legend Of Conan. Oh, and Bond 24.
What we *shouldn't *expect now to see, however, is Roland Emmerich's long-mooted Independence Day sequel. Fox have pushed that one to a projected release on July 1, 2016, sensibly marking the twentieth anniversary of the original.
So whaddaya think? Best summer ever or too many sequels? Give us your thoughts in the comments.