Trailer Roundup: Star Wars, Melissa McCarthy, Zoolander

An incredible, varied batch of trailers dropped this week, and unless you’ve spent your week glued to your laptop it’s likely you missed one or two of them. Lucky for you, we’ve gathered the best of the bunch here for your home viewing pleasure. Today’s roundup includes four sequels, a new movie from a comedic giant and a visionary’s new tale.

Sequels are all too common now, so much so that even comedies from more than a decade ago are subject to being given anew installment. The latest victim of this craze is 2001’s Zoolander. Next February will see the return of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in their famous roles as Derek and Hansel. This time around, they trot the globe attempting to find someone who is killing all the beautiful people in the world. Will Ferrell returns as well, and new additions to the cast include Kristen Wiig, Benedict Cumberbatch and Penelope Cruz. Zoolander 2 will open in time for Valentine’s Day on February 12, 2016.

Speaking of comedies, last year’s Tammy made quite a splash at the box office despite a lack of critical praise. Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone have teamed up again, with McCarthy starring and Falcone writing and directing. McCarthy plays a businesswoman who is sent to jail and emerges ready to rebuild her life by teaching a group of schoolgirls how to best sell brownies. Much like this year’s Spy, McCarthy films work best when they seem to be intelligent and don’t reduce their star to lame stereotypes and easy jokes. Time will tell, but it looks like The Boss will be more Spy than Tammy. The film opens April 8, 2016.

With a worldwide gross of $351 million, Louis Leterrier’s Now You See Me was bound to be given a sequel by Hollywood. This brief 60-second tease for the unintentionally amusing title Now You See Me 2 reunites us with all the familiar faces from the first one, but the biggest zing comes from Daniel Radcliffe, who plays a not-so-successful wizard.

With the successes of The Impossible and The Orphanage marking the presence of a true visionary, the third feature film from J.A. Bayona marks a venture into fantasy. A Monster Calls tells the story of a boy struggling to cope with his mother’s terminal illness. It’s possible that the film will be in the vein of Pan’s Labyrinth, and a cast including the likes of Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones and Toby Kebbell, this may be one of next year’s biggest hits. A Monster Calls opens October 14, 2016.