1. Melissa McCarthy will try and solve the Happytime Murders

In the seedy underbelly for the City of Angels, crime is ever present. It’ll take two detectives, with different outlooks, experiences and skin types to help clean up this world. Step forward Melissa McCarthy and a puppet. Uh huh, Deadline reports that Brian – son of Jim – Henson’s long-gestating Happytime Murders has been greenlit. How long has it been gestating? Well, here’s an article about it from 2010.

McCarthy will play a hard-drinking detective who is forced to work with a new, likely felt, partner, in a Who Framed Roger Rabbit?-like world to get to the bottom of a series of gruesome murders. Sure, this is a combination that doesn’t sound like it’ll play by the book, but let’s see if they get results!

2. Edgar Wright might have another Baby Driver in him

Baby Driver is a fun film with an original script and an extremely inventive director. It’s also, to quote our own Kambole Campbell, “thrilling filmmaking, a total blast”. More importantly, for the industry, it’s also at a $50 million worldwide gross from a production budget of $34m and is set to make a fair bit more by the time it’s out of cinemas. So, what comes next? A sequel, of course!

In an interview with Empire for their Spoiler Special podcast, Wright admitted that “the studio have asked me to think about writing a sequel… I think there’s somewhere more to go with it in terms of the characters.” As for plot ideas, Wright has a half-idea where Baby’s involvement with crime would be subverted “so he’s not the apprentice anymore.” Yeah, we’ll probably see it.

3. Andrew Garfield dislikes polio, presumably Mondays, in first trailer for Breathe

It’s not known whether Andrew Garfield is currently getting caught up in the current Spider-Man: Homecoming hype. Sure, Homecoming looks like it might rake in almost a $200m opening weekend but the former Spider-Man’s got his own life to live. And if that happens to involve another awards-baity performance, that’s fine. Not that there’s anything wrong with some serious Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge and Silence brought their fair share of plaudits – but his latest looks a trifle familiar.

Garfield plays Robin Cavendish, a man struck down by polio at the age of 28 but who proceeded to live past his three-month prognosis travelling the world trying to improve the lives of others like him. Of course, this being a film, as well as real life, Cavendish was helped along the way by his devoted wife Diana (Claire Foy). Breathe marks Andy Serkis’ directorial debut, and stars fellow Brits Tom Hollander and Hugh Bonneville – though its release outside of the awards window suggests this possibly won’t be racking up nominations come 2018.

4. Top Gun 2 will be our wingman anytime after July 12, 2019

Yes, Paramount have given Top Gun 2 the green light. 33 years after the original graced our skies and hearts, we’ll finally get a sequel to the film that was, ultimately, a wannabe Airwolf. Skydance CEO David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer will produce, in good news for explosion fans. According to Variety, the film will tackle drone technology and the sad end to the noble art of dogfighting. It will also, presumably, feature volleyball.

At the moment, the skies (the release date skies) look relatively clear for Top Gun 2. The only other film on its radar (the release date radar) is Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel, set for release one week earlier. We’ll probably be tired of superheroes by then though.

5. Fantastic Beasts 2 finds a plot

Filming has begun on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2. In honour of that, Deadline has some juicy plot details for the wizarding sequel that counts Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Zoë Kravitz as major players joining Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol and Dan Fogler. J.K. Rowling’s script for the sequel sees the gang travel from New York to London, and then onto Paris as they team up with a young Dumbledore (Law) to thwart the devious plans of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). Apparently “as he promised he would, Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause… the only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore.” Will Dumbledore and Scamander succeed? Yes.

The film is still some time away – it’s due for release on November 16 next year – but considering the first was Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing global hit last year, the studio is no doubt aware they need to get this one right in cinemas.

6. Avengers 4 will end 22-movie arc. Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel to start new 119-movie arc

With rapturous reviews greeting the mighty webslinger’s return in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has said its sequel already confirmed will mark a new era for Marvel. With that, Avengers 4 will conclude the current narrative of the first Marvel Cinematic Universe. “The original 22-movie arc ends with the untitled Avengers in May of 2019, and then two months later it will be Peter Parker and Spider-Man that usher us into the aftermath and how things proceed from there,” Feige said.

It all makes sense. The contracts for  Chris Evans (Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) are coming to an end. The chances of renewal are slim too, but with the likes of the fresh-faced Tom Holland leading the way, Marvel will be fine well until your kids get their dentures in.

7. Behold Gerard Butler actin’ it up a Geostorm

We’re not going to lie; we will see this the moment it comes out. It looks truly, completely terri-brill. This is a term reserved for films that are terribly brilliant, and Geostorm looks like the perfect case study for it. Look at the effects! Look at the tonal change from The Day After Tomorrow drama to Guardians of the Galaxy end-of-the-world comedy! Andy Garcia is President! 

Intriguingly, this is a marked tonal shift from the first teaser back in March. As io9 point out, “it looked like yet another 2012 disaster flick clone. As a young woman crooned a creepy version of ‘What a Wonderful World,’ millions were dying horrifically at the hands of a super-powered Mother Nature. Children cowered, men dramatically took off their glasses. This was a grim and terrible world.” Now, we’ve got jokes and marriage suggestions so everything’s a-okay! Right?

There’s a lot to love, and simultaneously roll your eyes at. Dean Devlin, the writer and producer of Independence Day, is well versed in the world of disaster so we’ll keep the faith despite all the signs.

8. R.I.P. Barry Norman

And finally, on a more sombre note, the legendary British film critic Barry Norman passed away aged 83. Norman hosted BBC One’s Film… show between 1972 and 1998 its longest-running host as well as writing for the Daily Mail and the Guardian. He could be regarded as the UK’s own Roger Ebert. Upon the news, tributes poured in. Mark Kermode tweeted “Watching Barry Norman review films was a pleasure, an education, and an inspiration. Wit, knowledge and wry enthusiasm”, with Claudia Winkleman who took over the show in 2010 calling him “an incredibly kind man and the greatest critic.” Actor and presenter Stephen Fry tweeted a fine tribute, writing: “Sad to hear of Barry Norman’s departure. A film critic and a provider of fine pickled onions. That’s a good life.” He’ll be missed.