There’s that one movie romance that we all wish we could emulate in our real life, with some exceptions. A lot of people are going to having flashbacks to one of those celluloid courtings pretty soon, as among the 2023 new movie releases is a 3D re-release of James Cameron’s Titanic. Still, the young lovers who want to be Jack and Rose know better than to book an iceberg laden cruise for their first date.

It’s a warning someone should have given on half of a couple that went viral on TikTok, as a woman realized that her wife was copying the tragic backstory of The Fault In Our Stars; right down to the bit about having terminal bone cancer. If you thought the story was wild, wait until you see author John Green’s reaction to being told the entire story: 

Let’s just take a moment here to really take in what’s happened. John Green’s bittersweet tale of terminally ill teens falling in love, almost a decade after it became a box office phenomenon starring Shailene Woodley, is now being credited as inspiring an emotional fraud. The Fault In Our Stars may have been written to inspire tears, straight from the trivia friendly personality that is Green, but not these types of tears.

Green’s own shocked reaction confirms as much, as his shock with each turn of the story is palpable. The man wears a look of someone whose creation has been used for all of the wrong reasons, and while it’s entertaining to see John Green be his charmingly goofy self, it’s still sad to see him come to this realization. If only someone had just pretended that their name was Katherine, referencing Green's novel An Abundance of Katherines, instead.

John Green shouldn’t take it too hard, as again, The Fault In Our Stars was a cultural touchstone of its time. The book was banned from a California school library system upon its release, which probably made it all the more popular. That’s on top of director Josh Boone’s film dominating social media in the year of its release. Again, when a movie like this or Titanic is going strong, some are going to take it as a personal romantic goal.

That still doesn’t excuse this case of someone faking terminal cancer to forge a relationship. Rather, it highlights some contributing factors that may have led to these misguided actions. At least no one was harmed beyond a massive breach of trust, and the social media user who was wronged now has a cooler story to tell relating to John Green and his work.

Should you want to watch The Fault In Our Stars with someone you love and trust, you’re in luck. At the time of this writing, the movie adaptation is streaming for those with an HBO Max subscription. 

Amy Schumer started off her hosting gig at the 2015 MTV Movie Awards strong with a special tribute to a few favorite flicks from this past year and exciting ones to come including Boyhood, Pitch Perfect 2, Divergent, Whiplash, The Fault In Our Stars and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. The comedian played up her awkward humor with a few funny one liners and encounters with actors from each of the flicks. Take a look:

Schumer starts looking up in a spoof of Boyhood where her and a young boy answer the question, "What do you think your life’s going to be like?" To which Amy realistically responds, "I mean statistically I’ll get HPV and get some sort of manageable eating disorder and wind up as one of those girls on The Bachelor who yells at strangers in a hot tub." And so it begins, the Amy Schumer raw humor that does not apologize.

Soon after, the MTV Movie Awards host is awakened by none other than Aubrey and Chloe from Pitch Perfect and gets kicked out of the group, as they are probably gearing up for the sequel to their fan-favorite flick. And Schumer sadly comes to the realization that she won’t be a part of their sing-along and decides to find where she does fit in. That’s when Divergent comes up, helping Schumer come to the realization that she is destined to host the MTV Movie Awards. And so, Schumer goes forth on her journey to meet one of the nastiest coaches you’d ever want to meet, J.K. Simmons as his terrifying jazz conductor character from Whiplash. If there’s one thing we can learn from Schumer in this interaction is that when Simmons starts throwing things, move away, slowly.

Schumer decides to hide from the Whiplash star in a support group meeting featuring Shailene Woodley’s The Fault In Our Stars character and things get a little awkward. As Schumer blatantly interrupts the group of cancer patients to talk about her dilemma (hosting the MTV Movie Awards), Shailene Woodley looks incredibly pissed. Schumer tries to lighten the mood by asking, "Is anyone else like not getting high from these things? Like is there a trick or something?" pointing to her oxygen tube.

Quickly Schumer gets paired up with The Hunger Games’ Effie Trinket who sends the comedian up to the stage with a few words of wisdom, just not in the Hunger Games style Schumer hoped for. It was a quick montage, and may have felt a little rushed at times, but it was a fun way to start the awards ceremony, and gave everyone a chance to get acclimated with that quirky Amy Schumer humor that you either love or hate.

Amy Schumer has been preparing us for her stint as host of the 2015 MTV Movie Awards with a series of funny video segments teaming her with the likes of Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader. Finally, though, we now know all of the films that will contend for the Golden Popcorn trophy at the ceremony, which will be held on Sunday April 12. Best Fight? Best Kiss? We have all of them covered.

Three films actually hold the lead for the most nominations, with seven a piece: Guardians, The Fault in our Stars, and the odd-couple comedy Neighbors. From the latter picture, Zac Efron earned a nomination in the very competitive Best Shirtless Performance category. Rogen, meanwhile, nabbed five nominations, including Best Kiss with James Franco for The Interview. 

Do the MTV Movie Awards mirror the Oscars? Not really. Ultimate Best Picture winner, Birdman, only received two MTV noms, including Best Fight. Elsewhere, Whiplash received a lot of love, and Eddie Redmayne will contend for Best On-Screen Transformation, but didn't get into the Best Male Performance category. And that, my friends, belongs in the Best WTF Moments category.

Here’s the complete list of 2015 MTV Movie Awards contenders:

MOVIE OF THE YEAR

American Sniper

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

Guardians of the Galaxy

Gone Girl

The Fault in Our Stars

Boyhood

Whiplash

Selma

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE

Jennifer Lawrence — The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

Emma Stone — Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Shailene Woodley— The Fault in Our Stars

Reese Witherspoon — Wild

Scarlett Johansson — Lucy

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE

Bradley Cooper — American Sniper

Chris Pratt — Guardians of the Galaxy

Ansel Elgort — The Fault in Our Stars

Miles Teller — Whiplash

Channing Tatum — Foxcatcher

BEST SCARED—AS—SHIT PERFORMANCE

Rosamund Pike — Gone Girl

Annabelle Wallis — Annabelle

Jennifer Lopez — The Boy Next Door

Dylan O’Brien — The Maze Runner

Zach Gilford — The Purge: Anarchy

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Ansel Elgort — The Fault in Our Stars

Rosamund Pike — Gone Girl

David Oyelowo — Selma

Dylan O’Brien — The Maze Runner

Ellar Coltrane — Boyhood

BEST SHIRTLESS PERFORMANCE

Zac Efron — Neighbors

Chris Pratt — Guardians of the Galaxy

Channing Tatum — Foxcatcher

Ansel Elgort — The Fault in Our Stars

Kate Upton — The Other Woman

BEST DUO

Channing Tatum & Jonah Hill — 22 Jump Street

Zac Efron & Dave Franco — Neighbors

Shailene Woodley & Ansel Elgort — The Fault in Our Stars

Bradley Cooper & Vin Diesel — Guardians of the Galaxy

James Franco & Seth Rogen — The Interview

BEST FIGHT

Jonah Hill vs. Jillian Bell — 22 Jump Street

Chris Evans vs. Sebastian Stan — Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Dylan O’Brien vs. Will Poulter — The Maze Runner

Seth Rogen vs. Zac Efron — Neighbors

Edward Norton vs. Michael Keaton — Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST KISS

Ansel Elgort & Shailene Woodley— The Fault in Our Stars

James Franco & Seth Rogen — The Interview

Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone — The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Scarlett Johansson & Chris Evans — Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Rose Byrne & Halston Sage — Neighbors

BEST WTF MOMENT

Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne — Neighbors

Jonah Hill — 22 Jump Street

Jason Sudeikis & Charlie Day — Horrible Bosses 2

Miles Teller — Whiplash

Rosario Dawson & Anders Holm — Top Five

BEST VILLAIN

Rosamund Pike — Gone Girl

J.K. Simmons — Whiplash

Jillian Bell — 22 Jump Street

Meryl Streep — Into the Woods

Peter Dinklage — X-Men: Days of Future Past

BEST MUSICAL MOMENT

Jennifer Lawrence — The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

Chris Pratt — Guardians of the Galaxy

Seth Rogen & Zac Efron — Neighbors

Bill Hader & Kristen Wiig— The Skeleton Twins

Miles Teller — Whiplash

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE

Channing Tatum — 22 Jump Street

Chris Pratt — Guardians of the Galaxy

Rose Byrne — Neighbors

Chris Rock — Top Five

Kevin Hart — The Wedding Ringer

BEST ON-SCREEN TRANSFORMATION

Eddie Redmayne — The Theory of Everything

Elizabeth Banks — The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

Zoe Saldana — Guardians of the Galaxy

Steve Carell — Foxcatcher

Ellar Coltrane — Boyhood

The last big news we got in regards to Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright was a bit depressing. When the talented director left Marvel’s Ant-Man after years of dedication to the project, the world was left heartbroken. But, of course, Wright found his way again, and now is up to directing what sounds like an incredibly awesome film called Baby Driver with hopes of Fault In Our Stars Ansel Elgort to star.

The young actor is in early talks for the film, and there is no official casting yet, but when Variety announced Wright eyeing Elgort, a basic plot for the film was also released, and it sounds pretty cool. Apparently, the plot follows a young and very talented getaway driver who wants to be the best in the game, but his trick is, that he relies on the beat of a personal soundtrack to keep him at the top of his game.

Ansel Elgort, known for his portrayal of Augustus Waters in romantic drama The Fault in Our Stars also recently starred in the comedy Men, Women & Children. While I personally can’t see Elgort playing a quirky role that is usually associated with Wright’s films portrayed by the likes of Michael Cera in Scott Pilgrim and Simon Pegg, it is an interesting choice. Sources say that it is only the early stages with Elgort, but looks like he was chosen over Logan Lerman and John Boyega. Personally, I would’ve loved to see Lerman, who I think would work very well with Wright. But, we’ll just have to trust that Wright saw something in Elgort that made him perfect for the part.

TriStar’s Tom Rothman expanded on the new project, telling Variety:

Rock-and-roll car chase film. Yes please. Could the title be a tribute to uptempo Simon & Garfunkel song "Baby Driver"? The song tells the story of a boy living a comfortable life but is in search of adventure. This young driver in Wright’s film is coerced into working for a crime boss which threatens any comfort he once had. Also, the Simon & Garfunkel song features car noises throughout.

This isn't the first time we’ve seen the director bring great music to life including cars and crime. Back in 2003, Wright made a hilarious music video for the band Mint Royale featuring Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt, Nick Frost and Michael ‘Tyres’ Smiley. You can watch it below:

Baby Driver is in the very beginning stages, so no word yet on when production will start, but we can’t wait to see what Edgar Wright has up his sleeve.

2014 won’t go down as the greatest year in the history of Hollywood, but it had a lot of damn good movies. Some of them were big budget, some of them were made on shoestrings. In a way, that’s the great thing about Hollywood. Yeah, it helps to have a budget for advertising and special effects, but in the end, the success or failure of a movie has the most to do with how well the audience is able to relate to the characters. If a director is able to say something honest and interesting, the film will get out there, even if it takes some time.

Here are the 10 greatest movies of 2014, presented in order. Feel free to disagree in the comment section. Honorable mentions are listed after the final paragraph…

10. Foxcatcher

The history of the United States is filled with a lot of great men who worked really, really hard and amassed incredible fortunes. Say what you will about some of their tactics, but people like John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan pushed this country forward. Unfortunately, more than a few of these titans of industry left behind generations of unstable descendants who didn’t work and were incapable of managing their own lives. John E du Pont was one of these men, and beset by alcoholism and mental illness, he left an unfortunate trail in his wake. Foxcatcher gives the world a chance to meet him up close, and in the hands of Steve Carell, who gives the best performance of his career, it really, really works.

9. The Fault In Our Stars

YA novels aren’t always the go-to source material for great movies, but The Fault In Our Stars is a great movie. It’s filled with beautiful, heartbreaking moments without ever devolving into melodrama. It’s honest, unflinching and weirdly hopeful. Some people get a bad lot in life. They draw the short straw and have to fight through things like cancer, but that doesn’t mean they don’t just want to see the Anne Frank Museum and go out to nice dinners with their boyfriends. Deep down, we’re all 70% the same. The Fault In Our Stars is a beautiful movie, and it needs to be seen.

8. Skeleton Twins

Thanks to their years sharing the stage on Saturday Night Live, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are extremely comfortable with each other, and that really works to their advantage here. Playing siblings who both suffer from serious issues, they feel both close and distant in all of the right ways. More importantly, they manage to be really, really funny without every trying to hard. There are always a lot of laughs buried beneath misery, but it’s a clever trick to coax them out without ever ruining the larger emotions. Everyone is able to do that here, as a complicated and beautiful story of love and isolation is played out.

7. Obvious Child

There are few things more complicated than an unwanted pregnancy. The single best thing anyone could say about Obvious Child is that it doesn’t pretend to have any of the answers. It doesn’t oversimplify the subject into some easily digestible lesson viewers can take with them. Instead, it simply turns its camera on and lets the pain, the awkwardness and the humor play out. Pregnancy is a life-changing event, but it doesn’t change someone’s personality. It doesn’t change their goals, dreams or aspirations. It makes them take a long hard look at themselves, their lives and where they want to go. Obvious Child lets Jenny Slate’s character do that, and in turn, it lets the audience come to terms with her decision. She’s not a saint. She’s just a girl doing the best she can.

6. Grand Budapest Hotel

All of Wes Anderson’s movies are clever. The director is fueled by wit and snappy dialogue the way athletes are fueled by Gatorade. It’s in the plot where he usually gets in trouble. Either by introducing an unsustainable number of characters or too many wrinkles, some of his movies wind up getting a little messy. Grand Budapest Hotel buts up to both of those lines, for sure, but it always manages to stay on the right side, giving viewers a chaotic and zany experience without totally overwhelming their enjoyment. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s perhaps as close as Wes Anderson has ever come.

5. Whiplash

Thanks to the best performance of his career, Whiplash is earning a ton of headlines for supporting actor JK Simmons. In fact, he’ll probably take home an Academy Award for his work, but the larger film deserves to be recognized with a Best Picture nomination too. It’s a near-perfect look at what it takes to be a musical genius and how teaching methods for some may not work for all. It examines what it means to be a genius and how far is too far to push yourself. See it for the music. See it for JK Simmons’ performance. See it for everything else too because it’ll change the way you look at the idea of prodigies and their mentors.

4. Boyhood

Boyhood should be a stupid gimmick that doesn’t really work. The transitions should be awkward. The acting should be shoddy from the children, and the finished product shouldn’t hold up. But it does. Because Boyhood somehow found the right child actors. And it somehow realized that focusing on the smaller moments people tend to remember would be better than just chronicling major life events. And it somehow nailed every little decision in order to create something truly special. Boyhood will live on and not just because it’s a cool idea.

3. Edge Of Tomorrow

Edge Of Tomorrow or Live.Die.Repeat or whatever the hell it’s called this week is a great movie. In fact, it’s arguably Tom Cruise’s best movie in about a decade, and the fact that it was underseen is one of the movie industry’s greatest tragedies in 2014. Fortunately, it will likely find a second life on home video and premium cable channels as more and more people discover its clever blend of action, humor, aliens and Bill Paxton. Tom Cruise still has it, and this movie proves it. He’s equally as captivating in the fast-paced action sequences as he is in the Groundhog Day-style same day freakouts, and opposite Emily Blunt, he’s a capable sex symbol too.

2. Selma

The best way to tell a story isn’t always with more information. Selma gets that. Instead of criss-crossing through Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s life, it focuses almost exclusively on one of his many battles: registering people to vote in Selma, Alabama. The focus is laser sharp and because of that, it’s able to also shine a lot on so many of the other characters in the Civil Rights Movement. It’s even able to show the friction inside, concerning objectives and strategies. With great work from a large supporting cast and an Oscar-level turn from lead David Oyelowo, Selma is heartbreaking and powerful, without really resorting to preaching or being pushy. It’s damn good, and if it wins Best Picture, it will deserve it.

1. Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler is unsettling. The basic plot points of the film are creepy and off-putting, and perhaps more importantly, lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal really dives into the deep end. He plays our "hero" Lou Bloom without even the slightest wink. This is a man who will lie, cheat and scheme to get ahead, and when he enters the television news business, he finds the perfect career, one willing to pay for and reward every morally compromising decision he makes. Nightcrawler isn’t interested in glorifying or condemning those choices either. It just bluntly shows them, letting viewers make up their own minds about how far is too far and exactly how corrupting the influences of people like Lou actually are.

Honorable Mentions: Gone Girl, Imitation Game, Guardians Of The Galaxy, The Theory Of Everything and Birdman.

There’s no denying that 2014 really was a terrific year for movies. There was an impressive array of films that spanned from horror to superhero to drama to comedy and within that array where some creative and intriguing characters that we can’t stop talking about. And while the past few years have been dominated by the heroes, this year, we found the villains even more interesting. Whether the antagonist of the film takes the obvious evil route, whether they are misguided or sympathetic characters, or whether they just don’t even see the harm they inflict others, the villains are always a key element to the movement of the plot.

The more evil and destructive, the more memorable the villain is. Maybe they are redeemed by the end or maybe they won’t even make it to the close, either way, they keep us on our feet. So here we’ve compiled a list of our 10 best, most memorable villains of 2014. Let’s hope that 2015 can bring as badass and destructive of a crew to screens as this set of bad guys.

SPOILER WARNING! Beware that the following article does contain some major spoilers for included films. Continue with caution!

Lou Bloom—Nightcrawler

Most of the villains on this list are clearly defined as such. They wear black hats and do villainous things. There’s no ambiguity about their stations in life. With Lou Bloom, however, it’s a little more complicated. When we first meet him, he’s our eccentric hero. He’s a little strange, sure, but he clearly means well. He took some business classes, has plenty of drive and just wants to move up in the world.

Along the way, though, Lou gets so lost in his own reckless determination to get to the top that he starts making frightening decisions. He sabotages. He schemes. He manipulates, all of which lay his startling lack of empathy bare. By the end, Lou Bloom is every bit as villainous as anyone found on this list. That he’s technically the main character of Nightcrawler really doesn’t matter. His choices are the same. Our perspective is just a little more cozy. In many ways, that makes it all the more frightening too. The more we’ve rooted for him, the more we become some weird form of accomplices.

Winter Soldier—Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Villainous as a result of HYDRA experimentation, the Winter Soldier, otherwise known as Bucky, is the ultimate Super Soldier opposition to Captain America. From the extensive experimentation to his prosthetic arm, the Winter Soldier has also been subject to multiple mind control methods making him HYDRA’s perfect soldier. He is a ruthless killer, and has his mind wiped very frequently so to never show emotion or regret. By taking away his humanity, the Winter Soldier becomes an insanely dangerous villain.

But what makes him even scarier, is the fact that he becomes recognizable. For the viewer, who has seen Bucky in the first Captain America film, it becomes difficult to blame the Winter Soldier for his actions. Though, watching him beat a man who used to be his best friend, even if his memory has been wiped, is still an unsettling thing to watch. Each time he causes pain to Captain America, he causes you to flinch. Throughout the film, despite how evil he gets, you always hope that something will turn his memory back on. When a quote finally triggers it, he is redeemed, and it becomes very easy to forget all the horrific evil that he caused throughout the film.

Mister Babadook—The Babadook

The tormenting Mister Babadook is the most terrifying villain on the list. Not only because of the genre he exists in, and the way he creeps around in the shadows, but also because he is bound to the main protagonist. When Amelia first reads the story entitled "Mister Babadook" the monster comes alive with the sole purpose to torment the person who awakened him. He goes beyond the typical monster that goes bump in the night causing psychological issues as well as physical.

But what makes this villain so interesting is the question of his origin. Through the movie there is indication that Amelia has actually created this character in her self-written children's books, so whether this character is a figment of her own imagination, or an actual monster, it is up to her and her son to destroy it for her own sanity, and for the relationship between her and her son to strive. Mister Babadook represents an extreme of an internal demon, an evil that only Amelia can fight out of herself.

Dr. Bolivar Trask—X-Men: Days of Future Past

Despite not appearing in the majority of the film, Dr. Trask’s overall agenda in harnessing mutant powers into a weapon drives the evil in the film. The difference between Trask and some other X-Men villains is that he actually doesn’t seem to have a personal hatred for mutants, but as a scientist, he uses them. He treats them as if they were the rats in his experiments, and has even conducted fatal experiments. His destructive experimentation is the real evil, which stems from his own scientific exploration.

So while he may not be the most evil villain on this list, he does play an extreme role in the ultimate evil that threatens mutants of the future in X-Men: Days of Future Past. It is his technology, his inventions, his ideas that can be used for a more disturbing evil that lasts far beyond his time. He was the founder of the Sentinel program that caused the demise of most mutants, and the dystopian future that resulted with it. While his intentions may seem good at times, in the end, it didn’t even matter, for he valued selling his technology more than the research and knowledge gained from it.

Mason—Snowpiercer

There are villains in Snowpiercer that are more powerful than prime minister Mason, but her delight in putting the lower class in their place, and watching them suffer, portrays her as the more revolting and disturbing role. As the right hand to the leading villain, Wilford. Because Wilford never leaves his train car, Mason is the leader that interacts with back cars (and lower class). She is an absolute monster, wide-eyed and excited to watch pain inflicted on poor and reminding them of the hierarchy that keeps order in the train. When she is taken prisoner by the leader of the revolution she tries to befriend the people she had previously belittled, so afraid for her life that she is very quick to dismiss all of her previous notions of the lower class.

Mason is a weak and fearful villain. As the prime minister, she was always surrounded by armed guards, and was able to do as she pleased, because of her protection. When that protection is stripped, her true colors shine, and she loses all self-respect, begging for her life. She is the epitome of a sinister yet weak politician who gets her power through political structure, not because of any physical strength or even respect. She is corrupt and ridiculous a combination perfectly representing the nature of the higher class in the film.

The Man Upstairs—The Lego Movie

Again here is a villain who does not seem to play a particularly big role in the film, but it’s his actions that drive the villainous nature in the film. The Man Upstairs is the main antagonist of the film who is also reflected by his son as the evil Lego villain, Lord Business. The Man Upstairs is the ultimate strict father figure and it is through the son’s eyes that we see him. The son, Finn, sees his father as a rule follower, lacking creativity, and only following specific guidelines. This is the way the world works according to The Man Upstairs and also to Lord Business in The Lego Movie.

The evil of straining a child’s creativity or of telling him not to use the power of his imagination is a strong message to all the parent’s who took their children to see this film. By the end, The Man Upstairs sees the beauty in being different and in using one’s imagination (specifically with Legos) as opposed to only following the instructions. As a child, Finn’s world is quite small, making his father’s "evil" much more prevalent to his life. So when Finn is able to break through and bring his father to an understanding and therefore deeper connection with his son, it is defeating one of the biggest evils that can exist in a father-son relationship.

Cancer—Fault in Our Stars

One of the most unforgiving villains in real-life also shows off its ruthless nature as the main antagonist in Fault in Our Stars. Cancer plays the big evil in the film, it interrupts and slowly eats away at its victim. It takes over their body and their lives. Cancer is unpredictable and has a tendency to take undeserving victims. Even if it takes a rest, and a person goes into remission, they are always reminded of the lingering evil that could very easily come back alive. And it does just that, taking the life of a character that had fought so hard to fight it off, only to quickly realize it came back strong and with a death wish. To see this evil in young people, is the most extreme villain of them all. There’s absolutely no mercy, it conquers over love and eventually ends a blossoming relationship. This evil may not even be human, but the pain and suffering it causes in real-life, and in the film is far greater than any of these villains could try to do.

Koba—Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

At the end of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes we were given a glimpse of Koba’s aggression and hatred towards the humans. Koba, an intelligent and experienced ape had been abused by humans most of his life. Despite his clear appreciation and respect for Caesar, his troublesome past takes the best of him. And like most villains, he focuses on the source of his anguish, and directs aggression towards that source. Koba proves his trustworthiness, and Caesar embraces him as his brother, which is why his villainous ways are even more disturbing.

In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Koba’s hatred towards even non-threatening humans turns out to be much stronger than the bond between apes. By shooting his own brother, by lying to his colony, he shows that his aggressive nature is his only drive, and that the love and kindness that his family has given him can not overcome his internal struggle. To strategically plan a murder on someone who has quite literally freed you from the cage of those struggles makes Koba one of the most villainous characters to hit screens this year.

Terence Fletcher—Whiplash

In one of the best performances of the year, J.K. Simmons brings to life the bullying and aggressive jazz band conductor, Terence Fletcher in Whiplash. With his dark clothing, and bald head, he has the perfect look for an evil antagonist. But it’s his ruthless nature that lends him to the top of this list. Upon the first introduction to his character, he is portrayed as a straight-shooting top conductor, who high standards and is regarded the best of the best. So despite the tortuous schemes he inflicts on his students, particularly the protagonist drummer, his students take his abuse in hopes that he can further their musical careers.

He is manipulative, cunning, psychologically and physically abusive, so much so that one of his past students killed himself due Fletcher’s inflicted trauma. But the depth of the character comes from his excuse for his unsettling ways, and the pure excitement he has when he does see talent in his students. He admits there is reason behind his abuse, that the worst two words in the english language are "Good Job" and when he is defeated, his eyes light up. Because his own defeat is exactly what he hoped for, someone to prove him wrong, a great to be born because of his push.

Amy Dunne—Gone Girl

The master manipulator of the year goes to the psychopathic Amy Dunne in her performance of the ultimate set-up in Gone Girl. Though her marriage was already on the decline, when she finds out about her husband’s betrayal, she takes things into her own hands, and commits the ultimate revenge. The most villainous aspects of the character are not just in her deceitful and manipulative nature towards her husband, but that she also projects those characteristics towards the audience. She is an unreliable narrator that at times you sometimes feel yourself rooting for, even after finding out all she has done.

What makes her character even more unsettling is that after she cunningly sets her husband up for her murder, and watches his demise, it is her way of retaliation. And not in the sense of complete destruction. Once he portrays his regret of the affair, Amy manipulates a new situation to get her husband off the hook. She goes from loving wife to identity changing, manipulative psychopath, And it’s the surprising switch that makes her one of the most intriguing villains.

Thanks to constant media coverage of the Ebola outbreak in western Africa and the reports of cases found in Texas, the public is on high alert where the deadly disease is concerned. The CDC has said that there is a very low chance of an outbreak here in the States, but still fear and paranoia has exist. Of course, topical comedy is always common in cases like this, which is how we’ve come to the Saturday Night Live sketch above.

Featured heavily in this fake trailer, comedienne Sarah Silverman was the host of last night’s live show, following up Chris Pratt’s work on the season premiere last week. Here she is starring with SNL regular Taran Killam and together make a cute little parody trailer for The Fault In Our Stars 2: Ebola In Our Everywhere.

Obviously the main gag here is that Taran Killam’s character really wants to be nowhere near the girl who has just admitted to having Ebola, but I’m honestly surprised that this wasn’t taken to a grosser place. Those of your who have done your research – or at the very least have read "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston – know that Ebola is a terrible disease with a very notable symptom: lots of hemorrhaging blood. Sarah Silverman’s character starting to gushing red stuff might have escalated this trailer a little bit more and perhaps better illustrated the Ebola joke. And it’s not like Saturday Night Live doesn’t have a great history with blood-related jokes:

Wouldn’t have all of Sarah Silverman’s lines later in the sketch been funnier if she was bleeding profusely from her face, thus allowing Killam’s reactions to get more extreme? Perhaps it would have ended up being a little too much, but it would have gotten a chuckle out of me.

Of course, Ebola isn’t the only topical subject being parodied here, as it won’t be long until The Fault In Our Stars will be available on Blu-ray and DVD. After coming out this summer and making more than $300 million at the global box office – a nice boost for stars Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, and Nat Wolff - the Josh Boone-directed film will be arriving on home media September 16th.

Some books are a bit too mature for middle school, but does John Green's The Fault In Our Stars apply? According to six of the seven people in California's Riverside Unified School District's book reconsideration committee, it does, as the novel, which centers on a terminally ill teen who falls in love was banned by the Riverside, California school system's middle school library. The reported reason the book has been removed from the library is because of its inclusion of mortality and sex. John Green, who penned the book that went on to become a massively successful feature film, had some things to say on the banning.

The author took to his Tumblr to respond to the situation, when asked by a fan, Green said the following:

Detecting a bit of sarcasm there...

THR says the school district's "reconsideration committee" took the matter to a vote when a complaint was made about the school library carrying three copies of the book, which were available to kids (ages 11-13) who attend the school. Those who've read the book know that the story focuses heavily on Hazel's struggle with cancer, and the budding romance she experiences with Gus. Spoiler alert: sex and mortality are among the subjects addressed.

On one hand, one could argue that a school can carry whatever books it sees fit for its students. And parents certainly have a right to monitor what their kids read, and decide what their child is mature enough to handle. But focusing on the principle of the matter, I'm compelled to wonder when the subjects of sex and death are considered age-appropriate for a kid? Does the context of these subjects and the way they're explored make a difference?

This also causes me to want to put The Fault In Our Stars up against a book like Twilight, which is certainly popular among teens, and presumably has a tween fandom as well. Twilight omits premarital sex and centers itself around a scenario where people live happy, young (non-violent vampire) lives, essentially forever. This isn't a slam against Stephenie Meyer's books, as I can appreciate the appeal of a story that applies fantasy elements toward life and romance, and I think I would've loved Twilight in my younger years. Fantasy is fun. But there's also value in a story that brings us back down to earth. I remember being a kid and setting my expectations of adolescence by things I read in books or saw in TV and movies. Not everything prepared me for the reality of it, but some of it did, and some of the books I read stuck with me well beyond my childhood years. I think Fault would have been one of those books, had I read it as a kid.

Alas, when I was of middle school-age, I was getting most of my reading material from the public library. Maybe that's what this comes down to. Whether or not it's appropriate for a kid ages 11-13 is likely up for debate, but the question is, is The Fault In Our Stars appropriate for a middle school library?

This poll is no longer available.

To say that the feature adaptation of John Green's The Fault In Our Stars was a success would be an understatement, especially when we take into account the movie's modest $16 million budget. It's a big week for the Josh Boone directed film, not only because it just released on home video this week, but it also managed to pass the $300 million mark at the worldwide box office.

Deadline reported news of the milestone today. The site also notes that it was producers Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey who pursued the adaptation and encouraged Fox to move it forward. Their efforts obviously paid off. The Fault In Our Stars' domestic gross has surpassed $124 million at the box office, $48 million of that was earned in its opening weekend. The film brought in another $174 million-plus internationally, bringing the total to cross the $300 million mark.

Fans of John Green's novel probably don't need an explanation as to how this movie performed so successfully. However, Deadline brings up some good points about the factors that may have helped Fault reach box office success, including the stars of the film,John Green's involvement and impressive social media presence, and Fault's release proximity to Divergent. Were these elements a winning formula for box office success? Let's take a closer look...

Star Power And Good Timing

Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are up and comers, no doubt. Their talent and chemistry played a huge factor in The Fault in Our Stars turning out to be a great adaptation of a great book. But it also helps that both actors starred -- Woodley more prominently than Elgort -- in the feature adaptation of Divergent, which came out earlier that year and brought in $54 million in its opening weekend. Elgort and Woodley's involvement in Divergent likely helped boost their star power a bit leading into Fault's release.

It seems worth noting that The Fault In Our Stars' total box office surpassed Divergent's. While Divergent performed better domestically, with $150 million brought in stateside, Fault's impressive international gross pushed the film past Divergent's $286 million worldwide haul.

Green Power And Social Media

John Green is no stranger to the internet, and the internet is where all of the people are. That in itself has huge value to a movie in terms of generating buzz and interest. Being smart, personable and charismatic goes a long way, and John Green is all three. The millions of YouTube followers who subscribe to John and his brother Hank's channel can attest to that. The author having his own massive following likely helped add some exposure to the film.

Beyond that, Fox's efforts to promote The Fault in our Stars weren't limited to simply flooding the internet with clips and trailers, but extended to finding ways to bring fans together, including launching a nationwide tour. They also did an advanced screening event called "The Night Before Our Stars, which probably helped boost that opening weekend box office. Tickets for the screening were $25 a piece.

Good Source Material

Good source material doesn't guarantee a great movie, nor does it guarantee a successful movie. In addition to great direction, a solid script, which didn't stray too far from the book, and outstanding performances by Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern and everyone else involved, The Fault In Our Stars certainly benefited from its source material and the fan base that came with it. Whether it's the romance between Hazel and Gus, the challenges Hazel faces with her illness and her determination to meet her favorite author, or simply Hazel's candid, sometimes humorous narrative, the book has a lot of appeal and it translated nicely to the screen, which likely contributed to its success at the box office.

Fault's June release date may have also played a factor in its box office success. At least, Fox may seem to think so as they just scheduled the feature adaptation of John Green's Paper Towns for June 19, 2015. Will it find similar box office success?

The Fault In Our Stars is now available on DVD/Blu-ray.

The most successful movie of the summer is Guardians Of The Galaxy. That’s a fact from a monetary standpoint, but that doesn’t mean the film was the most obsessed over or the most discussed on social media. In fact, it wasn’t. That honor would belong to the summer’s saddest movie: The Fault In Our Stars.

Fizziology, a leading tracking firm in Hollywood, spent the summer itemizing every tweet, like and social media communication to determine what people were talking about most. Of course, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Godzilla and other big summer popcorn fare were well represented, but there was no film discussed more than The Fault In Our Stars, which registered more than five million mentions. That was not a typo. Let me repeat. It registered more than five million mentions this summer.

Variety points to author John Green as a possible factor, and honestly, that’s a pretty important piece of evidence. The popular scribe has a gigantic following on social media, both on YouTube and Twitter. He relentlessly promoted the movie and was very good about interacting with his followers and answering questions.

That being said, another key element here is how damn good the movie was. Word of mouth was absolutely phenomenal and because of the subject matter, people came out of the film ready and willing to talk about it from as many angles as possible. That definitely escalated the conversation and spun the narrative even further.

As for other social media honors, the company singled out X-Men: Days Of Future Past for turning the most negative and neutral buzz prior to release into positivity after release. It also gave a hat tip for Maleficient for keeping elevated social media stats for multiple months throughout the summer season. Obviously, the early release date helped, but still, that’s very impressive.

A big congratulations goes out to The Fault In Our Stars. It’s always nice to see good, thoughtful movies get rewarded for striving to be something more and following through on that execution.

Teens chose at the Teen Choice Awards Sunday night (as the show’s title suggests), and the loudest voices cheered on behalf of Divergent, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the weepy romance The Fault In Our Stars. Instead of going with one overall Best Picture, the Teen Choice Awards go with "Choice Movie" in different genres, allowing multiple films to take home trophies. Or, in this case, surfboards.

Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland and Teen Wolf’s Tyler Posey co-hosted the event, which honored Selena Gomez (Spring Breakers) with the Ultimate Choice Award. The ultimate choice of what? C’mon Tweens! Clarify!

This year, according to statistics released in a presser following the telecast, teens "logged on to teenchoiceawards.com and cast more than 164 million votes in support of their favorite celebrities from film, television, music, sports, digital and fashion." So what did they ultimately decode to honor? Here’s a full list of last night’s winners:

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Donald Sutherland accepting an award at the Teen Choice Awards. He actually went!

Time for the MTV Movie Awards to step up its game.

As of July 2, the year officially is half over. What kind of a year has it been? The summer blockbuster are struggling to surpass Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s The LEGO Movie on the box office charts (though Captain America: The Winter Soldier rode its late-spring release date to a massive financial win). And early film festivals like Sundance, SXSW, Cannes and Tribeca started introducing a few movies into the awards-contending conversation – but we have plenty of time left to tell which features will earn Oscar’s favor.

We decided that today would be a great day to regroup, reflect and single out the best movies we have seen on screen so far in 2014. The outstanding team of Cinema Blend movie writers have chosen to champion movies both massive and small, passionate and intimate. Even by expanding our list to 10, there are titles we had to leave off of the list. Be sure to tell us your favorite 2014 movie (so far) in the comments section below. For now, these are the best movies we’ve seen this year, starting with…

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson’s crippling OCD finally merges seamlessly with his distinct visual palette for The Grand Budapest Hotel, a dizzying sprint through a meticulously orchestrated murder mystery. This is Anderson perfecting every single one of his trademark quirks, from the lyrical dialogue to the brilliant cast hired to recite phrases that could only come from Anderson’s fountain pen. Appearing in an Anderson film always feels like a badge of honor for gifted character actors, and several familiar faces crowd the screen for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Skilled comedians like Edward Norton and Jason Schwartzman prove they understand the ticking-clock nature of Anderson’s prose, and scenes stealers such as Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Tilda Swinton and Adrien Brody make the most out of small cameos.

But in Budapest, Anderson finds yet another exceptional lead performance in Ralph Fiennes, and his dry, condescending portrayal of Gustave places this odd character in the Anderson pantheon alongside Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and Herman Blume. The Grand Budapest Hotel instantly becomes a tangible place we’ll want to revisit time and time again. It’s one of the year’s best films.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Most people say that summer started with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but they seem to forget that Marvel kicked off the party a month earlier with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The sequel to the best solo Marvel movie since Iron Man, it was a film that showed us how important Steve Rogers is to the modern world. As he's catching up to speed with our modern ways, he's dealing with a threat that's his match in strength and strategy. That threat is, in typical comic book fashion, also his supposedly long dead best friend. Go figure.

So why is Captain America: The Winter Soldier one of the best films of the year so far? Because Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely weren't content with just giving us another kick-assed Captain America movie. They also had to give us a Captain America movie that could make us think. With a storyline worthy of a 1970's political potboiler, especially when it's questioning the ethics of illegal surveillance tactics, Captain America: The Winter Soldier mixes two scoops of brain food into our Saturday Morning cereal. Considering the fluff in some comic movies these days, we're all the better for it.

The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars isn’t as sad as it could have been. It’s also not as funny, as triumphant, as depressing or as serious as it could have been either. A lesser movie would have manipulated circumstances in order to create more heroic wins and more crushing losses. But The Fault In Our Stars isn’t interested in anything but honesty. So, it ambles along like real life. It lets its characters smile with their friends, cry with their loved ones, and appreciate the last good day, even if they don’t know it’s all downhill from there.

The Fault In Our Stars works. It’s carefully and cleverly adapted so as to keep the spirit of John Green’s popular book while still streamlining it for a film audience. It’s perfectly cast, with leads who really understood how to humanize their characters, and it’s perfectly bolstered by great supporting players who stole scenes without bowling everyone else over (Laura Dern, especially). With a great self-awareness and wonderful emotional balance, The Fault In Our Stars is at the top of the 2014 pecking order, and it wouldn’t be a shock to watch it stay there.

Under The Skin

You can't watch Under The Skin passively. The movie stalks you, looks over your shoulder, curious and seductive. The alien played by Scarlett Johansson lures helpless Earth men to an endless black hole somewhere in this, or another, dimension. And it's entirely unclear what happens to these men, some floating in the abyss, some dead, some comatose.

Of course, these men are us: experiencing Jonathan Glaser's first movie since 2004's Birth is like slipping into a bottomless hole and hoping to adapt to a brave new environment. Mica Levi's unnerving score adds to the illusion that nothing is right. This is the apocalypse, and other worlds have sent their horseman. Glaser's camera captures sights so pregnant with ideas that they are themselves compelling shorts. A moment at beachside with a young infant is breathtaking in its majesty and matter-of-fact brutality. And a late night rendezvous between Johansson and a young disfigured man gives us a striking moment of kindness, a brief minute where suddenly, across the cosmos, two lifeforms have found something in common. It's the least we could expect from a film, the idea of two people coming together in spite of the obvious camera, changing the rules of existence, providing at once a brief glimpse of the babylon existing well outside of human understanding.

The LEGO Movie

There is a fascinating complexity in LEGO building blocks. Used by kids and adults alike, they are simply toys that, when fit and clicked together in a seemingly infinite number of ways, can be used to express unbridled imagination and originality. Abstract as that sounds, it was filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s responsibility to infuse the February-released The LEGO Movie with exactly that idea – and they accomplished this feat in magnificent fashion.

Featuring a voice cast that includes some of the funniest actors working today – from Chris Pratt to Charlie Day to Nick Offerman – The LEGO Movie captures an intense sense of nostalgia, triggering memories of fun playing on your bedroom floor surrounded by plastic pieces. But it also beautifully communicates a valuable message about individuality, conformity, creativity and teamwork. At its core, the plot is simple (an ordinary guy goes on a larger than life hero’s quest), but what Lord and Miller are able to do with it – transporting us to whole new worlds and introducing us to all kinds of wild characters – is nothing short of magic. The LEGO Movie is sweet, hilarious, beautifully animated, and, above all, AWESOME.

Only Lovers Left Alive

His entire career, indie auteur Jim Jarmusch has defiantly and delicately danced to the beat of his own drum. He brought us the unconventional samurai tale Ghost Dog, and the mind-bending Western with Dead Man. With Only Lovers Left Alive, this cerebral filmmaker gives his own spin to the vampire genre, making it richer, funnier, and--can you believe--even sexier.

Only Lovers Left Alive stars Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, two actors with limbs so lean and long, skin so pale, and sex appeal so aloof that it's shocking they'd not been cast to play vampires sooner. They are Eve and Adam, lovers reunited as Adam falls into despair over humanity's failure to advance. In many respects, Only Lovers Left Alive is a hangout movie. While seeking blood and avoiding detection do factor in, there's no real thrust to its story. But Jarmusch weaves a world so rich with character and detail that we're happy to hang with these blood-swilling vamps for all eternity. Only Lovers Left Alive oozes with sensuality that draws you and makes you want to curl up in its world. But aside from its pitch-perfect performances, impossibly cool soundtrack, and decadent decay, Only Lovers Left Alive shines bright with an insightful humor that makes it a delightful--though dark--escape.

Chef

Even for those of us whose cooking abilities are limited to the instructions on the back of the box, Chef hits home as a story about a man in need of personal re-invention. Movies often tend to focus on a character's rise to the top. But what happens when they reach their goal? Enter Jon Favreau's character, Carl Casper, a successful chef who's oblivious to the drastic life and career shift that's headed his way when one bad review throws everything into orbit. Chef is a story of Casper's efforts to rebuild himself, not from the ground up but from a less stable place, with more to lose but plenty to gain. In its efforts to tell that story, Chef offers an inside look at the culinary arts from one character's perspective, celebrating family and a sampling of American food culture, and emphasizing the necessary nurturing that creativity and passion require.

As writer, director and star, Jon Favreau succeeds in keeping Chef's story simple and entertaining, but also especially meaningful as we see Carl Casper attempt to reinvent himself as a chef and father. Chef also teases and torments us with some of the most delicious looking food to grace the big screen in a long time. See Chef, but don't watch it on an empty stomach!

Boyhood

Boyhood shouldn’t exist. There are too many obstacles – mentally, physically and spiritually – that should prevent a movie like Boyhood from happening. The fact that it’s screening anywhere is a movie-making miracle. And the fact that Boyhood also happens to be amazing is just a gift from the cinematic gods we simply can’t overlook. Filmed once a year over the course of 12 years, Richard Linklater’s experimental Boyhood tracks the progress of a contemporary nuclear family as children Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and Samantha (Lorelei Linklater, the director’s daughter) age from pre-school to young adulthood.

Linklater has created a fictional bunch, though the bumps they encounter along this spectacular journey are incredibly – and painfully – realistic. It’s impossible not to see traces of ourselves, and of people we know and love, in the writing and performances captured by Boyhood. Without having to serve one long, overarching story, Boyhood smartly comments on small, personal milestones in the lives of these characters. And stylistically, Linklater accomplishes a magic trick, circumventing all of the reasons why this project could have stalled out over the years to deliver a panoramic snapshot of a young life, well-lived. Boyhood is a triumph, a breathtaking cinematic achievement that celebrates the timeless value found in art, culture and family. One of the year’s greatest films, Boyhood cannot be missed.

Edge of Tomorrow

Put simply, Edge of Tomorrow delivers. And Doug Liman's film offers a lot more than "just" a big name star and lots of explosions. Set during a world war against an alien invasion, the story has Tom Cruise's William Cage caught in a time-loop where the day resets every time he dies. Cage isn't much of a soldier when he first drops into the battlefield, but give him dozens and dozens of tries at it and, as you might imagine, he starts to figure it out. What works so well about Edge of Tomorrow is that it embraces the humor of the Groundhog Day-like scenario, while also managing to keep the action and suspense rolling as Cruise's character teams with Emily Blunt's Rita Vrataski, a veteran soldier. Cruise not only does well at maintaining his action star status in the movie, but his acting talent is put to good use as we see the once chatty but not very battle-savvy Cage evolve into a full-blown warrior with the assistance of Blunt's tough-as-nails Rita.

Going into 2014, Edge of Tomorrow wasn't exactly high (ok, at all) on our list of anticipated films. But it proved to be a pleasant surprise, not only in being a truly fun summer blockbuster, but also offering a satisfying story, filled with action, laughs and alien mayhem.

Snowpiercer

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho grabbed our attention with his 2006 monster movie The Host. Before we'd got a beat on his style, he doled out 2009's Mother, a crime thriller that's final moments still haunt us for their bloodless monstrosity and simplicity. Now, he's bringing us his English-language debut Snowpiercer, about one train that protects the last of mankind against an unforgiving ice age.

Stuffing his cast with stars from all around the globe (Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Tilda Swinton, Ko Ah-Sung), Joon-ho intrigued us in preproduction. Concept art teased a richly detailed world of wonder and brutal class disparity. Before long, our expectations were so great, it seemed no movie could truly meet them. And yet Snowpiercer did. Joon-ho masterfully unfolds his story and its world one train car at a time. Along the way, his impeccable cast sculpts captivating arcs as their characters struggle to survive one bloody battle after another in a merciless class war. It's a thrilling film that demands you attention from its first frames, and rewards its audience with heart-pounding turns, breathtaking action, and thought-provoking subtext.

There are flashier movies out this summer. There are movies with bigger stars. But none of these will chill and thrill you like Snowpiercer.

Ask folks on the street which movie they think would do better on opening weekend, an action flick starring Tom Cruise or an adaptation of a young adult drama novel, most people would probably put their money on Cruise. This weekend proved yet again that these days the second most powerful box office demographic behind comic book fans are teenage girls.

John Green's adapted young adult novel The Fault in our Stars might not have the same draw as its more fantasy driven young adult movie franchise cousins like The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games or the newly minted Divergent series, but it still landed a solid number one opening this weekend with $48 million against a very modest reported $12 million budget.

That success comes with one significant asterisk. The movie looked to be off to a huge start with solid sales at Thursday night previews and Friday night topping $26 million. But, in a rare occurrence, sales going into Saturday dropped more than half, making just $12 million followed by a very slow $9 million on Sunday. While it was the number one movie overall this weekend, it was only number one on Friday. Last week's top earner Maleficent was back on top for the rest of the weekend.

That sort of sharp drop off likely means the passionate fans got in early, have already had their fill, and that the drop off will probably continue. Not that anyone at Fox is complaining. Not only have they already turned a nice little profit, they have bragging rights that their movie beat Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise movies haven't exactly been major performers at the domestic box office in the last few years. With the exception of the Mission: Impossible franchise flicks he hasn't had a headliner break $100 million (that's total domestic sales, not just opening weekend) since War of the Worlds almost a decade ago. Of course, he's a huge draw internationally and his movies consistently earn back more than double their reported budgets when you look at world-wide sales, but this weekend proved again that Cruise's name isn't getting North Americans out the movies as much as it used to.

Despite being one of his most critically praised movies of the last decade (at least, as far as Rotten Tomatoes statistics are concerned), Edge of Tomorrow had a quiet domestic debut, banking just $29 million for a third place opening. As expected, it did far better internationally, adding $111 million from other venues around the world against its $178 million production budget.

Noticeably absent from box office estimates was The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which had a reported $540,000 on Friday (not quite good enough to make the top ten). No info was reported for the rest of the weekend, leaving open the smallest possibility that it might have out paced Million Dollar Arm for the overall number ten spot. No news on why Sony/Columbia didn't report estimates for the rest of the weekend. At last report the movie was hovering at $195 million, inching slowly towards $200 million, something of a psychologically important benchmark for the franchise's lowest performing entry to date.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:

The Fault in our Stars *

$48,200,000Total: $48,200,000LW: N

THTRS: 3,173

Maleficent

$33,523,000Total: $127,370,000LW: 1

THTRS: 3,948

Edge of Tomorrow *

$29,105,000Total: $29,105,000LW: N

THTRS: 3,490

X-Men: Days of Future Past

$14,700,000Total: $189,101,000LW: 2

THTRS: 3,639

A Million Ways to Die in the West

$7,189,000Total: $30,088,000LW: 3

THTRS: 3,160

Godzilla (2014)

$5,950,000Total: $185,043,000LW: 4

THTRS: 3,110

Neighbors

$5,201,000Total: $137,801,000LW: 6

THTRS: 2,674

Blended

$4,050,000Total: $36,509,000LW: 5

THTRS: 2,928

Chef

$2,600,000Total: $10,362,000LW: 9

THTRS: 1,298

Million Dollar Arm

$1,822,000Total: $31,347,000LW: 8

THTRS: 1,643

In the world of book adaptations, there are few instances when movies can truly compare to their fictional counterparts. Books are more of a time commitment, but they offer more detail and they often give audiences the chance to view the world from a character or a set of character’s perspectives. There’s something about reading a book that is extremely intimate whereas a movie screening is not. This become especially apparent during my opening night screening of The Fault in our Stars, where hundreds of Kleenex-clutching fanatics blubbered loudly through the third act.

The Fault in our Stars is an intimate read, but director Josh Boone does a great job of bringing author John Green’s bestselling novel to the big screen. Instead of manipulating the book and making major changes to suit his own whims and purposes, Boone recognized that he had found a witty writer in Green. So, he simply trimmed the fat from the novel, cutting out some of the minor details, characterizations and backstories that would have been cumbersome for the theatrical audience catching the story for the first time. While those who have pored over the pages of Green’s book since its release in 2012 might miss a few scenes, lines and sequences, Green’s work is evident and largely intact on the big screen.

Following are the eight changes I noticed in my screening of The Fault in our Stars. Plenty of other details were changed, of course, and feel free to remark on any changes you feel may have been more noticeable. There are many spoilers in The Fault In Our Stars book to movie comparison. Do not delve in if you want the film to be a surprise.

Hazel never lets a little girl try her oxygen at the mall. Hazel’s need to be connected to her oxygen tank at all times is made apparent in the film. However, the scene in which she is explaining her tank and what it does to a precocious kid named Jackie is cut out for time. I guess it’s enough to know that Hazel’s lungs are bad and the oxygen helps supplement her regular breathing.

Hazel’s mom isn’t obsessed about unimportant holidays. In the movie, she still shows forced energy and positivity across numerous scenes and in numerous ways, but her best quirk is her love of Half Birthdays and Arbor Days, of celebrating the little things. Laura Dern brings a lot of energy to the role of Frannie, but if she had been able to work in a Christopher Columbus Day joke, I would have loved her even more.

The Fault in our Stars movie is a little light on Isaac. One of the most amusing sequences in the book is an exchange between Isaac, Hazel and a nurse at a hospital just a few hours after he loses his second eye. The nurse tells Isaac that "he’ll see" that things will get better. It probably would have weighed down the plot to build up Hazel’s relationship with Isaac, but audiences may miss a few of his amusing jokes. At least we get to keep his break-up with Monica.

Caroline Mathers never comes between Gus and Hazel. While Hazel’s parents are notoriously skeptical of a cancer beater getting involved with a Stage 4 girl, Hazel and Augustus’ onscreen relationship is mostly filled with spunk and positivity. There’s never the ghost of a long dead cancer girl polluting the finer moments.

We never learn about Gus’ "existentially fraught free throws." We do know he used to be a prominent basketball player, thanks to his wall of trophies. However, his poignant story about his former basketball days and the months leading up to losing part of his leg is a key part of Green’s novel, giving Augustus a little more depth.

Gus’ family is less apparent. Augustus Waters, unlike Hazel, is from a larger family unit. He has two sisters who are married, a slew of nephews and two parents who play a larger part in the novel. In fact, Gus’ illness is foreshadowed in a fight he has with his rents before leaving for Amsterdam. Hazel is so stoked to see her hero, she doesn’t really seem to notice.

The Oranjee restaurant scene is handled differently, but with plenty of care. The champagne and risotto are still present, but Gus and Hazel eat inside a modern-day contemporary restaurant instead of the scenic and charming outdoors. He also tells her he loves her at the table, which amps up the stakes in their relationship considerably.

The time we spend with Gus’ cancer is short. To spare us the horrible details of the enigmatic teen wetting his bed and dying horribly, Josh Boone’s film shortens Augustus Waters’ illness into a few of the book's best scenes. There’s a scene at a gas station where a panicked Gus just wants to do something for himself without people fawning over him. There’s a less exhilarating picnic by the skeleton sculpture and a pre-funeral where Hazel, Isaac and the audience really get to say their goodbyes. Weeks and months of time are shortened into just a few minutes, but it's still effective and affective.

The Fault In Our Stars hit theaters last night with random evening showings around the country, and this morning, it officially opened everywhere. I saw it and am proud to report it was a damn fine movie and even stole two tears out of my right eye. I tried to fight it, but in the end, it was just too well done and too touching to robot my way through the entire movie. That being said, the film left me with quite a bit to talk about; so, let’s get to it.

As the title indicates, what follows is a discussion with spoilers. Feel free to go absolutely crazy in the comment section ranting and raving about the smallest details and biggest plot points of the entire movie. If you haven’t seen the film yet, do yourself a favor and bail on this article. Then go see The Fault In Our Stars and return to this exact story immediately afterwards.

On the whole, The Fault In Our Stars is a very faithful book adaptation. The general story arc remains in tact, and all the characters work together in the same fashion. That being said, certain things work better than others about this movie. So, let’s throw some talking points out there.

How did Shailene Woodley do? You could make a case that she plays Hazel as a bit more of a negative person than she is in the book. That makes her struggle a little more tortured, and it really hammers home how much her situation sucks. On the other hand, however, it negates a certain percentage of her charm.

Was Ansel Elgort great or was he GREAT? I suspect opinion, as it usually is, will be decidedly split on Shailene Woodley and what she decided to do with her character, but I can’t imagine there will be any division with Ansel Elgort. He totally brought Augustus to life in all his optimistic and goofy ways.

Was the movie the right length? Personally, I was engaged for the entire two hours and five minutes, but that’s a lengthy film that needs a large audience of young people. A lot of movies made for such a crowd have brisk running times. That being said, the movie wasn’t even long enough to include some random loveable scenes from the books. So, it’s possible there will be some hardcore book fans who will be pissed about the lack of length.

Do we get enough of the supporting characters? That’s one choice filmmakers always have to make when they’re adapting a novel. Should time be spent to really get to know the side characters or should they be pushed aside even further to fixate on the journey of the main characters? In novels, you can do it all. In movies, you can’t. Here, director Josh Boone chooses Hazel and Augustus over the Lancasters and Isaac.

How much did you cry? I need to know because I am not a crier, and I still lost a few tears. In fact, I haven’t cried at the movies since the first ten minutes of Up all the way back in 2009, but when Frannie Lancaster opened Hazel’s door in the middle of the night, I couldn’t fight it off anymore. What moment got you? I need to commiserate in the comment section.

Let us know how you like The Fault In Our Stars by voting in the poll below and then going nuts in the comment section…

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With so many titles to choose from, Netflix Instant's library can be overwhelming. So we bring you this biweekly column as a tool to cut through the clutter by highlighting some now streaming titles that pair well with the latest theatrical releases.

Looking to Edge of Tomorrow, Maleficent, and Fault In Our Stars for inspiration, we've pulled together a selection of alien invasion adventures, twisted fairy tales, and teen dramas.

Edge of Tomorrow

Tom Cruise stars as a frontline soldier caught in a time loop of the day he dies battling an alien invasion. Can he exploit this strange time quirk to save the day? Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, and Brendan Gleeson co-star; and Doug Liman directs. Read our review here.

Outer space is a big place full of potential threats to humanity, at least in the worlds of sci-fi-fueled action movies. Blast off for adventure and thrills with a selection of tales that feature invading extraterrestrials, intrepid astronauts, and a short-tempered cab driver who just might save the world.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto reprise their roles as Captain Kirk and Spock in this sequel to J.J. Abrams 2009 reboot. This time around, the crew of the Enterprise is tracking down a mass-murdering terrorist in a dangerous corner of space. Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anton Yelchin, and Alice Eve co-star; J.J. Abrams directs.

Torchwood (2006) Spun-off from Doctor Who, this sci-fi series centers on Captain Jack Harkness, an anomaly who has traveled through time and now cannot die. He heads up the titular secret organization tasked with keeping a wide universe of aliens in check. Think of it as Men in Black, but with way more violence, death, destruction, and sex. Seasons 1-4 are streaming. John Barrowman and Eve Myles star.

The Fifth Element (1997) Set in the 23rd century, this adventure has Bruce Willis playing a former soldier turned cabbie who unwittingly joins a mission to save the world from a terrible alien force. Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman and Ian Holm co-star; Luc Besson directs.

Maleficent

Angelina Jolie stars as the titular villainess in a re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty told from Maleficent's perspective. Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, and Imelda Staunton co-star; Robert Stromberg directs. Read our review here.

For more twists on classic children's tales, we suggest this trio. Whether it's a gonzo re-invention of a Grimm tale, the mid-life crisis of Peter Pan, or a modern take on the story of Dorothy Gale, these titles are sure to enchant.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) The writer-director of the Nazi-zombie horror-comedy Dead Snow offers his take on the classic tale of kids lost in a wood and trapped in a witch-infested candy cottage. The results are a hard-R action movie with plenty of gore and totally bonkers sensibility. Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star; Tommy Wirkola directs.

Hook (1991) Robin Williams stars in this family-comedy that imagines what would happen if Peter Pan grew up and became a pudgy, work-obsessed lawyer. When Captain Hook kidnaps his children, Peter is forced to return to Neverland and rediscover his inner child, sense of wonder, and ability to truly fly! Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins and Dante Basco co-star; Steven Spielberg directs.

Tin Man (2007) Zooey Deschanel plays a modern Dorothy Gale in this mini-series that gives The Wizard of Oz an edgy new adaptation. D.G. is a Midwestern waitress thrown into the magical and treacherous land of O.Z. where she meets a half-brained engineer, a gruff sherrif, a sly shapeshifter and nervous telepath. Alan Cumming, Neal McDonough, and Richard Dreyfus co-star.

The Fault In Our Stars

Shailene Woodley stars as Hazel, a 16-year-old with terminal cancer who finds a new lease on life and love thanks to a charming young man called Gus. Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff and Laura Dern co-star; Josh Boone directs. Read our review here.

Before it was a tearjerking movie, The Fault In Our Stars was a heartbreaking book. For more summer reading minus the reading, check out these teen-centered dramas, each based on a beloved novel. Whether she's dealing with grief, cancer or an alien invasion, each of these titles offers a heroine with serious strength and heart.

Now Is Good (2012) Based on the Jenny Downham novel, this romantic drama stars Dakota Fanning as a teen suffering from leukemia. But rather than let her own mortality get her down, this girl is inspired to embrace life by tackling her bucket list. At the top of it, is losing her virginity. Jeremy Irvine co-stars; Ol Parker directs.

Tiger Eyes (2012) Novelist Judy Blume has touched countless adolescents with her books, but this marks her first movie adaptation. Willa Holland stars as Davey Wexler, a 17-year-old with a lot to handle. Her dad's been killed, and while her mother struggles to cope, Davey's been sent to live with relatives in New Mexico. Grief and being the new kid are made a bit easier after a fateful meeting leads to an important new friendship. Amy Jo Johnson, Tatanka Means, and Elise Eberle co-star; Lawrence Blume directs.

The Host (2013) Based on Stephanie Meyer's YA novel, this coming-of-age tale deals with identity, love and friendship in the setting of an insidious alien invasion. Saoirse Ronan stars as Melanie Stryder, one of the few humans left on Earth after a parasitic creature from outer space took over the bodies of much of mankind. When Wanderer is introduced into Melanie's body, she struggles to take her over, and unexpectedly in her quest to conquer finds she empathizes with Melanie and the human race. Diane Kruger, Max Irons, and Jake Abel co-star; Andrew Niccol directs.

Normally, when getting ready to run to a press screening, I have a simple check list: wallet, cell phone, keys, a notebook, and two pens in case one runs out of ink. Last Thursday, I also made sure to pack tissues. I was headed to The Fault In Our Stars. And I was ready.

Though I haven't yet read John Green's beloved book about cancer-stricken teens falling in love, I knew this is the stuff of epic tearjerkers. I would cry, probably a lot, likely throughout. And to make the most of that, I invited a close friend along to join me. In general, I can't say I'd recommend crying in public. But there's something deeply satisfying about sharing a cry with a friend over a movie.

I can remember my first. It was 1991. I had just turned 9. The movie was My Girl. I had no idea what was in store for plucky Vada Sultenfuss and her best buddy Thomas J. But Amanda did. My third grade classmate had tissues at the ready, and when those bees came for Thomas J. and his glasses (WHERE ARE HIS GLASSES!?), the two of us melted into a crumpled pile of tissues and tears, clinging to each other's snot-smeared hands for support. It's one of my most vivid memories of seeing a movie I have from my childhood. I suspect women especially understand the cleansing value of a "good cry," but there's something intoxicating about having it with a friend.

I was caught off guard more recently, seeing About Time at the New York Film Festival, believing it to be a chipper romantic comedy with a dash of zany time travel. Then came the plotline of mortality and heartbreaking choices. This time, I had the tissues by chance. But passing them to the sobbing friend at my side was tantamount to saying, "I'm right there with you, girl." Over drinks afterwards, we rehashed what had made us lose it, and our shared sadness turned to long, rich conversations about our families, work, and personal philosophies. A shared sad movie spun into bonding and a fantastic and fun night out.

With these experiences behind me, I considered who I might want to bring to The Fault In Our Stars. Basically, who did I want to share a good cry with? I called up Stevie Steel, an actress who I've enjoyed countless conversations and laughs with over scads of cocktails and dinners. We talked briefly about the movie beforehand, admitting neither of us had read the book, but we were both aware of the plot. The movie began, and it wasn't long before--as predicted--we were both sniffling. I handed Stevie a tissue and we exchanged a glance of understanding as she took it. Together, we sobbed and shook as Hazel and Gus battled cancer, fighting for their life together.

Seeing a movie with a friend is usually fun, but it can often be a passive pastime of staring blankly, sitting in silence. Tearjerkers force you out of your silent watchful space, and make you interact. For us, it was with tears and tissues. It made us feel connected, not embarrassed--the feeling most-often associated with crying in public. We were sharing in the experience in the way the movie demanded, and it's powerful stuff. Even as we left the theater, eyes still sparkling wet, eyelids slightly puffy, it felt like a merit badge we'd earned together.

But this article would be incomplete without Stevie's point of view. So I asked her what she thought about the value of crying in a theater with a friend. She explained via email:

So we advise you embrace that magic.

Yes, The Fault In Our Stars will make you cry. But revel in that. Bring a friend. And don't forget the tissues.

Those who want to see The Fault in our Stars a day early may want to check out "The Night Before Our Stars," an advance screening and Q&A event scheduled the day before the film's official release. In addition to attending the live simulcast, and getting to see the movie a day ahead of everyone else, ticket holders will also receive a commemorative charm bracelet and an exclusive poster for the film. Check out the spot Fox recently posted online to promote "The Night Before Our Stars," which is set to take place June 5.

The new spot features Charli XCX's "Boom Clap" off The Fault in our Stars soundtrack, and promotes "The Night Before Our Stars." As early screenings are becoming pretty common for movie releases, the real perk to this event seems to be the simulcast, which will include appearances by stars Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Nat Wolff, along with Fault in our Stars author John Green, the film's director Joshua Boone and producer Wyck Godfrey. In addition to a Q&A, the event will also include "intimate, live musical performances by Birdy and Nat Wolff."

"The Night Before Our Stars" is scheduled to take place June 5 at 8:30 p.m EST (7:30 p.m. CST, 6:30 p.m. Mountain, 5:30 p.m. PST).

Tickets are available throughThe Fault in our Stars website:

Tickets cost $25 a piece.

The price may seem kind of high for a movie ticket, but it's worth considering for fans of the book, particularly those who want to experience the movie for the first time surrounded by people who are likely just as excited to be there as they are. It's probably safe to assume that most of the people who attend "The Night Before Our Stars" are book fans. So, even if the Q&A and musical performances are happening on screen, the in-theater energy should be brimming with anticipation and enthusiasm for the movie. There's definitely something to be said about enjoying something in the company of other fans. That's just something to consider if you're trying to weigh the pros and cons to spending more than twice the cost of a regular movie ticket to see the The Fault in our Stars a day ahead of schedule. You'll also get the poster and charm bracelet.

Based on John Green's novel, The Fault in our Stars stars Shailene Woodley as Hazel, a girl fighting terminal cancer, who meets Gus (Ansel Elgort) at a support group for kids with cancer. The two spark an instant connection and eventual romance as they get to know one another. Everything we've seen from the film suggests Woodley and Elgort are capturing that spark between Hazel and Gus nicely, but we'll know for sure on June 6 when the film hits theaters, or June 5, for those who are planning on seeing the film during "The Night Before Our Stars."

Need a good Monday cry? Well English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has got you covered with his newly unveiled ballad "All of The Stars." It's a tender track made especially for the upcoming Shailene Woodley drama The Fault In Our Stars, that's soundtrack is now available for pre-order.

The above music video gives little screentime to Woodley or Sheeran. Instead it mostly focuses on a wall of uplifting phrases and inspirational mottos like "Everything has beauty," "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door," and "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Based on the beloved novel by John Green, The Fault In Our Stars centers on two teens in love, but their romance faces some serious obstacles. Shailene Woodley stars as Hazel, a sixteen-year-old who has been fighting an aggressive strain of cancer for years. While reluctantly attending a support group for cancer-stricken kids, she meets the charming seventeen-year-old basketball player Augustus, played by Ansel Elgort. Together, the two learn that even lives that are cruelly short can be beautifully lived. Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Mike Birbiglia, and Willem Dafoe co-star; Josh Boone directs.

Apple has unveiled The Fault In Our Stars soundtrack listings, which include songs from Ed Sheeran, Ray LaMontagne, Lykke Li, Grouplove and Charli XCX. Check out the full listing below:

The music video for "All of The Stars" is doing more than announcing the pre-orderability of The Fault In Our Stars soundtrack. This charming vid is also meant to promote an upcoming live stream event featuring Ed Sheeran, Grouplove and Charli XCX as well as the cast of The Fault In Our Stars and author John Green. Mark your calendar because this celeb-stuffed live stream event will take place on May 14th at 6 PM PST/ 9 PM EST at The Fault In Our Stars homepage.

In the meantime, enjoy more tracks from The Fault In Our Stars below. First up, Ray LaMontagne's breathy and beautiful "Without Words."

And lastly, Grouplove's official music video for "Let Me In."

The Fault In Our Stars opens June 6th.

Josh Boone's feature adaptation of The Fault In Our Stars arrives in theaters exactly one month from tomorrow. Fans of John Green's book are likely eager to see how Hazel and Gus are brought to life for what's sure to be an emotional telling of Green's wonderful story. Fox has released some B-roll, which gives us a look behind the scenes of the movie. While there probably isn't anything majorly spoilery for those who haven't read the books, a warning seems necessary none-the-less. The footage gives us some glimpses of the production for some key book moments, some of which have been teased in the trailers, but you'll see a bit more of what was filmed here. So if you're trying not to see too much of the movie before you actually see the movie when it hits theaters June 6, now's your chance to walk away. But if you're not above gobbling up every glimpse that you can get ahead of the release, dive in!

As for book spoilers, I'll go out of my way to avoid them in the text here, beyond explaining the general premise and vaguely referencing some of the scenes we're seeing in these videos.

The footage in the video above shows Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort filming the scene where Hazel literally bumps into Gus on her way to the support group meeting for kids with cancer. The story focuses on Hazel and Gus' friendship and budding romance. Both have faced their own battles with cancer, which gives them a unique perspective on adolescence and their own mortality.

Also featured is Nat Wolff's Isaac, a mutual friend whose own cancer problems are causing him to lose his sight. His scenes glimpsed in the above video include trophy trashing and egg tossing.

The video below features a lot of the Amsterdam footage. Hazel and Gus take a trip overseas, accompanied by Hazel's mother, played by Laura Dern. And at one point, Hazel and Gus visit the Anne Frank house. We get to see some of their arrival being shot...

There's more Amsterdam footage in this video, some of which features Willem Dafoe, who plays Peter Van Houten. We also get a look at the shooting of Hazel and Gus' scene on the bench, which is a key moment in the story. And the second half of the video shows more than a few glimpses of John Green on set.

Finally, you may have seen this one circulating already. It's the footage of Shailene Woodley cutting off her long hair for the role.

As we reported last summer, not only did Woodley go all-out for this part in chopping off her hair, she also donated the locks to charity.

The Fault In Our Stars arrives June 6. Watch the extended trailer here.

Each year, the summer movie season is ruthless, filled with movies claiming and switching release dates, then studios cannibalizing each other to score a hit. Most of the time, however, there's the gentleman's agreement between all of them to keep the peace and usually release one blockbuster at a time. Part of this strategy comes from some execs watching their fellow producer bomb when they overestimate the broad appeal of their film. In summer, movies die loudly, and they leave scars.

Which is why we've decided to break down most of the summer's offerings, observing exactly what it is about some films that cause them to succeed and fail. This involved number crunching, market analysis, educated guesses, and the application of a few snobby biases. We've separated these groups into obvious hits, less-obvious hits, so-so performers and outright bombs, all comparative to budgets. All gross numbers are global totals unless otherwise specified. Feel free to bookmark this, and check it at the end of the summer.

Megahits

Godzilla – Few summer films have had marketing as impressive as this monster mash, which is seeing release after two more frivolous summer entertainments (Amazing Spider-Man 2, Neighbors). Ads have obscured the monster, but favored the disaster footage, a money-shot heavy approach that likens this picture to, ironically, a film like the ones made by 1998 Godzilla director Roland Emmerich, albeit more serious. That film, by the way, grossed $379 million globally despite being hated by just about everyone. With an inflated overseas market, this thing could be looking at upwards of $200 million domestically, and $600 million global.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past – Strangely enough, the X-films haven't broke out like other superhero franchises: the highest grossing effort is the $459 million registered by X-Men: The Last Stand. Because it's eight full years later, because the overseas market has changed, because this is in 3D, and because this is following the Fast And Furious model of filling the cast with characters from all previous films, there's reason to believe this film will obliterate that number. Last year's The Wolverine was extremely well-received internationally, grossing $414 million worldwide, but it was a smaller, lower-budgeted affair. This new film promises armies of mutants, killer robots and time travel, basically the exact opposite elements that made The Wolverine the lowest grossing X-film domestically. X-pect (EL OH EL) grosses close to $275 million domestically, and $600 million worldwide.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 - The animated sequel bump doesn't always occur for some films: Kung Fu Panda 2 and Happy Feet Two are two recent examples of animated sequels that lacked the domestic success of the originals. But consider the case of Shrek 2 and Despicable Me 2, and realize that Dreamworks' Dragons franchise has had a presence on television with the Riders Of Berk series, and you're looking at the first animated kid flick of the summer obliterating the original's $494 million take, with possibly a $700 million worldwide tally.

Transformers: Age Of Extinction - Transformers: Dark Of The Moon was weaker domestically than its predecessor, though the strong global numbers took the film over the billion dollar mark. The signs would suggest a slightly shrinking appeal, but no studio dared to challenge this franchise's dominance over the 4th of July weekend. Not only is it opening a full week before Independence Day, but there's very little to challenge the picture on that date, giving Age Of Extinction two full weekends to most likely cross $200 million domestic, on its way to a $300 million franchise-standard domestic gross and at least $800 million worldwide.

Dawn of The Planet Of The Apes – The earlier film was an August surprise, coming out of nowhere to gross $481 million. This one comes two weeks after Transformers dominates the marketplace, and does so with the added strength of 3D, and an arguable upgrade at director in Matt Reeves. This franchise remains beloved by fans – even 2001's hated reboot earned $362 million worldwide – and as they move closer to territory established by the original films, expect new fans and baby boomers to be intrigued, to the tune of $525 million global.

Modest Hits

Neighbors – This fratty comedy spins on the premise of a generational struggle between an older, responsible guy and a young antagonist. But by casting Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, they basically went with two beloved actors of a similar demographic, limiting the crossover appeal to teens and young adults. That will probably keep this film from breaking out, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see Neighbors do basically the same, or slightly better numbers as last year's This Is The End, which grossed $126 million.

A Million Ways To Die In The West – Without the appeal of a teddy bear and an A-List star, this picture's not going to even sneeze at Ted's preposterous $549 million take. But international audiences have begun to show a kindness towards westerns they never did before, with True Grit and Django Unchained scoring high in overseas regions. The somewhat narrow appeal of Seth MacFarlane as a leading man gives this film a bit of a handicap, and a comedy-western isn't exactly blockbuster material, but it wouldn't be strange to see this film push $200 million globally on the back of MacFarlane's fanbase.

Edge Of Tomorrow – Stateside, the profile for this film is limited, given Tom Cruise's shrinking appeal. Coming a week after the kiddie-courting Maleficent, this should at least have a robust opening. But Cruise's biggest business comes overseas, where each of his last four starring vehicles grossed 70% or more of their totals, none of which had aliens or exoskeleton mechs. This could surpass a solid $120 million over here, and land at $450 million worldwide.

The Fault In Our Stars – Expectations are managed for this film, which only cost $12 million. This is counter-programming against the boy-centric blockbusters, even if the cancer storyline is a surprising downer for the target age group. Shailene Woodley is liked by her audience, but Divergent's $233 million global take was a bit below expectations. Still, if this passes $60 million domestically, it's a big win.

22 Jump Street – The first film was a surprise springtime smash, with $201 million worldwide. Since then, you could argue that stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill have plateaued: Hill's Wolf Of Wall Street Oscar nomination helped him, but didn't give him any real box office traction, while Tatum experienced a disappointment with White House Down. Still, the first was well-liked enough that this one might not open big (particularly not against How To Train Your Dragon 2) but it could perform steadily enough to gross at least $180 million globally.

Think Like A Man, Too – If you'll look around the summer schedule, you'll notice a severe lack of entertainment options for black and Hispanic audiences. Here comes this sequel to fill that void, having an added hook of a Vegas setting to distinguish this from the first film. This is coming out in a much more competitive environment than the first one, but it should open big, even if it only comes within a few dollars of the original's $91 million take.

Deliver Us From Evil – It's not entirely clear how Screen Gems is positioning what looks like a September dump into the Fourth Of July weekend, but here it is. And because there's very little to offer audiences that holiday aside from comedy Tammy and the Transformers, expect this film to reap a genre windfall. Maybe not at the level of last year's The Conjuring, as Screen Gems is a mixed bag as far as genre offerings (last year brought Carrie and Mortal Instruments: City of Bones), but a $130 million global gross and $80 million domestic should be solid.

The Purge: Anarchy – The bloom is off the rose with this series, as ticket-buyers turned on the film almost immediately during it's massive opening weekend. But you can live with negative feedback when you gross $89 million on a budget of only $3 million. This film adds the hook of an outdoors expansion of the concept, which should bring fresh eyes, but it doesn't look like the series has breakout potential beyond that. Still, a global tally close to the original with added support overseas is absolutely in play.

Step Up: All In – These films are basically cheap and designed almost solely for the international market, where they are, in some regions, retitled Sexy Dance. Step Up: Revolution was the weakest performer in the series domestically, but it still registered a $140 million global gross. This one should experience a slight uptick, given that it reunites characters from all the earlier films, essentially making it Step Up: Days Of Future Past. A final number close to the $159 million collected by Step Up 3D is certainly possible.

Guardians Of The Galaxy – A Marvel gamble back in 2008 meant something different than a wager by them now, and Guardians is one of the biggest. Looking at the schedule, it's entirely possible this film opens in a vacuum, and Marvel's increased profile suggests it could play strongly throughout the month. Thor was a similar risk, and opening at the beginning of May in 2011 it grossed $449 million, mostly on the strength of foreign audiences. Comparatively, 2008's The Incredible Hulk was the weakest of the Marvel films thus far, with $236 million worldwide. Split the difference, add in 3D, and there's no reason the Guardians can't register a $400 million global gross.

Get On Up – Late-summer dramas always have a good shot to break out, and some serious-minded audiences are already prepared for fall. An example would be The Help, which opened in August and grossed $216 million on its way to Oscar nominations. That film's director Tate Taylor returns for a James Brown biopic that promises lively music, high drama and the chance to honor the life of a legend. Walk The Line and Ray were two recent music biopics released in the fall to $186 million and $124 million worldwide numbers. This one could snuggle in right between those two at around $150 million globally.

Break-Evens

Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Sony head Amy Pascal threw down the gauntlet by suggesting this film should break a billion worldwide for the studio. Given that the last film pulled in $752 million, a far cry from Spider-Man 3's $890 million tally even with added 3D, you can see how she's barking up the wrong tree. Amazing Spider-Man 2 has the year's best release date and a surplus of promotion behind it. But enthusiasm and fan interest in the last picture dwindled considerably, and this is a franchise in trouble. The last film opened late in summer and had legs to support it's weaker opening. This one will open much bigger, but soon has to run the gauntlet against Godzilla and X-Men. At a reported $250 million budget not counting P+A, this is going to need to break the bank, and with international numbers solid but not overwhelming, this film could clock in around $650 million, a new low for the series.

Maleficent – Alice In Wonderland set the studios on the path of live action big budget fairy tale movies, but none have become breakout successes. The latest is this Sleeping Beauty reworking, which some say cost as much as $200 million (which may or may not include expensive reshoots). Reaching the $396 million grossed by Snow White And The Huntsman isn't quite going to cut it. Fortunately, the film's got Angelina Jolie on its side: she hasn't been seen onscreen since the one-two punch of Salt and The Tourist, both of which made over 60% of their grosses internationally. The results may be modest domestically, but expect the film to register a worldwide gross in the neighborhood of $450 million.

Planes: Fire And Rescue – No one paid Planes a second thought last summer, and the $50 million toon ran away with $219 million worldwide. This sequel was pretty much part of the deal, and will be arriving six weeks after the last kid flick, How To Train Your Dragon 2. A satisfactory $200 million worldwide is certainly in play once again.

Hercules – Over the last four years, Dwayne Johnson has starred in four films that crossed at least $300 million worldwide. And in all of those cases, he was honing in on someone else's franchise, riding the coattails of an established brand. This is the first big budget film to rest entirely on Johnson's name and charisma, but unfortunately he's relied on director Brett Ratner to illustrate it. Johnson's best when he gets to have a sense of humor and/or bounce off another major co-star, and here he has neither. Instead, he's in the type of pre-packaged film that audiences can clearly envision in their head before seeing, as if it were a parody inside another film. International audiences will be there to support Johnson, but $250 million worldwide and a very strong DVD life is probably the ceiling.

Lucy – Luc Besson reinvented himself as sort of a brand for b-level action in the wake of the Taken movies, but you could argue it's been a long run of non-successes, with films like Columbiana and Lockout dotting his resume. He returns to the director's chair with this thriller, and while last year's The Family was dreadful, it still registered a respectable $68 million. Here, he's got Scarlett Johansson, a sneaky-good box office bet: Johansson has smartly positioned herself as one of the world's biggest movie stars without logging a single leading role in the last four years with the exception of the arthouse hit Under The Skin. The Marvel films have helped, as well as supporting appearances in He's Just Not That Into You and We Bought A Zoo. Teaming her with Morgan Freeman, another box office lucky charm, should result in a few cheap late-August dollars, and possibly a global gross near $90 million.

The Expendables 3 – The second film in this series boasted the added star-power of Chuck Norris, Liam Hemsworth, and a still-hungry Jean-Claude Van Damme, not to mention a chance to actually see Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger together in action. While the $305 million gross was robust, the domestic numbers were considerably weaker from part one to part two. With Stallone and Schwarzenegger's solo efforts being roundly rejected, and the dwindling box office numbers of Jason Statham threatening to turn him into a supporting star, the only real lure for this film is the added presence of Wesley Snipes. Bigger name additions like Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson, comparatively seem like desperate last-gasp attempts at relevance, and niche cast additions like Antonio Banderas (huh?), Kelsey Grammer (what?) and Glen Powell (who?) won't move the needle for the average action fan. Worldwide numbers around $250 million should please the studio, though expect a domestic take in the neighborhood of $70 million.

Potential Flops

Blended – This romantic adventure has a safari hook, but trailers have struggled to show the actual conflict. Adam Sandler reuniting with The Wedding Singer collaborators Drew Barrymore and director Frank Coraci is probably a good move in the actor's career, as the bottom threatens to fall out after a string of middling performers. Despite the $246 million grossed by Grown Ups 2, Sandler's overall track record is beginning to get a little spotty: unlike other comedians, he can rely on foreign audiences to support his work, but Jack And Jill ($149 million) was a downer, and That's My Boy ($57 million) was a disaster. Targeting families isn't a bad approach, but this comes out against X-Men: Days Of Future Past. An end result of somewhere around $150 million global isn't too bad for a family comedy, but Sandler's films tend to have completely unreasonable budgets: Grown Ups 2 pretty much takes place in backyards and shopping malls and it cost $80 million. If this has a similar production cost, $200 million should be the goal.

Tammy – Melissa McCarthy is coming off a strong run that includes Identity Thief ($173 million) and The Heat ($229 million). This is a road trip comedy, however, and her only real support comes from Susan Sarandon. This seemed like a smaller project from the start, so the Fourth Of July berth is surprising, but McCarthy has had stronger, more proven box office stars to bounce against in her earlier work. This likely wasn't an expensive film, but without the support of an international audience, and opening in the wake of Transformers, this could easily take a knee at $80-$90 million worldwide.

Jupiter Ascending – You hate to predict negative results for an ambitious-looking original film like this, but there are too many wild-cards at play. It's not like the film – which features a half-wolf bounty hunter in the future pursuing a pretty janitor destined for great things – is that strange, but it certainly stands out in a sea of sequels, remakes and adaptations. Still, the Wachowskis have been playing with house money for awhile now: Speed Racer was a tremendously costly failure, and the expensive Cloud Atlas was released by Warner Bros. as if they were embarrassed by it. Their outlandish sci-fi concept rests on the appeal of Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis, both of whom have varied box office histories in recent years, and one is playing an elfin killer, the other a janitor. You wish them the best of luck, but the film is coming a week after Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and carrying a massive $150 million budget. A global gross of $200 million would actually be saving face.

Sex Tape – Bad Teacher alumni Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel and director Jake Kasdan reunite for this raunchy comedy that pivots on an elaborate hook involving the misplaced marital aid in the title. Like Bad Teacher, it likely comes in at a reasonable price, and in Diaz it has an abnormally reliable leading lady at the box office. But Segel's last starring vehicle aside from The Muppets was Five Year Engagement, which crashed and burned at $53 million. The end of July looks like a decompression period where a lot of films won't hit, and Sex Tape looks like it could be one of the few to vanish, it's concept lending itself to a universal concept that no one wants to admit they comprehend.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Platinum Dunes has given the heroes in a half shell an expensive big screen treatment. Two major elements really hold this film back, however (three if it's terrible). One, do the Turtles really have any mainstream appeal right now? The constantly-rebooted show is never exactly a breakout hit with TV audiences. And 2007's TMNT grossed an underwhelming $95 million, quickly forgotten by the fanbase. Two, look at those turtle designs. The trailer has played to much confusion as people seem to be put-off by these edgy, frankly unsightly-looking Ninja heroes. A major marketing challenge has been created by the sight of these things: international audiences may not care, though and they'll help buoy a worldwide gross around $120 million.

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For It's been how long since that first movie? The $158 million gross was considerable, sure, but one can be argued that the film did next-to-nothing for the box office reputations of its stars. Some are less-bankable now (Bruce Willis). Some have aged out of their roles (Jessica Alba). And some, sadly, have passed away (Michael Clarke Duncan, Brittany Murphy). As a result, there's a lack of truly compelling reasons to revisit Sin City once again, particularly considering the sad career trajectory of Robert Rodriguez, once a Hollywood maverick, now another sequel for-hire guy with buddy Frank Miller. Opening in the dregs of August isn't a great sign, though the international numbers just might get the film's global total over $100 million.

Two words come to mind when we think of the Summer Movie Season. Bigger (which is a guarantee), and better (which is more of a hope).

There’s no denying that movies like Godzilla, Transformers: Age of Extinction and X-Men: Days of Future Past could only open in the sweltering summer session, when audiences try to beat the heat by escaping into air-conditioned multiplexes to have their minds collectively blown by massive special effects. But do those minds also have to be switched off during the summer season? We hope not, and we’re looking to the following films to stimulate as well as entertain us as we race into the exhilarating Summer blockbuster frame.

These are the 20 movies we’re most excited about this summer season, listed in chronological order. They are the movies we have been obsessing over constantly in the Cinema Blend offices – the movies we can’t wait to finally experience in a theater. Soon! For each, we try to explain WHY these movies matter. You have a lot of films to choose from in the summer season. These are the ones we think need to be on your radar. Tell us, in the comments section, which ones you are dying to see. And remind us which ones we’ve missed. Enjoy this year’s Summer Movie Preview. Dig in!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

CAST: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Chris Cooper, Sally Field

DIRECTOR: Marc Webb

WHY IT MATTERS:

Marc Webb rebooted the Spider-Man franchise with 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, and now that he’s gotten the origin story out of the way, he’s able to take his hero out for a few spins. However, Webb’s focus isn’t just on this immediate sequel. Sony has bet big on the future of The Amazing Spider-Man, announcing plans for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and possible spinoff movies for The Sinister Six and Venom, if all goes according to plan.

First, however, audiences need to turn out and support Webb’s second chapter in Spider-Man’s latest adventure, and this one is a doozy. Without getting too deep into details, the new movie retells a VERY important story in Spidey’s history, centering on Peter Parker’s strained relationship with his soul mate Gwen Stacy (played by the beautiful, radiant and charismatic Emma Stone). If you’ve read the comics, you know where this is going… and you know it’s bound to hurt. Jamie Foxx steals scenes with his portrayal of put-upon OsCorp employee Max Dillon – who becomes the lethal Electro. And Dane DeHaan brings the tragic Harry Osborn to life.

But finally committing the Gwen Stacy saga to the silver screen is a landmark achievement, and it will ensure that Spider-Man fans around the globe flock to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 again and again. Bring tissues.

RELEASE DATE: May 2

Godzilla

CAST: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliet Binoche, Ken Watanabe

DIRECTOR: Gareth Edwards

WHY IT MATTERS:

Godzilla has one of the richest cinematic legacies of any character in movie history. The original film, born out of an agitated post-nuclear Japan, was not meant to be fun, but rather a reckoning, the sins of the past manifested, the personification of great tragedy and terrible loss. As the films continued, however, they lost their sadness, they lost their innate terror, and Godzilla was co-opted. Now, he fought for the people. Somehow, he was their hero. And there was no shortage of evil monsters to battle.

The fire-breathing legend has laid dormant for a few years now, due to diminishing returns from the Toho films in Japan and the disastrous 1998 American version that completely violated the essence of the character. Edwards brings a fresh take, however: his debut film Monsters focused on the disaster zone and urban decay left behind in the wake of a horrific alien invasion. Monsters was ultimately a smaller film, one dealing with an interpersonal relationship within the rubble. Godzilla should be, and probably will be, a bit more.

And early signs suggest a level of horror not seen as far as the monster, last seen rampaging throughout Japan in Godzilla: Final Wars. The character is usually captured in man-in-suit chintziness amidst low budget sets, which is why seeing him in the hands of Roland Emmerich showed promise. But Emmerich focused only on showy money shots, the beast's proportions constantly changing from shot-to-shot, before a truly disappointing character reveal. Edwards' Godzilla, meanwhile, is a preposterous size, and the action shots from the trailer suggest a level of devastation and disaster unseen in any film. This is a Godzilla that does not shrink away, this is a Godzilla that will mess you up. This is also a Godzilla, FYI, without a Puff Daddy music video tie-in. Thank goodness for small favors.

RELEASE DATE: May 16

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

CAST: (deep breath) Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Ian McKellan, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Hoult, Ellen Page, Evan Peters, Fan Bingbing, Omar Sy, Daniel Cudmore, Shawn Ashmore, Lucas Till, Anna Paquin

DIRECTOR: Bryan Singer

WHY IT MATTERS:

In your early years of X-fandom, did you ever think you'd walk past a billboard advertising a big budget adaptation of Days Of Future Past? One of the most beloved, and most convoluted, of X-Men storylines, this one has an X-Man traveling from a war-torn future into the past to stop a Very Bad Thing from happening to the First Class mutants in the seventies. In the new movie, that Very Bad Thing is unclear, but it definitely involves the creation of giant mutant-hunting robots know as Sentinels, which capture mutants and place them in containment camps.

You just know both Magnetos have a problem with THAT concept, which is why it will be curious to see how Fassbender adapts to playing the Master Of Magnetism in a movie that has the original real deal besides him. And how does he cope with his son Quicksilver, a young superpowered speedster who has the Maximoff comic tradition of graying prematurely? Also, how does he deal with young Xavier, who is still walking despite the bullet at the end of First Class, specifically to thrift shops to buy the ugliest shirts in existence?

But, again, this is Wolverine's movie, as he is being sent back in time to save the day and look great while flexing. This is Jackman's seventh time as the bladed hero, and the reason why most people haven't gotten sick of him is because of Jackman's combination of movie star charisma and macho world-weariness. Here, at last it makes sense why he'd be the lead, even if center stage was taken by the Kitty Pryde character in the comics: Wolverine has lived through the entire century, so to give a man out of time a chance to go back and reverse one historical period in which he lived to prevent another is an intriguing concept. Also, he probably stabs a lot of dudes.

RELEASE DATE: May 23

Maleficent

CAST:Angelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Juno Temple

DIRECTOR: Robert Stromberg

WHY IT MATTERS:

Forget live-action remakes and forget sequels. Disney is taking a different approach at revisiting one of their beloved films with their new take on Sleeping Beauty by turning the focus around and telling the other side of the story. We're familiar with the princess who was cursed to sleep until her prince rescued her, but what about the villain? Anyone who knows the original Disney animated version of Sleeping Beauty knows that Maleficent isn't very developed as a villain. She essentially shows up at Aurora's christening, casts a delayed curse and waits. Beyond her poor manners -- who crashes a Christening and curses the baby, honestly? -- the story never really fills us in on her motives. Disney's update seeks to explore Maleficent's side of the story, which should hopefully shed some light on the behavior of this Mistress of All Evil. Why did she curse Aurora? Answering that question could very well change our perception of Disney's Sleeping Beauty. It's a risk, but an exciting one on Disney's part, as it delves deeper into one of their most classic fairytales, building onto the original story, hopefully in a way that compliments it.

The concept alone is reason enough to anticipate Maleficent. This is a film that could prove to be a game-changer in the way that Disney and other studios approach follow-ups. Beyond that, it looks like a great movie. We have Angelina Jolie with that wicked laugh and smile, and Elle Fanning starring opposite as the lovely and innocent Princess Aurora. And then there's Sam Riley, who's playing Diaval, the human form of Maleficent's right-hand raven! The trailers for the film have teased a visual feast, with a colorful backdrop, as well as pixies, at least one fire-breathing dragon and numerous other enchanted creatures from the forest kingdom looking ready to wage war with the humans. Exactly how all of this fits against the original story remains to be seen, but it's evident that Disney is going big with this picture, and we're eager to see if the payoff is as grand.

RELEASE DATE: May 30

A Million Ways To Die In The West

CAST: Seth McFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman

DIRECTOR: Seth McFarlane

WHY IT MATTERS:

After spending his long career almost exclusively in television, Seth MacFarlane accomplished something rather amazing back in the summer of 2012. He not only moved up to making features, but did so by moving away from animation and into live-action. The end result -- the crude, heavily R-rated Ted -- wound up getting both a largely positive critical response and was a smash hit around the world, ultimately making nearly $550 million. It’s the kind of success that makes you sit up and pay attention, and it’s why we’re so excited for his sophomore effort, A Million Ways To Die In The West.

Based on a script by MacFarlane and Ted co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, the comedy is set in the old west and follows a cowardly sheep farmer who hopes to reassert himself as a man after his girlfriend dumps him for being too much of a wimp. To do so he teams up with a mysterious stranger new to town, but that only raises more complications when her outlaw husband comes to town thirsty for blood.

Taking yet another step into unfamiliar territory, MacFarlane is using A Million Ways To Die In The West as a possible launching point for his career as a live-action lead actor, but even if he is terrible (we don’t imagine he will be), he has an outstanding supporting cast backing him up. He has a wonderful co-protagonist in place with Charlize Theron playing the helpful mysterious stranger; a force of nature playing the villain with Liam Neeson as the outlaw; and a group of incredible funny actors in Neil Patrick Harris, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman filling out the supporting cast. We have some very high expectations for this one, and hopefully it will not only reach them, but even go beyond.

RELEASE DATE: May 30

The Fault in Our Stars

CAST: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell

DIRECTOR: Josh Boone

WHY IT MATTERS:

Developing a story about a strong female lead isn't a novel concept in the young adult genre these days. In the post-Twilight era, we're seeing more and more strong, take-charge young female protagonists who've faced tough adversaries. John Green's The Fault In Our Stars takes a far more grounded approach in that regard, as lead character Hazel Grace Lancaster isn't going up against a foe that can be beaten with a bow or a gun. This teen is battling terminal cancer, and while much of the story centers around her struggle with a disease, as she lives on borrowed time, Hazel doesn't wallow. Her outlook on life is certainly altered by her experience with cancer, but she's a teen girl nonetheless and ripe for her first romance. Enter Augustus "Gus" Waters, a charming and intelligent amputee whose path crosses with Hazel at support group and the two click pretty much instantly.

Green's emotional story seems prime for a movie, and we're hopeful Josh Boone's adaptation will do the story justice. Beyond seeing Hazel and Gus brought to life in this film, we also have Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort to look forward to. The two young actors played sibling recently in the feature adaptation of Divergent, but they'll be connecting on a much more romantic level this time around, in a film that has the potential to be a beautiful demonstration of their dramatic (and a little bit comedic) range. The cast is rounded out by Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Nat Wolff and Willem Dafoe, who will be playing the elusive author, Peter Van Houten. Based on the book, and what we've seen from the trailer, we're prepared for The Fault in our Stars to be an emotional ride, but one that's well worth the potential awkwardness of leaving the theater dabbing our eyes (or bawling, if it comes to it). What's more, we're prepared to fall in love with Hazel and Gus as they fall in love with each other.

RELEASE DATE: June 6

Edge of Tomorrow

CAST: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton

DIRECTOR: Doug Liman

WHY IT MATTERS:

There are a lot of people leaning on Edge of Tomorrow to help prove that they are still relevant in today’s cinematic culture, starting with leading man Tom Cruise. The once mighty star hasn’t had a massive hit in a while – which might explain why he’s falling back on his Mission: Impossible franchise for a fifth movie in the near future. Other films like Jakc Reacher and Oblivion have the industry questioning how bright Cruise’s star continues to shine. And if Edge of Tomorrow fails to take off in a crowded summer field, his longevity as a box-office icon could be in jeopardy.

Then, there's director Doug Liman, who burst onto the scene with Swingers and Go, the skyrocketed with The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. He has come back down to Earth thanks to Jumper and the political Fair Game, but he could use a massive hit to reconnect him with a mainstream crowd again.

Thankfully, the film looks incredibly inventive, with director Doug Liman resetting Cruise in a sci-fi Groundhog Day premise as a soldier who has to keep reliving the same battle-infused day time after time. There are a LOT of superhero stories on the docket this summer. Edge of Tomorrow will give audiences a different option… but ticket buyers are going to have to bring their intellect to keep up. Will that help Edge of Tomorrow as it rolls out into theaters, or will it hurt the movie’s chances at success?

RELEASE DATE: June 6

22 Jump Street

CAST: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, and Ice Cube

DIRECTOR: Phil Lord and Chris Miller

WHY IT MATTERS:

Any reservations you might have about 22 Jump Street are likely totally reasonable. The legacy of successful sequels to blockbuster comedies is about as positive as the legacy of video game movies. Still, there are so many smart moves being made with this film that we can’t help but be excited for it.

Let’s start by talking about the sequel’s solid foundation. In 2012, audiences were taken completely by surprised when 21 Jump Street – an adaptation of an ‘80s TV show – wound up being the best comedy of the year. The sequel once again unites the strangely perfect pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as undercover police officers Schmidt and Jenko, and we can’t wait to see how their bizarro chemistry is further explored. As hinted at in the end of the last movie, this time around their hijinks will be taken to the next level as they move on from their positions as high school students and instead become freshmen at the local college. Expect the film to work in plenty of meta jokes on just how hard it is to make a sequel.

What really has us sold on 22 Jump Street, however, are the two men steering the ship. Between Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street and, most recently, The LEGO Movie, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have proven themselves to be two of the most talented comedic filmmakers currently working in the industry. We have reached a point where if they are involved with a project, then it’s worth a look. The two directors originally were not going to come back for the sequel, but were ultimately convinced to do so by a solid script. If that’s not enough to get you interested I’m not sure what else there is to say.

RELEASE DATE: June 13

How to Train Your Dragon 2

CAST: Jay Baruchel, Kristen Wiig, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, Kit Harington and Djimon Hounsou.

DIRECTOR: Dean DeBlois

WHY IT MATTERS:

Back in 2010, How to Train Your Dragon was a whimsical and welcomed animated adventure that captured the hearts and imaginations of children and grown-ups through its moving story, gorgeous animation, and break-taking use of 3-D. With massive critical praise and a worldwide box office of $494 million, a sequel to this hit seemed an obvious decision. As DreamWorks has in the past offered up some sloppy sequels like Shrek The Third and Kung Fu Panda 2, our feelings were mixed when How to Train Your Dragon 2 was first announced. However, DeBlois--who also wrote the script for How to Train Your Dragon 2--actually has a solid base to expand the story of Hiccup and Toothless. We've all seen the dragons and Vikings work things out. Now let's see what adventures lie beyond the island of Berk!

In the film, five years have passed since we last saw Hiccup and Toothless, and their camaraderie and daring has only grown. While their friends revel in a new breed of dragon-centric sports, this plucky pair is flying farther and farther away from Berk to chart unknown lands and trip across new quests. Little does Hiccup suspect to discover something startlingly close to home in these journeys. Along the way, DeBlois and his team is offering up a myriad of new dragon breeds as well as new characters voiced by Kit Harington, Djimon Hounsou, and Cate Blanchett. But most enticing to us is the supreme craftsmanship the filmmakers have put into aging up their teen heroes. The attention to detail in the character posters alone has us expecting great things from this high-flying sequel. Then of course we saw that five-minute preview, and from there How to Train Your Dragon 2 became one of our most anticipated releases, not just of the summer, but of 2014.

RELEASE DATE:June 13

Snowpiercer

CAST: Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Alison Pill, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner and Song Kang-ho

DIRECTOR: Bong Joon-ho

WHY IT MATTERS:

First and foremost, Snowpiercer is the latest film and English-language debut of celebrated South Korean writer-director Bong Joon-ho, who won international acclaim in 2006 for his chilling yet hilarious monster movie, The Host. As a follow-up to the film that won him genre fans around the globe, Joon-ho dished out a lean, mean and critically acclaimed murder mystery known simply as Mother. (If you haven't yet seen that slick bit of thriller, be sure to add it to your to-do list this minute. We'll wait.) After these films, we'd follow Joon-ho anywhere, and for Snowpiercer, that means following him into a desolate wasteland of ice, snow, isolation and death.

Based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, Snowpiercer is set on a future Earth that has been devastated by an apocalyptic new ice age. All that remains of humanity lives together on one single train called Snowpiercer. But even with such a shallow spread of mankind left on the planet, we divide ourselves into haves and have-nots. And class warfare begins to brew aboard this tinderbox of a train.

So, you've got a to-die-for director, an intriguing story, and on top of that a cast loaded with stellar performers. After seeing what he's done for Captain America, we'd watch Chris Evans in Paint Drying: The Movie. Tilda Swinton makes us swoon, and then the just look at the rest of this cast! You don't get an ensemble this great without a stupendous screenplay, and assisting Joon-ho in making sure his vision isn't lost in translation is Before The Devil Knows You're Dead scribe Kelly Masterson. But perhaps the best news of all for this ambitious drama is that after reports that it would be cut down for its U.S. debut, The Weinstein Company had a change of heart and promised American audiences to be true to the cut Joon-ho had engineered. After years of drooling over concept art and character posters, we'll finally get to see this promising pic this summer!

RELEASE DATE:June 27

Transformers: Age of Extinction

CAST: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer

DIRECTOR: Michael Bay

WHY IT MATTERS:

Because after three hugely successful Transformers films, Paramount is attempting to reboot their franchise – sort of. After flirting with the possibility of moving on, director Michael Bay retains creative control over the series, which will take place years after the wonton destruction of Chicago in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. But here’s the big change: Shia LaBeouf and the cast of the initial Transformers trilogy have been jettisoned, replaced by Bay’s Pain & Gain collaborator, Mark Wahlberg. Will audience respond well to the upgrade?

This sounds silly to say about a Transformers movie, but the plot is going to matter. I can’t tell you a single dramatic point about the previous Transformers movies. Basically, they all went "boom" very well, to the tune of BILLIONS of dollars in global receipts. But Bay has been hinting in the press that Transformers: Age of Extinction will be the starting point for a new trilogy (even though he has not said whether he will continue to direct after this one).

So for all of the talk about a fresh take on the Transformers series, this looks to retain a lot of the chemistry that made the first three films huge hits. Will the fourth movie in this still-powerful film franchise excite audiences enough to have them clamoring for the next few adventures of Wahlberg and the Autobots? We’ll find out soon enough.

RELEASE DATE: June 27

Tammy

CAST: Melissa McCarthy, Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney

DIRECTOR: Ben Falcone

WHY IT MATTERS:

Melissa McCarthy may occasionally overplay her hand in an effort to generate as many laughs as possible, but when working with the right material, they are few comediennes better. She can storm through a scene like few others, and the subject matter for Tammy sounds perfect for her. It follows a woman who has hit the end of her rope. Her husband is cheating. Her job situation is a complete disaster, and her family members aren’t exactly the easiest people in the world to get along with.

Tammy is being directed by Ben Falcone, who has been in a slew of movies but for our purposes, is most importantly, Melissa McCarthy’s longtime husband. It’s entirely possible that means he won’t be able to direct her at all. Some people are horrendous at working with family members on a professional level. Fortunately, there are plenty of others who are great at it. Before they hated each other, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow did some brilliant work together. In short, it’s going to be nice to see someone with a completely different perspective try to manage McCarthy, and if it proves to be a winning combination, we could see the two paired together again for decades to come. Or we could all quietly act like this never existed a few years from now. Either way, it’s worth paying attention to.

RELEASE DATE: July 2, 2014

Life Itself

CAST: Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Errol Morris

DIRECTOR: Steve James

WHY IT MATTERS:

Because critic Roger Ebert mattered to film, and we lost him in April 2013. Nearly a year later, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams) remembers the influential journalist with a touching tribute that has made the festival circuit and is making its way to theaters.

There’s a very good chance that you, like us, grew up reading the reviews of Roger Ebert. Maybe you disagreed with him. (Lord knows we did, often.) But there was no denying the passion, knowledge and brilliant, conversational tone he brought to virtually every column. No film critic outside of his late partner, Gene Siskel, could claim to have the impact Ebert had with his very simple rating of "Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down" on a film. Ebert’s legacy extends beyond his digit, of course, and James’ documentary pulls from the critics’ memoir to paint the full portrait of his life. Life Itself won’t make a fraction of what X-Men: Days of Future Past will pull in on its opening weekend. But if you give a damn about the movies (and if you read this far, you do), then put Life Itself on your radar and check it out when it reaches a theater near you.

RELEASE DATE: July 11

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

CAST: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Judy Greer, Toby Kebbell, and Kodi Smith-McPhee

DIRECTOR: Matt Reeves

WHY IT MATTERS:

The first time that Hollywood tried to reboot Planet of the Apes was a bit of a trainwreck, as great special effects makeup couldn’t fix the broken script that led to Tim Burton’s remake of the 1963 sci-fi classic. Where that film failed, however, 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes succeeded. Establishing itself as a prequel and telling the story of how a chimpanzee named Caesar would lead to the downfall of mankind, the movie left us desperate to see more of the story, and this summer we will finally get to see a continuation of that story.

Directed by Matt Reeves, who has demonstrated an interesting eye as a filmmaker with movies like Cloverfield and Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up 10 years after the end of the last film and finds Caesar leading a community of apes in a world decimated by the spread of a deadly virus. This time of peace is interrupted, however, when the primates come in contact with a band of humans who have managed to stay alive. This contact eventually leads to conflict as a result of fear, and before long war starts to peek on the horizon.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has a number of impressive actors playing the human roles, including Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman and Keri Russell, but just like the last film the real draws to this rebooted series are the apes. The amazing Andy Serkis is once again back playing Caesar, and from the looks of all the footage we’ve seen, the visual effects team at WETA have outdone themselves. If Dawn can be even half as good as Rise of the Planet of the Apes, then we should be in for a real treat – but that’s still a very high bar.

RELEASE DATE: July 11

Jupiter Ascending

CAST: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Douglas Booth, Eddie Redmayne, James D'Arcy, and Terry Gilliam

DIRECTOR: Lana Wachowski & Andy Wachowski

WHY IT MATTERS:

The Wachowski Siblings seem to live by the motto: Go big or go home. In the past, they brought us The Matrix trilogy, a franchise so popular, mesmerizing, and instantly iconic that it shifted the entire action genre in a new direction. Then in 2012, this dedicated duo (along with co-helmer Tom Tykwer) took on the adaptation of a book many had written off as "unfilmable." Cloud Atlas received praise from critics. But it appeared to baffle the general public, earning just $130 million worldwide, which is bad news when its budget is estimated at about $102 million. Still, even when they aren't delivering runaway hits, you have got to admire Wachowski ambition.

With Jupiter Ascending the Wachowskis have concocted an original and sprawling science-fiction universe in which there are a wide array of life forms spread out across space. But in the caste system that has naturally evolved, humans are considered to be near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to intelligent life. Mila Kunis stars as a young maid named Jupiter Jones, whose ordinary life is thrown into spin (and danger) when a genetically engineered hunter (Channing Tatum) tracks her down and tells her she was born to an incredible destiny that will pit her against the Queen of the Universe.

Directed by the Wachowskis, Jupiter Ascending had us intrigued from the start. Its cast made us drool with anticipation. Then the trailer hit, and we dutifully marked out calendars for its release. Of all the filmmakers working today, the Wachowski Siblings are chief among those who remind us of the glory of watching a movie in a theater, where their lush production designs can explode before us, larger than life. There, we can properly be enveloped in the carefully composed score and scintillating sound design. In the theater, we get as close to we ever will to entering into the worlds the Wachowskis imagine. And it's a pretty spectacular place to be.

RELEASE DATE: July 18

Guardians of the Galaxy

CAST: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro

DIRECTOR: James Gunn

WHY IT MATTERS:

Marvel Studios is on what you might call a bit of a roll. Two years ago they made what ended up being the third highest grossing film of all time with The Avengers, and the three films that have come out since - Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier were all giant blockbusters in their own right. (And did I mentioned they all got positive critical receptions?) At this point, it seems like the studio can do nothing wrong, so now, in classic Monty Python style, they’re ready to present us with something completely different.

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has established a rich, full fictional Earth filled with all kinds of superheroes and evil forces, Guardians of the Galaxy takes audiences millions of miles away from all of that and instead introduces them to a whole new team of dysfunctional misfits. Leading the pack is Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), a half-alien, half-human who left Earth at a young age and has spent his adult life as a Han Solo-style badass, but backing him his a ridiculous and colorful cast of supporting characters: Groot (Vin Diesel), a walking tree; Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), a gun-loving furry mammal; Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a green space assassin; and Drax The Destroyer (Dave Bautista), a hulking alien driven by revenge.

Of all the characters that Marvel has brought to life on the big screen thus far, the Guardians of the Galaxy are by far the most obscure, but it’s possible that the movie’s power lies in that obscurity. Directed by low-budget maestro James Gunn, the film looks utterly bizarre, and something about the strangeness of the footage just makes you want to know more about it. It looks like a ridiculous amount of fun, and should be a great late-summer hit.

RELEASE DATE: August 1

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

CAST: Johnny Knoxville, Megan Fox, William Ficther, Will Arnett

DIRECTOR: Jonathan Liebesman

WHY IT MATTERS:

First of all, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are certifiably badass. Anyone who tells you differently is either from the wrong generation or has horrible taste. These amphibians are super loveable, and the world is a better place when they’re churning out a steady stream of material on both television and in movies. That being said, this film hasn’t exactly attracted a ton of good publicity. There are rumors about reshoot swirling, and producer Michael Bay doesn’t exactly instill confidence in most people. So, are there red flags? Yes, let’s just own up to that right off the bat.

Beyond those red flags, however, there’s a project here that’s pretty interesting. The cast is well above average. The $125 million budget will more than allow for everyone involved to get as crazy/ fun with the adaptation as possible, and we should have all of the technological pieces we need to make these amphibians look great. Now, it’s just a matter of finding the right plot and getting the tone correctly. This movie should either start an entirely new franchise that cranks out hits on a semi-regular basis, or we need to root for it to move out of the way as quickly as possible so someone else can try their hand.

RELEASE DATE: August 8

The Giver

CAST: Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes

DIRECTOR: Phillip Noyce

WHY IT MATTERS:

Released a little more than twenty years ago, The Giver reached a fairly wide audience pretty quickly, but its influence has only grown in the years since thanks to how often it’s taught in schools. Consequently, there’s damn near an entire generation that read Lois Lowry’s text at some point in their lives, and after numerous starts and stops, the material has finally gotten the production budget and the cast to adapt the material correctly. Don’t expect a straight up adaptation, however.

No doubt that willingness to change things will infuriate some of the book’s biggest fans, but in a way, it’s the reason why The Giver is worth getting excited over. It’s always important to stay true to the spirit of something, but for an adaptation to work, the director and writer need to have the freedom to make choices that are in the film’s best interest. Here, that means we’re going to see a much older Jonas who has a far clearer love interest. It should also mean some of the visions he receives are more graphic than what we got in the book. In theory, that means the strengths of Lowry’s work could be built upon. Besides, who doesn’t want to see Jeff Bridges play the title Giver, a weird old man who possesses every memory?

RELEASE DATE: August 15

The Expendables 3

CAST: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Kelsey Grammer, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Robert Davi

DIRECTOR: Patrick Hughes

WHY IT MATTERS:

For most people, the thrill of these movies lies in the casting. The first film did a poor job showcasing the cast, likely a case of Stallone overextending himself as director and co-writer. But the second gave standout moments to each member of the crew, including a just-passing-through Chuck Norris and an absolutely game Jean-Claude Van Damme as villain Jean Vilain (oh, the names in these movies!). The subtext of the first two were that these old veterans of the action genre still had life in them. Now that we've seen them return twice, the theme very much feels like the end of an era, particularly for Stallone and Schwarzenegger, neither of whom remain bankable.

And the casting department didn't let down this time around. The net's been widened, and no longer did the production pursue b-list action stars when there were a-level recruits still waiting to be called. Wesley Snipes, fresh out of prison, joins the group as Surgeon. Antonio Banderas, an unlikely but welcome addition, is Rapido. Harrison Ford, actually one of the oldest Expendables, is pilot Max Drummer, and Kelsey Grammer is Bonaparte. And, in the villain role, there's old Mel Gibson as the superbly-named Conrad Stonebanks.

There's fresh blood onboard, not only in the cast, but also behind the camera: little-known Aussie director Patrick Hughes has been given the task of wrangling this preposterous cast. His thriller Red Hill was low on the explosions, but high on tension, and he's got enough of an attitude to toss these legends around a bit, at least more than part two's Simon West. The hope is also that he can restrict the old guys so they don't embarrass themselves looking like they can hold their own: the spotlight should be on the more convincing badasses, like Snipes, Statham, Crews, and even Lundgren, while letting guys like Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Ford bow out gracefully. The first and second films were victory parades. This third one should be a passing of the torch, and a chance to re-establish this franchise as a boutique showcase for the greatest action stars of their generations, while they can still throw roundhouse kicks.

RELEASE DATE: August 15

The Maze Runner

CAST: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Sangster, Will Poulter, Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee

DIRECTOR: Wes Bell

WHY IT MATTERS:

James Dashner's The Maze Runner is almost as much a mystery as it is an adventure, centering on a kid who wakes up on an old elevator as it's delivering him to a mysterious place called The Glade. Thomas knows nothing about who he is other than his own first name when he arrives in the Glade and is introduced to a community of other boys, each of whom arrived the same way at some point during the previous months or years. These kids live by their own rules, attempting to function as a community within the high walls of their compound. Each morning, those walls of the Glade open up to a massive maze that may be the key to freedom. Each day, the runners -- the fastest and bravest of the kids -- heads into the maze and spends their daylight hours running through the maze in search of a way out of this strange place. So far, no one has been successful. But it's crucial that the runners make it back to the Glade by the end of the day, because when the sun goes down, the vicious, stinging Grievers come out to roam the maze at night.

The story is brimming with potential for a thrilling cinematic experience. Between the Maze, the Glade and dangerous Grievers that lurk in the maze, Dashner really paints a thrilling and picturesque backdrop for this story, which doubles as a mystery, as we're left to wonder who has orchestrated this strange and dangerous situation. It should be very interesting to see how Wes Ball brings it to life, especially considering his background in art and visual effects, which should prove very useful for this adaptation. There's also the cast to be excited about, as up-and-comer Dylan O'Brien plays the lead role int he film, while Kaya Scodelario will play Teresa, the final arrival and lone female at the Glade. Fox gave us our first good look at the film with a trailer to whet our appetites for the adventure that awaits these Gladers.

RELEASE DATE: September 19

A little more than a month ahead of the release of Josh Boone's feature adaptation of John Green's emotional teen romance The Fault in our Stars, Fox has given us a new trailer, which includes much of what we saw in the first trailer, but also offers us a few new glimpses of Hazel and Gus's love story.

Based on John Green's book, The Fault in our Stars stars Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace Lancaster, a teen battling terminal cancer. As the trailer reveals, she encounters Gus (Ansel Elgort) at a support group for kids with cancer, and so begins their wonderful love story.

Though the trailer actually begins similarly to the original trailer for the film, there are a number of new scenes worked into it, including a glimpse of Hazel at the doctor's office, and curled up on the couch watching reality TV. We also get an earful of the support group counselor serenading the group, though Hazel doesn't seem all that impressed. At least, not until Gus walks in and expresses his fear of oblivion.

We also get to see a bit more of Hazel interacting with her parents, pleading to them for a fake ID so she can "take pot." I love that her father (Sam Trammell) corrects her on that.

We also get to see Gus explaining the cigarette metaphor Hazel. Fox actually released that clip earlier this month. Check it out below:

The trailer also offers a slightly extended look at Hazel and Gus's hotel room scene, which has Hazel's shirt getting stuck. It's adorable and sweet, much like a lot of the Hazel-Gus moments are. The new trailer ends with Hazel's line...

"I fell in love him the way you fall asleep. Slowly and then all at once."

The more we see from the film, the more concerned I am that I'm going to be a complete mess when I actually watch it. I can barely get through the trailer without the onset of tears. It's less the sad factor as it is just how emotional the story is in general. But on the bright side, so far, the trailers seem to capture the right tone of the story, balancing the frustration and challenges Hazel experiences with her disease with the happiness of her budding romance with Gus. Hopefully the film will strike a similar balance.

The Fault in our Stars releases June 6.

The NBA playoffs have begun, and there's a very good chance your favorite team is one of the sixteen qualifying squads, But you've missed the bulk of the regular season, because you never go to your friend's house anymore to take advantage of his NBA TV package. And now the summer movie season is creeping up and you have no idea what's coming out. Damn that Nana for canceling your subscription to Entertainment Weekly. How are you going to plan your movie schedule? How will you know which teams have weaknesses, and how will you know which movies will be interesting, funny, or flat-out terrible?

Well, it's a good thing you asked, because we put the whole thing in one convenient place for you. We've handpicked sixteen big summer releases and matched them up with an NBA title contender. Some connect tenuously, superficially. Others have unusual similarities, borderline creepy. But at least it's all at your fingertips. Here, at last, is your one and ONLY NBA Playoffs/Summer Movie Combo Preview!

Transformers: Age Of Extinction

Michael Bay's toy-centric sequel focuses on a father-son duo who accidentally stumble upon the age-old battle between Autobots and Decepticons. You are...

The Miami Heat

When Mark Wahlberg called Transformers the "most iconic franchise," he sounded very much like a Heat fan praising the team's "legacy" when they've only been around since the eighties. The three Transformers films were dominant at the box office in the same manner as the Heat, who have now won two straight championships and are trying for a third. But, like the Heat's difficult championship run last year, which involved a handful of tough Game 7's, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon was a weaker performer stateside than its predecessor. None of those films were very well reviewed, so the reasoning is that even with Wahlberg on board, this Transformers is unlikely to repeat previous performances, just as the Heat might find themselves unable to pull off a threepeat.

The Expendables III

Sylvester Stallone unites a group of aging action stars for one last ride, even though they've been written off for years now. You are...

The San Antonio Spurs

You saw this one coming, didn't you? Tim Duncan has been everyone's favorite pick to run out of gas, but at 37 he's still leading the Spurs to the best record in the league. It's not a one-to-one comparison: the presence of guys like Mel Gibson reminds Spurs fans of that time Glenn Robinson signed with the team, played five minutes a game, and rode the bench to a championship. But these guys are no doubt aged past their primes. Tony Parker is not unlike the Jason Statham of the group, a relative spring chicken compared to the others but still racking up some serious mileage. And during last year's playoffs, Manu Ginobili was looking like modern day Arnold Schwarzenegger out there, which made it more surprising when he went and had a marvelous '13-'14 season. Age is nothing but a number.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Peter Parker must prepare for his most difficult challenge in facing off against Electro, the Rhino, and the Green Goblin. You are...

The Indiana Pacers

Like Indiana's season, everything about The Amazing Spider-Man 2 sounded pretty cool from the beginning. But something went wrong with the changing of the guard. Indiana felt comfortable passing the leadership mantle from Danny Granger to Paul George, but just like with Andrew Garfield and Spider-Man, the franchise suffered some growing pains. There's reason to believe the infighting that has fractured Indiana's clubhouse will be healed for the postseason, just as there's hope that Marc Webb's Spider-Man will find its footing with this entry. But the addition of Paul Giamatti as the Rhino to the series seemed a lot like the Pacers' acquisition of Evan Turner: a lot of talent and effort for only minor contributions to the finished product.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

The X-Men of the future must travel back in time to assist the mutants from the past in stopping a coming disaster. You are...

The Oklahoma City Thunder

Kevin Durant is like the NBA's version of Wolverine: absolutely unstoppable, unkillable, and endlessly exciting. But people continue to ask if Russell Westbrook has too much talent to be a second banana. Is this Durant's franchise, or Westbrook's? Is Hugh Jackman the real drawing card for the X-films, or is it (and should it be?) Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy? The Thunder surrendered James Harden for a few draft picks to build for the future, but those pieces, including Steven Adams and Jeremy Lamb, have generated as much heat as X-Men: First Class additions like Havok and Banshee. Can each of these franchises find their identity and win?

Neighbors

It's the working class versus the partying class when a suburban couple must contend with the rowdy fraternity living next door. You are...

The Toronto Raptors

The Raptors are, like Seth Rogen, the pride of Canada. You also have to wonder how both of these Canadian wonders got here. Rogen, an unassuming young comedic actor with a slacker temperament, here plays the responsible adult, the stick-in-the-mud that Zac Efron rebels against. And the Raptors, low on talent and with a history of failure, were looked at as one of the teams basically giving up on the season to attain a high draft pick. Neighbors comes out between blockbusters The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Godzilla, and it really seems like a longshot to match those films. And the inexperienced Raptors also seem like they don't belong: on paper, this might be the least talented of the playoff teams. Can either modest enterprise establish itself amongst the behemoths?

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

Years after Caesar seized control of the ape hierarchy, humanity struggles to survive in the face of interspecies war. You are...

The Los Angeles Clippers

Like Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, people kind of couldn't believe the Clippers were for real the last couple of years. Their depth was suspect, Blake Griffin hadn't developed a full game yet, and their coaching situation was famously undistinguished. But this year has very much been a different chapter. Like the new Apes film, which pivots on a disastrous apocalyptic scenario, these Clippers are for real, with Doc Rivers at the helm bringing a great deal of dignity to a franchise about to experience its best days. Matt Reeves' (Let Me In) presence as the director suggests this is totally unexplored territory, something that tests everything you know about Planet Of The Apes. Clippers basketball, similarly, will never be the same.

Guardians Of The Galaxy

Marvel's next adventure centers on a group of space-faring heroes as they try to prevent a war between opposing alien races. You are...

The Chicago Bulls

Telling a kid that the Bulls are in the playoffs must be unusual. "Is MVP Derrick Rose going to be playing?" he'll ask. No, kid, he's hurt. "What about Luol Deng?" Sorry kid, traded. "... Do they still have Nate Robinson?" No kid, that was only for a brief, insane time. Now try telling that kid about the new Marvel movie. "Is Iron Man in it?" Not at all, young fella. "What about Cap? It's gotta have Cap..." Of course, Chicago is such a scrappy, tough team that even as they remain decimated, no one wants to play them, and no one will count them out. And people can talk about the box office uncertainty of Guardians, but would you be the one to bet against Marvel?

22 Jump Street

This comedy sequel finds Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum going undercover as college students to bust a drug ring. You are...

The Houston Rockets

Yeah, it's a dumb comedy based on a dumb premise: mocking an old television show that the target demographic most assuredly did not watch. And yes, the Rockets are led by Dwight Howard, a small-my-farts level juvenile in the locker room. But Howard is as much of a beast as 21 Jump Street was at the box office. Howard's silly theatrics played poorly in Los Angeles, when he clashed with the Lakers. But he's found a home in Houston, just as Channing Tatum might have found a home in the action-comedy realm, where he can be the attractive alpha male but also encouraged to be silly.

Hercules

The ancient tale of the rise of a hero is told in this sprawling action epic. You are...

The Brooklyn Nets

Everything about Hercules makes sense on paper: Dwayne Johnson as the mythic figure in a sweeping action film? Sure, why not? And uniting Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams on the Nets? Gotta be a powerhouse, right? Except that Garnett is a broken-down shell, Williams and Pierce have appeared disinterested at times, and Joe Johnson has gone back and forth between useful and millstone for Brooklyn for first-time coach Jason Kidd. Under the leadership of director Brett Ratner, Hercules too looks like the sort of idea so dynamite on paper that it might crumble onscreen. Did the Nets get fat off the weak Eastern Conference to become winners like Hercules is sure to benefit from a skimpy late-July release schedule? Or are they for real?

Jupiter Ascending

The Wachowskis return with this deep space tale of a gifted woman and the bounty hunter tasked with hunting her, but who falls in love instead. You are...

The Portland Trail Blazers

Like the film where Channing Tatum plays some sort of elfin half-wolf, nobody knows what to expect from the Blazers. While Jupiter Ascending is banking heavily on the audience's like (not love) of Tatum and Mila Kunis, coach Terry Stotts has leaned heavily on his not-exactly-All-Star starting lineup, pushing them in order to avoid going to his bench. Are the Blazers' depth shortcomings going to let the team down just as the final leg of the Jupiter Ascending marketing campaign ultimately fails to stick the landing? Or will the Wachowskis' trilogy-ready story appear richer than it initially appears, just as the Blazers get unexpected contributions from the anonymous likes of Thomas Robinson, Mo Williams and Dorrell Wright?

Maleficent

Angelina Jolie is the fiendish witch of the Sleeping Beauty legend in this live-action parable about an immensely-powerful villain's quest for control of the kingdom. You are...

The Washington Wizards

Yes, there's magic in the air with both the Wizards and Maleficent. But with endless fantasy film options over the years, where's the demand for yet another fairy tale brought to life? Disney's banking on Jolie's visage to do the heavy lifting is a lot like Washington mortgaging their future to bank on a team led by John Wall, Bradley Beal, and the contract-year ruffians that dot this roster. Beal is also very much the Elle Fanning to Wall's Jolie: an up-and-comer who might deserve more of the spotlight than their co-star is willing to handle. And these big fantasies keep getting handed to first-timers with no experience: it's very much like trusting the under-equipped Randy Wittman to lead a team to postseason success.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The heroes in a half shell battle with Shredder for the soul of New York City. You are...

The Golden State Warriors

There's something mercenary about this squad, as if the team could trade away all their pieces at a moment's notice. Golden State's ditching of assistant coaches also calls to mind the Ninja Turtles production replacing the actors who played the leads with celebrity voices at the eleventh hour. And should these enterprises stumble, it's likely the people taking the blame with be coach Mark Jackson and director Jonathan Liebesman, respectively, and not the bosses in charge (Joe Lacob, Michael Bay). On paper both have winning formulas, but there's something just a little overly aggressive and obnoxious about them, like a misplaced chip on peoples' shoulders.

A Fault In Our Stars

A terminally-ill teen played by Shailene Woodley faces down her last days with strength. You are...

The Charlotte Bobcats

Like Miss Woodley, the Bobcats are also ending their existence, prepared to head into a brave new world next year as the Hornets. Like Ansel Elgort, who plays the gentleman lover who gives Woodley solace in her final days, Al Jefferson came aboard this team to provide the greatest star power they'd ever boast in their history, ending this year as possibly the greatest Bobcat of all time. Also, "fault in our stars" is the best way to describe how it is the Bobcats ended up in the postseason.

Edge Of Tomorrow

Tom Cruise is a soldier in a post-apocalyptic world who finds himself constantly dying in battle and returning to the past with memories intact. You are...

The Dallas Mavericks

Dirk Nowitizki is 35 years old, playing a much younger man's game. Like Cruise, taking on a role originally written for a twentysomething, Nowitzki is attempting to turn back the clock and keep extending a career of unparalleled success. Just as Cruise keeps resurrecting with new weapons and battle styles, so too have the Mavericks recharged, adding younger pieces in Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon to beef up their back court. Ultimately, the enemy is time: Nowitzki bats it back like an eager gnat, but Cruise seems to transcend it. Perhaps Dirk could learn a thing or two.

The Purge: Anarchy

During the annual Purge, a couple's car breaks down as curfew hits, and they must survive a night in the asphalt wilderness. You are...

The Atlanta Hawks

Man, what happened in that Eastern Conference this year? In a sea of terrible teams attempting to get that final 8th seed, it didn't seem to be about victory as much it was survival. Perhaps the East needed a Purge of its own, since the terrible Hawks barely squeaked into the playoffs despite getting to beat up on the hapless Knicks, Sixers and Bucks all season. They're really just happy to be here: you get the sense that if Atlanta had a choice, they'd hide in their maximum security house and watch the other teams cannibalize each other. Instead, the playoffs have become the Purge, and good folks like Paul Millsap and Lou Williams have been left amidst the carcasses with no way home, just waiting to fall prey to whomever is lurking around the corner.

Godzilla

The legendary beast has re-emerged from the ocean to terrify a global population that was completely unaware of his nuclear existence. You are...

The Memphis Grizzlies

Facing off against Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph in the paint seems just as dangerous as coming face to face with Japan's most ferocious export: heck, Randolph might as well have TOHO stamped on his bicep. Godzilla seemed like just another reboot just as the Grizzlies were looking at a lost season in the first half of the year. Then, those trailers hit, and everything turned: like the Grizzlies, something about this Godzilla movie looks amazing, but not at all fun. Even with all the world's joy of playing a game for a living, no team wants to face off against the Grizzlies, as it would be a slow, violent, brutal game filled with hard fouls and chippy attitudes. If it achieves what it intends to, Godzilla will be a similar grueling experience as a hypothetical 89-87 overtime Grizzlies win, a game so tense and upsetting you don't cheer as much as nap afterwards.

Josh Boone's feature adaptation of John Green's The Fault in our Stars arrives in theaters this June, and given the timing and targeted young adult audience, the MTV Movie Awards is a good occasion to debut the latest glimpse of the adaptation. The video above was introduced during the pre-show by TFIOS stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, and shows their characters getting to know one another.

In The Fault in our Stars, Shailene Woodley plays Hazel, a teen fighting terminal cancer when she meets Gus (Elgort) at a cancer support group for kids. The story focuses on their budding romance amidst their health struggles.

The new clip shows Hazel and Gus on the day they first meet. They're bantering back and forth as Gus invites Hazel to watch a movie with him. He then tucks a cigarette into his mouth, which sets Hazel off, and understandably so. Gus turns the situation around on her, revealing that he's never once lit a cigarette. It's a metaphor, as he puts the thing that causes cancer between his teeth but never gives it the power to hurt him. It's a great little introduction to these two characters and the dynamic that forms between them as they get to know one another. Though they're young, both characters have a pretty good grasp on who they are and what they believe when they meet one another, and I think that comes through nicely in this introduction. And it's adorable.

In related news, the soundtrack for The Fault In Our Stars is now available for pre-order, with Carli XCX's "Boom Clap" and Birdy's "Not About Angels" available for purchase now. The soundtrack also includes songs by Ray LaMontagne, The Radio Dept, Jake Bugg, Kodaline and Ed Sheeran, the latter of whom's "All of the Stars" is apparently going to be the end credits song. This, according to a Tweet from Sheeran:

The full soundtrack arrives May 19, a couple of weeks ahead of The Fault In Our Stars' June 6 release.

Here's the previously released trailer...

The feature adaptation of John Green's The Fault in our Stars arrives in theaters in about two months, so it's no surprise that Fox is gearing up to start promoting the movie. And that includes a nationwide tour for stars Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff and writer John Green. Want them to visit your state? Better start voting!

The "Demand Our Stars" program invites fans to vote for their state to be included in the tour. Just visit The Fault In Our Stars' tumblr page and follow the instructions:

Directed by Josh Boone, The Fault in Our Stars stars Shailene Woodley as Hazel, a teen battling terminal cancer, whose life collides with Augustus "Gus" Waters (Ansel Elgort), another cancer survivor who's determined to leave his mark on the world. They click immediately and young love ensues. Watch the trailer below...

It's probably a smart approach on Fox's part to involve fans online in their efforts to promote the film leading up to its June 6 release and I'm thinking "Demand Our Stars" (and the eventual tour) will be a success in raising interest. The teens and young adults who love the book -- and are surely ready to love the movie -- are likely Tumblr savvy enough to to start noting and reblogging with gusto to ensure the stars and author stop by their state. Added to promotional efforts, the film already has a lot going for it in terms of its talent. Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort can be seen on screen in Divergent, which is in theaters now and very close to hitting $100 million at the domestic box office. So that should bring a bit of added exposure to the actors leading up to Fault's release. It also can't hurt that author John Green has a pretty massive online following due to the YouTube channel he and his brother Hank share has nearly 2 million subscribers, and a total view count that's closing in on half a billion.

Probably not last and certainly not least, Fault in our Stars has excellent source material, as the book is a really great -- and obviously emotional -- read. In telling the story of Hazel and Gus, Green takes a candid and occasionally uplifting approach to Hazel's narrative, bringing the reader inside her mind to understand the perspective of a teenager in love, who's also facing terminal cancer. The trailer, which gave us a glimpse of the sparks between Woodley's Hazel and Elgort's Gus have me feeling very optimistic that the movie will capture at least some of the greatness of its source material.

Here's a featurette that focuses on Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as the lead characters...

Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort can currently be found playing siblings in Divergent, which tore up the box office last weekend. But we'll see them in a whole new context in a few months when another book-to-screen adaptation arrives in theaters. The duo are set to play love interests in the feature adaptation of John Green's emotional teen drama The Fault In Our Stars. Following up on the trailer for the film, 20th Century Fox has offered up this minute-long featurette, which focuses on Woodley and Elgort's chemistry as Hazel and Gus, two teens who meet at a cancer support group.

"It's a love story about two kids with cancer, but it's not about cancer," Woodley says when describing The Fault in our Stars in the above video. She goes on to say that she and the cast really clicked. And it certainly seems that way as we see some happy behind-the-scenes moments and even more on-camera smiles between Woodley's Hazel and Elgort's Gus.

John Green's book manages to be both a feel-good story and heartbreakingly moving all at once, which may be what he was going for. From the footage we've seen for Josh Boone's adaptation of the story, it seems like the movie will capture a similar tone. In the book, we're introduced to Hazel as she attends a Cancer Kid Support Group, expecting more of the same as she continues to fight her terminal disease. And then she meets Augustus Waters and the two spark instantly.

What's so compelling about the story is that it captures what feels like a realistic mindset of a teenager who has all the same hopes and desires as any other teen, but recognizes that life offers her a much shorter timeline. Her connection with Gus brings a lot of that to the surface. Without going into specifics about how this story plays out, I will admit to a steady trickle of tears throughout the last 20% of the book. But as I've admitted in the past, I tend to get as emotional over happy moments as I do over sad ones, and there are plenty of both in Green's story.

Everything we've seen for the movie suggests that Woodley and Elgort are great choices for the leads and this latest featurette is no exception. Here's the previously released trailer for The Fault in Our Stars, which hits theaters June 6.

You may not realize this, but there are other other, lesser known, authors out there working day to day to provide us with entertainment. Not everyone is a Stephen King or Nicholas Sparks, with mega bestselling status. There are lots of uncelebrated novels out there, and author John Green is here to tell you about some of his favorites. Green is the author of The Fault in Our Stars, a beautiful and touching novel about teenage love in the shadow of cancer. That novel has been turned into a film that will be released later this year.

The list John provides is pretty eclectic. It includes a book about the Carter family, who were music legends and produced Johnny Cash’s wife June. There’s a coming of age tale by Zach Braff’s brother, and what John promises is a good vampire story. I’m not so sure about that one, what with the vampire genre being so overwrought with petulant childish and silly characters lately.

To honor his own book hitting number one on the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists this week, John has taken to celebrating those books he loves that never had that pleasure. Many of the authors mentioned have some more famous works, some are complete unknowns to most of us. Even my book loving self hadn’t heard of many books on John’s list.

You should definitely give any book on John’s list a try you find interesting, he’s a smart guy. He has fine taste in things, and he wrote the incredible The Fault in Our Stars, which has its film adaptation premiering June 6, 2014. I’m particularly interested in reading a book by a guy who traveled the perimeter of Ireland with a refrigerator. I don’t know why he did it, but I’m going to find out. Discover your own new story, thanks to John Green.

Let’s just be honest. An overwhelming majority of the time, we don’t really think about who wrote the screenplay or who wrote the novel the screenplay was based off when we go to see a movie. If they’re not also a director, actor or beloved classic author, the scribes may as well be the boom microphone operators to most people. Their names just don’t have enough appeal to drive theater traffic, but there are a few exceptions and John Green is hoping to add his name to that list. He wrote the novel version of The Fault In Our Stars, and he is reason enough to go see this movie.

If you’re under the age of forty and are even casually active on the Internet, chances are you’ve heard Green’s name somewhere, in some context, but there’s a good chance it may not have stuck. You may not have come to the split second realization in the moment that his name was worth remembering, but I can assure you it absolutely is. I’m here to tell you why.

In addition to churning out The Fault In Our Stars back in 2012, he has put his stamp on a number of bestselling books, a number of beloved Internet shows and even a widely attended convention. He is a jack of all trades with his hands in a number of delicious cookie jars. So, let’s dive in and start talking about them.

Here are 5 fascinating things about The Fault In Our Stars author John Green…

He Hosts Mental Floss

You know all those addictive, professional-looking YouTube shows that churn out scientific and/ or historical facts? There’s V Sauce, ASAP Science, and, of course, Mental Floss. Well, Green is actually the host of that latest program. Judging by the insane numbers each episode puts up (many over 1,000,000 views), there’s a good chance you’ve actually seen one of them too.

Each week, Green (and the writers) churn out a list focusing on the little known backstories and facts about historical figures, everyday items and pretty much anything else imaginable. They’ve tested life hacks to see if they really work. They’ve gotten boozy with histories of beloved cocktails, and throughout it all, Green has added enough charm and humor to elevate the somewhat dry material into a delightful must watch. You can check out a sample video below…

His Other Books Are Very Highly Regarded

Don’t call Green a one hit wonder when it comes to novels. The Fault In Our Stars might be receiving the lion’s share of the headlines right now, but other efforts such as Will Grayson, Will Grayson and An Abundance Of Katherines have sold huge numbers of copies and been nominated for a slew of awards. His first novel, Looking For Alaska even won the Printz Award. In all likelihood, we’re going to be seeing a ton of adaptations of Green’s work over the next several decades, and for those who appreciate a delightful mix of humor and poignancy, that’s a great thing.

Green is currently at work on his latest novel, The Racket. Not a ton of details have been released about the project thus far, but no matter what it ends up being, it’s probably a guarantee it will reach The New York Times Bestseller List and its movie rights will be quickly sold to an eager studio that wants to get in on the Green rocket right before it takes off and his name is suddenly everywhere. You can check out Green reading something from Looking For Alaska below…

His Brother Is Also Famous

Hank Green has not won any lofty awards for writing. He doesn’t have quite the name recognition of his brother John, and more than likely, he never will. In his own weird way, however, he’s even more of a YouTube superstar than his brother. He co-hosts the wildly popular Vlog Brothers alongside his sibling. In addition, Hank also has his hand in a ton of different cookie jars including but not limited to SciShow, Sexplanations, Lizzie Bennett Diaries, Crash Course and the environmental blog EcoGeek.

He’s really carved out his own niche over the past few years on YouTube, and that’s a really great thing for both him and John. It’s nice that Hank has established himself enough to not rely on his brother, and it actually benefits John because it allows Hank to carry the load when he gets too busy on Vlog Brothers or even to fill in on Mental Floss. To get a sense of Hank’s style, you can check out the fascinating video below in which he highlights some amazing maps…

He Founded VidCon

Last year, 12,000 people descended on the Anaheim Convention Center to attend VidCon, the fourth installment of the viral/ Internet community’s answer to Comic Con. Seeing as how the number of attendees has at least come close to doubling every single year, the future looks nothing but bright for the extravaganza, especially since it’s now starting to attract most of the biggest names in the YouTube world. As the host of several popular shows, it’s not a surprise Green would be a mainstay, but it probably is a surprise to many that John actually co-created the event alongside his brother Hank back in 2010. They thought it was the next logical step and best way to bring all the content creators together, and they were absolutely right.

It’s one thing to get people to sit behind a computer and watch a video for free. It’s quite another to mobilize a portion of the audience and get them to spend real money to attend a convention. That’s exactly what John’s fans, called Nerdfighters, have done, and now, the event is so much bigger than any one single creator, genre or even group of fans. VidCon should survive whether the Greens are involved or not, and that’s a testament to their careful planning. To watch blind YouTube all-star Tommy Edison give you his perspective on VidCon, check out the video below…

His Charity Is Awesome

Green’s charity is called “Project For Awesome”, and the stated mission is to “Decrease WorldSuck”. Every December, John and Hank ask YouTube’s best and brightest to create videos advertising their own favorite charities. The brothers themselves donate some money based on the number of comments that go up, and more importantly, they ask users to donate money to IndieGogo. The top ten most creative and all-around best new charity videos are then voted on and chosen, and they collectively split the money raised. Last year, it totaled more than eight hundred thousand dollars, and within the next two years, the annual fund drive is expected to easily surpass a million bucks.

You know what’s great about this charity? No one else is doing it. It encourages people to be passionate about the causes they care about. All too often celebrities start foundations that do a worse version of the same thing dozens of other charities are doing, but Project For Awesome is a completely unique, previously untapped market. It genuinely does a lot of good, and it hammers out plenty of smiles along the way. You can check out a longer video about it below…

The trailer for the feature adaptation of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars begins like the tease for any other movie love story. But those who've read Green's book, or watch the trailer past the :26 second point know that there's a bit more going on here beyond your typical adolescent romance. And if the trailer's any indication, we may be in for an incredibly emotional ride with this film.

"Life doesn't have to be perfect for love to be extraordinary."

Directed by Josh Boone, The Fault in Our Stars is an adaptation of a book penned by the brainy vlogger and Mental Flosser John Green, which tells the story of Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley), a teen who's been struggling with terminal cancer her entire life. When she meets Augustus "Gus" Waters (Ansel Elgort), a kid in remission from osteosarcoma, romance ensues.

As the above trailer indicates, Hazel is reluctant to allow Gus into her life, knowing that her diagnosis makes her a "grenade" that will inevitably go off. But Gus is determined to love Hazel, and based on all of the smiles, it seems happiness is a recurring theme in this romance, as it should be for all the best love stories, regardless of how daunting the trials.

Feelings.

Though the trailer focuses mainly on Hazel and Gus's relationship, we also get a couple glimpses of their mutual friend Isaac (Nat Wolff), who engages in a bit of anger-focused egg throwing…

Because sometimes you need to break something.

The Fault in Our Stars arrives in theaters June 6. Here's a look at the previously released poster for the film, that promises "One sick love story."

Every year, hundreds of movies with sizeable budgets and big aspirations are released into theaters. A sizeable portion of these are based on books, which inevitably leads fans of both mediums to decide whether or not to read or watch first. Personally, I like reading first because I like to go into a movie wondering how the writers, directors and actors will interpret the source material and whether they see the characters the same way I do. If you’re like me, you should be pleased to know there are a ton of books being turned into films over the next few years. Unfortunately, that means you need to head to the library sooner rather than later to get started.

What follows is a list of fourteen books whose film adaptations are either already in production or quickly heading in that direction. Some of them probably aren’t your cups of tea, but if you look hard enough, I guarantee you’ll find a few gems among this pile. Beyond that, you’ll probably hit on a few classics worth rediscovering too.

Get out your monocles and get excited. Here’s your 2014 reading list…

The Giver By Lois Lowry

Status: Pre-production, but The Weinstein Company has already boldly given The Giver a premiere date. It’s scheduled to hit theaters on August 15, 2014.

Who's Involved: Some major talent is involved with The Giver. Bill Cosby purchased the right for the movie adaptation of the book all the way back in 1994. So far, Salt director Phillip Noyce has signed on to helm the adaptation, and Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges, Alexander Skarsgard, and Cameron Monaghan are all on board to bring the characters to life. The coveted role of protagonist Jonas will go to relative newcomer Brenton Thwaites, who is mostly known for the TV series Home and Away. House of Sand and Fog writer and director Vadim Perelman is behind the screenplay and has been attached to the project since 2006.

Why you should read the book first: Elmore Leonard’s famous 10 rules of writing features the line, "Don’t go into great detail describing places or things," leading into a joke about how Margaret Atwood is an exception. Lowry isn’t Atwood, and she isn’t typically a flowery writer, but The Giver is a book that is chock full of the most nuanced of descriptions explaining everyday life in a utopian society that may not be so utopian at all. Even if the movie capably gets across the book's society, we’ll be missing some of its greatest descriptions. The Giver’s been a key piece of writing in children’s literature for two decades, but its greatest achievement might be that it’s a worthy read for anyone to pick up at any time.

The Graveyard Book By Neil Gaiman

Status: Has been in development since 2009.

Who's Involved: The film’s been in development for a while, but last year, we got word that the project would switch from animation to live action. Ron Howard is currently circling as a likely director.

Why you should read the book first: Gaiman’s premises are often original, and The Graveyard Book is no exception. The story is one of ghosts and orphans, friendships, monsters and moral choices and there’s little doubt that Gaiman’s most important concepts will come across on the big screen. Still, like most mythology and monster-laden fantasies, there’s also little doubt that many of the lovely details that make the book so special will need to be condensed. If you can get your hands on the Hugo, Newbery, and Carnegie winner, we highly suggest you add this instant classic to your reading list.

Gone Girl By Gillian Flynn

Status: The movie is currently filming, with Twentieth Century Fox recently locking in a 2014 release date. The film is expected to hit theaters on October 3, 2014.

Who's Involved: Who’s not involved? Seriously though, Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck are set to star in Gone Girl, with Tyler Perry, Neil Patrick Harris, Missi Pyle, Kim Dickins, Patrick Fugit and Casey Wilson all lending their names to the film’s credits. Reese Witherspoon, Bruna Papandrea and Leslie Dixon are producing the film. Plus, Fox has locked in a director who is no stranger to book adaptations to direct. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s David Fincher is lending his directorial expertise to this one.

Why you should read the book first: Flynn’s early career as a pop culture writer shows rarely throughout the course of Gone Girl. Instead, the book is more of a psychological thriller following the lives of an unhappily married couple and the hijinks that occur after the wife, Amy, disappears. One of the most exciting things about Gone Girl is its framing, which is told in a couple of parts and features sections based around Nick’s perspective and sections focused on Amy’s old diary entries. All of this framing will need to change for the big screen, but luckily for fans, Flynn has written the adaptation herself. You can check out the first image from the film, here.

Divergent By Veronica Roth

Status: The film is in post-production and will be one of the first adaptions on this list to hit theaters. Divergent is expected to get a widespread release on March 21, 2014.

Who's Involved: The Illusionist director Neil Burger is directing the first film in the brand new franchise based on a popular set of Young Adult novels. The Spectacular Now’s Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller are reuniting for the film, with Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Mekhi Phifer, and Ashley Judd all signed on. Additionally, British actor Theo James, who briefly played a Turkish diplomat who met an untimely end on Downton Abbey, will star.

Why you should read the book first: Divergent is one of a trilogy of books that are easy to read and hard to put down. If you don’t mind spoiling the film’s plot a few months before release, you can power through the first book and the second and the third, while you wait for Allegiant to get made and Divergent to hit theaters. The books are about a future world where a society is split into one of five factions that will determine a person’s role. You can check out the first trailer for the film and decide if the subject matter is up your alley.

The Maze Runner By James Dashner

Status: The Maze Runner has been in post-production for a little while. The flick was initially expected to hit theaters next month, but the release date has been pushed back by Twentieth Century Fox to next fall. The Maze Runner is now expected to hit theaters on September 19, 2014.

Who's Involved: The film is Wes Ball’s big directorial debut, and it hinges on a cast of young actors to be successful. Hopefully he found them in We’re the Millers’ Will Poulter, Game of Thrones’ Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Teen Wolf’s Dylan O’Brien.

Why you should read the book first: The Maze Runner follows the current trend of popular dystopian fiction for teens. With deadly creatures at the forefront and death on the line for a group of young men in a creepy, maze-filled area known as The Glades, The Maze Runner is sort of like a cross between The Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games. The book’s a quick read, and if you were stoked for the movie, reading the book should stave off impatience for some time.

A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre

Status: The film is completed and is set to hit theaters on January 19, 2014. That’s not the best theatrical slot for a film, but if Woody Allen can find success in January, hopefully Anton Corbijn can, too.

Who's Involved: Espionage writer John Le Carre’s works are once again a hot commodity, thanks to the success of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The latest was adapted for the big screen by Andrew Bovell and will star Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright and Willem Dafoe.

Why you should read the book first: Le Carre’s spy stories are complex and filled moral intrigue as well as political ambiguity. The story is a take on the real-life tale of Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish man living in Germany who was taken to Guantanamo Bay after being mistaken for a terrorist in the early 2000s. The book takes a look at American foreign policy, as well as the decisions that are made when the stakes and emotions are running high. Since Le Carre’s books offer a lot of mental insight into his characters, you should try the book before heading into the theater.

Fallen By Lauren Kate

Status: The film is in pre-production, and is currently slated to hit theaters in 2014.

Who's Involved: The Lucky One and Snow Falling on Cedars director Scott Hicks is helming Fallen, and the screenplay adaptation was put together by Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price. So far, Addison Timlin and Jeremy Irvine are attached to star.

Why you should read the book first: Kate’s book has inspired plenty of positive but also plenty of negative reviews. It’s one of those love it or hate it sort of endeavors, but it will not doubt get a bit of a different treatment when Scott Hicks brings it to the big screen. The story is about a girl who is sent to reform school and encounters a young man who just may be the (supernatural) love of her life. As far as supernatural love stories go, this one certainly has more pizzaz than the Twilight series, although it has fewer love triangles. Plus, like many of the YA novels being turned into films, this one is part of a series of novels. So, if you like it, there’s plenty more where that came from.

Serena By Ron Rash

Status: The film was completed some time ago, and has now earned a tentative release month of April, 2014.

Who's Involved: Susanne Bier directed the film, which teams up the dynamic duo of Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, who play a couple unable to bear children. Rhys Ifans, Toby Jones and Sean Harris are also in the film.

Why you should read the book first: Ron Rash is a man who is very well-acquainted with getting lush amalgamations of words onto the page. He sometimes writes poetry or short stories, but he’s at his best when he really gets to flex his writing muscles and put together deliciously complicated characters. Serena Pemberton is a tough woman, born and bred in Depression era North Carolina, but although she’s a tough cookie, there’s more to her than it might first seem. Simultaneously a novel about a family and its challenges in the south and a page turner, this one is worth a read before you pay the price of a theater ticket.

Vampire Academy By Richelle Mead

Status: Vampire Academy is currently in post-production; the film is expected to hit theaters on Valentine’s Day, 2014.

Who's Involved: Mark Waters is directing the film and his brother Daniel Waters wrote the screenplay based on Mead’s book. The story is one about a boarding school for vampires and half-vamps, so there are a lot of young actors and actresses involved. Sarah Hyland, Olga Kurylenko, Zoey Deutch, Joely Richardson, Cameron Monaghan, Sami Gayle and (randomly) Gabriel Byrne all appear in the film.

Why you should read the book first: A lot of books over the last several years have focused on vampires and vampire lore. However, Mead’s Vampire Academy series offers its own complicated mythology, and if you get a chance to delve in before the flick heads to theaters, it should be much easier to just enjoy the story about the Moroi vampires and the Dhampirs without having to ask your seat partner too many questions. If you are too lazy to look into the lore, at least check out the wiki devoted to it.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Status: The Fault in our Stars is currently in post-production, scheduled for release on June 6, 2014.

Who's Involved: Josh Boone is directing, while current it-girl Shailene Woodley has signed on for the lead role of Hazel, a young woman dealing with a dangerous case of thyroid cancer. At a cancer support group, Hazel meets a young man named Augustus, who will be played by Ansel Elgort. The two eventually meet cute and are able to change each others’ lives. Willem Dafoe, Laura Dern, Nat Wolff and True Blood’s Sam Trammell also star.

Why you should read the book first: John Green is currently the king of the Young Adult genre, but you may like him a little more due to his Vlog, Mental Floss. Ah, now I have you interested? His teen story is a novel that capably transcends generations, thanks to its witty nature and its wild storytelling, which somehow manages to spin a yarn about love, cancer, growing up quickly, going on adventures and just figuring out exactly who you are. You may be the type of person who scoffed at many of the other YA examples on this list, but even if you are, please don’t write this one off too quickly.

In The Heart Of The Sea By Nathaniel Philbrick

Status: Release date is already set, despite the fact the film won’t drop until 2015. That’s some time away, but it seems as if the studio has a release date locked. The film is expected to hit theaters on March 15, 2015.

Who's Involved: In The Heart Of The Sea is director Ron Howard’s next film, and he’s already signed on a few interesting names. Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Tom Holland and Sam Keeley are all set to star in the flick. Last we heard, Harry Potter alum Frank Dillane and Skyfall’s Ben Whishaw were also signed on.

Why you should read the book first: First of all, it could be quite some time before this project comes together, so if you are interested at all, reading the book could tide you over. Secondly, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is an excellent story, told from the perspective of a crew that is stranded after a sperm whale runs into their ship. It’s an adventurous perspective, and just the sort of seafaring adventure that can let you get lost in your thoughts for a while.

Far From The Madding Crowd By Thomas Hardy

Status: Far From the Madding Crowd is currently in post-production, and the Fox Searchlight film is expected to open this year.

Who's Involved: The film sports a top notch cast, including Carey Mulligan, Juno Temple, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge. Additionally, the screenplay was put together by One Day writer David Nicholls.

Why you should read the book first: Thomas Hardy’s 1874 book was his first major literary success, telling a story about a sheep herder, a wealthy woman, a gambling husband and a lot of complicated and often luckless situations. It’s set in rural England and features plenty of pastoral settings, which might make it seem a little unexciting. Readers should have no fear, however. Hardy is a master of drama drama, and there are enough tragic components and cautionary tales to keep even the most apprehensive of readers turning pages.

If I Stay by Gale Forman

Status: The film is currently in post-production and will open sometime later this year.

Who's Involved: This one’s a little light on well-known cast names, but Kick-Ass 2 actress Chloe Grace Moretz is headlining the film, along with The Killing’s Mireille Enos. R.J. Cutler is directing and Shauna Cross adapted the book into a screenplay.

Why you should read the book first: What To Expect When You’re Expecting writer Shauna Cutler has some experience turning seemingly non-filmable books into movies. Still, If I Stay is going to be a tough one to make sense on the big screen. The bleak tale follows a 17-year-old girl who hovers between life and death after a horrible car crash. It’s an emotionally rich book that will undoubtedly bring different things to the table when it is revised for film.

Fifty Shades Of Grey By E.L. James

Status: The film recently went into production, and now that the movie’s leads are locked, it’s gearing up for a 2015 release.

Who's Involved: Nowhere Boy director Sam Taylor-Johnson is shooting the film, and after a lengthy search for the perfect leads, Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson have signed on as famous lovers Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. Other key players in the new movie include the recently cast Marcia Gay Harden and Rita Ora, as well as Luke Grimes, Eloise Mumford, Victor Rasuk, and Max Martini.

Why you should read the book first: Hailed as poorly written popular fiction, Fifty Shades of Grey is notable for the hearts it has captured and the mothers it has made swoon. It’s a book that can’t be kept on library shelves—either because all the copies are checked out or because certain factions of the population are busy trying to ban it. If there’s anything I’ve learned in life, it’s that it’s always good to read banned books. This one is notoriously erotic, and while there will be an NC-17 version of the film released (an R-rated version is also being made), I don’t think the juicy details will quite flesh themselves out in such a shocking manner on the big screen. At the very least, it’s probably best to be prepared for all the BDSM.

The latest glimpse at the feature adaptation of John Green’s novel The Fault in our Stars follows a similar trend as the previous two images in showing stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort — playing Hazel and Gus respectively — taking a moment to appreciate each others company affectionately.

The Fault in our Stars centers on Hazel, a terminally ill teen who meets Gus at a support group for kids fighting cancer. The above image comes to us from EW and shows Hazel and Gus sharing a moment at the Anne Frank house during their trip to Amsterdam. As the site points out, Gus used his Make a Wish to take Hazel to Amsterdam so they could track down her favorite author. During the trip, they visit Anne Frank’s house and share a very memorable romantic moment.

This is actually the second look at Amsterdam we’ve seen from the film. Just the other day, we shared Elgort’s Instagram post, which showed off an adorable image of Gus and Hazel cuddled up together on a park bench.

And here’s the previously released poster, which depicts Hazel and Gus laying in the grass together, looking as content as can be with their faces close together…

Elgort and Woodley are both keeping busy with feature work these days. Building a name for herself on the small screen in shows like The O.C., Crossing Jordan and the lead role in The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. She showed off her talent even further, playing the role of Alexandra King in The Descendants. But her rise to fame seems to be on a steeper incline since she started taking roles in adaptations of popular books. Last year, it was the part of Aimee in The Spectacular Now, and in 2014, she has Divergent due out in March —and the two films that follow it, lined up for 2015 and 2016 — not to mention The Fault in our Stars, due out June 6.

As for Elgort, his ascent has been much quicker, as his small list of credits are all big roles in major motion pictures, starting with the part of Tommy Ross in Carrie, followed by two roles that link him with Woodley, Divergent being the first one — he plays her brother Caleb in the film — and The Fault in our Stars. Lined up beyond that, he’ll be linked with Woodley’s Descendants co-star Judy Greer in Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children.

Suffice to say, both Elgort and Woodley's stars are on the rise, and hopefully The Fault in Our Stars will be a great demonstration of their talent.

Amsterdam! That is where the above photo from The Fault in Our Stars was taken, though there isn’t much about the image that gives away its location. Its focus is on the two teens cuddled together on a bench. He’s touching her chin and she’s got her legs draped over his. In the moment, it seems like their surroundings have drifted. They could be anywhere. Also visible in the shot is Hazel’s oxygen tank, a reminder that her health condition isn’t great and hasn’t been for the bulk of her adolescence.

Based on John Green’s novel, The Fault in our Stars tells the story of Hazel Lancaster (Shailene Woodley), a teen girl whose been battling cancer since she was thirteen. She meets Augustus "Gus" Waters (Ansel Elgort) at a support group and the two click pretty much right away. Augustus lost his leg to Osteosarcoma and is in remission.

It was actually Elgort who posted the above image, which shows his and Woodley’s characters sharing what looks like a very sweet moment in Amsterdam together. Much of the movie was filmed in the U.S., however production shifted to Amsterdam last fall before wrapping. A few months back, John Green Instagrammed this photo of himself with Woodley:

He also shared this image of the house in Amsterdam where he lived when he was finishing the book…

Known to some for penning this book, and to others for Mental Floss and VlogBrothers with his brother Hank, John Green spoke up in response to some of the backlash the Fault in our Stars poster received for its tagline:

Some thought "One Sick Love Story" made light of the subject matter, but Green defended it, saying, "I like the tag line because it says, literally, the sick can also have love stories. Love and joy and romance are not just things reserved for the well."

Having begun to read the book, I can already see why fans of the novel aren’t as put off by it as those who haven’t. Hazel does seem to have a dry sense of humor about her situation, or as Green puts it, at times she’s "dark and angry in her humor." It’ll be interesting to see how Woodley portrays the character. From this new photo and the poster, it seems she and Elgort have no trouble looking completely smitten with one another.

While The Fault in our Stars doesn’t arrive in theaters until June 6, we’ll be able to see Elgort and Woodley on screen together as soon as March, as the two are set to play siblings in Divergent, another young adult feature adaptation of a popular book.

The new poster for The Fault in our Stars has gotten some mixed reactions due to the tagline. The image depicts stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort sharing a happy moment together in the grass as lead characters Hazel and Augustus, two teens fighting cancer. The tubes hooked up to Woodley’s nose are the barely-subtle indication that all is not entirely well for her character, health-wise. But to drive the subject matter home, the tagline included under the title says "One Sick Love Story." Is it in bad taste or are we misreading the tone? Author John Green comes to the defense of the phrase, saying he didn't write it but he likes it.

In addition to sharing the poster, BuzzFeed also shared an update from Green on the reaction to the "One Sick Love Story" tagline, which seems like it would be more suitable for a comedy, not a tale of two teens falling in love while fighting cancer. But Green disagrees, as he said on his Tumblr. Though he says he didn't write the tagline, he does like it:

I don’t know if Green’s response makes the tagline work any better. Given the purpose of a tagline, I’m thinking if it needs to be explained, it’s probably not working. But the imagery certainly does the trick regardless, which counts for a lot, and what Green says makes sense.

I should probably admit that I've been avoiding reading this book for a while now, and the fact that Green's response to the tagline inspired a tearful reaction from me is pretty much exactly why I've been dragging my feet on this one, despite all the positive buzz the novel has gotten. With that said, last night while I was shuffling aimlessly through Target like a zombie who's programmed to want to shop despite having finished my Christmas shopping weeks ago, I picked up a copy of Green’s novel, hunched awkwardly over my shopping cart and read the first two pages on a whim. I was hooked enough from that partial introduction to go home and buy the Kindle (eBook) version, so it’s officially on my short list of to-read books. In the meantime, Fox has Josh Boone’s feature adaptation lined up for a June release, and this poster is one of our first official looks at the promotional content for this potentially heartbreaking story headed to theaters next year.

It looks like Fox has done a bit of date shuffling, and in the process it means fans of James Dashner's The Maze Runner will have to wait a bit longer to see the feature adaptation. The film was expected to arrive in theaters next Valentine's Day, but has now been moved to September. Fox has also rescheduled the release of The Book Thief, though that one's only set for a week later than planned. And on the subject of Fox -- and feature adaptations of popular books, for that matter -- The Fault in Our Stars has been given a June release date.

First, The Maze Runner: It was originally set for February 14, 2014, but has been moved to September 19, 2014. Dashner's novel follows a kid named Thomas who wakes up in a dark elevator that delivers him to a strange walled location called The Glade, which is inhabited entirely by other boys, none of whom can remember anything about their pre-Glade life aside from their own name. Each morning, the walls open to a mysterious maze with no apparent exit. Some of the braver boys spend each day running the maze looking for a way out and trying to avoid injury or worse, being trapped in the maze where dangerous creatures lurk when the wall closes at night.

Director Wes Ball approaches the date change news with optimism (via Deadline):

This kind of feels like Ender's Game all over again, except in this case, we were quite a bit closer to the anticipated release date when news of the schedule change came. Ender's Game was originally supposed to release into theaters last March, but in April 2012, it was moved to November 1. In that case, it was reported that the scheduling shift was due to Summit wanting to get Ender's Game a lot closer to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which arrives in theaters later in November. Wes Ball doesn't outright state that Maze Runner's move is because Fox wants more time to promote it, but at the very least, he seems to see the benefits in the delay. There's been no trailer released for the film yet, though we have seen sone photos. In the meantime, the film might have a bit less competition in the young adult demographic with its new date, as February 14 is also when Vampire Academy arrives in theaters.

Next on the list of Fox schedule updates is The Book Thief, which is based on Markus Zusak's best-selling book and tells the story of a foster girl living in Nazi Germany who reads and shares stolen books with the people in her neighborhood (and a Jewish man hidden in her basement) during the bombing raids. The film was set to release November 8, but Fox has pushed it back to the following week (November 15).

And finally, there's The Fault in our Stars, which has been given a June 6 release date. The film is based on John Green's novel and stars Shailene Woodley as Hazel, a terminally ill cancer patient whose life is changed when she meets another patient named Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort). Also among the cast for that one are Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe and True Blood's Sam Trammell. That's the second film Woodley currently has lined up to arrive in theaters in 2014. She's also starring in Divergent, which arrives in theaters March 21.

Actress Shailene Woodley is known for her talent, especially by those who've seen her in The Descendants, but on physical appearance, her long hair is one of the things that stands out most. But not for long. The actress has announced that this weekend she's chopping off her hair ahead of shooting the feature adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars, which will have her playing Hazel, a girl with terminal cancer. She says that as of this Saturday, her hair will be the shortest it's ever been. Woodley wrote a lengthy blog entry talking about her decision to cut her hair and how she's decided to turn it into a positive thing, which will benefit a charity.

Just the other day, I referenced the Locks of Love charity in a story about hair thieves in Venezuela. Maybe I just have hair on the brain these days, as I've actually been growing my own hair out to donate it, but Woodley's story caught my attention today. The actress - known on the small screen for her lead role in ABC Family's The Secret Life of the American Teenager and on the big screen for The Descendants, The Spectacular Now and coming soon, Divergent - has announced that she's going to cut off her long brown hair and donate it to charity.

Via Yahoo, Woodley stated on her Tumblr that donating her hair is something she discussed with John Green, the author of The Fault In Our Stars and the feature adaptation's producer Wyck Godfrey as a way to encourage people to contribute to a worthy cause:

Woodley goes on to encourage people to consider chopping off their locks and donating the hair to Children With Hair Loss.

Woodley presumably needs to cut her hair for The Fault In Our Stars, which begins production later this month, however it's inspiring to see that she's found a way to turn the decision into something that can benefit kids in need and perhaps inspire other people to do the same.

The actor doesn't leave it at that, either. She goes into a lengthy but interesting commentary on her choice to grow her hair long to begin with. Here's part of the explanation:

It sounds like her brother played a role in motivating her to let it go, however, as she says he played her a song by Regina Spektor called "Ghost of Corporate Future," which includes the line "Maybe you should just cut your own hair, 'cause that can be so funny. It doesn't cost any money and it always grows back. It even grows after you're dead."

Here the song for yourself below:

I haven't read The Fault in our Stars yet, and I'm kind of dragging my feet with this one as it sounds like it could be a very sad story. Beautiful, probably, but sad, as it centers on a terminally ill patient named Hazel whose life is turned upside down when she meets Augustus Waters at Cancer Kid Support Group. But if you're up for a good read, it sounds like it's worth a look. With over four thousand reviews submitted, Amazon readers have it ranked at four and a half stars, and it's only $3.99 for the Kindle version. In the meantime, here's that link for the hair donation charity.

Sam Trammell, best known for playing the shapeshifting bar owner Sam Merlotte on HBO’s True Blood, has become the latest addition the Josh Boone-directed The Fault In Our Stars. The Wrap reports Trammell will join the cast that includes Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff and Laura Dern.

Based on the young adult novel by John Green, The Fault in Our Stars will be a romantic drama centering on the doomed relationship between two teens afflicted with cancer. Woodley, who broke through in film with her heartbreaking and bold performance opposite George Clooney in Alexander Payne’s Academy Award-winning dramedy The Descendants, fronts the film as Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old who has been living in the shadow of terminal cancer for all of her adolescence. Understandably, Hazel is clinically depressed, but she finds hope and joy when she meets Augustus “Gus” Waters (newcomer Elgort), a boy who had to give up basketball dreams when he lost his leg to an aggressive osteosarcoma.

But beyond being a story of tragic first love, Green’s The Fault in Our Stars has a quest at its core. In the novel, Hazel is fixated on a book called An Imperial Affliction, which ends on an ambiguous note. Gus suggests they use his Make-A-Wish opportunity to travel to Amsterdam and meet the book’s reclusive author Peter van Houten. While this trip could give Hazel some closure, the girl fears getting closer to Gus, as she worries how her inevitable death will impact him. Basically, this is sure to be a total tearjerker.

Trammell, Dern, and Wolff will make up most of the supporting cast, with the first two playing father and mother to Hazel, and the last taking on the role of Isaac, Gus’s best friend. There’s no mention yet who might play van Houten. But with production on the film set to begin in Pittsburgh later this month, we expect to hear news on that front in short order.

It seems Trammell was handpicked for The Fault in Our Stars as the film is being put together by two of True Blood’s producers, Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. The New Orleans native has been steadily carving a path in television, earning one-off roles on drama series like House, Judging, Bones and Dexter. But True Blood has offered a major turning point in Trammell’s career. He has seen a notable rise in film roles. Earlier this year, he starred opposite Virginia Madsen in the romantic comedy Crazy Kind of Love. And aside fromThe Fault in Our Stars, he has five other films in the pipeline, including a teen drama called White Rabbit, a fame-focused comedy titled Me, and the lawyer-centered thriller Deadweight. But this new project might be the most promising in the bunch.

To be perfectly frank The Fault in Our Stars looks great on paper. It’s based on a novel that has received critical praise, and was snatched up by Fox the same month it hit bookshelves. It’s teen leads lend it a lot of buzz, as Woodley is winning rave reviews on her latest The Spectacular Now and Elgort has two other big name releases coming first, Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie and the tent pole adaptation of Divergent, in which Woodley also stars. Add to that a screenplay by (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now’s scribes Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and it seems The Fault in Our Stars could well be next summer’s heartbreaking hit.

Well, it’s not the role Katey had picked for him, but it’s not too shabby. EW reports rising up-and-comer Nat Wolff has finally signed on to Josh Boone’s adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars. And The Wrap reveals Enlightened’s leading lady Laura Dern will also be joining the cast that includes celebrated Descendants’ starlet Shailene Woodley and newcomer Ansel Elgort.

Based on John Green’s popular YA novel, The Fault In Our Stars stars Woodley as Hazel, a 16-year-old girl who has been fighting terminal cancer since she was diagnosed at 13. But her sad story gets an exciting new chapter when she meets the dreamy (but also cancer-stricken) Augustus Waters at a Cancer Kids Support Group.

Back in May, Wolff was said to be among one of five young actors being eyed for the role of Augustus, along with Maleficent’s Brenton Thwaites, The Kings of Summer’s Nick Robinson, Noah Silver, and Elgort. Despite having worked with The Fault In Our Stars director on his first film, Stuck in Love, it seems Wolff didn’t have the edge over Elgort, who ultimately got the part. However, the Naked Brother turned Admission star has since signed on to play Augustus’s best friend Isaac, who is responsible for the leads’ meet-cute, having urged Augustus to attend the Cancer Kids meet-up. For her part, Dern will play Hazel’s mother, a part that seems sure to be small. But Dern is guaranteed to make the best of it.

As the book had cross-demographic success—appealing to both teens and adult—it seems likely The Fault In Our Stars’s movie adaptation will aim to do the same. As they’ve got Twilight producers Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen on board, this production seems like it’s off to a solid start. Plus, the upcoming Divergent could prove a powerful front-runner for boosting this pic’s buzz, as the films share two stars.

Based on another popular YA book, Divergent has Woodley and Elgort playing brother and sister instead of teen lovers. Directed by Neil Burger, the dystopian adventure that centers on a teen girl who realizes a conspiracy plans to wipe “Divergent” people like her off the planet looks like it’s aiming for the same audiences that turned out in droves for Twilight and The Hunger Games. If this Woodley movie, which opens next spring, proves anywhere near as popular as we suspect it will, that’s only good news for The Fault In Our Stars.

Production on The Fault In Our Stars will begin in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania next month. In the meantime, you can look for Woodley in the heralded coming-of-age drama The Spectacular Now, and Elgort in the upcoming Carrie remake. You can check out the trailer for Boone and Wolff's Stuck in Love below:

So much for the Cinema Blend bump. We were pulling hard for Admission's Nat Wolff to snag the lead role opposite Shailene Woodley in the young adult novel adaptation The Fault In Our Stars, but apparently, the people actually casting the movie and meeting with the actors in contention know something we don't. Entertainment Weekly reports that Ansel Elgort has snagged the role of Augustus Waters, the teenage cancer patient who falls for Woodley's Hazel, a girl also suffering from the disease.

The book's author John Green-- a beloved Internet figure with legions of fans-- signed off on the casting in a statement to EW:

Elgort had a bit of an edge going into the process-- he's already working with Woodley in Divergent, another adaptation of a young adult novel, but this one set in a Hunger Games-style dystopic future. Weirdly, Elgort is playing Woodley's brother in the film, and producer Wyck Godfrey is well aware that might be a little strange for fans of both: "His performance completely annihilated our concerns about his playing Caleb in Divergent with Shailene, and we are confident that the fans of Fault will fall in love with him the same way that Hazel does–slowly, and then all at once.”

It's going to be hard to convince you if you haven't read the book, but The Fault in Our Stars is not remotely the sappy young adult romance about terminally ill kids that you're probably dreading. Yes, it's sad, and yes, it's about two kids who have cancer and will probably die young but who fall in love anyway. But it's also hilarious and honest and incredibly real about the emotions you have as a teenager, whether or not cancer is part of the picture. You know what would be easier? Just read the book, and then you can be excited and nervous right along with me as we wait to see how this adaptation turns out.

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars earned a passionate legion of fans when it was published in 2012, with young adults and straight-up adults alike falling hard for the story about teenagers diagnosed with cancer that was the exact opposite of every cheesy nonsense YA book you could imagine. And now that it's getting a a movie adaptation, fans will be on red alert to make sure the movie stays true to what they loved about the book. It's fair to be skeptical at this point, but at the same time… they're off to a really, really good start.

They've already got Shailene Woodey on board to star as Hazel, and now Variety reports they're narrowing down the hunt for the other half of the romance, eyeing five different up and coming actors. None of them are especially famous, but the one who caught my eye the most was Nat Wolff, the gangly and endearing teen star of Admission who really held his own against Tina Fey and Paul Rudd in that film. Not to brag anything, but I totally called him as an excellent Augustus back when the film was first confirmed, and the fact that he's worked previously with director Josh Boone can only make him more of a frontrunner-- though Variety says no one has the edge just yet.

His competition includes Brenton Thwaites, Nick Robinson, Noah Silver and Ansel Elgort, all of whom will test for the role this weekend. Thwaites will be one of the young pretty faces in the upcoming Transformers 4, Robinson is one of the newcomers leading Sundance hit The Kings of Summer, and Elgort will actually be Woodley's co-star in the sci-fi adventure Divergent, which might give him the edge as well. Even though Hazel is the book's main character, Augustus is the charismatic love interest, which means it's a role any young actor ought to be all over. I'm still pulling for Wolff to snag it, but if you can make a good argument for any of the other guys, let us know in the comments.

After months and months of hearing how outstanding it was, I read John Green's The Fault In Our Stars while on a beach vacation over Christmas, actively choosing to put myself through heartbreak while I was supposed to be relaxing. Hell, it was worth it-- The Fault In Our Stars, technically a young adult novel but so much better than any label could suggest, is one of the best books I've read in years, the kind of thing that makes you want to shake your friends and say "We will to understand each other until you read this."

With a movie adaptation now in the works, there will surely be many more of us fighting to get people to read the book before seeing the movie. Not that the film version doesn't look promising, though-- in fact, with director Josh Boone now set to direct, it's clear it's in the hands of someone who loves it as much as I do. Talking to THR about the news he had been hired, Boone explained that he read the book just after the death of a close friend:

Honestly, that line about the little infinity, which is a reference to the book? It has me tearing up all over again. It's that kind of book, you guys.

With Boone now set we can hopefully expect some casting news soon, particularly for the leads roles of Hazel and Augustus, the two teenagers who meet in a cancer support group and fall for each other (it's way less sappy than that sounds, I promise). Word broke not long ago that Shailene Woodley could play Hazel, fresh off her acclaimed role in the Sundance teen romance The Spectacular Now. Now THR's Borys Kit has added in a tweet that True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld was also in the mix. Either would be great, but I"m especially curious about who will play the charismatic, funny and deeply romantic Augustus, a tough thing for a teenager to pull off for sure. Hey, Nat Wolff was in Boone's directorial debut Stuck In Love and is pretty great in the upcoming Admission… if he gets the part, you heard it here first.

The Secret Life of the American Teenager's Shailene Woodley made her mark on the movie world in 2011 as the heartbroken teen daughter of Alexander Payne's The Descendants. At Sundance this year, she won plenty of buzz for her follow-up, James Ponsoldt's Spectacular Now. What could she possibly do to top herself? How about fronting an adaptation of the novel Time Magazine called the #1 Fiction Book of 2012?

John Green's The Fault In Our Stars centers on Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old who has earned her teen angst and dark depression. See, for three years poor Hazel has been battling cancer that by all accounts is terminal. Worried for her mental well being, her doctors urge her to go to a kids-with-cancer support group. There, she meets fellow cancer survivor Augustus "Gus" Waters, and the two share an instant connection. First love is always intense, but Hazel and Gus' romance is made all the more important by their cruel awareness of how short life really is.

It might sound like Nicholas Sparks for the YA set, but this young adult novel has been praised for its warmth, wit and emotional honesty. In short, it sounds like it could be a great project for Woodley, who has already shown herself to be a talented actress and compelling screen presence. Hypable got confirmation from Woodley's publicist that the adorable ingénue is currently being considered for the lead role of Hazel, but it's unclear if she is currently in negotiations for the role or not. We'll let you know more as this story develops.

The Fault In Our Stars is expected to shoot later this year. In the meantime, Woodley is in production on The Amazing Spider-Man 2, where she'll portray Mary Jane Watson. And fans of Woodley can keep an eye out for her in Gregg Araki's thriller White Bird in a Blizzard, which should come to theaters in the coming months.