Blockbusters such as Avengers Assemble, The Hunger Games, TheDark Knight Rises and Skyfall have hit the big screen this year and all been both critical and commercial hits.And the 2013 is set to be one of the biggest years for blockbusters ever as sequel and reboots hit the big screen as well as stories and characters that are being seen for the very first time.
- Iron Man 3
Marvel have had a fantastic 2012 with Avengers Assemble being the biggest movie of the year but this summer will see Robert Downey Jr return as Iron Man in his third standalone movie.
Iron Man 2 hit the big screen back in 2010 but this time around it is all change in the director's chair as Shane Black takes over from Jon Favreau.
It will be the second movie that Black and Downey Jr will have worked on together after Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - however Favreau will be reprising the role of Happy.
When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle.
With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him.
As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
Iron Man 3 promises to be the biggest and best movie in the franchise so a far - and it is always great to see Downey Jr back as Tony Stark.
Iron Man 3 is released 26th April.
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games was one of the biggest movies of 2012 as the popular novel by Suzanne Collins was adapted for the big screen.
Jennifer Lawrence is set to reprise the role of Katniss Everdeen while Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson are all also set to return.
But there are some new faces on the cast list with Sam Claflin, Jena Malone and Philip Seymour Hoffman the three big additions as Finnick Odair, Johanna Mason and Plutarch Heavensbee.
And as if new faces on the cast list weren't enough there is also someone new in the director's chair as Francis Lawrence takes over at the helm from Gary Ross.
In Catching Fire Katniss finds herself back in the arena for the Quarter Quell but everything is not as it seems.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is released 22nd November.
- Man of Steel
It was back in 2006 when we last saw Superman on the big screen but next summer sees the popular character return to the big screen as the franchise is rebooted.
Henry Cavill takes over the role of Clark Kent in the new movie in what is to be the biggest part of his career to date.
Zack Snyder is in the director's chair to helm the project while superhero aficionado Christopher Nolan has been drafted in as producer.
The movie brings together one hell of a great cast as Cavill is joined by Amy Adams. Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner andDiane Lane.
Man of Steel takes the story right back to the beginning and follows an alien child who is raised on Earth by a human couple.
Man of Steel is released 14th June.
- Thor: The Dark World
We have seen plenty of Thor on the big screen in the last couple of years with the first movie in 2011 and Avengers Assemble this summer.
Filming on Thor: The Dark World is currently underway and will seeChris Hemsworth reprise the title character.
There are plenty of familiar faces returning as Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins will reprise the roles of Loki, Jane Foster and Odin.
But there is a new man at the helm of the movie in the form of Alan Taylor, director of Game of Thrones, as he takes over from Kenneth Branagh who decided not to return for the sequel.
In the aftermath of Marvel's Thor and Marvel's The Avengers, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos - but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness.
Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
Thor: The Dark World is released 8th November.
- World War Z
We may have seen Brad Pitt taken on more character driven critically acclaimed movies in the last few years but World war Z will see him tackle a very different movie… the zombie film.
The movie is a big screen adaptation of the Max Brooks novel and Marc Forster is in the director's chair for the movie.
It is the first movie project for Foster since Machine Gun Preacher and the first time that the director has teamed up with Pitt.
Pitt is joined on the cast list by Eric West, Mireille Enos, Matthew Fox and James Badge Dale and looks set to the best end of the world movie of the year.
The movie follows United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.
World War Z is released 21st June
- Oblivion
The movie that will be kicking off the blockbuster summer this year will not be a comic book film, which has happened for the last few years, but instead sci-fi film Oblivion.
The marks the return to the big screen for Tom Cruise and is based on the graphic novel by Joseph Kosinski.
The movie sees Kosinski return to the director's chair for only his second movie, his first being Tron: Legacy and he has adapted his graphic novel into a screenplay.
Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo and Andrea Riseborough are all set to be on the cast list and Oblivion promises to be one of the most interesting starts to the blockbuster season.
A court martial sends a veteran soldier to a distant planet, where he has to destroy the remains of an alien race. The arrival of an unexpected traveller causes him to question what he knows about the planet, his mission, and himself.
Oblivion is released 12th April
- Star Trek Into Darkness
I was a huge fan of Star Trek when J.J. Abrams rebooted the franchise back in 2009 and so Star Trek Into Darkness is one of the blockbusters that I am most looking forward, despite the bad name.
The trailer for the movie has already been released and it promises to be bigger and better than its predecessor.
Abrams is back in the director's chair while Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg and Karl Urban are all reprising their roles from the first movie.
When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organisation has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.
With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.
As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew."
- The Wolverine
It has been a while since we have seen Hugh Jackman play Wolverine - except for that excellent cameo in X-Men: First Class - but next summer sees him return for a second standalone movie.
The Wolverine sees Jackman reunite with director James Mangold, after they worked together on Kate and Leopold, and this promises to be one of the best blockbuster movies of the summer.
Based on the celebrated comic book arc, this epic action-adventure takes Wolverine, the most iconic character of the X-Men universe, to modern day Japan.
Out of his depth in an unknown world he faces his ultimate nemesis in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed.
Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality, emerging more powerful than we have ever seen him before.
The Wolverine is released 25th July.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
