Four years and five movies worth of hard work paid off for Marvel Studios, as their flag-ship film, The Avengers, became the third highest grossing film of all time.

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2013)

Television show, movie franchise, pop culture phenomenon. Star Trek has affected generation after generation, no pun intended. In 2009, director J.J. Abrams rebooted the films with a contemporary interpretation and generally received praise from critics, new audiences, and Trekkies past and present. 2013 will see the follow up to that film released, entitled Star Trek: Into Darkness. The ominous subtitle is an indication that this time around, the stakes will be higher and the emotional gravity will be much stronger. Captain Kirk and his team are set to do battle with British character actor Benedict Cumberbatch's mysterious villain, setting up a truly compelling conflict.
The recent trailer indicates that Man of Steel will be a stripped down, emotive exploration of Superman's character, whilst taking the cinematic spectacle of his adventures to a visual level we have never quite seen before. Michael Shannon will be appearing as the main antagonist, the ruthless General Zod, while Academy Award winners Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner will be portraying Clark Kent's paternal and adoptive fathers respectively. This film could be exactly what Superman is in need of, following the disappointing Superman Returns in 2006.
Superman will be receiving a reboot of his own this year, with Man of Steel ready to fly into theatres at the beginning of the summer. Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer have collaborated to produce a much more refined approach to a Superman film, making audiences and critics understandably enthusiastic about the upcoming release.