Star Trek Beyond

The summer movie season is about a month away, kicking off with Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War and continuing through August with Suicide Squad. There are other, non-superhero movies hitting theaters this summer, if you can believe it, and we have some new photos from those and several of this year’s other blockbuster offerings. You’re probably already properly excited for a lot of these movies thanks to their trailers, but if you’re eager for another sneak peek, these photos should do the trick.

It’s going to be a big year for Star Trek. Not only is the beloved sci-fi series returning to television (or the streaming TV equivalent), and not only is Trek celebrating its 50th anniversary with special conventions and events, but there’s also the third installment of the new Star Trek movie series, Star Trek Beyond, which comes to theaters later this summer. Apparently, though, what exactly STB will look like is still being finalized.

Star Trek fans have likely heard of some disparity between the movie and TV branches that kept the franchise off regular TV in recent years, seemingly broken by CBS All-Access’ 2017 launch of a new Bryan Fuller series. That said, the two were apparently required to keep six months’ distance, which could spell a questionable future for the film franchise.

Although we’ve already seen the first official trailer for Star Trek Beyond, there’s still plenty we don’t know about the upcoming sequel, directed by Justin Lin and co-written by star Simon Pegg. We know Idris Elba is the villain, that Kingsman’s Sofia Boutella plays an awesome-looking alien, and…that’s about it. A new set video with the cast sheds a little more light on what we can expect from Beyond, including some new weapons and uniforms and one very intriguing secret regarding John Cho’s Sulu.

Earlier today we ran a list of our own most anticipated films of 2016, but what about the rest of you guys? According to Fandango’s annual poll, audiences are excited for many of the same big budget studio films as we are, with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story coming out ahead of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War — neither of which even came in second place.

It’s officially 2016. Our Best of 2015 lists have all been published and the new year is upon us, which means it’s time to start looking to the future. Yes, 2015 was a particularly good year for movie fans, but 2016 looks pretty impressive too. You like Coen Bros. movies? We got one of those. You like Star Wars? Yup, one of those too. Critically acclaimed horror movies? Sure. Pixar? Of course. Movies where your favorite superheroes beat the crap out of each other? WE GOT TWO OF THOSE. We put together a quick list of the 25 movies — a mix of both blockbusters and indies — that we can’t wait to see next year. This will probably change as the year goes on (our 2015 list included Jupiter Ascending, Aloha and Tomorrowland so we’re not perfect), but based on what we know right now, this is it. Here are the movies we’re looking forward to the most in 2016, in the order of release date (those with no release date are listed in alphabetical order).

Star Trek fans are hard to please. Even though J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek from 2009 revitalized the old franchise with new energy and a great cast, some Trekkers felt it pushed the franchise too far from its roots in harder, more intellectual sci-fi. And then Star Trek Into Darkness came along and was even more poorly received by the die-hards; one particularly unhappy bunch at a Star Trek convention named it the worst film in the entire series. (And if you’ve seen every movie in the franchise, you know just how insulting that is.)

The first trailer for Star Trek Beyond arrived this week, teasing big action, new characters, and a possible return to the franchise’s fun roots. We’ll have to wait until next summer to see what Fast and Furious vet Justin Lin cooked up for the flailing series, but the director isn’t making us wait much longer to hear about Idris Elba’s mysterious new villain character.

Yes, Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally opens in theaters this Friday, and we know you’re all excited. But, if you’re excited for J.J. Abrams’ other space franchise, we have good news for you: the first trailer for Star Trek Beyond has arrived.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn’t the only new Star-centric franchise sequel on the horizon, though it is probably the only one you care about at the moment given how close we are (so close!) to the release date. That other franchise is delivering a new sequel next summer, and we’ll finally get the first trailer for Star Trek Beyond in front of The Force Awakens. Stars, stars, everywhere, stars.