Winter Movie Preview 2015-2016

Isabel Forsell, Reporter

A nation rallies and fights back against its oppressing government. A young dinosaur loses his family and befriends a human boy. A teenage girl must protect her younger brother and fight to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. This winter season, a number of upcoming films are bound to draw the attention of young adults everywhere, and these are only some of the attention-grabbing plot lines viewers will enjoy. Ahead are previews for five of this season’s most anticipated movies.

First date to mark on the calendar: Friday, November 20. This is the day the final Hunger Games installment, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, hits theaters. The film picks up where The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 left off; Panem is split in two, with District 13 in the midst of a brutal war with the Capitol. Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) has just led a successful rescue mission, recovering several District 13 prisoners who had been tortured and imprisoned in the Capitol. Heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is recuperating from an attempted murder conducted by her freshly rescued lover, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Now reluctant leader of the movement against the Capitol, Katniss must rally the District 13 army in one final attempt to storm the Capitol and bring about its downfall, all while trying to protect the people she holds near and dear.

Next date to mark: Wednesday, November 25. Creed, the seventh installment in the Rocky franchise, hits theaters. Acting both as a spin-off from the original Rocky series and as the indirect successor to 2006’s Rocky Balboa, the film will follow Adonis Johnson Creed (Michael B. Jordan), the son of former professional boxer Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), and the training he receives under the guidance of the elderly Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). The catch? Rocky Balboa was the late Apollo’s rival in the ring once upon a time.

Also coming out Wednesday, November 25, is the Disney and Pixar animated film The Good Dinosaur. Set in an alternate dimension where asteroids never hit the earth and dinosaurs never went extinct, the film tells the story of Arlo (Raymond Ochoa), a young Apatosaurus who loses his father in a flash flood and becomes separated from his herd. While trying to find his way back to his herd and reunite with his family, Arlo meets and befriends a human caveboy, Spot (Jack Bright), and the two make the journey together.

On Friday, December 18, the long-awaited seventh installment of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, opens in theaters. Though not much is known about the plot of the film, the cast and crew have revealed the following: The Force Awakens is set approximately thirty years after the events of Return of the Jedi, and the film will follow three new lead characters – First Order stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley), and Resistance X-wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac).

Finally, the young adult film adaptation of The 5th Wave is scheduled to premiere in theaters on Friday, January 15. The film follows a teenage girl, Cassie Sullivan (Chloё Grace Moretz) as she attempts to save her younger brother, Sammy (Zackary Arthur), after the earth has been hit by four waves of deadly attacks. As the fifth wave draws nearer and nearer, Cassie teams up with a young man, Evan Walker (Alex Roe), and must learn to trust him or perish.


These are just a handful of the big movies scheduled to be released over the course of the next two months. Whether you are into post-apocalyptic films, animated films, or sports films, there is bound to be a new release that you will become completely obsessed with. After all, some of these movies have been patiently awaited for years – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, for example. Book lovers and film lovers alike will undoubtedly be flocking to theaters nationwide to watch these features.