Chimpanzee
The summer film season is just around the corner and while movies such as Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness and Man of Steel are causing a huge stir these blockbuster movies are not for everyone.
There are a whole host of movies that are going under the radar this summer and we have taken a look at some of the alternative films that will be hitting the big screen over the next couple of months - and there are some interesting projects on the horizon.
- Chimpanzee
Disney Nature has been behind some wonderful documentary movies over the last few years and this summers seems them return with Chimpanzee.
The movie sees Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield in the director’s chair while Tim Allen is on hand to narrate the film.
This is not the first time that Fothergill and Linfield have worked together after they brought us Earth and Fothergill was behind the wonderful Disney Nature movie African Cats.
The film will introduce us to chimpanzee Oscar who finds himself alone in the African forest. But all is not lost for Oscar as he is taken in by a male chimpanzee who raises him as his own.
Chimpanzee was filmed in the Tai National Park during the wet season and took over four years to make and it looks set to be another wonderful film for Disney Nature.
Chimpanzee is released 3rd May
- A Hijacking
There is some momentum building around new film A Hijacking as Tobias Lindholm returns to the director’s chair for the first time since R: Hit First, Hit Hardest back in 2010.
Last year he enjoyed writing success as he teamed up with director Thomas Vinterberg to pen The Hunt - a movie which was another critical success.
The movie grabbed plenty of attention last year when it played at film festivals in London, Venice and Toronto - picking plenty of fans and praise along the way.
The cargo ship MV Rozen is heading for harbour when it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and the engineer Jan (Roland Møller), who along with the rest of the seamen are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death.
With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company (Søren Malling) and the Somali pirates.
A Hijacking is released 10th May.
- Village At The End of the World
Another documentary to watch out for this summer is Village At The End of the World as Sarah Gavron teams up with her husband David Katznelson to helm the project.
Gavron has directed the likes of Brick Lane in recent years and this is one of the most intriguing movies from her.
Village At The End of the World is set in Niaqornat, North West Greenland - which is one of the coldest and remotest corners of the world.
Here is a village with fifty nine inhabitants as they battle against the elements to survive. This fascinating documentary follows this community over the course of year as they try their best to save their village.
Village At The End Of The World reflects the dilemmas of most small communities all over the world, but this one just happens to be in one of the remotest spots on earth.
Village At The End of the World is released 10th May
- The Conjuring
There are set to be quite a few horror movies to enjoy this summer but The Conjuring is one of the films that is going, ever so slightly, under the radar but could well be one to watch out for.
This is the first movie for director James Wan since he enjoyed success with Insidious - he will be back later in the year with the sequel to that 2011 movie.
The movie is loosely based on a real life story and sees Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lil Taylor and Ron Livingston are all on the cast list.
Before there was Amityville, there was Harrisville. "The Conjuring" tells the true story of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Wilson & Farmiga), world renowned paranormal investigators, who were called to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in a secluded farmhouse.
Forced to confront a powerful demonic entity, the Warrens find themselves caught in the most horrifying case of their lives.
The Conjuring is released 19th July.
- Mud
Matthew McConaughey has seen his career go down a very different path in the last eighteen months or so with Magic Mike, Killer Joe and Lincoln Lawyer all under his belt - films that showed off a very different side to him as an actor.
Mud is a movie that will see him return to the big screen this summer as he teams up with director Jeff Nichols.
Mud is a coming of age movie that we first saw last years when it competed for the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Reese Witherspoon, Michael Shannon, Paula Paulson and Sam Shepard are all also on the cast list while we are introduced to Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland.
Mud is an adventure about two boys, Ellis and his friend Neckbone, who find a man named Mud hiding out on an island in the Mississippi.
Mud describes fantastic scenarios - he killed a man in Texas and vengeful bounty hunters are coming to get him.
He says he is planning to meet and escape with the love of his life, Juniper, who is waiting for him in town. Sceptical but intrigued, Ellis and Neckbone agree to help him.
Mud is released 10th May.
Check out our Alternative Summer Movies images.
Other movies to keep an eye out for include The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, The Company You Keep, I’m So Excited and Gimme The Loot.
