Check out what's showing at cinemas across the region this August...

MEG 2: THE TRENCH CERT tbc
Released Fri 4 August
Starring Jason Statham, Sienna Guillory, Cliff Curtis, Skyler Samuels, Kiran Sonia Sawar
Directed by Ben Wheatley

Arriving five years after the first movie - a critically battered global box-office hit - Meg 2 swims into summertime cinemas with Midlands-born action-hero Jason Statham returning in the role of rescue diver Jonas Taylor. 

Statham’s a bit of a love him or loathe him actor, but if he floats your boat then he’s usually well worth a couple of hours spent in a darkened room with an optional bag of pic’n’mix. 

As with the original movie - adapted from the bestselling novel by Steve Alten - he will be sharing screen space with the Meg of the title - a colossal prehistoric shark, the megalodon - not to mention battling against the evil that men do - on this occasion via a malevolent mining operation... 

So plenty for Jase to be sinking his teeth into there, we think - if you’ll pardon our shark-related pun.     

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM CERT tbc
Released Fri 4 August
With the voices of Ayo Edebiri, Rose Byrne, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, Natasia Demetriou, John Cena
Directed by Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears

After years of being sheltered from the human world, the four Turtle brothers set out to perform heroic acts in an effort to win the hearts and minds of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers. 

Assisted by a new pal, they take on a mysterious crime syndicate. But when they’re confronted by an army of mutants, it quickly becomes evident that they’ve maybe bitten off a little bit more than they can chew... 

A work-in-progress showing of Mutant Mayhem at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival a couple of months back saw the movie receive a six-minute standing ovation - a fact that should further excite all turtle-loving cinema-goers...  

HAUNTED MANSION CERT 12a (123 mins)
Released Fri 11 August
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Tiffany Haddish, Rosario Dawson, Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson
Directed by Justin Simien  

When single mom Gabbie discovers that the mansion she and her son are living in is inhabited by ghosts, she hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest and a historian to exorcise the unwanted spirits...

Haunted Mansion is the latest in a significant line of movies inspired by Disney theme-park attractions, the most famous among which is, of course, The Pirates Of The Caribbean. But there have been a number of others, too: The Country Bears (2002), Tomorrowland (2015) and Jungle Cruise (2021). A film based on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is also in the pipeline. 

Nor is this the first time that Disney’s The Haunted Mansion attraction has provided the inspiration for a movie; a same-named 2003 offering starred Eddie Murphy and was roundly slammed by the critics. 
Disney will be hoping that the 2023 version is given an easier ride...   

BLUE BEETLE CERT tbc
Released Fri 18 August
Starring Xolo Maridueña, Susan Sarandon, Harvey Guillén, Raoul Max Trujillo, Bruna Marquezine
Directed by Angel Manuel Soto

While searching for his purpose in the world, college grad Jaime Reyes unexpectedly finds himself in possession of the Scarab - an ancient relic of alien biotechnology. 

When the Scarab chooses him to be its symbiotic host, Jaime is bestowed with an incredible suit of armour and a range of extraordinary and unpredictable powers...

An A-list superhero Blue Beetle most definitely is not, but in the ongoing struggle to match the success of arch rivals Marvel, it’s fair to assume that DC will pretty much try anything.