Congratulations, peeps, we’ve made it to hump day! But before we indulge in a big group hug, let’s take a look at today’s movie news. We know when the first footage from Avengers: Age of Ultron can be viewed, and we have footage from the Judge Dredd online animated series now, as well as a fresh TV spot from the next Hunger Games film. If you’re more a fan of the classics, take heart — Back to the Future is heading back to theaters with a live orchestra performing its score. And My Little Pony is also bound for the big screen! With all this goodness, the second half of your week should be a breeze…

Avengers: Age of Ultron

The episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airing next Tuesday, October 28th, titled “A Fractured House”, should prove to be the show’s most watched. Because that’s when we’ll get our first glimpse of footage from Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron! But since, in the wake of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, S.H.I.E.L.D. has improved a great deal, particularly in its current second season, the show is worth checking out anyway. Longtime Marvel fans will especially enjoy the introduction of Bobbi “Mockingbird” Morse (played by Adrianne Palicki) on this week’s episode.

[Slashfilm]

The Forest

Like any smart Hollywood player, David Goyer knows it’s not a good idea to put all his eggs in one basket. So no matter how many DC Universe movies (like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) or TV shows (like Constantine) Goyer is producing, he’s always made it a point to diversify his portfolio. His next non-Warner Brothers project is The Forest, a supernatural thriller “about an American woman who ventures into Japan’s legendary Aokigahara forest in search of her missing twin sister.” For those of you who don’t know, Aokigahara is also known as the “Suicide Forest” as a result of an abnormally high number of Japanese citizens killing themselves there.

The film has just signed Games of Thrones and Hunger Games: Mockingjay‘s Natalie Dormer (pictured above) to star. The Forest will be directed by Jason Zada, and written by Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca (who based their script on an idea by Goyer). Focus will release the movie domestically on January 8, 2016.

[Deadline]

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

And speaking of the penultimate Hunger Games film, a new TV spot was released yesterday for Mockingjay — Part 1, showcasing the film’s urgency and action, with Peeta gone to the Dark Side. Check it out below. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is in theaters on November 21st. Tickets go on sale on October 29th.

[Screenrant]

My Little Pony

Bronies rejoice! Soon the whole world will understand the obsession that sees you through life. Not content with conquering the small screen, Hasbro’s My Little Pony will be writ large when it hits multiplexes worldwide in 2017. The company’s Hasbro Studios will produce the film via its self-financed Allspark Pictures label.

“Joe Ballarini, who previously wrote ‘Atlantis 7’ for Walden Media, 21 Laps and Gotham Group, ‘Lockdown at Franklin High’ for Sony, and was recently tapped to adapt the graphic novel ‘Cardboard’ for Fox Animation, will pen the script for the “Pony” pic, while Megan McCarthy, who produces and has written for the series ‘My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic’ and straight-to-home-video ‘My Little Pony: Equestria Girls’ films, will serve as co-executive producer on the theatrical movie.”

[Variety]

Dredd

A few weeks back we told you about Dredd film producer Adi Shankar’s plans for a seven-part online series about Judge Dredd’s antagonists, the Dark Judges. Shankar will unveil the project’s full trailer this week, on Thursday, October 23rd. In the mean time, Shankar has posted a teaser to whet our appetites, and the series looks like a helluva lot of fun, with just the right amount of humor and weirdness. Check it out.

[Playlist]

Back to the Future

Finally today, Back to the Future, one of the true touchstone films of the 1980s is getting a theatrical release for its thirtieth anniversary next year. (Which will make me feel as old as George McFly, since, in the film, his son Marty traveled thirty years back in time and met him when he was in high school, which I was about to enter when Back to the Future was first released in 1985.) If, like most everyone on the planet, you’ve already seen Back to the Future, rest assured you’ve never seen it like this — because the film will be accompanied by a live orchestra performing its iconic score, which composer Alan Silvestri has expanded by fifteen minutes. Silvestri is also preparing new orchestrations for the London stage musical adaptation of Back to the Future, on which director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Bob Gale and theater director Jamie Lloyd are collaborating for a debut also next year.

[The Hollywood Repoter]

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Images: Universal, Disney/Marvel, HBO, Hasbro