Lou Lumenick

Lou Lumenick

Movies

‘Star Wars’ reboot, Tarantino Western poised for 2016 Oscars

Just when you thought you were safe from any more Oscar buzz for awhile, a group of new biopics, a Tarantino Western and a “Star Wars’’ reboot are quietly being positioned for the 2016 Academy Awards.

The red carpet at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles wasn’t even rolled up and the next awards season was already under way, kicking off last month at the Sundance Film Festival, where the indie tear-jerkers “Brooklyn’’ and “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl’’ — plus “The End of the Tour’’ with Jason Segel as late writer David Foster Wallace — were already being touted for Oscars.

As I’ve demonstrated over and over since starting these morning-after pieces in 2006, Oscar prognostications this far out are not for the faint of heart.

Last year, I was right about Sundance sensation “Boyhood’’ but oh-so-wrong about big-budget duds “Fury’’ and “Exodus,” with several other films on my list for Best Picture — “Foxcatcher,” “Gone Girl,” “Inherent Vice,” “Interstellar” — not making the cut, although they got other nods.

So here, in no particular order, are a selection of films on the horizon — which may or may not arrive in time — that would seem to be contenders based on the talents involved and their subject matter:

“The Hateful Eight”: Quentin Tarantino, whose last two films received Best Picture nods, returns with a much-hyped Western about a group of strangers seeking refuge from a blizzard in a stagecoach stopover. The cast includes Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Channing Tatum.

“The Danish Girl’’: Eddie Redmayne portrays illustrator Einar Wegener, who underwent experimental sex-reassignment surgery to become Lili Elbe in the 1930s. Tom Hooper of “The King’s Speech” directs this fictionalized biopic based on David Ebershoff’s novel.

“Steve Jobs’’: Director Danny Boyle and producer Scott Rudin team up for the second biopic of the Apple founder, this one adapted from Walter Isaacson’s book and starring Michael Fassbender as Jobs and Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak.

“St. James Place’’: Steven Spielberg reunites with Tom Hanks, who plays James Donovan, the lawyer who secretly negotiates on behalf of the CIA to free downed US spy pilot Francis Gary Powers from a Soviet prison in 1962 in this Cold War thriller.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens’’: George Lucas’ first “Star Wars’’ film was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and lost to “Annie Hall,” so you can’t count out the awards prospects for Disney’s much-anticipated, Lucas-free reboot, directed by J.J. Abrams.

“Aloha”: The latest comeback attempt by writer-director Cameron Crowe got postponed from a year-end release and slimed in the Sony hacking scandal to boot. Still, this romantic drama does star two popular current Oscar nominees, Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone.

“In the Heart of the Sea”: Based on a non-fiction book about survivors of an 1820 shipwreck who resort to cannibalism to survive, this action drama was recently moved from a planned March release into awards season. Oscar winner Ron Howard directs a cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy and Ben Whishaw as Herman Melville.

“Suffragette’’: It features the trials and tribulations of the early feminist movement in early 20th-century England with a powerhouse cast — Helena Bonham Carter, Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep.

“The Revenant’’: Alejandro Gonzalez-Iñárritu of “Birdman’’ is back with a fact-inspired story of a frontiersman, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who seeks vengeance against a group of men who robbed him and left him to die after he was mauled by a bear.

“Joy’’: Director David O. Russell reunites with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper to tell the story of Joy Mangano, the real-life Long Island single mom who invented the self-wringing Miracle Mop in the 1990s.

“Icon’’: Two-time Best Director nominee Stephen Frears focuses on disgraced bicyclist Lance Armstrong, played by Ben Foster, and the Irish sports journalist, portrayed by Lee Pace, who exposed Armstrong’s use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“Tomorrowland’’: Oscar regular George Clooney reportedly plays a “grizzled inventor’’ in this intriguing Disney sci-fi project directed by Brad Bird of “The Incredibles.”

“Irrational Man”: A Woody Allen dramedy about a philosophy professor, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who has an affair with a student, portrayed by Emma Stone.