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New trailers: Wonder Woman, T2: Trainspotting, and a non-superhero Chris Evans in Gifted

Warner Brothers
Tanya Pai
Tanya Pai headed the standards team at Vox, focusing on copy editing, fact-checking, inclusive language and sourcing, and newsroom standards and ethics issues. She’s also a founder of Language, Please, a free resource for journalists and storytellers focused on thoughtful language use.

It’s the last weekend before Election Day. By this time next week, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be the US president-elect. Assuming the apocalypse (in whatever form) doesn’t actually arrive, we can then go back to talking about what’s really important: what movies and TV shows we’re going to watch next. Here are a few to look forward to, all of which released new trailers this week.

Office Christmas Party (December 9)

There’s nothing like a classic “one crazy night” caper to offset all the holiday cheese, and Office Christmas Party looks like a solid contender for the role. The cast is stacked with comedy ringers, from Jennifer Aniston’s mean, power-suited boss to the employees of the titular office (including Jason Bateman, Kate McKinnon, T.J. Miller, and Jillian Bell), who decide to throw a giant, debaucherous party in their place of employment to impress a key client (The People v. O.J. Simpson’s Courtney B. Vance) and save their jobs. Plus, there’s a water cooler full of tequila, which I am assuming is something the Vox holiday party will not have.

La La Land (December 9)

The official trailer for Damien Chazelle’s massively buzzy musical (which Vox’s Todd VanDerWerff found “magical”) offers a look at La La Land’s gorgeous, candy-colored Los Angeles and a sense of the movie’s tone, suffused with both wistful longing and irrepressible joy. Plus, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling kissing!

Nerdland (VOD, January 2017)

This Adult Swim–ish animated dark comedy premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year and comes to Video On Demand in January. Written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven), it follows two about-to-hit-30 slackers (voiced by Patton Oswalt and Paul Rudd) whose flailing careers prompt them to resort to desperate measures to attain the kind of fame (or infamy) they’ve always dreamed of.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix, January 13)

How will you tell this eight-episode Netflix adaptation of author Daniel Handlen’s Lemony Snicket book series apart from the 2004 feature film? Easy: The newest version swaps out Jim Carrey for Neil Patrick Harris as the greedy, unibrowed Count Olaf, who takes in the three Baudelaire orphans only to attempt to steal their inheritance. Seems like a decent upgrade to us.

T2: Trainspotting (January 27, 2017)

Director Danny Boyle builds a franchise out of his 1996 Trainspotting with this sequel to the beloved film about a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh. Again based on a novel by Irvine Welsh, T2 is set 20 years after the events of the original, and sees much of the Trainspotting cast (Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner, Kelly Macdonald, Robert Carlyle) returning, older but — judging from the copious amounts of drugs on display in the trailer — not much wiser.

The Lego Batman Movie (February 10, 2017)

In which someone at Warner Bros. thought, “Hmm, how can we make sure the Lego Movie sequel is also a giant hit? I know — add superheroes!” Not only does the trailer serve up plenty of Will Arnett’s appropriately gravelly voiced Batman, it also features Arnett’s TV nephew Michael Cera as Robin, Zach Galifianakis as an emotional Joker, Mariah Carey(!) as mayor of Lego Gotham, and more.

Gifted (April 12, 2017)

Chris “Captain America” Evans and his beard star in this film about a single guy trying to raise his deceased sister’s young daughter (McKenna Grace). The young girl happens to be a Matilda-like genius (minus the whole telekinesis thing), and conflict ensues when his mother (Lindsay Duncan) tries to snatch away custody. The trailer promises legal and family drama, as well as (possibly) a look at the genesis of internet-favorite couple Evans and co-star Jenny Slate.

Wonder Woman (June 9, 2017)

For those of you who thought Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman was the best part of Batman v Superman (a.k.a. those of you with a pulse), the official trailer for the character’s solo flick offers plenty of thrills: Diana Prince looking badass on horseback. Diana Prince looking badass in a hat. Diana Prince looking badass while wielding the Lasso of Truth. Oh, just watch it already.

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