An extreme vacation turns terrifying when a group of friends visit the Chernobyl disaster site, and learn that some nightmares never die. Conceived and produced by Paranormal Activity‘s Oren Peli, Chernobyl Diaries gets underway as six thrill-seeking tourists hire a fearless tour guide, and travel to the abandoned Ukrainian city of Pripyat. Back when the Chernobyl nuclear reactor was up and running, Pripyat was the place the workers called home. But 25 years after one of the worst power-plant accidents in history, the city serves as an eerily silent testament to the dangers of nuclear power. Later, after getting unexpectedly stranded in Pripyat, the tourists and their guide realize they are being hunted.
As five friends pile into an RV bound for a secluded cabin far from civilization, the operators of a mysterious, high-tech control room monitor their every move while preparing an arcane ritual that dates back to the beginning of time. Shortly after arriving at the rickety cottage, Dana (Kristen Connolly) and her friends Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchison), Marty (Fran Kranz), and Holden (Jesse Willaims) venture into the basement and discover a little girl’s diary from the early 1900s — which recounts a series of horrifying events that unfolded precisely where the vacationing teens how stand. Before long, the nightmare comes knocking at the door — murder gleaming from its putrid eyes and a rusty saw clenched in rotting hands.
8. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Steve Carell and Keira Knightley star in this apocalyptic comedy following two neighbors who set out for one last road trip after learning that a massive asteroid will wipe out all life on Earth in just three weeks. Dodge (Carell) and Penny (Knightly) are both having a very bad day. Shell-shocked after hearing that the last hope of destroying the massive asteroid on a collision course with Earth has failed, Dodge watches helplessly as his wife bounds out of their car and vanishes into the night. Later, as the now-reluctant loner ponders what to do with his remaining time on the doomed planet, sobbing waif Penny appears at his window lamenting her breakup with self-centered boyfriend Owen.
Director/co-writer Wes Anderson teams with screenwriter Roman Coppola for this period comedy-drama set in the 1960s, in which a pair of young lovers (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) from an island off the New England coast head for the hills and throw their small town into a frenzy. Bruce Willis co-stars with Bill Murray, Edward Norton, and Frances McDormand.
6. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection
A crooked investor (Eugene Levy) is forced to go into the Witness Protection Program and ends up having to live with the brazen Madea in this comedy that marks Tyler Perry‘s return to the beloved character.
5. Prometheus
A team of space explorers embarks on a fantastic voyage to the edge of the universe after making a profound discovery that hints at the true origins of the human race in this belated pseudo-prequel to director Ridley Scott‘s 1979 sci-fi classic Alien. Isle of Skye, Scotland: 2089. Archeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a cave drawing featuring a mysterious star pattern not found in our solar system. Upon comparing the image with similar other ones found at different archeological digs all over the planet, the pair realizes that they all match perfectly. They’re convinced that the image is an invitation, and set out on a high tech Weyland Industries ship called Prometheus to – just maybe – unlock the mysteries of mankind’s origins on Earth.
A single father finds his lackluster parenting skills coming back to haunt him in this Adam Sandler comedy directed by Sean Anders. As a teenage father, Donny (Sandler) struggled to raise his son Todd (Andy Samberg) until Todd was old enough to strike out on his own. Subsequently estranged from his father for years, Todd is about to marry the love of his life when Donny turns up determined to form the father-son bond they never had.
3. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
The third entry in the Madagascar franchise finds the tightknit group of animals joining a traveling circus in order to get back home. Noah Baumbach provides the script, with Eric Darnell handling director duties. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Sacha Baron Cohen reprise the voice roles, with Frances McDormand stepping in as the villain.
2. Magic Mike
Channing Tatum stars in this drama following an upstart male stripper (Alex Pettyfer) who is mentored by a veteran dancer, played by Tatum. Steven Soderbergh directed from a script by Reid Carolin, whose screenplay was inspired by Tatum‘s work as a stripper before he made it in Hollywood. Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Cody Horn, and Olivia Munn co-star.
1. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Abraham Lincoln is reinvented as a vampire-killing president in this Timur Bekmambetov-directed action picture starring Benjamin Walker, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, and Dominic Cooper. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith adapts his own book for 20th Century Fox.
