The hottest upcoming movies for the second half of 2018

DC comics adaptation Aquaman stars Jason Momoa and Amber Heard as underwater royalty, with Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren and Nicole Kidman also splashing by in December.

Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise light the fuse on a sixth Mission: Impossible movie at the end of July. This time Henry Cavill is along for the ride. 

Tom Hardy is vicious and villainous Venom in this Spider-Man spin-off in October.

Wreck-It Ralph hits the wide world of the World Wide Web in November.

Shane Black, writer of the first Predator, takes charge of a new hunt with Olivia Munn and Keegan Michael Key in September.

Eddie Redmayne tackles Johnny Depp's sinister sorcerer in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. JK Rowling's Harry Potter prequel opens in November.

A Quiet Place star Emily Blunt is in full voice as the famous nanny delivering a spoonful of sugar. Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Colin Firth and Meryl Streep also star in this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sequel in December. 

Jason Statham shows off his fin-ishing moves tackling a giant shark in The Meg.

Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron join forces for a CG-driven live action adaptation of the classic manga Alita: Battle Angel. Christoph Waltz stars in the movie, opening in December.

In December, The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller pair up Peter Parker with Miles Morales as the new Spider-Man, in this animated action story based on the Marvel webslingers.

Travis Knight, director of Kubo and the Two Strings, directs Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena in this '80s-set "Transformers" spin-off about yellow VW beetle "Bumblebee." The movie will buzz in for Christmas.

Peter Jackson is behind this wildly imaginative fantasy in which cities trundle about on wheels while their inhabitants do battle. Mortal Engines revs up in December.

Ryan Gosling reunites with Oscar-winning director Damian Chazelle to recount the true story of NASA and Neil Armstrong's journey to the moon in First Man. The movie blasts off in October.

Wildly inventive and searingly satirical, Sorry to Bother You stars Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson. It took the 2018 Sundance Film Festival by storm.

King of performance capture Andy Serkis directs an all-star cast of CGI animals voiced by Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch and Cate Blanchett. Based on Rudyard Kipling's classic The Jungle Book, it opens in October. Mowgli, by the way, has nothing to do with any of Disney's versions of "The Jungle Book."

In November, the X-Men return in a do-over of the Dark Phoenix Saga comic storyline. 

Claire Foy of The Crown swaps tiaras for dragon tattoos as hacker antiheroine Lisbeth Sander from the series of novels and films.

Denzel Washington's first-ever sequel sees him taking on the job of a Lyft driver in violent action follow-up The Equalizer 2. It's not just about him giving people rides, obviously.

Mr Robot star Rami Malek plays Freddie Mercury in this biopic of the Queen frontman.

Chilling documentary The Cleaners premiered at the Sundance film festival and has become even more relevant with its questions about how hatred and fear spread across Facebook, Google and other web giants.

California's infamous Winchester Mystery House is the setting of this ghostly horror starring Helen Mirren as the tragic real-life firearms heiress.

Luca Guadagnino directs Dakota Johnson in Suspiria, a chilling remake of Dario Argento's terrifying 1977 horror film. 

Director Eli Roth takes his usual gory horror down a notch for this classic kids story. Jack Black and Cate Blanchett are counting down the days until the film opens in September.

Gwendoline Christie hunts super-powered children in The Darkest Minds, set to light up screens in September.

Taron Egerton goes from Kingsman to merry men in this vigorous reimagining of the legendary English hero, joined by Jamie Foxx and Ben Mendelsohn. Robin Hood takes a bow in September.

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are Sherlock Holmes and his elementary pal Watson in November, with Rob Brydon, Kelly Macdonald, Rebecca Hall, Ralph Fiennes and Hugh Laurie providing the clues.

More live action updates of old tales are coming from Disney, as Keira Knightley, Miranda Hart, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren stage a new version of classic ballet The Nutcracker in October.

Creeping from the murkiest corners of the Internet, the horrifying Slender Man stalks theatres in August.

Domhnall Gleeson from the Star Wars movies is a haunted doctor with Charlotte Rampling as a patient in August's supernatural shocker The Little Stranger.

Jeremy Renner, James Franco, Alec Baldwin, Heidi Klum, Anjelica Huston and John Cleese are on thin ice in Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad, a cool animation about husky couriers. 

This spin-off from the Teen Titans cartoon brings Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and DC's mini superheroes to the big screen this summer.

Robert Pattinson, Mia Goth and Andre 3000 play criminals sent on a mind-bending mission to outer space in French director Claire Denis' English-language debut.

This August, Emily Watson, Jason Isaacs, Nick Frost and Catherine Tate are a clan of classic horrors in kids animation Monster Family.

It's not the end of the world for Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning in post-apocalyptic Sundance drama I Think We're Alone Now.

Benedict Cumberbatch voices the miserly Grinch in a new animated adaptation of the Dr Seuss classic. It opens the month before Christmas. 

Netflix recruits Gugu Mbatha-Raw from the acclaimed Black Mirror (pictured right) to appear in Irreplaceable You alongside Kate McKinnon, Christopher Walken and Steve Coogan.

The Other Side of the Wind was an unfinished 1970s film by Orson Welles that's now been exhumed for Netflix.

Chris Pine plays legendary Scottish king Robert the Bruce on Netflix. Unfortunately, Wonder Woman won't be joining him.