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Here is a list of upcoming historical/semi-historical films and their (US) release dates. Click on the title to go to its IMDb profile. Know any titles that I might have missed? Feel free to e-mail me . Also, please keep in mind that movies coming out more than a year from now are not guaranteed a film start date or a release date. Movies are listed as in pre-production then abandoned all the time.

Last updated June 27, 2008

Coming Soon and New on DVD

Becoming Jane
Starring Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, Maggie Smith, James Cromwell.
Georgian England. A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman, Tom Lefroy.

The Golden Age
Starring Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Abbie Cornish, Samantha Morton.
Elizabethen England. An exploration of the relationship between Elizabeth I and the adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh.

The Other Boleyn Girl
Starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Kristin Scott Thomas.
Tudor England. Two sisters, Anne and mary Boleyn, contend for the affection of King Henry VIII.

10,000 B.C.
Starring Camilla Belle, Omar Sharif, Steven Strait, Tim Barlow.
A prehistoric epic that follows a young mammoth hunter's journey through uncharted territory to secure the future of his tribe.

Coming in 2008/2009 - Television Movies

Miss Austen Regrets [February 3, 2008]
Starring Hugh Bonneville, Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots.
In the later years of her life, as she's approaching the age of forty, the novelist Jane Austen helps her niece find a husband.

Coming in 2008 - Television Shows

Crusoe (September 12)
Starring Philip Winchester, Anna Walton, Sean Bean, Sam Neill.
Based on the novel written in 1719, this is said to be an action-packed period drama set in the 17th century.

Merlin (Fall)
Starring Anthony Head, Bradley James, Katie McGrath, Angel Coulby.
The adventures of the legendary sorcerer as a young man.

Coming in 2008 - Movies

The Edge of Love [June 20 UK]
Starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys, Cillian Murphy.
World War 2 Wales. Two feisty, free-spirited women are connected by the brilliant, charismatic poet who loves them both. About the poet Dylan Thomas.

The Secret of Moonacre [August 8 UK]
Starring Ioan Gruffudd, Dakota Blue Richards, Natascha McElhone.
Set in the 1840's, the story follows Maria Merryweather, a 13 year old orphan on her journey to the mysterious Moonacre Manor in the beautiful West Country.

The Young Victoria [September 3]
Starring Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Miranda Richardson.
A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert.

The Duchess [September 19]
Starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling.
A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire, an ancestor of Princess Diana who was alternately celebrated and reviled for her extravagant political and personal lives.

The Reader [December 12]
Starring Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Alexandra Maria Lara.
In postwar Germany, a young man’s decades-long obsession with an older woman runs headlong into a war crimes trial, where he learns an awful truth.

Defiance [December 12]
Starring Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell, Liev Schreiber.
Three Jewish brothers escape from Nazi-occupied Poland into the Belarussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and others in danger.

Outlander [TBA Post-production]
Starring James Caviezel, Sophia Myles, John Hurt.
During the reign of the Vikings, Kainan, a man from a far-off world, crash lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator known as the Moorwen. Though both man and monster are seeking revenge for violence committed against them, Kainan leads the alliance to kill the Moorwen by fusing his advanced technology with the Viking's Iron Age weaponry.

Coming later than 2008 - Movies

Solomon Kane [2009 Post-production]
Starring James Purefoy, Alice Krige, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Pete Postlethwaite.
Kane is a 16th century soldier who learns that his brutal and cruel actions have damned him but is determined to redeem himself by living peaceably.

Me and Orson Welles [2009 Post-production]
Starring Christian McKay, Imogen Poots, Zac Efron.
A teenager is cast in the Mercury Theatre production of "Julius Ceasar" directed by a young Orson Welles in 1937.

Agora [December 2009 Currently filming]
Starring Rachel Weisz, Oscar Isaac, Max Minghella.
A historical drama set in early Egypt, it concerns a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master, a female philosophy professor and atheist.

Bright Star [2009 Currently filming]
Starring Abbie Cornish, Ben Wishaw, Paul Schneider.
The drama based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats' untimely death at age 25.

Cracks [2009 Post-production]
Starring Eva Green, Imogen Poots, Juno Temple.
A look at the lives and relationships among girls at an elite British boarding school in the 1930's.

Vivaldi [TBA]
Starring Joseph Fiennes, Lena Headey, Malcolm McDowell, Elle Fanning, Zuleikha Robinson.
A biography of Antonio Vivaldi's early life, when the young priest became the music teacher at a school for the illegitimate daughters of Venice's courtesans.

King Lear [TBA]
Starring Keira Knightley, Anthony Hopkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Watts.
Based on the Shakespeare play.

Nottingham [TBA]
Starring Russel Crowe, Sienna Miller.
A love triangle forms between the legendary do-gooder Robin Hood, his Maid Marion and the archer's arch nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Mary Queen of Scots [TBA]
Starring Scarlett Johansson.
A chronicle of the life and reign of Mary I of Scotland, with a concentration on her strained personal and political relationship with her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Last Battle Dreamer [TBA]
Starring Abbie Cornish, Ryan Phillippe, Sean Bean.
A love story set in 9th century England, against the backdrop of the Viking invasions.

Black Death [TBA]
Starring Rupert Friend, Sean Bean.
Set during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is tasked with learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life, a mission that pulls him toward a village ruler who has made a dark pact with evil forces.

Hannibal the Conqueror [TBA]
Starring Vin Diesel, F. Valentino Morales, Yorick van Wageningen.
The Carthaginian general who led an elephant-riding battalion across the Alps to attack Rome in the 3rd Century B.C.

War of Gods [TBA]
No cast announced.
a mythological tale set in war-torn ancient Greece, as the young warrior prince Theseus leads his men in a battle against evil that will see the gods fighting with soldiers against demons and titans.

Brontė [TBA]
Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Evan Rachel Wood, Rebecca Hall.
On the wet and wuthering moors of 19th century Yorkshire, the Brontė sisters emerge from the haven of their hidden fantasy worlds.

Love and Virtue [TBA]
Starring John Malkovich, Leonor Varela, Peter O'Toole, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Dillane.
The story follows the battles fought within King Charlemagne's empire. A magical, haunting, epic adventure based on the captivating legends of "The Song of Roland" (La Chanson de Roland) and Orlando Innamorato.

Wuthering Heights [TBA]
Starring Sienna Miller.
Based on the Emily Brontė novel.

Clash of the Titans
No cast announced.
A remake of the 1981 film version of the myth of Perseus and his quest to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the Princess Andromeda.

Pope Joan [TBA]
Starring Franka Potente, Ellie Kemish.
A 9th century woman of English extraction born in the German city of Mainz disguises herself as a man and rises through the Vatican ranks.

Memoirs of Hadrian [TBA]
No cast announced.
John Boorman recreates the life of Roman emperor Hadrian which is written in the form of a letter from the aging emperor to his young successor, recounting the story of Hadrian's early political career in the second century A.D.

Come Like Shadows [TBA]
Starring Tilda Swinton, Sean Bean.
When Macbeth and war friend Banquo see a prophecy taken from three witches, the three witches predict that Macbeth will go on from Thane of Glamis, to Thane of Cawdor and then the prestigious King; Banquo is hailed as the father of kings to come.

Napoleon and Betsy [TBA]
No cast announced.
The story of fallen French Emperor Napoleon during his last years on the island of St. Helena when he falls in love with a young English girl.

Pompeii [TBA]
No cast announced.
A dramatic thriller set against the backdrop of Mt. Vesuvius just before and during its eruption.

Therese Raquin [TBA]
No cast announced.
Therese and her lover Laurent murder Camille, Therese's husband. After marrying, the couple are visited by Camille's ghost, slowly turning their love for one another into an all-consuming hatred.

Amazon [TBA]
No cast announced.
A gladiatrix exacts vengeance on an army that destroyed her homeland.

The Serpent and the Eagle [TBA]
No cast announced.
The story of how Spanish conqueror Cortez, one of Mexican history's most controversial figures, flattened the Aztec nation and plundered its riches with the help of an Aztec princess-turned-slave.

The Seven Samurai
No cast announced.
A poor village under attack recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

(These films have very little information on them. I only stumbled on them while looking up previous historically-based films of the same title. I'll only assume some of them are remakes because of the titles. Otherwise, I don't know. Keep checking their profiles!)

Warrior
No cast announced.
About the warrior Boudica and her rise from peasant roots to become a military leader who led Britain against the Romans in 61 A.D.

The Last Duel [TBA]
No cast announced.
In 1386, the French government, in this case a young King Charles IV, sanctions a duel between knights Jean de Carrouges and Jacques LeGris.

King Tut
No cast announced.
The young pharaoh Tutankhamen vies to reclaim his kingdom after the death of his father.

The Lions of Al-Rassan [TBA]
No cast announced.
A triangle forms between two warrior princes and a female doctor in the fictional locale of Al-Rassan during the Christian re-conquest of Moorish Spain.

The Resurrection
No cast announced.
will tell the story of Jesus Christ beginning the day he died on the cross and ending about 40 days later with his ascension into heaven.

Cleopatra [2010]

Conquistador [2010]