Future Continuous

The future continuous tense indicates an action or an event that will be in progress at sometime in the future.

The action or event will start before a given moment in time (specific or approximate) but will not have finished at that moment.

It is formed by joining the future simple of to be plus the main verb in the present participle (-ing).

Both the specific or approximate time of the future event or activity can be stated, but it is not necessary.

Be Going To

The construction be going to can also be used instead of will to create the future continuous.

This construction is more colloquial and a bit cumbersome but the meaning is pretty much the same. See for yourself.

Usage

When you have two actions or events taking place in the future and you want to show that the shorter action interrupts or crosses the longer one you can use the future continuous.

N.B. The interruptions (marked in italics) are in the present simple rather than the future simple because they are in time clauses, and you cannot use future tenses in time clauses.

Longer actions can also be interrupted by specific times. Note that with the future simple, a specific time is used to show the time an action will begin or end. With future continuous a specific time interrupts or crosses the action. See the difference here.

(when the clock strikes midnight I’ll start opening the presents)

(when the clock strikes midnight I’ll be in the process of opening the presents)