The summer movie season is already off and running with Iron Man, the best crime-busting metalhead flick since Robocop, but there's a whole lot more in store. Curiously, there are less superhero movies this year (barely a half-dozen), and even less of the sequels, prequels and three-quels that typically turn this time of year into a battle of the franchises. But the essence of the summer of '08 remains true to the spirit of the season: a time to turn off our brains, grab our popcorn and concentrate on nothing more serious than having a little fun.
Make that a lot of fun. This is summer, after all, and everything big gets a whole lot bigger.
May 9
Speed Racer
A hugely splashy but relatively safe choice for the big-screen return of the Wachowski Brothers, who haven't directed a movie since their groundbreaking Matrix trilogy. No one's going to expect much of this live-action adaptation of a campy, half-century-old cartoon show other than it look great, zip along at a healthy clip and provide a certain modicum of fun — all requirements the Wachowskis should have no problem fulfilling, given the brothers' technical chops, groovy design sense and pop-culture savvy. And seeing as how Christina Ricci, who plays Speed's girlfriend, already looks just like an anime character, the Wachowskis are already half way to mission accomplished.
May 16
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Set a millennium, give or take, after the last film, Prince Caspian finds the kingdom of Narnia once again under the thumb of evil despots and much in need of saving by our noble heroes. The studio hasn't been particularly eager to give critics an advance look at this one, but it's probably safe to assume we'll be seeing more Lord of the Rings-lite battles, a whole bunch of CGI creatures and, of course, more Christian parables.
May 22
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
We'll try to resist making with the just-how-old-is-Harrison-Ford jokes and simply state the facts. Nearly two decades after the last installment of this enormously popular franchise appeared, Steven Spielberg once again directs Ford as the globetrotting adventurer with a Ph.D. and a whip. Shia LaBeouf is on hand as old Indy's spunky young sidekick and Cate Blanchett shows up as a sexy Soviet agent in a tale set against the cold war of the late 1950s.
May 30
Sex and The City: The Movie
There are chick flicks and there are chick flicks, but what we have here is a CHICK FLICK — a gargantuan estrogen-fest super-sized for summer and chomping at the bit to be unleashed upon its built-in, predominantly female audience. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and all your other faves from the long-running HBO series are here to supply the requisite romantic complications, scandalous erotic dalliances and even, it's been rumored, a wedding.
June 6
Kung Fu Panda
Jack Black is the voice for a pudgy, slacker panda who dreams of being a martial arts hero in this latest Dreamworks animation. Sounds harmless enough, but wasn't this already made as Nacho Libre? Also providing voices for the characters are Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan.
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
Adam Sandler stars as a super-tough Israeli secret agent gone undercover as a New York City hair stylist. Don't expect subtlety here — the director is the guy responsible for Benchwarmers and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. And if that weren't scary enough, the movie also features Rob Schneider.
June 13
The Happening
No one's talking much about the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, so all we can tell you is that the story concerns a family on the run from some sort of catastrophic, humanity-threatening event, and that the stars are Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. Oh, and there's just the slightest possibility that some sort of twist ending might be involved.
The Incredible Hulk
Edward Norton not only stars as Dr. Bruce Banner and his anything-but-jolly green giant alter-ego, he also reportedly assumed an extremely hands-on approach that extended to personally rewriting the script. Norton's integrity and intensity can be formidable, and we're also eager to watch Liv Tyler and Tim Roth (as a mutated bad guy called The Abomination), but will the final result be enough to erase the memory of Ang Lee's 2003 mega-blunder?
June 20
Get Smart
Talk about perfect casting: Steve Carell stars as bumbling spy Maxwell Smart, and Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 sounds pretty intriguing as well. Terrence Stamp and Alan Arkin add a little class to the big-screen version of a TV spy spoof that mined Austin Powers territory back when Mike Myers was still in diapers.
The Love Guru
Speaking of Mike Myers, here's the comedian's first new character since his shagadelic secret agent — a goofy self-help guru who, in real life, has already drawn complaints of being a hurtful stereotype and demeaning to Indians. That said, don't count out the possibility of another Powers-like franchise on the horizon if the movie does well. Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake co-star.
June 27
Wall-E
The buzz is already building, with most of it positive, about Pixar's latest animated feature. The tale of a lovable misfit robot (the latest addition to Pixar's stable of lovable misfit toys, fish, bugs and cars), Wall-E is a futuristic comedy from the director of Finding Nemo.
Wanted
Timur Bekmambetov, director of the acclaimed Russian imports Night Watch and Day Watch, hits the Hollywood big time (or, if you prefer, sells his soul to the devil) with this action-fantasy extravaganza. Based on a popular graphic novel, Wanted stars James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie.
July 2
Hancock
Will Smith ponders spandex as a not-so-super superhero in serious need of repairing his public image. Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman share his pain.
July 11
Hell Boy II: The Golden Army
Guillermo Del Toro directed his delicately artful, exquisitely personal Pan's Labyrinth last year, so this year it's time to pay the bills again. That's not as bad as it sounds, since even Del Toro's big popcorn flicks can be pretty wonderful, and we expect nothing less from this sequel to the director's 2003 blow-out about a neurotic, wisecracking demon standing in the way of total apocalypse.
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Brendan Fraser's in it, but state-of-the-art special effects will almost certainly be the real stars of this big-screen version of Jules Verne's tale of a scientist discovering a fabulous lost city deep within the bowels of the earth. The movie will play at select theaters in a 3-D version, which is probably the ideal way to see this.
July 18
The Dark Knight
The shadow of Heath Ledger's death looms large over this new installment of director Christopher Nolan's already mood-heavy franchise. Christian Bale returns as the most existentially anguished Batman on the block; Ledger puts his stamp on the role of the maniacal Joker; and Aaron Eckhart shows up as the horribly conflicted Two Face. As if all that weren't promising enough, weak link Katie Holmes is gone, replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal as Batman/Bruce Wayne's love interest. Hottest ticket of the summer, hands down.
July 25
Step Brothers
That Talladega Nights dream team is back together again with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as middle-aged guys who become reluctant kin when their single parents marry each other. Talladega director Adam McKay and producer Judd Apatow are also on board.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Six years after their TV show went out with a whimper instead of a bang, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are back as Mulder and Scully, chasing after slime-oozing aliens and other things that go bump in the night. Series creator Chris Carter is the writer-director here, promising lots of inside jokes, updates and surprises for the true believers.
August 1
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
In his second potential blockbuster of the summer, Brendan Fraser mixes it up with a resurrected Chinese emperor plotting to raise an army of the dead. Jet Li plays the main bad guy, and fellow martial arts icon and former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh also lends a hand.
August 8
Pineapple Express
Probably the strangest bit of cross-fertilization of this or any summer in memory. David Gordon Green, the young auteur responsible for such rigorously poetic art films as George Washington and Snow Angels, tries his hand at a crowd-pleasing comedy/chase-movie, with Seth Rogen and James Franco as underachieving stoners on the run from bloodthirsty criminals.
August 15
Star Wars: Clone Wars
For those dying to know what happened to Anakin and Obi-Wan between Episodes Two and Three, here is an animated account of our heroes' adventures shortly after Attack of the Clones. No word on whether Jar-Jar Binks makes an appearance in this one, but proceed at your own risk.
Tropic Thunder
Now this could be fun. Ben Stiller directs himself and a juicy cast of like minds including Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Nick Nolte and Robert Downey Jr. as a bunch of pampered actors trying to survive while stranded in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Considering Downey's wonderfully sly, self-knowing turn in Iron Man at the beginning of the season, this might just provide the perfect bookend for the summer of '08.
Nov 21
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
OK, it's not coming out until next Thanksgiving, but why quibble over details? It's the new Harry Potter movie, dammit! Let's call this one an Honorary Summer Movie and end our little seasonal preview right here, with something to keep that breath bated for the next few months.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2008.