“May 2 Marvel Entertainment’s newest comic book franchise to hit theatres this summer is Iron Man. Robert Downey, Jr. stars as rich eccentric industrialist Tony Stark and constructs a robotic suit after he is imprisoned by terrorists during the war in Afghanistan.”
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May 2

Marvel Entertainment’s newest comic book franchise to hit theatres this summer is Iron Man.

Robert Downey, Jr. stars as rich eccentric industrialist Tony Stark and constructs a robotic suit after he is imprisoned by terrorists during the war in Afghanistan.

He improves his invention and makes the militaristic flying Iron Man outfit.

Jeff Bridges also stars as Obadiah Stane, who later becomes Iron Man’s nemesis Iron Monger, and Terrence Howard as jet pilot Jim Rhodes.

This is Marvel Entertainment’s first fully self-financed film.

May 9

Since The Matrix made their hard to pronounce and harder to spell names household words, the Wachowski brothers have set their sights on the classic anime series Speed Racer, updating it for a live-action technical achievement.  Using cameras that utilize special lenses that keep objects in the foreground and background always in focus and color palettes that could cause seizures, the action-racing movie is not the boring MTV reruns many remember growing up.

It stars Emile Hirsch as Speed, Christina Ricci as his love interest Trixie, John Goodman and Susan Sarandon as Speed’s parents and Matthew Fox as Speed’s arch-rival Racer X.

May 16

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian continues the quest in Narnia on the big screen after the 2005 epic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Walden Media returns as the special effects company to showcase the diverse world the Pevensie children must defend against an evil king.

May 23

Harrison Ford returns to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’s franchise this summer with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  Nearly 20 years after Dr. Jones last battled with great evil in the world, Soviets plot to uncover the power harnessed in Mayan civilization’s mysterious crystal skulls.

Shia LaBeouf stars as Mutt Williams, Indy’s sidekick. Karen Allen, from Raiders of the Lost Ark, returns in her role as Marion Ravenwood and Ray Winstone as fellow archaeologist George Mac Michale.

June 6

Dreamworks returns with another CGI-animated family film, Kung Fu Panda.  Jack Black voices a panda who is trained under kung fu masters so he can save his village.

In limited release will be Mongol, a film making the rounds at film festivals since last year.  It follows the life of a young Genghis Khan through his triumphs over Asia and some of the largest armies ever gathered on earth.

June 13

M. Night Shyamalan continues his offbeat, suspenseful and dark movie career with The Happening, a tale that follows a family trying to survive a global catastrophe.

June 20

Steve Carrell may pull off a hit with his portrayal of Maxwell Smart in Get Smart.  Anne Hathaway and The Rock play secret agents in CONTROL, who battle the forces of KAOS in a campy, anti-James-Bond fashion.

June 27

Pixar returns this summer with another heart-warming family film, WALL-E.  A compactor robot decides to find the meaning of his existence and discovers that he may have another destiny.

July 4

Will Smith turns to a comedic role – a washed-up, apathetic superhero named Hancock.  Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman help Smith in his efforts to regain his good name in what may be Smith’s first dud since Bagger Vance.

July 11

Guillermo del Toro helms the sequel to the Dark Horse Comics franchise Hellboy II: The Golden Army.  Ron Perlman returns, though some casting changes have occurred since the movie moved from Sony to Universal.  Trailers look promising, though the move retains the comic book’s environmental feel so it may not be the blockbuster a July film should be.

July 18

With Heath Ledger’s untimely death, rumors quickly hit the internet that The Dark Knight, the sequel to Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, did not have Ledger’s principal photography completed and would need extra work.  The movie also suffered the death of a camera operator during a failed special effects shot.  All of this, with Maggie Gyllenhaal taking over Katie Holmes’ role, may make nervous filmgoers avoid this until enough reviews are in.

July 25

Chris Carter returns his favorite two FBI agents to the big screen nearly a decade after the TV series went off the air.  David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprise their roles in The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

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