A preview of hot summer movies

The summer movie season — which seems to start earlier every year — brings an onslaught of film to the theaters. Here's an overview of some of the features that will grace local screens through Labor Day; note that all dates are tentative and can change as quickly as an April snowfall can melt.

And we're back!

One sequel does not make a summer; it takes a slew of them. Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (May 22) is the big one, featuring Harrison Ford as the intrepid sexagenarian adventurer, Cate Blanchett as a dominatrix-y adversary and Shia LaBeouf as the obligatory young person. Christian Bale re-dons the bat suit for Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" (July 18), the latest Batman sequel, which will sadly feature the final screen performance of the late Heath Ledger (as the diabolical Joker).

Ron Perlman stars in Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy II" (July 11), and Brendan Fraser returns to the realm of the dead for "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (Aug. 1). (Rachel Weisz, now that she's an Oscar winner, appears to have given this franchise the boot.) And for all those teenage girls who like movies about shared trousers, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," starring America "Ugly Betty" Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel and Blake Lively, arrives Aug. 8

Funny you should ask ...

The sunny season is generally crawling with comedies of every hue. Those looking for a date movie might watch for "Made of Honor" (May 2), with Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey as a male maid of honor trying to break up the wedding of the woman he loves ("My Best Friend's Wedding," anyone?); "The Accidental Husband" (Aug. 22), in which Uma Thurman finds herself involuntarily wed to a cad; "What Happens in Vegas" (May 9), in which Cameron Diaz finds herself involuntarily wed to Ashton Kutcher; "Then She Found Me" (May 2), Helen Hunt's adaptation of Eleanor Lipman's novel (in which Hunt stars with Colin Firth); and Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (Aug. 29), featuring the very attractive love triangle of Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson.

The usual summer-comedy suspects turn up: Adam Sandler plays an Israeli commando whose dream is to be a New York hairstylist in "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" (June 6); Eddie Murphy plays an alien spaceship (no, I don't make this stuff up) in "Meet Dave" (July 11); Mike Myers turns to self-help as "The Love Guru" (June 20); and Will Smith does that Will Smith thing in the superhero comedy "Hancock" (July 2). Ben Stiller stars in (and directs) a comedic tale of a group of actors filming a war movie, "Tropic Thunder" (Aug. 15), with Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and a supposedly hilarious Tom Cruise cameo.

And a couple of former Seattleites will headline comedies this summer. Anna Faris turns up as an aging (almost 30!) Playboy bunny turned sorority housemother in "The House Bunny" (Aug. 22). Rainn Wilson plays a veteran of an '80s hair band who, two decades later, joins his nephew's band in "The Rocker" (Aug. 1), directed by Peter Cattaneo ("The Full Monty").

School's out

Well, not yet. But kids anticipating vacation can look forward to plenty of summer movies aimed squarely at families. The new "Chronicles of Narnia" sequel, "Prince Caspian" (May 16), features British newcomer Ben Barnes in the title role and recent Oscar winner Tilda Swinton returning as his nemesis the White Witch. The wizards at Pixar, whose movies are always a treat, return with "WALL*E" (June 27), a tale of the last robot on Earth.

Abigail Breslin channels her inner doll in "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" (July 2), based on the American Girl doll line and set during the Depression. An animated panda, voiced by Jack Black, finds his inner Zen in "Kung Fu Panda" (June 6), while "Space Chimps" (July 18) is about, well, chimps in space. And two 3-D movies take kids on opposite journeys: "Fly Me to the Moon 3-D" (Aug. 8) and "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D" (July 11).

Song and dance

Here's a sentence I never expected to type: Meryl Streep sings ABBA songs in "Mamma Mia" (July 18). The movie, which co-stars Amanda Seyfried ("Big Love"), is based on the popular stage musical, and if you can get that title song out of your head, you're doing better than me. A French cast channels "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" in Christophe Honoré's musical "Love Songs" (May 2). And a high school stages a musical sequel to Shakespeare's greatest tragedy in "Hamlet 2" (Aug. 22).

Guns, cars and superheroes

Robert Downey Jr. kicks off the season's action movies by donning a scary suit in "Iron Man" (May 1), based on the Marvel comic and co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow. (No, she's not a superhero.) Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk" (June 13), which has nothing whatsoever to do with Ang Lee's previous whack at the subject matter, the 2003 flop "Hulk." Angelina Jolie, who really should play a superhero someday, trains James McAvoy to be a justice enforcer in the graphic-novel-based actioner "Wanted" (June 27).

Nicolas Cage plays a hit man in "Bangkok Dangerous" (Aug. 22), Dennis Hopper hops on a motorcycle (again) for Larry Bishop's retro biker movie "Hell Ride" (Aug. 8) and Vin Diesel plays a traveling mercenary in "Babylon A.D." (Aug. 29). The French spy spoof "OSS117: Nest of Spies," the top prizewinner at SIFF two years ago, finally gets a regular run beginning May 9. And hang on, "Star Wars" fans: "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," an animated adventure written and produced by George Lucas, arrives Aug. 15.

But seriously ...

Need a little drama in your summer? Here's a potential treat for costume lovers: Julian Jarrold, who directed last summer's "Becoming Jane," returns with "Brideshead Revisited" (July 25), an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel starring the great Emma Thompson (whose movie appearances are rare these days). Also in the period-piece category is "Before the Rains" (May 30), Indian director Santosh Sivan's 1930s-era drama set on a spice plantation, and Daniele Luchetti's "My Brother Is an Only Child" (May 9), unfolding in 1960s Italy.

Among the season's contemporary thrillers are "The International" (Aug. 15), in which Clive Owen and Naomi Watts very photogenically (I'm just guessing here) bring justice to a corrupt international bank, and "Traitor" (Aug. 29), with Guy Pearce as an FBI agent investigating a former U.S. Special Operations officer (Don Cheadle). "Roman de Gare" (May 16), directed by French veteran Claude Lelouch, is the tale of a popular author (Fanny Ardant) who may have connections to a serial killer.

David Mamet's drama "Redbelt" (May 9) features Chiwetel Ejiofor as a martial-arts instructor, along with a slew of Mamet regulars. Alan Ball's controversial "Towelhead" (Aug. 22), about a young Arab-American teen's struggle with sexual obsession, is based on Alicia Erian's novel. And Colin Firth, who wins this summer's frequent-flier award (he's also in "Then She Found Me," "Mamma Mia" and "The Accidental Husband"), stars in the British drama "And When Did You Last See Your Father" (June 27), in which a dying father (Jim Broadbent) and his son look back on their relationship.

Scared yet?

M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense," "The Village") returns with yet another tale of the supernatural, "The Happening" (June 13), in which Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo and Betty Buckley (Betty Buckley! Where's she been?) must flee some sort of apocalyptic event. And in "The Strangers" (May 30), Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler play a couple terrorized in their vacation home. Nothing like a little summer fun, no?

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com