Movies

LOS ANGELES — Studio executives hope they've trained their audience well as the season of summer blockbusters arrives.

From May through mid-August, Hollywood will bank on the idea that there is at least one movie every week — and sometimes two — that you simply must see.

Summer features such box-office staples as Will Smith, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Jack Black, and brings back beloved characters such as Indiana Jones, Batman, Speed Racer, Carrie and her Sex and the City gal pals, the Narnia kids, the Incredible Hulk and two very different agent couples: paranormal troupers Mulder and Scully and comic spies Maxwell Smart and Agent 99.

2008 summer lineup

Now playing

Iron Man — Robert Downey Jr. plays a wealthy inventor who lacks superpowers but does have a nifty high-tech suit of armor that really leaves an impression when he gives villains a knuckle sandwich. For a review of Iron Man, see page 5D

Made of Honor — Patrick Dempsey covertly romances his best pal (Michelle Monaghan) after she asks him to be "maid of honor" at her wedding.

May 9

Speed Racer — Emile Hirsch stars as the kid roaring along the roadways with Christina Ricci as his helicopter-flying girlfriend and Matthew Fox as mystery man Racer X.

What Happens in Vegas — Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher are scheming strangers who wed on a whim then battle over a Vegas fortune they've won.

May 16

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian — Only a short time has passed for Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie in England, but centuries have gone by in Narnia, which now is under the bootheel of the tyrannical Telmarines and mean King Miraz.

May 22

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — This film hurtles the aging Indy from his Nazi-fighting days of the 1930s to the Cold War era of the '50s, with Cate Blanchett as a Soviet operative and Karen Allen returning as Marion Ravenwood, his love interest from 1981's Raiders of the Ark.

May 23

War, Inc. — A hit man (John Cusack) poses as a corporate flunky to pull off an assassination in a war-torn country. The dark satire co-stars Hilary Duff.

May 30

Sex and the City — When we last saw Sex and the City stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, their TV characters were settling down and seemingly leaving behind their randy ways.

The movie reunites the four with co-star Chris Noth as Big, the on-again, off-again beau of Parker's Carrie, with whom she finally wound up as the series ended four years ago.

The Strangers — A couple (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) face terror as masked intruders invade their home.

June 6

Kung Fu Panda — The animated action comedy Kung Fu Panda features Jack Black voicing the tubby Po, a panda stuck working at his family's noodle shop when he's tapped to train as a martial arts master and battle an evil snow leopard threatening the land.

The voice cast includes Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and Seth Rogen.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan — This movie stars the Adam Sandler (also a co-writer) as an Israeli commando who pretends he's been killed so he can become a New York City hairdresser.

June 13

The Incredible Hulk — The Marvel gang went back to the drawing board for The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton in a new take that the filmmakers say will channel both the comic books and the 1970s and '80s TV show starring Bill Bixby.

The Happening — M. Night Shyamalan's latest features Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel in a tale of a couple running from an apocalyptic terror.

June 20

Get Smart — Taking on the character created by Don Adams, Steve Carell plays bumbling spy Max as a desk jockey finally promoted to field work, paired with veteran operative Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) as they try to stop a doomsday scenario by the KAOS crime boss (Terence Stamp). Dwayne Johnson co-stars as the superstar agent Max idolizes.

The Love Guru — Mike Myers is a self-help weirdo trying to patch things up between a hockey star and his wife. With Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake.

June 27

Wall-E — Disney/Pixar's tale of a janitorial robot toiling away for centuries because no one remembered to turn him off after humanity trashes Earth to the point that the planet must be abandoned.

Wanted — Angelina Jolie's an operative for a secret agency who helps train a dormant prodigy (James McAvoy) to use his super abilities. With Morgan Freeman.

July 2

Hancock — Will Smith aims to dominate the Fourth of July weekend with Hancock, which co-stars Charlize Theron in the tale of a churlish superhero with real problems like the rest of us.

July 11

Journey to the Center of the Earth — Brendan Fraser finally offers scientific proof that there is an albino dinosaur at the Earth's core — and he does it in 3-D.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army — Ron Perlman and director Guillermo del Toro reunite for another adventure about the superhero from way down under.

Meet Dave — Eddie Murphy stars as the leader of a group of tiny aliens scouting Earth because their own race is endangered. They blend in with humanity by tooling about in a ship that looks just like Eddie Murphy.

July 18

The Dark Knight — Batman is back with The Dark Knight, reuniting star Christian Bale with director Christopher Nolan and pitting the soul-searching crimefighter against his greatest enemy, the Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger in his next-to-last role.

Mamma Mia! — Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and the music of ABBA highlight this musical about a woman sorting out which of three old flames is the dad to walk her daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

July 25

The X-Files: I Want to Believe — The basic story for The X-Files: I Want to Believe has been kicking around in writer-director Chris Carter's head since his paranormal TV series went off the air six years ago.

So what's the story? Carter's not telling, other than to say it's not about aliens but an earthbound tale "within the realm of extreme scientific possibility."

Step Brothers — Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are adult slackers who become family when one's mom marries the other's dad.

The Longshots — An ex-high school jock (Ice Cube) coaches his niece (Keke Palmer), the first girl to play Pop Warner football.

Aug. 1

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor — Brenden Fraser and Maria Bello, who replaces Rachel Weisz as Fraser's British wife, play a couple coming out of bored retirement to join their grown-up son on a dig in China, where they end up battling an ancient ruler (Jet Li) who springs back to life aiming to conquer the world.

Aug. 8

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 — America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel and Blake Lively are back as the gal pals who like to share a particular hand-me-down in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

Three years have passed, they've just finished their first year of college, and "we kind of come back together to realize everyone's growing in a lot of different directions," Bledel said. "It's about the four of us finding our unique selves but finding a way to keep this relationship that means so much to us."

Pineapple Express — A pothead (Seth Rogen) who witnesses a murder ends up on the run with his dealer (James Franco).

Aug. 15

Tropic Thunder — What if pampered, hapless actors went off to make a Vietnam War movie and got caught in a real battle?

That's the idea behind co-writer, director and star Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder, a comedy that features Robert Downey Jr. as a white actor portraying a black character with insanely serious devotion and Tom Cruise as a bald, raving studio boss with hilarious dance moves.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars — George Lucas presents an animated adventure featuring Jedis Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi as prelude to a TV cartoon series.

Mirrors — Kiefer Sutherland's a night watchman at a department store whose mirrors hold a horrible secret.

Aug. 15

The Accidental Husband — Uma Thurman's wedding plans are knocked for a loop when she learns a prank left her married to a man she's never met.