Summer movie season hits the gas with ‘Star Trek,”Angels & Demons’ among pack leaders
And the race is on.
"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" hit screens last week, kicking off a summer movie season that shifts into overdrive today with the arrival of the newly retooled "Star Trek."
Before Labor Day rolls around, however, the cinematic speedway could resemble a demolition derby, with the latest installments of such familiar franchises as "Terminator," "Harry Potter," "Transformers" and "Night at the Museum" battling for audiences, along with vehicles starring such proven summer winners as Tom Hanks (back as "DaVinci" decoder Robert Langdon), Johnny Depp (as gangster John Dillinger) and Meryl Streep (as cooking whiz Julia Child).
Throw in funny guys Sacha Baron Cohen (transforming his comic persona from boorish "Borat" to flamboyant "Brüno") and Adam Sandler ("Funny People"), the latest Disney/Pixar animated adventure ("Up"), the inevitable what-happens-in-Vegas romp ("The Hangover") and chick-flick champs Sandra Bullock ("The Proposal") and Katherine Heigl ("The Ugly Truth") and you've got the makings of one scorching summer box-office race.
So, ladies and gentlemen, start your projectors ...
TODAY
Pole position: "Star Trek"
TV hotshot J.J. Abrams ("Lost") retools the venerable space saga, as young Capt. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and crew board the Starship Enterprise.
On the track: Donald Faison and Mike Epps in the missing-cocaine comedy "Next Day Air."
MAY 15
Pole position: "Angels & Demons"
"DaVinci Code" star Tom Hanks returns as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who races to stop a series of clerical murders.
On the track: "Tyson," a documentary look at troubled heavyweight Mike Tyson.
MAY 21
Pole position: "Terminator Salvation"
Christian Bale trades in his cape, but not his crusader status, as John Connor leads the charge against a Terminator army.
MAY 22
Pole position: "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian"
Security guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) infiltrates the Smithsonian on a rescue mission; Owen Wilson, Robin Williams co-star.
On the track: Wayans brothers Marlon, Shawn, Damon and Keenen Ivory in the spoofy "Dance Flick."
MAY 29
Pole position: "Up"
An elderly gent and a stowaway kid take to the skies -- in a house buoyed by balloons -- in Disney/Pixar's latest.
On the track: The supernatural-curse tale "Drag Me to Hell"; Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo as con-artist siblings "The Brothers Bloom."
JUNE 5
Pole position: "The Hangover"
A Caesars Palace bachelor bash spells trouble for pals (Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms) and a missing groom (Justin Bartha).
On the track: Will Ferell finds himself catapulted to the "Land of the Lost"; "My Big Fat Greek Wedding's" Nia Vardalos goes to Greece in "My Life in Ruins"; Jon Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels and Maggie Gyllenhaal in the expectant-couple comedy "Away We Go."
JUNE 12
Pole position: "The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3"
A New York transit cop (Denzel Washington) matches wits with a subway hijacker (John Travolta) in a remake of the 1974 thriller.
On the track: Eddie Murphy as an executive seeking refuge in a make-believe world in "Imagine That."
JUNE 19
Pole position: "The Proposal"
An about-to-be-deported publishing executive (Sandra Bullock) drafts her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) as her instant finance.
On the track: Jack Black and Michael Cera as wandering hunter-gatherers in "Year One"; Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood in Woody Allen's "Whatever Works"; Colin Firth, Jessica Biel and Kristin Scott Thomas in the Noel Coward comedy "Easy Virtue."
JUNE 24
Pole position: "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen"
Decepticons kidnap Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), setting the stage for another epic battle to save Planet Earth.
JUNE 26
Pole position: "My Sister's Keeper"
Cameron Diaz trades comedy for drama in this tale of a happy family transformed by heartbreaking news.
On the track: Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1920s romance "Chéri"; Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Julia Roberts and Hayden Panetierre the family tragedy "Fireflies in the Garden."
JULY 1
Pole position: "Public Enemies"
It's gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) vs. G-Man Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) in director Michael Mann's crime drama.
On the track: The animated "Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs."
JULY 10
Pole position: "Brüno"
"Borat" alter ego Sacha Baron Cohen returns to America -- as uber-flamboyant Austrian fashionista Brüno.
On the track: Nerdy valedictorian (Paul Rust) proclaims his devotion to hottie Hayden Panettiere) in "I Love You, Beth Cooper"; the "Chorus Line" documentary "Every Little Step."
JULY 15
Pole position: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
The discovery of an old book leads Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) to delve into the dark past of Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
JULY 17
Pole position: "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane"
At a deserted ranch, the title character (Amber Heard) makes life -- and death -- interesting for horny high school boys.
JULY 24
Pole position: "The Ugly Truth"
A romantically challenged TV producer (Katherine Heigl) meets her match in a boorish correspondent (Gerard Butler).
On the track: After their child dies, an unsuspecting couple (Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard) adopts an ominous "Orphan"; guinea-pig agents thwart evil in the family-friendly "G-Force."
(Disney claims "G-Force" isn't animated ... which is pretty amazing considering it's about secret-agent guinea pigs that talk, but it is Fantasyland ...)
JULY 31
Pole position: "Funny People"
An ill comedian (Adam Sandler) takes a neophyte (Seth Rogen) under his wing in this Judd Apatow comedy-drama.
On the track: An Army bomb squad braves Iraq in "The Hurt Locker"; activists go undercover to expose dolphin slaughter in the documentary "The Cove"; kids defend their vacation home from aliens in "They Came From Upstairs."
AUG. 7
Pole position: "G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra"
Elite military operatives take on a notorious arms dealer in this action workout with Dennis Quaid and Channing Tatum.
On the track: Meryl Streep as Julia Child, who inspires Amy Adams to cook in "Julie & Julia"; a wish-granting rock triggers small-town chaos in "Shorts."
AUG. 14
Pole position: "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard"
Will Ferrell and Jeremy Piven headline this comedy about a desperate auto dealer and a legendary used-car liquidator.
On the track: Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams in the romantic drama "The Time Traveler's Wife"; Liev Schreiber in Oscar-winning director Ang Lee's comedy "Taking Woodstock"; master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo"; psycho stalkers in Hawaii in "A Perfect Getaway"; extraterrestrial slum-dwellers in the sci-fi "District 9"; Vanessa Hudgens in a fledgling rock group in "Bandslam."
AUG. 21
Pole position: "Inglourious Basterds "
Brad Pitt enlists for writer-director Quentin Tarantino's World War II adventure about Jewish soldiers hunting Nazis.
AUG. 28
Pole position: "Final Destination: Death Trip"
"Final Destination" goes 3-D as a clairvoyant teen prevents a deadly race-car crash, prompting Death to stalk the survivors.
On the track: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh aboard "The Boat That Rocked," a '60s pirate radio station off the British coast; Michael Myers returns yet again in the Rob Zombie-directed "H2."
SEPT. 4
Pole position: "Shanghai"
An American expatriate returns to pre-World War II China in a period drama with John Cusack and Chow Yun-Fat.
On the track: Amnesia strikes a spaceship in "Pandorum," with Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid.
