(2 of 3)
Woody Allen's latest stop on his Euro-tour--from Britain (Match Point) to Spain (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) to France (Midnight in Paris)--lands him in the Eternal City for a tribute to the Italian movies he loved in his youth. The cast includes Roberto Benigni, Penlope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig--and Allen himself in his first screen role in six years. (6/22)
Beasts of the Southern Wild
"The whole universe depends on everything fitting together just right," says 6-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhan Wallis). "If one piece busts, even the smallest piece, the entire universe will get busted." Benh Zeitlin's debut feature, set among poor blacks in rural Louisiana, brought the rapture on Sundance viewers, stoking comparisons with the films of Terrence Malick and earning raves for its elfin star. Fingers crossed, the movie busts out. (6/27)
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Dwayne Johnson and Channing Tatum bench-press villains together. (6/29)
The Amazing Spider-Man
He seemed pretty swell the last few times we saw him not so long ago, but Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is getting another makeover. He's younger, still in high school, has a different love interest (Emma Stone) and a whole new batch of enemies, including Rhys Ifans as the Lizard. Next up: Spidey in middle school. (7/3)
Savages
Oliver Stone's action thriller, based on Don Winslow's 2010 novel, is front-loaded for box-office success with sex, drugs, guns and the prettiest cast of the summer: Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, Taylor Kitsch and Salma Hayek. (7/6)
Ted
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane tries the big screen with this tale of a grown man (Mark Wahlberg) and his best friend, an adorable, sailor-tongued teddy bear. The plot may seem dubious, but the trailer instantly went viral. (7/13)
The Dark Knight Rises
Bale meets Bane. In the third episode of Christopher Nolan's Batman reboot, the Dark Knight (Christian Bale) confronts DC Comics' primo villain. Art-house tough guy Tom Hardy plays Bane; Anne Hathaway is Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman. The real battle is at the box office, where The Dark Knight Rises will try to beat The Avengers' $207 million opening-weekend gross. (7/20)
Ruby Sparks
In Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' first movie since Little Miss Sunshine, a disheveled novelist (Paul Dano) comes up with a protagonist, Ruby, who is quirky, fun and suddenly living in his house. Zoe Kazan, who plays Ruby, also wrote the screenplay. (7/25)
The Bourne Legacy
Jeremy Renner isn't exactly replacing Matt Damon's Bourne in this reboot: he's just playing another poor, screwed-up victim of a government program to engineer really hot lethal agents. Intense secrecy surrounds the plot, but we do know that Rachel Weisz co-stars. (8/3)
Total Recall
Showing up in a remake of an Arnold Schwarzenegger science-fiction film is not what we'd expect these days from Colin Farrell, who has spent recent years doing top-notch supporting work in smaller movies (In Bruges, Crazy Heart). Directed by Len Wiseman and co-starring Kate Beckinsale in her element: tight clothes, tough talk and advanced weaponry. (8/3)