2012 Summer Movie Preview

Every year about this time, it's the calm before the theatrical storm. Things are winding up in Hollywood, as the studios prepare for their marketing onslaught. Should we, the movie-viewing public, be getting excited? What can we expect this summer? What spectacles are headed our way?

You can take stock of all the blockbusters they have pinned their hopes and bank accounts on below. So many movies and A-list actors…you might spend half your summertime in the dark! What are you looking forward to? 

• "Marvel's The Avengers:" (Releasing May 4) Director: Joss Whedon Starring Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, and Don Cheatle

Written and directed by cult sensation Joss Whedon, "The Avengers" is already being hailed as an awesome slice of superhero sandwich bread. It has a little of what most movie-lovers want: action, suspense, good actors, a hot starlet, all directed by the god of the Whedonverse, which will bring his fans in droves, whether they like Marvel or not, to the theatre. The joyful geekbuzz about this movie is reaching a deafening level.  Whether that populist love means the critical powers-that-be will kick it with their big metal boots remains to be seen.  

• "Dark Shadows:" (Releasing May 10) Director—Tim Burton; Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Cloe Moretz, Eva Green, Jonny Lee Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer

Based on the hallowed 1966-1971 gothic soap opera, Burton opted for a broad comedic interpretation that leans more toward splatstick than the slow European vibe of the original. The screenplay is written by Seth Graham Smith ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter") and has Burton muse Johnny Depp in the starring role of Barnabas Collins. Will he be received well and with open arms, as he was as Jack Sparrow, or rejected as he was as Willy Wonka? Will his portrayal be seen as an abomination of Jonathan Frid's work? At the very least we can all expect something original.

• "Men In Black III:" (Releasing May 25) Director: Barry Sonnenfeld; Starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin

J (Will Smith) travels back in time to the 1960s, to stop an alien from killing K (Tommy Lee Jones) and changing history. Josh Brolin does a great Tommy Lee as the younger K, and seeing him do that deadpan is almost enough to drive us into the theatre. Lack of promotion is a bit surprising, since the release is around the corner, but maybe the studio thinks it will sell itself. Ohhhh, K!

• "Snow White and the Huntsman:" (Releasing June 1) Director: Rupert Sanders; Starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Ian McShane, Eddie Izzard, Bob Hoskins, Sam Claflin

Snow White, aided by the huntsman who has been sent to kill her, starts a rebellion and takes on the evil queen. This darker version of the two released this year is likely to ride the considerable coattails of TV's "Grimm" and "Once Upon a Time," both of which lean to the darker side of the fairy tale continuum.  

• "Prometheus:" (Releasing June 8) Director: Ridley Scott; Starring Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Noomi Rapace

The plot has been a closely guarded secret akin to Burger King's secret sauce.  It is also so hotly anticipated, bloggers routinely mention their 30-year wait. In the same universe as "Alien," or as Scott says, "sharing strands of 'Alien's' DNA, so to speak," it predates the "Alien" movies, and has no direct connection to their storylines, but will involve a scientific expedition (like "Alien") that runs into trouble when they discover an advanced extraterrestrial race which threatens humanity's existence…and Michael Fassbender.  

• "Rock of Ages:" (Releasing June 15) Director: Adam Shankman; Starring Tom Cruise, Paul Giamatti, Alec Baldwin, Julianne Hough, Mary J Blige

Based on the successful stage play, "Rock of Ages" revolves around stars, from  rising to faded and jaded, dealing with fame in the hairband-infested 1980s.  Hits from that era are sprinkled or, rather, shouted throughout. The budget for hairspray and extensions alone had to be significant. Calling all Gleeks and Smash fans...

• "Brave:" (Releasing June 22) Director: Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews; starring Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane

Brave is Pixar's much-anticipated 3D computer-animated fantasy adventure. It features a plucky redheaded archer named Merida who goes against tradition and custom and inadvertently gets cursed, leading her to the challenge of undoing it before it's too late. If this redhead does as well as Disney's last one, she's going to raise the film to the top of the box office and keep it there.  Sounds like something for children and adults alike to celebrate.

• "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter:" (Releasing June 22) Director Timur Bekmambetov; starring Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell and Alan Tudyk

The title says it all…as someone who read this novel when it was first released, I have defended and explained its concept repeatedly.  While the previews are absurd, I am hopeful the inventiveness of this alt-reality will come across and the film will be successful. With Wanted's Bekmambetov at the helm it can go either way.  It does feature some up-and-coming talent but has "Prometheus," "Brave," and the lesser-known but promising "Seeking A Friend for the End of The World" to fight with at the box office on opening weekend.  

• "The Amazing Spiderman" (Releasing July 3) Director: Marc Webb; starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Sally Field, Dennis Leary, Martin Sheen, Campbell Scott

Andrew Garfield, who heads the new class of Hollywood A-listers, will play the teenaged Spidey to Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy, his first girlfriend. Many more up-to-date special effects and a strong cast may cease the eye rolls inherent to yet another Spiderman release.  

• "Savages:" (Releasing July 6) Director: Oliver Stone; starring Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Blake Lively, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Demian Bichir

Two pretty twenty-somethings, with their even prettier shared slacker girlfriend, contend with the Baha Cartel wanting to take over retailing their thriving gateway drug empire. Kidnapping and ultra-violence ensue. Oliver Stone is bringing the bestseller and literary cult favorite by Don Winslow to the screen, which suggests bad things will go to worse, as per his usual fare.  Could be a sleeper hit, which would be great for Taylor Kitsch, who will still be smarting from "John Carter" and "Battleship."

• "The Dark Knight Rises" (Rising July 20) Director: Christopher Nolan; starring Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson

This movie's tagline reads "The legend ends." Nolan, known on the Batman set as "the governor," said he wants to finish his interpretation of this classic comic book character's story "in the biggest way possible," and he wants it to be a "spectacle." It will be one of the biggest movies of the year at the box office, and early buzz suggests it will be worthy. Lots of explosions and darkness. 

• "The Bourne Legacy": (Releasing August 3) Director: Tony Gilroy; starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Albert Finney, David Strathairn, Stacey Keach

The screenwriter who adapted the first three films directs the fourth in the "Bourne" film series, with Renner as a different character dealing with the ramifications of the Treadstone conspiracy. Oscar-nominated Renner was in the last and well-reviewed "Mission Impossible," and plays Hawkeye in "The Avengers."  Unless this is awful, it will cement his A-list status.

• "Total Recall": (Releasing August 3) Director: Len Wiseman; starring Colin Farrell, Bryan Cranston, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bill Nighy

Wiseman, of the "Underworld" movies, and "Live Free or Die Hard," remakes the 1990 Schwarzenegger sci-fi action flick, which was based on the short story by Philip K Dick "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." So far it has gotten good buzz, but with anything less than stellar reviews, it could fall through the blockbuster cracks.

• "ParaNorman" (Releasing August 17) Director: Chris Butler and Sam Fell; starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, John Goodman, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann

In this stop-motion animated feature, Norman, a freaky yet delightful little kid who communicates with the dead, takes on a host of evil creatures including zombies, ghosts, and grown-ups, to save his town from a curse. Norman goes about it with a little help from his friends, both dead and alive, one of whom tells him: "There's nothing wrong with being scared, as long as you don't let it change who you are." Words to end a curse by...

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Sure, there are always "little" movies, but they are usually smart enough to steer clear of summer for release, and fall and winter is when the Academy sees most of what they'll consider for Oscar nomination. The summer belongs to the big studios, with the film equivalent of a beach read. Step into the dark cold of the theater, enjoy the spectacle, have a barbecue, repeat.