Studios boldly go for more Oscar fare

"Star Trek" hits Friday with a younger James T. Kirk and a redesigned USS Enterprise.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" slashed its way into No. 1 at the box office after last week's world premiere in Tempe.

Christian Bale takes on the role of human resistance leader John Connor in an intense "Terminator" prequel out May 21 that promises to make us forget Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But the summer of 2009 is also loaded with Oscar contenders, literary adaptations and documentaries.

This year's lineup could be a bellwether. If audiences spend hard-earned dollars for the more serious fare, it could change the mix of movies we see in summers to come.

Getting serious: This summer swims with potential Oscar contenders. Start with "Up" and "Ponyo," which you can already pretty much pencil in for best-animated-film nods.

The well-reviewed "Tyson" could figure into the best-documentary race. Early buzz says Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo could vie for acting Oscars in "The Brothers Bloom," and Iraq war-themed "The Hurt Locker" has already racked up awards at film festivals.

Sacha Baron Cohen could add another screenwriting Oscar nomination to his résumé with "Brüno," and you can never count out Quentin Tarantino in the awards chase. He unleashes "Inglourious Basterds," which could figure into the screenplay and acting categories.

Not so many sequels: Summer is often a spawning ground for retreads and movies with numerals attached to them, but there are surprisingly few in the offing. "Angels & Demons" is a follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code." "Land of the Lost" is a TV series remake. The "Transformers," "Ice Age," "Halloween" and "Terminator" updates are pure sequels, but the sequel-a-week thing is definitely out of fashion this year.

Lit is big: Books are always heavy sources for movie adaptations, but not necessarily during the summer months. This year is different. "Angels & Demons," "Julie and Julia," "My Sister's Keeper," "Public Enemies," "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" are some of the movies based on best-sellers.

Here's a preview of the most promising releases between now and Labor Day. Keep in mind that titles and release dates are subject to change.

Thrill me

Thrillers and horror films

Angels & Demons (May 15) — Sans dorky hair, Tom Hanks plays symbol-loving professor Robert Langdon in another Dan Brown adaptation. This time, the prof investigates a conspiracy that threatens the pope.

Drag Me to Hell (May 29) — After spending the past seven years cranking out "Spider-Man" movies, director Sam Raimi gets back to his horror roots with a timely freakshow about a loan officer (Alison Lohman) who is cursed with a living hell because she evicts an old woman. As if bankers weren't already facing enough trouble.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (June 12) — A remake of the 1974 heist classic in which bad guys hijack the New York subway system. Denzel Washington plays a cop, John Travolta the bad guy. This is the sort of movie that could never be set in Tucson because "The Taking of Sun Tran" just doesn't have a ring to it.

Public Enemies (July 1) — Johnny Depp takes on the role of notorious bank robber John Dillinger in this possible early Oscar contender, directed by Michael Mann, adapting the Bryan Burrough book. Hotel Congress plans a Dillinger re-enactment, drink specials, a band and a hotel tour the day the movie opens.

Final Destination: Death Trip 3D (Aug. 28) — It's only natural that the grotesque, Rube Goldberg-style death sequences of "Final Destination" be rendered in 3-D, because subtlety has nothing to do with the series. It's based on death catching up with people who narrowly eluded it once, offing nubile characters in dementedly creative ways. On this go-round, a teen saves his friends from a car that crashes into the stands at a race, only to watch them fall victim to a Grim Reaper with an ironic sense of humor.

H2: Halloween 2 (Aug. 28) — Director Rob Zombie takes another stab at his slasher-franchise resurrection. Oddly, Weird Al Yankovic is in the cast, apparently playing himself on a talk show as a guest alongside psychiatrist Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell), who promotes his book on masked killer Michael Myers (Tyler Mane).

Sporty spice

Athletic flicks.

Sugar (May 15) — A drama about a Dominican baseball player who comes to the U.S. to play professionally and winds up getting isolated on a minor-league team in Iowa.

Tyson (June 26) — James Toback's Mike Tyson documentary takes the simple approach, just letting the troubled pugilist address the camera and talk his way through his roller-coaster life. The doc drew a rave from Sports Illustrated.

Popcorn munchers

Big-budget action films.

Terminator Salvation (May 21) — Just like "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," the franchise gets its hard drive erased and new programming, with a new director (McG) and stars (Christian Bale and Bryce Dallas Howard). And for the first time, no Ah-nuld. Word has it the new film is darker than earlier movies in the series.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June 24) — An effects-heavy action sequel shot partly at the Tucson International Airport and 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, known as the Boneyard, starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and a bunch of computer-animated robots.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Aug. 7) — Playing off the nostalgia factor, the gung-ho elite strike force battles the evil Cobra army. Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Rachel Nichols and Marlon Wayans enlist.

Inglourious Basterds (Aug. 21) — Quentin Tarantino unveils his wild, epic World War II-set epic about Jewish American soldiers who scalp and murder Nazis. It stars Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Mike Myers and Cloris Leachman.

Family matters

Movies aimed at kids and the parents who tag along.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (May 22) — Ben Stiller returns for more dopey, special-effects-heavy slapstick in this film about museum displays that come alive. Stiller's character chases down his little buddies Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Octavius (Steve Coogan), who have been shipped to the Smithsonian by mistake.

Up (May 29) — A retired balloon salesman (voiced by Edward Asner) and a young stowaway travel through the air in a house carried by helium balloons in this exciting and heartwarming Pixar film. It's much better than "WALL-E" and "Ratatouille," and my favorite since "Finding Nemo."

Imagine That (June 12) — Wonder of wonders, Eddie Murphy abandons his tired multi-character act and just plays one guy, a work-obsessed financial exec whose child invents a fantasy world.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (July 1) — Led by a woolly mammoth voiced by Ray Romano, prehistoric creatures pull off their animated slapstick antics in this threequel, in which the crew discovers a hidden tropical paradise in which dinosaurs survived extinction.

G-Force (July 24) — Guinea pigs have a super power — adorability. Which is why it will be all kinds of cute to see them leap into action to save the world from the clutches of an evil billionaire. Nicolas Cage voices Speckles, which is odd because I always figured his guinea pig name would be Fluffles.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 15) — Believe it or not, this is only the sixth "Harry Potter" flick and not the 60th. Guess what happens? Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and pals Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) tangle with the evil Lord Voldemort.

Aliens in the Attic (July 31) — Supposedly done with "High School Musical," Ashley Tisdale takes the next natural step — defending her vacation home from aliens. My money is on Tisdale, who can take any alien in a dance-off.

Ponyo (Aug. 14) — One-man Japanese masterpiece factory Hayao Miyazaki ("Spirited Away," "Howl's Moving Castle"), is still going strong at 68. This film tells a story of a 5-year-old boy who befriends a goldfish princess who wants to become human. Shades of "The Little Mermaid."

Knee-slappers

These are comedies, or at least intended as such.

Dance Flick (May 22) — Now that the Wayans brothers have parodied every horror film and blockbuster to within an inch of its pop-culture life, they turn their satiric eye to dance movies like "Step Up," which are basically already parodies .

The Hangover (June 5) — "Old School" and "Road Trip" director Todd Phillips spins another tale of debauchery, this one set in Vegas the morning after a wild bachelor party. Hung-over revelers piece together what happened the night before. There aren't many well-known actors in the cast, although Heather Graham has a role and Mike Tyson pops up as himself. The movie has caught some nice early buzz.

Land of the Lost (June 5) —Will Ferrell goes into retread mode, poking fun at the 1970s TV show about a family that travels to a parallel world populated by dinosaurs and other creatures.

Year One (June 19) — Casting Jack Black as a caveman is a stroke of genius. He'll pretty much just play himself. The prehistoric comedy will prove whether Michael Cera, as his hunter-gatherer buddy, can expand his range past soft-spoken sensitive types. Harold Ramis directed and helped write the screenplay .

Brüno (July 10) — The irrepressible Sacha Baron Cohen fools the world in his partly staged documentary comedy three years after the wildly successful "Borat." This time around he's an aggressive, flamboyant European fashion maven.

Funny People (July 31) — Judd Apatow directs Adam Sandler as a terminally ill stand-up who takes a young-up-and-comer (Seth Rogen) under his wing. It's a symbolic passing of the torch from my favorite comedian of the '90s to the current king of funny.

Bandslam (Aug. 14) — Gaelan Connell plays a new kid at school who forms a band with a fellow outsider (Vanessa Hudgens) and a popular girl (Alyson Michalka) to compete in a battle of the bands. Caliente readers are no stranger to such contests.

The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (Aug. 14) — Jeremy Piven plays, what else, a fast-talking, smoothie hustler. His character is Don Ready, a car salesman who needs to turn his dreary dealership around by Independence Day. Thankfully, the mercury poisoning that made Piven quit his Broadway show isn't keeping him out of the movies.

Indie spirits

Artistic, smaller-budget films to counteract the summer silliness.

Gigantic (May 22) — A mattress salesman (Paul Dano) doesn't know how to react when a free-spirited woman (Zooey Deschanel) falls asleep in his store.

Forbidden Lie$ (May 27) — A documentary about the allegedly fraudulent book "Forbidden Lies" by Norma Khouri.

The Brothers Bloom (May 29) — Con men brothers (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo) escort a beautiful heiress (Rachel Weisz) around the world. Rian Johnson, the former indie director behind the impressive "Brick," is in the canvas chair.

Hunger (May 29) — A true story about Irish Republican leader Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), who went on a hunger strike that ended in his death. The movie is a big success in Great Britain, garnering BAFTA and British Independent Film awards.

Every Little Step (June 5) —A documentary about casting the Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line." Almost like a real-life "Showgirls."

The Garden (June 19) — An Oscar-nominated doc about an inner-city Los Angeles garden that's threatened by developers. Danny Glover and Daryl Hannah show up, and they're not on the side of the developers.

My Sister's Keeper (June 26) — Based on the Jodi Picoult best-seller, a teen (Abigail Breslin) tries to emancipate herself from her parents, who force her to donate bone marrow to her leukemia-stricken sister time after time. Cameron Diaz plays the mom and Alec Baldwin the attorney who helps the girl.

O'Horten (July 3) — In a Norwegian slice of whimsy, a 67-year-old train engineer on the verge of retirement is forced to contemplate a new direction.

Little Ashes (July 17) — It's party time for young geniuses in 1920s Madrid. Luis Buñel (Matthew McNulty), Federico García Lorca (Javier Beltrán) and Salvador Dalí (Robert Pattinson), who would grow into some of the finest artistic minds of their times, raise hell together.

The Hurt Locker (July 31) — Films set in the Iraq war haven't made much of a ripple at the box office, but this Venice Film Festival and Independent Spirit Awards darling, about an Army bomb squad searching for improvised explosive devices, could change all that. Jeremy Renner and Guy Pearce star.

The Lemon Tree (July 31) — The Berlin International Film Festival audience award winner is about a Palestinian woman who defends her lemon trees from an Israeli minister.

Taking Woodstock (Aug. 14) — A man working at his parents' hotel in the 1960s accidentally sets events in motion that lead to the Woodstock concert. Emile Hirsch, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eugene Levy and Liev Schreiber star.

Date nights

Romances and soft-hearted, sensitive movies to help break the ice.

My Life in Ruins (June 5) — Nia Vardalos' career sort of went into ruins after "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," with the failed TV show and the travesty that was "Connie and Carla." Now she tries for a big fat comeback as a travel guide who reinvents herself on a trip to — you guessed it — Greece!

The Proposal (June 19) — Ryan Reynolds plays an assistant whose boss (Sandra Bullock) forces him to marry her so she can avoid deportation to Canada. Reynolds has been skittish talking about his proposal to Scarlett Johansson, but let's see him try to squirm out of it when he does interviews for this film.

The Ugly Truth (July 24) — A romantically unfulfilled morning-show producer (Katherine Heigl) undergoes a series of challenges from her sexist correspondent (Gerard Butler). The Heigl name has meant quality in her brief romantic comedy career with "Knocked Up" and "27 Dresses," and she looks to protect the brand.

Julie & Julia (Aug. 7) — Based on blogger Julie Powell's book as well as Julia Child's memoir. Powell cooks and writes her way through Child's cookbook, earning fame and renown. Amy Adams stars as Powell and Meryl Streep plays Child.

The Time Traveler's Wife (Aug. 14) — If you think working late hours wreaks havoc on a relationship, try time travel. Eric Bana plays a Chicago librarian who accidentally travels through time, causing his wife (Rachel McAdams) to stay up waiting for him with a frying pan in hand. Believe it or not, this is a drama based on Audrey Niffenegger's novel, not a comedy.

Blockbusters in the toy aisle

Although Pixar's 3-D remake of "Toy Story" isn't due in theaters until Oct. 2, two summer releases are based on franchises that sold a lot of action figures in past decades: "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra." Others that will move toys as well as movie tickets include "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," "Up" and "Star Trek."