FALL / HOLIDAY

The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. The red one is on a quest for his precious blanket, which is lost in Mandy Patinkin’s unpleasant lair. (Columbia)

All the Pretty Horses. Billy Bob Thornton directs Matt Damon as a teenage cowboy on a Mexican sojourn that embraces romance and murder. (Columbia)

American Beauty. Kevin Spacey as a beleaguered suburbanite who decides to revisit his adolescence. (DreamWorks)

Angela’s Ashes. Three young actors portray Frank McCourt, whose Pulitzer-winning memoir of his childhood in Ireland is the basis for Alan Parker’s film. With Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle. (Paramount)

Any Given Sunday. Oliver Stone directs a drama about an aging quarterback (Dennis Quaid), a young challenger (Jamie Foxx), a pressured coach (Al Pacino) and an ambitious team owner (Cameron Diaz). (Warner Bros.)

Assassin. Director Chen Kaige tells the story of a concubine (Gong Li) who falls in love with the man whom she has hired to assassinate the Han king in 20th century B.C. China. (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Astronaut’s Wife. An accident in space has a profound impact on astronaut Johnny Depp and his wife Charlize Theron. (New Line)

August 32nd on Earth. After surviving a car accident, a woman enlists her best friend and heads for the Utah desert to conceive a child. (Alliance Atlantic)

The Best Man. Written and directed by Spike Lee’s cousin Malcolm D. Lee, the romantic comedy pivots on a wedding and a past affair that’s described in the writer’s new novel. (Universal)

Bicentennial Man. Robin Williams as an android with increasingly strong human impulses. Chris Columbus directs, from Isaac Asimov’s novel. (Touchstone)

The Big Tease. A young Scottish hairdresser travels to L.A. for a big celebrity hairdressing competition. (Warner Bros.)

The Bone Collector. Denzel Washington plays a quadriplegic forensics expert whose spirits are revived when he comes across a difficult and dangerous case. (Universal)

Committed. That’s an understatement in describing Heather Graham, who searches for her husband after he’s a no-show at his birthday party. Written and directed by Lisa Kreuger (“Manny & Lo”). (Miramax)

Double Jeopardy. Ashley Judd seeks her son and the killer of her husband--a crime for which she was framed. Cynical parole officer Tommy Lee Jones stands in her way. Directed by Bruce Beresford. (Paramount)

Dreaming of Joseph Lees. Rupert Graves stars in a blend of psychological thriller and romantic melodrama set in 1950s rural England. (Fox Searchlight)

End of Days. Security agent Arnold Schwarzenegger must protect Robin Tunney from the Devil himself--he’s on the prowl for an unholy union, as he is every turn of the millennium. (Universal)

The End of the Affair. When novelist Ralph Fiennes’ passion for his former lover Julianne Moore is rekindled, complex issues of life and death are raised. Neil Jordan directs. (Columbia)

Felicia’s Journey. Director Atom Egoyan follows “The Sweet Hereafter” with a thriller about a woman (Elaine Cassidy) who’s assisted by a man (Bob Hoskins) who might not be what he seems. (Artisan Entertainment)

The Five Senses. Five overlapping stories of self-discovery are played out against the backdrop of a child’s disappearance. (Alliance Atlantic)

Galapagos. Follow marine biologist Carole Baldwin in Imax 3-D as she dives 3,000 feet into the sea. (Imax)

Galaxy Quest (tentative title). An aging TV actor is enlisted to save the planet in a sci-fi action-comedy directed by Harold Ramis. (DreamWorks)

Girl Interrupted. Psychiatrist Vanessa Redgrave and nurse Whoopi Goldberg help Winona Ryder reclaim her life after two years in a New England psychiatric hospital. (Columbia)

Gossip. A rumor that’s planted as part of a college class project escalates out of control, leading to betrayal and revenge. (Warner Bros.)

The Green Mile. Stephen King’s story about the unusual relationship between a death row inmate (Michael Clarke Duncan) and the head guard (Tom Hanks). (Warner Bros.)

Guinevere. Audrey Wells (“The Truth About Cats and Dogs”) wrote and directs a drama about a woman’s conflicted relationship with an older man. With Sarah Polley, Stephen Rea and Gina Gershon. (Miramax)

Hanging Up. Diane Keaton directs Delia and Nora Ephron’s script about three sisters (Keaton, Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow) dealing with a dying dad. (Columbia)

Holy Smoke. Cult-buster Harvey Keitel falls in love with client Kate Winslet. (Miramax)

Hoofbeats. A heroic horse faces long odds against survival in the desert of Namibia. (Columbia)

An Ideal Husband. Writer-director Oliver Parker adapts the Oscar Wilde play, with Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore and Jeremy Northam spinning webs of romantic intrigue. (Miramax)

I Dreamed of Africa. Kim Basinger finds both joy and hardship when she fulfills her dream of emigrating to Africa. Hugh Hudson directs a story based on Kuki Gallman’s memoir. (Columbia)

Inconvenienced. Jamie Foxx is joined by some odd fellow hostages when he’s caught in a convenience store stickup in the Arizona desert. (Trimark)

The Iron Giant. It’s a machine that falls to Earth, where it befriends a boy in a small Maine town. Jennifer Aniston and Harry Connick Jr. head the voice cast of the animated adventure. (Warner Bros.)

Isn’t She Great? The life story of flamboyant author Jacqueline Susann stars Bette Midler, along with Nathan Lane, Stockard Channing, David Hyde Pierce and John Cleese. (Universal)

Joan of Arc. Luc Besson directs Milla Jovovich as the fighting French girl. John Malkovich and Faye Dunaway are also among the cast. (Columbia)

Liberty Heights. Joe Mantegna and Bebe Neuwirth head the cast in writer-director Barry Levinson’s latest look at changing times in mid-’50s Baltimore. (Warner Bros.)

The Life Before This. Issues of fate and uncertainty are considered in a study of the choices made by some people who are about to become the victims of a violent incident. (Alliance Atlantic)

Light It Up. Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and his wife, Tracey, are the executives behind this drama about a tense standoff at an inner-city high school. With Usher, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa L. Williams and Forest Whitaker. (Fox)

The Limey. Steven Soderbergh follows “Out of Sight” with the story of a revenge-minded Englishman’s tumultuous visit to L.A. (Artisan Entertainment)

The Lost Son. Daniel Auteil and Nastassja Kinski in the story of an apathetic detective who rediscovers his principles in the course of a seemingly routine case. (Artisan Entertainment)

Magnolia. Paul Thomas Anderson returns to the San Fernando Valley for his follow-up to “Boogie Nights.” The cast includes Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore and Philip Baker Hall. (New Line)

The Mammy. Anjelica Huston directs and stars as an Irish widow with seven children. (October Films)

Man on the Moon. Milos Forman directs Jim Carrey in the story of anarchic comedian Andy Kaufman. With Danny DeVito, Courtney Love and Paul Giamatti. (Universal)

The Man Who Came to Dinner. Danny DeVito directs a remake of the 1941 comedy about a celebrity who wears out his welcome. (DreamWorks)

Mickey Blue Eyes. Art dealer Hugh Grant loves his girlfriend Jeanne Tripplehorne, but her mobster dad James Caan is another matter. (Warner Bros.)

Mission: Impossible II. Tom Cruise stars and John Woo takes the director’s chair for the sequel to the 1996 blockbuster (Paramount)

Mumford. Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan’s comedy concerns a psychologist (Loren Dean) and his impact on a small town. (Touchstone)

New Waterford Girls. A girl’s placid life is turned upside down by the arrival of a Bronx teenager in her conservative town. (Alliance Atlantic)

Next to You. High schoolers Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier are so mismatched they couldn’t possibly get together . . . could they? (Fox)

Once in the Life. Laurence Fishburne debuts as a director, adapting his play “Riff Raff,” a drama about a confrontation between estranged half-brothers (Fishburne and Titus Welliver). (The Shooting Gallery)

Onegin. Martha Fiennes directs her brother Ralph in an adaptation of Pushkin’s epic novel “Eugene Onegin.” (Entertainment Film Distributors)

Romeo Must Die. Martial arts and star-crossed lovers: Jet Li falls in love with the daughter of a rival crime boss as he seeks to avenge his brother’s death. (Warner Bros.)

A Room for Romeo Brass. The friendship of two English boys is tested when one has an operation and the other turns to petty crime. (Alliance Atlantic)

The Sixth Sense. Child psychologist Bruce Willis has his hands full with a boy who channels troubled ghosts. (Hollywood Pictures)

Snow Falling on Cedars. Director Scott Hicks follows “Shine” with an adaptation of David Guterson’s acclaimed novel set in a Northwest island community in the 1950s. (Universal)

States of Control. A study of a woman who’s threatening to go over the edge. (Phaedra Cinema)

Stigmata. A priest (Gabriel Byrne) is dispatched by the Vatican to investigate the troubling case of a woman (Patricia Arquette) assaulted by an unseen attacker. (MGM)

Stir of Echoes. A party game of hypnotism has sinister consequences for Kevin Bacon and his family. David Koepp directs his adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel. (Artisan Entertainment)

Stuart Little. Photo-real digital character creation fuels this production, based on E.B. White’s book about a mouse (the voice of Michael J. Fox) raised by a human family. (Columbia)

Supernova. The crew of a medical spaceship rescues a strange young man in a distant galaxy, then regrets it. Walter Hill directs James Spader, Angela Bassett, Lou Diamond Phillips, Robert Forster and others. (United Artists)

Superstar. Kid in the Hall Bruce McCulloch directs “Saturday Night Live” folks including Molly Shannon and Will Ferrell in the story of a starry-eyed teen just looking for a kiss. (Paramount)

A Taste of Sunshine. Ralph Fiennes stars in writer-director Istvan Szabo’s generations-spanning epic about a Hungarian Jewish family. (Alliance Atlantic)

The Talented Mr. Ripley. “The English Patient’s” Anthony Minghella directs his own adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel about a charming psychopath (Matt Damon). With Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Cate Blanchett. (Paramount)

Three Kings. George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube in an adventure about American soldiers in Iraq on the trail of a storied cache of gold. (Warner Bros.)

Untitled Alexander/Karaszewski Comedy. The screenwriting team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (“The People vs. Larry Flynt,” “Ed Wood”) makes its directing debut with a comedy about a chauffeur who kidnaps his employer’s dog. (Universal)

Untitled Sunset Strip Project. A rock costume designer and an album cover photographer fall in love in Hollywood’s music crucible in 1971. (Fox)

Up at the Villa. Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn are expatriates sharing a secret in 1938 Florence. Based on a Somerset Maugham novella. (October Films)

Whispers. A baby elephant and an independent elder join forces on an eventful journey through the forest in this live-action adventure from Beverly and Derek Joubert. (Walt Disney)

Release Dates to Be Announced

All the Little Animals. In this coming-of-age story, orphan Christian Bale flees from his stepfather into the English countryside, where he encounters John Hurt. (Lions Gate)

ANNA AND THE KING. Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat take the lead roles in this remake of “The King and I.” (Fox)

THE BEACH. Leonardo DiCaprio teams up with “Transpotting” director Danny Boyle for this film adaptation of the novel by Alex Garland. (Fox)

The Dinner Game. The idea is to bring along the dullest, dimmest guest possible, to amuse the yuppie company. But publisher Thierry Lhermitte underestimates his discovery (Jacques Villeret). (Lions Gate)

The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave. In his film debut, the deadpan daredevil (Bob Einstein) returns from retirement for a final, memorable stunt. (MGM)

ME, MYSELF AND IRENE. The Farelly brothers follow up last year’s smash hit “There’s Something About Mary” with a comedy about a woman who falls in love with a man with multiple personality disorder. (Fox)

Sparkler. Park Overall stars as a Victorville trailer park princess who leaves her cheating husband and hooks up with three Vegas-bound college grads. (Strand)

Tea With Mussolini. Franco Zeffirelli’s coming-of-age story is set in Florence on the eve of World War II, where a boy is cultivated by an eccentric bunch, played by Cher, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin and Judi Dench. (Goldwyn Films)

*

Capsules by RICHARD CROMELIN

Research by KATHLEEN CRAUGHWELL