Opening the treasure chest

Friday

Army of Shadows

Drama

Rialto Pictures

With: Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Mann, Christian Barbier, Serge Reggiani

The idea: The 1969 World War II story of a simple man who finds himself involved in the French Resistance.

Writers: Jean-Pierre Melville, based on the novel by Joseph Kessel

Director: Melville

* So? Illuminating

Down in the Valley

Drama

ThinkFilm

With: Evan Rachel Wood, Edward Norton, David Morse, Rory Culkin, Bruce Dern

The idea: An aimless San Fernando Valley teen befriends a drifter who romances her with his cowpoke charm, much to the consternation of her father.

Writer-director: David Jacobson

* So? Dysfunction junction

Goal! The Dream Begins

Drama

Touchstone Pictures

With: Kuno Becker, Stephen Dillane, Anna Friel, Marcel Iures, Sean Pertwee, Alessandro Nivola

The idea: A Mexican American from L.A. gets a shot at playing for Newcastle United in Britain’s top soccer league.

Writers: Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, story by Mike Jefferies and Adrian Butchart

Director: Danny Cannon

* So? Talk about culture clash

Just My Luck

Comedy

20th Century Fox

With: Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine, Faizon Love, Missi Pyle, McFly

The idea: A recent college graduate’s charmed life quickly sours after she kisses an unlucky stranger at a masquerade ball.

Writers: I. Marlene King and Amy B. Harris; story by Jonathan Bernstein & Mark Blackwell & James Greer and King

Director: Donald Petrie

* So? Demo-specific

Keeping Up

With the Steins

Comedy

Miramax Films

With: Jeremy Piven, Jami Gertz, Garry Marshall, Doris Roberts, Larry Miller, Daryl Sabara

The idea: A Brentwood boy’s bar mitzvah gets supersized by his parents.

Writer: Mark Zakarin

Director: Scott Marshall

* So? What’s unusual about that?

Lady Vengeance

Action

Tartan Pictures USA

With: Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-sik

The idea: The vengeance trilogy concludes with a tale of a woman released from prison after 13 years -- with a score to settle.

Writers: Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-Gyeong

Director: Park Chan-wook

* So? Revenge as an art form

Poseidon

Action

Warner Bros.

With: Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Richard Dreyfuss, Jacinda Barrett, Emmy Rossum, Mike Vogel, Mia Maestro, Jimmy Bennett, Andre Braugher

The idea: Passengers struggle to reach the surface after their luxury ocean liner capsizes.

Writer: Mark Protosevich, based on the novel by Paul Gallico

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

* So? Not “Titanic,” and that’s probably a good thing

Saving Shiloh

Drama

New Dog Distribution

With: Jason Dolley, Ann Dowd, Scott Wilson, Gerald McRaney, Taylor Momsen

The idea: A sixth-grader and a dog try to help a man find salvation.

Writers: Dale Rosenbloom; based on the story by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Director: Sandy Tung

* So? Dog’s life

Shakespeare Behind Bars

Documentary

International Film Circuit

The idea: A group of inmates at a Kentucky correctional facility finds performing “The Tempest” a transformative experience.

Director: Hang Rogerson

* So? Inmates versus iambic pentameter

Three Times

Drama

IFC First Take Films

With: Shu Qi, Chang Chen

The idea: A love story told through three eras: 1966, a young woman and a soldier fall in love in a billiards hall; 1911, the Japanese occupation of Taiwan is the setting as a married diplomat meets a courtesan; 2005, a young bisexual woman becomes involved in a three-way love affair.

Writers: Hou Hsiao-hsien, T’ien-wen Chu

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

* So? Tricks of the mind

Wah-Wah

Drama

Samuel Goldwyn Films/Roadside Attractions

With: Gabriel Byrne, Emily Watson, Julie Walters, Nicholas Hoult, Miranda Richardson

The idea: A coming-of-age story set in 1969 Swaziland in Africa, as it begins independence and as a teenage boy’s family gradually dissolves.

Writer-director: Richard E. Grant

* So? It’s about to hit the fan

**

May 19

Clean

Drama

Palm Pictures

With: Maggie Cheung, Nick Nolte, Martha Henry, Beatrice Dalle

The idea: A drug addict moves to Paris to straighten out her life after her fading rock-star husband overdoses.

Writer-director: Olivier Assayas

* So? Hopefully more interesting than most movies about drug addicts

The Da Vinci Code

Thriller

Columbia Pictures

With: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Paul Bettany, Jurgen Prochnow, Jean Reno

The idea: Big-screen adaptation of the mega-seller about a murder at the Louvre and 2,000-year-old religious intrigue.

Writer: Akiva Goldsman, based on the book by Dan Brown

Director: Ron Howard

* So? Unstoppable

Moonlight

Thriller

Indican Pictures

With: Laurien Van den Broeck, Hunter Bussemaker, Andrew Howard, Jemma Redgrave

The idea: A wealthy teenage Dutch girl discovers a wounded boy her own age, an Afghani drug courier, and hides it from her parents.

Writer: Carel Donck

Director: Paula van der Oest

* So? Nasty consequences

Over the Hedge

Animated

DreamWorks

With: Voices by Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Avril Lavigne

The idea: An opportunistic raccoon tempts a cautious turtle with promises of “the good life” on the suburban side of the bushes.

Writers: Len Blum and Lorne Cameron & David Hoselton and Karey Kirkpatrick, based on the comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis

Directors: Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick

* So? What’s not to like about animals out of their element?

Russian Dolls

Drama

IFC First Take Films

With: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Kelly Reilly, Cecile de France

The idea: A would-be novelist struggles in his career and at love in this sequel to “L’Auberge Espagnole.”

Writer-director: Cedric Klapisch

* So? Heartbeats

See No Evil

Horror

Lionsgate Films

With: Kane, Christina Vidal, Michael J. Pagan, Samantha Noble

The idea: With a cop, eight small-time crooks enter a forsaken hotel to do community service and encounter a 7-foot, 400-pound reclusive psychopath with fingernails like razors and a rusty steel plate screwed into his head.

Writer: Dan Madigan

Director: Gregory Dark

* So? Unpleasant company

Sketches of Frank Gehry

Documentary

Sony Pictures Classics

With: Frank Gehry, Philip Johnson, Ed Ruscha, Milton Friedman, Michael Eisner, Herbert Muschamp

The idea: A profile of the noted architect responsible for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Director: Sydney Pollack

* So? Star material

**

May 26

Cavite

Thriller

Truly Indie

With: Ian Gamazon

The idea: An unhappy young Filipino American’s trip to the islands embroils him in intrigue, kidnapping and murder.

Writer-directors: Gamazon & Neill Dela Llana

* So? Sinister on a shoestring

Dead Man’s Shoes

Thriller

Magnolia Pictures

With: Paddy Considine, Toby Kebbell, Gary Stretch, Stuart Wolfenden, Neil Bell

The idea: A British military veteran seeks revenge against the thugs who attacked his mentally challenged brother.

Writers: Considine, Shane Meadows

Director: Meadows

* So? Revenge is sweat

The Noah

Fantasy-drama

Pathfinder Pictures

With: Robert Strauss, Sally Kirkland, Geoffrey Holder

The idea: To cope with his loneliness, the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust creates an imaginary civilization.

Writer-director: Daniel Bourla

* So? A “lost” 1975 movie resurfaces

The Outcast

Drama

Pathfinder Pictures

With: Linton Semage, Shyamalee Warusavithana

The idea: Sri Lankan filmmaker’s 1998 film about a widowed water-gate keeper whose longing for the lonely wife of a soldier causes an uproar in his village.

Writer-director: Semage

* So? Seminal Sri Lanka

Pickpocket

Drama

Pathfinder Pictures

With: Linton Semage, Dilhani Ekanayake

The idea: In Semage’s 2001 tragedy, the title character discovers something painful in the wallet of another man.

Writer-director: Semage

* So? Tense, taciturn

Twelve and Holding

Drama

IFC Films

With: Conor Donovan, Jesse Camacho, Zoe Weizenbaum, Jeremy Renner, Annabella Sciorra

The idea: Adolescents deal with the fallout when a friend is killed by bullies.

Writer: Anthony Cipriano

Director: Michael Cuesta

* So? Cuesta directed the discomfiting “L.I.E.”

**

May TBA

Lemming

Drama

Strand Releasing

With: Laurent Lucas, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Richard Pollock, Charlotte Rampling

The idea: The marriage of a young engineer and his wife begins to go badly after an unsettling visit from the engineer’s boss and his aloof wife and the discovery of a mysterious rodent in the plumbing.

Writers: Gilles Marchand, Dominik Moll

Director: Moll

* So? Cryptic

June 2

The Break-Up

Comedy

Universal Pictures

With: Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, above, Joey Lauren Adams, Ann-Margret, Judy Davis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Favreau, Cole Hauser, John Michael Higgins, Justin Long

The idea: An art dealer and her boyfriend can’t seem to split up properly and end up sharing their condo as antagonistic roommates.

Writers: Jeremy Garelick & Jay Lavender, story by Vince Vaughn & Jeremy Garelick & Jay Lavender

Director: Peyton Reed

* So? Expensive script

District B13

Action

Magnolia Pictures

With: David Belle, Cyril Raffaelli, Tony D’Amario

The idea: The year is 2013 and an elite police squad must find a weapon of mass destruction in a walled-off Paris suburb reserved for criminals.

Writers: Luc Besson, Bibi Naceri

Director: Pierre Morel

* So? Acrobatic

Mouth to Mouth

Drama

Artistic License

With: Ellen Page, Natasha Wightman, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Eric Thal

The idea: A teenage runaway joins a radical youth collective in Europe, meets Mr. Could Not Be More Wrong.

Writer-director: Alison Murray

* So? Artfully grim

Peaceful Warrior

Drama

Lionsgate Films

With: Nick Nolte, Scott Mechlowicz, Amy Smart, Ashton Holmes

The idea: A college gymnast learns new powers of strength and understanding after he meets an enigmatic stranger.

Writer: Kevin Bernhardt, based on the book “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” by Dan Millman

Director: Victor Salva

* So? Spiritual acrobatics

The Puffy Chair

Comedy

Roadside Attractions

With: Mark Duplass, Kathryn Aselton, Rhett Wilkins

The idea: Three twentysomethings embark on a road trip to collect a La-Z-Boy recliner and encounter romance along the way.

Writer: Mark Duplass

Director: Jay Duplass

* So? A La-Z Boy road trip?

Yang Ban Xi:

The 8 Model Works

Documentary

Shadow Distribution

The idea: During China’s Cultural Revolution, these spectacles of propaganda replaced traditional opera.

Writer-director: Yan Ting Yuen

* So? Agit-opera

June 6

The Omen

Thriller

20th Century Fox

With: Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Gambon, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick

The idea: It looks like time’s up when Damien, the young son of a U.S. diplomat, turns out to be Satan’s spawn in this remake of the 1976 film.

Writer: David Seltzer

Director: John Moore

* So? Devil’s advocate

**

June 7

The Heart of the Game

Documentary

Miramax Films

With: Darnellia Russell, Coach Bill Resler, narrated by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges

The idea: A Washington state high school basketball player battles on court and off to play the sport that could be her ticket to college.

Writer-director: Ward Serrill

* So? Basketball dreams

**

June 9

Cars

Animated

Walt Disney Pictures presents a Pixar Animation Studios film

With: Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, George Carlin, Richard Petty, Michael Keaton, Tony Shalhoub, John Ratzenberger, Michael Wallis, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis

The idea: An ambitious rookie race car on his way to the big Piston Cup championship detours to a sleepy hamlet off Route 66.

Director: John Lasseter

* So? High gear

The King

Drama

ThinkFilm

With: Gael Garcia Bernal, William Hurt, Pell James, Laura Harring

The idea: A young man recently mustered out of the Navy seeks the father he never knew, now a successful pastor at a Baptist church.

Writers: Milo Addica & James Marsh

Director: Marsh

* So? Twisted

Only Human

Comedy

Magnolia Pictures

With: Guillermo Toledo, Norma Aleandro, Maria Botto, Marian Aguilera

The idea: Meeting the family of his Jewish fiancee, a Palestinian drops frozen soup out a seventh-floor window, killing a pedestrian and making an odd evening even stranger.

Writer-directors: Dominic Harari, Teresa de Pelegri

* So? Irreverent, to say the least

The Whore’s Son

Drama

Picture This! Entertainment

With: Stanislav Lisnic, Chulpan Khamatova, Miki Manojlovic, Ina Gogalova, Georg Friedrich

The idea: A Yugoslav immigrant grows up in Vienna thinking his mother is a waitress, and when she abandons him at 16 he becomes obsessed with finding her.

Writers: Michael Sturminger, Michael Glawogger, based on the novel by Gabriel Loidolt

Director: Sturminger

* So? Lurid

**

June 16

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Action

Universal Pictures

With: Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Brian Tee, Sung Kang, Jason Tobin, Nathalie Kelly

The idea: The street-racing sequel moves to Japan, where a young American expat challenges the local champ in the rubber-burning, gliding world of drift.

Writers: Chris Morgan

Director: Justin Lin

* So? Spinning

Giuliani Time

Documentary

Cinema Libre

With: Rudolph Giuliani, Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), Ralph Nader, Donald Trump, former NYC mayors David N. Dinkins and Edward I. Koch

The idea: A look at the effect Rudy G. had as the mayor of New York City and how his handling of the aftermath of Sept. 11 raised his profile internationally.

Director: Kevin Keating

* So? Packaged

The Lake House

Drama

Warner Bros.

With: Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Dylan Walsh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Christopher Plummer

The idea: Time-separated lovers are connected by the enigmatic residence they each lived in.

Writers: David Auburn, based on the motion picture “Il Mare”

Director: Alejandro Agresti

* So? Quantum leap

Loverboy

Drama

ThinkFilm

With: Kyra Sedgwick, Dominic Scott Kay, Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Marisa Tomei, Sandra Bullock

The idea: A single mother desperately tries to protect her gifted little boy from the pedestrian influences of the outside world.

Writers: Hannah Shakespeare, based on the novel by Victoria Redel

Director: Bacon

* So? Smotherly love

Lower City

Drama

Palm Pictures

With: Lazaro Ramos, Wagner Moura, Alice Braga

The idea: A passionate love triangle forms among two best friends with a cargo boat and the beautiful passenger they pick up.

Writers: Karim Ainouz, Sergio Machado

Director: Machado

* So? Storm front

Mad Cowgirl

Horror

Pathfinder Pictures

With: Sarah Lassez, James Duval, Devon Odessa, Vic Chao, Walter Koenig

The idea: A terminally ill female meat inspector goes on a frenzied spree of sex, violence and self-determination and adopts a ‘70s martial-artist persona.

Writers: Gregory Hatanaka, Norith Soth

Director: Hatanaka

* So? Wacko

The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green

Comedy

Here Films/Regent Releasing

With: Meredith Baxter, Dave Monahan, Diego Serrano, Daniel Letterle, Dean Shelton

The idea: The gay romantic travails of a professional assistant are further complicated by his ex-lover’s attempt to sell the house he lives in.

Writer: David Vernon

Director: George Bamber

* So? Tricky territory

Nacho Libre

Comedy

Paramount Pictures

With: Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera, Hector Jimenez, Richard Montoya, Peter Stormare

The idea: A cook at a Mexican orphanage moonlights as a masked wrestler to save the institution.

Writers: Jared Hess & Jerusha Hess & Mike White

Director: Jared Hess

* So? Devoutly funny

Stripped Down

Drama

Visualiner Studios/Pathfinder Pictures

With: Elana Krausz, Ian Ziering, Marcus Jean Pirae

The idea: Three exotic dancers compare their lives at a club while it’s being audited by an IRS agent.

Writer-director: Krausz

* So? Tax man in henhouse

Wordplay

Documentary

IFC Films

With: Will Shortz, Merl Reagle, Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Jon Stewart, Ken Burns, Mike Mussina, the Indigo Girls

The idea: Inside look at the world of crossword puzzles and similar mental gymnastics with the New York Times puzzle editor and NPR puzzle-master Shortz and celebrity aficionados.

Director: Patrick Creadon

* So? Articulate

**

June 21

Leonard Cohen:

I’m Your Man

Documentary

Lionsgate Films

With: Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Martha Wainwright, Beth Orton, Linda Thompson, Teddy Thompson, Jarvis Cocker, the Handsome Family, Antony, Julie Christensen, Perla Battala

The idea: Interviews and performances pay tribute to the Canadian poet and influential singer-songwriter.

Director: Lian Lunson

* So? Endurance

**

June 23

Click

Comedy

Columbia/Revolution

With: Adam Sandler, above, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken, David Hasselhoff, Henry Winkler, Julie Kavner, Sean Astin

The idea: An overworked architect buys a magical remote control that begins to take over his life.

Writers: Steve Koren & Mark O’Keefe

Director: Frank Coraci

* So? That’s not magic, it’s real

Garfield’s Tail

of Two Kitties

Comedy

20th Century Fox

With: Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Connolly and the voice of Bill Murray

The idea: The big orange fur ball is mistaken for royalty when he follows his owner, Jon, to England.

Writers: Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow, based on the comic strip “Garfield,” created by Jim Davis

Director: Tim Hill

* So? Phat cat phollies

The Road to Guantanamo

Drama

Roadside Attractions

With: Ruhel Ahmed, Asif Iqral, Sharif Rasul

The idea: Three British citizens on their way to a wedding in Afghanistan are detained by the U.S. military and spend two years in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Directors: Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross

* So? Cruel detour

Say Uncle

Comedy

TLA Releasing

With: Kathy Najimy, Peter Paige, Gabrielle Union, Anthony Clark, Lisa Edelstein, Melanie Lynskey

The idea: An overprotective mother misinterprets a gay man’s interest in caring for children.

Writer-director: Peter Paige

* So? A busybody’s wreckage

Waist Deep

Action

Rogue Pictures

With: Tyrese Gibson, left, Meagan Good, right, Larenz Tate, the Game

The idea: An ex-con trying to go straight is pulled back into the underworld by the kidnapping of his young son.

Writers: Vondie Curtis Hall and Darin Scott; story by Michael Mahern

Director: Curtis Hall

* So? Twist of fate

**

June 28

Who Killed

the Electric Car?

Documentary

Sony Pictures Classics

The idea: An exploration of why we aren’t all driving electric cars by now.

Director: Chris Paine

* So? The usual suspects

June 30

The Devil Wears Prada

Comedy

20th Century Fox

With: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Emily Blunt, Adrian Grenier

The idea: A high-maintenance fashion magazine editor makes life hell for her fresh-out-of-college assistant.

Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna; based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger

Director: David Frankel

* So? Guess who, thinly disguised

Queens

Comedy

Here Films/Regent Releasing

With: Marisa Paredes, Carmen Maura, Veronica Forque

The idea: Five strong-willed mothers fret and fuss over their sons’ impending marriages at Spain’s first mass gay wedding.

Writers: Yolanda Garcia Serrano, Joaquin Oristrell, Manuel Gomez Pereira

Director: Gomez Pereira

* So? Broad humor

Superman Returns

Adventure

Warner Bros.

With: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Parker Posey, Sam Huntington, Kal Penn

The idea: The Man of Steel is back after being away for several years and discovers that the world -- and Lois Lane -- may have learned to survive without him.

Writers: Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris, story by Bryan Singer & Dougherty & Harris, based on characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Director: Singer

* So? Remember what Edna Mode said about capes.

Typhoon

Action

CJ Entertainment/Paramount Classics

With: Jang Dong-Gun, Lee Jung-Jae, Lee Mi-Yeon

The idea: The South Korean agent sent to stop a North Korean pirate intent on launching a nuclear attack grows empathetic toward his quarry.

Writer-director: Kwak Kyung-Tack

* So? Touchy subject

Wassup Rockers

Comedy-drama

First Look Studios

With: Jonathan Velasquez, Francisco Pedrasa, Milton Velasquez, Usvaldo Panameno, Eddie Velasquez, Luis Rojas Salgado, Carlos Ramirez

The idea: A group of Latino teens embrace skateboarding and punk rock and take the bus to Beverly Hills for some culture clash.

Writers: Larry Clark, story by Clark & Matthew Frost

Director: Clark

* So? New boys for Clark

**

June TBA

The Blood of My Brother

Documentary

Lifesize Entertainment

The idea: An Iraqi family grieves over the death of its eldest son against the backdrop of the Shia insurgency in Sadr City and Najaf

Director: Andrew Berends

* So? Iraq, up close

Crossing the Bridge:

The Sound of Istanbul

Documentary

Strand Releasing

With: Alexander Hacke

The idea: The German composer and musician travels to Istanbul to record the wide variety of music -- including hip-hop (that’s rapper Ceza and gang, above), electronic, rock and classical “Arabesque” -- found in the Turkish capital.

Writer-director: Fatih Akin

* So? Wandering curiosity

The Motel

Comedy

Palm Pictures

With: Jeffrey Chyau, Sung Kang, Jade Wu, Samantha Futerman

The idea: A 13-year-old Chinese American boy whose family runs a cut-rate motor inn learns questionable life lessons from a long-term tenant.

Writer-director: Michael Kang

* So? Seedy adolescence

**

July 7

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Adventure

Walt Disney Pictures

With: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Stellan Skarsgard, Bill Nighy, Jack Davenport, Kevin R. McNally, Jonathan Pryce

The idea: Captain Jack embarks on a high-seas sequel.

Writers: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, based on Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and characters created by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert

Director: Gore Verbinski

* So? Jolly, Roger

A Scanner Darkly

Animated

Warner Independent Pictures

With: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder, Rory Cochrane

The idea: An undercover cop in futuristic Orange County finds himself in a downward spiral of paranoia.

Writer-director: Richard Linklater, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick

* So? High hopes

Strangers With Candy

Comedy

ThinkFilm

With: Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, Greg Hollimon, Deborah Rush, Dan Hedaya, Allison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kristen Johnston, Justin Theroux, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sir Ian Holm

The idea: In this prequel to the Comedy Central TV series, a 47-year-old woman returns home after 32 years and decides to pick up where she left off as a high school freshman.

Writers: Colbert & Paul Dinello & Sedaris

Director: Dinello

* So? High school, the sequel

**

July 14

Blue Velvet

Thriller

Sony Pictures Repertory

With: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, Hope Lange, George Dickerson, Jack Nance, Priscilla Pointer, Brad Dourif

The idea: The 20th anniversary re-release of this dark tale of an inexperienced college student’s initiation into a small town’s underworld.

Writer-director: David Lynch

* So? Alluringly weird

The Groomsmen

Comedy

Bauer Martinez

With: Ed Burns, John Leguizamo, Matthew Lillard, Donal Logue, Jay Mohr, Brittany Murphy

The idea: A week away from the big day, a man and his four friends hash out life’s big questions.

Writer-director: Burns

* So? Slick

Heading South

Drama

Shadow Distribution

With: Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young, Menothy Cesar

The idea: Middle-aged women from North America partake in sexual tourism in late-1970s Haiti.

Writers: Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo, based on three stories by Dany Laferriere

Director: Cantet

* So? Sexual politics

Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos

Documentary

Miramax Films

With: Pele, Marv Albert, Henry Kissinger, Mia Hamm, narrated by Matt Dillon

The idea: The rise and fall of the star-studded North American Soccer League franchise in the 1970s.

Directors: Paul Crowder, John Dower

* So? Swift kickers

Pulse

Horror

Dimension Films

With: Kristen Bell, Jonathan Tucker, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian, Ron Rifkin, Rick Gonzalez

The idea: U.S. remake of Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film about a group of young people unnerved by a friend’s suicide.

Writer: Wes Craven & Ray Wright

Director: Jim Sonzero

* So? Technophobia

You, Me and Dupree

Comedy

Universal Pictures

With: Owen Wilson, left, Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon; also, Seth Rogen, Amanda Detmer, Michael Douglas

The idea: A newlywed lets his unemployed pal crash on his couch but the arrangement turns out to be longer than temporary.

Writer: Michael LeSieur

Directors: Joe Russo and Anthony Russo

* So? Crass ‘course

**

July 21

The Amateurs

Comedy

Bauer Martinez

With: Jeff Bridges, Ted Danson, William Fichtner, Patrick Fugit, Lauren Graham, Tim Blake Nelson, Joe Pantoliano, Isaiah Washington, Jeanne Tripplehorn

The idea: A man in midlife crisis gathers his friends and associates to make an adult movie.

Writer-director: Michael Traeger

* So? Cornographic

Lady in the Water

Thriller

Warner Bros.

With: Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bob Balaban, Jeffrey Wright, Sarita Choudhury, Freddy Rodriguez, Bill Irwin, Jared Harris

The idea: Tenants of a dilapidated apartment complex pull together to help an enigmatic nymph elude the ferocious beings blocking her return to the fairy-tale realm.

Writer-director: M. Night Shyamalan

* So? Judgment reserved

Monster House

Animated

Columbia Pictures

With: Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Nick Cannon, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Jason Lee, Catherine O’Hara, Kathleen Turner, Fred Willard

The idea: A neighbor’s creepy home turns out to be a living, breathing creature for three kids on Halloween.

Writers: Dan Harmon & Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler, story by Harmon & Schrab

Director: Gil Kenan

* So? Intriguing idea

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Comedy

20th Century Fox

With: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris, Eddie Izzard, Rainn Wilson, Wanda Sykes

The idea: A man dumps his significant other only to find out she’s really a superhero, and a scorned superhero does not go quietly into the night.

Writer: Don Payne

Director: Ivan Reitman

* So? Unwise to cross her

Poster Boy

Drama

Here Films/Regent Releasing

With: Karen Allen, Michael Lerner, Matt Newton, Jack Noseworthy, Valerie Geffner, Ian Reed Kesler, Austin Lysy

The idea: Away at college and reveling in his sexual liberty, the gay son of a conservative U.S. senator becomes potential fodder for a gay activist.

Writers: Lecia Rosenthal, Ryan Shiraki

Director: Zak Tucker

* So? Unexpected consequences

Shadowboxer

Drama

Lee Daniels Entertainment

With: Helen Mirren, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Dorff, Vanessa Ferlito, Mo’Nique, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Macy Gray

The idea: The emotionally complex lives of a pair of trained assassins are upset when they discover their next job is the pregnant wife of a crime lord.

Writer: Will Rokos

Director: Lee Daniels

* So? Eclectic casting

Time to Leave

Drama

Strand Releasing

With: Melvil Poupaud, Jeanne Moreau, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi

The idea: A successful fashion photographer learns he has a malignant brain tumor and doesn’t tell his boyfriend, but a visit with his grandmother and an encounter with a waitress change his outlook.

Writer-director: Francois Ozon

* So? Grandma Jeanne!

**

July 28

America:

From Freedom to Fascism

Documentary

Cinema Libre

The idea: Interviews with two U.S. congressmen, a former IRS commissioner, former IRS and FBI agents, tax attorneys and authors about the federal income tax and erosion of civil liberties.

Director: Aaron Russo

* So? Against the tide

Another Gay Movie

Comedy

TLA Releasing

With: Michael Carbonaro, Jonathan Chase, Jonah Blechman, Mitch Morris, Scott Thompson

The idea: A sex romp that spoofs the feel-good coming-of-age film with an outrageous tale of four high school grads who make a daring pact.

Writer-director: Todd Stephens

* So? Demo-specific II

Azumi

Action

Urban Vision Entertainment

With: Aya Ueto, Shun Oguri, Hiroki Narimiya, Yoshio Harada, Naoto Takenaka, Joe Odagiri

The idea: In feudal Japan, a young woman and her orphan comrades are raised by their samurai master to be unflinchingly loyal killing machines.

Writers: Rikiya Mizushima and Isao Kiriyama; based on the comics by Yu Koyama

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura

* So? Ruthless in more ways than one

Barnyard

Animated

Paramount Pictures

With: Voices by Kevin James, Courteney Cox, Sam Elliott, Danny Glover, Andie MacDowell, Wanda Sykes

The idea: The secret lives of talking cows are threatened when a carefree bovine has responsibility thrust upon him.

Writer-director: Steve Oedekerk

* So? Don’t fence it in

Boys Briefs 4

Drama

Picture This! Entertainment

With: Jesse Lee, Bryan Bevenge, Tammy Warwick, Luke Thompson; Aron Tager; P.J. Lazic; Nancy Beatty, Greg Atkins, D. Garnet Harding; Salim Kechiouche, Amanda Lear, Stephane Rolland; Bryan Marshall, Sam Barlow, Sebastian Lamour; John Militello, Timothy Lee DePriest

The idea: The anthology of gay-themed shorts includes “Boy,” “Gold,” “Build,” “Gigolo,” “Into the Night” and “Rock Bottom.”

Writers: Welby Ings; Armen Kazazian; Atkins; Bastian Schweitzer; Cath Moore; Mary Feuer and Militello

Directors: Ings, Kazazian, Atkins, Schweitzer, Tony Krawitz, Feuer

* So? Usually a nugget or few

The House of Sand

Drama

Sony Pictures Classics

With: Fernanda Montenegro, Fernanda Torres, Ruy Guerra, Seu Jorge, Luiz Melodia, Enrique Diaz, Stenio Garcia, Emiliano Queiroz

The idea: A mother and her pregnant adult daughter learn to survive in the Brazilian desert.

Writers: Elena Soarez, story by Luiz Carlos Barreto, Soarez, Andrucha Waddington

Director: Waddington

* So? Feminine fortitude

I Could Never

Be Your Woman

Comedy

MGM

With: Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd, Saoirse Ronan, Tracey Ullman

The idea: A mother falls for a younger man, while her daughter experiences love for the first time.

Writer-director: Amy Heckerling

* So? Lively potential

John Tucker Must Die

Comedy

20th Century Fox

With: Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Ashanti Douglas, Sophia Bush, Arielle Kebbel, Jenny McCarthy and Penn Badgley

The idea: A high school lothario is targeted for revenge by the popular girls he three-timed.

Writer: Jeff Lowell

Director: Betty Thomas

* So? Grrrls even the score

Miami Vice

Action

Universal Pictures

With: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciaran Hinds, Justin Theroux

The idea: Update of the hit 1980s cop show, with Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs tangling with South Florida drug traffickers.

Writer-director: Michael Mann

* So? Why?

Romeo & Juliet

Sealed With a Kiss

Animated

Indican Pictures

With: Voices of Elsa Nibbelink, Harry Eden, Polly Draper

The idea: Star-crossed seals fall in love against their warring families’ wishes.

Writer-director: Phil Nibbelink

* So? A seal of approval

**

July TBA

Changing Times

Drama

Koch Lorber

With: Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu

The idea: A Frenchman goes to Tangiers in search of his first love, whom he has not seen in 30 years.

Writers: Andre Techine, Laurent Guyot, Pascal Bonitzer

Director: Techine

* So? Flirting with trouble

In My Father’s Den

Thriller

Tartan Pictures USA

With: Matthew MacFadyen, Emily Barclay, Miranda Otto, Colin Moy

The idea: Returning to his small New Zealand hometown, a war photographer befriends the daughter of his first girlfriend only to become a suspect when she goes missing.

Writer-director: Brad McGann, based on the novel by Maurice Gee

* So? Complicated family matters

Wondrous Oblivion

Comedy

Palm Pictures

With: Delroy Lindo, Sam Smith

The idea: A Jamaican immigrant befriends a cricket-mad but athletically challenged Polish Jewish lad in South London.

Writer-director: Paul Morrison

* So? Just for kicks

**

Aug. 4

The Ant Bully

Animated

Warner Bros.

With: Voices by Nicolas Cage, Bruce Campbell, Zach Tyler Eisen, Paul Giamatti, Regina King, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin

The idea: An ant colony rebels against the 10-year-old boy who torments them by shrinking him to their size and making him see how they live.

Writer: John A. Davis, based on the book by John Nickle

Director: Davis

* So? From the “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” folks

Brothers of the Head

Drama

IFC Films

With: Luke and Harry Treadaway

The idea: Conjoined twins are marketed as a novelty rock act in ‘70s Britain and become early punk sensations.

Writers: Tony Grisoni, based on a novel by Brian Aldiss

Directors: Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe

* So? Brotherly shove

Jet Li’s Fearless

Action

Rogue Pictures

With: Jet Li, Nakamura Shidou, Collin Chou, Masato Harada, Nathan Jones

The idea: The story of martial-arts master Huo Yuanjia (1869-1910), whose exploits enhanced China’s national identity.

Writers: Chris Chow, Christine To

Director: Ronny Yu

* So? A big hit at home

The Night Listener

Thriller

Miramax Films

With: Robin Williams, Toni Collette, Bobby Cannavale, Sandra Oh, Joe Morton, Rory Culkin

The idea: A late-night radio host’s on-air relationship with his biggest fan, a troubled boy, raises questions.

Writers: Armistead Maupin & Terry Anderson and Patrick Stettner; based on the novel by Maupin

Director: Stettner

* So? True fiction

Quinceanera

Drama

Sony Pictures Classics

With: Emily Rios, Jesse Garcia, Chalo Gonzalez, Araceli Guzman-Rico, Jesse Castanos-Chima, David W. Ross

The idea: Disowned by her parents, an Echo Park Latina moves in with her elderly uncle and cousin to form a family of outsiders in their rapidly changing neighborhood.

Writer-directors: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

* So? Intimate, acutely observed

The Science of Sleep

Comedy

Warner Independent Pictures

With: Gael Garcia Bernal, right, Alain Chabat, left, Charlotte Gainsbourg

The idea: The dream world of an imaginative copy setter begins to bleed into his real world when he falls for an attractive neighbor.

Writer-director: Michel Gondry

* So? Reality cheek

Talladega Nights:

The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Comedy

Columbia Pictures

With: Will Ferrell, above, John C. Reilly, Gary Cole, Michael Clarke Duncan

The idea: A NASCAR driver’s circuit supremacy is challenged by an uppity French Formula One racer.

Writers: Ferrell & Adam McKay

Director: McKay

* So? Driving force

**

Aug. 9

World Trade Center

Drama

Paramount Pictures

With: Nicolas Cage, above, Michael Pena, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal

The idea: The story of two Port Authority policemen trapped in the rubble of the WTC on Sept. 11, 2001.

Writer: Andrea Berloff

Director: Oliver Stone

* So? Wait and see

**

Aug. 11

Accepted

Comedy

Universal Pictures

With: Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Blake Lively, Adam Herschman, Maria Thayer, Anthony Heald, Columbus Short, Lewis Black

The idea: After being rejected by every college he applied to, a high school grad and his misfit friends start their own fake university.

Writers: Mark Perez & Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, story by Perez

Director: Steve Pink

* So? Goof troop

Conversations With

Other Women

Drama

Fabrication Films

With: Aaron Eckhart, Helena Bonham Carter

The idea: A couple reignite passions and regret when they meet again at a wedding reception.

Writer: Gabrielle Zevin

Director: Hans Canosa.

* So? Inviting trouble

Half-Nelson

Drama

ThinkFilm

With: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie

The idea: An inspiring junior high school teacher has a secret life with a serious drug habit.

Writers: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

Director: Fleck

* So? Above average

The Reaping

Thriller

Warner Bros.

With: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, AnnaSophia Robb

The idea: A faithless former missionary is at a loss to explain the biblical phenomena plaguing a Louisiana town.

Writers: Chad Hayes & Carey Hayes, story by Brian Rousso

Director: Stephen Hopkins

* So? Bayou spookiness

Step Up

Drama

Touchstone Pictures

With: Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, Mario, Drew Sidora, Rachel Griffiths, Dwight “Heavy D” Myers, Damaine Radcliff, De’Shawn Washington

The idea: An at-risk Baltimore street dancer and an aspiring ballet dancer fuel one another’s dreams.

Writer: Duane Adler and Melissa Rosenberg, story by Adler

Director: Anne Fletcher

* So? Opposites attract

Street Poet

Drama

Indican Pictures

With: C. Thomas Howell, Tara D’Agostino, Jeff Stearns, Fred Willard, Edward Albert, Fred Williamson, Michael Parks

The idea: The relationship between a sexy publisher and her latest poetry slam discovery heats up.

Writer-director: E. Paul Edwards

* So? Cast from the past

Zoom

Comedy

Columbia/Revolution

With: Tim Allen, Courteney Cox, Chevy Chase, Spencer Breslin, Rip Torn

The idea: An out-of-shape former superhero must train the next generation to save the world.

Writers: Adam Rifkin and David Berenbaum, screen story by Rifkin, based on the novel by Jason Lethcoe

Director: Peter Hewitt

* So? Generation gap

**

Aug. 18

Clerks II

Comedy

The Weinstein Co./MGM

With: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Trevor Fehrman, Jennifer Schwalbach, Jason Mewes, left, Kevin Smith, right.

The idea: The convenience store heroes Dante and Randal tackle the questions of adulthood.

Writer-director: Smith

* So? Tardy

Factotum

Drama

IFC Films

With: Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei

The idea: Bukowski surrogate Henry Chinaski writes, drinks and enters into a relationship with an equally self-destructive woman.

Writer: Bent Hamer, Jim Stark; based on a novel by Charles Bukowski

Director: Hamer

* So? Something light (not)

Fakers

Comedy

Indican Pictures

With: Matthew Rhys, Art Malik, Tom Chambers, Kate Ashfield, Rula Lenska

The idea: In debt to a crime lord, a London man hatches a scam to forge copies of a lost sketch by an Italian master and sell them simultaneously to unsuspecting buyers.

Writer: Paul Gerstenberger

Director: Richard Janes

* So? Oddly topical

Flyboys

Action

Milestone Entertainment

With: Stephen Baldwin, Tom Sizemore, Jesse James, Reilly McClendon

The idea: Teenage brothers find themselves caught between a Las Vegas gangster and his ne’er-do-well brother.

Writers: Rocco DeVilliers, Richard Dutcher and Jason DeVilliers, story by Rocco DeVilliers and Gregory C. Haynes

Director: Rocco DeVilliers

* So? Curiosity factor

The Illusionist

Thriller

Yari Film Group

With: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Marsan

The idea: His involvement with a duchess places a virtuoso magician at odds with the crown prince and chief inspector in 1900 Vienna.

Writer-director: Neil Burger, based on the short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” by Steven Millhauser

* So? Disappearing act

My First Wedding

Comedy

Cinema Libre

With: Rachael Leigh Cook, Kenny Doughty, Paul Hopkins, Valerie Mahaffey, Caroline Carver

The idea: A bride-to-be’s misdirected confession of a fantasy leads to complications.

Writer: Joan Carr-Wiggin

Director: Laurent Firode

* So? Implied progression

Nearing Grace

Drama

Whitewater Films

With: Gregory Smith, Jordana Brewster, Ashley Johnson, David Morse

The idea: A high school senior seeks enlightenment in the form of an elusive beauty.

Writer: Jacob Aaron Estes from a Scott Sommer novel

Director: Rick Rosenthal

* So? Fleeting

Trust the Man

Comedy

Fox Searchlight

With: Julianne Moore, left, Billy Crudup, David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal, right, Eva Mendes, James LeGros

The idea: The romantic escapades of four New Yorkers -- an actress, her stay-at-home husband, her slacker brother and his aspiring novelist girlfriend -- play out against the hectic background of modern life.

Writer-director: Bart Freundlich

* So? Impressive tangle

**

Aug. 25

Beerfest

Comedy

Warner Bros.

With: Jay Chandrasekhar, Erik Stolhanske, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter

The idea: Humiliated at an underground Oktoberfest competition, two American brothers return to Germany a year later seeking revenge.

Writers: Broken Lizard

Director: Jay Chandrasekhar

* So? Head trip

DOA: Dead or Alive

Action

Dimension Films

With: Devon Aoki, left, Holly Valance and Sarah Carter, above; also Jaime Pressly, Natassia Malthe, Matthew Marsden, Eric Roberts

The idea: Based on the video fighting game series

Writers: J.F. Lawton and Seth Gross & Adam Gross, story by Lawton, based on the video game by Tecmo

Director: Corey Yuen

* So? Kinetic

How to Eat Fried Worms

Drama

New Line Cinema

With: Luke Benwald, Tom Cavanaugh, Kimberly Williams, Hallie Kate Eisenberg

The idea: The new school year starts off eventfully for a fifth-grader when he accepts a momentous dare.

Writer-director: Bob Dolman, based on the novel by Thomas Rockwell

* So? Appetizing

Idlewild

Musical

Universal Pictures

With: Andre Benjamin, Antwan A. Patton, Paula Patton, Terrence Howard, Patti LaBelle, Ving Rhames

The idea: In a 1930s Southern speak-easy, a bashful piano player and flamboyant lead singer struggle for their music.

Writer-director: Bryan Barber

* So? Southern soul

Invincible

Drama

Walt Disney Pictures

With: Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Kevin Conway, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rispoli

The idea: A Philadelphia substitute teacher and part-time bartender bucks the odds in the 1970s to play pro football.

Writers: Brad Gann

Director: Ericson Core

* So? Durable Disney

Material Girls

Comedy

MGM

With: Hilary Duff, Haylie Duff

The idea: Cosmetics heiresses lose their inheritance when a scandal wrecks their family’s company.

Writer: John Quaintance and Jessica O’Toole

Director: Martha Coolidge

* So? Madonna-inspired

Unconscious

Comedy

Here Films/Regent Releasing

With: Leonor Watling, Luis Tosar, Alex Brendemuhl

The idea: Barcelona in the early 20th century is the setting for this humorous mystery involving a brother and sister-in-law and their search for her missing husband.

Writers: Joaquin Oristrell, Teresa de Pelegri, Dominic Harari

Director: Oristrell

* So? When Freud was fresh

**

Aug. TBA

Blind Guy Driving

Comedy

Samuel Goldwyn Films

With: Chris Pine, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Anjali Jay, Jane Seymour

The idea: A young man undergoes experimental surgery hoping to regain his sight and falls in love with his East Indian nurse, who has been promised to another man in an arranged marriage.

Writer: Christopher Theo

Director: James Keach

* So? Sight gag

Cautiva

Thriller

Laemmle Zeller Films

With: Barbara Lombardo, Mercedes Funes, Susana Campos, Hugo Arana, Osvaldo Santoro, Silvia Bayle and Lidia Catalano.

The idea: An Argentine teenager learns that she is actually the daughter of political dissidents who “disappeared” in the 1980s.

Writer-director: Gaston Biraben

* So? Risky lineage

The Descent

Horror

Lionsgate Films

With: Shauna Macdonald, left, and Nora-Jane Noone, right, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Myanna Buring, Oliver Milburn, Molly Kayll

The idea: Six girlfriends on a spelunking expedition find themselves trapped deep beneath the surface of the earth with something monstrous.

Writer-director: Neil Marshall

* So? Girls in peril

Pusher

Action

Magnolia Pictures

With: Kim Bodnia, Zlatko Buric, Laura Drasbaek, Slavko Labovic, Mads Mikkelsen

The idea: The 1996 original in which a Copenhagen drug dealer dumps a load of dope in a lake after getting busted by the cops then must raise the money to pay his supplier.

Writers: Jens Dahl, Nicolas Winding Refn

Director: Refn

* So? Desperation writ large

Pusher II:

With Blood on My Hands

Action

Magnolia Pictures

With: Mads Mikkelsen, Jesper Salomonsen, Leif Sylvester, Anne Sorensen, Oyvind Hagen-Traberg

The idea: A small-time hood struggles to earn the respect of his father, a notorious gangster.

Writer-director: Nicolas Winding Refn

* So? Fatherly contempt

Pusher III:

I Am the Angel of Death

Action

Magnolia Pictures

With: Zlatko Buric, Marinela Dekic, Ilyas Agac

The idea: A high-ranking Danish mobster with a heroin habit finds his position threatened by ambitious Arabs.

Writer-director: Nicolas Winding Refn

* So? Cutthroats

Rolling Family

Comedy

Palm Pictures

With: Graciana Chironi, Liliana Capuro, Ruth Dobel, Federico Esquerro, Bernardo Forteza, Laura Glave, Leila Gomez, Nicolas Lopez, Marianlea Pedano, Carlos Resta, Raul Vinoles

The idea: An Argentine family loads itself into a 1956 camper to transport its grandmother to the far-off wedding of a distant niece.

Writer-director: Pablo Trapero

* So? Large family, confined space

Simon

Drama

Strand Releasing

With: Marcel Hensema, Cees Geel

The idea: A traffic accident triggers a platonic relationship between a gay dentist and a free-spirited cafe owner named Simon.

Writer-director: Eddie Terstall

* So? Affirmative

13 Tzameti

Thriller

Palm Pictures

With: Georges Babluani, Aurelien Recoing, Pascal Bongard, Fred Ulysse, Nicolas Pignon

The idea: A young man’s attempt at easy money results in his entry into a game of Russian roulette.

Writer-director: Gela Babluani

* So? Cuts to the quick

**

Sept. 1

Captain Sabertooth

Animated

Indican Pictures

The idea: The most treacherous pirate of them all searches for the long-lost treasure of Gory Gabriel while a young member of his crew craves recognition.

Director: Stig Bergqvist

* So? Norwegian animation

Crank

Action

Lionsgate Films

With: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Efren Ramirez, Jose Cantillo, Jay Xcala, Carlos Sanz, Keone Young

The idea: A hit man’s attempt to quit the business results in his being poisoned, and he has only an hour to live.

Writer-directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor

* So? Similar to “DOA” but different

Crossover

Drama

TriStar Pictures

With: Anthony Mackie, Wesley Jonathan, Wayne Brady, Kristen Wilson, Lil’ J.J., Phillip “Hot Sauce” Champion, Eva Pigford, Alecia Fears

The idea: Two young men bring their best game of hoops as they prepare to unseat the reigning street ball champions playing in a converted rail station.

Writer-director: Preston A. Whitmore II

* So? Hoop hopes

Idiocracy

Comedy

20th Century Fox

With: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard

The idea: As part of an experiment, an average Joe is sent 500 years into the future where he discovers that society has been so dumbed down he is by far the smartest guy around.

Writers: Mike Judge & Etan Cohen

Director: Judge

* So? At last it surfaces (or maybe not)

The Return

Thriller

Rogue Pictures

With: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kate Beahan, Peter O’Brien, Adam Scott, Sam Shepard

The idea: A Midwestern woman seeks answers to her increasingly disturbing visions.

Writer: Adam Sussman

Director: Asif Kapadia

* So? Looking for trouble

Stormbreaker

Action

The Weinstein Co.

With: Alex Pettyfer, Ewan McGregor, Mickey Rourke, above

The idea: A 14-year-old boy, trained in the art of secret agentry by his uncle, is called upon by the British secret service to stop a plot to unleash a biological weapon on England.

Writer: Anthony Horowitz

Director: Geoffrey Sax

* So? Keen teen

**

Sept. 8

Brooklyn Rules

Drama

Hanover House

With: Alec Baldwin, Freddie Prinze Jr., Mena Suvari, Scott Caan, Jerry Ferrara

The idea: Three friends are tested when one falls under the influence of a powerful gangster in 1985.

Writer: Terence Winter

Director: Michael Corrente

* So? Tempting fate

The Covenant

Horror

Screen Gems

With: Steven Strait, Laura Ramsey, Sebastian Stan, Taylor Kitsch, Toby Hemingway, Chace Crawford, Jessica Lucas, Wendy Crewson

The idea: A secret society of teenage boys, descended from the original settlers of a New England colony, plagues an elite boarding school.

Writer: J.S. Cardone

Director: Renny Harlin

* So? Screaming meanies

Flannel Pajamas

Drama

FP Releasing

With: Justin Kirk, Julianne Nicholson, Rebecca Schull

The idea: From blind date through marriage and tragedy, a young couple’s idyllic relationship is tested.

Writer-director: Jeff Lipsky

* So? Withstanding scrutiny

Harsh Times

Action

MGM

With: Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez, Eva Longoria

The idea: A hard-wired Army vet is tempted back to a life of crime when a job with the LAPD fails to pan out.

Writer-director: David Ayer

* So? Tug of war

Pathfinder

Action-adventure

20th Century Fox

With: Karl Urban, Moon Bloodgood, Russell Means, Clancy Brown

The idea: Left behind in North America by the Vikings, a young boy is raised to manhood by Native Americans but is faced with conflict when his people return decades later.

Writer: Laeta Kalogridis, based on the film by Nils Gaup

Director: Marcus Nispel

* So? Divided loyalties

**

Sept. TBA

Freshman Orientation

Comedy

Here Films/Regent Releasing

With: Sam Huntington, Marla Sokoloff, Mike Erwin, Heather Matarazzo, Kaitlin Doubleday, Bryce Johnson, Judy Tylor, John Goodman, Rachel Dratch

The idea: To insinuate himself into a beautiful sorority woman’s life, a first-year student feigns a gay identity and lands himself at the center of campus advocacy.

Writer-director: Ryan Shiraki

* So? Feigning fey

Stay

Comedy

Roadside Attractions/Samuel Goldwyn Films

With: Melinda Page Hamilton, Steve Agee, Brian Posehn, Geoff Pierson

The idea: In the name of total honesty, a young teacher admits a sexual indiscretion to her fiance, leading to chaos.

Writer-director: Bobcat Goldthwait

* So? Truth hurts

**

TBA

Agnes and His Brothers

Drama

First Run Features

With: Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Katja Riemann, Martin Weiss

The idea: Three siblings -- including the transgender title character -- deal with an eccentric father and the frustration of relationships.

Writer-director: Oskar Roehler

* So? Sexually fixated

Been Rich All My Life

Documentary

First Run Features

With: Bertye Lou Wood, Cleo Hayes, Marion Coles, Elaine Ellis, Fay Ray, Geri Kennedy

The idea: A profile of the Silver Belles, a tap-dancing troupe that danced at some of Harlem’s legendary venues and whose members are in their 80s and 90s.

Director: Heather Lyn MacDonald

* So? Tappy feat

The Bridesmaid

Thriller

First Run Features

With: Aurore Clement, Benoit Magimel, Laura Smet

The idea: A young man romances his younger sister’s unstable friend.

Writers: Claude Chabrol, Pierre Leccia; based on a novel by Ruth Rendell

Director: Chabrol

* So? Under the skin

Coastlines

Drama

IFC First Take Films

With: Timothy Olyphant, Josh Brolin, Angela Bettis, Sarah Wynter, William Forsythe

The idea: An ex-con confronts friends and enemies alike when he returns home from prison.

Writer-director: Victor Nunez

* So? Complicated on the outside

Darshan: The Embrace

Documentary

IFC First Take Films

With: Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

The idea: A profile of the charismatic Amma, one of India’s best-known spiritual guides.

Writers: Manuel De La Roche, Jan Kounen

Director: Kounen

* So? Hands-on, literally

Favela Rising

Documentary

ThinkFilm

With: Anderson Sa, Jose Junior

The idea: A former drug trafficker in the slums of Rio de Janeiro changes course and through the AfroReggae music movement attempts to change his community.

Directors: Jeff Zimbalist, Matt Mochary

* So? Enlightening

Gabrielle

Drama

IFC First Take Films

With: Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Thierry Hancisse, Raina Kabaivanska

The idea: French period piece in which the marriage of a wealthy, turn-of-the-last-century society couple suddenly comes unhinged.

Writers: Patrice Chereau, Anne-Louise Trividic, from a short story by Joseph Conrad

Director: Chereau

* So? Maybe not as juicy as it sounds

Land of the Blind

Drama

Bauer Martinez

With: Ralph Fiennes, Donald Sutherland, Lara Flynn Boyle

The idea: The ideals of a soldier are tested when he’s drawn into a political prisoner’s plans for revolution.

Writer-director: Robert Edwards

* So? Liberation of irony

Princesas

Drama

IFC First Take Films

With: Candela Pena, Micaela Nevarez, Mariana Cordero, Llum Barrera

The idea: Two young prostitutes in Madrid find hope in one another’s friendship.

Writer-director: Fernando Leon de Aranoa

* So? Safety in numbers

Rank

Documentary

IFC First Take Films

With: Mike Lee, Justin McBride, Adriano Moraes

The idea: A third-generation rider, a 21-year-old born-again Christian and the two-time world champion compete for a gold belt buckle, $1 million and the claim to being the best bull rider in the world.

Directors: John Greenhalgh & John Hyams

* So? A whole lotta rockin’

Two Drifters

Drama

Strand Releasing

With: Ana Cristina de Oliveira, above, Nuno Gil, Joao Carreira

The idea: A young man’s loss of his lover on their anniversary is complicated by the appearance of a young woman who claims to have known him.

Writers: Joao Pedro Rodrigues, Paulo Rebelo

Director: Rodrigues

* So? Familiar

**

About the list

This Sneaks list is a snapshot of films expected to open through Sept. 8. Dates and other details are subject to change.

Capsules compiled by Kevin Crust and Kinsey Lowe.