Let the summer blockbuster countdown begin.
Tis the season to get comfy at your local movie theater… and make studio executives very happy.
From May through mid-August, Hollywood will roll out new movie after new movie with the hopes that a few will make history by drawing records crowds.
So which flick could be the next summer blockbuster?
Here’s a look at the contenders:
MAY 2: “Iron Man.” Move over Spidey, Robert Downey Jr. is coming to a theater near you as “Iron Man.” Downey plays a wealthy inventor who lacks superpowers but does have a high-tech suit of armor. The character is based on a Marvel Comics hero and the movie gets additional star power from Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges.
MAY 9: “Speed Racer.” The trailer for this film has been running for more than a month now and film critics peg it as one with blockbuster potential. “Speed Racer” is an adaptation of the animated show starring Emile Hirsch as the kid roaring along the roadways, Christina Ricci as his helicopter-flying girlfriend and Matthew Fox as mystery man Racer X.
MAY 16: “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.” This is the second installment in the fantasy franchise based on C.S. Lewis’ books. In the movie Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie go over the rainbow again but this time centuries have gone by in Narnia, which now is under the rule of the tyrannical Telmarines and the even meaner King Miraz. The film has the siblings getting reacquainted with old buddy Aslan the lion, again voiced by Liam Neeson.
MAY 22: “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” reunites the dream team of Harrison Ford as the world-traveling Indy, director Steven Spielberg and creator-producer George Lucas. It’s hard to believe that it has been nearly 20 years since the last movie, but the gap doesn’t seem to have affected the aging Indy who teams up with Cate Blanchett (who plays as a Soviet operative) and Karen Allen (who returns as Marion Ravenwood, Jones’ love interest from 1981’s “Raiders of the Ark”).