Huge stars like Halle Berry, Tobey Maguire and Will Smith will have the movie-going public flocking to cinemas for their new releases.
America already has been inundated with films that cost obscene amounts of money to create. "Troy" starring Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom opened Friday and garnered an total U.S. weekend gross of $45.6 million. The movie reportedly cost a whopping $200 million to make.
"Van Helsing," a monster mash of sorts, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale has brought in a total gross of $84.5 million since its May 7 release. The film billed as the first official summer blockbuster cost somewhere around $160 million to make.
But epic poems and monster hunters isn't where the excitement stops this year. Animation extravagance, futuristic crime stories and historical dramas all are coming your way.
Here's a look at the movies everyone will be talking about around the water cooler this summer:
Release date: May 19
Vocal talents of: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas and John Cleese
Director: Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon
Production company: DreamWorks
Rating: PG
What to expect: After celebrating their honeymoon, Shrek (Myers) is invited to meet the parents of his wife, Princess Fiona (Diaz). The problem herein is that the family doesn't know their daughter and son-in-law are ogres. Upset that Fiona didn't marry her son, Prince Charming, the Fairy Godmother hires sword fighting cat, Puss-in-Boots (Banderas), to get rid of Shrek.
Release date: June 4
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Richard Griffiths and Pam Ferris
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Production company: Warner Brothers
Rating: PG
What to expect: Third in the ever-popular lineup of movies about a child sorcerer, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" sees Potter in his third year at Hogwarts, a boarding school for "gifted" youth. In the film, Potter teams up with a new teacher, and is faced with a new dilemma. His life is in danger after convicted murderer Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban Prison, with one goal - to kill Potter.
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Release date: July 7
Starring: Clive Owen and Keira Knightley
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Production company: Touchstone Pictures
Rating: Not yet rated
What to expect: This blockbuster film looks to focus on the history and politics when King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table came to power in the wake of the fall of the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages. Owen (Bourne Identity) plays the famed King Arthur and Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) plays his unfaithful wife Guinevere.
