Premieres: May 1
Sure, it leaked online, but wouldn't you rather see it on the big screen? (Seriously, the trailer must have set some kind of record for number of explosions.) It does have the advantage — pressure? — of being the first summer blockbuster, but why should anyone be worried? It can't be any worse than X-Men: The Last Stand.
2 of 14 Paramount Pictures
Star Trek
Premieres: May 8
This one has a lot going for it. For starters, it's a reboot of one of the most adored nerd franchises ever. While that alone guarantees a strong box office opening, it also features a cast of white-hot up-and-comers and a director, J.J. Abrams, who makes everything he touches (Lost, Mission: Impossible 3, Fringe) turn to gold.
3 of 14 Columbia Pictures
Angels & Demons
Premieres: May 15
In a prequel to The Da Vinci Code, Tom Hanks returns as symbologist Robert Langdon to track down a believed-defunct, mysterious group called the Illuminati who may have murdered four cardinals in line for the papacy. As with DaVinci, huge movie star + Catholic-church controversy will = box office success.
4 of 14 Richard Foreman/Warner Bros. Pictures
Terminator: Salvation
Premieres: May 21
Christian Bale steps in to play an adult John Connor who teams up with a time-traveling death-row inmate (Sam Worthington) to lead the resistance against Skynet in post-acopalyptic 2018. Bryce Dallas Howard and Anton Yelchin co-star.
5 of 14 Disney/Pixar
Up
Premieres: May 29
News flash: Pixar doesn't make bad films. So we have no reason to doubt that this story of a grumpy old man (Ed Asner) who travels around the world with an 8-year-old Boy Scout in a balloon-powered flying house will be anything other than an entertaining moneymaker.
6 of 14 Warner Bros. Pictures
The Hangover
Premieres: June 5
The morning after a bachelor party, a trio of groomsmen (Zack Galifianakis, Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper) wake to find missing teeth, a police cruiser, a tiger, a baby and Mike Tyson in their hotel room. Oh, also: Nobody's seen the groom. From Todd Phillips, the director of Old School.
7 of 14 Columbia Pictures
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Premieres: June 12
Denzel Washington and John Travolta face off in this remake of the 1974 thriller starring Walter Mathau. Speaking of Face-Off, we're totally psyched to see Travolta play a baddie again.
8 of 14 Buena Vista Pictures
The Proposal
Premieres:June 19
Where have you been, Sandra Bullock? Here, she's back in familiar rom-com territory playing a tough businesswoman who fakes an engagement to her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to keep from being deported back to Canada. It all sounds a little predictable, but the trailer won us over (thanks in no small part to the legendary Betty White.)
9 of 14 Paramount Pictures
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Premieres: June 24
Pretty people Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf battle a new Decepticon incursion, and this time, Optimus Prime is in the hizzy, yo. Definitely more than meets the eye.
10 of 14 Universal Pictures
Public Enemies
Premieres: July 1
The good news: Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, two of the finest actors earning a paycheck today, star in this biopic of bank robber John Dillinger. Better news: It's directed by Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral).
11 of 14 Frank Ockenfels/Universal Pictures
Brüno
Premieres: July 10
Sacha Baron Cohen turned Borat into a huge smash, despite (or perhaps because of) its equal-opportunity approach to offending everybody. Look for more of the same, but this time with celebrities, the world of high fashion and gay stereotypes!
12 of 14 Warner Bros. Pictures
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Premieres: July 17
What happens when you ask fans to wait half a year longer than originally planned to see the next installment in their tale of young wizards? You get a lot of whining, of course, but we're guessing their fatigue won't affect the film's bottom line.
13 of 14 Universal Pictures
Funny People
Premieres: July 31
Judd Apatow hops back into the director's chair, adding Adam Sandler and Eric Bana to his usual ensemble (including Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann) in a dramedy about a terminally ill man who makes people laugh for a living.
14 of 14 Francois Duhamel/The Weinstein Company
Inglorious Basterds
Premieres: Aug. 21
Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited (and creatively titled) WWII drama stars Brad Pitt as an American lieutenant who heads an elite squad of "Nazi killers," a group that includes The Office's B.J. Novak and director Eli Roth. Cloris Leachman and Mike Myers cameo.