APRIL 8

FEVER PITCH

The Cast: Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon, Miranda Clarke
The Director: The Farrelly Brothers
The Story: The romance between Lindsay (Barrymore), a successful businesswoman, and Ben (Fallon), a high school teacher, seems to be going great - until, the start of baseball season, that is, when she has to compete with his first love, the Boston Red Sox. This is based on Nick Hornby's novel which was previously filmed in 1997, with soccer substituting for baseball.

SAHARA

The Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Penelope Cruz, Steve Zahn
The Director: Breck Eisner
The Story: Author Clive Cussler's adventurer Dirk Pitt (McConaughey) and his sidekick (Zahn) travel to West Africa in pursuit of a missing Civil War ³ghost ship² carrying a shipment of gold. The duo team up with Dr. Eve Rojas (Cruz) when they discover that their target may in fact be linked to a number of mysterious deaths in the area.

APRIL 22

A LOT LIKE LOVE

The Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Amanda Peet, Kal Penn
The Director: Nigel Cole
The Story: Fate throws together a guy (Kutcher) and girl (Peet) who have resisted their mutual attraction for years in this romcom from Calendar Girls director Cole.

APRIL 29

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY

The Cast: Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell
The Director: Garth Jennings
The Story: It's been a radio play and a TV mini-series. Now late author Douglas Adams' hilarious book is a Hollywood-financed movie. The Office's Martin Freeman stars as hapless hero Arthur Dent, whose day goes from bad (his house is bulldozed and his best friend turns out to be an alien) to worse (the Earth blows up). Hitching a ride on a passing spacecraft, Arthur and his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) embark on a wild adventure, learn the value of a good towel, and discover that all they need to know is in one book, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
 

XXX: STATE OF THE UNION

The Cast: Ice Cube, Willem Dafoe, Scott Speedman
The Director: Lee Tamahori
The Story: A homegrown conspiracy against the American government forces NSA agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) to recruit another outside operative, Darius Stone (Ice Cube replacing Vin Diesel) as the new xXx super spy. Scott Speedman and rapper Xzibit co-star.

MAY 6

HOUSE OF WAX

The Cast: Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray, Paris Hilton
The Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
The Story: A group of friends on their way to a college football game must escape the clutches of a pair of murderous brothers whose favourite pastime is adding the wax-coated corpses of their victims to their small-town House of Wax tourist attraction. This horror remake does not, unfortunately, have the advantage of Vincent Price, the star of the 1953 version (itself a remake of 1933's Mystery of the Wax Museum).

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

The Cast: Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons
The Director: Ridley Scott
The Story: Gladiator director Scott returns to the world of historical epics with this tale of political and religious intrigue set during the Crusades. Pirates of the Caribbean's Bloom stars as Balian of Ibelin, a commoner who serves a doomed king, falls in love with a foreign queen (Green), and rises to become a knight who must protect the people of Jerusalem's fragile peace.

MAY 13

KICKING & SCREAMING

The Cast: Will Ferrell, Robert Duvall, Mike Ditka
The Director: Jesse Dylan
The Story: The funny Mr. Ferrell stars as Phil Weston, a hyperactive kids soccer coach whose longstanding rivalry with his father, Buck (Duvall), rises again when Buck's new son, by a hot young wife, faces off against Phil's boy for the league championship.

MAY 19

STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH

The Cast: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen
The Director: George Lucas
The Story: As the Star Wars series comes to an end, here's hoping Lucas recaptures a little of the original's magic. Episode III sees the volatile Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) finally lured to the Dark Side of the Force and becoming Darth Vader after his climactic duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor), a moment geeks like me have been anticipating for decades.

MAY 27

THE LONGEST YARD

The Cast: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds
The Director: Peter Segal
The Story: Sandler stars as Paul Crewe, a pro quarterback in stir at West Texas Federal Prison who is asked by his warden to put together a football team of prisoners to play the guards. Helping out is fellow inmate Nate Scarboro (Reynolds, who starred in the 1974 original), a former college champion and coach. Rapper Nelly co-stars.