Cinema lovers can look forward to no fewer than 49 pictures in the three month-period between July and September, KRS Film Distributors announced recently.

These will include 11 blockbusters, many of which are aimed at children and family audiences.

The summer film programme will, in fact, consist of seven romantic dramas/comedies; 10 comedies; 11 dramas/thrillers/horrors; 10 action/adventures; three animated CGI; two musicals and a comedy documentary.

The season will also include the release of a number of foreign language films, including Innocence; The Beat that my Heart Skipped and The Intruder from France; Manderlay from Denmark, Sweden, Holland, France and Germany; Whisky from Uruguay and Tickets from Italy.

Meanwhile, in the 26-week period between January and June, KRS released a total of 104 pictures comprising 49 US Productions; 17 non-US productions and 38 co-productions with US involvement.

Not surprisingly, The Da Vinci Code was the movie which attracted the largest audience during the first six months of the year, followed by Big Momma’s House 2 and Munich. Other movies in the Top 20 included Ice Age 2 – The Meltdown, Mission Impossible 3; Memoirs of a Geisha; X-Men – The Last Stand and Brokeback Mountain.

Comedies attracted the greater number of audiences followed by the action thrillers and dramas.

In the same period, 12 films were played for eight weeks or more, although this number was set to rise with the continued showing of movies such as The Da Vinci Code and X-Men 3 while 22 films had to be withdrawn after one week of playing time having registered very poor business.

The Beat that my Heart Skipped

Distributor: Artificial Eye

Starring: Romain Duris, Aure Atika, Emmanuelle Devos

Director: Jacques Audiard

Screenplay: Jacques Audiard, Tonino Benacquista

Synopsis: A remake of James Toback’s 1970s noir film Fingers, set in Paris. 28-year-old Tom leads a life that might be termed as criminal. In doing so, he follows in the footsteps of his father, who made his money from dirty and sometimes brutal real estate deals. Tom is a pretty hard-boiled guy, witty and sexy, but also strangely considerate as far as his father is concerned. Somehow he appears to have arrived at a critical juncture in his life whereby the son takes it upon himself to become his parents’ educator.

The Break-Up

Distributor: UIP

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston

Director: Peyton Reed

Screenplay: Jeremy Garelick, Jay Lavender

Synopsis: After Brooke calls it quits with her boyfriend Gary, neither person is willing to move out of the condo they share. Taking the advice of their respective friends and confidants (and a few total strangers), they both engage in mental warfare designed to force the other person to flee the premises – until they both realise they might be fighting to keep their relationship alive.

Down in the Valley

Distributor: Icon

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

Director: David Jacobson

Screenplay: David Jacobson

Synopsis: Tobe is a teenager living in Los Angeles, whose aimless existence is turned upside down by a chance encounter with Harlan Carruthers, a charismatic cowboy who seems as if he would be much more at home in Monument Valley than in the San Fernando Valley. Tobe is drawn to Harlan’s poetic charm and romantic spirit and she embodies for him all the innocence and purity that is impossible to find on the mean streets of L.A. Despite the obvious difference in their ages and backgrounds, and the growing opposition of Tobe’s father, the couple pursues their passionate, furtive romance until it becomes apparent that Tobe is unprepared for the intensity of Harlan’s love. Then, things take a sudden, dangerous turn when Tobe discovers Harlan is not at all whom he appeared to be.

Fearless

Distributor: UIP

Starring: Jet Li, Nakamura Shido, John T. Benn, Collin Chou, Masato Harada

Director: Ronny Yu

Screenplay: Ronny Yu

Synopsis: Fok Yuanjia (Li) dreams of continuing the legacy his father established as a world-class fighter in China. After reaching his goal, however, a personal tragedy causes him to disappear for several years. He’s not heard from until the honour of defending his country in an international tournament surfaces.

Garfield 2

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Starring: Brecklin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Bill Murray, Bill Connolly

Director: Tim Hill

Screenplay: Joel Cohen, Jim Davis

Synopsis: Convinced he has been robbed of his rightful inheritance, the nefarious Lord Dargis comes up with a scheme to get rid of the Royal Cat, Prince, in order that he might become the owner of Caryle Castle.

Innocence

Distributor: Artificial Eye

Starring: Zoe Auclair, Berangere Haubruges, Lea Bridarolli

Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic

Screenplay: Lucile Hadzihalilovic

Synopsis: A subterranean rumbling resonates in the heart of a forest. Hidden by foliage, a metal grate reveals underground passageways, which lead to the cellars of five houses scattered throughout a great park. The park is cut off from the outside world by a huge wall with no door. In one of these houses, a group of girls aged between seven and 12 gather around a coffin. The coffin lid opens, revealing a six-year-old girl. Her name is Iris. Bianca, the eldest of the group, introduces Iris into this strange but pleasant boarding school, home to some 30 little girls. There are no adults here, save for several old servants and two young teachers: Mademoiselle Edith and Mademoiselle Eva.

Miami Vice

Distributor: UIP

Starring: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Li Gong, Luis Tosar

Director: Michael Mann

Screenplay: Michael Mann

Synopsis: Michael Mann, the creator of the original Miami Vice TV series, directs the big screen version, with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as Crocket and Tubbs. Here we see the pastel-jacket-loving crime-fighters going up against major arms and drug dealers in South Florida.

Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest

Distributor: Buena Vista

Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley

Director: Gore Verbinski

Screenplay: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio

Synopsis: Once again thrown into the world of the supernatural, Captain Jack Sparrow finds out that he owes a blood debt to the legendary Davey Jones, captain of the ghostly Flying Dutchman. With time running out, Jack must find a way out of his debt or else be doomed to eternal damnation and servitude in the afterlife. And as if this weren’t enough, the captain’s problems manage to wreck the wedding plans of a certain Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, who are forced to join Jack on yet another misadventure.

A Scanner Darkly

Distributor: Warner Bros

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder

Director: Richard Linklater

Screenplay: Richard Linklater

Synopsis: A Scanner Darkly is set in suburban Orange County, California in the future. It imagines a paranoid world in which it seems two of every 10 Americans have been hired by the government to spy on the other eight – in the name of national security and drug enforcement. When one reluctant government recruit (Reeves) is ordered to start spying on his friends, he is launched on a journey into the absurd, where outsourced government contractors largely define the social construct, where identities and loyalties are impossible to decode, and where not even his girlfriend can be trusted. The film highlights the inconsistencies and ironic consequences of the war on drugs.

The Sentinel

Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Starring: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, Martin Donovan, Kim Basinger

Director: Clark Johnson

Screenplay: George Nolfi

Synopsis: When a colleague is murdered, Secret Service Agent Pete Garrison is put in charge of the investigation. But Garrison himself becomes a suspect after he is blackmailed by someone who knows of his affair with the First Lady. Stripped of his duties and now a fugitive, Garrison races to prove his innocence and save the president’s life.

Superman Returns

Distributor: Warner Bros

Starring: Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden

Director: Bryan Singer

Screenplay: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris

Synopsis: While an old enemy plots to render him powerless once and for all, Superman faces the heartbreaking realisation that the woman he loves, Lois Lane, has moved on with her life. Or has she? Superman’s bittersweet return challenges him to bridge the distance between them while finding a place in a society that has learned to survive without him

Tickets

Distributor: Artificial Eye

Starring: Carlo Delle Piane, Valerua Bruni Tedeschi, Silvana De Santis

Director: Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami, Ken Loach

Screenplay: Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami, Paul Leverty

Three highly-acclaimed directors join together to direct three interwoven stories that take place during a journey from Central Europe to Rome. The characters connect through casual encounters and set forth a story of love, chance and sacrifice. One older businessman finds solace and a new insight into life when he is forced to wait at the train station due to bad weather. A young man is reminded of life’s obligations but is also introduced to love, and three Scottish youths on their way to the football match of their dreams are forced to open their eyes and see the bigger picture. One single train journey sparks many changes for many people. This is a film about privilege and exclusion, and the reality of the value of just one ticket.