The recent announcement that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was going to be put on ice till next summer was concerning for a number of reasons. Not the least of which was the feeling that the venerable Harry Potter franchise might be showing its age, but more so at Warner Bros. reasoning saying that they were holding the film, in part, because they needed to balance out the back end of their summer slate. Apparently, the writers’ strike impact was deleterious that studios are facing a blockbuster deficit in ’09.
Perhaps under ordinary circumstances, the issue wouldn’t be as worrisome. But after the summer that gave us Iron Man, Wall-E and most importantly, The Dark Knight, can a below average number of tentpole productions seriously be tolerated? A cursory glance at next summer’s slate shows a number of high-profile productions in the offing, but that’s strictly evaluating by name-recognition from what’s all-ready scheduled to be released.
 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Made by Totsi director Gavin Hood, Hugh Jackman returns to the role that made him famous as the early adventures of Wolverine are revealed on film for the first time. Sporting a tremendous cast including Live Schreiber as Sabretooth, Danny Huston as Stryker and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and featuring fan favourite Gambit (played by Canadian Taylor Kitsch), Wolverine looks good to being back the X-citement over the X-Men. | 
| Star Trek – Although originally slated to open in December, J.J. Abrams’ re-imagining of the Original Series has remained shrouded in mystery. The look of the characters was released in a series of posters at Comic Con, including Eric Bana as Romulan bad guy Nero, but the story itself is still under wraps except for the well-known fact that time travel and the crew’s early years will be explored in the film. |  | Angels & Demons – Dan Brown’s first Robert Langdon adventure in print is being turned into the film sequel to The Da Vinci Code. Tom Hanks returns as Langdon with Ron Howard as director. Also returning are the hard feelings felt by the Catholic Church over Da Vinci, as they refused the production’s request to shoot on Church properties, which is problematic given the fact that the plot involves a conspiracy inside the Vatican. |  | Terminator: Salvation – In a mind altering state of being both prequel and sequel, Salvation takes place in the year 2018 and follows Christian Bale’s now grown-up John Conner lead humanity in the war against Skynet and its Terminator army. Sam Worthington plays Marcus Wright, a mysterious stranger that makes Conner doubt the war’s final outcome, and Anton Yelchin (Trek’s new Chekov) co-stars as young Kyle Reese. Interestingly, Austrian body-builder Roland Kickinger has been cast as a very important Terminator. Which one? Let’s put it this way: his last big acting role was playing the Governator in the TV movie Run Arnold, Run. |  |
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian – As the title implies, the action of the sequel to the surprise 2006 hit Night at the Museum moves from the New York’s Natural History Museum to Washington’s Smithsonian. New additions to the collection include: Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart, Bill Hader as General Custer, Christopher Guest as Ivan the Terrible and Hank Azaria as the evil pharaoh Kah Mun Rah. Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams, Steve Coogan and Owen Wilson all return. |
| Fast and Furious – I’ll be damned if I ever thought that The Fast and the Furious franchise would ever reach part four, but this one is special because its reuniting the original cast. Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster are brought together again to take down a drug dealer, or something. Plus, we get to see how this all ties into the last film, Tokyo Drift. Finally, an answer to all those unanswered questions. |  | | The Year One – From saintly comedic pedigree (as in producer Judd Apatow and director Harold Ramis), comes the story of a couple of guys looking for the meaning of life in the time of Moses. The two guys, Zed and O, are being played by Jack Black and Michael Cera. It’s being said that the tone will be similar to Monty Python’s Life of Brian, one of the comedy troupes more controversial outings. | 
| | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Another near victim of the writers’ strike, Fallen promises to capitalize on the popularity of the first film by balancing it more between the robot and the human characters. Shia LaBeouf returns with Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro as the humans, while new Transformers are rumoured to include the motorbike (and female) Arcee for the Autobots and (finally) Soundwave for the Decepticons. |  | Up! – Pixar’s follow-up to Wall-E is being billed as a “coming of old age” story about a 78 year old named Carl who sets out to explore the world with Russell, a 9 year old Wilderness Explorer as his guide. The voice cast includes Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer and John Ratzenberger.
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 | Public Enemies – The man that gave us Heat is delivering the true story of the Feds pursuit of 30s gangsters as told in Bryan Burrough's book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Johnny Depp, Channing Tatum and Stephen Graham will play John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson respectively while Christian Bale is the FBI charged with bringing them to justice. |  | Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – Terminator isn’t the only film going back to the beginning next summer… Well sort of. Apparently the plot for this third Age has to do with the discovery of a group of dinosaurs that survived the ice age. The teaser trailer for this film was released with Horton Hears a Who. |  |
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – If the trailer doesn’t give you the creeps, you’re clearly a Death Eater. Dumbledore takes Harry back to Voldemort’s greatest hits in the hopes of preparing the boy wizard for the final battle. |  | 2012 – Roland Emmerich brings disaster to the world once again using the Mayan prophecy of the winter solstice of 2012 being the date of the end of the world. John Cusack stars as a father trying to save his family from impending doom. |  |
The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 – Tony Scott remakes this film about a hostage situation on a New York subway train. Denzel Washington and John Travolta take over Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw’s roles as the policeman and the lead hijacker. |
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra – In this adaptation of the toys, comics and TV show of the same name, the Joes are now an international task force out to stop the terrorist group Cobra. The cast includes Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Rachel Nichols, Marlon Wayans, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Ray Park as G.I. Joe; with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Christopher Eccleston, Sienna Miller, Lee Byung-hun and Arnold Vosloo as Cobra. |  |
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