Superheroes and sequels lead the summer movie season

It doesn't take a professor of dark arts to recognize “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” as the No. 1 most anticipated movie of the summer.

Entertainment Weekly's reader survey gave the eighth Potter movie an impressive 58 percent in a poll of summer's most eagerly awaited films, beating out such potential blockbusters as “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “The Hangover: Part II,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and the latest “Transformers.”

The “most anticipated” movies — including all these and a handful more — are usually “the best marketed” ones. And often, those are the films with built-in appeal, such as sequels, remakes and action tales starring comic-book heroes.

After all, it's difficult to anticipate a motion picture you know little or nothing about, right?

My personal list of most anticipated movies includes Tom Hanks' second directorial project “Larry Crowne,” Guillermo del Toro's remake of the thriller “Don't Be Afraid of the Dark” and Wayne “Joy Luck Club” Wang's “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” an intimate look at the world of Asian women.

And, yes, I am champing at the proverbial bit to see Part 2 of “The Deathly Hallows,” just to shake off the frigid paralysis of “Part 1” and witness the emergence of Harry, Hermione and Ron as the Three Musketeers of a brave, new world.

Here are the summer movies of 2011. Some dates will be changed as the summer progresses, so check Time out! for updates.

May 13

“Bridesmaids”#8212; After tentative forays onto the big screen in supporting roles, #8220;Saturday Night Live#8221; regular Kristen Wiig shows what she can really do as the star and co-writer of a gal-pal comedy that skates the line between #8220;The Hangover#8221; and any Judd Apatow production of choice. Wiig plays a woman with conflicting emotions about her best friend (Maya Rudolph) getting married and leaving her #8212; single.

#8220;The Double Hour#8221;#8212; A poor maid and a Stoic cop meet at a speed-dating event and hit it off. Then comes that ill-timed robbery that threatens their newfound happiness.

#8220;Everything Must Go#8221;#8212; When a husband (Will Ferrell) discovers his wife has dumped his possessions on the front yard and locked the door, he stages a yard sale to make a new life.

#8220;Hesher#8221;#8212; Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a bad, bad boy who hates shirts in this curious black comedy about a control-freak high school punk who inserts himself into the house of a grieving father and son (Rainn Wilson and Devin Brochu) unable to control anything. The omnipresent Natalie Portman plays a checkout girl.

#8220;Meek's Cutoff#8221;#8212; Evoking the naturalism of a documentary, Kelly Reichardt's 1845-set drama demonstrates the harsh conditions three families face when they hire a mountain man guide (Bruce Greenwood) to lead them along the Oregon Trail over the Cascade Mountains. A classic study of survival.

#8220;Priest#8221;#8212; In this post-apocalyptic action thriller, legendary warrior priest (Paul Bettany) sets out to rescue his niece (Lily Collins), abducted by a murderous pack of vampires (are there other kinds?) before they turn her into a blood sucker. It's not being screened for film critics, and we all know what that means, don't we?

#8220;Wretches and Jabberers#8221; #8212; A documentary about how two men with autism head out on a quest to change the world's attitudes about disabilities and intelligence.

May 14

#8220;Forks Over Knives#8221; #8212; Can degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes be cured or curtailed by an all-plant diet? Research and this documentary say: Yes!

May 20

#8220;First Grader#8221;#8212; National Geographic presents a doc about an 84-year-old Kenya resident who wants to go to school for the first time. And he won't be discouraged. Call it Kenya's no adult left behind act.

#8220;Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides#8221;#8212; Oscar-winning director Rob #8220;Chicago#8221; Marshall takes over for Gore Verbinski. Captain Jack (Johnny Depp, with even more eyeliner) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) chase the elusive Fountain of Youth. So do Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and his diabolically beautiful daughter Angelica (Penelope Cruz).

May 26

#8220;The Hangover: Part II#8221;#8212; The sequel to the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time brings back party animals Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis, this time in Bangkok instead of Las Vegas. Missing: Mel Gibson as a tattoo artist, replaced by Liam Neeson, who was replaced by Nick Cassavetes. Man, these changes are enough to give you a hang ... well, you know.

#8220;Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom#8221;#8212; This sequel to the 2008 animated hit uses a familiar plot: A villainous baddie (a peacock voiced by Gary Oldman) wants to destroy the world. Dragon Warrior Panda (Jack Black) must trim his feathers. Martial arts superstars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Michelle Yeoh play a crocodile and a goat.

May 27

#8220;Midnight in Paris#8221;#8212; Woody Allen's 42nd movie stars Owen Wilson (Owen Wilson in a Woody movie?) as a writer who trudges off to Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams). Something realistically magical happens. Co-starring Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen and Marion Cotillard.

#8220;Tree of Life#8221;#8212; For true cinephiles, Terrence Malick's drama marks the summer's most anticipated movie. A young lad (Laramie Eppler) grows up pingponging between his parents, a prickly, rough-and-tough competitor (Brad Pitt) and a selfless gentlewoman (Jessica Chastain). The lad grows up to become Sean Penn, so it looks like Dad's traits won out.

June 1

#8220;Yellowbrickroad#8221; #8212; Researchers find the trail used by an entire New Hampshire town when everyone in it disappeared in 1940.

June 3

#8220;Submarine#8221;#8212; Teenager Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) has two items on his to-do list: Lose his virginity before he turns 16 and squelch the romantic vibe between his mom (Sally Hawkins) and an ex-lover (Paddy Considine) on the rebound.

#8220;X-Men: First Class#8221;#8212; The origin tale of the X-Men detailing how Professor X and Magneto started out as young friends (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender) before they became mortal enemies. With Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, January Jones and Oliver Platt.

June 10

#8220;Beginners#8221;#8212; A young man in love (Ewan McGregor) remembers his late father (Christopher Plummer), who embraced his homosexuality at the age of 75, after his wife of 45 years died.

#8220;Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer#8221;#8212; Third grader Judy (Aussie Jordana Beatty) and her brother Stink (Parris Mosteller) feel deserted by their parents for the summer, until freewheeling Aunt Opal (Heather Graham) arrives to take care of them. The trailer says the movie is #8220;super awesome.#8221;

#8220;Project Nim#8221;#8212; A documentary about a New York family who raised a chimpanzee as a human child during the 1970s. It might be a nice bookend to the upcoming #8220;Rise of the Planet of the Apes.#8221;

#8220;Super 8#8221;#8212; In 1979 Ohio, geeky teen filmmakers witness the wreck of a train on its way to Area 51. Something alien escapes, and the kids are thrust into a thrilling adventure written and directed by J.J. Abrams of #8220;Star Trek#8221; and #8220;Lost#8221; fame.

June 17

#8220;The Art of Getting By#8221;#8212; A #8220;Teflon slacker#8221; (Brit Freddie Highmore with a spot-on American accent) navigates the treacherous seas of adolescence. He's artistically gifted, but a lousy student who must churn out all his required assignments in three weeks or else. Then he meets a kindred spirit (#8220;Scream 4#8221; star Emma Roberts).

#8220;Green Lantern#8221;#8212; Two-time 007 director Martin Campbell tries a superhero epic starring Ryan Reynolds as DC Comics' Green Lantern, out to save the universe from a telekinetic villain (Peter Sarsgaard). Given that G.L. can't tolerate yellow, good thing he's not up against Auric Goldfinger.

#8220;Mr. Popper's Penguins#8221;#8212; A shipment of six dancing penguins from his estranged father causes a ruthless, amoral, success-obsessed New York real estate developer (Jim Carrey) to re-evaluate his life priorities. Directed by Mark #8220;Mean Girls#8221; Waters.

#8220;Rejoice and Shout#8221; #8212; It's the history of gospel music, from its earliest origins as spirituals and hymns through its modern Christian incarnations.

June 24

#8220;Bad Teacher#8221;#8212; A foul-mouthed, ruthless and inappropriate school instructor (Cameron Diaz) targets a rich substitute teacher (Justin Timberlake) to save her from being bored of education. But a colleague (Lucy Punch) tries to chalk one up for romance.

#8220;A Better Life#8221;#8212; A Mexican gardener (Demian Bichir) tries to keep from being deported from the U.S. while protecting his son (Jose Julian) from getting sucked into a Los Angeles street gang.

#8220;Cars 2#8221;#8212; #8220;Cars 1#8221; was a Pixar disappointment. Maybe they'll use better fuel in this story, which brings back Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) as they head overseas (Europe and Japan) for the World Grand Prix. We miss Paul Newman as Doc Hudson, don't we?

July 1

#8220;Larry Crowne#8221;#8212; Tom Hanks directs himself again (he did the marvelous #8220;That Thing You Do!#8221;) using a script he co-wrote with #8220;My Big Fat Greek Wedding#8221; star Nia Vardalos. A big-box retail chain lays Larry (Hanks) off. With no college degree, he sets out to get one, and runs into a stuffy professor (Julia Roberts) who might just have what he needs to succeed.

#8220;Monte Carlo#8221;#8212; #8220;I finally find a guy who loves me for me,#8221; Grace says, #8220;and I'm not even me!#8221; That's because Grace (Selena Gomez) was mistaken for a look-alike British heiress while on vacation in Paris with her buds Meg and Emma (Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy).

#8220;Page One: Inside The New York Times#8221;#8212; Andrew Rossi's documentary takes us inside the newspaper as its staff struggles to be relevant and stay above water in the media white water rapids of the Internet age.

#8220;Transformers: Dark of the Moon#8221;#8212; Turns out Neil Armstrong found something alien on the moon back in 1969. Now, the Autobots and Decepticons race to find it, and Chicago's existence hangs in the balance. The best trailer I've seen this year! Please, let this be better than #8220;Revenge of the Fallen,#8221; a soulless, character-driven-away orgy of cool special effects!

July 6

#8220;Cold Fish#8221;#8212; A terror tale based on the 1980s Saitama murders involving a dog kennel owner. Here, he's a fish market owner.

July 8

#8220;Horrible Bosses#8221;#8212; Three friends (Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman and Charlie Day) decide to improve the world by killing their bosses (Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey and Colin Farrell) in an R-rated comedy directed by Seth Gordon.

#8220;Zookeeper#8221;#8212; Animal buddies help out a kind zookeeper (Kevin James) by breaking their code of silence and giving him advice on snaring the girl of his dreams (Rosario Dawson). Voices by Sylvester Stallone, Cher and even Judd Apatow.

July 15

#8220;Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2#8221;#8212; After 10 years, seven novels, eight movies and four directors, it's THE END for Harry Potter. #8220;Part 1#8221; was mostly a setup for the anticipated Battle of Hogwarts in this, the fourth and final Potter movie to be directed by David Yates. The anticipated Ron/Hermione smoocheroo promises to make the shortlist of the greatest movie lip-locks. By now, the actors might well be puckered out.

#8220;Snow Flower and the Secret Fan#8221;#8212; #8220;Joy Luck Club#8221; director Wayne Wang presents a drama that shifts between past and present-day Shanghai. Two girls (Bingbing Li and Gianna Jun) create their own secret code to communicate under the oppressive cultural rules of male-dominated Chinese society. Hugh Jackman contributes a song-and-dance act.

#8220;Winnie the Pooh#8221;#8212; Walt Disney reboots its classic animated tale of the characters in the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh convinces Owl, Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga and the gang to rescue Christopher Robin from a kidnapper. But is he kidnapped? Voices by John Cleese and Jim Cummings.

July 22

#8220;Captain America: The First Avenger#8221;#8212; Human Torch star Chris Evans plays Marvel Comics' World War II superhero Captain America, complete with a red, white and blue costume and a bullet-resistant, patriotic Frisbee. He takes on the Red Skull (erstwhile #8220;Matrix#8221; villain Hugo Weaving), a Nazi weapons guru.

#8220;Friends With Benefits#8221;#8212; Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) think they can add sex to their friendship and avoid the cliché of Hollywood romantic comedies that mandate they will fall in love. Written and directed by Will #8220;Easy A#8221; Gluck, so it could work.

#8220;The Future#8221;#8212; A talking cat #8212; yes, a talking cat #8212; means the end of freedom for a young couple (director Miranda July and Hamish Linklater), who have their lives altered by responsibility. An examination of love. With a crawling T-shirt. Yes, a crawling T-shirt.

#8220;Life Above All#8221;#8212; A major hit at Ebertfest last weekend. After her newborn sister dies, 12-year-old Chanda (Khomotso Manyaka) deals with superstition and courage when an illness strikes her mother in a village near Johannesburg. Directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Schmitz.

#8220;Sarah's Key#8221;#8212; An American journalist (Kristin Scott Thomas) investigates how France treated the Jews back in 1942, when French police arrested Jewish families in the middle of the night, forcing Sarah, age 10, to lock her little brother in the bedroom cupboard. Co-starring Chicago's Aidan Quinn.

July 29

#8220;Cowboys Aliens#8221;#8212; Oh, boy! A crazy, genre-twisted wild west/alien invaders movie starring James Bond and James Bond's son (respectively Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford). They team up with a prospector (Olivia Wilde) to stop alien abductions of local townspeople in 1875 Arizona. Directed by Jon Favreau.

#8220;Crazy, Stupid, Love.#8221;#8212; When his wife (Julianne Moore) cheats on him, Cal (Steve Carell) watches his marriage crash, then gets back in the dating game with help from Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a ladies man trying to score with a fetching law student (Emma Stone). With Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon.

#8220;The Devil's Double#8221;#8212; Lee Tamahori directs a biographical drama about Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper), the man forced to serve as the look-alike double for Saddam Hussein's sadistic son Uday.

#8220;The Smurfs#8221; (aka #8220;The Smurfs in 3-D#8221; where applicable) #8212; An evil wizard (Hank Azaria) chases the computer-animated Smurfs through a portal to New York's live-action Central Park. Man, are they blue. Fortunately, a married couple (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays) wants to adopt them.

Aug. 5

#8220;The Change-Up#8221;#8212; A married man (Jason Bateman) and a single dude (Ryan Reynolds) wish they could switch places. A fountain goddess grants them their wishes. Now it's time for a raunchy comedy about getting what you wish for in life.

#8220;Dirty Girl#8221;#8212; Mila Jovovich, Juno Temple and William H. Macy star in Abe Sylvia's drama about a girl who runs off with a gay classmate (Jeremy Dozier) after she lands in a special education class in 1987. With Mary Steenburgen, Tim McGraw and a soundtrack of 1980s hits.

#8220;Rise of the Planet of the Apes#8221;#8212; James Franco's scientist genetically alters a chimp named Caesar (Andy Serkis performing motion capture) who becomes smart and evolves into a union organizer of the apes. The rest is history. Uh, make that apestory.

Aug. 12

#8220;Glee Live! In Concert!#8221; #8212; The popular Fox TV series comes to the silver screen in eye-popping 3-D for a limited two-week run.

#8220;The Help#8221;#8212; This looks like another #8220;white savior#8221; movie about a white journalist (Emma Stone) who writes about injustices against the black maids who raise white kids and clean their houses but aren't allowed to use the toilet fixtures in 1962 Mississippi. The movie, based on the best-selling book by Kathryn Stockett, co-stars Sissy Spacek, who starred in her own white savior drama #8220;The Long Walk Home.#8221;

#8220;Seven Days in Utopia#8221;#8212; A young man (Lucas Black) screws up his chance at professional golf with a public disaster, so he escapes to the putting greens in Utopia, Texas, home of an eccentric rancher (Robert Duvall) who forces him to contemplate both his past and future.

#8220;30 Minutes or Less#8221;#8212; Ruben #8220;Zombieland#8221; Fleischer directs a comedy about a dummy (Danny McBride) who needs money to pay a hit man to kill his father (Fred Ward), so he straps a bomb on a pizza delivery guy (Jesse Eisenberg) and forces him to rob a bank. Craziness ensues.

Aug. 19

#8220;Conan the Barbarian#8221;#8212; John Milius' 1982 epic gets an update by Marcus Nispel, who already ruined #8220;The Texas Chainsaw Massacre#8221; with his 2003 remake. #8220;Stargate Atlantis#8221; actor Jason Momoa takes up Arnold Schwarzenegger's sword to carve out his own interpretation of the Cimmerian warrior.

#8220;Fright Night#8221;#8212; Remake of Roddy McDowell's comically scary 1985 horror tale. A teen (Anton Yelchin) suspects his new neighbor (Colin Farrell) might be a vampire. If only his mom (Toni Collette) could see the fanged one for what he truly is.

#8220;One Day#8221;#8212; A relationship between Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) gets examined every July 15 over a 20-year span as the friends #8220;come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.#8221; Sounds like a remake of the Alan Alda/Ellen Burstyn film #8220;Same Time Next Year.#8221;

#8220;Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World#8221;#8212; Robert Rodriguez reboots his faltering kids movie series by concentrating on the lovely Jessica Alba as a mommy and former spy, called back to duty to battle the Timekeeper (Chicago's own Jeremy Piven) who wants to take over the world.

Aug. 26

#8220;Apollo 18#8221; #8212; Yes, there was an 18th Apollo mission. But no evidence of it existed ... until this movie. A horror faux doc in the vein of #8220;The Blair Witch Project.#8221; Need we say more?

#8220;Don't Be Afraid of the Dark#8221;#8212; But you should be afraid of chimneys and fire places, because that's where the scary goblins hide out when they're not trying to abduct a girl (Bailee Madison) whose dad (Guy Pearce) just moved into a Victorian mansion with his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes). A remake of a 1973 made-for-TV movie, adapted by Guillermo del Toro of #8220;Pan's Labyrinth.#8221;

#8220;Final Destination 5#8221;#8212; Apparently, filmmakers don't know what the word #8220;final#8221; means, because they keep churning out more Destinations. Survivors of a deadly suspension bridge disaster realize they can't cheat death. Neither can anyone else, a lost point in this horror series.

#8220;Our Idiot Brother#8221;#8212; Three sisters (Emily Mortimer, Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks) think their brother Ned (Paul Rudd) is a little naive about trusting people, a trait that gets him in deep trouble constantly. But when his sisters' lives begin to unravel, they learn that maybe, maybe, trusting others might be the best policy.

Aug. 31

#8220;The Debt#8221;#8212; John #8220;Shakespeare in Love#8221; Madden directs this study in ethics and guilt about a young Mossad operative (Jessica Chastain) who helps track down a Nazi doctor in 1966. Thirty years later, the operative (now played by Helen Mirren) reflects on her actions during the mission, accompanied by two other agents (Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas).