2011 Movie Preview: Part 2

Published Dec 30 2010, 14:12 GMT  |  By Simon Reynolds

In the second part of our 2011 movie preview we take a look at the return of Jack Sparrow, some superheroes familiar and new, James Bond and Indiana Jones teaming up for a Western with a twist and a super-secretive J.J. Abrams project...

> 2010 Movie Preview: Part 1

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May
After a four-year absence, Johnny Depp returns to the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. This time, he's up against Penelope Cruz's feisty pirate Angelica. "She's very stimulating, she's someone I adore, one of my best friends. It's been great having her,” Depp told DS of his reunion with Cruz. If your funnybone is in need of a tickling, then May has two big comedies in the shape of The Hangover 2 and Monte Carlo. The former has the old gang back together for a debauched holiday in Thailand, while the latter sees Disney star Selena Gomez and Glee's Cory Monteith getting whisked away for a jaunt in Monaco's capital.

> Trailer: Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

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June
June dishes up a couple of eagerly-awaited superhero projects, the first being Matthew Vaughn and Bryan Singer's revamp of the X-Men series with First Class. Let's hope the early years of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) fares better than Wolverine! Green Lantern follows later in the month as Ryan Reynolds slips on a power ring and join an intergalactic gang of superheroes. "Going into a warehouse with green walls is just another discipline. It becomes fascinating..." co-star Mark Strong says of working on the effects-heavy blockbuster. Closing the month is Michael Bay's explosion-packed, Megan Fox-less robot blockbuster Transformers: The Dark Of The Moon starring Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

> Trailer: Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

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July
The door closes on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series with the release of The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in July. Expect some serious carnage, star Oliver Phelps tells us: "It was like filming Saving Private Ryan or Band Of Brothers, especially when you see all these huge turrets just splattered on the floor." Cars 2 provides this year's dose of Pixar goodness, seeing Lightning McQueen caught up in an espionage mission while competing at the World Grand Prix. Marvel comic book fans, meanwhile, can look forward to some serious superhero action when Chris Evans swaps the Human Torch for Steve Rogers in World War II epic Captain America.

> Trailer: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

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August
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford - yep, 007 James Bond and Indiana Jones - butt heads in Iron Man director Jon Favreau's Western-with-a-twist Cowboys & Aliens. It probably doesn't take a genius to figure out that the twist is of the science fiction kind! Like Deep Impact and Armageddon before, Hollywood occasionally gets into the habit of releasing films with identical plotlines. 2010 is the year of the f**k buddy, as Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis embark on a mutually beneficial bedroom partnership in Friends With Benefits, while No Strings Attached, with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, lands in February. The hugely-secretive Super 8 is due in August, and being a J.J. Abrams project details are being kept firmly under wraps. What can we tell you about it? Absolutely nothing!

> Trailer: Cowboys & Aliens

What do you think of the movies 2011 has to offer? Leave your comments in the space below!