{mosimage}While the box office is getting some major play with a few movies, some movie fans are gearing up for one of the hottest summer movie seasons in years. Old favorites like Indiana Jones, Batman and those city dwellers from New York are expected to heat up the screen and the box office.

Here’s a sneak peak at what’s expected to be the hottest movies of the summer:

One of the most anticipated movies of the summer season may have the saddest story behind it. The latest in the Batman series, The Dark Knight, is expected to cause quite a stir at the box office. It’s true some people may go and see the movie out of morbid curiosity č it was, after all, Heath Ledger’s last movie, and if you believe what you read what may have contributed to his death. 

My family and I are anxiously awaiting the return of Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It’s been almost 19 years since The Last Crusade hit the big screen, but Harrison Ford still has the moves, the wit and the style to carry off the character of Indiana. Having watched this series from the beginning (and I’ll admit even watching the TV series, which by the way had a young Grady Bowman starring as the little Indiana), I am anxious to see what hair-raising stunts and spins they can throw in this flick.

There’s quite a buzz about the big screen debut of Sex and the City. In fact, pundits are already making book on whether or not a second flick is in the works č and the first one isn’t even out yet. I have to be honest, I don’t understand the buzz about this movie because I never (gasp!) watched the series. Info on this movie indicates that it is as sharp as the TV show. This offering has one of the friends engaged, another expecting a new baby, one in the midst of marriage trouble and the other leaving the big city for the coast. Maybe the second film will have the gang jetting out to sunny California for a wild reunion.

Robert Downey Jr. has definitely reached a turning point in his career. Instead of seeing him only in courtroom shots and leaving rehab, we have the chance to see him three times this summer. His most highly touted film this summer is Iron Man, the story of billionaire inventor-turned-superhero. In June, he makes a surprise appearance in The Incredible Hulk, playing Iron Man. In August he shows up in a film about an Oscar winning actor č Tropic Thunder. I for one am glad that Downey has his act together.

Final pick for the summer čThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. We, like a whole lot of people across the country, loved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It’s going to take a lot to live up to the first movie, but trailers and previews of the Caspian movie sound like it definitely has a chance of living up to, if not being better than, the first. I just wonder if there are any attacking polar bears?

Contact Janice Burton at: editor@upandcomingweekly.com