2012 Summer Movie Preview: Action And Sci-Fi

Moviefone  |  By Posted: 04/30/2012 8:27 am Updated: 05/ 2/2012 1:29 pm

In the trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises," a calm and confident Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) tells Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) that "there's a storm coming." While she may not have been talking about this summer's slate of action and sci-fi movies, the quote does lend itself well to the potential ass-kicking, heart-stopping thrills that audiences will experience at the theater over the next few months.

Although the past several summers have been a bit weak when it comes to both the science fiction and action genres, this season looks to make up for it with a heavy dose of seat-shaking, suspenseful flicks. We'll have superheroes ("The Avengers"), fairy tales brought to life ("Snow White and the Huntsman"), new action stars ("The Bourne Legacy"), old action stars ("The Expendables 2") and an "Alien" prequel a new Ridley Scott movie ("Prometheus").

Indeed, a storm is coming, and it's going to be way more entertaining for audiences than for Bruce Wayne. (Would you want to deal with Bane yourself? We didn't think so.) You can check out the full list of this summer's action and sci-films, below. Keep your eyes out this week for the rest of Moviefone's 2012 Summer Movie Preview.

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  • 'The Avengers'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> May 4 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Who <em>isn't</em> in it? Robert Downey, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo ... and more. <strong>What It's About:</strong> Under the threat of intergalactic invasion, the once-disbanded Avengers must work together to defeat the scourge. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> We haven't seen this many stars together kicking ass in forever! Also, the effects are amazing and, at times, jaw-dropping. If you're a fan of the comics, this is a big-screen dream come true.

  • 'Battleship'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> May 18 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Liam Neeson, Rihanna <strong>What It's About:</strong> Based (very loosely) on the board game of the same name, some sort of extraterrestrial ship comes to Earth, and a nearby Navy ship has to deal with it -- no matter what the cost. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> The effects might be good to watch. Also, women can ogle Kitsch while guys can ogle Rihanna.

  • 'Men In Black 3'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> May 25 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin <strong>What It's About:</strong> Agent J (Smith) travels back in time to stop an alien from killing Agent K (Jones/Brolin). <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> We haven't seen this franchise in quite some time, and it'll be interesting to see if the camaraderie between Jones and Smith can transfer to Brolin and Smith.

  • 'Snow White And The Huntsman'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> June 1 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth <strong>What It's About:</strong> It's a fairy tale with a twist -- in the traditional story, the Huntsman is sent by the witch to kill Snow White, but in this iteration, he becomes her protector. (Man, Stewart always seems to have some sort of male protection...) <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> On that same note, it'll be nice to see Stewart not pining over a vampire. Also, we've heard Theron is a force to be reckoned with as the evil Queen.

  • 'Prometheus'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> June 8 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce <strong>What It's About:</strong>A team of explorers and scientists discover a clue to the origins of mankind and go on a journey in space to research it further. What they find is much worse than they ever could have imagined. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> If you measured "epic" on a scale from 1-10, this would be a 200. Directed by action master Ridley Scott, this movie looks so intense we needed a Xanax after the trailer alone.

  • 'G.I. Joe 2' (aka 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation')

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> June 29 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Channing Tatum, Bruce Willis, Dwayne Johnson, Adrianne Palicki <strong>What It's About:</strong> The remaining Joes must band together to fight off Cobra after a spy Zartan kills the rest of them. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> The first one wasn't that bad, and frankly, we want Tatum in more action movies.

  • 'The Amazing Spider-Man'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> July 6 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Martin Sheen, Rhys Ifans <strong>What It's About:</strong> Peter Parker discovers a clue as to what happened to his parents, but as he's investigating, he comes face-to-face with his father's former partner. That can't be good. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> After years of Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, it should be interesting to see another actor take over, especially someone as nerdy as Garfield.

  • 'Savages'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> July 6 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively, Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek, John Travolta, Demián Bichir, Benicio del Toro. <strong>What It's About:</strong> Two marijuana growers (Kitsch and Johnson) date the same girl (Lively). When she gets kidnapped, they turn to the head of drug cartel (del Toro) to rescue her. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> Oliver Stone. Drugs. Drugs. Action. Guns. Close-up shot. Close-up shot. Sex. SEX. Benicio del Toro. Drugs. Guns. EXPLOSION. End credits

  • 'The Dark Knight Rises'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> July 20 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Does it matter? Christian Bale, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Liam Neeson, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway <strong>What It's About:</strong> We thought it was all clear in Gotham City after Batman defeated Two-Face, but now evil menace Bane surfaces, ready to wreak havoc. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> We can't put it into words. Just see it.

  • 'Total Recall'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> August 3 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Bryan Cranston <strong>What It's About:</strong> This remake takes some elements of the original 'Total Recall,' but adds a whole new spin. There's no Mars in this one; the main focus is on Farrell, who plays a factory worker who's unsure of who's side he's on, so he uses Recall to figure it out. Chaos ensues. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> The special effects and premise promise to be imaginative and cool to watch, plus we have such an affinity for the original version.

  • 'Bourne Legacy'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> August 3 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton <strong>What It's About:</strong> There's a new CIA operative in town, and it's Jeremy Renner. Not much has been made available regarding plot, so that's all we've got. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> Matt Damon was a terrific Bourne, but now it's time for someone else to take the wheel. Renner has been fantastic in all that we've seen him in recently, so he (hopefully) won't let us down.

  • 'The Expendables 2'

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> August 17 <strong>Who's In It:</strong> This cast reads like a who's who of yesteryear action heroes: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Liam Hemsworth, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris <strong>What It's About:</strong> Who cares? There will be a lot of blood, a lot of action and a lot of fighting, with all of your faves. <strong>Why We're Excited:</strong> See above.

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In the trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises," a calm and confident Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) tells Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) that "there's a storm coming." While she may not have been talking about...
In the trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises," a calm and confident Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) tells Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) that "there's a storm coming." While she may not have been talking about...
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03:07 PM on 05/05/2012
WATCH THE GREATEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER MADE 9/11 BY FEDERATION WAR MACHINE @ http://youtu.be/SaFmesAIgDg
12:57 PM on 05/04/2012
The Dark Knight Rises. Ive been waiting for that movie for a while, hoping to see it first. http://batmanrises.com
12:57 AM on 05/04/2012
Its very Good and Mind Blowing Movie Preview for the summer.
http://www.zimbio.com/E-Cigarette+Reviews/articles/FE2O6m8VVIs/Emerald+lux+Electronic+Cigarette+Review+E
12:56 AM on 05/04/2012
This is very Good and amazing Movie Preview.
http://www.zimbio.com/E-Cigarette+Reviews/articles/FE2O6m8VVIs/Emerald+lux+Electronic+Cigarette+Review+E
07:12 AM on 05/01/2012
WOW it will be a great Movie
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Allen Bouchard
I worship His Divine Shadow.
03:55 PM on 04/30/2012
"This remake takes some elements of the original 'Total Recall,' but adds a whole new spin."

So are we going to get closer to or further from Dick's story?
11:37 AM on 04/30/2012
on the contrary the first GI Joe was the worst movie EVER made. It was sooo, soo, so, baaaaaddd holy cow I almost spit on my own tv when I watched it. That being said the new one looks cool hahaha. Reason being it looks like they got rid of everything bad to do with the first one, i.e Brandan Fraser, Dennis Quad, Marlon wayons, terrible cgi, terrible villain. Then they added Bruce Willis and the Rock. How awesome is that???? Its like a pg13 Expendables.
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