Although the looming, brooding presence of a certain caped crusader threatens to overshadow the summer moviegoing season, dozens of aspiring blockbusters will be muscling their way into the multiplexes when the weather warms up. Figuring prominently in that jam-packed schedule are three of the world's biggest movie stars — Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp and Will Smith. Here's a sneak preview of where to find them.
Rock of Ages
Cruise plays shirtless music icon Stacee Jaxx in Adam Shankman's big-screen rendition of the Broadway hit that's built around rock songs from the 1980s and is set in L.A.'s own Sunset Strip. Shankman's previous credits include 2007's "Hairspray" — apt considering how much of the stuff is on display in the glam metal era love story that also stars Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin, Paul Giamatti and Russell Brand, among others. Opens June 1.
Dark Shadows
Depp re-teams once again with filmmaker Tim Burton for this adaptation of the cult TV series centered on the travails of lovelorn vampire Barnabas Collins. The ensemble cast also features Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Jackie Earle Haley, and the film is set to include a cameo from Alice Cooper, who is hired by Barnabas to perform at his seaside Maine home. Makes sense — the movie is set in 1972, after all. Opens May 11.
Men in Black 3
Smith, who hasn't starred in a film in four years, is time-traveling back to one of his best-known roles as Agent J with this third installment in director Barry Sonnenfeld's science-fiction comedy franchise that launched in 1997. Josh Brolin steps in to the series as the younger incarnation of Tommy Lee Jones' alien hunting Agent K. Opens May 25.