Summer is usually thought of as the moviegoing season when personality-driven projects are banished to the sidelines, while sequels, franchises and big-screen expansions of TV series dominate the landscape. Recognize that sentence? Response was so boffo to last year’s summer movie preview we just had to run it again! So what if it costs a little more. It’s still the same summer-movie preview you loved the first time around.

Funny thing is, where this summer’s damburst of sequels is concerned, we really couldn’t get enough of the originals. The X-cellent X2 and this week’s The Matrix Reloaded seem less like hastily assembled cash-ins than logical extensions of complex, densely detailed stories. Their worlds overspilled the bounds of a single movie. And in both cases, the success of the original gave the filmmakers carte blanche to unleash their imaginations.

Of course, that sort of success also gives studios carte blanche to rework or extend any property lucky enough to dragoon an audience. So prepare for a third Terminator, a 3-D Spy Kids, a third slice of American Pie, a second lap of The Fast and the Furious sans Vin Diesel and local hero Reese Witherspoon turning Congress into the Off-White House in Legally Blonde 2: Red White & Blonde, as well as the films below, a sampling of summer celluloid from blockbusters to arthouse obscurities—some of which may not even have sequels. Yet.

Down With Love —The premise may seem a little close to the recent How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, since both concern roguish men (Ewan McGregor, in this case) trying to trick seemingly impossible women (Renée Zellweger, this time) into falling in love. But our money’s on this Doris Day-Rock Hudson homage, given the presence of Bring It On director Peyton Reed and the decision to shoot the film in the snappy pastels of glossy early ’60s pseudo-sex comedies. (May 16)

The In-Laws—It takes guts to remake one of the great screwball comedies of the 1970s, and it looks like Andrew Fleming, semi-cult auteur of The Craft and Dick, has those guts. Albert Brooks plays the Alan Arkin role, as a podiatrist celebrating his daughter’s impending wedding, and Michael Douglas plays the groom’s father, an unpredictable but charming CIA agent who drags Brooks into international intrigue. Still, it’s hard to imagine that this could make us forget Peter Falk in a barbecue apron that reads “I’m Loaded With Options!” (May 23)

Finding Nemo—John Lasseter’s Pixar Animation Studios has produced nothing but delight since its first feature Toy Story in 1995—so much so that Lasseter and company have consistently put their Disney partners to shame. Veteran writer (and A Bug’s Life co-director) Andrew Stanton writes and directs this story of a fearful clownfish dad (voiced by Albert Brooks) searching the ocean for his lost son Nemo. Expect plenty of laughs, but also deeper emotion than the wacky trailer seems to promise. (May 30)

Capturing the Friedmans —Andrew Jarecki’s documentary riveted audiences at Sundance this year, examining the devastating effect of child-molestation charges on a Long Island teacher, his son and their family. The most disturbing footage comes from the Friedmans’ own home movies, which record in harrowing detail the family’s meltdown under the weight of disgrace, criminal trials and the community’s rush to judgment. Consider this reality TV with an unusually strong dose of reality. (May 30)

Whale Rider —This New Zealand export has won audience awards at several festivals, though critics have been less ecstatic. A Maori tribe looks to a pair of twins for the rebirth of the legendary Whale Rider, but when the male twin dies at birth, the female takes the title, against the wishes of the chief and tribe. The scenery is reportedly gorgeous, as we’ve come to expect from the Kiwi setting, but if you wince at mytho-poetic dialogue or have a short fuse for multi-culti exoticism, this might send you over the edge. (June 6)

Friday Night —Challenging French director Claire Denis takes a break from the obliqueness and violence of Beau Travail and Trouble Every Day for a sweet reverie about a woman’s one-night stand on the eve of a big move. Friday Night is every bit as slow and deliberate as Denis’ previous work—the first third takes place in a traffic jam, of all things—but the wistful atmosphere and flourishes of romantic free-association are worth the moments of waiting and daydreaming. (June 20)

The Hulk/The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen —Two superhero movies, two sets of expectations. The Hulk has a lot going for it: director Ang Lee, star Eric Bana and a classic Jekyll/Hyde premise about the monstrous power that anger unleashes. The effects look iffy, but Lee has the sensitivity to connect to the story’s core, which has nothing to do with big action setpieces. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen is based on a terrific Alan Moore-penned comic series about a crime-fighting organization composed of turn-of-the-century adventure heroes: Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, The Invisible Man, etc. Moore’s original is better-plotted, wittier and zingier than any Hulk comic, but the trouble-plagued movie version looks bulky and dark, judging by the trailers (and advance word). (June 20/July 11)

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle—More Drew, more Lucy, more Cameron, more stunts, more dance numbers, more Crispin Glover as the karate-chopping Thin Man and a lot more Demi—Moore, that is, who joins the sequel as an Angel flying too close to the ground. The first film was as plastic as a TV lunchbox and an absolute hoot; the sequel’s trailer promises the same mix of kicks for chicks times two, courtesy of returning director McG and screenwriter John August. If this doesn’t satisfy your craving for violent femmes, check out May’s The Three Marias, about three avenging angels whomping ass in the badlands of Brazil. (June 27)

28 Days Later—Not, as it might seem, the sequel to the Sandra Bullock rehab comedy. Instead, this DV-shot zombie saga offers post-apocalyptic anxiety SARS-style as a super-contagious virus causes victims to explode in uncontrollable rage. After it decimates the world population, a few (British) survivors try to start over. The unpredictable Danny Boyle (The Beach, Trainspotting) directed a script by The Beach novelist Alex Garland, and good early notices have produced some of the best non-blockbuster buzz of the season. (June 27)

Trilogie—Belgian actor-critic-filmmaker Lucas Belvaux attempts one of the year’s boldest cinematic coups: three stand-alone features, each shot in a different genre but featuring overlapping casts and characters. First comes the political thriller On the Run, followed by the farce An Amazing Couple and the drama After Life. Distributor Magnolia Pictures will reportedly release the films in sequence in two-week increments. (July)

Bad Boys II—The original Bad Boys was a mindlessly hyperactive buddy cop picture, noteworthy mainly for making TV refugees Will Smith and Martin Lawrence into movie stars, and for introducing bombastic action auteur Michael Bay, who would go on to assault audiences with The Rock, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor. All the principals are back in place for the sequel, which promises to be one walloping, nonsensical train wreck. The trailer makes it look like playtime for all involved (including slumming screenwriter Ron Shelton), and the self-indulgence should make for gotta-be-there-opening-day hoots and hollers. (July 18)

Camp—Every generation needs its own Fame, and this Sundance crowdpleaser about a camp for talented teens shows how much tolerance has increased in 20 years: Instead of Fame’s token gay, Todd Graff’s musical comedy-drama features a token straight. (July 25)

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life—2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was a feminist litmus test—either a cringe-inducing exploitation quickie with ugly sadistic overtones, or the celebration of chick power Charlie’s Angels was too giggly to be. Angelina Jolie is back with her sneer and her “British” accent, this time on the trail of a mystical weapon that is actually Pandora’s Box. Expect Jolie to strap plenty of phallic symbols right next to her Lycra-clad thighs. (July 25)

Seabiscuit—Laura Hillenbrand’s biography of Depression-era champion racehorse Seabiscuit was one of the best books of recent years, more for the renewed drama of sporting events long forgotten than for the “uplifting a struggling nation” that the film version’s trailer promises. Writer-director Gary Ross (Pleasantville) may be too fuzzy a choice for this already warm story, but his cast—Tobey Maguire as jockey Red Pollard, Chris Cooper as trainer Tom Smith, Jeff Bridges as owner Charles Howard, some horse as the horse—is ridiculously promising. (July 25)

The Wages of Fear—In a summer filled with micro-managed thrills, it’s good to look back at the basics of suspense. Henri-Georges Clouzot straps us into the cab of a truck toting nitroglycerine, along with the men desperate enough to take the job with no safety equipment, in this classic color film from 1955. Clouzot delivers an anti-colonial, socialist message with every bump and jostle: When human life is this expendable in pursuit of profits, there are no happy endings. This version, restored to its original 2 1/2-hour running time, originally played theaters in 1991. (July 25)

S.W.A.T.—The X-Men and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen aren’t the only super-teams on the screen this summer. The ’70s TV series about “the cops that the cops call” should offer some lean urban action, spiked by tough-guy posturing from stars Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell. We also have a great deal of respect for director Clark Johnson, who learned his craft as an actor and occasional chair man for Homicide: Life On The Streets, and is part of Shawn Ryan’s brain trust for the excellent TV policier The Shield. (Aug. 8)

American Splendor—During the almost 30 years that Cleveland file clerk and cultural critic Harvey Pekar has been recruiting comic-book artists to draw stories about his daily life, the acerbic pessimist has gone through periods of public interest—most famously when he became a regular guest on Late Night With David Letterman in the ’80s. That should skyrocket with the release of this Sundance sensation, which combines documentary footage, animated interludes and staged scenes (with the perfectly chosen Paul Giamatti as Pekar) to tell the story of one man’s daily struggle to win respect for working class intellectuals. (Aug. 15)

Freddy vs. Jason—It’s fedora vs. facemask and bladed fingers vs. machete in a contest of horror has-beens! Two sequeled-to-death ghouls slug it out in a loser-leaves-town steel-cage match for domination of the Sci-Fi Channel, as Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Kreuger summons Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees for tag-team splatter that turns ugly. Speaking of turning ugly, the director is Ronny Yu, who went from the lovely Hong Kong fantasy Bride With White Hair to Bride of Chucky. There’s no way we’d miss this, but hopes are higher for a fresher franchise: Jeepers Creepers 2, the sequel to the scariest sleeper of the past few years, in which a killer scarecrow devours traveling teens. (Aug. 15)

Wonderland—A seamier exploration of the ’70s porn milieu than the wistful Boogie Nights, James Cox’s drama explores the downfall of kingsize meat man John Holmes (Val Kilmer) and his accused involvement in a 1981 quadruple homicide. We miss Chest Rockwell already. (Aug. 29)