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Summer Movies 2002: Lights, Camera, Action!!!

© Kevin Reed

As the seasons change, so does Hollywood. Come fall, studios roll out their serious, Oscar Caliber pictures. Things heat up, however, with the onset of summer as those very same studios offer up a slew of action-packed and effects-heavy crowd pleasing fare. It's not about high art or career-making performances, either, as the majority of a studio's profits for the year hinge on the box office receipts of a string of high risk potential blockbusters.

So competitive has the summer movie season become, in fact, that as motion picture companies jocky for prime release dates, many have taken to breaking out their movies in mid to late spring to avoid a glut of new releases on all important opening weekends.

As in previous years, the roster of summer 2002 offers a buffet of thrills, adventure, action, and plenty of laughs to go around. Release dates are subject to change.

THE SCORPION KING So taken was Universal Pictures with the performance and impressive screen image of World Wrestling Federation superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the studio offered him his own starring vehicle - expanding on the character he played in last summer's The Mummy Returns.

Taking place in the Egyptian wilderness of 3000 B.C., the Scorpion King, a member of a fierce warrior sect called the Akkadians, sets out to halt the feared warlord Memnon and his mysterious sorcerer who seek to overrun and conquer the peaceful kingdom of Ur. Also starring Michael Clark Duncan. (April 19)

SPIDER-MAN Tobey Maguire suits up in the big screen adaptation of Marvel Comics most celebrated super hero, who battles to protect New York from the villainous Green Goblin in this first go-round of what Sony Pictures hopes will develop into a successful, and lucrativee, franchise. (May 3)

STAR WARS:EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES The middle chapter in the prequel trilogy. Ten years following the events of The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan Kenobi, together with his apprentice Anakin Skywalker, again come to the aid of Padme Amidala. Relationships form as strong and powerful forces collide that will ultimitally decide the destiny of the Republic. (May 22)

SPIRIT:STALLION OF THE CIMARRON The third traditional animation feature from DreamWorks, producers of The Prince of Egypt and The Road to El Dorado, told from the perspective of an untamed mustang in the old west. (May 24)

WINDTALKERS MGM pulled this action flick from it's original November release to position it as the studio's big summer movie of 2002. Stars Nicolas Cage as a Marine assigned to protect a Navajo soldier and code talker during World War II. (June 14)

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