Universal

It must be Fall! School's finally in session, the weather is getting ever slightly cooler and the offerings at your local movie theater change from big-budget popcorn fare to serious potential award winners.

This autumn the studios have a wide array of noteworthy films to put on your must-see list, from art-house Oscar contenders to teen ensembles and much-anticipated literary and musical adaptations.

We're celebrating the start of Fall with 15 actors who are going to blow audiences away this season. Some have been around for a few years but have yet to break out and others are lucky enough to have their first major roles in buzzworthy movies.

If acclaimed directors like Ang Lee, Paul Thomas Anderson and Peter Jackson saw something in them, we probably will, too.

Weinstein Co.

Jesse Plemons

Fall Film: "The Master" (Sept. 14)
Why He'll Be a Star: To an up-and-coming actor, getting to appear in a Paul Thomas Anderson film as Philip Seymour Hoffman's son is like striking gold. The 24-year-old has had a loyal following of fans since playing "Friday Night Lights" MVP Landry and this year he expanded his acting repertoire to include an unforgettably disturbing character in "Breaking Bad." From TV's best shows to the year's most-anticipated drama, Plemons is a master of picking projects.

Lionsgate

Nate Parker

Fall Film: "Arbitrage" (Sept. 14)
Why He'll Be a Star: Parker has been on the cusp of stardom since his impressive turn in 2007's "The Great Debaters," but we think he's finally hitting his stride. In director Nicholas Jarecki's Sundance hit "Arbitrage," Parker plays a hoodie-sporting Harlemite who helps his chauffeur dad's billionaire employer (Richard Gere) get rid of some damning evidence. Already hailed an Oscar contender, "Arbitrage" is exactly the kind of prestigious drama that will catapult Parker to the A-list.

Summit

Ezra Miller

Fall Film: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" (Sept. 21)
Why He'll Be a Star: Hollywood, it's definitely Miller time. The 19-year-old actor is already on critics' radars after his stunning if difficult-to-watch performance opposite Tilda Swinton in last year's "We Need to Talk About Kevin." But after starring in Stephen Chbosky's adaptation of his own coming-of-age novel, Miller — who plays the charismatic gay teen Patrick — should become as sought-after as his "Perks" co-stars Emma Watson and Logan Lerman.

Also Check Out: 30 Must-See Fall Movies

Universal

Rebel Wilson

Fall Films: "Bachelorette" (Sept. 7) and "Pitch Perfect" (Oct. 5)
Why She'll Be a Star: Audiences may not know her name, but anyone who saw "Bridesmaids" remembers her hilarious bit as Kristen Wiig's clueless, snooping roommate. This fall, Wilson doubles the funny in two comedy ensembles — as the put-upon bride in the "Bridesmaids"-like indie, "Bachelorette," and as a self-deprecating a cappella singer in the college musical, "Pitch Perfect." The Aussie comedian's gift for scene stealing is sure to lead to even bigger roles.

Summit

Mackenzie Foy

Fall Film: "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" (Nov. 16)
Why She'll Be a Star: Much to Robsten fans' dismay, the lovely 11-year-old may be the only offspring (fictional or real) to ever belong to "Twilight" stars and off-screen exes Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. As Renesmee, the hybrid human-vampire daughter of Edward and Bella Cullen, Foy (who says she's too young to have read the books) gets to interact with the franchise's biggest players — including Taylor Lautner, her adoring imprinted werewolf Jacob.

Fox 2000

Suraj Sharma

Fall Film: "Life of Pi" (Nov. 21)
Why He'll Be a Star: Most young actors debut in small talking parts as a random middle-schooler or an adult character's kid. Not Suraj Sharma. He beat out 3,000 other actors to star in "Life of Pi," a whimsical fable that completely hinges on Sharma's ability to play Pi, a zookeeper's son who's the sole human survivor of a shipwreck. His only companions while adrift are a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Suraj, meet world.

Universal

Samantha Barks

Fall Film: "Les Miserables" (Dec. 14)
Why She'll Be a Star: Although it was originally speculated that Taylor Swift would land the much-coveted role of Eponine, Samantha Barks got the part. Even in an all-star ensemble that includes Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway, it's Eponine's tragic love triangle with Marius (Eddie Redmayne) and Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) that we can't wait to see. Having already nailed the part in the televised 25th Anniversary Concert of "Les Miz," we expect her to be equally as pitch perfect in the film.

New Line

Aidan Turner

Fall Film: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (Dec. 14)
Why He'll Be a Star:  This December, "The Lord of the Rings" fans will find themselves fancying not a beautiful blond elf but the most surprisingly dashing dwarf in Middle-earth. Turner first turned heads as a sexy vampire on the U.K.'s paranormal series "Being Human"; in early 2011, Peter Jackson tapped the bedroom-eyed Irishman to play a brave young dwarf. As one of the 13 dwarves that Bilbo Baggins joins on "An Unexpected Journey," Turner should be as memorable a warrior as the beloved Gimli.

IFC Films

Sam Riley

Fall Film: "On the Road" (Dec. 21)
Why He'll Be a Star: Critics started singing Riley's praises when he transformed into Ian Curtis, the suicidal frontman of Joy Division, in the 2007 biopic "Control." The English musician-turned-actor is back for another riveting role as the adventure-seeking protagonist (and Jack Kerouac stand-in) Sal Paradise in Walter Salles' adaptation of "On the Road." If this anthem to the Beat Generation doesn't make Riley a star, certainly his sexy scenes opposite Kristen Stewart and Garrett Hedlund will.

MGM

Berenice Marlohe

Fall Film: "Skyfall" (Nov. 9)
Why She'll Be a Star: Have you seen her? If you could combine the sexiness of Angelina Jolie and Sophia Loren, you'd get Berenice Marlohe. The French beauty is the latest in a long line of gorgeous and enigmatic Bond Girls, and while she has gone on record saying there's no nudity in the 23rd 007 film, we imagine she will smolder enough to make her the newest hot import from Paris a la Berenice Bejo, Marion Cotillard, Eva Green, Juliette Binoche, etc.

The Weinstein Company

Scoot McNairy

Fall Films: "Argo" (Oct. 12) and "Killing Them Softly" (Oct. 19)
Why He'll Be a Star: Since its bow at Cannes this May, "Killing Them Softly" has been heaped such critical praise as "superb," "extraordinary" and "an acting class." Scoot's performance as a petty criminal who pulls off a dangerous mob heist was similarly hailed as "brilliant." And that thriller — starring Brad Pitt, no less — premieres in the U.S. just one week after Ben Affleck's historical drama "Argo," in which McNairy plays one of six Americans who must pose as a Canadian film crew to flee revolutionary Iran.

20th Century Fox

Jonny Weston

Fall Film: "Chasing Mavericks" (Oct. 26)
Why He'll Be a Star: Who doesn't love a good surfer flick? In "Chasing Mavericks," the curly-haired newcomer plays surfing legend Jay Moriarty, who, with the guidance of mentor Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler), successfully conquered "mavericks" (huge, nearly mythical waves) at only 16. An accomplished surfer himself, 22-year-old Weston didn't need as much training as Butler. If he kills the role, Weston is sure to ride the wave of Curtis Hanson's biopic to Hollywood stardom.

Columbia Pictures

Scott Adkins, Mark Strong, Taylor Kinney, Jason Clarke, Edgar Ramirez

Fall Film: "Zero Dark Thirty" (Dec. 19)
Why They'll Be Stars: Strong is already a go-to character actor who specializes in playing intimidating villains. Ramirez had a mesmerizing turn in the award-winning miniseries "The Jackal"; Kinney's best known as Lady Gaga's on-again, off-again love interest and for his stint on "The Vampire Diaries"; Clarke burned up the screen opposite Tom Hardy in "Lawless"; and Adkins is a martial arts expert turned actor. Come December, all five of these actors are sure to prove they're much more than handsome faces in Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's dramatization of the Osama bin Laden raid. 

Relativity Media

Max Thieriot

Fall Film: "House at the End of the Street" (Sept. 21)
Why He'll Be a Star: At only 23, Thieriot has already made 15 movies; mostly family-friendly films like "Kit Kittredge" and "The Pacifier" but also decidedly more grown-up fare like "Chloe" and "My Soul to Take." Thieriot takes on horror once again as Jennifer Lawrence's cute but seriously damaged neighbor in "House at the End of the Street" — he lives in the same house where his family was murdered, and he may or may not have a serious case of the Norman Bates vibe. Run, Jen, run!

Universal

Anna Camp

Fall Film: "Pitch Perfect" (Oct. 5)
Why She'll Be a Star: Those of us who watch a lot of primetime television have already taken notice of Camp for stints in an impressive slate of dramas ("True Blood," "Mad Men," "The Good Wife"). Plus, she's Mindy Kaling's BFF in Fox's new comedy "The Mindy Kaling Project." On the big screen, Camp is perfectly cast as an a cappella prima donna in "Pitch Perfect." With her gift for comedy and drama, she's like the second coming of Rachel McAdams.

New Line / Summit / Sony

As the autumnal leaves cover the streets and the birds fly south, a gust of wind blows a whole slew of promising new movies into our local multiplex.

While the summer is all about sound and fury, the fall has dark dramas and Oscar caliber performances dominating the cinematic landscape. Come in from the cold for these highly promising 30 movies, ranked in order of anticipation, which promise to get a warm reception.

30. 'Paranormal Activity 4'

Paramount

Release Date: Oct. 19
Starring: Katie Featherston, Kathryn Newton
The Scoop: While "Activity 3" was a prequel, this one follows the events of Part 2, with Katie and the abducted Hunter (now called "Robbie") moving into a new house in a peaceful area. It's safe to say that the demonically possessed Katie will cause a little ruckus. There goes the neighborhood.

Watch the trailer

29. 'End of Watch'

Open Road Films

Release Date: Sept. 21
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick
The Scoop: After writing "Training Day," David Ayer became the go-to guy for gritty L.A.-set crime movies like "Street Kings" and "Harsh Times." This one is business as usual for Ayer, with Gyllenhaal and Peña playing two LAPD officers who are targeted by a drug cartel. Good luck with that, guys. We'll be at In-and-Out Burger 'til you're through.

Watch the trailer

28. 'Dredd'

Lionsgate

Release Date: Sept. 21
Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey
The Scoop: The cult British comic book character from "2000 AD" takes his inaugural motorcycle ride onto the big screen… as long as you don't count the 1995 Sylvester Stallone atrocity. Which we don't. Urban puts on the helmet — and keeps it on — of Mega City One's toughest law enforcement officer. As Nick Frost from "Hot Fuzz" might say, he's Judge Judy and executioner.

Watch the trailer

27. 'Trouble With the Curve'

Warner Bros.

Release Date: Sept. 21
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman
The Scoop: Eastwood plays a crotchety old man? Get outta town! Yep, Dirty Harry himself is back onscreen for the first time since "Grand Torino," playing an aging baseball scout with bad eyesight who bonds with his neglected daughter (Adams) during a road trip.

Watch the trailer

26. 'Killing Them Softly'

Weinstein Co.

Release Date: Oct. 19
Starring: Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta
The Scoop: Apparently not based on the old Roberta Flack song, this crime drama reunites Pitt with "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" director Andrew Dominik, and, although the title is shorter, the violence should be plentiful. Pitt plays a New Orleans mob enforcer dealing with a couple guys who unknowingly ripped off a mafia-protected poker game.

Watch the trailer

25. 'House at the End of the Street'

Relativity

Release Date: Sept. 21
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Elisabeth Shue
The Scoop: J.Law can finally take advantage of her post-"Hunger Games" superstardom with this terror tale about a mother and daughter who move into a house where a multiple murder took place. Things get further complicated when the daughter (Lawrence) begins a relationship with the only survivor of the attack, played by a creepy Thieriot. If Daniel Radcliffe can make the leap from YA family films to horror, the odds are in Lawrence's favor.

Watch the trailer

24. 'Silver Linings Playbook'

Weinstein Co.

Release Date: Nov. 21
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker
The Scoop: Seems like his success with "The Fighter" has given director David O. Russell a taste for audience pleasing, which he looks to do again with this seriocomic flick about a guy named Pat (Cooper) who moves in with his parents after a stint in a mental institution and takes up dancing with the help of another eccentric played by Lawrence. Bonus:  Tucker's first non-"Rush Hour" movie in 14 years!

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23. 'Jack Reacher'

Paramount

Release Date: Dec. 21
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Robert Duvall, Werner Herzog
The Scoop: The hero of Lee Child's neverending series of beach read novels comes to the screen in the form of Cruise, who clearly means business as the title ex-Military Police turned drifter avenger. Of course, for all the action and explosiveness, they had us at "Werner Herzog plays the bad guy." Yeah, we'll pay to see that.

Watch the trailer

22. 'Anna Karenina'

Focus Features

Release Date: Nov. 16
Starring: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson
The Scoop: This umpteenth cinematic version of Tolstoy's 1877 literary masterpiece also marks the third pairing of Knightley and director Joe Wright after "Pride & Prejudice" and "Atonement." A visually sumptuous film to be sure if the trailer is any indication, the tragedy of a married aristocrat and her affair with an affluent cavalry officer offers lots of lush scenery, plus Law rocking a balding head that makes him look way more intellectual than we're used to.

Watch the trailer

21. 'Wreck-It Ralph'

Disney

Release Date: Nov. 2
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Sarah Silverman
The Scoop: Finally, a movie that truly embraces the culture and aesthetic of video games, from Donkey Kong-esque arcade parlor units to the modern Playstation blast-a-thons. Reilly plays the villain of an old school game who decides he doesn't want to be the bad guy anymore, and wanders off into various other ADD-afflicted modern games. He's a fish out of quarters… er, water.

Watch the trailer

20. 'This Is 40'

Universal

Release Date: Dec. 21
Starring: Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, John Lithgow, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks
The Scoop: Judd Apatow has made the leap from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" to "The 40-Year-Old Mid-Life Crisis." Rudd and Mann reprise their "Knocked Up" roles of married couple Pete and Deb as they reevaluate their lives while trying to juggle children, career and a host of insecurities. Also featured is comedy legend Albert Brooks ("Broadcast News"), who can still improv with the best of them, as Rudd's guilt-trip delivering father.

Watch the trailer

19. 'The Impossible'

Summit

Release Date: Dec. 21
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Geraldine Chaplin
The Scoop: If you saw director Juan Antonio Bayona's brilliant Spanish language horror fable "The Orphanage" then you're aware that he is a scare master of Hitchcockian magnitude. Now he's tackling real-life horror with this tale of a family caught in the massive tsunami after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Their harrowing journey to reunite amid the devastation looks like a moving survival story.

Watch the trailer

18. 'Pitch Perfect'

Universal

Release Date: Oct. 5
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson
The Scoop: The lovably adorkable Kendrick plays Beca, the new girl in an all-ladies a cappella group. She meets some resistance when she attempts to modernize their song repertoire and style, but, when the revamp goes well, they realize they could make it all the way to the championship. Wilson, who was hilarious in "Bridesmaids," plays Fat Amy, a role she presumably took on before going into Jenny Craig.

Watch the trailer

17. 'Seven Psychopaths'

CBS Films

Release Date: Oct. 12
Starring: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken
The Scoop: Since giving us the hilarious, slapstick bloodshed of 2008's "In Bruges," Martin McDonagh has more than doubled the number of psychopaths for this new comedy of violence. Farrell plays a struggling screenwriter whose best friend (Rockwell) kidnaps a dog from a violent gangster (Harrelson), setting off a series of unfortunate events that even Lemony Snicket might cringe at.

Watch the trailer

16. 'Frankenweenie'

Disney

Release Date: Oct. 5
Starring: Charlie Tahan, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short
The Scoop: Tim Burton has made movies based on books, comics, soap operas, other movies, even trading cards, but this has to be a first for the gothic auteur: he's remaking his own movie. Based on a popular short he made for Disney in the early '80s, this ghoulish grotesque chronicles a shy mad scientist of a boy named Victor (Tahan) as he attempts to reanimate his plucky dog Sparky. This looks to be a beautiful black and white stop-motion treat, and a throwback to old Universal monster movies as well as the Burton of yore.

Watch the trailer

15. 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2'

Summit

Release Date: Nov. 16
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
The Scoop: Whether you see it as tying a bow of finality or the last nail in the coffin, the saga of the Cullens, the Swans and Blacks comes to a rousing conclusion. Bring your hankies. Bella enjoys some of her newfound vampiric powers, while the battle over her baby Renesmee reaches a fever pitch as the Volturi threaten the child.

Watch the trailer

14. 'On the Road'

IFC Films

Release Date: Dec. 21
Starring: Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart
The Scoop: The perennial beatnik tome by Jack Kerouac peels out as Sal Paradise (Riley), Dean Moriarty (Hedlund) and Marylou (Stewart) explore the American dream and each other's bodies in equal measure. Brazilian director Walter Salles knows from 1950s road trips, as demonstrated in "The Motorcycle Diaries," but has a lot of expectation in adapting such a beloved work of 20th century fiction.

Watch the trailer

13. 'Life of Pi'

Fox

Release Date: Nov. 21
Starring: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall
The Scoop: Yann Martel's ubiquitous bestseller struggled for years to find the right filmmaker (M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuaron, Jean-Pierre Jeunet) before Ang Lee took on the mighty task. Both epic and intimate, the story of spiritually experimental teen Pi Patel and his struggle to survive aboard a lifeboat with a slew of animals, including one ferocious Bengal tiger, will be a challenge for audiences as well… one we're ready to take on.

Watch the trailer

12. 'Zero Dark Thirty'

Sony

Release Date: Dec. 19
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong, Edgar Ramirez
The Scoop: Will an elite special forces team be able to capture or kill the elusive terrorist Osama Bin Laden? That's a question you'll have to wait to find the answer to (or not), as "Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow brings her bag of pyrotechnic tricks to yet another serious story of military bravery. Also, the title sounds like a candy bar.

Watch the trailer

11. 'Flight'

Paramount

Release Date: Nov. 2
Starring: Denzel Washington, Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle, John Goodman
The Scoop: Loosely inspired by the Hudson River landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in 2009, Washington plays airline pilot Captain William Whitaker, who saves the lives of his passengers with a heroic hot dog maneuver. Unfortunately, a team of investigators think he also may have caused the accident. Goodman will lend some fat guy levity to this serious ethical quandary from director Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump").

Watch the trailer

10. 'Les Miserables'

Universal

Release Date: Dec. 14
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried
The Scoop: Tom Hooper follows his "King's Speech" Oscar glory with this mammoth film version of the long-running musical. Victor Hugo's story of tragic hero Jean Valjean (Jackman) clawing his way back (that's a Wolverine joke) into society after a 19-year imprisonment. Crowe is his relentless nemesis, Inspector Javert, and Hathaway may just bring the house down as Fantine singing "I Dreamed a Dream."

Watch the trailer

9. 'The Master'

Weinstein Co.

Release Date: Sept. 14
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
The Scoop: Already controversial before it shot a single frame of footage, "There Will Be Blood" filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson's veiled look at the birth of Scientology and the fundamentals of belief looks to be another of the director's strong character explorations. Hoffman plays the L. Ron Hubbard stand-in, who starts a religious movement following World War II, with an alcoholic drifter named Freddie (Phoenix) as his right-hand man. Trouble brews when Freddie begins to doubt his mentor.

Watch the trailer

8. 'Argo'

Warner Bros.

Release Date: Oct. 12
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman
The Scoop: That's right, this is the third movie of the fall season to feature the delightfully doughy Goodman, whose appearance is always welcome. It's also the third directorial outing from star Ben Affleck ("Gone Baby Gone," "The Town"), based on the "declassified true story" of six U.S. diplomats rescued from Tehran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis under the guise of a fake sci-fi film cooked up by the CIA. The name of that movie was "Armageddon." Just kidding.

Watch the trailer

7. 'Cloud Atlas'

Warner Bros.

Release Date: Oct. 26
Starring: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant
The Scoop: Warning: you may need an actual atlas to navigate the narrative filmmakers Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run") and the Wachowskis ("The Matrix") have crafted. It's the kind of grandiose, relentlessly eccentric epic you would expect from a movie made by three directors, with stars like Hanks all playing multiple characters of different ages and races in a time-leaping narrative that spans the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future. Does this movie hold the secrets to life, the universe, and everything? It's either this one or "Frankenweenie," that's all we know.

Watch the trailer

6. 'Skyfall'

Sony

Release Date: Nov. 9
Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes
The Scoop: James Bond is back, only this time he's a tad rusty after taking a little vacation, which he had to fake his death for. Typical. Craig returns to his much-loved portrayal of England's No. 1 super spy, 007, this time taking on the ruthlessly blonde Raoul Silva (Bardem), who has secret ties to Bond. Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes of "American Beauty" brings some beautiful cinematography to the proceedings.

Watch the trailer

5. 'Lincoln'

Dreamworks

Release Date: Nov. 16
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
The Scoop: After something like a decade of development — with original star Liam Neeson lost in the shuffle — director Steven Spielberg at last brings us a historical epic with Day-Lewis detailing the historical final months of Abraham Lincoln's presidency. Expect the multiple Oscar-winner/immersive method actor to bring his trademark intensity to the part, which once again proves that if you need someone to play the hell out of an American icon (Batman, Superman, Nixon, etc), you call a Brit.

Trailer coming soon.

4. 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'

Summit

Release Date: Sept. 21
Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller
The Scoop: Author Stephen Chbosky adapts and directs his own 1999 novel of teenage angst and introversion. How do we know it'll be movie magic? For one thing, you've got Hogwarts-certified wizard Watson, making a seamless transition to adult roles, as well as that other YA movie hero Percy Jackson (Lerman) as Charlie, the shy kid who has to deal with issues of friendship, sex, drugs, homosexuality and other issues in the teen experience.

Watch the trailer

3. 'Django Unchained'

Weinstein Co.

Release Date: Dec. 25
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington
The Scoop: After years of filling his movies with Sergio Leone homages and Ennio Morricone music, Quentin Tarantino finally gives us the Spaghetti Western we've always wanted from him… even though it takes place in the south. Foxx is the title freed slave-turned-bounty hunter, Waltz his partner, and DiCaprio gets to chew the scenery as evil plantation owner Calvin Candie. Expect this one to be a Royale with lots of (intentional) cheese.

Watch the trailer

2. 'Looper'

Sony

Release Date: Sept. 28
Starring: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano
The Scoop: This head-spinning sci-fi mind trip reunites writer/director Rian Johnson with his "Brick" star Gordon-Levitt, but you wouldn't know it from looking at him. Subtle make-up and precision mimicry enabled the actor to create the world's greatest Bruce Willis impression, which came in handy as his assassin character chases after his future self, played by Willis. It's a good bet this will be a heady, "12 Monkeys"-esque classic.

Watch the trailer

1. 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'

New Line

Release Date: Dec. 14
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis
The Scoop: Perhaps the most hotly anticipated movie in all of geekdom, this prequel to "Lord of the Rings" finds diminutive hero Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) whisked off on an adventure complete with singing dwarves, trolls turned to stone and one greedy dragon. It's all courtesy of our favorite pot-smoking wizard Gandalf (McKellen), and our favorite chubby New Zealander, director Peter Jackson.

Watch the trailer