Priests, Pirates, Sorcerers and Superheroes : the Anorak City summer movie calendar

By Paul Cole on May 5, 11 12:09 PM

IT'S shaping up to be a hot summer, and we don't just mean the weather.

There's a host of big sci-fi and fantasy movies on the way. Here's your at a glance guide:

PRIEST (May 13):
Post-apocalyptic thriller set in an alternate world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. When the niece of warrior priest Paul Bettany is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, he breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to save her, joined on his crusade by a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former priestess with magical fighting skills.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4 : ON STRANGER TIDES (May 20):
Captain Jack Sparrow crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penelope Cruz), and he's not sure if it's love or if she's just a con artist using him to find the Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard Blackbeard's ship, the scene's set for delightful piratical banter between Johhny Depp and Deadwood's Ian McShane.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (May 27):
This is how it all begins. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr became Professor X and Magneto, they were the best of friends, discovering their powers for the first time. James McEvoy and Bill Milner eventually fall out, sparking the conflict continued in such fine style by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the other X-Men movies.

Click to the next page for more!

GREEN LANTERN (June 17):
Busy Ryan Reynolds is test pilot Hal Jordan, who is granted a mystical green ring that bestows him with otherworldly powers, and membership into the Green Lanterns, an intergalactic squadron tasked with keeping peace within the universe. Green Lantern is among the most complex of characters in the DC universe, but this is just an action movie.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (July 1):
The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to learn its secrets, which could turn the tide in the Transformers' final battle. Sadly there's no Megan Fox this time but actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley steps in as Shia Laboeuf's love interest - and she's a former Victoria's Secret model!

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 (July 15):
It's the end! Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort's final horcruxes, but when Voldemort finds out about their mission, the biggest battle begins and life as they know it will never be the same again. Expect all-out action as good and evil square up in JK Rowling's version of Armageddon.

CAPTAIN AMERICA : THE FIRST AVENGER (July 29):
After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a hero dedicated to defending America's ideals. Chris Evans stars as costumed Cap, the original Marvel mainman, who'll team up next year with Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor and the rest in The Avengers.

COWBOYS & ALIENS (August 12):
Lone cowboy Daniel Craig leads an old west uprising against a terror from beyond our world. And as well as the aliens, he has iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (played by Harrison Ford) to deal with too. This could be the best of all the summer movies, although it does rather smack of Stephen King's Dark Tower gunslinger.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (August 19):
No Arnie this time, with Jason Momoa taking on the role of Conan the Cimmerian. He's off to adventures across the continent of Hyboria on a quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village. As you do.