Movies in the year ahead

Here's an early Monitor prediction for the year in film: 2005 will be dominated by characters wearing masks. Audiences of all ages will throng to see a masked villain who last appeared on movie screens 22 years ago: Darth Vader. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (May 19) is easily the most anticipated movie of the year, but scores of moviegoers will also rush to see such legendary masked figures as Batman (Batman Begins in June) and Dr. Doom (The Fantastic Four in July). You can be sure Halloween-costume stores are already pre-ordering dark capes and angular visors by the crateload.

The final outing for Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, R2-D2, and other familiar characters (welcome back, Chewbacca!) from that galaxy far, far away could have a significant impact on Hollywood's fortunes this year. Cinema attendance has fallen from its peak in 2002 (not coincidentally the year "Episode II - Attack of the Clones" was released) as audiences have turned to home-entertainment alternatives such as DVDs and video games. But the prospect of a showdown between Anakin Skywalker and Obi Wan on the slopes of a volcano may entice people back to cinemas and get them excited about other blockbusters.

"Whenever you have a 'Star Wars' movie in the mix, it usually helps the box office," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, a Los Angeles firm that tracks movie grosses.

George Lucas's prequel heralds a comeback for science fiction, which has been overshadowed by fantasy epics such as "Lord of the Rings" in recent years.

(Fantasy fans can still look forward to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Nov. 18, as well as an adaptation of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, on Dec. 9.)

Among the numerous sci-fi films this year are A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, the director of "Before Sunset," tackles a weighty Philip K. Dick story about the war on drugs), Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron plays a 25th-century assassin), and the comedic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Earth is demolished to make way for a space highway. One Londoner manages to escape - in his pajamas).

Another intergalactic war - one much closer to home - will come to cinemas on June 29 when Steven Spielberg releases his modern-day adaptation of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds. The essence of the plot is this: Martians gaze at Earth from distant space and decide it's a much nicer neighborhood. But in drawing up their invasion plans they fail to take into account that Earth has Tom Cruise on its side.

Wells's book delivers a strong antiwar message, but it remains to be seen whether Spielberg will emphasize that aspect of the source material, or whether the film will be fluff like "Independence Day" (but without anything as subversive as aliens blowing up the White House).

Several other 2005 releases will be scoured and picked over for subtext that relates to the conflict in Iraq. Principal among them is Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, an epic about the medieval Crusades.

"I'd be incredibly surprised if there weren't blatant parallels pretty much decrying the notion of the Western world's insistence on taking over the Middle East," says Phil Villarreal, film critic for the Arizona Daily Star.

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