The heavy-duty award seekers - like the stage-to-screen adaptations "Dreamgirls" and "The History Boys" - don't hit theaters until the holiday season. But between now and mid-November, there are some contenders looking for some early attention. (Though conventional wisdom has it that December releases have a better shot at Oscar glory, last year's Best Picture winner, "Crash," came out in June.)
Here are four major releases aiming for possible Oscar glory:
* "The Black Dahlia" brings together director Brian de Palma with author James Ellroy ("L.A. Confidential") to investigate Hollywood's most notorious unsolved crime: the gruesome death of would-be starlet Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirschner). Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart play cops obsessed with the case, Scarlett Johansson plays the girlfriend role and Hilary Swank appears as a femme fatale. (Opens Sept. 15.
* "All the King's Men" should have been among last year's Oscar contenders, but director-writer Steven Zaillian ("A Civil Action") opted not to push his deadline. Now it's here, an adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's classic novel - which also spawned the 1949 Best Picture Oscar winner - about Southern politician Willie Stark (loosely based on Huey Long) and his rise from populist to demagogue. Sean Penn plays Stark in a cast that includes Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins. (Sept. 22.)
* "The Departed" puts Martin Scorsese back on familiar territory: cops and mobsters. The story, borrowed from the 2002 Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs," centers on two pals - one (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) a cop working undercover to infiltrate a Boston mob organization, the other (Matt Damon) a mobster who's a mole in the police department. The huge cast likely will be dominated by Jack Nicholson as the formidable mob boss. (Oct. 6.)
* "Flags of Our Fathers" is Clint Eastwood's latest, which in itself is all you need to know about the movie's Oscar chances. Eastwood stays behind the camera for this World War II drama, which tells the stories of the men who raised the American flag at Iwo Jima. Ryan Phillippe, Adam Beach and Jesse Bradford star. While filming this, Eastwood also directed another movie, tentatively titled "Letters From Iwo Jima," starring Ken Watanabe and depicting the battle from the Japanese side. (Oct. 20).
Dramas
"The Black Dahlia" isn't the only unsolved Hollywood mystery getting the movie treatment. "Hollywoodland" (opening today) stars Adrien Brody as an L.A. detective in 1959, looking into the suspicious death - was it suicide or murder? - of TV's "Superman," George Reeves (played by Ben Affleck, rebuilding his career post-"Gigli").
Royalty is on display in films. Kirsten Dunst plays "Marie Antoinette" (Oct. 20) in Sofia Coppola's modernist costume drama. Helen Mirren plays Queen Elizabeth II, dealing with Princess Diana's death, in Stephen Frears' "The Queen" (October or November).
In "Babel" (Nov. 10), Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett play tourists in Morocco, one of several parallel stories followed by "21 Grams" director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Elsewhere in Africa, Derek Luke plays a South African accused of terrorism in "Catch a Fire" (Oct. 27), while "The Last King of Scotland" (October or November) profiles Ugandan strongman Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) through the eyes of his physician (James McAvoy).
Director Todd Field follows his Oscar-nominated "In the Bedroom" with "Little Children" (Oct. 6), a suburban drama starring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly and Patrick Wilson. Dysfunctional family life is detailed in "Running With Scissors" (Oct. 27), an adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' acclaimed memoir starring Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin and Gwyneth Paltrow. And Russell Crowe plays a stockbroker who rediscovers the slow life in Provence in "A Good Year" (Nov. 10), Ridley Scott's adaptation of Peter Mayle's novel.
Things are not what they seem in "The Prestige" (Oct. 20), a drama about rival magicians (Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman) directed by "Batman Begins' " Christopher Nolan. "The Hoax" (October or November) details another trick: how writer Clifford Irving (played by Richard Gere) faked an autobiography of Howard Hughes.
Matt Dillon channels Charles Bukowski's boozing alter ego in "Factotum" (opens today), while Ryan Gosling plays a crack-addicted teacher in the Sundance fave "Half Nelson" (Sept. 22). In "Old Joy" (Nov. 3), another Sundance title, two friends (Will Oldham and Daniel London) reunite for a camping trip and discover that each has changed over the years.
New Yorkers, including Maggie Gyllenhaal, try to live a post-9/11 life in "The Great New Wonderful" (Sept. 22). William H. Macy takes a trip into New York's underworld in the David Mamet-scripted "Edmond" (Sept. 29), while John Cameron Mitchell (finally following up from "Hedwig and the Angry Inch") plunges into the depths of art, politics and sex - lots of sex - in the controversial "Shortbus" (Oct. 27).
Finally, the Sundance Institute is marking its 25th anniversary this year, so the Broadway is celebrating with a weeklong retrospective of Sundance indies starting Oct. 13.
Comedy
Will Ferrell tries a more serious brand of comedy with "Stranger Than Fiction" (Nov. 10). He plays an IRS agent who discovers his life has a narrator (Emma Thompson) - an author who may be writing his death scene.
Ferrell's "Talladega Nights" co-star, Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G) tours America as his alter ego, Kazakhstan journalist Borat Sagdiyev, stirring up diplomatic troubles in the quasi-documentary "Borat" (Nov. 3). Barry Levinson takes a page from reality with "Man of the Year" (Oct. 13), about a Jon Stewart-like comedian (Robin Williams) who runs for president - and wins. (Hey, it's in the trailer, so I'm not giving away anything.)
Losers vs. jerks: Jon Heder learns assertiveness from Billy Bob Thornton, and then fights him over Jacinda Barrett, in "School for Scoundrels" (Sept. 29); and warehouse-store slacker Dane Cook battles overachieving co-worker Dax Shepard for Jessica Simpson's attention in "Employee of the Month" (Oct. 6). Meanwhile, a nymphette (Nikki Reed) and her stepdad (Alec Baldwin) start scheming in "Mini's First Time" (Oct. 6). Then there's the utterly unclassifiable "Jackass Number Two" (Sept. 22), in which Johnny Knoxville & Co. do things to themselves most of us would never admit, let alone commit to video.
Horror
Halloween is coming, which means a triple bill of sequel scares for October: "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" (Oct. 6) sends another foursome (including Jordana Brewster) into the path of the still-in-training Leatherface; "The Grudge 2" (Oct. 13) casts Amber Tamblyn ("Joan of Arcadia") as the sister of Sarah Michelle Gellar's bedeviled character; and "Saw III" (Oct. 27) brings back nasty Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith) for more sadistic games.
Before that, there's "The Covenant" (opening today), about four friends trying to stop the evil they let loose years earlier. There's also "Feast" (Sept. 22), a monsters-in-a-bar thriller that was being made last season on the reality show "Project Greenlight" - and will be shown in a midnight-movie setting.
Action
In "The Guardian" (Sept. 29), Kevin Costner protects Whitney Houston . . . no, wait, that was "The Bodyguard." This time, Costner plays Louis Gossett Jr. to Ashton Kutcher's Richard Gere, training him to survive Coast Guard air-and-sea rescue school. Also flying high are the American volunteers who flew for the French in World War I, in "Flyboys" (Sept. 22). Staying on the ground is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a football coach training juvenile-detention kids in "Gridiron Gang" (Sept. 15).
Jet Li claims his new movie, titled "Jet Li's Fearless" (Sept. 22) in which he plays a 19th-century martial-arts legend, will be his last martial-arts movie. If so, Thai sensation Tony Jaa is ready to take his place - as shown by "The Protector" (opens today), a heavily edited import involving a young man's effort to free an elephant from Sydney gangsters.
Kicking butt on the American side is WWE star John Cena, pounding the thugs who kidnapped his girlfriend in "The Marine" (Oct. 13). Hot women get to kick martial-arts booty in "D.O.A.: Dead or Alive" (Oct. 20), based on the video game. For the preteen action fan, "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker" (Oct. 6) follows the origins of a teen superspy (Alex Pettyfer).
In "Renaissance" (date to be determined), a stylishly animated science-fiction thriller imported from France, a detective searches for a missing scientist in corporate-dominated and youth-obsessed Paris, circa 2054. Another French import, the Sundance hit "13 Tzameti" (opens today), throws a young man into a nasty scenario where people bet on other people's lives.
Kids
How do you like your computer animation? A baseball-loving kid has to rescue Babe Ruth's bat in "Everyone's Hero" (Sept. 15), co-directed by the late Christopher Reeve. A domesticated bear (voiced by Martin Lawrence) walks on the wild side in "Open Season" (Sept. 29). And a pampered rat (voiced by Hugh Jackman) tastes life in the sewers in "Flushed Away" (Nov. 3), which has Britain's Aardman Studios working away from the clay models that made Wallace & Gromit famous. An animated classic, "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas" (Oct. 20), returns in a remastered 3D version.
Some kid fare involves actors. Alison Lohman battles her parents (Tim McGraw and Maria Bello) to train a wild horse in "Flicka" (Oct. 20), an update of the children's classic. And Tim Allen puts on the red suit again for "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" (Nov. 3), this time going up against mean ol' Jack Frost (Martin Short).
Romance
Two movies opening Sept. 15 look at the question: Is marriage the end of romance or the beginning? In "The Last Kiss," a remake of a 2001 Italian film, Zach Braff plays a man about to marry his pregnant girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett), but wondering whether he's really more interested in another woman ("The O.C.'s" Rachel Bilson). In "Trust the Man," David Duchovny plays a stay-at-home dad who considers straying from his actress wife (Julianne Moore), while her boorish brother (Billy Crudup) can't commit to his girlfriend (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
Romance among the widowed set is explored in "Boynton Beach Club" (Sept. 29), starring Dyan Cannon and Joseph Bologna. The British comedy "Confetti" (date to be determined) shows how far couples will go to win a dream wedding.
Documentary
Artistic expression and official repression are joined at the hip in two documentaries: Kirby Dick's "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" (Oct. 6) looks at the double standards of the movie-ratings system, using private detectives to blow open the MPAA's doors of secrecy; while "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" (Oct. 13) chronicles the former Beatle's transformation into an anti-war activist.
Speaking of war, notably the current one in Iraq, Patricia Foulkrod's "The Ground Truth" (date to be determined) follows American men and women going into the military, serving in Iraq and dealing with the personal consequences when they get out. On the home front, "Al Franken: God Spoke" (Oct. 20) profiles the comedian-turned-pundit during the 2004 campaign.
In "Deliver Us From Evil" (October), filmmaker Amy Berg interviews a pedophile priest and examines the Catholic hierarchy that sheltered him. And the most intriguing documentary series ever, Michael Apted's "Up" series, continues with "49 Up" (Oct. 13), catching up again with people Apted has interviewed every seven years since childhood.
Foreign
If you thought French director Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was weird, check out "The Science of Sleep" (Sept. 29), starring Gael Garcia Bernal as a young man living much of his life in a TV studio in his head.
French director François Ozon ("Swimming Pool") takes a hard look at death with "Time to Leave" (Oct. 6), about a gay photographer dying of cancer. Acclaimed Czech animator Jan Svankmajer goes live-action, but just as surreal, mixing up Edgar Allan Poe and the Marquis de Sade in "Lunacy" (Sept. 29).
The Brazilian drama "House of Sand" (Sept. 29) pits a woman against the desert wilderness for a three-generation odyssey. Three tourists see the reality of '80s Haiti in Laurent Cantet's "Heading South" (Sept. 15), while the lives of Madrid prostitutes are explored in the ironically titled "Princesas" (Sept. 22). And everyday life in Mongolia, and what happens when modern culture arrives, is the subject of "Mongolian Ping Pong" (Sept. 22).
But the best foreign-language movies might be the older ones. Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 "Army of Shadows" examines the French Resistance of World War II. And "Viva Pedro," an eight-movie retrospective of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's best and naughtiest movies, starts a two-week run Oct. 13 at the Broadway.
Here are the titles of this fall's movies, listed by opening date (which are tentative, and subject to change):
Today:
The Covenant
Factotum
Hollywoodland
The Protector
13 Tzameti
Sept. 15
The Black Dahlia
Everyone's Hero
Gridiron Gang
Heading South
The Last Kiss
Trust the Man
Sept. 22
All the King's Men
Feast
Flyboys
The Great New Wonderful
Half Nelson
Jackass Number Two
Jet Li's Fearless
Mongolian Ping Pong
Princesas
Sept. 29
Boynton Beach Club
Edmond
The Guardian
House of Sand
Lunacy
Open Season
School for Scoundrels
The Science of Sleep
Oct. 6
Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker
The Departed
Employee of the Month
Little Children
Mini's First Time
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Time to Leave
Oct. 13
49 Up
The Grudge 2
Man of the Year
The Marine
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Oct. 20
Al Franken: God Spoke
D.O.A.: Dead or Alive
Flags of Our Fathers
Flicka
Marie Antoinette
The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D
The Prestige
Oct. 27
Army of Shadows
Catch a Fire
Running With Scissors
Saw III
Shortbus
Nov. 3
Borat
Flushed Away
Old Joy
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Nov. 10
Babel
A Good Year
Stranger Than Fiction
To be determined
Confetti
Deliver Us From Evil
The Ground Truth
The Hoax
The Last King of Scotland
The Queen
Renaissance
