2K4 2Q Movie Skeds

Coming at the heels of a quarter where the biggest hit (anyone dare challenge this claim?) was Peter Jackson’s "Return of the King", the third and final installment of the movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary masterpiece, "the Lord of the Rings" (yeah, for the rest of the world this movie opened Dec. 17 of last year, but in the Philippines, this schedule conflicted with the annual Metro Manila Film Fest, so it only hit Phil. theatres Jan. 9 of this year), the second quarter of 2004 promises to do no less as it marks the opening of some of this year’s biggest foreign movies.

First off, we have "the Passion of the Christ", from the direction of Mel Gibson. The film depicts the story of the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life. Although this movie opens on the last day of the first quarter of 2004, I am considering it as a second quarter release since most of its run will fall in that period anyway (any objections? hehehe). The release date can also be considered perfect timing since it will overlap with the country’s Lenten season.

Also slated for release sometime in the next quarter are three highly awaited sequels:
Shrek 2 - It was sometime last 2001 when an ogre, a donkey, and a princess surprised a lot of people by teaming up to enable DreamWorks to break Disney’s (and Pixar’s) stronghold on animated films. Now, they come back promising to entertain us once again, as Princess Fiona takes Shrek and Donkey to her kingdom to meet her parents.
Spiderman 2 - Wall-crawling, Web-slinging friendly neighborhood Spiderman is back in this sequel to the highly successful 2002 film. This time our hero is matched against Doctor Octopus, a bitter arch-enemy from the comic series.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - First 2 Potter films (Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets) were somewhat disappointing in some areas. I’m hopeful though that this one turns out to be better, but frankly, my expectations are no longer that high. They have a new director though (from Chris Columbus to Alfonso Cuaron), so maybe, just maybe.

And then there’s "Troy", a big screen adaptation of Homer’s "Iliad", one of the biggest epic ever written in history. With an all-star cast of Brad Pitt as Achilles, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Eric Bana as Prince Hector, and many others, this film promises to be a hit at the box office. We’ll just have to see if the film can meet the high expectations of moviegoers.

Aside from these, there are other second quarter movies that are tickling my curiosity, among them are "Hellboy", "Paycheck", and "The day after Tomorrow". Hellboy is the latest comic book character to grace the big screen. While for Paycheck and The day after Tomorrow, their trailers are catching the movie-going public’s attention and winning their interest.

All in all, these movies promise to entertain film buffs like me throughout the summer season. So, see you at the movies!