In 2007, theatre marquees will be dominated by a particular numeral, thanks to a release schedule that includes Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3, Ocean's 13, Bourne 3, Rush Hour 3.

Three's company? More like a crowd. Especially come May, when a web-slinging superhero, a dandy pirate, and a green ogre all compete for the family entertainment dollar.

"You've got sequels to Spider-Man, Pirates and Shrek opening within four weeks of each other," says Timothy Gray, editor of Variety, a weekly magazine for the entertainment industry.

"I was asking someone, 'it's like a game of chicken — don't you think one of them is going to move?' And he said, 'I don't think they can. They've set these dates'".

One too many

This may be the year of the threequel, but not all the franchises will be successful, predicts Gray.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is likely to reap the most booty. The previous film ended with Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) being swallowed by a sea monster, but expect Sparrow to make the most audacious comeback since Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

The second Pirates joins Titanic and The Lord of the Rings as the third movie ever to gross more than $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) worldwide. Can the next instalment match it?

The challenge sequels face, Gray says, is that if they re-create the experience of the previous movie, then audiences may feel that they've "been there, done that".

One alternative is to try a new approach that might not include the ingredients that made the recipe a success in the first place.

Case in point: Ocean's Thirteen safely returns to Las Vegas and boasts the cinematic equivalent of the New York Yankees starting line-up: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon.

Julia Roberts is missing this time around but the film boasts Al Pacino, who owns the casino targeted for a heist.

In August, Damon returns to Europe for more adventures in The Bourne Ultimatum, the third adaptation of the Robert Ludlum series. about a spy who can turn a rolled-up magazine into a lethal weapon.

From another place

Much of this year's blockbuster slate consists of much less earthbound fare. Harry Potter gets back on his broom for The Order of the Phoenix, the most anticipated on the big screen.

This year, the genre is big on villainesses. His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass, based on Philip Pullman's dark series, pits a young heroine against the mysterious Mrs Coulter (Nicole Kidman) in an alternative England.

Stardust also features a young hero on a voyage through an ethereal world. Peter O'Toole, Sienna Miller, Claire Danes and Robert De Niro also take part in this adaptation of Neil Gaiman's graphic novel.

Gaiman, meanwhile, co-wrote the screenplay for Robert Zemeckis's take on Beowulf, the 1,000-year-old epic poem chronicling the defeat of the monster Grendel. Angelina Jolie plays a medieval femme fatale in the pre-Thanksgiving release.

Different genres

Jolie's other high-profile role this year is the filmed memoir A Mighty Heart. She portrays Mariane Pearl, wife of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Geopolitical violence also figures prominently in The Kite Runner, an adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's bestseller. Another heavyweight literary work getting the big-screen treatment is Ian McEwan's Atonement.

The Nanny Diaries, based on the novel by former caretakers Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, could be this year's The Devil Wears Prada.

Though not strictly a book adaptation, There Will Be Blood, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, will star Daniel Day-Lewis as an oilman at the dawn of the last century.

If Brokeback Mountain was "the gay cowboy movie", then one film is destined to become known as "the gay firefighter movie". I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is, however, a comedy. Adam Sandler and Kevin James play heterosexual Philadelphia firemen who pretend to be a gay couple to qualify for domestic-partner benefits. Blades of Glory features another unlikely duo.

Will Ferrell and Jon Heder play rival figure skaters — who team up to skate in the pairs competition.

Evan Almighty, a spinoff of Bruce Almighty, finds god (Morgan Freeman) telling congressman Evan Baxter to build an ark in advance of a massive flood. The effects-heavy Evan Almighty is the most expensive comedy ever made, reportedly costing over $160 million (Dh588 billion), according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Simpsons Movie is the summer's most high-profile comedy. Not much is known about this long-planned movie, which is credited to no less than 15 writers.

Last year, more than a dozen family-oriented computer-animation movies jostled for attention.

This year's entries range from a story about ugly green heroes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to a tale about an ugly green anti-hero, Shrek the Third.

This summer's Pixar feature, Ratatouille, by Brad Bird, is about a Parisian rodent who dreams of becoming a gourmet chef. Later in the year, Jerry Seinfeld voices a bee who is incensed to discover that humans harvest honey in Bee Movie.

Finally, Surf's Up is the third movie in as many years about penguins. There's no escaping the number three in 2007.

Coming soon: Spectacular offerings

Heavyweights
Spider-Man 3
Ocean's 13
The Bourne Ultimatum
Rush Hour 3
A Mighty Heart
The Kite Runner
Atonement
There Will Be Blood

Fantasies
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Order of the Phoenix
His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass
Stardust

Animations
Shrek The Third
Ratatouille
Bee Movie
Surf's Up

Comedies
The Nanny Diaries
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Evan Almighty
The Simpsons Movie

By Stephen Humphries, The Christian Science Monitor

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