The Avengers, Batman and Spider-Man may have saved Hollywood's summer at the box office, but superheroes were not the only ones to succeed. Solid performances by sleepers like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern Wild all proved that moviegoers may show up even when the Hulk is nowhere to be seen.
The fall offers an equally rich bounty to viewers, many of whom pride themselves on seeing the latest batch of potential Oscar contenders at the earliest opportunity. (The is very useful in that regard. The calendar of new releases has plenty of room for comedies, thrillers, kids' flicks, foreign-language fare and docs, too.
Here's a guide to the films that will be vying for attention (and possibly some glittery statuettes in the months to come. Dates may change so keep checking the Star's movie listings.
Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis, Sigourney Weaver
A businessman tangles with shadowy operatives (and his ex-spy father when his family is kidnapped while on holiday in Spain.
Though already released to middling response elsewhere in the world, this espionage thriller gets a crack at Canadians who may want to see Cavill before he slips into Superman's tights for Man of Steel.
Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Zoe Saldana
A struggling writer finds fame and fortune when he passes off another man's long-lost manuscript as his own.
Cooper used some of his post-Hangover clout to make this literary drama, which was written and directed by two childhood pals.
Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez
Our gun-toting heroine Alice once again struggles to decide who she hates more: the flesh-eating zombies who are ravaging the Earth or the corporate baddies who created them.
Despite the lousy track record for movies spawned by videogames, this franchise has been successful enough to merit five installments, the last four of which were shot in Toronto.
Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres
An overprotective clownfish tries to rescue his son after he ends up in a dentist's fish tank.
As one of Pixar's biggest hits (and the best-selling DVD of all time, it's hardly lacking fans, but the addition of a third dimension may attract another generation of viewers.
Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, John Goodman
An aging baseball scout makes one last trip with his lawyer daughter in tow.
Before agreeing to take the lead in the directorial debut of his longtime producer Robert Lorenz, Eastwood hadn't starred in a movie he didn't direct since 1993's In the Line of Fire.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Anna Kendrick
Two cops in Los Angeles get in big trouble with a ruthless drug cartel.
Having already roughed up viewers with Training Day, Harsh Times, Dark Blue and Street Kings, writer-director David Ayer clearly has a fondness for gritty stories about L.A.'s finest.
Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue
A woman and her teenage daughter find out more than they really want to know about the murders that happened next door to their new house.
As if Lawrence didn't have it hard enough in The Hunger Games, now she's got to make it through the latest teen horror flick. At least she won't have to eat any squirrels.
Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey
A hard-nosed supercop in a post-apocalyptic American mega-city faces off against a drug gang.
Fans of the British comic-book hero are hoping that this slick action movie is a whole lot cooler than the 1995 movie starring Sly Stallone that was straight-up dreadful.
Rachel Mwanza, Serge Kanyinda
A teenage girl in sub-Saharan Africa is stolen from her village and forced to fight as a child soldier.
With big wins at Berlin and Sundance, the latest by Quebec's Kim Nguyen is already the year's most decorated Canadian drama.
Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller
Coping with the recent death of his friend, a 15-year-old finds solace in the company of two fellow misfits.
Stephen Chbosky's own adaptation of his popular young-adult novel is shaping up to be the season's smartest teen movie.
Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling
A hedge-fund manager's financial woes are compounded when he tries to cover up his role in an accidental death.
Wall Street types may make for compelling villains these days but the so-so reception of other financially themed thrillers suggests that many moviegoers would rather not be reminded of our era's economic woes.
Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Andy Samberg
The human and supernatural worlds collide when a boy discovers Dracula's other career as the manager of a resort for famous monsters.
ParaNorman's recent success and the perennial popularity of The Nightmare Before Christmas proves that kids have a taste for the macabre, a fact that bodes well for this scary but sweet treat.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt
In a future where time machines are a reality, a gun for hire ends up hunting his older self.
As the opening night at this year's TIFF, this science-fiction thriller is burdened with big expectations, but results were impressive when Gordon-Levitt and writer-director Rian Johnson teamed on the teen-noir Brick.
Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Two women devote their lives to saving their kids' ailing inner-city school.
Inspired by true events in California, this drama highlights the woes of America's public education system while delivering some much-needed uplift.
The Master, Laurence Anyways, How to Survive a Plague, Roller Town, 10 Years.
Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short
Calamities ensue when a pint-sized science wiz brings his canine best friend back from the dead.
Tim Burton's original 1984 short was an early indication of the director's sensibility. Let's hope this expanded version will conjure up the same magic as Corpse Bride, Burton's last stop-motion animated feature.
Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen
A retired CIA operative and his wife are held hostage in Istanbul by the father of a victim of our hero's earlier mission to rescue his daughter.
A surprise smash when released in North America in early 2009, Taken turned the sexagenarian Neeson into a credible action-movie he-man.
Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Banks, Rebel Wilson
A new student throws in her lot with her college's all-girl a cappella group.
Viewers who believe there's just not enough Glee in the world can find some solace in this campus comedy, a welcome showcase for both Up in the Air's Anna Kendrick and Bridemaids breakout Rebel Wilson.
Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Victor Garber
A CIA fixer poses as a film producer in a strange-but-true scheme to rescue Americans hiding in Tehran during Iran's revolution in 1979.
It'll be tough for Affleck to match the standard set by Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper, the 1981 TV miniseries about the same events. But the actor's successful transition to the director's chair bodes well for his third effort.
Kevin James, Salma Hayek
Desperate to raise funds for his cash-strapped school, a biology teacher tries his luck as an MMA fighter.
The Paul Blart: Mall Cop star's love of MMA is genuine — he's trained with his buddy Randy Couture and lost dozens of pounds to get ready for the role.
Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson
An L.A. screenwriter and his pals attract a gangster's ire when they steal his beloved dog.
What with a cast that also includes Tom Waits and Christopher Walken, Farrell and writer-director Martin McDonagh should have even more fun than they did on In Bruges, their earlier black comedy.
Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta
A professional hitman delivers some rough justice in New Orleans after two small-timers rob the wrong mobsters.
Pitt's second film with Andrew Dominik — who directed him in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford — earned praise at Cannes as a tough, terse crime flick.
Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox
A detective-slash-psychologist hunts a sadistic serial killer.
Based on a bestseller by James Patterson, this thriller sees Tyler Perry assume a role played by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Does that mean Freeman's taking over Madea?
Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey
A young reporter gets in over his head while investigating a murder in late-'60s Florida.
Director Lee Daniels' follow-up to Precious was instantly notorious at Cannes for the scene in which Kidman pees on Efron after his character is bit by a jellyfish. Critics pretty much did the same thing to the movie.
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry
Themes, conflicts and characters recur in six interconnected narratives with a wide array of settings.
Adapting David Mitchell's cunning novel for the screen would seem to be an impossible task, but the directorial team of Run Lola Run's Tom Tykwer and The Matrix trilogy's Andy and Lana Wachowski is determined to recreate its many worlds.
Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Amanda Seyfried
A tricky situation at a family wedding compels a happily divorced couple to pretend to still be together.
The Bucket List screenwriter Justin Zackham targets boomer viewers with a comedic vehicle for two Hollywood veterans.
Jonny Weston, Gerard Butler, Elisabeth Shue
After discovering the location of a legendary break near his home in Northern California, a young surfer enlists a crusty vet to help him master it.
Based on the real-life story of surf great Jay Moriarty and mentor Frosty Hesson, this drama had its own rough patches. Director Curtis Hanson was replaced by Michael Apted during the final weeks of production due to Hanson's health issues, and Butler was briefly hospitalized for an injury.
Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor
The first decades of modern India are portrayed through the story of magically gifted children born at the moment that the country gains independence.
Toronto director Deepa Mehta worked closely with Salman Rushdie to bring the author's 1981 Booker Prize winner to the screen.
Butter, Fun Size, Gambit, Stories We Tell, Atlas Shrugged Part 2, Pusher, Samsara, 3,2,1… Frankie Go Boom, Sinister, Silent Hill: Revelation, Paranormal Activity 4.
Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood
After making a miraculous emergency landing, a commercial pilot faces a crisis in the event's aftermath.
This high-flying drama is Robert Zemeckis's first live-action feature since Cast Away, a movie that had a rather different outcome for its hero's midair crisis.
John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch
A videogame character who's tired of being the bad guy escapes from his old-school arcade game in hopes of finding a new adventure.
While kids are amused by Disney's latest feature-length toon, their nostalgic parents will stay busy looking out for cameos by vintage videogame characters.
RZA, Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu
In 19th-century China, a blacksmith and weapons maker ends up in the middle of a set of warring clans.
Martial arts cinema was a huge inspiration for the Wu-Tang Clan, RZA's legendary hip-hop supergroup. Now the music producer and sometime actor has become a full-fledged chopsocky auteur thanks to help from Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth.
Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes
James Bond faces a villain who threatens the future of MI6 and his relationship with an embattled M.
Freed from the limbo caused by MGM's bankruptcy woes, the Bond franchise aims for world domination once again. The list of exotic locations this time includes Shanghai and Istanbul.
Daniel Day-Lewis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jared Harris
America's 16th and arguably greatest president faces a series of tribulations in the last months of his life.
This historic teaming of Day-Lewis and director Steven Spielberg seems like such a shoo-in for Oscar glory, they might as well start handing out statues now.
Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Johnson
A virtuous wife becomes the talk of late-19th-century Moscow when she falls in love with a dashing cavalry officer.
Director Joe Wright's overtly theatrical take on Tolstoy's romantic tragedy is the kind of handsomely mounted literary adaptation that Oscar voters swoon over.
Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson
In the finale of our era's quintessential vampire melodrama, new parents Bella and Edward try to protect their rapidly growing progeny from the wrath of the Volturi.
Stewart and Pattinson's real-life drama of recent months may have a negative impact on what was one of the season's likeliest blockbusters. Then again, Twi-hards may shed even more tears over the last moments of their favourite supernatural saga.
Smashed, Jack and Diane, Rise of the Guardians, Citadel, Smashed, Life of Pi, Holy Motors, A Late Quartet, A Royal Affair, Rust and Bone, The Sessions
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