Every summer brings its bumper crop of sequels and remakes. But the summer of '07 seems to be going for the gold: It began with a sequel last weekend ("Spider-Man 3") and it comes to an end with both a sequel ("Mr. Bean's Holiday") and a remake ("Halloween") on Labor Day weekend.

Nothing says more about what's to come in the days ahead as virtually every weekend of the summer will involve at least some form of prior cinema acquaintance.

Familiarity may breed contempt in some quarters, but where Hollywood is concerned, it's strictly love at second (and third and fourth and …) sight.

Following is a look at how much love will be dispensed over the long hot-weather haul, beginning next weekend and continuing through August.

May 18

• Captivity: Here's an original thought for a horror movie - arrange for a beautiful fashion model (Elisha Cuthbert) to become kidnapped by a sadistic serial killer, then subject her to an array of tortures.

• Shrek the Third: The flatulent ogre (Mike Myers) returns for his third outburst, this time in his new role as Far, Far Away royalty, courtesy that "Shrek 2" marriage to the Princess (Cameron Diaz). And he's not a happy camper. So he dispatches Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss (Antonio Banderas) to locate a worthy heir, who happens to be the precocious Prince Artie (Justin Timberlake).

May 25

• Bug: Veteran "Exorcist"/"French Connection" thrill-seeker William Friedkin tries again to bug us mightily, courtesy a possibly psychological horror tale about a Gulf War vet (Michael Shannon) convinced he's been besieged by an army of killer insects. Ashley Judd co-stars.

• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: Filmed concurrently with last summer's "Dead Man's Chest" entry, the wildly successful franchise swashes and buckles its way into another box office treasure test. Along the way, we are promised an answer to the question posed at the end of the last outing: Will Capt. Jack (Johnny Depp) remain imprisoned in Davy Jones' Locker? To make sure the answer is "no, matey!," Orlando Boom and Keira Knightley are off to the rescue. Also on board are new recruits Keith Richards and Chow Yun-Fat.

June 1

• Knocked Up: From the not-so-innocent mind behind "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," writer-director Judd Apatow, comes this doubtlessly randy tale of a guy ("Virgin" vet Paul Rudd) who finds himself dealing with the pregnant consequences of a one-night-stand with a career woman (Katherine Heigl).

• Mr. Brooks: Kevin Costner, trying his darnedest to alter his nice-guy image, plays a mild-mannered family man and respected businessman with a nagging "Jekyll/Hyde" complex that turns him into a vicious serial killer with a startling resemblance to William Hurt. Comedian Dane Cook plays it straight as an opportunistic witness to one of his crimes, and Demi Moore is a detective on the case.

• Gracie: A high school girl (Carly Schroeder) fights to play on her school's all-male soccer team in a tale based on the life of co-star Elisabeth Shue, who plays Gracie's mother.

June 8

• Surf's Up: "Happy Feet" didn't corner the market in computer-generated penguins. In this latest animated riff on "March of the Penguins," a tuxedo-clad bird (voiced by "Disturbia's" Shia LaBeouf) enters the World Surfing Competition championships.

• Ocean's 13: The third time around finds all the usual suspects from the first two films firmly in place, both behind and in front of the camera. The new wrinkle in the formula is the formidable addition of Al Pacino, playing a ruthless casino boss who becomes the latest object of Danny Ocean & Co.'s way with a heist.

• Hostel: Part II: You knew it was coming, and here it is, with three more American backpackers wandering into that torture den masquerading as a youth hostel. This time it's a trio of off-putting females (Lauren German, Bijou Philips, Heather Matarazzo). The same director (Eli Roth), however, is inflicting the pain and suffering.

June 15

• The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: Despite its less-than-fantastic critical reception two summers ago, the 2005 version of the Marvel comic gets a sequel, with the original cast intact, including Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. New to the membership: the slippery Silver Surfer (Doug Evans, fresh out of "Pan's Labyrinth").

• Fido: What hath "Shaun of the Dead" wrought? Another zombie comedy, that's what. This one stars Bill Connolly as a zombie manservant in a world where domestic zombies are the norm.

• Nancy Drew: Can the vintage she-sleuth survive another update to conform to the expectations of the generation at hand? Emma Roberts (out of the Julia/Eric Roberts family acting dynasty) takes the title role, while Tate Donovan plays father Carson and "The Astronaut Farmer's" Max Theriot plays her supportive boyfriend Ned.

June 22

• Evan Almighty: The summer sequel onslaught continues apace with this encore to "Bruce Almighty," sans original star Jim Carrey. Taking over is Steve Carell, Carrey's co-star from the original, as a congressman paged by God (returnee Morgan Freeman) and advised to build an ark, quick.

• D.O.A.: Dead or Alive: The video game about the three female fighters (Holly Valance, Jaime Pressly, Devon Aoki) from around the world who duke it out on an exotic island is now the video game movie at a theater near you.

June 29

• Death at a Funeral: Frank ("Dirty Rotten Scoundrels") Oz directs a black comedy about a dysfunctional British clan congregating for a patriarch's funeral. When a blackmailer turns up with a deep dark secret about the deceased, comic chaos ensues. Rupert Graves, Matthew Macfayden and Alan Tudyk star.

• Live Free or Die Hard: It's taken awhile, but the 20-year-old franchise has coughed up another reason for Bruce Willis to leave the hairpiece at home. It's his role as dome-topped John McClane who's currently working a desk job for the Homeland Security Agency. Of course, a little security-threatening terrorist activity can put McClane back on the street.

• Ratatouille: With "Flushed Away" barely down the drain, another computer-animated tale with rats? The promising news is that the writer-director is Brad Bird, who gave us "The Iron Giant" and "The Incredibles," and the studio is Pixar, fresh off "Cars." The premise: an epicurean rodent aspires to become a successful French chef.

July 4

• License to Wed: Robin Williams stars as a minister who won't marry Mandy Moore and John Krasinki until they prove their commitment via a series of reality-TV-style challenges.

• Rescue Dawn: A Vietnam-era "Great Escape," with Christian Bale as a downed German-American flyer who is captured during an unsanctioned mission in Laos, gets thrown in prison and, with his fellow inmates (including Steve Zahn), plots an escape. From veteran German director Wim Wenders, who based the true story on his documentary account of the events, "Little Dieter Needs to Fly."

• Transformers: If the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can stage a cinematic comeback, so can another '80s toy-box relic - those 'bots with the power to turn themselves into planes, trains and other things. Bad news: the director is head-hammerer Michael ("Armageddon") Bay. Good news: the human star is engaging Shia LaBeouf.

July 13

• 1408: John Cusack stars in his first Stephen King horror movie! He's a supernatural debunker summoned to debunk the eerie goings-on at a historic New York hotel, where the manager is Samuel L. Jackson. Sam's a true believer, by the way. And Suite 1408 is the room you don't want to spend a night in. Ever. Which John does, of course.

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Now that Daniel Radcliffe is doing nude scenes in stage plays, the innocence of the franchise continues to give way to a bolder maturity. This time around, No. 5, Harry's up to his neck in intrigue surrounding his claim that Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is alive and well and bewitching the students and faculty of Hogwarts Academy.

• The Strangers: Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman star as a pair of real stay-at-home types, and with good reason. Three masked invaders have entered their remote suburban abode and are keeping them there as hostages.

July 20

• Hairspray: It seems like just yesterday that John Waters' movie was in theaters with Divine in drag and Sonny Bono in … we forget. Anyway, the big splashy stage musical version has inspired this remake, with John Travolta in the Divine role of Edna Turnblad (not a pretty picture). Taking over the Rickie Lake role as pleasantly plump Tracy Turnblad, newcomer Nicole Blonsky.

• I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry: Adam Sandler and Kevin James play presumably straight Brooklyn firefighters forced into a pseudo same-gender marriage plot, all the better to cash in on a domestic partner insurance policy.

July 27

• I Know Who Killed Me: Lindsay Lohan plays it straight as a young woman who is captured and mutilated by a "Hostel"-worthy sadist before escaping with several limbs left behind. When she awakens in a hospital, she's undergone a mysterious identity shift.

• No Reservations: This comedy finds Catherine Zeta-Jones as a celebrity cooking show gourmand whose high-maintenance lifestyle is ratcheted up to another level when she is named the guardian of her niece, played by "Little Miss Sunshine's" pint-sized Oscar nominee, Abigail Breslin.

• The Simpsons Movie: Decades in the making! And that's about all we can tell you at this point, since the big-screen adventures of Homer and the gang are a closely guarded secret known mainly to creator Matt Groening.

• Skinwalkers: No, this isn't something left over from "Grindhouse." A skinwalker, per this movie, is midway between a human and a werewolf. And the skinwalker in question is a 12-year-old boy destined to come into that hairy inheritance on his 13th birthday.

Aug. 3

• The Bourne Ultimatum: Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) returns for more murky espionage, this time under the top secret auspices of talented "United 93" director, Paul Greengrass. This time, Bourne's amnesiac odyssey leads him to the secret agent training school where he was hatched. David Strathairn, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles and Paddy Considine co-star.

• Charlie Bartlett: Anton Yelchin stars in a comedy about a problem-prone rich kid whose insight into the world of the problem-prone turns him into an ad hoc counselor/therapist at his high school. Robert Downey Jr. and Hope Davis co-star.

• Hot Rod: Shades of Will Ferrell and "Talledega Nights," here comes another ex-"SNL" player, Andy Samberg, playing a daredevil driver named Rod Kimble, whose goal is to leap the Snake River on a very non-Evel Knievel-like moped. Will Arnett, Sissy Spacek, Ian McShane co-star.

• Underdog: The '60s animated super-canine makes the inevitable big-screen transfer via a mix of live action and computer effects, with Jason Lee on the dog vocals. Disney is producing it; Jim Belushi, Alex Nueberger, Amy Adams and Patrick Warburton turn up, in the flesh and on two feet.

Aug. 10

• Bratz: The Movie: Tween time, as the fashion-dolls-turned-cartoon characters go live action. They're played by Nathalia Ramos, Janel Parrish, Logan Browning and Skyler Shaye, and they're contending with social cliques at Carry Nation High School. Need we say more?

• Daddy Day Camp: Or, "The Curse of Daddy Day Care." Or, the sequel onslaught of '07 continues, no matter how mediocre the original. This encore to "Daddy Day Care" comes to us sans Eddie Murphy, who's been supplanted by Cuba Gooding Jr. Once again, unemployed dads bond to make a profit caring for doo-doo-making tykes. Former kid star Fred Savage directs.

• Rush Hour 3: Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan return as the odd-couple cop duo, this time on a case in Paris. Considering how the third time around is usually a go for franchises, we can only suggest: walk, don't rush, to the nearest theater.

• Stardust: The latest graphic novel to find cinematic interpretation, this one by way of the Neil Gaiman series about a quest to find a falling star from an enchanted land, all in the name of love and such. The impressive cast includes Peter O'Toole, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller and Ricky Gervais.

Aug. 17

• Fanboys: The "Star Wars" fanboy cult gets its own adventure, about a dying fan's last request to see "The Phantom Menace" before it's released to theaters. Sooner or later, the fan's pals take him on a journey to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch for a personal audience with His Majesty. We kid you not.

• The Invasion: Yet another (No. 4) re-imagining of the '50s science fiction classic, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," this time starring Nicole Kidman as a mom who believes her son has been taken over by alien spores and Daniel Craig as the psychiatrist who becomes a true believer. More frightening still: no fewer than four directors came and went during the film's troubled production.

• Superbad: The summer's token high-school-boys-gone-wild opus, about two pals (Michael Cera, Jonah Hill) throwing a graduation party in dire need of an illegal alcohol supply. You can fill in the rest of the blanks.

• Wedding Daze: "American Pie" alum Jason Biggs returns from the void as a love-wounded man on the rebound from a traumatic relationship. Taking the cure, he proposes to a waitress (Isla Fisher) who says "I will." But she's nursing her own relationship wounds too, see. Hence, the title.

Aug. 24

• The Comebacks: What would a month be without another triumph-of-the-underdog sports opus? Refreshing, you say? Well, avoid August, when David Koechner turns up as college football's all-time losing coach who gets (you guessed it) one last chance to redeem himself and that sorry record.

• Good Luck Chuck: Dane Cook, who played it straight back with "Mr. Brooks" earlier in the season, gets to let down his hair as a loser in love who just can't seem to hang on to a woman … until he runs into a beautiful penguin specialist (Jessica Alba). Will he break the curse?

• The Last Legion: Roman Empire intrigue via the saga of 12-year-old Romulus Augustus (Thomas Sangster), who is crowned emperor around the time barbarians are laying siege to the city. But hark, he winds up in possession of "the magical sword of Caesar." With a little help from his friends, he forms a legion to retake Rome. Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley co-star.

• Revenge of the Nerds: Twenty years on, a remake of the '80s sleeper, this time with Ryan Pinkston and Nick Zano among the geeks taking on the Greeks at Adams College.

Aug. 31

• Death Sentence: A good bloodthirsty vigilante drama is always a nice way to bring the summer escapist season to a close. So welcome Kevin Bacon, as a father whose family is brutalized by some gang members. He sets out on a mission to kill each member, one by one. Charles Bronson, where are you when we need you?

• Halloween: After a jillion or so diminishing sequels, director Rob Zombie goes back to the seemingly empty well for a rehash of the original - only, we suspect, with the gore the original avoided now a high priority for the "Devil's Rejects" guy. Malcolm McDowell gets the Donald Pleasance role and Scout Taylor-Compton the Jamie Lee Curtis one.

• Mr. Bean's Holiday: More than 10 years after the first Mr. Bean movie, along comes this second one, with Bean man Rowan Atkinson setting off for France and, you can bet, an endless array of pratfalls, accidents and all-around property destruction (Eiffel Tower, look out).