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Director: Ron Howard

Stars: Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor (more)

Synopsis: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Hanks) finds himself in Rome, where he has to race against time to prevent the Illuminati, a secret society, from putting in motion a terrorist act that could destroy the Vatican. He's aided in his quest by the beautiful Italian scientist Vittoria Vetri (Zurer). (more)

Why We're Excited: This is one of the few summer movies not aimed at adolescent boys, so there's opportunity for some actual smarts going in here. Brown's novel, while outlandish at points, is a great airplane read in the tradition of Michael Crichton, and has already prompted complaints from the Vatican. (Controversy, on a Ron Howard movie?! Awesome!) Howard also made some deft casting choices for those alongside Hanks, the relatively unknown Zurer as the female lead (you might remember her as Eric Bana's wife in Munich) and the nice one-two supporting punch of Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgård. We're hoping one of them steps into Ian McKellen's scenery-chewing shoes.

Why We're Not: While handsomely mounted, The DaVinci Code was a little low on the energy side, and straddled a strange chasm between thoughtful drama and thrilling blockbuster. Hopefully, Howard and his cast have put a little more energy and zing into the proceedings for this prequel.

Trivia: The production had to build a scale replica of St. Peter's Square since Vatican officers banned the movie from being filmed in its grounds. (more)

See more anticipated summer blockbusters from our editors' Top 15 list.