Time for Part 2 of our list of the top 10 movies we think will generate the most hype this summer. From well-known franchises to much-loved characters and real life stories, you'll be in the know before these ever hit the big screen during the summer months. Our countdown continues from numbers 5 to 1...

5. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Although technically speaking this movie is out just before summer (the end of April) it's the one that will kick-off this year's blockbuster season and what a movie to start with. The X-Men series rates very highly in my favourite sci-fi/fantasy films of this decade and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine was my favourite character so I'm hoping now that he has a whole movie to himself, he can pull it off. The premise sounds interesting - we get to find out the history behind Wolverine and his rather violent past, Liev Schreiber features as his arch nemesis Victor Creed/Sabertooth and plenty of other mutants both old and new will pop up along the way. What's not to like about that??? The posters that have been released so far look really really cool and as for the trailer, well, when Wolverine and Sabertooth get down and dirty, you can't help wishing it was April 29th already. Check it out below.

4. Terminator: Salvation

The fourth Terminator movie has really raised the bar. John Connor is all grown up and now looks spookily like Batman (well, he's played by Christian Bale) and as we all know from the earlier Terminator movies John Connor is the one to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But when a stranger mysteriously shows up not knowing where he came from, a suspicous John must figure out who or what he is while at the same time he takes on the might of Skynet to fulfil his destiny as humanity's saviour. After the disaster that was Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines,  the fear remains that the Terminator series should have ended with Judgement Day but when we all watched that film back in the 90s, who didn't think how cool it would be to see the future John Connor doing exactly what the T1000 was sent back to 1991 to prevent him from doing. The fact that Christian Bale is on board tells me that this movie definitely has potential. Bale certainly enjoys a challenge when it comes to the roles he picks and there's no way he would have signed on for this if he thought it was going to be a dud. And with the likes of Anton Yelchin and Bryce Dallas Howard on board, it has a pretty cool cast. While I don't see it having the same impact that Terminator 2: Judgement Day had, it certainly looks like it's a vast improvement on the last Terminator outing (can we just ignore it and pretend it never even happened?). And after Bale was outshone by the late Heath Ledger in Dark Knight, it's time for him to take centre stage again in this one (he even uses his Batman growl).

Check out the trailer by going to the official website here

3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Everyone's favourite robots in disguise return this summer and after the first film was a roaring box office success in 2007, there is much expectation surrounding this second outing. All the big names involved with the first film are back - Michael Bay, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and actors Shia LaBoeuf and Megan Fox, regarded as two of Hollywood's sexiest stars and hottest properties right now. Looking at the trailer and reading the blurb, it would seem this movie is pretty similar to the last - a special effects-fest with plenty of Michael Bay style explosions and destruction, although this time around the Decepticons look even nastier than the first time. If you enjoy watching things blowing up then this has to be on your must-see list for summer 09. For the rest of us, particularly of a certain age, it's always great to see one of the best cartoons of the 1980s come to life on the big screen. Don't expect award-winning dialogue or buzz-worthy acting but who really cares when you've got Optimus Prime to save the day (and the movie). Popcorn was made for movies like this. Check out the trailer below.

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Hands up who was bitterly disappointed when Warner Bros decided to delay the release of the sixth instalment of the Harry Potter series last year? I know I wasn't the only one who needed another Potter fix. But at last the wait is almost over and the boy wizard returns to the big screen in his darkest adventure yet. For those of you who have never read the books, as each year passes at Hogwarts, events turn more sinister and the danger more real as Lord Voldemort grows stronger and we're closer than ever to the climax of this fascinating story. This time around, Harry returns to Hogwarts to discover a potions book that was the property of the mysterious "Half-Blood Prince" and through his private tutoring with Dumbledore, he learns much more about Voldemort's dark past and battles his own demons at the same time. But amidst all the fear of Voldemort's continuing rise to power, there's still time to explore the lighter side of school life. Ron has a new girlfriend, much to the disgust of Hermione while Harry realises he's fallen for Ron's sister, Ginny, who happens to be going out with his classmate Dean Thomas. The stellar cast (a who's-who of the best of British talent around) all return with the new addition of the wonderful Jim Broadbent as Professor Slughorn. Will probably be the biggest hit at the box-office for summer 09. You can see what all the fuss is about in the trailer below

1. Star Trek

It's fairly simple why this will be the most hyped movie of summer 09. Consider the following: (1) It's directed and produced by JJ Abrams (of Lost, Alias, Fringe, Cloverfield and Mission Impossible III fame) (2) It chronicles the early days of James T Kirk, Spock and the rest of the USS Enterprise crew (3) And so the cast are young, fresh, and sexy (4) Zachary Quinto of Heroes plays the young Spock (and looks so like Leonard Nimoy it's freaky) (5) The original Spock turns up thanks to the ever reliable plot facilitator "time-travel" (6) Simon Pegg plays the young Scotty (7) Eric Bana plays the evil Nero (8) Winona Ryder plays Spock's mother (9) it finally brings sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll to Star Trek - Kirk gets into bar fights, rides a motorcycle, Uhura strips and there's two scenes that certainly bring new meaning to the phrase "mile-high club" (10) It's Star Trek for crying out loud, all new and shiny and ready for a whole new generation of fans (if you'll pardon the pun)... You'll see what I mean from the trailer below

So there you have it, the 5 movies that will generate more buzz than a bee-hive across the summer months. Make sure you check out Part 1 of our list if you haven't already. And keep checking back for more news, pics, videos and interviews from all 10 of our picks as the months progress...

Amanda Fennelly

Last week the beautiful Australian actress Rose Byrne was in town to talk about her new movie Knowing, a sci-fi thriller, in which she stars alongside Nicholas Cage. In Knowing the opening of a time capsule at his son's school leads Cage's character to believe the world is about to end after he discovers a list of numbers that predict horrific events, and in 2009, the numbers run out...

Rose took time out to chat to me about making the movie in her native Oz, what she'd put in a time capsule, and how much she enjoys watching (and acting in) American tv dramas.

And you can listen to the interview here

You can also check out the trailer for Knowing in The Slate's Videos section. Knowing opened in cinemas on March 25th.

Here at The Slate we're counting down the top 10 movies we think will generate the most hype this summer. From well-known franchises to much-loved characters and real life stories, you'll be in the know before these ever hit the big screen during the summer months. Our countdown begins from numbers 10 to 6...

10. Synecdoche, New York
I love Charlie Kaufman. The man is a crazy genius. If you found it hard to get your heads round Being John Malkovich or Adaptation then be prepared to scratch your head as you exit the cinema this summer as his new movie Synecdoche, New York, finally gets a general release date on this side of the water, and get this, it's a horror movie, Kaufman style. And this time, he's not only written it, but he's directing it too The plot centres on a hypochondriac theatre director who tackles his most ambitious project yet - taking over a warehouse in the theatre district and building a scale model of New York City instructing his actors to live out their lives there. You still with me? Well that's oversimplifying it of course because as always with Kaufman, the lines between reality and fantasy become a bit blurry and in no way does this movie have a conventional story or structure. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Samantha Morton, this will probably fail to set the box office alight but as Kaufman himself has been quoted as saying "the purpose of a movie is to start a conversation" then you'll be guaranteed to be talking about it. Check out the trailer below

9. The Year One
This looks like a movie that could be truly hilarious or truly heinous. I'm loving the cast - Paul Rudd, Michael Cera, Jack Black, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Hank Azaria, Harold Ramis, Olivia Wilde, Vinnie Jones (wait, what??!!??). Yep, the ex-footballer who's been building up an acting career these past few years also stars in what sounds like a prequel to Monty Python's The Life of Brian (now don't worry, I'm not saying it's in the same class as that film, just the same style).  Directed by Ramis (Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Analyse This) and co-produced by Judd Apatow, it tells the story of two lazy hunter-gatherers (Black and Cera) who are banished from their village and they set out on an epic journey through biblical times and encounter various characters from the early stories of the Bible, including Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham and Moses. They're taking a big risk with the Python comparisons but while it's never going to reach those dizzy heights, it might actually be funny. Cera is a smart guy, I can't imagine him taking this on if he didn't think it was entertaining in some way. And I laughed at the trailer, which you'll find below.




8. Public Enemies
Movie audiences love a good gangster movie, particularly if it comes from the direction of Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral, Miami Vice). Here he tackles the legend of bank robber John Dillinger who along with Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd, terrorised bank officials in the US during the mid 1930s, robbing banks every few weeks and avoiding capture by the FBI hot on their trail. Johnny Depp plays Dillinger, and after a few years of seeing him in pantomime-like roles such as Jack Sparrow, Sweeny Todd and Willy Wonka, I for one am looking forward to seeing one of the most talented actors of his generation take on a meaty, serious, grown-up role again. The all-star supporting cast includes Billy Crudrup, Christian Bale, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff, Channing Tatum, Marion Cotillard and Leelee Sobieski. If drama rather than special effects is your thing, then this could be the big summer movie you've been waiting for. And if you need any more proof, check out the trailer, it'll make you want to see it all the more.

7. Bruno
After the runaway success of Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen now brings another of his much-loved characters to the big screen - Bruno, the flamboyant Austrian reporter. As with Borat, the film sees Cohen interview real life people and attend real life events in character and there's plenty of shock value, even more so than was evident in Borat, if that's possible. Not much has been confirmed of what will end up in the movie but a few US movie critics did get a sneak peak of about 20 minutes of raw footage recently and it included a sequence where Bruno has adopted an African baby and goes on a talk show to find a man to help him raise the baby, which doesn't go down well with the talk show audience. Another sequence sees Cohen in a situation where he starts kissing another man in front of a group of mostly beer-drinking, confederate flag waving men and it causes a riot. If you're not easily offended (or if you just don't mind being offended) then Bruno could turn out to be one of the funniest movies of the whole year, let alone the summer.

The trailer is not yet available but there are clips of Bruno being filmed that may or may not end up in the final movie and you can find a link to those here The Bruno Movie

6. Angels & Demons
We all remember how disappointing The Da Vinci Code movie was. Dan Brown's book that everybody read (even if they didn't admit to it) didn't translate well to the big screen so you'd wonder why Ron Howard, Tom Hanks et al fancy going back for more but that they have as the prequel book Angels & Demons has been made by them as a sequel to the movie (just a little dramatic license, nothing to worry about). Howard claims to have learned from his mistakes from the first movie and I'm prepared to take his word on that. In this one, Hanks returns as symbolist Robert Langdon and he's investigating a murder where the victim has been marked by the ambigram of the ancient secret brotherhood of The Illuminati believed to be extinct. What he discovers is a more serious plot to murder four cardinals and a new weapon of mass destruction using anti-matter that could kill millions. It all sounds very dramatic. And expect there to be plenty of controversy too as it is primarily set inside the Vatican. On board this time around are Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgard. Will audiences be willing to forgive the sins of the first movie? Either way, this film will generate a lot of interest.

See what you make of the trailer.

Check back later as we complete the countdown from 5 to 1...