Will 2009 be the year that 3-D movies finally come of age and captivate audiences? Will old-school characters like Robin Hood and Sherlock Holmes bury comic book characters at the cineplex, or will sci-fi and superheroes continue to slap the box office upside the head?

And who the heck is Sam Worthington? (Hint: He stars in two of the year’s most-anticipated movies.)

Wired.com’s 2009 Movie Guide takes a look at 13 intriguing flicks due out next year, including J.J. Abrams’ younger, faster Star Trek (pictured above, lower left); James Cameron’s long-awaited 3-D epic Avatar; Hugh Jackman’s return as the title character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (above, upper right); the first Arnold-free Terminator film; Wolfman as re-fanged by Benicio Del Toro; Kate Beckinsale-in-a-parka Antarctic crime flick Whiteout; and Spike Jonez’s reworking of Where the Wild Things Are (above, lower right).

As always, release dates may change, especially in the case of Watchmen (pictured above, upper left), Warner Bros.’ highly anticipated superhero movie that must clear a huge legal hurdle to make its slated March 6 screen date. The potentially fascinating movies listed below appear in chronological order according to their currently scheduled release dates.

Coraline

Concept: Stop-motion 3-D animation follows the adventures of little girl Coraline who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate reality that bears eerie similarities to real life. When her "Other Mother" decides to keep Coraline in the parallel universe — forever — the girl must outwit the weirdos and fight her way back home.

Talent: Dakota Fanning voices the title character with Teri Hatcher as the parallel parent.

Wild card: Director Henry Selik’s film adaption of Neil Gaiman’s Hugo Award-winning novella has won high praise from the author, who told Wired.com: "It’s the most … peculiar … stop-motion film I think that’s ever been made. Everything is created, everything is handmade."

Release date: Feb. 6.

Photo courtesy Laika

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Watchmen

Concept:

When an ex-superhero is killed, the vigilante Rorshach begins an investigation into the murder that leads to a freakish urban netherworld where Nite Owl, Ozymandias, Moloch the Mystic, Mothman, The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan, Captain Metropolis and Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre collide.

Talent: Jackie Earle Haley as Rorshach heads the ensemble cast, which also includes Billy Crudup, Carla Gugino and Patrick Wilson.

Wild card: Famously cranky Watchmen creator Alan Moore wants no part of this movie, but 20th Century Fox sure does. After seeing what Watchmen director Zack Snyder’s 300 movie did at the box office, Fox pulled out old contracts with the film’s producer and litigated against Warner Bros. to block release of Watchmen unless it gets a cut of ticket revenues.

Release date: March 6

Photo courtesy Warner Bros.

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Monsters vs. Aliens

Concept: 3-D animated comedy follows a California girl who gets knocked in the noggin on her wedding day by a meteor full of alien ooze and suddenly becomes 49 feet tall.

Captured by the Army, she’s renamed Ginormica and tossed into monster jail alongside Dr. Cockroach, The Missing Link, gelatinous B.O.B. and a 350-foot-long grub named Insectosaurus. When a hell-raising alien robot lands on Earth, the outcasts come to the rescue.

Talent: Reese Witherspoon voices Ginormica, with Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert, Kiefer Sutherland and Paul Rudd.

Wild card: DreamWorks Animation boss Jeffrey Katzenberg has been barnstorming the country hosting sneak peeks of Monsters and selling audiences on the 3-D experience. Addressing the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam last fall, Katzenberg said: "I think in a reasonable period of time, all movies are going to be made in 3-D." The film is co-directed by Conrad Vernon (Shrek) and

Rob Letterman (Shark Tale).

Release date: March 27

Photo courtesy DreamWorks Animation

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Concept: The amazingly recuperative fighting machine with retractable claws known as Wolverine, gets his own violent backstory in this prequel to the X-Men movie trilogy. Wolverine navigates his dicey relationship with mastermind Victor Creed and the Weapon X program as a parade of mutants old and new gives the rage-filled Wolverine more reasons to get ticked off.

Talent: Hugh Jackman stars, with Liev Schreiber, will.i.am, Danny Huston and Dominic Monaghan (TV’s Lost).

Wild card: South African director

Gavin Hood makes his indie-to-popcorn movie move on the heels of his tiny 2005 Oscar-winner, Tsotsi. David Benioff (Troy) wrote the script, but it remains to be seen if Jackman’s hosting gig for the worldwide Oscar telecast and the new creative team can revitalize the X-Men franchise in the follow-up to Bret Ratner’s so-so X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

Release date: May 1

Photo courtesy 20th Century Fox

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Star Trek

Concept: Epic space adventure answers the question: How did Kirk come to be captain of the Enterprise?

Kirk starts out as a cocky twenty-something roustabout who joins up with the starship crew in an Iowa bar and embarks for adventures to prove his mettle by taking on the evil Nero and winning over the skeptical Spock.

Talent: Chris Pine stars as Kirk, with Zachary Quinto (Heroes‘ Sylar) as Spock and Eric Bana as tattooed heavy Nero. Simon Pegg (Scotty) and John Cho (Sulu) co-star with Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Amanda Grayson, Bruce Greenwood and Winona Ryder.

Wild card: J.J. Abrams embarked on a road show in Europe and the United States to prove that unlike most recent Trek movies, this installment will not suck. Hopeful sign: Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtman (Fringe, Mission: Impossible III) are genuine Trek nerds. Orci grew up answering a phone shaped like the Enterprise.

Release date: May 8

Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures

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Terminator Salvation

Concept: Set in 2018, John Connor leads a post-apocalyptic resistance movement aimed at taking down the sentient Skynet computer network and its robotic Terminators. Everything changes when death row survivor Marcus Wright shows up. Is the mysterious stranger teleported from the future or a refugee from the past? Drilling into the dark heart of Skynet’s operations, Connor and Wright discover a gruesome secret.

Talent: Christian Bale plays Connor, with Sam Worthington as co-star. Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood and Common round out the cast.

Wild card: Worthington got his juicy Terminator role after being recommended by James Cameron, who cast the Australian actor as the lead in Avatar. Hyping his bleak "Soviet-style" vision, director McG promised fans in an online post: "You’ll finally get to see some of the post-judgment day future that was only hinted at in the previous movies."

Release date: May 23

Photo courtesy Warner Bros.

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Land of the Lost



Concept:

Sci-fi slapstick flick follows washed-up scientist Rick Marshall as he gets sucked into a space-time vortex and lands in the Stone Age. Stranded in prehistoric times with research assistant Holly and hard-bitten survivalist Will, the trio tangles with T. rex dinosaurs and slow-as-molasses Sleestak reptiles with a little help from a primate named Chaka.

Talent: Will Ferrell stars, with Anna Friel and Danny McBride. Jorma Taccone plays the ape.

Wild card: Director Brad Silberling steered Jim Carrey through deft visual effects in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Ferrell and the consistently hilarious Friel should add up to a goofy good time. Screenplay co-written by Chris Henchy (TV’s Entourage) based on the TV series created by puppet auteurs Sid & Marty Krofft.

Release date: June 5

Photo courtesy Universal Pictures

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Concept: Sam Witwicky, the high school kid who slayed Decepticons and befriended the groovy Transformers two summers ago, now starts his first year of college hoping to leave the ‘bot hate behind. Of course, the evil ones just won’t leave him alone.

Talent: Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox return as the lead robot slayers. Rainn Wilson co-stars.

Wild card: Transformers grossed $708 million worldwide, spawning this sequel, but the sure thing hit a bump in the road when LaBeouf injured his arm in a car crash last summer.

Release date: June 29

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Concept: Pay close attention: As wicked Voldemort bears down on muggles and wizards’ worlds, Harry of Hogwarts prepares for the final battle, coached by Dumbledore and professor Horace Slughorn. Harry also vies with Dean Thomas for Ginny’s affections.

Romilda Vane (armed with seductive chocolates) and Lavender Brown fight over Ro. Hermione refuses to flaunt her twinges of jealousy. One student, meanwhile, plots a dark fate for the school.

Talent: The usual crowd: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis and Julie Walters.

Wild card: Putting behind its cease-and-desist orders against Potter-inspired rock ‘n’ rollers (as documented in We Are Wizards), Warner Bros. keeps the ball rolling with a script by Steve Kloves, who has adapted all of J.K. Rowling’s novels for the screen. Helming this time around is British TV director David Yates (State of Play).

Release date: July 17

Photo courtesy Warner Bros.

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Whiteout

Concept: Antarctica’s sole U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko only has three days to solve a murder before she gets enveloped by the long dark winter. Wait until dark and she risks frostbite and payback from a cold-hearted killer.

Talent: Kate Beckinsale stars, with Gabriel Macht (The Spirit).

Wild card: TV has far outpaced movies when it comes to presenting formidable female crime-fighters. Here’s a welcome exception. Produced by action mogul Joel Silver and based on the Oni Press graphic novel by Greg Rucka and illustrator Steve Lieber, Whiteout pulls no punches: It’s rated R for violence, grisly images, brief strong language and some nudity. Beckinsale, who showed her tough side in Underworld, teams with director Dominic Sena (Gone in Sixty Seconds).

Release date: Sept. 11

Photo courtesy Warner Bros.

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Where the Wild Things Are

Concept: Dark fantasy follows imaginative bad boy Max, who dreams up a magical forest inhabited by creatures that worship him as their king.

Talent: Newcomer Max Record stars with Catherine O’Hara, Forest Whitaker, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Paul Dano and Lauren Ambrose

Wild card: Director Spike Jonze (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) has been laboring over this $80 million film version of Maurice Sendak’s classic fable for three years. Co-scripted by McSweeney’s mastermind Dave Eggers, a rough cut that screened for preview audiences fizzled, but Jonze is swinging for the fences as he hunkers down for another round of tweaks.

Release date: Oct. 16

Photo courtesy Warner Bros.

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The Wolfman

Concept: Nobleman Lawrence Talbot returns to the family estate after his brother vanishes to contend with his estranged father. Haunted by the death of his mother decades earlier, Talbot uncovers an ancient curse as he tries to stop the brutal murders of nearby villagers that occur every time there’s a full moon.

Talent:

Benicio Del Toro stars, with Anthony Hopkins as the wolfman’s father. Emily Blunt (Devil Wears Prada) plays the love interest with Hugo Weaving (V for Vendetta) portraying a shrewd Scotland Yard inspector.

Wild card: Excavating the classic 1940 monster movie from its vaults for a 21st century overhaul, Universal Studios entrusted the project to veteran visual effects expert-turned-director Joe Johnston (Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Hidalgo). Look for Oscar-winning Del Toro to invest the role with his characteristic method intensity — he’s also executive-producing.

Release date: Nov. 6

Photo courtesy Universal Pictures

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Sherlock Holmes

Concept: The famous sleuth goes into action mode as he and Dr. Watson take on a villain that threatens the whole of London.

Talent:

Robert Downey Jr. stars with strong support from Jude Law as Dr. Watson. Rachel McAdams co-stars.

Wild card: Downey, a clever man of action? Of course. But how will he mesh with director Guy Ritchie? Excelling with quick-cut heist movies like Snatch and RocknRolla, Ritchie tends to go soggy with more serious fare. This incarnation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic character is based on a Sherlock Holmes comic by Harry Potter executive producer Lionel Wigram.

Release date: Nov. 20

Photo courtesy Warner Bros.

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Avatar

Concept: An ex-Marine lands on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. Assuming an alien body but holding onto his human mind, this "Avatar" goes to bat for the planet’s indigenous people.

Talent: Sam Worthington stars as the strange human on a strange planet. The cast also includes Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver.

Wild card: Director James Cameron spent nearly a decade on R&D to come up with the special cameras and "intuitive" CGI technologies aimed at producing fully photorealistic 3-D aliens and otherworldly vistas of Avatar. Cameron earlier took specially lensed 3-D cameras underwater to explore Titanic wreckage. For his first non-documentary feature since directing all-time box office champ and Best Picture Oscar winner The Titanic, Cameron teamed with WETA Digital (The Lord of the Rings trilogy). The always-ambitious Cameron believes Avatar could permanently impact the way audiences experience movies.

Release date: Dec. 18

Photo courtesy 20th Century Fox

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And that’s not all! Here are a few more movies that pique our appetite for thrills and offbeat chills: