Kevin Spacey suffers middle-age angst in American Dream
Gerry Stembridge's romantic comedy features Stuart Townsend as an enigmatic young man who arrives into the lives of an Irish family. With Frances O'Connor, Kate Hudson and Rosaleen Linehan. Summer Accelerator
Vinny Murphy's energetic first feature follows a frenetic car chase from Belfast to Dublin in five stolen cars. Spring/summer
American Beauty
Theatre director Sam Mendes makes a highly auspicious cinema debut with a dark, thoughtful and subversive film of middle-age crises, teenage angst and suburban alienation. Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening head the exemplary cast. February 4th
American Psycho
Mary Harron's film of the controversial novel by Bret Easton Ellis features Christian Bale, right, as the young banker who experiments with violence. April 21st
Any Given Sunday
The new Oliver Stone film deals with the problems faced by a professional football team and features Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Fox. March 17th
The Bachelor
In a remake of Buster Keaton's 1925 comedy Seven Chances, Chris O'Donnell plays a man who must find a bride within 24 hours in order to collect a $100 million inheritance. With Renee Zellweger. February 18th
The Beach
Alex Garland's riveting novel is brought to the screen by Trainspotting director Danny Boyle and with Leonardo DiCaprio as the young traveller setting off on an exotic adventure in search of paradise. February 11th
Beau Travail
Director Claire Denis employs homoerotic imagery in her candid picture of life in the French Foreign Legion. With Denis Lavant and Gregoire Colin. July 7th
Being John Malkovich
A clever, original fantasy film in which a puppeteer (John Cusack) discovers a portal leading into the actor's brain. With Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener - and John Malkovich. Spike Jonze directs. March 17th
Blow Dry
Irish director Paddy Breathnach follows Ailsa and I Went Down with an offbeat comedy from Full Monty writer Simon Beaufoy. Set in the world of competitive hairdressing, it stars Alan Rickman and Natasha Richardson. Summer
The Borstal Boy
American actor Shawn Hatosy plays the teenage Brendan Behan in Peter Sheridan's film of The Borstal Boy. With Michael York and Ian McElhinney. Autumn
Boys Don't Cry
Kimberly Peirce's emotionally wrenching picture features a remarkable, Oscar-bound performance from Hilary Swank, right, as a 20-year-old working-class Nebraska woman who courts danger in her new persona as a young man. April 21st
The Carriers Are Waiting/Les Conveyeurs Attendent
Benoit Mariage's well-regarded Belgian comedy examines a manic, obsessive father (Benoit Polevoorde) and his unfortunate, browbeaten family. March 31st
Chicken Run
The first feature film from Wallace and Gromit-creator Nick Park is a claymation comedy in which battery chickens attempt to flee the coop. June 30th
The Cider House Rules
Lasse Hallstrom's poignant film of John Irving's novel is set in 1940s New England with Tobey Maguire as an orphan raised by an unorthodox doctor (Michael Caine). February 11th
A Clockwork Orange
After 27 years, Irish audiences finally get to see Stanley Kubrick's controversial film starring Malcolm McDowell as the amoral gang leader obsessed with Beethoven, sex and "ultra-violence". March 17th
Closer You Get
Niamh Cusack, Sean McGinley and Ian Hart head the cast of Aileen Ritchie's romantic comedy set in a Donegal village where the local men set out to entice young American women to their annual dance. April 21st
Cradle Will Rock
Tim Robbins's film about the problems besetting the staging of a socialist musical by the young Orson Welles in 1936 features John Cusack, Emily Watson, Susan Sarandon, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave. April 21st
Dancer in the Dark
After the minimalism of The Idiots, Danish director Lars Von Trier tackles a large-budget musical which teams Catherine Deneuve, singer Bjork, Jean-Marc Barr and Udo Kier. September
Dinosaur
The title is self-explanatory in the case of Disney's major new animated movie, which blends state-of-the-art animation with live-action backgrounds. Summer/autumn
Double Jeopardy
Ashley Judd plays a woman framed for murdering her husband, with Tommy Lee Jones as her parole officer in Bruce Beresford's thriller. January 28th
The End of the Affair
Nominated for four Golden Globes, Neil Jordan's stylish, deeply emotional Graham Greene adaptation of an illicit love affair in London during the Blitz is superbly played by Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, above, and Stephen Rea. February 11th
L'Ennui
In Cedric Kahn's film of erotic obsession, based on Alberto Moravia's La Nola, a philosophy professor (Charles Berling) becomes passionately involved with a younger woman (Sophie Guillemin). April
Erin Brockovich Julia Roberts takes the lead in a legal thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh. May 26th
An Everlasting Piece
Barry Levinson's Irish comedy features Barry McEvoy, who also wrote it, and Brian F. O'Byrne as barbers who secure a hairpiece franchise in 1980s Belfast. Anna Friel co-stars. Autumn/winter
Flawless
A macho ex-security guard (Robert De Niro) strikes up an unlikely friendship with a drag queen (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in an urban melodrama directed by Joel Schumacher. April
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
A prequel with Mark Addy (from The Full Monty) and Kristen Johnson playing Fred and Wilma Flintstone, with Stephen Baldwin and Jane Krakowski as Barney and Betty Rubble, and Joan Collins as the shrewish Pearl Slaghoople. July 28th
Ghost Dog
The new Jim Jarmusch movie is a spiritual gangster story featuring Forest Whitaker as a mysterious, physically imposing loner guided by the strict code of an ancient Samurai text. March
Girl, Interrupted
Winona Ryder plays a young, upper-class woman confined to a psychiatric hospital in the late 1960s and Angelina Jolie is a long-time inmate in this drama directed by James Mangold. March 24th
Gladiator
The Roman epic returns for a grand-scale, realistic treatment directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe. May 19th
Gone in 60 Seconds
A cheapo 1974 movie noted for its 40-minute car-chase sequence gets the big-budget treatment from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. It stars Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Duvall and Vinnie Jones. August
The Green Mile
Director Frank Darabont follows The Shawshank Redemption with another Stephen King adaptation. Set in 1935, on Death Row in a Louisiana prison, it features Tom Hanks as the head guard and Michael Clarke Duncan as a convicted murderer. March 3rd
Hamlet
In Michael Almereyda's transposition of the play to present-day New York City Ethan Hawke takes the title role. With Kyle MacLachlan, Bill Murray and Liev Schreiber. Autumn
High Fidelity
Stephen Frears directs the film of Nick Hornby's book starring John Cusack as the music-obsessed thirtysomething protagonist. May 19th
Holy Smoke!
Director Jane Campion reunites with Harvey Keitel, here cast as a "cult buster" who falls for a young client (Kate Winslet). March 10th
The House of Mirth
X Files star Gillian Anderson plays the New York socialite at the centre of this tragic love story from Edith Wharton's novel. With Eric Stoltz. Directed by Terence Davies. Autumn
Hurlyburly
David Rabe's adaptation of his own stage-play is a dark comedy of insecure males working in the film industry. With Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright-Penn, Garry Shandling, Meg Ryan and Anna Paquin. March 3rd.
The Hurricane
Already immortalised in song by Bob Dylan, boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who was wrongly accused of a triple murder and jailed for 20 years, is played by Denzel Washington in this drama directed by Norman Jewison. March 24th
I Could Read the Sky
Demanding but hypnotic, Nichola Bruce's film from Timothy O'Grady and Steve Pyke's photographic novel features a haunting Dermot Healy as an elderly Irishman looking back on an unfulfilled life on English building sites. February
The Insider
Michael Mann's factually based drama features a vivid performance by Russell Crowe, above right, as an American tobacco company whistle-blower. With Al Pacino, above left, and Christopher Plummer. March 10th
Janice Beard 45WPM
Irish actress Eileen Walsh stars as a fantasising typist in a quirky British comedy with Ryhs Ifans and Patsy Kensit. March 17th
Joan of Arc
Luc Besson's large-scale historical drama features Milla Jovovich in the title role, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway and, playing the personification of the heroine's conscience, Dustin Hoffman! March 10th
The Last September
Adapted by John Banville from Elizabeth Bowen's novel, Deborah Warner's film is set in 1920, in the dying days of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy known as the Ascendancy. With Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin and Fiona Shaw. March 17th
Liberty Heights
Writer-director Barry Levinson's fourth film set in his native Baltimore tells the story of a Jewish family facing multicultural America in 1954. With Joe Mantegna, Bebe Neuwirth and Adrien Brody. April/May
Limbo
John Sayles's involving drama set in Alaska features David Strathairn as a guiltridden fisherman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as a nomadic bar-room singer and Vanessa Martinez as her disaffected teenage daughter. January 21st
Love's Labour's Lost
In his latest Shakespearean treatment Kenneth Branagh mounts the play as 1930s-style musical starring Alicia Silverstone. Summer
Magnolia
Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson explores the anxieties of 12 interconnected characters over the course of one intense day. The strong cast includes Jason Robards, Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman and William H. Macy. March 17th
Man on the Moon
In Milos Forman's biopic of Andy Kaufman, Jim Carrey plays the tragic comic who died in 1984 at the age of 35. With Danny De Vito and Courtney Love. February 18th
Mansfield Park
Patricia Rozema's radical Jane Austen adaptation acutely tackles its themes of repressed passion, class divisions and social hypocrisy. The fine cast is led by Frances O'Connor, Johnny Lee Miller, and Harold Pinter. March 31st
Me, Myself and Irene
Jim Carrey reunites with Dumb and Dumber directors, Bobby and Peter Farrelly, for a comedy in which he plays a romantic, under-achieving police officer whose alter ego is a drunken womaniser. With Renee Zellweger. September
The Million Dollar Hotel,
Written by Bono and Nicholas Klein, the new Wim Wenders movie stars Mel Gibson as a detective investigating the death of an eccentric loner. With Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich and Jimmy Smits. April 28th.
Miss Julie
Mike Figgis films the Strindberg play with Saffron Burrows as the spoiled aristocrat who seduces her father's footman (Peter Mullen). With Maria Doyle Kennedy. Autumn
Mission Impossible 2
Tom Cruise returns in a big-budget sequel directed by John Woo. The intriguing cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Ving Rhames - and Brendan Gleeson as a British industrialist. July 7th
Mission to Mars
Brian De Palma directs a futuristic thriller of astronauts trying to rescue colleagues injured in an explosion at their base camp on Mars. Heading the cast are Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise and Frances McDormand. April 14th
Mumford
Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan is back on form with a serious comedy set in an American town where a new psychiatrist (Loren Dean) transforms his patients. With tures Hope Davis, Jason Lee, Mary McDonnell and Ted Danson. May 12th
Music of the Heart
Meryl Streep teams up with Wes Craven (!) for the true story of a violinist who becomes an inspirational teacher at a Harlem school. With Aidan Quinn, Angela Basssett and Gloria Estefan. January 21st
Nora
Spanning eight years from 1904, Pat Murphy's film explores the early stages of the often volatile relationship between the young James Joyce (played by Ewan McGregor) and Nora Barnacle (Susan Lynch). April 21st
Nutty II: The Klumps
Just what the world needed. A sequel to the remake of The Nutty Professor, with Eddie Murphy back in the central role. Singer Janet Jackson co-stars. August 6th.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Expect the unexpected, as ever, from the new Joel and Ethan Coen movie. A spin on Homer's Odyssey, it's set in the 1930s with George Clooney, John Goodman and John Turturro as escaped convicts on the run. Summer
The Patriot
Mel Gibson and Joely Richardson star in a big-budget action movie set in South Carolina in 1776 at the time of the American Revolution. Roland Emmerich directs. August 4th
Peaches
Nick Grosso's film of his own play observes young Londoners over one eventful summer. Most of the movie was filmed in Dublin. Matthew Rhys and Kelly Reilly, above, lead the cast. Summer
Pokemon: The First Movie
The Japanese phenomenon which has spawned a best-selling GameBoy game, a TV series and masses of merchandise is now a hit movie which has been dubbed in American. April 14th
A Pornographic Affair/Une Liaison Pornographique
Director Frederic Fonteyne employs a mockumentary style to explore the relationship between lovers - Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez - whose desire for a carnal affair turns into one of sympathy and care. March/April
A Room For Romeo Brass
Shane Meadows directs the tender story of two 12-year-old boys, best friends in an English Midlands town, who are befriended by a eccentric stranger obsessed with the sister of one. February 4th
Rosetta
The surprise winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's modest Belgian film follows the humiliations of a dour 18-year-old (Emilie Dequenne) as she struggles to hold down a job. February 25th
Scream 3
Wes Craven is back at the helm to put more witless teenagers through the wringer with more than a hint of irony. David Arquette, Courtney Cox and Neve Campbell are back in the cast. April 28th
Saltwater
Conor McPherson's first film as director is his adaptation of his own stage play, This Lime Tree Bower. With Brian Cox and Peter McDonald. Summer/autumn
Shaft Returns
Samuel L. Jackson takes over the role of detective John Shaft in John Singleton's film which has Christian Bale as the villain and Richard Roundtree, who first played Shaft, as the detective's uncle. November 3rd
Show Me Love
A gritty, incisive Swedish movie about a shy, 15-year-old girl (Alexandra Dahlstrom) in a boring new town where she develops a lesbian crush on the high school rebel. March 3rd
The Smiling Suicide Club (working title)
Cillian Murphy, Tricia Vessey and Jonathan Jackson are joined by Stephen Rea and Gerard McSorley in this love story set in a medical centre dealing with young people at risk of suicide. John Carney directs. Autumn/winter
Snatch (working title)
Lock, Stock director Guy Ritchie returns to the London gangster milieu for a diamond heist picture starring Brad Pitt as an Irish boxer. With Benicio Del Toro, Ewan Bremner and Vinnie Jones. September
State and Maine
The new David Mamet film deals with a film crew and cast shooting in rural New England, where the townsfolk quickly learn how to make money out of them. With Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker and William H. Macy. Autumn
Sunshine
Istvan Szabo's Hungarian epic spans the 20th century and three generations in a Jewish family, with Ralph Fiennes playing a key member of each generation. April
Sweet and Lowdown
Woody Allen's faux documentary on an allegedly brilliant but deeply vain 1930s jazz guitarist features Sean Penn, Samantha Morton and Uma Thurman. Summer
The Talented Mr Ripley
Anthony Minghella's eagerly awaited treatment of the Patricia Highsmith novel has an attractive cast led by Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett, above, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. February 25th
Three Kings
David O. Russell's dark and stylish serious comedy is set in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War, when some US soldiers find a map leading to Kuwaiti gold stolen by the Iraqis. With George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Spike Jonze and Ice Cube. March 3rd
Time Regained/Le Temps Retrouve
Portuguese director Raul Ruiz tackles Proust's A la Recherche du Temps Perdu in an ambitious production which divided critics at Cannes last year. Heading the cast are Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Beart and Vincent Perez. February 11th
Titan A.E.
Don Bluth's animated space adventure is set 15 years after aliens have destroyed our planet and a rebellious teenager gets a chance to save mankind. Voiced by Matt Damon, Bill Pullman and Drew Barrymore. July 21st
Titus
Julie Taymor's film transposes Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus to the 20th century and stars Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, Matthew Rhys and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Spring/summer
Topsy-Turvy
Voted film of the year by the New York critics, Mike Leigh's film about the composers Gilbert and Sullivan (played by Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner) is set in 1884 at a rocky patch in their careers. March/April
Town & Country
Peter Chelsom's romantic comedy stars Warren Beatty, right, as a man whose passion for women takes him across the US and towards the most important discovery of his life. With Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Andie McDowell and Gerard Depardieu. March/April
Toy Story 2
John Lasseter's sequel follows the exploits of the toys as Buzz Lightyear leads the rescue posse when Woody is kidnapped by an obsessive toy collector. Voices by Tom Hanks, Tim Allen et al. February 11th
Tumbleweeds
Janet McTeer plays a working-class North Carolina woman who tends to run away from her problems. Kimberly J. Brown, as her daughter, and Gavin O'Connor, who also directs, co-star. March/April
2X4
Irish actor-director Jimmy Smallhorne makes a gritty debut with this drama about a young, bisexual Irish construction worker in the Bronx. With the late Chris O'Neill. March
When Brendan Met Trudy
Peter McDonald and Flora Montgomery take the leading roles as opposites attracted to each other in director Kieron J. Walsh's first cinema film, a romantic comedy based on an original screenplay by Roddy Doyle. Autumn
When the Sky Falls
John Mackenzie's film inspired by the life and death of Veronica Guerin features Joan Allen as the Dublin journalist taking on the criminals. With Patrick Bergin, Liam Cunningham, Pete Postlethwaite, Kevin McNaly and Jimmy Smallhorne. Spring/ summer
Wonder Boys
Director Curtis Hanson follows L.A. Confidential with his film of Michael Chabon's novel starring Michael Douglas as a hard-living novelist suffering from writer's block. With Frances McDormand and Tobey Maguire. Summer/autumn
Wonderland
Packed with incident, Michael Winterbottom's beautifully meshed picture of 13 interconnected characters over four days in London features Molly Parker, John Simm, Gina McKee, Ian Hart and Stuart Townsend. January 21st
X-Men
The next movie from The Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer is a big-budget superhero picture based on the Marvel Comic series and starring Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry and Jim Caviezel -, and Ian McKellen as the villain, Magneto, Master of Magneticism. Autumn
All release dates are subject to change. Films set to open next Friday are listed in The Guide, Weekend 12 and 13