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FEBRUARY 18: Adapted from Kate DiCamillo's book, BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE stars Jeff Daniels and Dave Matthews in the story of a little girl (AnnaSophia Robb) whose life is transformed after she adopts a stray dog... Based on the graphic novels, CONSTANTINE casts Keanu Reeves as a failed suicide forced to indefinitely prowl the earth, during which time he decides to wage war against similarly earthbound demons... DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN finds the wonderful Kimberly Elise (Beloved, The Manchurian Candidate) playing a housewife who has to start over after her adulterous husband (Steve Harris) demands a divorce... A sequel in name only (read: no Jim Carrey or Cameron Diaz), SON OF THE MASK focuses on a kid and his mutt battling an ancient being for possession of the supernaturally enhanced facial accessory.
FEBRUARY 25: Hack director Wes Craven tries for another Scream-style success with the long delayed CURSED, starring Christina Ricci, Mya and a werewolf... Another shelf-warming flick -- it was supposed to be released last year under the title Cheer Up -- MAN OF THE HOUSE stars Tommy Lee Jones as a Texas Ranger who poses as an assistant coach in order to protect the only witnesses to a drug-related murder: a group of college cheerleaders.
MARCH 4: Former hit man Chili Palmer (John Travolta) leaves the movie industry to apply his skills to the music biz in BE COOL, the sequel to the 1995 hit Get Shorty. Travolta is joined by Uma Thurman, Cedric the Entertainer and The Rock... Tough guy Vin Diesel tries his hand at comedy with THE PACIFIER, about a Navy SEAL who's assigned to protect a bunch of kids from dastardly enemy agents.
MARCH 11: The comedy KING'S RANSOM stars Anthony Anderson as a rich businessman who arranges his own kidnapping rather than risk losing his assets to his soon-to-be ex-wife... Threatening to set a record for the most times a movie's been placed back on the shelf, MINDHUNTERS (which I wrote about in last year's Winter/Spring Preview) centers on a group of FBI trainees (including Val Kilmer, Christian Slater and LL Cool J) who discover that there's a killer in their midst... ROBOTS is director Chris Wedges' follow-up to his smash hit Ice Age, with an all-star cast (Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, Robin Williams) lending their vocals to this animated comedy populated entirely by the title creations... A single mom (Joan Allen) trying to raise four independent daughters finds her life becoming even more complicated once she falls for the ex-baseball player (Kevin Costner) down the street in THE UPSIDE OF ANGER.
MARCH 18: A nerd (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Michelle Trachtenberg) dreams of becoming a revered figure skater in the Disney live-action feature ICE PRINCESS... Since it's near-impossible to ignore a $128 million box office windfall, THE RING TWO finds Naomi Watts (joined by Sissy Spacek and Elizabeth Perkins) coming across another videocassette that causes death among its unsuspecting viewers. Hideo Nakata, who directed both Ringu and Ringu 2 (the original Japanese flicks), makes his American film debut here.
MARCH 25: The comedy GUESS WHO is Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in reverse, with Bernie Mac as the stern parent who's not thrilled that his daughter's beau is a white guy (Ashton Kutcher)... The tepid comedy Miss Congeniality has yielded MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED & FABULOUS, with Sandra Bullock reprising her role as the FBI agent with a knack for entering beauty pageants... No, SAHARA is neither a remake of the 1943 Bogart WWII flick nor of the 1983 Brooke Shields bomb; instead, it's an adaptation of Clive Cussler's novel, one of many that features the heroic Dirk Pitt. Matthew McConaughey plays the screen Dirk, teaming up with a scientist (Penelope Cruz) to save the environment from ruthless industrialists.
APRIL 1: A spin-off of the Barbershop films, BEAUTY SHOP stars Queen Latifah as a hair stylist who opens her own salon; Alicia Silverstone and Alfre Woodard are among her employees, while Djimon Hounsou (In America) provides romantic interest... Graphic novels by the legendary Frank Miller form the foundation for SIN CITY, with Robert Rodriguez (Desperado) directing the likes of Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke and Benicio Del Toro in three noirish tales involving murder and corruption... A meteorologist (Nicolas Cage) is torn between his job and his family in THE WEATHER MAN, co-starring Michael Caine and Hope Davis.
APRIL 8: A group of explorers discovers something evil lurking inside an underground chamber in the horror flick THE CAVE.
