Summer does not officially start until June 21, but the highly anticipated summer movie season starts long before that in early May.

Many of the most highly anticipated summer movies are riding off the success of previous films and established fan bases.

Some of these include “Iron Man 2,” “Toy Story 3,” “Shrek Forever After,” “Sex and the City 2” and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”

Robin Murray, an English professor and film studies minor adviser, speculates what the early months will hold.

“Remakes and sequels seem to be the story this summer with April and May releases like ‘Wall Street 2’ featuring Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf, ‘Iron Man 2,’ ‘Robin Hood’ with Russell Crowe and ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ with Jackie Earle Haley, setting the tone for the rest of the summer.”

“Iron Man 2,” to be released on May 7, is said to be one of the biggest blockbusters this summer.

Joe Heumann, a communication studies professor who teaches film studies, lists “Iron Man 2” as one of the top three.

“‘Iron Man 2’ is going to be big just based on the success of the first one and the on-going success that you see in the adds and the buzz that you get by looking on the Internet to see how many people want to go see this film,” Heumann said.

Heumann lists “Toy Story 3” at the top of the list too. He said the previous “Toy Story” films were well received, grossed closed to $80 million between tickets sales and DVD sales and has a high recognition rate from the billions of dollars worth of “Toy Story” toys sold.

“It has a really great halo effect because people who say it when they were 10 are going to see it when they are 20,” said Heumann, “or people who were 20 when watched it will bring their five-year old kids to see it now that they are like 30 or 32. It is a film that will draw in people from across the spectrum.”

“Sex and the City 2” will draw different crowds this summer because it is marketed toward women, especially those over the age of 20.

Murray said “Sex and the City 2” is the only chick-flick getting air time this summer, besides “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”

Five of Access Hollywood’s most anticipated movies for 2010 are to be released during the summer. They include “Iron Man 2,” “Robin Hood,” “The A-Team,” “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” and “Inception” staring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Original films like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with Nicolas Cage, “Letters to Juliet” and more than 75 other feature films face tough odds.

“If you take the two animated films, ‘Iron Man,’ and ‘Sex and the City’ will take the oxygen right out of the other films, just based on the success of those films because they are all sequels.”

The studios planned their release dates carefully so no two highly anticipated films are released the same weekend. They also planned it so movie goers, who do not want to see action-thrillers or animations, will have more to choose from with the less highly anticipated films.

Colleen Kitka can be reached at 581-7942

or crkitka@eiu.edu