Movies

LOS ANGELES — Harry Potter pulled a disappearing act from Hollywood's fall and holiday schedule, his sixth big-screen adventure bumped from this November into next summer.

That leaves a little more room to roam at the box office for the likes of James Bond, a vampire heartthrob, the High School Musical kids and all those talking cartoon critters studios are about to unleash.

The season offers action (Bond's latest, Quantum of Solace), family flicks (the animated sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa), fantasy romance (the best-seller adaptation Twilight), and serious stuff lining up for the Academy Awards, from Nicole Kidman's epic Australia to Bond star Daniel Craig's war saga Defiance.

Brad Pitt reunites with old pals George Clooney and Cate Blanchett in two films, Clint Eastwood does his own two-fer by directing Angelina Jolie in one drama and himself in another, and Oliver Stone takes on his latest president with a George W. Bush biopic.

Highlights of what Hollywood has in store:

The World at War:

World War II is huge this season, with Tom Cruise, Craig and director Spike Lee all offering dramas touching on little-known aspects of the conflict.

In director Bryan Singer's Valkyrie, Cruise stars as German Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, who led a group of insiders in a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a briefcase bomb.

Craig stars with Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell in Edward Zwick's Defiance, the story of Jewish brothers who escape the Nazis and set up a community of resistance fighters in Eastern Europe.

Spike Lee directs Miracle at St. Anna, starring Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso and Omar Benson Miller as members of the all-black "Buffalo Soldier" outfit fighting in Italy.

Liscense to Avenge:

When we last saw Mr. Bond, the super-spy in the making was really steamed and looking for payback over the death of the love of his life.

Quantum of Solace picks up where Casino Royale left off, pitting Bond against a phony environmentalist trying to monopolize the water supply.

Also on the action front: Heat co-stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino reunite for Righteous Kill, playing cops tracking a vigilante serial killer; Mark Wahlberg stars as a cop out to avenge the deaths of his family and partner in the video-game adaptation Max Payne; Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are hired lawmen in the Western Appaloosa, directed by Harris and featuring Renee Zellweger; and Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe team for Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, about a CIA hunt for a terrorist mastermind.

Love at First Bite:

Twilight is the good-girl, bad-boy romance based on the first book in Stephenie Meyer's series about an awkward teen (Kristen Stewart) who falls for a dazzling, eternally young stud (Robert Pattinson).

OK, so he's a vampire, but a nice vampire, from a family of bloodsuckers who eschew gnawing on human necks.

Other odd romances include Ghost Town, a comedy with Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear, about a misanthropic dentist able to see ghosts who falls for the wife of one of the dead guys haunting him; and Zack and Miri Make a Porno, director Kevin Smith's tale of destitute best pals (Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) who do a skin flick to raise cash.

Leo and Kate:

Their epic love was giddy, passionate, unshakable — until the ship hit the iceberg and sank. The stars of Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, share a far different love story in Revolutionary Road, playing a couple whose marriage comes undone as they seek meaning amid the stifling conformity of the 1950s.

Double-Barreled Clint:

One of Hollywood's most efficient filmmakers, perpetual Academy Award contender Clint Eastwood again cranks out two movies in short order. First, he directs Angelina Jolie in Changeling, the story of a single mom coping with corrupt police who return the wrong child in place of her abducted son.

Then, Eastwood directs himself in Gran Torino, playing a veteran whose prejudices are challenged in encounters with his immigrant neighbors.

Awards season is crowded with other serious films featuring past Oscar winners, among them Milk, starring Sean Penn as slain gay political pioneer Harvey Milk; The Soloist, with Jamie Foxx as a schizophrenic music prodigy befriended by a journalist (Robert Downey Jr.); and Doubt, with Meryl Streep as a nun who suspects a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of abusing a boy.

Nixon/Bush:

Three decades ago, Richard Nixon faced the scrutiny of David Frost in what became a television event for the ages as the British TV personality delivered a remarkably candid interview with the fallen president.

"This was two lone wolves. It's a duel. Two complicated, fascinating, really brilliant people," said Ron Howard, who directs Frost/Nixon, adapted from the play about the TV showdown. Reprising their stage roles, Frank Langella stars as Nixon opposite Michael Sheen as Frost.

The current president, George W. Bush, comes under the scrutiny of director Oliver Stone, who previously took on White House matters with Nixon and JFK. Stone's W. — due out right before the November election — chronicles Bush's life from his Yale days through the Iraq War.

For Teens and Tweens:

Apparently, 12th grade was too much for your puny television.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year takes the Disney Channel sensation to the big-screen, reuniting the unlikely singing partners, basketball jock Troy (Zac Efron) and brainiac Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), along with stage rivals Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan (Lucas Grabeel).

Another Disney Channel star, Miley Cyrus, lends her voice to the animated adventure Bolt, the story of a canine TV star (voiced by John Travolta) on a cross-country trek to get home to his human co-star (Cyrus).

Other family flicks include Beverly Hills Chihuahua the live-action tale of a pampered dog (voiced by Drew Barrymore) lost in Mexico; Igor, a cartoon comedy about a humpbacked lab assistant (voiced by John Cusack) who tries playing mad scientist; and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, reuniting voice stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith and David Schwimmer as zoo animals out in the wild.