Hollywood hopes to attract audiences this weekend with fantasy and thrillers. In the spirit of Harry Potter, a popular children’s novel is coming to the big screen and Mickey Rourke hopes to keep up his new-found success with his new movie Killshot.

Inkheart is a fantasy film based on the 2003 German children’s novel written by Cornelia Funke. The novel has enjoyed enormous success including winning Booksense Book of the Year Children’s Literature Award in 2004, and she has been called the “German J.K. Rowling” by Time magazine. The film stars Brendan Fraser as a father who can bring characters from books to life. The fictional character was created specifically with Fraser in mind. After an evil villain escapes from the book and kidnaps Fraser’s daughter, played by Eliza Bennett, he must find a way to set things right. This magical adventure follows in the footsteps of literary spin-offs Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but can it enchant the audience?

Killshot is based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. It is about a couple (Diane Lane and Thomas Jane) who despite being in the witness protection program are discovered by the criminal they identified, played by Mickey Rourke. Rourke has been on a comeback, recently winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor in The Wrestler. Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Seven Pounds) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick) also star in the film directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love).

Possession is a thriller starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Lee Pace. Jess (Gellar) is a woman whose husband and brother-in-law suffer a terrible car accident leaving both men in comas. Her brother-in-law, Roman (Pace), wakes up believing he is his brother. Could this be just a freak accident or is there something evil involved? The premise has enough juice to be a good thriller; we hope they make it as creepy as it sounds.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the third installment in the Underworld series. It is the prequel to Underworld and Underworld: Evolution that traces the beginnings of the feud between vampires and lycans (werewolves). A young lycan named Lucian (Michael Sheen) sparks a revolution among the other werewolves to overturn the powerful vampires, mainly Viktor (Bill Nighy). Although Kate Beckinsale starred in the first two Underworlds, she only appears briefly in this film using a scene from the original Underworld. In most cases it’s hard to make a third installment successful, and we expect this will fall short as well.

 —Jessica Delli Santi