Continuing our peek ahead at 2009's most intriguing movie projects, you'll notice that from July through the holidays, Hollywood becomes more aware that awards season is approaching: Fewer comic book adaptations and more best selling novels. Nothing else for Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron and Sandra Bullock to plug on celebri-tainment shows.

Of course, these won't be the only movies worth contending for box office records and year-end awards. More will come into focus when Sundance, Cannes, Toronto and Telluride festivals unspool sleepers flying under the radar right now. Keep in mind that nobody heard of Slumdog Millionaire at this time last year.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (July 1) - More animated hijinks with Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) and Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo).

Public Enemies (July 1) - Director Michael Mann goes retro-gangster with John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) pursued by FBI agent Melvis Purvis (Christian Bale).

2012 (July 10) - Roland Emmerich almost destroyed Earth in The Day After Tomorrow. Now he's back to finish the job, as some doomsday codes have predicted. That'll solve the recession.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17) - Postponed from Thanksgiving 2008, this is 2009's leading contender for the box office crown.

Funny People (July 31) - A stand-up comedian (Adam Sandler) is changed by a near-death experience. Keep in mind that this is another movie from Judd Apatow's raunch 'n roll stable (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, etc.).

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Aug. 7) - Live action (and probably plenty of it) that should hold fans in its kung fu grip.

Julie & Julia (Aug. 7) - Meryl Streep's annual award fodder? Playing celebrity chef Julia Child, whose recipes changed the life of author Julie Powell (Amy Adams). This has to be more entertaining than their recent pairing in Doubt. 

Taking Woodstock (Aug. 14) - Director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) examines the roots of 1969's watershed counterculture concert.

Nine (Sept. 9) - Daniel Day-Lewis again proves (or not) that he can do anything on screen, singing and dancing in an adaptation of the Broadway smash, based on Federico Fellini's 8 1/2.

Fame (Sept. 25) - Updating of Alan Parker's 1980 musical that redefined movie musicals for the MTV era. There must be another Irene Cara or Gene Anthony Ray somewhere in the new cast.

Shutter Island (Oct. 2) - Martin Scorsese plunks a fine cast (Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, etc.) into an insane asylum in the midst of a hurricane. Based on the novel by Eckerd College icon Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone).

Where the Wild Things Are (Oct. 16) - Maurice Sendak's classic bedtime story gets animated by the ever-bizarre Spike Jonze (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich).

Amelia (Oct. 23) - Hilary Swank aims for Oscar No. 3, playing the ill-fated aviator Amelia Earhart.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Nov. 6) - Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited, The Royal Tenenbaums) lends his offbeat style to stop-motion animation, adapting Roald Dahl's book. Voices include George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Bill Murray; great casting in any format.

The Wolfman (Nov. 6) - Benicio Del Toro shouldn't require as much makeup as Lon Chaney to play the classic monster.

New Moon (Nov. 20) - The sequel to Twilight, with a new director (Chris Weitz) after Catherine Hardwicke had the audacity to tell producers she wanted to take more time to make a better movie than Twilight. The nerve of that woman.

Untitled Three Stooges Project (Nov. 20) - Peter and Bobby Farrelly are biting off a chunk of comedy history, with an still-uncast modernization of the nyuk-nyuk icons. Probably the most likely movie on this list to be postponed, if not dumped.

The Lovely Bones (Dec. 11) - Alice Seybold's novel about a murdered girl (Saorise Ronan) watching over her parents and killer has the extra oomph of being directed by Peter Jackson, hist first work since completing the Rings trilogy.

Avatar (Dec. 18) - Is James Cameron still king of the blockbuster world? This mega-budget, 3D fantasy about a U.S. marine (Sam Worthington) shoved into another planet's problems will answer that.

The Human Factor (late Dec.) - Clint Eastwood must finally be getting old: He has only one project on tap in 2009 after double-dipping in '06 and '08. This biography of Nelson Mandela (with Morgan Freeman as the South African icon) looks like immediate Oscar bait.