Many happy returns: Successful film franchises back on the big screen in 2010

LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood may find it tough to match 2009's record box-office revenue. Yet studios have a cast of characters this year to make a run for their money.

Hollywood's lineup is loaded with returning favorites, including Robert Downey Jr. as the billionaire superhero in "Iron Man 2"; Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in the vampire-werewolf-human love triangle in "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"; Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas as mouthpieces for the fairy-tale gang in "Shrek Forever After"; Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprising their voice roles in "Toy Story 3"; Michael Douglas as greedy guy Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street 2"; Sarah Jessica Parker and her Manhattan gal pals in "Sex and the City 2"; Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro as uneasy in-laws in "Meet the Parents 3"; and Daniel Radcliffe as the teen wizard in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1."

Here's a sampling of sequels and series competing for your attention in the coming year.

IRON MAN 2 (May 7)

At the end of his first blockbuster about the guy in the gadget-laden metal suit, Robert Downey Jr.'s billionaire genius Tony Stark proclaims to the world, "I am Iron Man."

So much for secret identities.

In the sequel, "we see what the ramifications of that announcement from the first film were," said Jon Favreau, director of the "Iron Man" films. "He already had his hands full just being Tony Stark, but now he's Iron Man, as well. What are the effects of that level of fame and expectation?"

This time, Tony faces bad guy Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who has his own arsenal of high-tech weapons.

Favreau likes having a hero and villain played by actors who have bounced back from tough personal times, Downey with substance abuse, Rourke with self-destructive anger issues.

"What attracted me to both of them must have had something, on some level, to do with how difficult their journeys had been," Favreau said. "It somehow shines through the performances that they give. It's hard to find somebody young that carries that experience in their face and their eyes."

SHREK FOREVER AFTER (May 21)

Mike Myers' Shrek meets James Stewart's George Bailey in what's billed as the final big-screen movie about the lovable cartoon ogre.

Like George, Shrek sees what the world would be like without him, as sneaky wheeler-dealer Rumpelstiltskin cons the ogre into signing away his existence. Suddenly, Shrek is in an alternate reality where he never met true love Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz) or sidekicks Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas).

It's a twisted place where ogres are hunted, Rumpelstiltskin reigns and Shrek's sweet little pal the Gingerbread Man fights Animal Crackers in gladiatorial death matches.

"Shrek's problem is he's not the same ogre he was in the first film," said Mike Mitchell, director of the franchise's fourth installment. "People don't fear him, they adore him. When he gives his trademark roar, instead of villagers running away, they run to him and ask him to sign their pitchforks. He just wishes he could get back that feeling of being a big scary ogre that no one messed with."

TOY STORY 3 (June 18)

Toys may not grow up, but the children who play with them do.

Tom Hanks' Woody the cowboy, Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear and their plaything partners face abandonment issues in the latest chapter of the franchise that launched the computer-animation age for feature films.

The gang's owner, Andy, is heading off to college, leaving the toys in limbo, uncertain what future they have without a child to amuse.

"Toy Story 2" foreshadowed that notion as Woody struggled with the realization that kids eventually would outgrow their toys.

"Woody decides, 'Yes, Andy's going to grow up someday. I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to enjoy the time I have with him while I have it,"' said Lee Unkrich, who directed the new film. "It's one thing to make peace with something coming in the future. It's another thing itself to find yourself actually at that day."

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS -- PART 1 (Nov. 19)

The young wizard's next trick: Sawing his final adventure in half and presenting it as a two-parter.

When the filmmakers were preparing to adapt the seventh book in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, producer David Heyman was set against breaking the finale in two. Then everyone realized what an impossible magic act a single movie would prove.

"It just became increasingly clear there was no way to tell the story in a cohesive, coherent way that would make sense and would resolve and deal with all the story elements that were so integral in one film," Heyman said.

Expected to run about four and a half hours over two films, "Deathly Hallows" sends Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and pals Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) in search of the mystical Horcruxes -- which they must destroy to pull the plug on evil Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

-- The Associated Press