Nicole Kidman stars as the glamorous but manipulative Mrs Coulter in the first film of a trilogy that New Line hopes will match the success of its $2.95 billion box-office-grossing Lord of the Rings series.

However, the $150 million (£75.5 million) production, currently shooting at Shepperton Studios and pencilled in for a December release, has suffered walkouts, re-hirings and tantrums, so it is little suprise that studios are investing in tried and tested fare.

Sony is banking on a third outing for Spider-man to repeat its 2006 success. This time a black-clad Spidey turns evil and faces a triple super-villain threat from Green Goblin, Venom and Sandman. Unleashed in May, the Sam Raimi-directed film will be swiftly followed by the third instalments in the Shrek (Paramount) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney) franchises. Harry Potter’s first on-screen kiss will be the Warner Bros marketing angle for the July unveiling of The Order of the Phoenix. Dismal notices for heist sequel Ocean’s Twelve have not prevented Warners splashing out on Thirteen.

Superheroes are more popular than ever, with Fox unleashing the Silver Surfer for the confusingly-titled Fantastic Four 2.

Fox also has the Simpsons Movie heading for a July premiere and the return of Bruce Willis’s Die Hard series. The Weinstein Company has reactivated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for an animated Easter children’s hit.

However, the big studios increasingly are looking to “mid-range” hits such as Brokeback Mountain, a $15 million film that played to full houses.

The horror-gore genre continues to guarantee healthy profit margins, with The Hills Have Eyes II, Resident Evil 3, Hostel 2 and Saw IV set to scare teenagers.

Yet as Chuck Viane, Disney’s head of distribution, admitted, not every sequel will rake in the dollars. “The good movies are going to work, the bad ones won’t,” he said.

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