If you didn't happen to run into Viggo Mortensen outside the Cork Factory or the grocery store or at a Pirates-Reds game, you can see him this fall in "Appaloosa" and "The Road."

The first is a Western co-starring Ed Harris, while the second is the movie version of the Cormac McCarthy book largely filmed in Southwestern Pennsylvania earlier this year. It's about a father and son in a world stripped of all we hold dear, and its scheduled release near Thanksgiving should remind us of our bounty of blessings and that we should not take food, family, friends and those jobs we grumble about for granted.

Or, for that matter, Harry Potter, who had been expected to reappear in November. But Warner Bros. set off a seismic shift by jumping the boy wizard to July 17, a date that proved magical for the Batman.

That sent other studios to the release chess board, moving "Twilight," the next James Bond adventure and an animated Disney comedy about a superhero Hollywood dog, to new dates. Before anyone sharpens the carving knife for Thanksgiving dinner, other dates are likely to change and titles will be added, deleted or moved.

SEPT. 5

"Bangkok Dangerous": Filmmaking brothers Oxide and Danny Pang remake their Hong Kong action film, set in the Bangkok underworld, with Nicolas Cage. He's a remorseless hitman who finds himself mentoring the street punk he planned to kill and drawn into a romance with a shop girl.

"Baghead": Mark and Jay Duplass, who made "The Puffy Chair" (not to be confused with Seinfeld's puffy shirt), direct this tongue-in-cheek horror story, a send-up of indie movies.

"Dancing in Amdo": Pittsburgh premiere of Pittsburgher Carl Cimini's documentary about Tibetans living within China and those living in exile in India.

SEPT. 12

"The Women": Forget "Mamma Mia!" or "Sex and the City." This is the chick flick to end all chick flicks, with an all-female cast led by Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing and Jada Pinkett Smith, in an update of the George Cukor film (and Clare Boothe Luce stage play before that).

"Burn After Reading": Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton and Richard Jenkins star in a dark spy comedy from the Coen brothers. A memoir by an ousted CIA official falls into the hands of two gym employees, intent on exploiting their find.

"Righteous Kill": Almost 13 years after they generated heat in "Heat," Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are reunited, this time as veteran New York police detectives on the trail of a serial killer targeting violent felons who have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. The supporting cast includes Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent.

"Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys": Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard star as matriarchs of very different families, one wealthy and the other working class, being torn apart by greed and scandal. Perry turns up as a construction worker alongside characters played by Sanaa Lathan, Rockmond Dunbar, Cole Hauser, KaDee Strickland and Taraji P. Henson.

"Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson": Alex Gibney, who won an Oscar for "Taxi to the Dark Side," directs this examination of the writer whose life, death and funereal fireworks were unconventional. Johnny Depp, who played Thompson in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," narrates.

SEPT. 19

"Lakeview Terrace": A young couple, played by Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, discover home ownership can be hell when you move next to an LAPD officer, a stern, widowed father with strong views about ... everything. Samuel L. Jackson crackles as the cop.

"Ghost Town": Ricky Gervais is a misanthropic dentist who dies, briefly, during a hospital stay and comes back to life with the ability to see ghosts who pester him for favors. Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni co-star.

"My Best Friend's Girl": Romantic comedy starring Jason Biggs, Kate Hudson and Dane Cook as, respectively, a dream girl, an overzealous suitor and his best friend, a rebound specialist who meets his match.

"Igor": Animated comedy set in the land of mad scientists and diabolical inventions, where a lowly lab assistant named Igor (voice of John Cusack) dreams of becoming a scientist.

"Transsiberian": Train-track thriller, starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer and Kate Mara.

"Kenny": Quirky Aussie comedy about a lovable middle-age guy named Kenny Smyth, who installs "port-a-loos" at public events.

"Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Animation 2008": Twenty-six films, aimed at adults, featuring old favorites and introducing new and probably disgusting ones.

SEPT. 25

"Greetings From Pittsburgh": As part of Pittsburgh's 250 celebration, 10 filmmakers use a range of styles to explore 10 neighborhoods. A 90-minute compilation will show at the Regent Square. Tickets, $10, will be available at Pittsburgh Filmmakers locations.

SEPT. 26

"Miracle at St. Anna": Spike Lee directs this adaptation of James McBride's novel about four African-American soldiers trapped behind enemy lines during World War II when one risks his life to save an Italian boy. Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso and Omar Benson Miller star.

"Eagle Eye": Race-against-time thriller, with Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan, about how pervasive technology such as GPS devices, ATMs, cell phones and surveillance cameras can be used against people.

"Nights in Rodanthe": "Unfaithful" stars Richard Gere and Diane Lane reunite, this time in a romantic drama based on the Nicholas Sparks novel.

"The Lucky Ones": When three very different American soldiers find themselves on an unplanned road trip, they form a deep bond that may be the closest thing they have to family. Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins and Michael Pena star.

"Frozen River": An upstate New York mother teams with a Mohawk Indian to smuggle illegal Chinese and Pakistani immigrants into the United States. In a story inspired by real life, they hide the people in the trunk of a car and drive across the frozen St. Lawrence River.

"Battle in Seattle": Stuart Townsend turns the riots that accompanied the World Trade Organization's 1999 meeting in Seattle into a fictionalized story starring Charlize Theron, among others.

"Choke": Dark comedy about mothers and sons, sexual compulsion and the sordid underbelly of Colonial theme parks, starring Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston.

"In Search of a Midnight Kiss": A lonely and broke 29-year-old posts a personal ad on Craigslist, where he meets a surly blonde determined to find the right guy by midnight.

OCT. 3

"The Duchess": The Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley), was the original "It Girl." Like her direct descendant Princess Diana, she was beautiful, glamorous and adored by an entire country, except for her husband, the Duke (Ralph Fiennes).

"Beverly Hills Chihuahua": Drew Barrymore speaks for a diamond-clad Beverly Hills chihuahua who gets lost in Mexico with only a street-wise German shepherd (voice of Andy Garcia) to help guide her home.

"Appaloosa": Robert B. Parker's novel inspired this Western about a pair of hired guns, played by director-writer Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen, who try to clean up a dangerous town run by a ruthless rancher. Cast includes Jeremy Irons and Renee Zellweger.

"Flash of Genius": Greg Kinnear portrays a college professor and part-time inventor who came up with intermittent windshield wipers but watched the auto giants take his creation and ignore him. Based on a true story.

"Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist": Comedy, starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings as strangers whose chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band's secret show.

"Religulous": Political humorist and author Bill Maher travels around the globe interviewing people about God and religion in a film directed by Larry Charles ("Borat").

"Blindness": A mysterious epidemic of blindness allows director Fernando Meirelles ("The Constant Gardener") to explore human nature, good and bad, in this film starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo as wife and husband.

"What Just Happened": Comedy about two roller-coaster weeks in the world of a middle-age Hollywood producer, as he juggles two ex-wives and families with a movie that will flop unless it's re-edited before the Cannes Film Festival. Robert De Niro stars with Catherine Keener, Sean Penn and Bruce Willis, sometimes as themselves.

"How to Lose Friends & Alienate People": Fish-out-of-water tale tracking the escapades of a small-time, bumbling British celebrity journalist (Simon Pegg) who is hired by an upscale magazine in New York.

OCT. 10

"The Express": The book "Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express," about the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, is turned into a movie starring Rob Brown as the superstar athlete and Dennis Quaid as his legendary Syracuse coach.

"Body of Lies": Ridley Scott directs an adaptation of David Ignatius' 2007 novel about a CIA operative who devises a plan to infiltrate a terrorist's network in Jordan but must win the backing of a cunning CIA veteran. Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe lead the cast, with a screenplay by Oscar winner William Monahan ("The Departed").

"Quarantine": Remake of a Spanish horror movie about a TV reporter and cameraman who follow Los Angeles firefighters to an apartment building where a woman has contracted a rare strain of rabies. The CDC quarantines the building and cuts communication. Jennifer Carpenter and Steve Harris star.

"I Served the King of England": Based on Bohumil Hrabal's book, it tells the story of a "little" Czech waiter before, during and after World War II. It was the Czech Republic's submission for foreign language film a year ago.

"City of Ember": Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan and Tim Robbins lead the cast of this adaptation of Jeanne Duprau's young adult novel about an underground world where the generator that powers the light is failing.

OCT. 17

"Max Payne": Mark Wahlberg plays the title role, a maverick cop who seeks revenge for the murders of his family and partner, in this action-thriller based on the video game.

"W": Director Oliver Stone dramatizes how President Bush found his wife and his faith and tackles the days leading up to the decision to invade Iraq. Josh Brolin is W, Elizabeth Banks is Laura Bush, James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn play George and Barbara Bush, with other roles filled by Toby Jones, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn and Richard Dreyfuss.

"The Secret Life of Bees": Adaptation of the Sue Monk Kidd novel about a 14-year-old white girl and her black housekeeper who flee an abusive South Carolina home in the 1960s and find refuge with beekeepers. Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Hudson star.

"Morning Light": Disney documentary about young men and women who race a 52-foot sloop in the Transpac, an open-ocean sailing competition.

"Sex Drive": Teen comedy about a virginal 18-year-old who decides to take a road trip with his two pals so he can meet the dream girl he encountered on Facebook. Josh Zuckerman, Amanda Crew and James Marsden star.

"A Man Named Pearl": No, not a companion piece to a boy named Sue but a look at a self-taught topiary artist Pearl Fryar, nicknamed Edward Scissorhands by his South Carolina neighbors.

"Happy-Go-Lucky": Mike Leigh directs this comedy about a free-spirited school teacher who takes driving lessons after her bike is stolen and encounters a fuming, uptight cynic.

OCT. 24

"High School Musical 3: Senior Year": Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and the rest of the gang return for senior year, a basketball championship, prom and spring musical, even as some sophomore Wildcats are introduced in this first installment to go to the big screen.

"Pride and Glory": The moral code of a family of cops is tested when one of two sons on the force investigates an incendiary case involving his older brother and brother-in-law. Edward Norton, Colin Farrell and Jon Voight star.

"Saw V": Jigsaw or his legacy is back in this fifth installment featuring Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor and Pittsburgh native Julie Benz.

"Brothers Bloom": Globe-trotting comedy about the last great adventure of the world's best con men and the bored, single New Jersey heiress they target. Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel Weisz star, along with Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel").

OCT. 31

"Zack and Miri Make a Porno": When Zack is dragged to his 10th high school reunion in Monroeville by lifelong friend and classmate Miriam, he gets an idea for a moneymaker: a porn flick. The made-in-Pittsburgh Kevin Smith comedy stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, along with Craig Robinson, Traci Lords and Jason Mewes.

"Changeling": Clint Eastwood directs Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich in a thriller, based on an actual incident, about a mother whose son goes missing in 1928. Months later, a boy claiming to be the 9-year-old is returned, but the mother realizes the child is not hers, and when she speaks up, she's branded delusional and unfit.

"RocknRolla": Guy Ritchie wrote and directed this crime story about a Russian mobster, a crooked land deal, a money grab and London's criminal underworld. Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton and Chris Bridges star.

NOV. 7

"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa": In the sequel to the 2005 hit, the zoo animals land along the vast plains of Africa. The voice talent includes the late Bernie Mac, with Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith from the original.

"Role Models": Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott star as salesmen who trash a company truck on an energy-drink-fueled bender and are sentenced to be mentors to a pair of very different boys.

"Soul Men": Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson play estranged singers brought back together by the death of a friend and tribute concert at the Apollo Theatre. Mac, of course, died last month, and so did Isaac Hayes, who has a small role.

27th Three Rivers Film Festival -- Let the kids have their "HSM3" lovefest. This fall event, through Nov. 22, always sprinkles homegrown and Hollywood movies amid the foreign, indie and offbeat selections.

NOV. 14

"Quantum of Solace": Princes William and Harry are scheduled to attend the world premiere of the 22nd James Bond adventure on Oct. 29 before it begins its worldwide roll-out. Daniel Craig is back, skipping around Austria, Italy and South America.

NOV. 21

"Twilight": Stephenie Meyer's popular teen vampire series vaults to the big screen, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.

"Bolt": Animated comedy about a dog who is the star of a hit TV show and is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City. As he navigates the real world to be reunited with his owner, he's joined by a jaded house cat and a TV-obsessed hamster. John Travolta and Miley Cyrus provide the lead voices.

"The Soloist": A drama about the redemptive power of music starring Robert Downey Jr. as a journalist who discovers a former classical music prodigy (Oscar winner Jamie Foxx) playing his violin on the streets of Los Angeles.

"Nothing Like the Holidays": Last year brought "This Christmas" with an African-American family reunited in Los Angeles, and this year it will be the Rodriguez clan in Chicago celebrating the season. John Leguizamo, Freddy Rodriguez, Debra Messing and Alfred Molina lead the cast.

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas": A forbidden friendship forms between the son of a Nazi commandant and a Jewish boy in a concentration camp in this fictional story set during World War II.

NOV. 26

"The Road": Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee play a father and son dodging cannibals and searching for shelter, food and remnants of a civilized life in this film version of the Cormac McCarthy novel, made largely in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

"Australia": "Moulin Rouge" director Baz Luhrmann reunites with his leading lady, Nicole Kidman, in this epic set in Australia on the brink of World War II. She is an English aristocrat who goes to Oz and joins forces with a rough-hewn local (Hugh Jackman) to save the land she inherited.

"Four Christmases": Vince Vaughn apparently can't get enough of holiday movies. The former Fred Claus joins Reese Witherspoon in a romantic comedy about an upscale San Francisco couple who are socked in by fog on Christmas morning and trade their exotic vacation for a family-choked one.

"Transporter 3": Jason Statham, now running a "Death Race," returns as Frank Martin, a former Special Forces operative who specializes in high-risk deliveries.

TBA

"Flow": Documentary that builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply.

"Everybody Wants to Be Italian": Isn't that the truth? Here, two non-Italians pretend to be Italian to win the other's heart in Boston's North End.

"The Grocer's Son": French film about a man whose father falls ill, leaving him with the task of driving the family grocery cart from hamlet to hamlet.

"A Girl Cut in Two": Claude Chabrol film about a TV weathergirl torn in two directions by two men.

"Rachel Getting Married": A Jonathan Demme picture starring Anne Hathaway as a woman fresh from rehab who arrives for her sister's wedding.

Closer to Thanksgiving, we will roll out the dates for the December releases starring the likes of Brad Pitt, Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood, Adam Sandler, Samuel L. Jackson and others.