The signs of summer are almost universally evident — sun, high temperatures, hordes of people migrating to the beaches and a big-slugger lineup of movies at the box office.

Around May or June of every year, the movie production companies begin a three-month campaign of multimillion-dollar, star-studded movies to attract thousands of moviegoers. All of those theater audiences teased by long-awaited films in the winter months get their wallets ready in preparation for making Sony, Paramount and the like the majority of their annual sales.

In Ames, Cinemark Movies 12, 1317 Buckeye Ave., will spearhead the summer lineup with titles such as “Kingdom of Heaven,” “War of the Worlds” and, of course — “Star Wars: Episode III.”

Terrell Falk, vice president of marketing and communications for the Cinemark national office, says summer is the prime time for production studios to showcase their big budget work.

“Generally, summer and holiday times are when people are in the movie mood,” Falk says. “Those are two really big times when they gather most of their ticket revenues.”

This summer, the headliner is without a doubt the long-awaited sixth and final installment of the “Star Wars” series, yet Falk says sometimes the most successful movies of the summer are ones not expected.

“Everyone’s prediction is ‘Star Wars’ will be big in the box office because it has such a large following,” she says. “[However] every year, there’s something called a ‘sleeper’ — or a movie no one expected to do well — like “The Sixth Sense” a few years ago — no one thought it was going to do as well as it did.”

Since Ames is a very large college town, many potential theatergoers leave during the summer months, creating a dilemma for the expectedly large revenues of summer months. Falk says despite this setback, the flux in population doesn’t put too much of a hindrance on the company’s numbers.

“When you have theaters in college towns, you recognize in the business model that this will happen,” Falk says. “It doesn’t come as a surprise — you know it’s going to happen and you plan for it.”

“The best movies for us are the ones that will stick around and keep doing good business,” she says.

The final installment of the “Star Wars” saga, “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” has audiences around the world in anticipation for the series’ first PG-13 rating and the final showdown between the light and dark sides.

Having been a fan of “Star Wars” for a decade, James Adams, freshman in animal science, says waiting 24 hours for tickets to the premiere will be worth it to see what the film has to offer.

“I heard there’s going to be a lot more lightsaber fights — I’m looking forward to stuff like that,” he says. “[The prequels] are not as good as the originals, but they’re still quality movies — especially the second one.”

He says the films offer a more historical angle into the film, helping audiences understand the characters of the original trilogy better.

“What I like about them is they offer the background story, but I don’t like knowing anything big — I’m trying to keep it spoiler-free,” he says.

Brittany Basara, freshman in animal science, says she used to watch it with her cousins growing up and now she and her sisters are avid fans.

She says the movie’s PG-13 rating might give the movie more room to do what it wants.

“I think with the newer ones, the special effects are a lot better, but the storylines are not as personal as the originals,” she says. “I know with the first episode, I was kind of disappointed, but the second one kind of made up for it. I hope the third one does even more — it has a PG-13 rating, so I hope that gives it more depth.”

In a new, more stylized and dark portrayal of the popular 1960’s-hero-in-tights, “Batman Begins” relives Bruce Wayne’s past with a new face behind the mask — Christian Bale’s.

Chad Buckley, ISU alumnus, says he’s been a “Batman” fan ever since he was young and has been attracted to Batman’s unique heroics.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I watched the syndication of the 1960s series,” Buckley says. “The coolest thing about him is you have all these superheroes out there, but he’s human — that and he has all these badass toys.”

He says he hopes this new installment into the “Batman” legacy will revitalize the franchise from past flimsy, sequels.

“[The sequels] pretty much drove it [the series] into the ground, so it’s good they’re starting new,” he says. “It might not get the hype ‘Star Wars’ does — people dressing up with their Wookiees and stuff — but it will be one of the better movies this summer.”

Finally, in an update of the old classic, Tim Burton will put his own eccentric twist on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” where Johnny Depp will attempt at the odd genius of Willy Wonka, previously played by Gene Wilder.

Mary McVay, freshman in pre-advertising, says Depp’s talent will enable him to do good performance at a difficult role.

“I personally think he will do an exceptional job because he is a chameleon — he can go from a role like ‘Edward Scissorhands’ to ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,'” she says. “I think he will be able to bring a different aspect to Willy than Gene [Wilder] — he’ll bring his own personal view to the character.”

McVay says the new film will have a more updated feel and will stay more true to the book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” than the original.

“The original will always be a classic,” she says. “I think the new one will be a great twist on the classic. It should be interesting because it’s a Tim Burton movie and he does some crazy movies — I’m going to go in pretty open-minded.”