There are some serious cinematic treats in store for 2006, and here at iVillage we're trying hard not to drop our popcorn with excitement. Check out five movie highlights for the coming year

Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden's celebrated bestseller and one of Madonna's favourite books gets the big screen treatment in January. Set in the late 1920s, Chiyo a young Japanese girl from a poor fishing village is sold into a geisha house in Kyoto. After enduring much cruelty and torment at the hands of Head Geisha Hatsumomo, she eventually finds a sympathetic mentor and emerges a renowned geisha. Her new status sees her enter a society of wealth, privilege and political intrigue. Promises to be a visual and engrossing treat.

Walk the Line
This biopic chronicles the life of troubled Country and Western legend Johnny Cash, his rise to the top and subsequent battle with drink, drugs and depression. Cash is played by Joaquin Phoenix who is hotly tipped to pick up an Oscar for his portrayal of the complex singer. The film focuses predominantly on Cash's turbulent love affair with his long-suffering wife June (played by Reese Witherspoon) whose devotion to him was largely responsible for turning his life around during his darkest moments.

The Da Vinci Code
The film version of Dan Brown's controversial blockbusting novel hits the screens in May. Starring Tom Hanks as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and Audrey Tautou (of Amelie fame) as Sophie, a beautiful and esteemed French cryptologist. The mysterious murder of Sophie's grandfather - curator of the Louvre - triggers a fraught and dangerous search for the Holy Grail. Together they must unravel the mystery - the clues of which lie in Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings. Also stars Jean Reno, Paul Bettany and Ian McKellen.

Lady in the Water
Writer/director M Night Shyamalan's latest seductive horror story is based on a story that he wrote for his children. When building manager Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) rescues Story - a mysterious woman who has been living in the tunnels under the building's swimming pool - his life takes a turn for the extraordinary. Story's real name is Narf and she is actually a character from an epic bedtime story trying to make her way back to her own world. Heep and his tenants discover they are also characters in the story and that their fates are tied up with hers. They must help her make the treacherous journey back to her own world.

A Scanner Darkly
Based on Philip K Dick's acclaimed science fiction novel, A Scanner Darkly is an ambitious project from School of Rock director Richard Linklater. Shot using a mixture of hi-definition lensing and 'rotoscoped' animation, the early trailers for the film look very promising. Keanu Reeves plays Bob Arctor, a narcotics agent who becomes addicted to drugs and starts keeping himself under surveillance. Soon he is unable to distinguish between himself and his alter-ego Fred. Also stars Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr.