Four new films open in Port Elizabeth cinemas this week including a highly anticipated South African nature adventure, an Oscar-nominated supernatural drama, a fantasy adventure and an emotional war drama.

White Lion (The Bridge; Walmer Park) is a South African nature drama directed by Michael Swan and produced by local animal behaviourist Kevin Richardson. The film stars John Kani and Jamie Bartlett.

The film traces the journey of a rare white lion cub, who must face many challenges to take his place as one of the most powerful and revered lions in all of Africa.

According to the legend of the Shangaan, white lions are the messengers of the gods, but it has been years since one has been seen in their remote African valley.

When a white lion is miraculously born into that valley, a young Shangaan named Gisani, finds himself destined to protect this rare and magnificent creature at all costs.

White Lion has been nominated by The South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) for several awards including best cinematography, best music score and best sound engineering.

The latest offering from director Peter Jackson (Oscar winner for The Lord of The Rings franchise), the emotional drama The Lovely Bones (The Bridge, Walmer Park) has been nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor for Stanley Tucci.

A young girl has been murdered and watches over her family – and her killer – from heaven.

She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal. The film is based on The Lovely Bones, the critically-acclaimed novel by Alice Sebold. It stars Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci

Dear John (The Boardwalk, The Bridge) directed by Lasse Hallstrom, tells the story of John Tyree, a young soldier home on leave, and Savannah Curtis, the idealistic college student he falls in love with during her spring vacation. Over the next seven tumultuous years, the couple is separated by John’s increasingly dangerous military deployments. While meeting only sporadically, they stay in touch by sending a continuous stream of love letters overseas. Dear John stars Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Henry Thomas and Scott Porter

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (The Boardwalk, The Bridge, Walmer Park ) is a fantasy tale that takes place in the 21st century, when the gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters have walked out of the pages of high school student Percy’s Greek mythology books and into his life

But they are not happy. Zeus’s lightning bolt has been stolen and Percy is the prime suspect. The movie stars Logan Lerman, Kevin McKidd, Sean Bean, Uma Thurman, Brandon Jackson and Melina Kanakaredes.