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Though the month of May hasn’t quite ended and the majority of Hollywood’s blockbusters still exist in the realm of anticipation, I’m getting worried. For any industry analyst, this is a problem.

The Hollywood blockbuster as a genre almost exclusively relies on anticipation as a publicity tool; once you buy a ticket, the film’s job is done, and what appears on screen is merely an afterthought.

In other words, buy a $10 ticket to “The Da Vinci Code” and get a free movie!

However, the cult of anticipation that drives the Hollywood blockbuster can only work for so long. At some point every summer, people realize they’re getting duped, and while box-office receipts remain high out of inertia, the summer movie season effectively ends.

It’s no wonder Hollywood studios keep releasing blockbusters earlier and earlier in the season, as no one wants to come in too late and miss the party.

After “Mission: Impossible III” delivered a very possible box office performance, critics clearly ripped “The Da Vinci Code,” and the first words on “X3: The Last Stand” are bad ones, that annual shift may happen earlier than ever this year. For the first time, summer may end before it technically begins.

Instead of continuing to see the blockbusters just because your friend inevitably invites you, here are five non-blockbuster movies coming out this summer that are far more worthy of your $10 ticket.

5. “Brothers of the Head” (July 28)

Anyone who has seen “Lost in La Mancha” knows that Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe aren’t your average directors. When Terry Gilliam couldn’t finish a movie version of “Don Quixote,” they made a documentary about the failed project that’s probably better than Gilliam’s product would have been. “Brothers of the Head” is their first fiction feature film and should easily pass “Lost in La Mancha” in any competition for weirdest premise.

Here it is: A 1970s seedy music promoter popularizes brother-act Tom and Barry Howe into the biggest thing to hit punk-rock since Lou Reed. The only catch? They’re conjoined twins, connected at the torso. This should be for everyone who has ever been to a midnight screening of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

4. “A Prairie Home Companion” (June 9)

In terms of my own anticipation for the films on this list, this one should come second, but its stellar cast and director move it a little too close to Hollywood fare for comfort.

At this point, everyone knows a Robert Altman film will be worth seeing, so it’s not much of a surprise, but its presence in early June will be a welcome relief from a movie like “Cars,” which opens on the same day.

Just for the record, the cast of “A Prairie Home Companion” includes Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin and Lindsay Lohan. Yes, that Lindsay Lohan.

3. “The Science of Sleep” (August 4)

The good news about this movie is that it stars Gael García Bernal and was directed by Michel Gondry; the bad news is that Gondry’s close friend, Charlie Kaufman, did not write the screenplay. Gondry himself did, so don’t be surprised if the film has more to look at than listen to. Then again, with Bernal as a lead actor, what more could you want?

2. “Scoop” (July 28)

English students may be disappointed to hear that the film is not based on the Evelyn Waugh novel of the same name; however, as the Woody Allen movie that will follow up “Match Point,” I’m more excited for this movie than any other this summer.

Like “Match Point,” “Scoop” takes place in London and stars Scarlett Johansson (along with Hugh Jackman and Allen himself). Unlike “Match Point,” “Scoop” is a comedy, revolving around a young journalist’s affair with an aristocrat.

Johansson plays the journalist, proving we don’t all look like Dan Rather, and, thankfully, Jackman plays the aristocrat. The world can now forget the nightmare of “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.”

1. “Wordplay” (June 16)

This film has all the makings of a surprise documentary hit of the summer; the film follows New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz and the cult that surrounds him.

The film includes interview footage with crossword fans as varied as Bill Clinton, Mike Mussina and Jon Stewart, not to mention the loyal fans that complete Shortz’s puzzles faster than most of us can finish reading the clues. If there’s any ironic justice in the world, these fanatics will take over the summer spotlight.