Listen — can you hear it? That murmur of excitement as people begin to prep for a season best known for air-conditioned multiplexes, IMAX screens the size of city blocks, and the sort of big-tent, four-quadrant crowdpleasers that inspired people to turn moviegoing into a collective cultural event? Thankfullly, we’ve had Ryan Coogler’s runaway hit Sinners recently remind folks of why actually going out to a theater and seeing a movie with an audience, projected as big as possible, is still capable of being a lifechanging activity (though best of luck getting tickets). And with Marvel’s Thunderbolts* having already kicked May into gear before that shebang with Tom Cruise and the plane officially opens the season next week, it’s already beginning to feel like this may possibly be a summer for the books.
At the very least, this upcoming moviegoing period between Memorial Day and Labor Day promises to offer something close to variety. You want to see Pedro Pascal lead a MCU superhero movie, especially since he’s playing one of the most important characters in Marvel’s history? You got it. But do you also want to watch Pascal in a politically charged satire directed by one of the most vital American auteurs under 40? Yup, you can have that as well. Not to mention Cruise risking his life, Brad Pitt racing Formula 1 cars, Sydney Sweeney playing a drug addict, Scarlett Johansson fighting dinosaurs, Adam Sandler bringing back the world’s most volatile pro golfer, and getting a formal introduction to the next generation’s Superman.
There’s a lot to take in even if you don’t count the remakes, reboots, rom-coms, trad-coms, sequels, prequels, “requels,” and too many horror movies to keep track of, all of which are also hitting big — and in a few select cases, not-so-big — screens over the next 14 weeks. We’ve curated a list of 36 movies you should be paying attention to this summer. From the Weeknd gettin’ meta-fictional to a new, updated version of The War of the Roses, here’s what you need to see as things start to heat up.
‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ (May 16)
Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, co-wrote and stars in this surreal horror film about a mysterious stranger (Jenna Ortega) — she may be a superfan, a stalker, or some combination of both — who shows up to usher a musician named Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, on a journey of self-discovery. Or maybe this cryptic young woman has been sent to play tour guide to one of his nightmares made manifest. Or possibly she’s a figment of of his fame-warped imagination. We do so love a meta-fictional pet project! Barry Keoghan plays one of Tesfaye’s associates. Trey Edward Shults (Krishna, Waves) directs.
‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ (May 16)
So the last time we saw Ethan Hunt, superspy extraordinaire, he was paragliding to safety with one of the two keys that would hopefully help tame a sentient A.I. Now, Tom Cruise’s indefatigable hero of the Mission: Impossible series returns to finish the job. Filmed at the same time as 2023’s M:I — Dead Reckoning Part One, the second half of this latest (and last?) adventure was supposed to come out last year; personally, we’re glad they’re letting us have a breather between watching the megastar risk his life onscreen for our entertainment. Series regulars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby are back. Ditto the key folks (pun intended!) we met in the last installment: Haley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales and Shea Whigham. Dun-dun-dun-DUN, dun-dun-dun-DUN-DUN….
‘Lilo & Stitch’ (May 23)
That’s right — the 2002 animated Disney joint about a furry blue alien and the six-year-old Hawaiian girl who befriends him gets a live-action redo. You are either dancing the happiest of jigs right now or rolling your eyes. Maia Kealoha is Lilo, the youngster who becomes besties with this outer-space agent of chaos; Chris Sanders voices the CGI version of Stitch; Sydney Elizebeth Agudong is Nani, Lilo’s older sister and legal guardian. Courtney B. Vance, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Scott Lee, Billy Magnussen and Tia Carrere join in on the fun.
‘Bring Her Back’ (May 30)
Gonzo Aussie provocateurs Danny and Michael Philippou follow-up their hit 2022 debut Talk to Me with another horror flick dialed up to 11; this time, they’re following a young, sight-impaired woman (Sora Wong) and her teen brother (Billy Barratt) who, after a family tragedy, end up in a foster home. Their guardian (Sally Hawkins) seems nice — like, suspiciously nice. Their fellow underage housemate (Jonah Wren Phillips) seems a little odd. There is a secondary agenda to their presence at the house. Then things gets extremely scary. And more than a little gory.
‘Karate Kid: Legends’ (May 30)
There was the original 1984 Karate Kid, who introduced us to Ralph Macchio’s martial-arts underdog and spawned sequels and the Netflix show Cobra Kai. And there was the 2010 remake, in which Jaden Smith is a tween mentored by Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han. Now, thanks to the miracle of inter-corporate I.P. melding, we know get a film that includes both of the big-name characters from each film. That’s a lot of kicking, people!
‘The Phoenician Scheme’ (May 30)
Writer, director and extremely dapper dresser Wes Anderson is back with another ensemble movie, brimming with meticulous production design and movie stars. (A partial cast list includes Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Cera, Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Riz Ahmed, Rupert Friend, and Charlotte Gainsbourg; Bill Murray, naturally, plays God.) The focus of the cult auteur’s latest comedy-drama, however, is largely on two characters: Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda (Benicio Del Toro), an international business magnate and celebrity industrialist; and Liesl (Mia Threapleton), the heir to his fortune who yearns to join a convent. The father and daughter must trot the globe to secure one last deal before Korda retires or is assassinated, whatever comes first. We hope it’s the former?
‘Ballerina’ (June 6)
Attention, fellow die-hard John Wick fans (we guess you’d call us Wickheads?): The storyline of this franchise spin-off, about a dancer-assassin named Rooney (Ana de Armas) seeking vengeance for the murder of her family, takes places between the third and fourth Wick movies, which means that Keanu Reeves will indeed be showing up as everyone’s favorite killer on the run. Ditto series regulars Ian MacShane, Angelica Huston and (RIP) Lance Reddick. Give us that sweet, sweet well-choreographed mayhem.
‘Echo Valley’ (June 6)
Let’s say you’re a mom like Kate Garrett (Julianne Moore), raising horses on a Pennsylvania farm. You are already mourning the loss of a partner. Then your daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) comes home one night, covered in someone else’s blood. You can’t lose another person close to you. What do you tell the cops? How will you make sure the apple of your eye is safe? Can you protect her from both investigators and the scuzzy criminal (Domnhall Gleeson) who may have gotten your ex-addict kid mixed up in some bad shit in the first place? These are the questions this Apple TV+ original movie is asking, and we’re praying that what sounds like a superior, A-list version of a typical Lifetime Channel thriller has some answers for us.
‘The Life of Chuck’ (June 6)
Writer-director Mike Flanagan has long been an admirer and an interpreter of Stephen King’s work (see: Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game). Still, we would not have guessed he’d pick the author’s odd, moving novella — about an ordinary accountant named Chuck who gets the celebrity treatment, as he both he and the world at large seem to be going out with a bang — for his next crack at a King story. Tom Hiddleston is the terminally ill number-cruncher who begins showing up on billboards and TV ads, right around the time the world itself seems to be dying as well. Also showing up to pay their respects: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Hamill, Karen Gillan, What We Do in the Shadows‘ Harvey Guillén and Room‘s Jacob Tremblay.
‘Pavements’ (June 6)
Alex Ross Perry’s unique look at the groundbreaking 1990s indie-rock band has already opened in select cities, but it goes wide in early June — and trust us when we say it’s well worth checking out, even if you’re not the sort of die-hard fan who hand-paints “Pavement Ist Rad” on the bumper of your car. In a nutshell: The filmmaker pitched the band on a feature-length rockumentary. Singer-guitarist Stephen Malkmus wasn’t interested in a Pavement for Dummies primer. Perry then considered doing a fly-on-the-wall portrait once the band started rehearsing for a 2022 tour. Maybe he’d do a biopic instead. Or possibly Perry would do a jukebox musical around the band’s songs and then film the process. His decision: make all three at once and combine them. Let’s just say more than Zurich gets stained here.
‘How to Train Your Dragon’ (June 13)
So you thought Disney was the only studio that decided to convert its animated hits into live-action remakes? Pshaw! DreamWorks recycles its 2010 movie that kicked off a lucrative franchise and de-toons it, with The Black Phone‘s Mason Thomas playing Hiccup, the brainy Viking teen who discovers a dragon and proceeds to [checks notes] train it. Nico Parker is a fellow dragon enthusiast and potential love interest. Gerard Butler is Hiccup’s dad and the tribe’s leader (he voiced the character in the original as well). Credit goes to the digital FX team for replicating the animated version of Toothless, the winged creature who bonds with the hero in a big way.
‘Materialists’ (June 13)
Writer-director Celine Song immediately established her voice as a filmmaker with the Oscar-nominated 2023 drama Past Lives. So we’re beyond excited to see her new film, in which Dakota Johnson is a professional matchmaker who, ironically, suffer from her own romantic woes. Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans costar as her potential suitors.
‘Elio’ (June 20)
Oh goody, new Pixar! This animated adventure revolves around an 11-year-old named Elio who is convinced there are intelligent life forms somewhere out there in the galaxy. It turns out the boy was right. Not only that, these aliens think he’s Earth’s one true leader, and have beamed them up to an interstellar summit so he can represent our big blue marble while a gaggle of extraterrestrials try to avert total cosmic catastrophe. It’s codirected by Adrian Molina and Madeline Sharafian, both of whom worked on Coco; and Domee Shi, who’s responsible for our favorite Pixar short Bao and the company’s 2022 hall-of-famer entry Turning Red.
’28 Years Later’ (June 20)
Danny Boyle revisits the dystopian world he created in 28 Days Later (and that Spanish horror director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo expanded on in the sequel 28 Weeks Later) — you know, the one where a virus turns most of the populace into running, jumping, rage-filled zombies? It seems that, nearly 30 years later, these violent, uncontrollable sickos still live among us, which makes things hard for dad Aaron Taylor-Johnson and his son Alfie Williams. Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes are among the non-infected fighting off the walking not-quite-dead. Oooh, this is gonna be good.
‘F1’ (June 27)
Brad Pitt has a need — a need for speed! And what’s speedier than Formula One racing? The star plays a former hotshot driver who retired from the circuit after an accident left him shook. There’s a new prodigy (Damson Idris) on the scene, however, so the former ace is coaxed back to the big leagues in order to coach this future Lewis Hamilton. Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) directs. Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, and Tobias Menzies costar. The cars go vrooom.
‘M3GAN 2.0’ (June 27)
She’s back, and more homicidal than ever! The sequel to the 2022 horror-flick marks the return of the genre’s reigning killer doll — all apologies, Chucky — with the “Model 3 Generative Android” once again making with all the murdering and the creeping around and the sociopathic smiling and the instantly iconic loose-limbed dancing. Plus Amie Donald is back as the title character, and Allison Williams and Violet McGraw reprise their roles as the objects of both M3GAN’s love and wrath.
‘Sorry, Baby’ (June 27)
The big discovery of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, writer-director-star Eva Victor’s debut follows a woman returning to her former alma mater as a professor — the same university that was the sight of a trauma she maybe sorta kinda hasn’t really come to terms with. Sometimes harrowing, often hilarious, and told via some semi-fractured storytelling, it’s the sort of jaw-dropping debut that establishes its creator as a multi-hyphenate to be reckoned with. The temptation is to compare Victor to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, especially since the movie gives off heavy Fleabag vibes (minus the fourth-wall breaking). But the comic voice on display here is all her own.
‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ (July 2)
Because you can’t keep a lucrative franchise down! Scarlett Johansson leads an operation designed to track down the few remaining dinosaurs left after Jurassic World Dominion and extract some genetic info from them, all in the name of science. Things, unsurprisingly, run amuck. Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend and Wicked‘s Jonathan Bailey provide some Homo sapien support. The CGI dinos provide the conflict and the chomping. Director Gareth Edwards did the intriguing big-creatures-vs-people indie Monsters and Rogue One, so it’s got that going for it.
‘The Old Guard 2’ (July 2)
Remember that 2020 adaptation of the graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández, in which Charlize Theron kicked much ass as the leader of a group of centuries-old warriors turned mercenaries? Pretty good, right? We’ve finally got a sequel, in which Theron’s No. 1 Scythian leads her band of merry killers-for-hire on another — likely quite violent and bloody — adventure. The original’s director Gina Prince-Blythewood isn’t around for Round 2, unfortunately (Victoria Mahoney takes over shot-calling duties). But most of the first film’s cast, including KiKi Layne, Chiwtel Ejiofor, Matthias Schoenaerts and Luca Marinelli; Uma Thurman and Henry Fielding fill out the cinematic-universe’s rookie roster.
’40 Acres’ (July 4)
The mighty Danielle Deadwyler (Till, Woman in the Yard, The Piano Lesson) leads a community of postapocalyptic survivors who’ve managed to turn a patch of farmland into a sanctuary — the kind that you have to vigilantly defend from various other parties trying to make do in a brave new scorched-earth world. They manage to communicate with similar agricultural outposts via radio networks, and when several of these other homesteads go silent, this tough-as-nails woman begins to realize that some sort of outside threat os headed their way. TV veteran R.T. Thorne directs.
‘Superman’ (July 11)
James Gunn drops his first big project as the new creative braintrust behind the DC Cinematic Universe 2.0 (Creatures Commandos was more of a soft launch, so don’t @ us), and he’s essentially kicking things off with the most iconic character in their stable. David Corenswet dons the red cape to play the Man of Steel and his alter ego Clark Kent; Rachel Brosnahan is the marvelous Ms. Lois Lane; Nicholas Hoult rocks the chrome dome as Lex Luthor. Judging from the trailer, Gunn is intent on dropping a lot of deep-cut D.C. characters in this inaugural outing as well. It takes a very specific comic-book fan of a certain age to get jazzed to see Krypto the Dog get his big-screen debut.
‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ (July 18)
The 1997 slasher flick gets a new “requel” — that’s a combo franchise “reboot” and “sequel,” for those of you who didn’t see the 2022 Scream film — that puts a host of new faces (Sarah Pidgeon, Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Winters) in the path of that killer fisherman with a hook. BUT: It also brings back a couple of the original’s key cast members, so cue O.G.’s Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. screaming for those kids to watch out!
‘Eddington’ (July 18)
The year is 2020 (remember that totally-kickin’-back-no-big-deal year?), the town is Eddington, New Mexico, the battle is between this Southwestern hamlet’s “law and order sheriff” (Joaquin Phoenix) and its mayor (Pedro Pascal) — and because the man behind the camera revisiting this tumultuous moment in American history is writer-director Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar, Beau Is Afraid), things are likely to get good and weird. Personally, if there’s anyone we’d like to see weigh in on the state of currently fractured nation, it’s a filmmaker fluent in both absurdity and abject horror. Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Yellowstone‘s Luke Grimes and Clifton Collins Jr. are also on board.
‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ (July 25)
Twice, the powers that be have tried to turn Marvel’s first family into a top-tier superhero-movie property. (Three times, if you count the Roger Corman-produced version in the ’90s.) Twice, they have not quite succeeded in capturing what made the comic’s version of these characters so vital. Now, with the Fox heroes folded into the MCU, yadda yadda yadda, we may finally get a Fantastic Four movie that feels closer to the ones readers know and love. Pedro Pascal is Reed Richards, the stretchiest scientist around. Vanessa Kirby is Sue Storm, whose super power is… whoa, wait, where did she go?! Stranger Things‘ Joseph Quinn gets lit as Johnny Storm, a.k.a. the Human Torch. And Ebon-Moss Bachrach is Ben Grimm, whose career as the Thing gets off to a rocky start. [Dodges tomatoes thrown from pun-hating audience] And the whole thing takes place in the early 1960s, which was the same era that found Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introducing the group and changing comic books forever. Or maybe that’s four-ever. [Gets hit in face with rotten fruit]
‘Happy Gilmore 2’ (July 25)
Holy shit, it’s happening: Adam Sandler is finally bringing back his the man who turned golf into a full-contact sport, in this long-awaited sequel to his 1996 breakthrough comedy. The trailer gives us glimpses of cameos from Bad Bunny and Travis Kelce, and we bet they’re not the only famous folks to make guest appearances. We also bet that Happy has not totally mellowed with age; that his feud with Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) is about to nuclear; and that Sandler and longtime buddy/cowriter Tim Herlihy are about to make a lot of bros squeal like delighted schoolchildren. Now, about that potential Billy Madison sequel we’ve also been waiting for….
‘Oh, Hi’ (July 25)
It’s a good, old-fashioned boy (Logan Lerman) meets girl (Molly Gordon), boy and girl go away for a weekend together, the center cannot hold and things fall apart story! A sleeper hit out of this year’s Sundance, Sophie Brooks’ addition to the modern rom-com canon had been slowly building buzz even before Sony Picture Classics picked it up. Good supporting cast, too: Thunderbolts’ Geraldine Viswanathan, Search Party‘s John Reynolds, David Cross, Polly Draper, You’re the Worst‘s Desmin Borges.
‘The Naked Gun’ (August 1)
Look, if you told us years ago that we’d be getting a new Naked Gun movie some 25 years into the 21st century, and that Frank Drebin would be played by the guy in Schindler’s List, we… may have been a little like, “Er, what?” But then we were reminded of this, and also saw the teaser, and suddenly it seemed like getting Liam Neeson to step into Leslie Nielsen’s shoes felt like an inspired choice. They even have the same initials! Also a good sign: Lonely Island alum Akiva Schaffer is directing.
‘Together’ (August 1)
Love means never having to say you’re sorry — but it also sometimes requires you taking an electric saw to your soulmates’ limb once if it fuses to your own arm, courtesy of exposure to some unexpected supernatural elements. Filmmaker Michael Shanks’ unique take on the pitfalls of modern romance casts real-life spouses Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple who decide to take a big step in their relationship by moving upstate together. Despite the fact that he’s more than a bit of a commitment-phobe, they end becoming closer. Like, literally closer. As in …well, best you discover this body-horror film’s central concept on your own terms.
‘Freakier Friday’ (August 8)
Back in 2003, Jamie Lee Curtis and a young Lindsay Lohan starred in a remake of the 1970s Disney classic about a mom and a daughter that switch bodies. It was a big hit. Curtis went on to play a number of characters, revitalize the Halloween franchise and win an Oscar. Lohan did Mean Girls and went through several lifetimes’ worth of ups and downs, eventually settling into a more stable groove. The fact that they’ve both reunited for a sequel is great news for fans of the original, and promises a bunch of new body-switching shenanigans. Let’s see how much freakier this Friday can get.
‘Weapons’ (August 8)
When former sketch comedian-turned-filmmaker Zach Cregger was shopping around a horror movie he’d written — a little movie about a woman, an Air Bnb and a psychopath named Barbarian — he had a hard time getting folks interested. By the time he started pitching his follow-up to that surprise hit, however, this up-and-coming Master of the Macabre was navigating a studio bidding war for bragging rights to put it out. Details are scarce so far about what Cregger has in store (and what got everyone in Hollywood scrambling for their checkbooks) but we do know that Julia Garner plays an elementary school teacher whose students mysteriously disappear; Josh Brolin is a dad to one of the M.I.A. kids; and judging from this creepy-as-hell trailer, a lot of truly bad things are happening in and around this tragedy. Get ready.
‘Nobody 2’ (August 15)
Sketch-comedy-legend-turned-serious-actor-turned-action-hero Bob Odenkirk returns as Hutch Mansell (that name!), a typically boring suburban dad who’s actually, y’know, a government-trained killer. And now that his family knows about his secret past and his very particular set of skills, it’s a whole new ballgame for the former assassin. We’re hoping that this follow-up to the 2021 thriller is filled with the same sort of kinetic fight scenes, as well as filling us in on whether Hutch still has to take out the trash every Tuesday night after taking out legions of bad guys. Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, the RZA and Michael Ironside reprise their characters from the original; Sharon Stone and Colin Hanks show up as new friends and/or foes.
‘Highest 2 Lowest’ (August 22)
Back in 1963, Akira Kurosawa adapted Ed McBain’s crime novel King’s Ransom for the screen, and turned the tale of a kidnapping involving a wealthy businessman into both a parable about morality and a crack police procedural. Now Spike Lee takes a stab at the story, updating it for the 21st century and setting within the music industry, casting Denzel Washington (in their fifth movie together) as a mogul dealing with the abduction of his driver’s son. Jeffrey Wright plays the chauffeur and old friend of the bigwig; A$AP Rocky, Ice Spice, Ilfenesh Hadera and The Wire‘s Michael Potts, among others, round out the cast.
‘Honey Don’t!’ (August 22)
Filmmaker Ethan Coen and cowriter/editor/life-partner-in-crime Tricia Cooke drop the second of their proposed “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” with Margaret Qualley (Drive-Away Dolls) playing hardboiled detective Honey O’Donoghue, a throwback gumshoe with both moxie and verve. She’s investigating a case that involves a burnt corpse in a car, a local preacher (Chris Evans), and a cop (Aubrey Plaza) who may be a femme fatale, a potential love interest, or possibly both.
‘Lurker’ (August 22)
Another stand-out from this year’s Sundance, writer-director Alex Russell’s debut takes a well-worn subject — the disparity of power between the famous and the famous-adjacent — and make it feel so dangerously cringe-comedic that you wanted to cover your eyes. A thirsty everydude (Théodore Pellerin) works his way into the entourage of a British pop singer (Saltburn‘s Archie Madekwe) who’s one hit album away from superstardom. Once he’s in the inner circle, however, he has to fight to stay there by any sociopathic means necessary. Call it Nightcrawler for the social media generation.
‘Caught Stealing’ (August 29)
Darren Aronofsky directs this NYC crime thriller, in which several Lower East Side denizens — including a former baseball great (Austin Butler) down on his luck, his EMT girlfriend (Zoe Kravitz), his punk-rocker neighbor (Matt Smith), and a variety of gangsters and thugs circa 1998 — find themselves mixed up in situation involving missing Mob money and a case of mistaken identity. The bench is deep here: Regina King, Bad Bunny, Liev Schreiber, Griffin Dunne, Vincent D’Onofrio, Action Bronson, and Reservation Dogs’ D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai all get their hands dirty here as well.
‘The Roses’ (August 29)
Because if we must have a remake of The War of the Roses in the year of our lord 2025, it absolutely should star Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman. The British actors take on the roles of a couple involved in a bitter, winner-takes-all divorce played by Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in the 1989 dark comedy, and judging from the early trailer that Searchlight dropped, director Jay Roach’s redo looks just as vicious and venomous as the original. (Ditto the fact that The Favourite‘s screenwriter Tony McNamara — no shrinking violet, he — cowrote the script.)
From Rolling Stone US.