Who lives? Who dies? Who tells your story? The Russo Brothers have the top-secret answers to the world’s biggest superhero cliffhanger as summer movie season unofficially opened in late April with their epic Avengers: Endgame. Expect variety to be a spice of life more potent than popcorn salt at the multiplex this summer with superheroes, talking plush toys, remakes of animated films, hot rod hijinks, glimpses at bygone eras, girl power extravaganzas and whimsical musicals coming to a theatre near you.
This month’s Marvel multiverse ensemble adventure is just the beginning of a summer superhero season also touting a globetrotting Spider-Man: Far From Home, in which Tom Holland’s arachni-teen faces off against Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio. The X-Men spinoff, June’s Dark Phoenix with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, will strive to keep the long-running series afloat longer than a Cher farewell tour.
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes as Ryan Reynolds voices the title character of the film noir comedy adventure Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. In fact, every doll will have its day this season as Kelly Clarkson and a bunch of misfit toys sing their way through the animated UglyDolls, and “Chucky” returns for a new terror-filled round of Child’s Play.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters, featuring Kyle “Coach Taylor” Chandler, and John Wick: Chapter 3, with Keanu Reeves still on the run, promise to give moviegoers the action they crave. But summer isn’t summer without the “Will Smith effect,” and this movie star’s presence or lack thereof can make or break a summer tentpole (Did you see the Smith-free Independence Day sequel? Neither did we!). Despite no Will in a title role, Men in Black: International marches on with Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth as the central alien-fighting duo. Smith’s actual summer movie is Aladdin, a live-action film of the hit Disney cartoon, and typically macho director Guy Ritchie (Snatch) is betting you ain’t never had a friend like “Blue Genie” Will Smith, and a whole new world of profits are sure to stimulate the economy of Agrabah.
Family films are center stage with another live-action Disney remake, Lion King (Beyoncé and Donald Glover are part of the crooning pride), plus Woody and Buzz are back for Toy Story 4. Even Dora the Explorer is making her primero trip to the big-screen in The Lost City of Gold.
Car buffs will revel in the action of Hobbs and Shaw, the movie spinoff of the Fast and Furious franchise with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Christian Bale and Matt Damon also star in Ford v. Ferrari, the true story of the battle between racecar rivals to win Le Mans in 1966.
Set in the Golden Age of filmmaking in 1969, Quentin Tarantino’s much-anticipated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood features Leo DiCaprio as a fading TV star, Brad Pitt as his stunt double and general retro craziness. Other prestige pics include Nicholas Hault as Middle Earth maker Tolkien, hallucinogenic horror movie Midsommar (some are calling it Wizard of Oz for adults-only, from the director of Hereditary) and the hypnotic The Last Black Man in San Francisco with Jimmie Fails as a man refurbishing his grandfather’s Victorian home in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left him behind.
Woman take center stage in The Kitchen, as in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen, starring Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Hadish as women with a score to settle. Director Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart features a sassy duo of straight-A women letting loose in epic fashion.
Summer is also a great time for movies with music. Yesterday is a drama by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle in which the catalogue of The Beatles is mysteriously erased from memory in modern day, and the one guy on earth who remembers the Fab Four’s songs embarks on a mission to make bank by introducing the world to these catchy originals. Folks rhapsodic for musical biopics will be over the moon to watch the story of Elton John in Rocketman, embodied by The Kingsman’s Taron Egerton.
Get ready to binge screen!