This is going to be a strange (but exciting) summer for movies. Many of the franchises that have been so dominant at the box office in recent years are either laying low or releasing a smaller number of movies. As a result, we’re getting entries from some other franchises, as well as a couple of original titles that are also worth getting excited about.
The Hollywood strikes also mean that this summer movie season is a little bit quieter than normal, but there are still plenty of great titles well worth recommending. We’ve pulled together the seven movies from this summer that we’re most excited to check out.
Hit Man (June 7)
Possibly Netflix’s biggest movie of the summer, Hit Man stars Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) as a guy who works for the police pretending to be a hit man. When he finds himself falling for one of the people he’s supposed to be tricking, he decides to live the persona in an attempt to help her out of a desperate situation.
Directed by Richard Linklater, Hit Man seems designed to be one of the more fun movies released all summer. It’s been sitting on the shelf for almost a year, but it’s perfectly calibrated for the summer, which is exactly why it’s been held it until now.
Inside Out 2 (June 14)
Although it can be a bit dispiriting to see Pixar making so many sequels, there’s reason to be intrigued by Inside Out 2. The original film, which was released almost a decade ago, proved to be a pretty trenchant examination of how our emotions relate to one another that was also genuinely moving.
Inside Out 2 will follow Riley’s emotions as she ages into a teenager and discovers that her emotional life is about to get a lot more complicated. While we can’t say for sure exactly what the movie’s story will be, Inside Out 2 could be worth it, even if it’s not as original as the first film.
A Quiet Place: Day One (June 28)
A Quiet Place is one of the more surprising franchises of recent years, and Day One takes the prequel approach, following a group of characters in the immediate aftermath of an alien invasion that forces everyone to be silent.
Directed by Michael Sarnoski, whose last film, Pig, was an indie sensation, and starring Lupita Nyong’o, Day One has all the makings of a movie that is worth being genuinely excited about. Day One could certainly fall flat on its face, but every previous Quiet Placefilm has been better than expected, and we’re hoping Day One will continue that trend.
MaXXXine (July 5)
The third film in Ti West’s X trilogy, MaXXXine is a direct sequel to X that follows adult film star Maxine Minx as she gets her big break in Hollywood in the 1980s. Due to the emergence of a serial killer in the town, though, no one is safe, and Maxine is worried that her past could be brought to light.
Each of these X movies has been surprising and unnerving in different ways, as West has openly riffed on various horror movie conventions. MaXXXine will be the capper to this story, which has also featured some titanic work from Mia Goth in all three films.
Twisters (July 19)
The summer of Glen Powell rolls on with Twisters, which co-stars Daisy Edgar-Jones. Of all the movies on this list, this is the one that likely requires the least explanation or elaboration. It’s a sort of quasi-sequel to Twister that follows tornado chasers who get as close to these massive cyclones as possible. Don’t worry, Helen Hunt does not appear in this film. (We think.)
Thanks to its dynamic stars and director Lee Isaac Chung’s credentials (he directed the excellent Minari a few years ago), there’s reason to be optimistic about Twisters, even if you don’t think of yourself as someone who goes for this kind of movie.
Deadpool & Wolverine (July 26)
Can Deadpool save the Marvel Cinematic Universe? That’s the ultimate question posed by Deadpool & Wolverine, which will see the titular character join the MCU as he hops through universe after universe.
Many of the details of Deadpool & Wolverine are still under wraps, but what we know for sure is that it will also feature the return of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, a role that it seemed like Jackman might be finished with after Logan. We wont know whether his return will be worth it or not until July.
Alien: Romulus (August 16)
The Alien franchise has seen some major highs and lows over the course of its history, but Alien: Romulus looks promising. Plot details are still scarce, but the film looks to be returning to the roots of the original Alien by telling a small-scale story about a group of people who discover a sinister alien and are forced to fight for their survival.
Director Fede Álvarez has solid credentials from the horror world that should translate well here, and star Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) continues to prove that she’s one of the best emerging talents in Hollywood today.
