Kevin Wozniak
The summer movie season is one of the most exciting times in all of cinema and this summer feels more exciting than most. For the first time in three years, it feels like a typical summer movie season. Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that shut down cinemas, the film world has been slowly getting back to the summer movie season’s we’d gotten used to. Thanks to big tentpole sequels like Jurassic World Dominion and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the stranglehold Top Gun: Maverick had on the zeitgeist, summer 2022 felt like a huge step forward in terms of people returning to the movies and movies breaking box office records.
This summer feels like a pre-pandemic summer. There are a number of movies coming out that could bring audiences to the theater and crush at the box office: superheroes, sequels, raunchy comedies, indie darlings, and Oscar players. There are movies for kids, movies for adults, and movies they both could enjoy. Here are twenty movies coming out this summer that you should be excited about.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5)
The summer movie season kicks off with the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot return for one last ride that finds them defending the galaxy once again. Writer/director James Gunn’s last MCU film before heading to DC is bound to be an exciting and emotional sendoff to some of the MCU’s best heroes.
Book Club: The Next Chapter (May 12)
The sequel to the surprise 2018 hit finds Hollywood legends Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen, Candice Bergen, and Diane Keaton taking their book club to Italy for a girl’s trip they never had. Get ready for another sweet, charming film featuring four iconic actresses having a great time.
Fast X (May 19)
Louis Leterrier helms the tenth entry in the long-running action franchise that finds Dom Toretto going up against his toughest challenge yet in Hernan Reyes (Jason Mamoa). Fast X brings back most of the main of the cast while also adding Oscar-winners Rita Moreno and Brie Larson. Get ready for another high-octane, science-defying action film.
The Little Mermaid (May 26)
Oscar-nominated director Rob Marshall takes us under the sea with Disney’s latest live-action remake that finds Halle Baily playing Ariel, Javier Bardem as King Triton, and Melissa McCarthy playing the purple tentacled villain, Ursula.
The Machine (May 26)
Inspired by a stand-up routine by comedian Bert Kreischer, The Machine is about Bert (Kreischer) whose drunken past catches up with when he and his father (played by Mark Hamil) are kidnapped by Russian mobsters because of a drunken night Bert had while studying abroad 20 years ago. Kreischer is a hilarious comedian and if this movie is anything like the stand-up bit, this is going to be an insane and hilarious film reminiscent of The Hangover.
The Boogeyman (June 2)
Adapted from the Stephen King novel, The Boogeyman finds a supernatural entity terrorizing the home of a psychiatrist and his daughters. Early test screenings have been extremely positive and say that the movie had to be re-edited because the audience was screaming so much and missing key scenes of dialog. The summer movie season seems light on horror films, but The Boogeyman looks like it has the most potential to keep us up at night.
Past Lives (June 2)
Past Lives follows Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected friends who are separated when Nora’s parents emigrate to America from South Korea. The two are reunited for one fateful week twenty years later. Celine Song’s directorial debut was the critical darling of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, with many claiming it as one of the best movies of the year. In a summer filled with blockbusters, this indie could be the stand-out or the season.
Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse (June 2)
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature back in 2019 and is considered by many to be one of the best animated movies of the last decade. The much-anticipated sequel finds Miles Morales (once again voiced by Shamik Moore) traveling across the Multiverse to face off with a villain more powerful than anything they have ever encountered. In a summer chock full of superhero movies and sequels, this has the potential to be the best of the bunch.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9)
The Autobots and Decepticons are back in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, a globetrotting, explosive adventure film set in the 1990s. Reportedly inspired by the Transformers spinoff series Beast Wars, the Autobots and Decepticons are joined by Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons in a film that finds the Transformers teaming up with the humans to stop a terrifying new nemesis bent on destroying the world, Scourge (voiced by Peter Dinklage). Let’s hope Rise of the Beasts is as fun and enjoyable as the first Transformers prequel, Bumblebee.
Asteroid City (June 16)
It’s hard not to be excited about a new Wes Anderson movie. Anderson is one of the great auteurs working today, making visually stunning and beautifully written films with unique characters. In Asteroid City, Anderson takes us to an American desert town circa 1955 where world-changing events take place. The all-star cast features Tom Hanks, Steve Carrell, Hong Chau, Margot Robbie, and Scarlett Johannsen as well as Anderson favorites like Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman.
The Flash (June 16)
Despite the trailers focusing more on Michael Keaton returning as Batman than Flash, word out of CinemaCon is that The Flash may not only be the best movie in the DCEU, but one of the great comic book movies in recent years. That’s a bold statement considering the film’s long, troubled production, but the hype around is at its ultimate peak.
Elemental (June 16)
Elemental is the newest Pixar film and takes us to a unique world where the characters are made of fire, water, land, and air and all coexist together. This sounds like an interesting idea and the animation looks inventive and lively. Though Pixar’s track record has been a bit shaky in recent years, if Elemental finds the right emotional notes, it could be a new classic for the animation studio.
No Hard Feelings (June 23)
Jennifer Lawrence stars in this sex comedy about a delivery driver desperate for cash who accepts a Craigslist ad from a couple seeking someone to date their painfully awkward nineteen-year-old son. I’m excited to see Lawrence in a comedic role like this and to see a raunchy, R-rated comedy on the big screen again.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30)
Harrison Ford returns for one last adventure in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which finds Indy once again trying to find an ancient and powerful artifact and ensure that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. James Mangold has taken over the directing reigns for Steven Spielberg, so it will be interesting to see how the film looks at feels without the Spielbergian touch. Regardless of what you think about the last Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you can’t help but be excited to see Harrison Ford don the hat and pick up the whip one more time.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 (July 12)
After owning summer 2022 with Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise looks for a repeat with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. This is the seventh entry in the long-running Mission: Impossible series and though the plot of the film is unknown, the trailer promises another thrilling spy film with Tom Cruise continuing to “wow” us with the stunts he is willing to do to entertain us.
Barbie (July 21)
The trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is one of the best of the year. It doesn’t tell us a lot, but it gave us enough to be excited. The production design is stunning, and the colors pop off the screen. Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, and the rest of the cast look wonderful, and the film looks knowing and funny. Despite not knowing much about the plot, the look of the film and Gerwig’s talent behind the camera make Barbie one of the most intriguing titles coming out this year.
Oppenheimer (July 21)
A Christopher Nolan movie is an event. He is one of the best and most original filmmakers working today and makes films on a level only a few filmmakers can match. Oppenheimer sees Nolan making his first biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. The film boasts one of the best casts of the year, featuring Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Alden Ehrenreich, and Robert Downey Jr., among others. This not only has the potential to be the best movie of the summer but could be a huge awards player at the end of the year. This is my most anticipated movie of the summer.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (August 4)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return to the animation world for the first time since 2007’s TMNT, but they’ve never looked like this. The animation in the trailer is stunning, utilizing the 2D and 3D computer animation like Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse used in 2018. The Turtles are voiced by talented kid actors and the rest of the voice cast is filled with big names, such as Giancarlo Esposito, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Rose Byrne, Ayo Edeberi, and Ice Cube, among many others.
Blue Beetle (August 18)
The second DC movie of the summer has the vibes and attitude reminiscent of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. It follows a Mexican teenager (Xolo Mariduena) who finds an alien beetle that gives him superpowered armor. The trailer looked like a lot of fun and different from other DCEU movies. This could be a nice end-of-summer surprise.
Back on the Strip (August 18)
Back on the Strip is a comedy about a once-notorious Black male stripper crew called The Chocolate Chips (played by Wesley Snipes, Faizon Love, Bill Bellamy, and J.B. Smoove), all of whom are now old, domesticated, and out-of-shape. They put all of their past grudges aside and reunite to try and save the hotel they used to perform in. The cast is spectacular and the plot sounds like it has sprinklings of The Full Monty, which only makes it more appealing. I can’t wait to see Snipes, Love, Bellamy, and Smoove get on stage and do their thing.
Make sure to follow Film Obsessive’s coverage of these films and many more throughout the summer!
