TAGGED AS: blockbusters, movies, Summer
(Photo by ©Warner Bros., ©Universal Pictures, ©20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios, ©Paramount Pictures, ©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
It’s that time of year once again, when school is out (or is about to be), the weather is getting warmer, and we’re all just looking for a bit of adventure, romance, comedy, or gleeful terror to entertain us. Enter the summer movie season, when studios big and small roll out their biggest crowd-pleasers and screen spectacles. As usual, we’ve got a lot to look forward to over the next few months, so to help you plan your schedule, here’s your handy month-by-month breakdown of the most notable movies hitting theaters and streaming services in Summer 2024.
The Idea of You
(2024)
After directing The Big Sick, The Lovebirds, and Spoiler Alert, Michael Showalter brings us another unique look at love with this adaptation of a 2017 novel about a divorced single mom who takes her daughter to see a boy band at Coachella and ends up in a relationship with the group’s much younger frontman.
The Fall Guy
(2024)
Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt kick off the summer movie season with this action-packed love letter to stunt performers, appropriately helmed by stuntman-turned-director David Leitch. Gosling plays a stuntman who gets roped into a risky mission when the actor he’s doubling for goes missing.
I Saw the TV Glow
(2024)
Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine star in A24’s latest offering, a psychological thriller about a teen who becomes obsessed with a late-night TV show and, as a result, begins to feel the reality around him bending and cracking in unexpected ways.
Unfrosted
(2024)
Jerry Seinfeld makes his directorial debut with this tongue-in-cheek “history” of the corporate rivalry between American cereal companies Kellogg’s and Post that ultimately resulted in the invention of the Pop-Tart. Seinfeld also wrote, produced, and stars in the film alongside a huge, star-studded ensemble cast.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
(2024)
Maze Runner director Wes Ball takes the helm for the latest entry in the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise, this time set 300 years after the events of 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, when a young chimpanzee joins forces with a feral human girl to rebel against a tyrannical ape king.
Babes
(2024)
Another notable directorial debut, Babes is the first feature from Better Things star Pamela Adlon. The film stars Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau as childhood best friends whose relationship is tested when one of them gets pregnant from a one-night stand and seeks help from the other, a married mother of two.
Back to Black
(2024)
Industry star Marisa Abela takes on the role of Amy Winehouse in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic of the late singer’s life, charting her rise to fame, the circumstances that led up to the creation of the film’s titular album, and her troubles thereafter.
IF
(2024)
Few summer movies can boast the kind of all-star cast that John Krasinski has put together to voice the various imaginary creatures in his live-action/animated hybrid movie IF, about a young girl who gains the ability to see imaginary friends and uses the power to reunite them with the adults who abandoned them.
The Strangers: Chapter 1
(2024)
The 2008 horror thriller The Strangers gets something of a reboot with this film, intended to be the first in a new trilogy, about a young couple on a road trip who stay at an isolated rental home, only to be terrorized by a trio of intruders in masks. All three movies in this new trilogy were filmed concurrently, so you can expect Chapters 2 and 3 to follow relatively soon.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
(2024)
George Miller returns to the world of his Oscar-winning action extravaganza Mad Max: Fury Road with this prequel that tells the story of Furiosa, the character played by Charlize Theron in the previous film and now portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy.
The Garfield Movie
(2024)
Garfield is back on the big screen, and this time the whole thing is animated, with Chris Pratt taking over as the voice of the orange cat who hates Mondays and loves lasagna. The story, as it were, finds Garfield and Odie (voiced by Harvey Guillen) meeting Garfield’s dad (Samuel L. Jackson) and embarking on a high-stakes adventure.
Robot Dreams
(2023)
This Spanish animated treat actually debuted at Cannes last year, after which it was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar earlier this year. It contains no dialogue, but follows the friendship between a lonely anthropomorphic dog and the robot he builds to keep him company.
Young Woman and the Sea
(2024)
Daisy Ridley stars in this biopic chronicling the life and achievements of Gertrude Ederle, a New York City woman who won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics and went on to become the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
(2024)
Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are back on the case for a fourth go-round, this time to root out corruption in their own department after their captain (Joe Pantoliano) is posthumously accused of shady dealings and the two of them are set up.
Hit Man
(2023)
In between lighting up the screen with Sydney Sweeney in Anyone but You and chasing tornados in Twister, Glen Powell stars in Richard Linklater’s comedy about an undercover police officer who poses as a hitman to capture people trying to secure his services, only to fall in love with one of them.
The Watchers
(2024)
If the director’s name strikes a familiar nerve, that’s because she is, in fact, the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, making her own feature directorial debut with this adaptation of the eponymous novel about a woman stranded in an Irish forest who stumbles upon a remote shelter where she meets other survivors who are trapped there, hunted by mysterious creatures in the night.
Inside Out 2
(2024)
Amy Poehler returns to voice Joy in this sequel to the Oscar-winning 2015 film about the anthropomorphized emotions swirling around inside a young girl named Riley. This time, Joy and the other emotions from the first film are supplanted by new emotions as Riley enters adolescence and must fight to regain control.
The Bikeriders
(2023)
Director Jeff Nichols’ (Mud, Loving) latest film is inspired by the 1967 photo book of the same name and follows the relationships between the members of a fictional 1960s motorcycle club over the course of a decade as seen through the eyes of some of its key members.
Fancy Dance
(2023)
(Photo by ©AppleTV+)
Release Date: June 21, 2024 (streaming June 28 on Apple TV+)
Director: Erica Tremblay
Starring: Lily Gladstone, Shea Whigham, Isabel DeRoy-Olson, Audrey Wasilewski
Recent Oscar-winner Lily Gladstone stars in Erica Tremblay’s narrative feature directorial debut as a Native American woman on the Seneca-Cayuga Nation Reservation who hits the road to find her missing sister with her niece before her own father attempts to take custody of her.
Kinds of Kindness
(2024)
Hot off of their Oscar-winning collaboration on Poor Things, director Yorgos Lanthimos reunites with Emma Stone (and Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley) for at least part of this anthology film that tells three separate stories with a star-studded cast.
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
(2024)
The first chapter of Kevin Costner’s epic, two-part Western hits theaters in June, telling a sprawling story about the expansion into the American West during the Civil War era.
A Quiet Place: Day One
(2024)
Pig director Michael Sarnoski makes the leap to genre blockbuster with A Quiet Place: Day One, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn in a prequel to John Krasinski’s hit 2018 thriller that depicts how one woman fought to survive the initial invasion of the aliens who hunt by sound.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
(2024)
More than three decades since we last saw Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley on screen, he returns for another adventure — this time on Netflix — that sees the Detroit cop return to Los Angeles to team up with his daughter, her ex-boyfriend, and a few familiar faces to uncover a conspiracy.
Despicable Me 4
(2024)
Gru and Lucy are back, and this time, not only are they the proud parents of their adoptive daughters Margo, Edith, and Agnes, but they’ve also given birth to Gru Jr. As Gru learns to embrace this new chapter of his life, he and his family must also face off against an escaped criminal who’s out to get him.
MaXXXine
(2024)
The third and final chapter of Ti West’s horror trilogy starring Mia Goth takes place in the 1980s, as the lone survivor of 2022’s X, Maxine, heads to Los Angeles to become an actress just as the infamous serial killer known as the Night Stalker is at the height of his rampage.
Fly Me to the Moon
(2024)
Love, Simon director and longtime TV vet Greg Berlanti helms this romantic dramedy inspired by the 1960s Space Race. Channing Tatum plays the NASA director in charge of the Apollo 11 mission, who develops a relationship with the marketing guru (Scarlett Johansson) brought in to film a fake moon landing as a back-up in case things go sideways.
Longlegs
(2024)
For those of you who have seen one or two of this film’s cryptic trailers and couldn’t make heads or tails of it, that’s likely intentional. The film stars Maika Monroe as an FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer (Nicolas Cage) in 1974 who uncovers evidence of occult involvement and a personal link to the killer himself.
Sing Sing
(2023)
Inspired by a true story and a real rehabilitation program at the titular maximum security prison in New York, this drama centers on a group of inmates, including a wrongly convicted man, who find purpose in putting on their own stage production.
Twisters
(2024)
Another director transitioning from small indie drama to explosive blockbuster is Lee Isaac Chung, the Oscar-nominated director of 2020’s Minari, who helms this sequel to the 1996 disaster thriller Twister. Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos star as three storm-chasers with vastly different personalities who unite under their shared passion and race to capture rare tornado events.
Deadpool & Wolverine
(2024)
Arguably the biggest movie of the summer, Deadpool & Wolverine follows up with the Merc with a Mouth as he is enlisted by the shadowy Time Variance Authority to recruit a certain mutant with adamantium claws to help protect the multiverse. Expect plenty of cheeky R-rated jokes and meta references to familiar franchises.
Cuckoo
(2024)
Euphoria star Hunter Schafer stars in this psychological horror-thriller about a teen who moves to the German Alps with her father and his new family and discovers that her father’s new boss may not be exactly what he seems.
Harold and the Purple Crayon
(2024)
In the midst of all the horror we have coming out in August, here’s a family film based on the popular 1955 children’s book of the same name. Zachary Levi stars as Harold, who emerges from his book and into the real world with his magical purple crayon, only for it to fall into the wrong hands, forcing Harold and his new friends to save the world.
The Instigators
(2024)
(Photo by Apple TV+)
Release Date: August 2, 2024 (streaming August 9 on Apple TV+)
Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau, Paul Walter Hauser, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, Ron Perlman, Jack Harlow
Director Doug Liman wasn’t too happy about his last film, the Road House remake, skipping a theatrical release to head straight to Prime Video, so at least this one is getting a limited release before it hits Apple TV+. And look at that cast! Matt Damon and Casey Affleck lead an all-star ensemble in a heist thriller about a pair of thieves who hit the road with their therapist after a botched robbery attempt.
Borderlands
(2024)
Fans were somewhat perplexed by some of the casting choices for Borderlands, based on the popular video game series of the same name, but the trailer seems to have alleviated some of those concerns. Maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see if director Eli Roth can deliver something that will appeal to both hardcore fans of the games, and newcomers who just want to have a raucous good time at the movies.
Trap
(2024)
Not to be outdone by his own daughter, M. Night Shyamalan is also releasing a new film this year (co-starring another one of his daughters, Saleka). This one stars Josh Hartnett as a man who takes his young daughter to see a pop star in concert and learns the police have set an elaborate trap to capture a serial killer. He just happens to be the killer they’re looking for.
Alien: Romulus
(2024)
Veteran horror director Fede Álvarez (2013’s Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) takes on the next installment of the Alien franchise, set between the events of Ridley Scott’s original 1979 film and James Cameron’s Aliens. The story centers on a scavenger crew who stumble upon a derelict space station and encounter, well, aliens. Familiar, yes, but here’s hoping the simplicity of the setup yields some creative thrills.
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2
(2024)
If you thought you’d have to wait a year or more to get the second chapter of Kevin Costner’s Horizon, you are in for a treat. Just about a month and a half after Chapter 1 hit theaters, we’re getting Chapter 2, continuing the epic story of western expansion during the Civil War.
Blink Twice
(2024)
Zoë Kravitz makes her directorial debut with this dark comedy-thriller (which she also co-wrote) about two cocktail waitresses (Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat) who are invited to an impromptu getaway on a private island owned by a wealthy tech mogul (Channing Tatum), where things slowly turn sinister.
The Crow
(2024)
Alex Proyas’ 1994 adaptation of the comic book series The Crow is infamous for the on-set death of star Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, during filming, so it has become something of a cult classic. Rupert Sanders and Bill Skarsgård hope to live up to that reputation with a new take on the story of a murdered man who comes back to life to exact revenge on his killers.
AfrAId
(2024)
Release Date: August 30, 2024
Director: Chris Weitz
Starring: David Dastmalchian, Keith Carradine, Katherine Waterston, Riki Lindholme, John Cho, Havana Rose Liu
We don’t know much yet about They Listen, except that it’s a Blumhouse horror film directed by Chris Weitz and starring John Cho, Katherine Waterston, and, hot off his acclaimed performance in Late Night with the Devil, David Dastmalchian. And frankly, that’s enough to keep us interested.
