On your mark. Get set. And let’s go to the movie theaters.
The popcorn movie season is back and nearly every genre — comedy, horror, action, romance, drama — is well represented in what appears to be the deepest schedule for summer theatrical releases in a few years (yes, there are streaming film releases on the horizon as well). Heck there, are are even a few films that dare to stimulate thought.
Imagine that.
Last year, Tom Cruise and Paramount took command of the summer and flew many theater chains out of the danger zone with “Top Gun: Maverick,” a massive blockbuster that netted $1.5 billion worldwide and managed to entice tentative movie fans back into lonely theaters. (Steven Spielberg wasn’t kidding when he told Cruise that he “saved Hollywood’s ass.”)
Cruise will be barnstorming in theaters again this summer with his latest entry “Mission: Impossible” saga, “Dead Reckoning Part One,” the seventh chapter in the gargantuan series. Like several films hitting theaters this summer, it is debuting in 2023 after COVID-related delays.
But Cruise has got more competition this summer. A lot more.
The season unofficially kicks into gear this week with the arrival of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” allegedly the last entry in the series.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most exciting, interesting or hotly anticipated releases headed to theaters through mid-August, arranged chronologically.
Keep in mind release dates are subject to change.
‘Book Club: The Next Chapter’
Starring: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen
Theatrical release date: May 12
Why we’re pumped: “The White Lotus” this is not. Call “Book Club” a tamer, less sordid Italian sojourn as we reunite with the four feisty lit-loving chums from the 2018 original film. This time, they are preparing for the nuptials of one of the gang (Fonda). Expect picture-perfect scenery, comfortable laughs and saucy attitude. From the looks of the trailer, no books were harmed — or even involved — in the process.
‘BlackBerry’
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Cary Elwes, Saul Rubinek
Theatrical release: May 12
Why we’re pumped: What happened with the meteoric rise and spectacular fall of the once-popular smartphone that had a corner on the market till Apple showed its wares? Director and co-writer Matt Johnson (he also appears in the film) tells all as his hilarious chronicle taps into the sweaty chaos of a scrappy Canadian startup that, in a mad dash to make lots of money, promised more than what it could deliver. Howerton is a scream as a ruthless investor who became the tech company’s chairman and co-CEO.
‘Fast X’
Starring: Vin Diesel, Jason Momoa, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Rita Moreno, Brie Larson
Theatrical release: May 19
Why we’re pumped: The 10th installment in the “Fast and Furious” franchise proves this crowd-pleasing saga still hasn’t run out of gas, or ideas. This time, the wreckage is personal as a vengeance-seeking Dante Reyes (Momoa) vows to take out Dom Toretto (Diesel) and company to pay back the death of his dad. As with each entry, the cast expands, and we can’t wait to see what Oscar winner Moreno brings to the table. But let’s face it, we’re there mainly for those crazy stunts.
‘Master Gardener’
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Quintessa Swindell
Theatrical release: May 19
Why we’re pumped: The trailer, unfortunately, appears to be spilling too much of the tea about “Gardner,” another unnerving, uncompromising and hard-hitting drama from the 74-year-old Paul Schrader. Joel Edgerton stars as a horticulturist harboring dark secrets and working on a lavish estate owned by wealthy widow Sigourney Weaver.
‘The Little Mermaid’
Starring: Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Jonah Hauer-King, Daveed Diggs
Theatrical release: May 26
Why we’re pumped: Disney’s track record for retooling animated classics into live-action features has been spotty (and that’s a generous description). But we’re rooting for their latest, an adaptation of the 1989 hit. Trolls have been cruel, per their norm, at the casting of Bailey as Ariel, but ignore them, we think she’s ideal for the role. We also like McCarthy as the villainous Ursula. But we’re positively pinching ourselves over the casting of Diggs as Sebastian. Nothing to get crabby about over that choice.
‘You Hurt My Feelings’
Starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies
Theatrical release: May 26
Why we’re pumped: The union of award-winning funny person Louis-Dreyfus with indie filmmaker Nicole Holofcener — a writer and director with a knack for perceptively tapping into modern neurosis and angst — is a cinematic dream come true. The A24 comedy won raves at Sundance and the premise is unbeatable: An author overhears her husband dissing her work and that discovery turns a marriage inside out.
‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’
Voice cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Daniel Kaluuya
Theatrical release: June 2
Why we’re pumped: The long-anticipated (it was delayed by COVID-19) sequel to the 2019 Oscar-winning animated hit brings it a slew of Spider-People that Gwen (Steinfeld) introduces to Brooklyn teen Miles/Spidey (Moore). If it’s anywhere near as spectacular as the first one, we’re happy to get caught in its web. Another sequel is slated to arrive next year.
‘Past Lives’
Starring: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro
Theatrical release: June 2
Why we’re pumped: Even during the summer, we need to occasionally feed our brains with movies that make us ponder our lives, our connections. Celine Song’s debut feature about two childhood friends reconnecting decades later in New York is such a movie. Wise, lyrical and relatable, “Past Lives” quietly crawls into the psyche and stays there.
‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Peter Cullen, Michelle Yeoh
Theatrical release: June 9
Why we’re pumped: The impenetrable mythology of this franchise’s prior entries gave us a screaming migraine. That’s why the trailer for “Beasts,” the seventh in the Transformers series and a stand-alone sequel to 2018’s “Bumblebee,” inspires hope that this will be a gigantic “Godzilla”-like smackdown, rather than more world-building.
‘Strays’
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Will Ferrell, Will Forte, Sofia Vergara
Theatrical release: June 9
Why we’re pumped: The trailer for this R-rated canine variation of “Look Who’s Talking” featuring posse of foul-mouthed stray dogs delivering a heaping of comeuppance to a bad pet owner (Forte) made us want to roll over and play dead. Fortunately, “Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar” director Josh Greenbaum does sport a solid track record, which could help prevent this effort from, well, being dogmeat. Or not.
‘Elemental’
Voice cast: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Catherine O’Hara
Theatrical release: June 16
Why we’re pumped: Could fire and water coexist in harmony? It sure appears so in Pixar’s latest, its 27th feature. The Emeryville-based studio needs a big bounce-back hit after the dismal box-office figures for “Lightyear,” which deserved better returns. Perhaps this one about a fiery young woman named Ember (Lewis) and her water-logged friend Wade (Athie) will set the box office afire.
‘The Flash’
Starring: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Michael Keaton
Theatrical release: June 16
Why we’re pumped: This one is already saddled with Miller’s shocking and headline-making bad behavior over the years, including arrests and allegations for disorderly conduct, sexual harassment and assault. These charges should not be taken lightly. That aside, initial reviews of his performance are glowing, and if the film’s trailer is any indication, “The Flash” could well resuscitate a failing DC/WB partnership. How so? By balancing topnotch special effects with emotion and humor. The presence of Keaton and Ben Affleck reprising their Batman characters provide an additional flare of interest. And it doesn’t hurt that “It” filmmaker Andy Muschietti directed.
‘Asteroid City’
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Adrien Body
Theatrical release: June 16 (limited); expands June 23 into Bay Area theaters
Why we’re pumped: From the very first frame of what’s actually a mediocre trailer, it’s immediately apparent we’ve ventured into Wes Andersonville, a quirky zip code where the director’s distinctive deadpan humor, eccentric characters and pop-art-like production details reside. Anderson’s 11th feature looks to stay true to that form in a fantastic tale about game-changing events that occur during a 1955 Junior Stargazers convention in the desert. The stars certainly do come out for this one!
‘Joy Ride’
Starring: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu
Theatrical release: June 23
Why we’re pumped: Four female friends get into dangerous, sometimes raunchy, always hilarious mischief while on a journey through Asia. The red-band trailer left us howling while the cast, including “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Oscar nominee Hsu, appears to be having a blast. We can’t wait.
‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’
Starring: Harrison Ford, Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas
Theatrical release: June 30
Why we’re pumped: The previous Indy Jones cinematic chapter — 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” — was a letdown with one of the most terrible endings of all time. So why are we psyched for this fifth and final installment? Partly because Ford is on a roll of late and “Fleabag’s” Waller-Bridge can’t help but enliven the franchise as Indy’s goddaughter. It’s also directed by James Mangold, who gave us one of the best standalone superhero movies on record — 2017’s “Logan” with Hugh Jackman.
‘Earth Mama’
Starring: Tia Nomore, Erika Alexander, Keta Price
Theatrical release: July 7 (tentative)
Why we’re pumped: Set in Oakland, this cinema vérité drama sheds light on a character and a story rarely told — that of a pregnant single mom as she grapples with a decision to give a Marin County family her upcoming newborn. Savanah Leaf’s observant character study is raw and real, and picked up an audience award at the SFFILM festival last month.
‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One’
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell
Theatrical release: July 12
Why we’re pumped: Since James Bond is all but kaput right now, there’s only one blockbuster spy to rule them all. His name is Hunt, Ethan Hunt. In his seventh screen outing, he’s back to all the globe-trotting and death-defying stunts this franchise is known for. Everyone’s staying tight-lipped about the plot, and we’re actually good with that. We’ll be there no matter what.
‘Biosphere’
Starring: Sterling K. Brown, Mark Duplass
Theatrical release: July 17 (in theaters, and on digital platforms and VOD)
Why we’re pumped: The lucky few who viewed director Mel Eslyn’s debut appear to have gotten their minds blown. We’re itching to find out why. In this two-hander, two besties (Brown and Duplass) — lone survivors of an apocalypse — hang out day in and day out in a fully stocked biosphere created by one of them. But when their main food source starts to decline, a big change happens.
‘Barbie’
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon
Theatrical release: July 21
Why we’re pumped: Imagine if the board game “Candyland” got thrown into a blender with all those old-time Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello beach movies. The result might resemble what director Greta Gerwig serves up in this high-concept comedy/drama about a toy doll (Robbie) and her surfer boy Ken (Gosling). But if this bit of kitsch fails to sustain our interest, well, we’ll just hit the beach ourselves.
‘Oppenheimer’
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt
Theatrical release: July 21
Why we’re pumped: Writer and director Christopher Nolan gets epic in detailing the life and groundbreaking work of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the U.S. Manhattan Project project to develop the atomic bomb. Filmed partially in Berkeley, Nolan’s three-hour take will be exacting in its every little detail — per the filmmaker’s high standards. We suspect this one might be this summer’s big Oscar contender in 2024.
‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter’
Starring: Corey Hawkins, Javier Botet, Liam Cunningham, Aisling Franciosi
Theatrical release: Aug. 11
Why we’re pumped: Horror is all the rage this season with numerous scary films, including Rob Zombie’s “The Boogeyman” (June 2), another “Insidious: The Red Door” (July 7), the freaky-looking A24 release “Talk to Me” (July 28), Disney’s tongue-in-cheek but age-appropriate “Haunted Mansion” (July 28) and “They Listen” (Aug. 25), with the ever-reliable John Cho, to name a few. But I’m pinning my freak-out hopes on this old-school Gothic creeper about a certain bloodsucker setting sail in a coffin and preying on all aboard. Why? André Øvredal, the Norwegian director who knows dread better than most, is steering it. If you’ve seen “The Autopsy of Jane Doe” or “Troll Hunter,” you know what we’re talking about, and you’ll be there, too.
Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].
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