27 Hollywood movies to keep you entertained all summer long
'Tis a season of a Deadpool-Wolverine faceoff, a Kevin Costner western, storm chasers, vicious aliens and jabbering minions. But that's not all.
John Krasinski goes back to Day One of "A Quiet Place"; sparks fly between Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum in space; Emma Stone and "Poor Things" director reunite for a "triptych fable," and Will Smith resurfaces for his first major movie since "the Slap." Saddle up and enjoy the ride. Note: Opening dates are subject to change.
MAY
"Summer Camp" (May 31): Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard are childhood friends who meet again at a camp reunion. Also stars Eugene Levy.
"Ezra" (May 31): A story about a down on his luck father (Bobby Cannavale) fighting to protect his young autistic son (William A. Fitzgerald). Robert De Niro and Whoopi Goldberg co-star in this drama from Tony Goldwyn.
JUNE
"Bad Boys: Ride or Die" (June 7): On the cusp of the pandemic, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reteamed for a profitable third outing in their action-comedy franchise. The fourth installment pits the Miami heat against the drug cartels, with the detectives on the run, as falsely accused fugitives out to clear their names.
"Inside Out 2″ (June 14): Riley, the young girl from 2015 Pixar hit "Inside Out," is now a teen, which means (gasp!) new emotions — Envy, Ennui, Embarrassment, Fear, Disgust and, perhaps most importantly, Anxiety. Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black are back as Joy, Sadness and Anger.
"The Watchers" (June 14): Dakota Fanning plays an artist who gets stranded in a forest in western Ireland where mysterious creatures lurk in the night in this film from Ishana Night Shyamalan, M. Knight Shyamalan's daughter.
"The Bikeriders" (June 21): Based on the 1967 photo collection, writer/director Jeff Nichols' fictionalized treatment of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club stars Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Mike Faist and Michael Shannon.
"Kinds of Kindness" (June 21): Director Yorgos Lanthimos and actor Emma Stone pair up again after "Poor Things" and this time it's for a three-part fable. Stone will be joined by Jesse Plemons and her "Poor Things" co-star Willem Dafoe.
"A Quiet Place: Day One" (June 28): Lupita Nyong'o runs for her life, quietly, in this prequel to John Krasinski's "Quiet Place" franchise, imagining what the New York City premiere of Earth's ultimate monster movie might've looked like.
"Horizon: An American Saga" (June 28 & Aug. 16): Kevin Costner's two-part western epic focuses on the westward expansion during the Civil War. Costner stars alongside Sam Worthington and Sienna Miller. The second section of the saga is in August.
"Daddio" (June 28): Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn star in this two-hander about a woman and her taxi driver one night in New York.
JULY
"Despicable Me 4″ (July 3): Villain-turned-hero Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) and the minions are back, with a new baby in the mix.
"MaXXXine" (July 5): After "X" and "Pearl," Ti West concludes his unlikely trilogy by bringing Mia Goth's aspiring star Maxine to Los Angeles in 1985 in this highly stylized R-rated slasher.
"Fly Me to the Moon" (July 12): With the Apollo 11 moon shot on the line, a public relations whiz (Scarlett Johansson) is tasked with ensuring a faked moon landing in this lavishly produced romantic comedy. Co-starring Channing Tatum as a NASA specialist along for the ride.
"Touch" (July 12): Baltasar Kormákur ("Everest") directs a thrilling romance about a man's (Egill Olafsson) emotional journey to find a long-lost love before his own time runs out.
"Sing Sing" (July 12): Colman Domingo stars in this movie about a few incarcerated men who begin acting in a theater group. The movie kicked off the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival in April.
"Twisters" (July 19): Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos chase storms while a multinational army of digital effects workers chase new ways to wow us in this remake of the 1996 hit. Katy O'Brian co-stars.
"Deadpool & Wolverine" (July 26): In what's predicted to be the summer's surest box office hit, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman team up for a frenemy project directed by Shawn Levy. Morena Baccarin returns as Vanessa, and newcomer Emma Corrin portrays the powerful mutant Cassandra Nova.
"Didi" (July 26): In this coming-of-age story, a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy (Izaac Wang) learns how to skate, flirt and love his mom. It made some noise at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
AUGUST
"Harold and the Purple Crayon" (Aug. 2): Positioned as a sequel to the 1955 children's book of the same name by Crocket Johnson, it stars Zachary Levi playing the grown-up version of Harold, negotiating worlds both real and improvised.
"Borderlands" (Aug. 9): Based on the video game, Eli Roth's colorful action-adventure stars the unusual but appealing tandem of Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart.
"Trap" (Aug. 9): Josh Hartnett stars in an original thriller from M. Night Shyamalan about a murderer at large inside a massive arena concert.
"Alien: Romulus" (Aug. 16): The seventh "Alien" movie takes place between the 1979 "Alien" (John Hurt, stomach trouble) and the 1986 "Aliens" (an even bigger hit). This one stars Cailee Spaeny of "Priscilla" as one of a group of space colonists scavenging a mysteriously abandoned space station. Or is it?
"Blink Twice" (Aug. 23): Zoë Kravitz makes her directorial debut, with Channing Tatum starring as a tech billionaire who invites a waitress (Naomi Ackie) to his private island, where odd things start happening.
"The Crow" (Aug. 23): In this reboot of the story of the resurrected and avenging Eric Draven, aka the Crow, Bill Skarsgård takes over the titular role, first made famous by the late Brandon Lee in the 1994 film of the same name. Rupert Sanders ("Snow White and the Huntsman") directs.
"Slingshot" (Aug. 23): Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishburne star in this sci-fi thriller about an astronaut whose grasp on reality starts to dwindle on a dangerous mission.
"Kraven the Hunter" (Aug. 30): Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular Marvel villain in this film from J.C. Chandor, co-starring Ariana DeBose and Russell Crowe.
"Reagan" (Aug. 30): Dennis Quaid plays Ronald Reagan in this childhood to White House biopic, the first full-length film about the 40th president.
This story contains material from the Chicago Tribune, Associated Press and the (Willoughby, Ohio) News-Herald.