This is my favorite time of the year. When younger, you had the glory of school ending and the vast expanse of three months of freedom. But you always had the warm weather, the vacations, and, of course, the big, mega-budget, tentpole summer movie season. It's just the greatest time of year, and we're right on the precipice of it, which makes me ecstatic.
They say that Hollywood makes 40% of its box office during the summer. And while every reporter on Earth has been harkening about the dwindling box office numbers for years now, the studios are still releasing boat loads of gigantic popcorn flicks this year as they do every year. Even though there are less movies released these days than the glory years of the silver screen (pre-streaming, pre-Covid), this summer still has some behemoths: a new Star Wars, a new Spider-Man, a new Toy Story, a live action Moana, a new Minions, and the big dog, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.
It's going to be a hell of a summer. Here's a preview:
MAY
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 (May 1): Usually, there's been a big movie to kick off the summer movie season on the first Friday of May (the last two Avengers movie bucked the trend by opening at the end of April in 2018 and 2019). This year, sadly, the new Avengers movie was delayed to Christmas, which left a gaping hole in the calendar. What awesome movie would open this year's summer movie season then? Unfortunately, it's a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. The only reason the movie is somewhat of a big deal is because the first film came out 20 years ago. It doesn't feel like the type of summer blockbuster that should be the opening to the season, though. It feels more like a movie that might come out on a random Friday in the middle of June. They did get everybody back for this: Meryl Street, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt. I don't remember ever even watching the original, not that I was the demographic for it, anyway. The plot involves the fashion magazine having to bring back Hathaway's character to stop a scandal.
BILLIE EILISH- HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR (LIVE IN 3D) (May 8): Does James Cameron have teenage kids or something? Because why did he co-direct this movie? I've been pretty harsh ranting about how Cameron should be making something other than Avatar (2 of them were more than enough!), now he's wasting his time directing a concert film?
TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN: GHOST WAR (May 20): This one is going straight to Amazon Prime, which makes sense since it's been a TV show on Amazon Prime for a few seasons. The Office's John Krasinski is the spy Jack Ryan, a role previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Chris Pine, and Ben Affleck. I never watched the show and haven't exactly heard anyone talking about it ever. Wendell Pierce and Sienna Miller also star.
THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU (May 22): The last Star Wars movie came out in December 2019, so it's been awhile. Disney seemed to be focusing on Star Wars TV shows which have all been hit-or-miss and nothing spectacular (the critics loved Andor but a good chunk of that show was boring). This is a continuation of the TV show that ran for 3 seasons. Pedro Pascal plays The Mandalorian, a good guy bounty hunter, who has adventures alongside a baby Yoda muppet. Jon Favreau is directing this (yes, the writer & director of Swingers has morphed into a Star Wars director...I don't think in the 90's I ever would have expected that). The trailers make this look like every modern popcorn blockbuster: way too many special f/x and they all look fairly cheap and ultra-fake. I'm more excited to see next year's Star Wars movie, the Ryan Gosling x-wing flick.
THE BREADWINNER (May 29): Nate Bargatze is the highest grossing touring stand up comedian in the U.S. That feels like kind of a surprise, as I don't think he's famous in the way that, say, Seinfeld or Chris Rock were back in the day. This one is basically Michael Keaton's Mr. Mom. Bargatze takes over the family when his wife is out of town and comedy hijinks ensue. It looks amusing but it's a kid's movie and not, say, The Hangover, which was probably the last high grossing comedy movie, right? And that was decades ago.
