By Now that the spring semester has finally come to a close, students are ready to lay out at the beach or by the pool with an ice-cold drink and relax after all of the hard work put in to their studies. But while some may want to catch some rays, others will want to catch some movies, so here’s a look at some of the most important and talked-about movies hitting theaters this summer.
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson
Release date: June 15
It’s been 14 years since audiences last saw Pixar’s superhero family leave on a cliffhanger about to face off against The Underminer (John Ratzenberger), and fans will finally get to see this battle come to fruition in the long-awaited “Incredibles 2.” The film also follows Elastigirl (Hunter) as she is recruited to help revamp the public perception on superheros, leaving Mr. Incredible (Nelson) to watch over the children by himself to support his wife’s dream and his children’s futures.
“Tag”
Director: Jeff Tomsic
Starring: Jake Johnson, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm
Release date: June 15
Based on a very bizarre true story, “Tag” is a comedy which follows a group of five childhood friends who have played a month-long game of tag for over 20 years and engage in the game once again with one goal: tag the one member of the group (Renner) who has avoided being tagged every single time.
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”
Director: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Justice Smith
Release date: June 22
Three years after the demise of the park, dinosaurs roam free on Isla Nublar in the second installment of the rebooted franchise until a volcanic eruption threatens to wipe them off the Earth once again. Owen Grady (Pratt) joins Claire Dearing (Howard) to rescue the dinosaurs, including the last-surviving member of the raptors he trained, Blue, only to discover a more sinister plan is set for the rescued creatures.
Director: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner
Release date: June 29
The follow-up to the acclaimed 2015 thriller follows Alejandro Gillick (del Toro) as he reteams with CIA agent Matt Graver (Brolin) to declare a war on the Mexican cartels, their key mission involves a kidnapping of Isabela Reyes (Moner), the daughter of a drug lord. However, after being discovered by the Mexican government and killing those in pursuit, they are given the order to eliminate Reyes, to which Gillick declines and chooses to protect her against Graver and his team of operatives.
Director: Charles Stone III
Starring: Kyrie Irving, Lil Rel Howery, Shaquille O’Neal
Release date: June 29
Following the widespread viral success of the Pepsi Max ad series featuring NBA superstar Kyrie Irving as a legendary streetball player, the soda company announced a feature-length film centered around the character. “Uncle Drew” follows streetball team manager Dax (Howery) convincing the titular player (Irving) to join a streetball tournament to defeat his rival, Mookie (Nick Kroll), to which he agrees but with his old team, taking him and Dax on the road to assemble the crew.
Director: Gerard McMurray
Starring: Y’Lan Noel, Marisa Tomei, Melonie Diaz
Release date: July 4
Audiences have been treated to a night of terror in future America in the past three “Purge” films, but for the upcoming entry, the franchise will take viewers back to the very first Purge night. The New Founding Fathers of America institute the Purge on an island to test out its effects for the public, but when it doesn’t initially go as planned, they send mercenaries disguised as citizens onto the island, creating chaos to ensure this one-night event will prove successful for the future to institute nationwide.
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Michael Douglas
Release date: July 6
Marvel fans are still reeling from the events of “Avengers: Infinity War,” so Marvel is looking to raise some spirits with the follow-up to the 2015 origin film, “Ant-Man.” Set between “Captain America: Civil War” and “Infinity War,” the film follows Scott Lang (Rudd) as he struggles to balance life as a father and responsibilities as Ant-Man, of which he is a fugitive from the law and must battle a villain with secretive ties to the past of Hank Pym (Douglas) and Hope van Dyne (Lily), who has finally donned the Wasp suit.
Director: Boots Riley
Starring: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Armie Hammer
Release date: July 6
This comedy, set in an alternate-present version of Oakland, CA, audiences follow Cassius Green (Stanfield) as he struggles to find a job and is living in his uncle (Terry Crews)’s garage. After landing a job as a telemarketer and initially struggling, his eyes are opened when he discovers the magical power of his “white voice” (voiced by David Cross), which propels him to sales stardom.
Director: Rawson Marshall-Thurber
Starring: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han
Release date: July 13
In keeping with his tradition of appearing in a new movie every few months, The Rock will return to the big screen with the action-thriller “Skyscraper.” The film follows former FBI-agent-turned-skyscraper-safety-consultant Will Sawyer (Johnson) as he struggles to protect his family who live in the tallest and “safest” skyscraper in the world as it comes under terrorist attack, for which he is framed.
Director: Ol Parker
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan
Release date: July 20
Widely hailed as one of the most successful musicals by audiences, the first adaptation of the British hit received such wide acclaim that Universal Studios wanted to see a sequel to the film, even if it took a while. So, 10 years later, the beloved characters return as Sophie Sheridan (Seyfried) is struggling to run her mother (Streep)’s Greek villa, but learns more about her mother’s past while doing so, including how she met Sophie’s three dads (Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth).
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Henry Cavill
Release date: July 27
Cruise is ready to run again as he and his team of IMF agents set off to complete another impossible mission in the sixth installment of the hit spy franchise, “Mission: Impossible – Fallout.” After a mission ends poorly, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) sets off to complete the original objective on his own, with the government questioning his motives and Hunt having to run from assassins, the CIA and old allies, while preventing another potential global catastrophe.
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Jim Cummings
Release date: August 3
Winnie the Pooh has been one of the most beloved Disney characters since the animation studio first brought him to life in the ‘60s, and now he will enter the real world in the upcoming “Christopher Robin.” The film follows the titular character (McGregor), typically seen in his younger years, all grown up and having lost his sense of imagination, for which Pooh (Cummings) and the rest of the Hundred Acre Woods group return to help him discover that feeling again.
Director: Sylvain White
Starring: Joey King, Annalise Basso, Talitha Bateman
Release date: August 24
He’s been the stuff of nightmares for nearly a decade after being introduced as a creepypasta across the internet in 2009, and though the character has been the subject of numerous independent films and YouTube series, he will finally get the studio treatment in “Slender Man.” The film follows a group of teenage girls who investigate the mystery surrounding the titular entity after one of their friends goes missing, only to then be tormented by Slender Man himself.
