Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Release Date: May 31

MPAA Rating: PG-13

This film promises plenty of silly one-liners and lots of monster-on-monster battles. While it looks to be an classic summer blockbuster blast with some fantastic action sequences, don’t come expecting the next great masterpiece of cinema; this is definitely the kind of film to come in with your brain turned off and prepared to channel your inner 8-year old, smashing dragons and kaiju action figures together.

Rocketman

Release Date: May 31

MPAA Rating: R

Following the recent success of Bohemian Rhapsody last year in theaters and on the awards circuit, Rocketman looks to be the next big musical biopic hit. Featuring the fantastic casting of Taron Egerton as Sir Elton John, this movie promises great musical numbers but also a stylized look at Elton John’s life, struggles, and rise to fame. While sometimes biopics can unfortunately offer a much more sanitized, PG-13 friendly version of famous lives, early reviews indicate Rocketman does a great job of ensuring that this doesn’t happen, and that Elton John’s life is seen in through its ups and downs.

Men in Black: International

Release Date: June 14

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth together after their hilarious chemistry together in Thor: Ragnarok is already a good sign. This action comedy sequel to the Men In Black Franchise looks promising, with good comedy and a fun story. While it could just as easily be a flop, this movie definitely looks like it could be a surprising diamond in the rough.

Toy Story 4

Release Date: June 21

MPAA Rating: G

Toy Story 4 has a phenomenal cast, with newcomers like Tony Hale, Keanu Reeves, and Key and Peele coming to voice new characters. Pixar has (almost) always been consistently great, delivering films with lots of laughter and heart, and while it’ll be interesting to see how and where they take the story after the fantastic conclusion that was Toy Story 3, it seems likely that this one will go down as another one of Pixar’s hits.

Yesterday

Release Date: June 28

MPAA Rating: R

Yesterday promises good music and lots of laughs with its silly premise: after a he is hit by a bus during a freak global blackout, Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is the only one who can remember The Beatles. All trace of them seems to be gone, and when Jack starts playing some of their songs, his friends think that he created them. Overall, it looks to be a fun, sweet film that is a welcome difference from the many action blockbusters this summer.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Release Date: July 2

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Coming hot off the heels of Marvel Studios earlier successes this year in Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, this film promises action, laughs, and a whole lot of heart as it serves as the epilogue to Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios has proved  from Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man’s appearances in Captain america: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Endgame that unlike Sony, whose live action Spider-Man films have often been met with poor reception by critics and the box office, it knows how to make a great live action Spider-Man movie.

Midsommar

Release Date: July 3

MPAA Rating: R

After the success of Ari Aster’s fantastic, grisly, and terrifying film Hereditary, Midsommar looks very promising. Set at a rural Swedish summer festival that quickly turns terrifying for its attendees, Midsommar promises lots of disgust and fear- a much appreciated shift of tone from the many, many summer blockbusters that surround it.

Crawl

Release Date: July 12

MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated (likely PG-13 or R)

Crawl looks like it could go one of two ways: either a tight, good horror film albeit the silly premise, or a fantastically dumb “so bad it’s good” movie. While it will likely overwhelmingly be so bad it’s good, the premise of a daughter and her injured father, stuck in a Florida house infested with killer gators during a Category 5 Hurricane looks too fun to pass up.

The Lion King

Release Date: July 19

MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated (likely PG)

The latest re-imagining of classic Disney animated films to hit the big screen, The Lion King uses similar graphics as The Jungle Book remake from 2016 to try tell the story of Simba’s life through fantastically beautiful photorealistic animation. The visuals truly look amazing, and while Disney’s trend of remaking more old classics rather than producing as much new material is troubling, it’s hard to say no to such a good looking movie.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Release Date: July 26

MPAA Rating: R

Quentin Tarantino’s latest film received lots of positive buzz at Cannes Film Festival. While its trailers don’t provide much information about what the movie is about, we know it follows fading action star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his good  friend and stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) through Hollywood in the late 1960s. While we know it will feature the horrific Manson killings to some degree, it’s likely the story will be revisionist history, just like one of Tarantino’s previous films, Inglourious Basterds.

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