The box office is currently coasting on the fumes of Fast & Furious 9’s cineplex-reviving success, but moviegoing can’t thrive solely on pep talks about the importance of family forever.
Luckily, there are some mega movies being released this year, and here are seven of our top picks to look forward to, in order of release date.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Release date: Thursday July 15
The first trailer for the “sure, why not” sequel to the kind-of-appreciated Space Jam was pretty light on basketball action, focusing instead on the fact that King James would be transported across various Warner Bros. IP a la Ready Player One. In the colorful new look, James and the Toon Squad are centre court, with a late-game appearance by Wile E. Coyote and a weirdly self-serious tone. But hey, why not?
Jungle Cruise
Release date: Thursday July 29
There are some surprisingly fun Romancing the Stone / Indiana Jones / Pirates of the Caribbean vibes going on in this long-delayed actioner starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. In fact, it looks considerably more fun than the rickety, punny Disneyland ride it’s based on, and streaming at home will run you about as much as a turkey leg and a Dole Whip at the theme park. At the very least, it could inspire Disney to replace all the outdated animatronics on the actual ride with a robot based on co-star Jesse Plemons’ deranged German submarine captain.
The Suicide Squad
Release date: Thursday August 5
After the first trailer established its blood-spattered credentials, the latest look at James Gunn’s DC do-over puts Idris Elba’s master assassin Bloodsport front and centre, while also spending more time with Margot Robbie’s returning Harley Quinn, Sean Gunn’s Weasel, and Pete Davidson’s very-likely-to-die-early Blackguard. There’s plenty of playful mayhem on display, plus even more footage of Sylvester Stallone’s bizarro King Shark and a closer look at the colorful kaiju the team will battle in what’s sure to be an improvement on the original.
Free Guy
Release: Thursday August 12
Delayed first by the Fox-Disney merger and again by COVID, Free Guy is poised to finally hit screens this summer. The film concerns Ryan Reynolds as a non-playable character in a Grand Theft Auto-esque video game who spends his days being repeatedly killed by players, only to gain sentience. The film looks surprisingly earnest in its existential goofiness, with a streak of sentimentality that seems at odds with its Wreck It Ralph-adjacent story. Still, if Edge of Tomorrow showed us anything, it’s that audiences love watching handsome A-listers get repeatedly trampled.
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Reminiscence
Release date: Thursday August 19
Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy makes her big-screen directorial debut by chucking Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, and Thandiwe Newton into a trippy sci-fi puzzle box about a man who plugs himself into some sort of Phillip K. Dickian memory machine to search for his lost love. As expected from Joy, the film looks gorgeously discombobulating and knotted up with twists.
Respect
Release date: Thursday August 19
It doesn’t matter that Respect seems cut from a familiar biopic pattern. This is a film in which Dreamgirls Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson plays the Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin. That should be enough to put this surefire awards candidate on the must-see list of any music lover. The gorgeous period costumes and set design are just added bonuses.
Last Night in Soho
Release date: Thursday October 28
Kinetic British cult favorite Edgar Wright’s latest looks a far cry from his work in Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim and Hot Fuzz. In this hotly anticipated psychological throwback, he throws Thomasin McKenzie and Ana Taylor-Joy into a body-hopping time-travel freakout in the mod London of the ‘60s.
