Here's a thread where we can discuss the new Summer Movie Season. Incidentally, I've written up a small preview of all the action along with all the latest trailers if you're interested. And if you want, you can try to guess the season's Top Five performers. This is the earliest this topic has ever gone up because Disney has gone crazy and decided the first weekend of May isn't soon enough to start the Summer anymore, so let's dive right in!
2018 Summer Movies* as always everything behind a $ below is in millions of dollars and is based on the domestic gross, not the combined worldwide numberApril 27th
Avengers: Infinity War
Ten years later... it all comes down to this. After spending the last decade hunting down stones across the galaxy Thanos finally arrives on Earth, and all factions of the Marvel universe (the Avengers, the Guardians, Strange's sorcerers, the armies of Wakanda, Spiderman's quiz team) must unite to stop him.
Well, what more is there to say about this franchise? This is the 19th film in the shared universe and audiences certainly don't seem to be growing fatigued, considering Movie #18 just blew past Titanic to become the third biggest hit in the history of US cinema. The only question is if it can threaten The Force Awakens for biggest opening weekend, and how many Star Wars films it'll be able to knock off while climbing the lifetime charts all Summer long. All I can say for sure is that I'll be a dead ringer for our grizzled new Captain America when I hit the theater in full costume on opening night.
Related: The Avengers $623, Avengers: Age of Ultron $459, Captain America: Civil War $408
Ng Sez: $646
Rival studios knew Disney was going to land an extinction-level crater on their box office dreams in early May, so no one wanted to put out a new movie this week. That means instead of another standard blockbuster we get a heartfelt Summer indie with Oscar hopes, which is fun in itself! Won't make any money but hey- nice change of pace.
Writer Diablo Cody (of Juno fame) reunites with Charlize Theron to tell the story of an exhausted mother of three whose life is turned around by the night nanny her husband hires named Tully (played by Mackenzie Davis, aka the girl you fell in love with in Black Mirror's San Junipero). Seems like a pretty typical slice-of-life indie drama/comedy, but as someone who loved Juno and Young Adult I still think it could be worth seeing. If the reviews are positive I'll be sure to give this a chance.
Related: Juno $143, Young Adult $16, Atomic Blonde $52
Ng Sez: $29
May 11th
Life of the Party
After being stunned by a divorce after 20 years of marriage, Melissa McCarthy decides the only way to get her life back on track is to return to college to complete her degree. And for some reason she has to join her daughter's sorority to do it. Can you just imagine?!
Alright so yes, Old School did this 15 years ago (continuing the trend of gender swapped reboots- more on that later) and this new version of the same idea doesn't look especially original or gut-busting. But this movie's not for us, and honestly McCarthy is perhaps the most reliably bankable star in Hollywood right now. I won't be lining up to see this one but everything she stars in finds a big audience with older female viewers and I doubt this will be an exception.
Related: The Heat $160, Spy $111, Ghostbusters $128
Ng Sez: $101
Now you can see why no male-centric movies wanted to release in May, would have been put in quite the Marvel pinch! Anyways so yeah, deadly time-traveling super solider Cable shows up and Deadpool has to form his own "super duper team" to answer the threat, rest assured many hijinks result.
FOX took a huge risk on Deadpool two years ago; everyone said super hero movies had to be serious, PG-13 (because they couldn't survive without teen boys filling the seats), and that only the MCU was strong enough to center them around lesser-known characters. Then DP1 went out and became the highest grossing R rated film of all time, the first successful superhero/comedy mashup, and even outgrossed every other mutant slash X-Men movie, including Wolverine's stand alone hits! Deadpool's humor doesn't always land for me but I love what he's done to lighten up the comic book genre so I'll be there opening weekend to support the dude.
Related: Deadpool $363, Logan $226, Green Lantern $117
Ng Sez: $319
May 25th
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Everyone's favorite smuggler gets his first starring role; we take a deep dive into the past to see how a young Han Solo met his friends Chewie and Lando and got his hands on the Millennium Falcon.
The main trilogy will conclude next Christmas, until then we're back to the "off brand" Star Wars anthology series. Positives: Rogue One was way better than I expected, Donald Glover is the perfect choice for a young Lando, and having Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke involved is certainly promising (as is Ron Howard in the director's seat). Negatives: I can't get over how un-Harrison Ford this guy is! I'll still check out Solo on opening weekend and hope the rest of the film is good enough to make up for Han's casting, but in the meantime I'm going to stay very conservative with my box office pred.
Related: Rogue One $532, The Last Jedi $620, The Force Awakens $937
Ng Sez: $265
Here's another week the rival studios avoided like the plague, and between Star Wars and the second weekend/tail end of two surefire comic book hits you can't blame them. Left to pick up the pieces is... Johnny Knoxville?! He stars in an '80s teen flick throwback about the world's most dangerous theme park where (of course) he and his friend Chris Pontius perform all the stunts.
Jackass may have debuted almost 20 years ago, but idiots injuring themselves in ridiculous ways is timeless. If anyone had doubts on that matter they should have been assuaged by the shockingly successful Bad Grandpa a few years back. I can't see this one becoming the same kind of breakout hit, and I won't be rushing to the theater to get tickets myself, but I do dig the goofy Wet Hot American Summer-style vibe so I'll probably catch it when it comes to Netflix.
Related: Bad Grandpa $102, Jackass 3D $117, Jackass: The Movie $64
Ng Sez: $63
"Anything men can do, we can do better." The theme of female remakes/reboots keeps right on rolling as George Clooney's sister Sandra Bullock assembles her own crack team of super-thiefs to pull off the heist of the century: stealing a $150 million diamond off the neck of the world's most famous actress (Anne Hathaway) at the Met Gala. Her crew? Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Awkwafina, Helena Bonham Carter, and Dakota Fanning.
For all the hate 2016's Ghostbusters received online it still went on to make a very respectable chunk of change (about $230 million worldwide), which wasn't enough to put it into the positives only because it was way too expensive to make (costing nearly $150 million). Ocean's 8 isn't going to have that problem and I think between that and the very smartly counter-programmed release date, women are going to turn out to this one in droves and turn it into a big time hit. Which is wonderful since I've always been a sucker for heist flicks and the trailer looks great- count me in, ladies!
Related: Ocean's 11 $183, Ocean's 12 $125, Ocean's 13 $117
Ng Sez: $138
Having to wait 14 years for this is undoubtedly the most absurd scheduling decision in Disney history, especially considering they talked Pixar into making two Cars movies in the meantime despite no one asking for them... but let's put all that behind us because it's finally here! Mr. Incredible struggles with becoming a stay-at-home Dad when Elastigirl is promoted to the status of world's #1 super hero. (Will Samuel L. Jackson agree to be his Tully?)
The whole cast is back including legendary writer/director Brad Bird, and I couldn't be more excited! The addition of Breaking Bad alums Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks is a nice touch as well. Basically I would be SHOCKED if this isn't the best movie of the Summer, and I'd be equally surprised if it didn't have the blockbuster results to back that up.
Related: The Incredibles $261, Finding Dory $486, Monsters University $268
Ng Sez: $439
June 22nd
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
A volcano or something is set to blow up Dinosaur Island, and only Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard can save these noble (genetically modified, shouldn't exist in the first place, ate hundreds of people) creatures!
2015's Jurassic reboot was... perfectly fine. No one's a bigger Chris Pratt fan than myself and he was the right choice for the role, it had some incredible action sequences and all the dinos looked pretty good. All that being said, I didn't see a need to return to that world so soon. Universal Pictures saw it another way, and when you consider World's eye-popping numbers it's hard to blame them: it finished its run as the 3rd biggest movie in history, both domestically and internationally (behind only Titanic and Avatar). In summary, I'll be in the theater opening weekend, crossing my fingers that they came up with a more compelling script than the trailer would lead us to believe.
Related: Jurassic World $652, Jurassic Park $402, The Lost World $229
Ng Sez: $393
June 29th
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
What an odd choice to place smack-dab in the middle of Blockbuster Season: a sequel to a small Oscar-nominated 2015 film that was critically acclaimed but almost no one saw, and which lost its leading actor (Emily Blunt). Kind of makes sense though because, based on the trailer, it looks like Soldado is shedding its small scale indie roots and going in a Micheal Bay-lite action direction with Benicio del Toro starting an ill-advised war with the Mexican government.
I'm sure it'll do okay for itself and improve on Sicaro's modest success, can't see it turning into a break out smash hit... But enough about that nonsense, let's get to the real story here: what a Summer for Josh Brolin! He gets to chew scenery and steal scenes as the ultra intimidating super villain in TWO of what will be the most successful comic book movies ever only two weeks apart, then a mere month later here he is lighting up the screen with another juicy villainous role. He'll never have to worry about money again, and good for him; now he just needs an Oscar statue to go along with his Scrooge McDuck vault.
Related: Sicario $47, The Wolfman $61, Traffic $124
Ng Sez: $73
July 6th
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ant-Man makes his glorious return to the silver screen, this time alongside his new sidekick Evangeline Lilly. (Well, not new, she was in the last movie already, but now she gets to wear a bumblebee suit and shrink and talk to bugs or whatever.)
Okay so Ant-Man is the lowest of the low tier when it comes to super heroes, but Paul Rudd is great in the role and somehow even joke characters can turn Disney shareholders into mega millionaires thanks to the far reaching appeal of the MCU. I'm thinking audiences are going to leave Infinity War newly reenergized about this universe and the high tide will raise all ships, lifting even the least consequential of their 20 shared-world movies to new heights. And I'll be right there to get in on the fun on opening week!
Related: Ant-Man $180, Doctor Strange $233, Thor: Ragnarok $315
Ng Sez: $223
Did I call Melissa McCarthy Hollywood's most bankable star above? Someone musta forgot about THE ROCK. His track record of success is actually even more unbelievable considering he makes twice as many movies as Melissa and somehow every second one explodes as a mega-hit, like Jumani did earlier this year. In any case Skyscraper is, well... 99% just the original Die Hard, with Rock in the Bruce Willis role.
Will that be enough to make it a show-stopping blockbuster? Probably. Will it be enough to get me to the theater on opening weekend? HECK yes! Now if you'll excuse me I have to cut this review short and see Rampage instead.
Related: Jumani $404, Central Intelligence $127, San Andreas $155
Ng Sez: $129
July 20th
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Did you realize the original Mamma Mia movie came out ten years ago? I'd have said four or five! Not that I think about it often (other than when the admittedly catchy songs get stuck in my head). Regardless, Here We Go Again is the story of Amanda Seyfried getting knocked up a notch by a man who leaves her, so she needs to get cheered up by time traveling to the '70s to watch her Mom Meryl Streep (errr, Lily James) likewise get knocked up by a young Pierce Brosnan (or possibly two other men, who knows). Inspirational stuff!
I'd say 10 years is way too long between entries but female moviegoers are going to be starved for entertainment this Summer, as we've covered a few times already, and musicals are some of the safest bets at the box office these days. I'm betting this still puts up a very respectable number, though it probably doesn't match the original's success.
Related: Mamma Mia $144, Les Miserables $149, The Greatest Showman $174
Ng Sez: $122
July 27th
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Tom Cruise puts on his running shoes for the sixth time... but this time, it's personal. Oh, they've all been personal? Okay, this time, it's impersonal.
I don't know how much there is to say about Fallout other than that I absolutely LOVE this trailer (especially when the remixed theme song kicks in) and that the last two entries in this series have been downright delightful and I'd happily watch another six. The rest of the world seems to be in agreement based on the box office tallies, so here's to predicting more of the same aka another 200+ showing for this unkillable franchise!
Related: Rogue Nation $195, Ghost Protocol $209, MI3 $134
Ng Sez: $203
August 3rd
Christopher Robin
When Ewan McGregor's family leaves him at home in the midst of a serious midlife crisis he's visited by his closest childhood friend... a talking stuffed animal named Winnie the Pooh. Fever dream, severe mental trauma, an unhinged psychotic break? Oh, bother!
I joke, but Disney's animated-films-turned-live-action-for-no-good-reason genre has been one of their best decisions ever from a purely business standpoint. Everyone saw Beauty & The Beast go nuts a year ago but even their second tier titles like Cinderella and Maleficent have made serious bank. And of course we'd be fools to disregard Seth MacFarlane's trailblazing role in this area- clearly talking teddy bears are as sure a sign of an upcoming box office bonanza as insanity!
Related: Winnie the Pooh (2011) $27, Cinderella (2015) $201, Ted $219
Ng Sez: $116
Remember when you were 10 and you discovered that 3 million years ago there was a great white shark the size of a schoolbus swimming around eating literally everything in the ocean, and its name was Megaladon, and it was the best day of your childhood? What if I told you that there was secretly one 75 foot Meg still hiding at the bottom of the ocean, and now its eating every surfer on the West Coast, and only Jason Statham can stop it? If you answered "that would be the best day of my adult life," boy do I have the movie for you.
Sharks have never really gone out of style post-Jaws, but they're especially hot right now in the wake of The Shallows and 47 Meters Down the last couple years. Well, okay so neither of those movies made much money, but Meg has a much larger budget and the advantage of being the last action flick of the Summer- maybe it can turn that into a respectable showing? Personally I think I'll wait for Netflix on this one but it could still be fun with a large enough popcorn bucket in your lap.
Related: The Shallows $55, Piranha 3D $25, Sharknado (zero dollars)
Ng Sez: $69
August 17th
The Happytime Murders
Honestly I should have concluded this Summer's movie coverage with Mission Impossible, but I had to do August solely so I could talk about this one- undoubtedly the weirdest idea I've ever had the pleasure of doing a writeup for. Soooo there was this Muppet/Sesame Street-like TV program in the 70s and 80s, except all the puppets on the show existed in real life, and now in 2018 they start turning up dead. This is an R-rated film noir about the puppet detective who has to follow shady characters into gin joints and strip clubs to get to the bottom of these Happytime Murders, before he gets knocked off himself.
...and no I didn't just make that up, this movie really exists, I just can't prove it because they haven't released a trailer yet. I could see a show like this becoming a cult hit on a streaming service or Adult Swim, but someone spending millions of dollars to promote it slash release it in thousands of theaters? Personally I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes on opening night!
Related: The Muppets (2011) $87, The Dark Crystal $41, Team America: World Police $33
Ng Sez: $11
After a horrific car accident kills his wife and kids, brilliant Doctor Keanu Reeves will stop at nothing to bring them back to life.
Keanu's riding high off the goodwill generated by the frankly incredible things he's done in the past few years to anyone who looked at his dog the wrong way, so I could see him turning this fairly stereotypical sci-fi trope into a decent hit. Won't set the world on fire but I'm down for some mind-bending synthetic action, so count me in if the reviews are better than expected!
Related: John Wick 2 $92, The Lazarus Effect $26, Flatliners (2017) $17
Ng Sez: $59
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Ng's Top Five Picks:
1. Avengers Infinity $646
2. Incredibles 2 $439
3. Jurassic Fallen $393
4. Deadpool 2 $319
5. Solo $265