While it may be hard to believe with all of the cold weather that’s been in the air, summer is just around the corner! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to take a break and let myself recharge; every summer my family and I spend about two months in Cape Cod at our beach house.
One of my favorite things to do with my family in the summer is watch movies together, either at the theater or at the drive-in. Every summer, I see about three or four movies, and last summer I saw a handful of movies that I really enjoyed, which included Finding Dory, Baby Driver, and Dunkirk.
I feel like summer movies are always great to watch because it’s a time of the year where it’s warm out, there’s no school, and you get to relax with friends and family. However, I often don’t know what movies are playing in theaters because I don’t watch movie trailers as much as I used to! With this in mind, I decided to look up some of the most anticipated movies for this summer and see which ones looked the most interesting. Take a look at the list below!
1. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
USA Release Date: May 25th
Director: Ron Howard
Summary: “Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “There was a late director change from Chris Miller and Phil Lord to the legendary filmmaker Ron Howard. Because of this, many fans of the Star Wars franchise were worried that box office numbers would be affected. However, Star Wars movies have always done incredibly well in the box office so critics aren’t too worried.”
See the trailer here:
2. Deadpool 2 (2018)
USA Release Date: June 1st
Director: David Leitch
Summary: “After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry’s hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor – finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World’s Best Lover.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “It was announced in October 2016, that Tim Miller would not be returning as director for this sequel, He decided not to return due to mutual creative differences with lead actor Ryan Reynolds during pre-production of this film. Miller later stated that he left the sequel because he “didn’t want to make some stylized movie that was 3 times the budget”, and wished to create the same kind of film that made the first one a success.”
See the trailer here:
3. Ocean’s 8 (2018)
USA Release Date: June 8th
Director: Gary Ross
Summary: “Criminal mastermind Debbie Ocean and seven other female thieves try to pull off the heist of the century at New York’s annual Met Gala. Their target — a necklace that’s worth more than $150 million.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “The eight main cast has won four Oscars, two Emmys, eight Grammys, six Golden Globes, five BAFTAs, and 10 SAGs combined.”
See the trailer here:
4. Incredibles 2 (2018)
USA Release Date: June 15th
Director: Brad Bird
Summary: “Everyone’s favorite family of superheroes is back in “Incredibles 2” – but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life. It’s a tough transition for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack’s emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again—which is easier said than done, even when they’re all Incredible.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “The fourteen year gap between the first film and sequel is the longest waiting time between a Disney/Pixar film and it’s sequel (with Finding Dory (2016)’s thirteen year gap being the second longest, and Monsters University (2013) being the third longest with a twelve year gap, and Toy Story 3 (2010) being the fourth longest with an eleven year gap).”
See the trailer here:
5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
USA Release Date: June 22nd
Director: J.A. Bayona
Summary: “Four years after the destruction of the Jurassic World theme park, Owen Grady and Claire Dearing return to the island of Isla Nublar to save the remaining dinosaurs from a volcano that’s about to erupt. They soon encounter terrifying new breeds of gigantic dinos while uncovering a conspiracy that threatens the entire planet.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “On October 2016, Colin Trevorrow said the film’s dinosaurs would be ‘a parable of the treatment animals receive today: the abuse, medical experimentation, pets, having wild animals in zoos like prisons, the use the military has made of them, animals as weapons.’”
See the trailer here:
6. Eighth Grade (July 13)
USA Release Date: July 13th
Director: Bo Burnham
Summary: “Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school—the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year—before she begins high school.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “Elsie Fisher admits that her role as Kayla, an awkward-shy person, is very ironic because she is a very social person in real life.”
See the trailer here:
7. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
USA Release Date: July 20th
Director: Oliver “Ol” Parker
Summary: “Releasing exactly 10 years after it’s prequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again follows Sophie, as she learns more about her mother, Donna’s, past while seeking guidance on how to handle her own pregnancy.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “Meryl Streep filmed all her scenes in one week.”
See the trailer here:
8. The Darkest Minds (2018)
USA Release Date: August 3rd
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Summary: “When teens mysteriously develop powerful new abilities, they are declared a threat by the government and detained. Sixteen-year-old Ruby, one of the most powerful young people anyone has encountered, escapes her camp and joins a group of runaway teens seeking safe haven. Soon this newfound family realizes that, in a world in which the adults in power have betrayed them, running is not enough and they must wage a resistance, using their collective power to take back control of their future.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “Jennifer Yuh Nelson’s 2nd live-action movie, but the 1st to be directed by her. She has done work for mostly animated movies, notably the Kung Fu Panda franchise. She first did work on a live-action movie for the art department.”
See the trailer here:
9. The Meg (2018)
USA Release Date: August 10th
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Summary: “A deep-sea submersible is attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep-sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer to save the crew from this prehistoric threat.”
Fun Fact About the Movie: “Eli Roth was attached as director before he was replaced with Jon Turteltaub. Roth left due to creative differences with the studio, namely that he wanted the film to maintain both its R-rating and a $150 million budget. It’s also rumored that Roth, on top of writing and directing, also wanted to play the lead role of Jonas, but the studio believed he didn’t have the star power.”
See the trailer here:
Of course, not everyone will be interested in the movies I added to this article, and some of you might want to see a movie that I didn’t write about! Either way, I hope this list inspired you to take note of these release dates and start planning in advance which of these you’ll want to check out!
Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
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