![\"(L-R)](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: LUCASFILM LTD”\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tSay hello to summer movie season! As always, studios are bringing back familiar franchises \u2014 \u201cStar Wars,\u201d \u201cMinions,\u201d Marvel and \u201cToy Story\u201d among them \u2014 to fuel the most profitable stretch for the industry. But Hollywood isn\u2019t steering clear of new ideas over the next four months. Directors like Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and Olivia Wilde will deliver original films that (gasp!) don\u2019t have a numeral in their title. With the season underway, here are 10 summer movies we\u2019re excited to see. Bring on the spandex-clad heroes, space-hopping adventurers and alien invasions \u2014 and brush up on your Homer!<\/p>\n
\tThe Mandalorian and Grogu<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: LUCASFILM LTD”\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Jon Favreau
Release date: May 22
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White, Sigourney Weaver, Martin Scorsese
Buzz factor: Movie fans haven\u2019t ventured to a galaxy far, far away in a long, long time. \u201cThe Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d is the first \u201cStar Wars\u201d film in seven years, since 2019\u2019s billion-dollar, saga- concluding tentpole \u201cThe Rise of Skywalker.\u201d In the meantime, Disney+ became the go-to destination for space operas such as \u201cAndor,\u201d \u201cAhsoka\u201d and, of course, \u201cThe Mandalorian.\u201d Now the bounty hunter Mando (Pascal) and his cuddly companion Grogu (better known as Baby Yoda) are finally giving franchise fans a reason to get off the couch.<\/p>\n
\tScary Movie<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Paramount\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Michael Tiddes
Release date: June 5
Cast: Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris, Regina Hall
Buzz factor: Horror and nostalgia have been all the rage at the box office, yet the last \u201cScary Movie\u201d was released in 2013. There\u2019s so much new material to spoof for the sixth entry, from \u201cGet Out\u201d and \u201cWeapons\u201d to \u201cM3GAN,\u201d \u201cLonglegs\u201d and even the Michael Jackson biopic \u201cMichael.\u201d (The timing is fitting because the King of Pop has been a frequent target of the franchise.) Along with Faris and Hall, whose characters haven\u2019t returned since 2006\u2019s \u201cScary Movie 4,\u201d the latest installment brings back the Wayans brothers as co-writers and co-stars. (They haven\u2019t been part of the franchise since 2001\u2019s \u201cScary Movie 2,\u201d when they were forced out by the Weinsteins.) It\u2019s bound to be a bloody hilarious time at the movies.<\/p>\n
\tDisclosure Day<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Universal\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Steven Spielberg
Release date: June 12
Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O\u2019Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo
Buzz factor: It\u2019s Spielberg returning to his roots! Decades ago, he turned \u201cJaws,\u201d \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d and \u201cJurassic Park\u201d into multibillion- dollar franchises. More recently, though, Spielberg has favored prestige fare like \u201cThe Post,\u201d \u201cWest Side Story\u201d and \u201cThe Fabelmans.\u201d Although the plot of \u201cDisclosure Day\u201d has been shrouded in secrecy \u2014 apparently the story involves a government conspiracy to cover up the arrival of extraterrestrial creatures \u2014 it\u2019s impossible to not get excited about an original sci-fi story from Spielberg. After all, he looked up into the night sky with the likes of \u201cE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial\u201d and \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind.\u201d Will the film\u2019s high-wattage cast help Spielberg reclaim his title as the king of summer blockbusters?<\/p>\n
\tToy Story 5<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Pixar\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Andrew Stanton
Release date: June 19
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale
Buzz factor: Animated sequels have never been hotter, and \u201cToy Story\u201d represents Pixar at its best. Most franchises would grow stale by this point, but the new installment \u2014 confronting the reality that kids care more about screens than toys \u2014 feels like a timely reason to reunite with Woody and Buzz Lightyear. If post-pandemic sensations like \u201cInside Out 2,\u201d \u201cMoana 2\u201d and \u201cZootopia 2\u201d are any indications, \u201cToy Story 5\u201d should be one for the record books.<\/p>\n
\tThe Invite<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Olivia Wilde
Release date: June 26
Cast: Wilde, Seth Rogen, Pen\u00e9lope Cruz, Edward Norton
Buzz factor: Rogen and Wilde play a bickering married couple who invite their far more free-spirited upstairs neighbors (Cruz and Norton) over for dinner. Like A24\u2019s recent breakout \u201cThe Drama,\u201d \u201cThe Invite\u201d is the kind of gasp-inducing film that\u2019s best enjoyed with a crowd. There\u2019s a reason \u201cThe Invite\u201d sparked a bidding war at Sundance: Wilde, best known for directing \u201cBooksmart\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Worry Darling,\u201d has a knack for creating conversation. She might even be able to restore some faith in theatrical comedies.<\/p>\n
\tSupergirl<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Warner Bros\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Craig Gillespie
Release date: June 26
Cast: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Corenswet, Jason Momoa
Buzz factor: It\u2019s time for some new heroes to get the spotlight! After too many comic book sequels and reboots, this adaptation centers on a fresh face: Supergirl, aka Kara El-Zor, better known as Superman\u2019s cousin. Alcock plays the plucky heroine, whose brief appearance \u2014 drunken and hilarious \u2014 at the end of 2025\u2019s \u201cSuperman\u201d is enough to stoke excitement for her stand-alone adventure. Plus, it\u2019s being directed by Craig Gillespie (\u201cI, Tonya\u201d and \u201cCruella\u201d) \u2014 so get ready for some fun needle drops.<\/p>\n
\tMinions & Monsters<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: ‘Minions & Monsters’ Photo credit: Illumination & Uni\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Pierre Coffin
Release date: July 1
Cast: Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg
Buzz factor: Just when you thought those Minions couldn\u2019t get into any more trouble,
this time they\u2019re turning 1920s Hollywood on its head. They\u2019re silent-era filmmakers in the newest animated adventure, which serves as a prequel in the wildly popular \u201cDespicable Me\u201d series and finds the highlighter-yellow creatures directing their own monster movie. Apparently, before they met Gru, the Minions were once the toast of showbiz \u2014 until everything went disastrously wrong. #GentleMinions, assemble!<\/p>\n
\tMoana<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Disney\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Thomas Kail
Release date: July 10
Cast: Catherine Laga\u2019aia, Dwayne Johnson
Buzz factor: Back in 2016, \u201cMoana\u201d introduced one of Disney\u2019s newer heroines (we know, she\u2019s not
a princess!) and gifted the world earworms such as \u201cHow Far I\u2019ll Go\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re Welcome.\u201d Over the years, the oceanic-set adventure has become one of Disney\u2019s most popular properties, racking up millions of hours on streaming and spawning an even more popular animated sequel. Sure, we could watch the original at home, but that version doesn\u2019t have the flesh-and-blood Johnson, with those long, luscious locks, as the demigod Maui.<\/p>\n
\tThe Odyssey<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of Universal Pictures \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Christopher Nolan
Release date: July 17
Cast: Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron
Buzz factor: This generation\u2019s most bankable director is taking on Homer\u2019s epic poem \u2014 with help from Damon, Holland, Hathaway, Zendaya and too many other A-listers to name. Nolan has been a box office draw for decades, thanks to the \u201cDark Knight\u201d trilogy, \u201cInception\u201d and \u201cInterstellar.\u201d After he propelled the story of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to blockbuster status (\u201cOppenheimer\u201d grossed a remarkable $975 million globally before winning the Oscar for best picture), the hype around his follow-up feature has been stratospheric. Imax, it\u2019s your time to shine!<\/p>\n
\tSpider-Man: Brand New Day<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of Sony Pictures\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector: Destin Daniel Cretton
Release date: July 31
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo
Buzz factor: Do we really need to explain this one? Sure, superhero movies have been on the fritz, but none of that applies to Spider-Man. At the end of 2021\u2019s \u201cNo Way Home,\u201d Peter Parker makes the shocking decision to erase his identity from the world. That film became the first post-pandemic smash with a heroic $1.9 billion worldwide, which means a lot of people are clamoring to find out what happens after Spidey makes the ultimate sacrifice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Say hello to summer movie season! As always, studios are bringing back familiar franchises \u2014 \u201cStar Wars,\u201d \u201cMinions,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[104158,93,61,60,270,199456,128650,83194],"class_list":["post-460337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-disclosure-day","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-summer-movies","tag-the-invite","tag-the-odyssey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}