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Movie releases just hit different in the summer. While they don’t quite carry the gravitas of the end-of-year awards season campaign, the appeal is quite simple: they’re just fun. This is the time for Friday night big-screen blockbusters, buzzy streaming hits from the sofa when it’s too hot to go outside, and discovering festival favorites as they begin to reach wider audiences. This year’s slate is especially exciting, with highly anticipated sequels, remakes, book adaptations, and sweet indie titles all in the mix. Here are over a dozen films to look out for in the warmer months ahead.
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First, it was the royal family; now, Hollywood is taking over Downton. A film shoot takes place at the famous estate—to Mr. Carson’s disbelief—with Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) taking on a surprising new role. Meanwhile, in Paris, a fling from the dowager countess’s youth raises questions about the Crawley’s family history. Expect new faces and a handful of biting one-liners from Violet (Maggie Smith) in Julian Fellowes’s follow-up film adaptation of his beloved series. —Erica Gonzales, senior culture editor
In theaters May 20.
Can a sequel arriving 30-plus years after its iconic predecessor live up to the hype? In the case of Top Gun: Maverick, the answer is a shocking yes. Tom Cruise’s Pete Mitchell returns to the elite flight academy to train a new class of top pilots for a near-impossible mission, and one of the recruits happens to be the late Goose’s resentful son (played by Miles Teller). Expect more rule-breaking, adrenaline-pumping flight sequences, and pangs of nostalgia. —EG
In theaters May 27.
A queer, modern take on Pride and Prejudice starring Bowen Yang and Joel Kim Booster? Yes, please. Booster wrote the script inspired by a real trip he and Yang took to New York’s Fire Island Pines, a historic gay hangout, with a copy of Jane Austen’s famous book. The resulting story follows a group of friends who go on a similar vacation to the titular destination, and what happens when Howie (Yang) and and Noah (Booster) get involved with two wealthy visitors. —EG
On Hulu June 3.
With decades in the business, Jennifer Lopez is far from finished. This documentary from Amanda Micheli shows the actress, singer, producer, mogul, and mom step into her prime (again) as she turns 50, co-headlines the Super Bowl Halftime Show, sings at the presidential inauguration, and more—all while paying homage to her Latina heritage and roots in the Bronx. —EG
On Netflix June 14.
During a visit home to Miami, Sofia (Adria Arjona) surprises her parents by announcing that she has proposed to her boyfriend, Adán (Diego Boneta), and that the couple will be starting a new life together in Mexico. Stunned, Sofia’s parents, played by Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan, decide to hide the fact that they’re considering divorcing until after their daughter’s wedding in this latest incarnation of the classic rom-com. —Melissa Giannini, features director
On HBO Max June 16.
A fresh college graduate, Andrew (writer and director Cooper Raiff) moves back home looking for a job and lands a gig as a party starter for local bar mitzvahs. That’s where he meets and befriends Domino (Dakota Johnson) and her daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt), who open his eyes to a certain kind of life that he thinks he wants. Awkward, charming, funny, and sensitive, Cha Cha Real Smooth is a coming-of-age story for that time in your life when you’re still figuring everything out, including yourself. —EG
On Apple TV+ June 16.
Director Baz Luhrmann presents a gripping portrait of America in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s through the lens of the relationship between a music legend (Elvis, played by Austin Butler) and his charming, if deviant, manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). Through scenes that are at once spiritual and seductive, vulnerable and electric, this film delves into what happens when the balance between art and business—or culture and society—goes off-kilter. —MG
In theaters June 24.
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
This film adaptation of Jenny Slate’s internet sensation finds Marcel living alone with his grandmother, Connie, in the wake of a tragedy that tore their family and loved ones apart. When a documentarian moves into the Airbnb the beloved shell calls home, their famous web series helps fuel a search for Marcel’s missing family. Irresistibly sweet and touching, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is an unexpected story about grief, connection, and the importance of community. —EG
In theaters June 24.
Natalie Portman is back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which means her astrophysicist Jane Foster is back in Thor’s orbit. And this time, she’s wielding Mjölnir, the superhero’s famous hammer. In Taika Waititi’s follow-up to Ragnarok, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) navigates love, purpose, and battling a new villain, Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), in what the director lovingly calls a “midlife crisis film.” —EG
In theaters July 8.
Delia Owens’s 2018 bestselling novel will finally get the big screen treatment, produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. Normal People breakout star Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kya, the “Marsh Girl” who was abandoned by her parents and raised herself deep in the marshes of North Carolina. Kya’s life is sent into a spiral when Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson) is found dead and the locals assume she’s the killer. —EG
In theaters July 15.
With all this talk about modern regencycore, it’s time to get back to the blueprint: Jane Austen. In this adaptation of her final novel, helmed by British theater director Carrie Cracknell, Dakota Johnson stars as Anne Elliot alongside Cosmo Jarvis, who plays Captain Wentworth, her former flame. When he re-enters her life years after their romance, she must decide whether to put the past behind her. FYI, Henry Golding also stars. —EG
On Netflix July 15.
“What’s a bad miracle?” asks Daniel Kaluuya in the trailer for Nope, the latest hush-hush horror film from writer-director Jordan Peele (the title being the word Peele imagines rapt audiences will be shouting at the screen during Nope’s most chilling moments). Keke Palmer and Minari’s Steven Yeun co-star in the film, which follows residents of an isolated California town who witness something supernatural and menacing—a bad miracle, perhaps? As per usual with Peele projects, plot details are few and far between, but anticipation is high. —MG
In theaters July 22.
Halina Reijn directs this of-the-moment slasher comedy based on a story by Kristen Roupenian (Cat Person), in which a group of rich 20-somethings gather for a hurricane party at a remote mansion. Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, Myha’la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, and Pete Davidson make up the buzzy ensemble cast. —MG
In theaters August 5.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more.
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