We know, we know. You are tired of people telling you things are getting back to normal. When it comes to the summer movie season, however, there is no avoiding the terrifying familiarity. There is a Thor film (first appearance 2011), a Toy Story spin-off (first appearance 1995), a second Despicable Me spin-off (first appearance 2010), a Jurassic Park epic (first appearance 1993) and… well, you can see where this going. It is tempting to facetiously note that the first Elvis film appeared in 1956, but let’s not offer unnecessary shade to Baz Luhrmann’s flash biopic. Anything significantly budgeted that does not emerge from a franchise is to be cherished. There is a tricksy horror satire. There is a noisy Brad Pitt flick. But it is hard to see any new empires being built around the tentpoles holding up the 2022 summer marquee.
As ever, there will be plenty of excellent smaller films in arthouse cinemas and on streaming services, but the middle-budgeted movie barely exists any more. So this preview is mostly about established industries. Enjoy your summer. May it bring back memories of the teens, the noughties, the 90s, the 80s. The new normal is very much the old normal.
Everything below is set for theatrical release.
Men
Very intriguing. Opening straight after its European premiere in Directors' Fortnight at Cannes, Alex Garland's off-centre horror sends our own madly busy Jessie Buckley off to the English countryside following the death of her character's husband. Rory Kinnear looks to be playing every toxic male in the nearby village. (June 1st)
Jurassic World Dominion
Nothing has been kept in reserve for the last film in the Jurassic World trilogy. Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill, the original team, are back to frustrate the ambitions of an evil conglomerate. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard represent the next generation. The trailer promises a bit of Fast and Furious in with the dino-action. (June 10th)
Lightyear
Listen carefully, because there has been a lot of confusion about this. Lightyear is not an origin story for Buzz Lightyear. It is an origin story for the fictional character on whom that toy was based. Chris Evans voices the real fake Buzz in a film that should eat the box office alive. After Turning Red went straight to Disney+, it's nice to see the studio returning to the big screen. (June 17th)
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Good Lord, a summer comedy aimed at adults. Emma Thompson plays a woman of that actress's age who hires a younger sex worker for an evening of exploration and self-revelation. "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande represents an affirming, immensely likeable British comedy-drama," the Hollywood Reporter told us from Sundance. (June 17th)
Elvis
Not everyone savours Baz Luhrmann's school of red-curtain extravagance, but it is nice that an auteur – and he is certainly that – still gets to mount musical-adjacent films on this scale. The little-known Austin Butler plays the King. Tom Hanks, essaying the notorious Colonel Tom Parker, famously became one of the first celebrity Covid patients while shooting in Australia. (June 24th)
The Black Phone
The latest horror from the economic Blumhouse casts Ethan Hawke as a serial killer thwarted by voices from beyond the grave. Based on a story by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King, The Black Phone was well received at its premiere at Fantastic Fest. "A film with a bleak yet entertaining reminder that horror is omnipresent," IndieWire warned us. (June 24th)
Minions 2: The Rise of Gru
The first Minions film, prequel spin-off to Despicable Me, was, for a while, the 10th highest-grossing film of all time. The next chapter takes Gru (still voiced by Steve Carell) and his yellow assistants through the 1970s. Merch will fly off the shelves. Afternoon screenings will be groaning. The voice talent alone shows the franchise's power: Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Julie Andrews, Alan Arkin. (July 1st)
Joyride
Emer Reynolds, director of the superb, Emmy-winning documentary The Farthest, makes her fiction feature debut with a drama starring Olivia Colman, Olwen Fouéré and newcomer Charlie Reid. Shot in Kerry, the film follows a distressed woman, eager to give away her baby, as she hooks up with a young tearaway. (July 1st)
Thor: Love and Thunder
Even those agnostic about the Marvel Cinematic Universe had to admit that Taika Waititi made something properly idiosyncratic of Thor Ragnarok. The New Zealand director is back for a film that seems to involve some passing of the hammer from Chris Helmsworth's eponymous thunder god to Natalie Portman's Jane Foster. Tessa Thompson repeats her scene-stealing role as Valkyrie. Christian Bale joins the MCU as the colourfully named Gorr the God Butcher. (July 8th)
The Railway Children Return
Ah here! Yes, Jenny Agutter is back as a grown-up version of the character who greeted her "daddy" at the end of Lionel Jeffries' 1970 take on E Nesbit's classic novel. Tom Courteney and Sheridan Smith star in a drama concerning childhood evacuees in the second World War. You're blubbing already. (July 15th)
Where the Crawdads Sing
Daisy Edgar-Jones's busy post-Normal People career continues with a role in Olivia Newman's adaptation of Delia Owens's popular novel concerning Gothic goings-on in the North Carolina marshes. Reese Witherspoon produces a film that also makes use of up-and-coming young star Taylor John Smith. One Taylor Swift has written the theme song. (July 15th)
Nope
Yep! After the universally adored Get Out and the much puzzled-over Us, Jordan Peele is back in the satirical horror genre with a film whose plot is still obscure. We do know that Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer – playing "the only black-owned horse trainers in Hollywood" – witness something weird in the desert that sends them down another one of Peele's grim rabbitholes. (July 22nd)
Bullet Train
Kotaro Isaka's source novel concerns the fight over a MacGuffin – yes, it's a briefcase – on a bullet train hurtling from Tokyo to Kyoto. Brad Pitt stars. A rare big-budget action flick that is linked to no existing franchise, David Leitch's film also features Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry and (checks notes) the rapper Bad Bunny. From the team behind John Wick. (July 29th)
DC League of Super Pets
Yes, yes, the superhero franchises are now soaking into kids' animation. Is there no escape? Still, it's hard to entirely resist the notion of Krypto the Superdog and Ace the Bat-Hound. Particularly when they are voiced by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. We are also promised Keanu Reeves voicing the actual Batman. (July 29th)
Beast
Wait? What? Idris Elba plays a South African stalked by a killer lion on a return to his old manor in an action flick from Baltasar Kormákur, Icelandic director of 101 Reykjavík and Jar City. Sharlto Copley, star of District 9 and the always-terrific Riley Keough are also along for the ride. Sounds fantastic. We are sure no lions were harmed in the making of Beast. (August 12th)
The Feast
Terrific Welsh-language horror starring Annes Elwy in which a politician gets his comeuppance for embracing the corrupt life. A hit at the recent Dublin International Film Festival. "The themes of violated nature and a family's flagrant disregard for its roots makes for some juicy payback," the Hollywood Reporter raved after its South by Southwest screening. (August 19th)
The Forgiven
John Michael, the McDonagh brother behind The Guard and Calvary, directs Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain in a drama, set in the Atlas Mountains, concerning the aftermath of an apparently random accident. Adapted from a novel by Lawrence Osbourne, the picture premiered to generally positive notices at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The Guardian promises “crime thriller, dark comedy and shaggy hangout movie”. (August 26th)
