SUN SCREENS
Hollywood has plenty to offer as the movie season heats up
There was a time when the first Friday of May signalled the start of the summer movie season. And beginning in 2007 that starter's pistol came in the form of a superhero movie: Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 3, then Iron Man, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Iron Man 2, Thor, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and so on.
It all came crashing to a halt in 2020. What was supposed to be the gala opening weekend for Black Widow became instead the home of The Wretched, a supernatural horror that played at a handful of drive-in theatres and topped the North American box office for five straight weeks — the first film since Avatar to do so, and this in spite of earning less than a million bucks over that time.
By 2021 the box office was struggling back to life, although the first weekend of May was still moribund. The biggest new release was Jason Statham as a guy with whom you don't want to mess in Guy Ritchie's Wrath of Man.
So here we are again, and the studios seem to have found their footing. Just like in 2019 (and '18, '17, '16 and '15), Marvel has grabbed the first Friday of May for its latest production, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Ticket presales are brisk, although pundits are suggesting an opening weekend of close to $200-million won't outperform last year's Spider-Man: No Way Home, which earned $260-million when it opened in December.
But in any case, it's merely the start. Here's a look at what's coming to cinemas later this spring and summer. Dates (even these days) are subject to change.
BLOCKBUSTERS
Talk about a delayed flight. Top Gun: Maverick, the 36-years-later sequel to Top Gun, was supposed to open in the summer of 2019 before being delayed for production issues and then, well, you know. Now it arrives May 27 following a splashy première at the Cannes Film Festival. Jurassic World Domination (June 10) delivers another helping of Cretaceous critters. And Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8) is the summer's second hit of Marvel-ousness. Meanwhile, two movies feature several assassins: The Gray Man (July 15) and Bullet Train (July 29).
HORROR
Summer is bookended by Stephen King adaptations, with a new take on Firestarter (May 13) and the first big screen version of Salem's Lot (Sept. 9). Lots in the middle, too. Jessie Buckley stars as a woman on a solo holiday in Alex Garland's folk-horror Men (May 20). Eskil Vogt, who co-wrote The Worst Person in the World, delivers a creepykids horror with The Innocents (May 13). Grieving parents face psychological torment in The Righteous (June 3). And a child kidnapping victim in 1978 gets some unusual help in The Black Phone (June 24). Meanwhile, a radio host goes looking for his girlfriend's killer in Vengeance (July 29). Bodies Bodies Bodies delivers horror-comedy and, we're guessing, bodies (Aug. 5). And a young woman uncovers a gothic conspiracy in The Bride (Aug. 26).
DOCUMENTARIES
Jennifer Baichwal's Into the Weeds (May 20), which opened the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, tells the story of a class-action suit against chemical giant Monsanto. Mau (May 20) takes viewers into the mind of design visionary Bruce Mau. Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story (June 3) explores not only the annual cultural event but the city that plays host to it. Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song (July 15) uses the Canadian troubadour's most famous song to frame a look at his life. In My Old School (July 29), a famous imposter is remembered by his former schoolmates. And Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams (Aug. 26) tells the life story of Salvatore Ferragamo.
BIOPICS
In the documentary-adjacent category, The Phantom of the Open (June 17) revisits the story of Maurice Flitcroft, who talked his way into the 1976 Open Championship only to shoot a record-breakingly bad 49 over par. Or you may be more familiar with the story of Elvis (June 24) as told by Baz Luhrmann.
ANIMATED
In the long-delayed category, both Bob's Burgers (May 27) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (July 1) were originally set to open in the summer of 2020. They'll be joined by Lightyear (June 17), the fifth film in the Toy Story series, this one delivering an origin story for Buzz Lightyear. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (June 24) looks almost impossibly cute. And Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (July 15) and DC League of Super-Pets (July 29) provide action-animation crossover.
SCIENCE FICTION
A low-budget slice of British quirk, Brian and Charles (June 17) is the story of a Welsh inventor who creates a robot out of a washing machine. Teenage girls fight off an alien invasion in Slash/Back (June 24), set and filmed in Nunavut. And Jordan Peele's mysterious new thriller Nope arrives July 22.
DRAMA
Tilda Swinton stars in Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's newest, Memoria (May 13). Downton Abbey: A New Era (May 20) puts its British characters in France, which is also roughly what happens in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (July 15). Norwegian director Bent Hamer came to Canada to film his latest, The Middle Man (May 27). Pleasure (May 20) is the story of a woman trying to become an adult film star. A woman is suspected of murder in the based-on-a-novel Where the Crawdads Sing (July 15). And while we're on adaptations, After Ever Happy (Aug. 26) is based on Anna Todd's novel. Meanwhile, Aubrey Plaza stars as a woman caught up in a credit card scam in Emily the Criminal (Aug. 12). Idris Elba, who provided a voice of a tiger in The Jungle Book, gets stalked by a lion in Beast (Aug. 19). And Sylvester Stallone stars in Samaritan (Aug. 26), about a missing superhero who turns up 20 years after an epic battle.