Summer movie season ‘shifting’

Hope for something fresher

DBy Jake Coyle

oes the summer movie season still exist? It was once an air-conditioned oasis that drew lines around the block of audiences eager for the rollercoaster ride of “Indiana Jones,” the shark bite of “Jaws” and the buzz of a lightsaber. But in a time where the mega-movie business is year-round, that once hallowed season of moviegoing — maybe the quintessential bigscreen, popcorn-eating experience — no longer means the same thing.

The summer blockbuster didn’t wilt away. It grew too big to content itself just with just May through August. Studios, seeing open real estate elsewhere on the calendar, have in recent years begun spreading out their spectacles through the year. Like a King Kong that broke its chains, the summer movie now lumbers down every avenue. It’s blockbuster gentrification. There’s a Godzilla on every block.

This year has already seen one $1 billion movie (“Beauty and the Beast”) and “Fate of the Furious” isn’t far behind. Others await the cool, vaguely more ‘serious’ breezes of fall, including “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Justice League” and “Blade Runner 2049.” Even “Star Wars,” as if saying goodbye to the kiddie table, has fled summer and taken up residence in December.

Notwithstanding some very anticipated movies, that’s left a summer movie season without the same sunny glow it once had.

“What’s missing this summer is something out of leftfield that blows people away,” said Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “We haven’t had that for a few summers, to be honest — that true blockbuster that comes out of nowhere. What we get is pretty known commodities and huge franchises.”

For a great many of the summer’s biggest movies — “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2,” “Alien: Covenant,” the fifth installments in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Transformers” franchises, “Wonder Woman,” “Cars 3,” “Despicable Me 3,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” — the main objective will be to satisfy fans of the franchises. Others are hoping for something fresher. Edgar Wright, the British writer-director of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” is a battle-scarred veteran of that machine, having spent years writing and developing Marvel’s “Ant-Man” before departing it over creative differences. This summer, he returns with “Baby Driver” (June 28), his “musical car chase movie” about a fresh-faced getaway driver who obsessively soundtracks his high-speed chases.

“It ended up being very fortuitous to come out of a heartbreaking experience and jump straight into something I had already written and I really wanted to do and was my dream movie,” said Wright. “Maybe the day after I left the other movie, literally one of the first emails I got from (production company) Working Title just said ‘Baby Driver next?’”

Following its enthusiastic reception at SXSW in March, “Baby Driver” was pushed by Sony Pictures from August into the heart of the summer. “It won’t be like anything else that’s out in the cinema at that time,” said Wright. “It’s up against the behemoths like ‘Transformers,’ ‘Despicable Me’ and ‘Spider-man,’ but it’s not like any of those movies.”

Evacuation

Others are trying to reorient the summer movie. Christopher Nolan, who enjoys a rarified position in Hollywood given his successes, will trot out his World War II tale “Dunkirk,” about the British evacuation in France. Largely shot with IMAX cameras, “Dunkirk” is the kind of grand historical epic that rarely appears in summer, let alone any other time of year.

Some films find reinvention in a shift in perspective. Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled” (June 30), adapted from the 1966 Civil War novel by Thomas P. Cullinan, takes a more female view of the story of a Union soldier who takes shelter in a Confederate girls boarding school than the 1971 version starring Clint Eastwood. Kumail Nanjiani’s “The Big Sick” (June 23) is a funny and tender rom-com, only told with more realism than usual in the genre and a less familiar cultural context. Nanjiani plays a Pakistani-American stand-up trying to evade an arranged marriage, and is inspired by Nanjiani’s meeting of his wife and collaborator, Emily Gordon.

New players are also shaking up the summer. Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit” (Aug. 4), about the city’s 1967 riots, will be the first summer film distributed by Megan Ellison’s acclaimed Annapurna Pictures. That, too, is untraditional summer programming, but Bigelow has made a career out of turning complex subjects into heart-pounding cinema. The timing, Bigelow said, has less to do with the summer season than the 50th anniversary of the unrest.

But the most significant new entrant to the season is Netflix, which will be rolling out its most ambitious efforts yet. Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi fantasy “Okja,” with Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, arrives June 28. And with David Michod’s Afghanistan war satire “War Machine,” starring Brad Pitt as a fictionalized Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the streaming service will take a significant step up in scale (it paid $50 million for the film) and star power.

“This is a Netflix film and there’s something about that that really excites me,” said Michod. “Maybe this isn’t the kind of movie the studios would put into a wide release in this time of year. There’s something about the Netflix revolution that makes me feel: Why not?”

It’s the kind of subject matter and style — a see-sawing, absurdist tone inspired by films like “Catch-22” and “M-A-S-H,” that today’s studios likely wouldn’t touch. But Michod (“Animal Kingdom,” “The Rover”) said the world — and the summer movie season — “could use more wild and unusual movies.”

This summer at the movies there will be aliens, evil and friendly, pirates, scantily-clad lifeguards, ladies letting loose, some classic superheroes in fresh suits, an evil mummy, two King Arthurs and a few very different war films.

Here’s a monthly rundown some of the summer’s highlights. Dates are subject to change.

May

(May 5): Chris Pratt’s Star Lord and his band of misfits, including a too-cute Baby Groot, return for some more intergalactic adventures: and heartfelt family drama: set to another toe-tapping mixtape.

(May 5): Laura Poitras takes on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a documentary that includes recent developments from US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

(May 5): Laura Linney, Richard Gere, Steve Coogan and Rebecca Hall gather for a tense meal to discuss what their sons have done in this thriller.

(May 5): Liev Schreiber plays the real man who inspired “Rocky” in this boxing drama.

“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” (May 12): The classic Excalibur tale gets a kinetic reimagining from director Guy Ritchie, with Charlie Hunnam as Arthur.

(May 12): A freewheeling daughter, Amy Schumer, and her uptight mother, Goldie Hawn, get kidnapped on vacation in this raucous comedy.

(May 12): With an Iraqi sniper in shooting distance, two American soldiers try to survive. John Cena and Aaron Taylor-Johnson star in the Doug Liman pic.

(May 12): A picturesque French travelogue starring Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin as a married couple on the rocks, from Eleanor Coppola.

“Alien: Covenant” (May 19): Director Ridley Scott takes audiences on a new terrifying trip to space with Katherine Waterston and Michael Fassbender.

(May 19): A teen romance based on Nicola Yoon’s novel about a sick girl (Amandla Stenberg) unable to leave her home and her interested neighbor, Nick Robinson.

(May 19): An ordinary suburban man, Bryan Cranston, disappears suddenly, but continues observing the life and family he left. Based on an E.L. Doctorow short story. (May 25): Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron and Alexandra Daddario bare most in this raunchy big screen update of the cheesy ’90s television show.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” (May 26): Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow, with newcomer Brenton Thwaites, for a fresh adventure in the long-running franchise.

(May 26): Brad Pitt stars in this satire about a fictional four star general charged with ending the war in Afghanistan.

June

(June 2): After over 75 years of being one of the most popular superheroes, the Amazonian warrior finally gets a big screen origin story, set in World War I, with Gal Gadot.

“Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” (June 2): An animated one for the kiddies, based on the hugely popular book, with the voices of Kevin Hart and Ed Helms.

(June 9): Tom Cruise is helping to launch Universal’s monster movie universe with a reboot of the action/adventure classic.

(June 9): Salma Hayek gives a buzzy performance in this comedy about a Mexican immigrant and a billionaire (John Lithgow) who meet at a dinner party.

(June 9): Sam Elliott plays an aging Western actor rethinking his life choices.

(June 9): Based on the true story of a young marine and her combat dog, starring Kate Mara.

(June 9): A mystery based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier about a young man (Sam Claflin) who falls for his possibly murderous cousin (Rachel Weisz).

(June 16): A dramatic biopic about the late rapper Tupac Shakur starring unknown Demetrius Shipp Jr.

(June 16): Lightning McQueen is back for a new installment in the popular Pixar franchise.

(June 16): Comedians Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell and Ilana Glazer join Scarlett Johansson and Zoe Kravitz for a disastrous bachelorette party in Miami. Yes, there’s a dead stripper involved.

(June 16): Before he heads off to direct “Star Wars: Episode IX,” “Jurassic World’s” Colin Trevorrow goes small again with this drama about a single mom (Naomi Watts) and her son (Jaeden Lieberher) who try to help their young neighbor.

“Transformers: The Last Knight” (June 23): Anthony Hopkins joins Mark Wahlberg in the 5th Transformers, from Michael Bay, which looks at the role the autobots played in King Arthur’s time.

(June 23): A wounded Union soldier is stranded at an all-girls school in the South in this remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood-starrer from director Sofia Coppola. Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst star.

(June 23): “Silicon Valley” star Kumail Nanjiani uses his real life as the template for this sweet and smart comedy about how he met his wife.

(June 28): Director Edgar Wright takes to the roads for an edgy thriller about big time crooks and their music-loving driver. With Ansel Elgort, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm.

(June 28): Tilda Swinton reteams with “Snowpiercer” director Bong Joon-ho for an action pic about young girl trying to protect her giant animal friend from a powerful corporation.

(June 30): Steve Carell gets double voice duty as Gru and his twin brother Dru.

(June 30): Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell try to recoup college funds by starting a gambling ring in their home.

July

Depp

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” (July 7): There’s a new web-slinger in town, Tom Holland, and he’s just trying to survive high school (and save the world).

(July 7): An unconventional grief tale from “Pete’s Dragon” director David Lowery, starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck.

(July 14): In this third installment, Caesar (Andy Serkis) takes a dark turn after the apes suffer massive losses.

(July 21): Visionary director Christopher Nolan takes us to the beaches of France in 1940 to tell the story of the evacuation of nearly 400,000 Allied soldiers.

(July 21): “The Fifth Element” director Luc Besson adapts his favorite French comic book into an ambitious, eye-popping spectacle about two special operatives, Dan DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, maintaining order in space.

(July 21): Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah get rowdy in New Orleans.

(July 21): The follow-up to their charming indie “Obvious Child,” director Gillian Robespierre and star Jenny Slate take us back to ’90s New York as two sisters try to find out if their father is cheating.

(July 28): Charlize Theron is a stone cold killer in this 80s-set spy pic.

“An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” (July 28): Ten years after “An Inconvenient Truth” shed light on climate change, Al Gore returns with an update that’s equal parts horror and hope.

(July 28): Before he returns as Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Mark Hamill steals scenes with SNL’s Kyle Mooney in this indie about a man-child and his favorite television show.

August

(Aug 4): Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow reteams with “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” writer Mark Boal for this drama about the 1967 riots in Detroit starring “The Force Awakens’” John Boyega and Anthony Mackie.

(Aug 4): This adaptation of Stephen King’s classic sci-fi Western features Idris Elba as Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey as Walter Padick.

(Aug 4): A dark as night social media satire about an obsessive loner (Aubrey Plaza) who befriends an Instagram celebrity (Elizabeth Olsen). (AP)