Summer Movie Preview 2021
From superheroes to the Beatles, what to see as you return to the big screen
From superheroes to the Beatles, what to see as you return to the big screen:
In the Heights; Top Gun: Maverick; Space Jam: A New Legacy; and more.
Those Who Wish Me Dead
May 14th
A boy (Finn Little) who can ID a murderer — but is too hot for the witness protection program — gets shuffled off to a wilderness-survival camp for kids. Once two hitmen brothers (Nicholas Hoult and Aidan Gillen) discover his whereabouts, he’s got to rely on a local firefighter (Angelina Jolie) to help keep him alive. Did we mention that all this is happening in the middle of a huge forest fire? Taylor Sheridan ( Wind River) directs.
Army of the Dead
May 21st
Fresh off releasing his longawaited, four-hour “director’s cut” version of Justice League,
Zack Snyder returns with what he hopes will be his next franchise. A gang of professional guns-for-hire decides to take advantage of a zombie apocalypse and liberate a Vegas casino of its cash stash. As you can imagine, however, thousands of flesh-chomping ghouls will mess up even the best-planned heist. Think Ocean’s Undead 11.
A Quiet Place: Part II
May 28th
John Krasinski’s breakout horror hit of 2018 gets a deserved follow-up, which picks up where the first movie left off as Emily Blunt’s toughas-nails mom and her kids search for shelter while avoiding those noise-attracted aliens. Salvation appears in the form of a stranger (Cillian Murphy), who seems to have set himself up with a small band of fellow survivors. Things may not be what they appear, however
— cut to fighting off both barbaric extraterrestrials and monsters who take a more human form. Shh.
In the Heights
June 11th
Before there was Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tonywinning musical about life in New York’s Washington Heights had already made him an above-the-title Broadway name. Now he’s bringing his story of an uptown dreamer (Anthony Ramos) and the neighborhood he calls home to the screen, with help from director John M. Chu ( Crazy Rich Asians). Corey Hawkins, Jimmy Smits, Melissa Barrera, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz round out the cast; Miranda himself shows up as a street vendor.
F9
June 25th
Yes, we’re already up to No. 9 in the Fast & Furious
movies (10 if you count Hobbs & Shaw), and while the plot of this one is being kept under wraps, we’re going to guess that it involves gearheads, guns, souped-up motor vehicles, international espionage, the word “family,” and a blatant disregard for the laws of physics. (If it ain’t broken, etc.) Vin Diesel is back in the driver’s seat, along with franchise veterans Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, and others. Also along for the ride: John Cena and Cardi B. Start your engines.
Top Gun: Maverick
July 2nd
Because you never really get rid of that need for speed, do you? Tom Cruise returns as “Maverick” Mitchell, the former hot-dogging pilot who’s now an instructor in the Navy’s “Top Gun” program. And among the next generation of egos who are writing checks their bodies can’t cash is one Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the chip-on-his-shoulder son of Maverick’s old buddy Goose. Take our breath away one more time, Tom!
Black Widow
July 9th
Scarlett Johansson’s avenger gets her long-due solo movie,
with her superspy going back to Russia to settle some family business. That’s right: You get to meet the rest of her kin, including her tattooed superhero pops (David Harbour), her mom (Rachel Weisz), and her equally lethal, trainedto-kill sister (Florence Pugh). Meanwhile, some mysterious figure is trying to wipe out all of them for reasons that we guess are pretty nefarious.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
July 16th
We can now settle the eternal “Who’s better? LeBron James or Michael Jordan” debate once and for all by asking the question that really matters: Who dunked on Tweety Bird best? King James takes over for His Airness in this sequel to the 1996 classic, with a cybernetic Don Cheadle kidnapping the basketball legend’s son and forcing him to play in an animated altuniverse. Quicker than you can say, “What’s up, ’Bron?” the NBA all-star gathers a team of Looney Tunes MVPs and suits up.
Old
July 23rd
M. Night Shyamalan always likes to play his cards close to his chest when it comes to the particulars of his movies, and The Sixth Sense filmmaker’s latest is no exception.
But we’ve heard that this mystery set on a desert island is inspired by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters’ graphic novel Sandcastle, in which a group of people whiz through their entire lives in 24 hours. We’re guessing there will be suspense and [ dramatic pause] a twist.
The Suicide Squad
August 6th
You can’t keep a good group of colorful supervillains down, so they’re getting a second chance following the original 2016 misfire. Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn is calling the shots as a mostly new group of DC antiheroes (played by Idris Elba, John Cena, Pete Davidson) is released from prison to execute a do-or-die mission. Come for Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, as gleefully homicidal as ever; stay for King Shark, a predator voiced by Sylvester Stallone who’s prone to gobbling enemies.
The Beatles: Get Back
August 27th
The 1970 doc Let It Be painted a bleak picture of the Fab
Four at the not-so-fab end. Peter Jackson, however, would like to set the record straight: The sessions for that album were not all backstabbing and bickering. And he’s got the receipts to prove it, i.e., hours of archival footage from that shoot, which features John, Paul, George, and Ringo coming together in a way that changes the narrative around the band’s dissolution. It’s time to remeet the Beatles.
Candyman
August 27th
Look into the mirror, say his name five times, and hopefully director Nia DaCosta’s delayed “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 horror classic will finally appear in a theater near you. A photographer ( Watchmen’s
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) moves in to Chicago’s CabriniGreen neighborhood, where legend has it a former slave’s son with a hook for a hand wreaked havoc centuries ago. Once the artist designs an entire exhibit devoted to the folklore behind the killer, well, let’s just say bodies start dropping. Producer Jordan Peele also co-wrote the script; WandaVision’s
Teyonah Parris co-stars.