2019 summer movie preview: Our 30 must-see films
From Avengers to X-Men, Leo to Lion King, here is our guide to the can’t-miss movies of the summer.
30. Aladdin
Release date: May 24
Starring: Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Will Smith
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
The scoop: The latest entry in Disney’s parade of live-action remakes, Aladdin has already raised eyebrows for tinting Will Smith blue and casting a villain so good-looking that social media has nicknamed him Hot Jafar. Still, with a rap-based version of “Friend Like Me” and two new songs from La La Land duo Pasek and Paul, this reimagined version of the 1992 animated classic could offer fans a new, fantastic point of view. | Watch the trailer
29. Wine Country
Release date: May 10
Starring: Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Tina Fey
Directed by: Amy Poehler
The scoop: After slaying their (non) hosting gig at the Oscars, the dynamic trio of Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Tina Fey take a booze- and laugh-filled trip to, well, wine country. On the cusp of her 50th birthday, Rebecca (Rachel Dratch) assembles her girl squad and hits the vineyards with gusto. Poehler makes her directorial debut with the film, which is based on actual wine country birthday trip that went sour in hilarious ways.
28. The Secret Life of Pets 2
Release date: June 7
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate
Directed by: Chris Renaud, Jonathan del Val
The scoop: Before we get to the sequel about talking animals, we can’t ignore the elephant in the room: that the filmmakers brought in Patton Oswalt to replace lead voice Louis C.K. (Max) after he was dogged by sexual misconduct allegations. Regardless, the 2016 original was delightful, so we don’t expect this one have any trouble luring families back to cineplex after all those Blu-ray spins. And in more uplifting voice star news, this one features none other than Harrison Ford in his first animated role. | Watch the trailer
27. Tolkien
Release date: May 10
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Patrick Gibson, Derek Jacobi
Directed by: Dome Karukoski
The scoop: A portrait of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit author before he created Middle-earth, Tolkien recounts the formative younger years of the fantasy genre’s most famous name (Nicholas Hoult). Special attention is paid to Tolkien’s experiences in the trenches during World War I — which informed the battles he later described in The Lord of the Rings — as well as his fledgling romance with fellow orphan, Edith Bratt (Lily Collins), and the deep fellowship he shared with his school chums.
26. The Kitchen
Release date: Aug. 9
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Elisabeth Moss, Tiffany Haddish, Common, Margo Martindale
Directed by: Andrea Berloff
The scoop: If last year’s overlooked instant classic Widows whet your appetite for female-led crime movies, prepare to get a second helping courtesy of The Kitchen. Set in the gritty 1970s version of New York, the formidable trio of Melissa McCarthy, Elisabeth Moss and Tiffany Haddish play Irish mob wives who take over the family business while their husbands are in lockup. We’re also psyched to see Straight Outta Compton co-writer Andrea Berloff make her directorial debut.
25. Child’s Play
Release date: June 21
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Bryan Tyree Henry, Mark Hamill
Directed by: Lars Klevberg
The scoop: Amid the endless churn of horror remakes, we were intrigued by this rebirthing of the world’s most murderous doll due to the cool casting choices of the deadpan comic actress Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, Ingrid Goes West) and the ubiquitous Bryan Tyree Henry (Atlanta, Beale Street, Spider-verse, etc.). Then the filmmakers went next-level and took on the unenviable task of replacing longtime Chucky voice Brad Dourif by passing the torch (lightsaber) to Mark Hamill — not only the world’s most iconic Jedi but a voice role superstar (see: Joker) in his own right. This should be interesting. | Watch the trailer
24. Ma
Release date: May 31
Starring: Octavia Spencer, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Juliette Lewis
Directed by: Tate Taylor
The scoop: Octavia Spencer is one of the friendliest faces in Hollywood, and the characters she tends to play (Hidden Figures, The Shape of Water, Gifted) tend to follow suit — though we did catch a glimpse of her naughty side with her choice of pie ingredients for her Oscar-winning turn in The Help. But what a treat it looks like to see her go full Misery in this upcoming horror film from Blumhouse, the genre hitmakers behind Get Out and Us, when she turns on a group of bratty teens partying in her house. Doesn’t look like she’ll even need any baked goods for this one.
23. Stuber
Release date: July 12
Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Natalie Morales, Karen Gillan
Directed by: Michael Dowse
The scoop: Kumail Nanjiani’s first major studio vehicle following the sleeper hit success of his Oscar-nominated The Big Sick, find him, well, driving a vehicle as a lowly Uber pilot unwittingly drawn into a high-stakes crime game when he picks up bullish L.A. detective (Dave Bautista). The comedy, which sounds like a 48 Hrs. for 2019, played especially strong as a work-in-progress as the SXSW Film Festival. | Watch the trailer
22. Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Release date: May 10
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Ken Watanabe
Directed by: Rob Letterman
The scoop: Kids who grew up on Pokémon will need zero convincing to see the Japanese animation franchise’s first live-action feature. But even those who don’t know Pancham from Pangoro are bound to be intrigued by the PG-rated mystery film’s surreal neo-noir setting, adorable photorealistic creatures, and a Pikachu who speaks with the voice of Deadpool. Warner Bros. is so confident in this one, they’ve already commissioned a sequel. | Watch the trailer
21. Blinded by the Light
Release date: Aug. 14
Starring: Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Ganatra, Hayley Atwell
Directed by: Gurinder Chadha
The scoop: Sixteen years after Bend It Like Beckham tickled Sundance audiences, writer-director Gurinder Chadha returned to Park City in January with another coming-of-age crowd-pleaser, this time scored to a Bruce Springsteen beat. In Thatcher-era England, Pakistani-British teen Javed (Viveik Karla) finds an escape from his austere surroundings through the soaring sounds of the Boss’s ’80s glory days.
20. Long Shot
Release date: May 3
Starring: Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, June Diane Raphael, O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Directed by: Jonathan Levine
The scoop: Does schlubby Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) stand a chance at romancing Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) after the presidential candidate hires her ex-classmate to be her speechwriter? That’s the premise of the latest comedy from Jonathan Levine (50/50, The Wackness), which premiered to cheers at the SXSW Film Festival and we hope subverts the old comedy trope (schlubby guy lands woman way out of his league) it’s based on.
19. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Release date: Aug. 9
Starring: Zoe Margaret Colletti, Michael Garza, Lorraine Toussaint, Dean Norris
Directed by: André Øvredal
The scoop: Since 1981, the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books have been traumatizing fourth-graders, some of whom may still have nightmares about spider-sprouting pimples and evil scarecrows. Those bad dreams are coming to the big screen in the Guillermo del Toro-produced feature film, whose ghosts and demons are modeled after the book’s original, terrifying black-and-white illustrations. | Watch the trailer
18. The Dead Don’t Die
Release date: June 14
Starring: Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
The scoop: The latest film from New York filmmaking icon Jim Jarmusch could do for zombies what 2013’s Only Lovers Left Alive did for vampires. Namely, make them as hip as the eternally hip Jarmusch. Adam Driver, Bill Mutha F**kin’ Murray and Chloë Sevigny play small-town cops who have to survive a night, dawn and day of the living dead. The Dead Don’t Die will also go down in creature feature history as the first zombie movie to open the Cannes Film Festival. | Watch the trailer
17. Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Release date: May 31
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Sally Hawkins
Directed by: Michael Dougherty
The scoop: With apologies to the Kraken, here’s a real clash of the titans: kaiju heavyweights Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah go toe-to-toe in the monster-iffic follow-up to Gareth Edwards’s 2014 reboot. Kyle Chandler and Vera Farmiga play the married-with-children scientists caught in the middle of this four-way battle, and unlike their predecessors — Juliette Binoche and Bryan Cranston — one of them might even make it to the end of the movie! | Watch the trailer
16. The Farewell
Release date: July 12
Starring: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin,
Directed by: Lulu Wang
The scoop: Fresh off a killer year that included Ocean’s 8, Crazy Rich Asians and a hosting slot on Saturday Night Live, Awkwafina wasted no time in keeping up the momentum in 2019. She headlined one of the buzziest movies at January’s Sundance Film Festival — this dramatic comedy about a Chinese-American woman who heads to Asia where her extended family plans a fake wedding after discovering their grandmother only has a short time to live.
15. Midsommar
Release date: July 3
Starring: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter
Directed by: Ari Aster
The scoop: After both of those Fyre Festival documentaries, a horror film about a utopian summer festival couldn’t be better timed. The sophomore feature of Hereditary director Ari Aster, Midsommar is set in a small Swedish village where the local culture is not as wholesome as it seems. The trailer gives off a Wicker Man-meets-Jonestown vibe that’s very different from Hereditary, but has the potential to be just as terrifying.
14. Brightburn
Release date: May 24
Starring: Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones
Directed by: David Yarovesky
The scoop: Memo to Zack Snyder: here’s how you make a grim and gritty Superman story. Newcomer Jackson A. Dunn plays a star child who crash-lands on Earth and develops extraordinary abilities. Only instead of being raised by Jon and Martha Kent, he’s brought up in the home of Tori and Kyle Breyer (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman), whose loving parenting isn’t enough to stem the darkness growing inside. | Watch the trailer
13. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
Release date: May 16
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne
Directed by: Chad Stahelski
The scoop: Ready to watch Keanu Reeves shoot more people in the face? Our favorite absurdly over-the-top action series returns for a third go-round as the eponymous assassin now has the entire international assassin’s guild on his tail (been there) for the $14 million bounty. Even better, it’s a Matrix reunion as Laurence Fishburne joins the fray, and Halle Berry (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) crashes another action sequel. They really shouldn’t have killed that guy’s dog. | Watch the trailer
12. Late Night
Release date: June 7
Starring: Mindy Kaling, Emma Thompson
Directed by: Nisha Ganatra
The scoop: Mindy Kaling has been one of freshest, funniest voices in comedy writing since The Office, but she’s never had a feature film produced — until now. Late Night stars Emma Thompson as a over-the-hill comedian who’s on the verge of being fired from her long-running late-night gig. Enter Kaling’s character, a novice joke writer who attempts to push the show in a new direction. The timely, Kaling-penned comedy premiered at Sundance, where Amazon paid a record-setting $13 million for distribution rights.
11. X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Release date: June 7
Starring: Sophie Turner, Nicholas Hoult, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain
Directed by: Simon Kinberg
The scoop: Where do the X-Men (and X-Women) head from here? With two releases set for this summer (Dark Phoenix and the reportedly troubled spin-off Dark Mutants) and bold-face names like Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence moving away from the franchise, how Disney will work the mutants into the MCU. While the buzz on Dark Phoenix has been relatively muted, we’ll say this: any film that makes Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner its centerpiece is worth the price of admission. | Watch the trailer
10. Men in Black: International
Release date: June 14
Starring: Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Liam Neeson
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
The scoop: The crowd-pleasing director of Straight Outta Compton and The Fate of the Furious is bringing back the Men in Black — only this time, they’re not all men, and they’re played by two of Hollywood’s most appealing stars, previously paired to great effect in Thor: Ragnarok. The third sequel to the 1997 sci-fi comedy sends newbie secret agent Tessa Thompson and her veteran partner Chris Hemsworth around the world as they try to stop a series of mysterious alien attacks. | Watch the trailer
9. Hobbs & Shaw
Release date: Aug. 2
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby
Directed by: David Leitch
The scoop: There comes a time when every child has to grow up and leave his or her familia. For overgrown kids Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), that time is now. The odd couple duo are forcibly united to combat the Fast & Furious franchise’s first-ever supervillain, Brixton Lore (Idris Elba). One question: Does Helen Mirren’s Mama Shaw get to drive this time?
8. Yesterday
Release date: June 28
Starring: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Kate McKinnon, Ed Sheeran
Directed by: Danny Boyle
The scoop: The latest from Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle has an irresistible premise: a struggling singer-songwriter (newcomer Himesh Patel) wakes up in a world where he’s the only person who remembers the Beatles. Armed with the greatest songs ever written, he can finally be a star — but what if someone discovers the lie? It’s a very different approach from previous Beatles film musicals, and with an innovative director like Boyle at the helm, Yesterday could really be “Something” special. | Watch the trailer
7. Spider-Man: Far From Home
Release date: July 2
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, Samuel L. Jackson
Directed by: Jon Watts
The scoop: The post-Endgame phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe begins with Peter Parker’s European vacation. (Wait, so, he’s alive again???). While on a supposedly superheroics-free school trip, Peter (Tom Holland) is recruited by Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) to put on the Spidey suit (several of them) to fight a series of elemental bad guys alongside a potential new ally, Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Given what we know of that character’s comic book history, though, it’s safe to say there’s some illusion going on.
6. Rocketman
Release date: May 31
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Directed by: Dexter Fletcher
The scoop: Bohemian Rhapsody was the surprise blockbuster (and awards-season giant) of 2018. Could this biopic of another queer rock icon be just as big? Taron Egerton (Kingsman) stars as young singer-songwriter Elton John, who masks his insecurities with feathers and sequins while churning out hits with lyricist Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell). In addition to squeezing into plenty of gold lame outfits, Edgerton does his own singing — and well enough John himself sang a duet of “Tiny Dancer” with the actor at his Academy Awards party.
5. Toy Story 4
Release date: June 21
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale
Directed by: Josh Cooley
The scoop: The long-awaited follow-up to 2010’s Toy Story 3 sends Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and pals on what is likely to be their final adventure. The road-trip adventure brings Woody’s porcelain love Bo Peep (Annie Potts) back to the franchise, and introduces a very surprising new character in Forky, the spork with googly eyes (Tony Hale). Quirky as the trailers have been, the script made both Hanks and Allen tear up in the recording booth — so bring tissues. | Watch the trailer
4. Booksmart
Release date: May 24
Starring: Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd
Directed by: Olivia Wilde
The scoop: The graduation-party comedy gets a glow-up with Olivia Wilde’s winning directorial debut, about two Ivy League-bound high school seniors (Lady Bird’s Feldstein and Last Man Standing’s Dever) who decide they need to attend one wild blowout before graduation. Like a Millennial Can’t Hardly Wait, with the goofy girl-bonding of Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion and the rude hilarity of Superbad, Booksmart is pretty much the perfect movie to kick off the summer. | Watch the trailer
3. The Lion King
Release date: July 19
Starring: Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Beyoncé, James Earl Jones
Directed by: Jon Favreau
The scoop: If the live-action Aladdin has Disney fans approaching with caution, The Lion King is precisely the opposite. Expectations are sky high for this CGI spin on the 1994 animated classic. And that’s for a few reasons. One, beyond the folks listed here, the movie also features the voices of Seth Rogen, Alfre Woodard, Keegan-Michael Key, Billy Eichner, John Oliver and Eric Andre — making for one of the year’s most intriguing ensembles. Two, just look what at the wonders Jon Favreau worked on 2016’s The Jungle Book — then imagine them worked on material we love as much as The Lion King. Three, it just looks incredible. Get ready to roar.
2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Release date: July 26
Starring: Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
The scoop: 2015’s The Hateful Eight may have disappointed some folks, but there’s no doubt that Quentin Tarantino releases are still an event in themselves. The fact that this one stars three of the biggest (and let’s face it, most attractive) names in Hollywood — and promises to skewer the hell out of the locale in which it’s set, following a fading TV actor and his stuntman around town during the Manson murders — makes it even more promising. The cast is rounded out in typical Tarantinian ensemble fashion, with Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Margaret Qualley, Lena Dunham, Rebecca Gayheart, Rumer Willis, Bruce Dern, Martin Kove, Timothy Olyphant, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, James Marsden, Emile Hirsch, and the late Luke Perry. | Watch the trailer
1. Avengers: Endgame
Release date: April 26
Starring: The entire Marvel Cinematic Universe
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
The scoop: Ashes to ashes, dust to … life! That’s what we’re hoping happens in Endgame at least, as the surviving Avengers work to undo the damage wrought by Thanos’s Snapture over the course of three sure-to-be-epic hours. After all the endless fan theories (some possible, some absurd) and speculation-fueling trailers, we can’t wait to sit down and experience what the Russo brothers have in store for us and the entire MCU. Can we get an “Excelsior,” people?
Also Opening:
A star-studded cast including Kelly Clarkson and Janelle Monae voice Uglydolls (May 3); you can follow the campaign of AOC in Netflix’s Knocking Down the House (May 1); Dennis Quaid tormets Michael Ealy and Megan Good in the thriller The Intruder (May 3); the world’s most famous sex advice columnist gets the documentary treatment in Ask Dr. Ruth (May 3); the Joe Carnahan-produced El Chicano (May 3) is being billed as the first Latino-led superhero movie; Zac Efron is a extremely handsome serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (May 3); Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson remake Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with The Hustle (May 10); longtime Shakespeare lover Kenneth Branagh actually plays the Bard in All Is True (May 10); Yara Shahidi does teen romance in The Sun Is Also a Star (May 17); a dog “finds the meaning of his own existence,” per IMDb, in A Dog’s Journey (May 17); Tilda Swinton and daughter Honor Swinton Byrne both got raves out of Sundance for The Souvenir (May 17); Echo in the Canyon (May 24) talks about L.A.’s hotbed of music in the 1960s, Laurel Canyon; Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) hunts ISIS in Domino (May 31)
Alec Baldwin is the controversial auto magnate in Framing John DeLorean (June 7); Samuel L. Jackson returns in Shaft, a sequel to 2000’s Shaft (not a typo); Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston finally team up for Netflix’s Murder Mystery (June 14); we get another look at gentrification in the Bay Area in the buzzed-about Sundance debut The Last Black Man in San Francisco (June 7); PEN15 breakout Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid hit wedding after wedding in Plus One (June 14); Jim Gaffigan forbids his son from going to music school in NYC in Miranda Bailey’s Being Frank (June 14).
Kaya Scodelario searches for her father (Barry Pepper) in the disaster drama Crawl (July 12); Chadwick Boseman goes from Wakanda royalty to New York’s Finest in the cat-and-mouse manhunt thriller 21 Bridges (July 12); David Crosby: Remember My Name (July 19) looks at the iconic singer-songwrtier; Jamie Bell is a skinhead seeking redemption in Skin (July 26); another killer doll, Annabelle, comes home in Annabelle Comes Home (July 28); Isabela Moner brings your kids’ favorite explorer to life in Dora and the Lost City of Gold (July 31).
Many a famous friend eulogize the late Anton Yelchin in the doc Love Antosha (Aug. 2); Richard Linklater’s Cate Blanchett drama Where’d You Go, Bernadette? finally sees the light of day (Aug. 16); Jacob Tremblay leads the raunchy tween fest Good Boys, produced by Seth Rogen (Aug. 16); The Angry Birds take flight again in The Angry Birds Movie 2 (Aug. 16); Joel Kinnaman goes to prison on purpose in The Informer (Aug. 16); Keira Knightley is whistleblower Katharine Gun in Official Secrets (Aug. 23); Jason Sudeikis also plays John DeLorean in Driven (Aug. 23); post-industrial Ohio gets a boost from a Chinese billionaire in the acclaimed Sundance doc American Factory (Aug. TBD).
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