St. Joe Live's Most Anticipated Summer Movies

Andrew Gaug, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·3 min read

Apr. 15—After a year off, the summer movie season will be back in (mostly) full swing.

While movie theaters slowly open back up (St. Joseph's Regal Hollywood 10 will open on May 14), the films will be a mixture of holdovers from 2020 and some new, smaller movies on streamers like HBO Max and Netflix.

Here are six that we're looking forward to seeing:

"Mortal Kombat" (April 23, in theaters and streaming on HBO Max) — Video game movies might have the worst track record when it comes to being portrayed on the silver screen. The good news is the 1995 original movie, based on the Midway arcade fighting game, was a very fun, cheese-fest of a film and this one looks to follow in its bloody footsteps. The bad news is it could end up like that movie's sequel, "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" and be one of the worst movies ever made.

"A Quiet Place Part II" (May 28, in theaters only) — We were right on the cusp of getting the second installment of this horror series when the pandemic shut everything down in 2020. More than a year later, this follow-up to the smash John Krasinski film finally will get released, with Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy co-starring, as their characters discover there are more threats out in the world than weird, supersonic aliens.

"In The Heights" (June 11, in theaters and streaming on HBO Max) — There will be no shortage of projects Lin-Manuel Miranda will have his hands in in 2021. The biggest of them all likely will be this movie-musical, based on his breakout Broadway hit. Following a bodega owner who has mixed feelings about closing his store after inheriting a fortune, it looks like the lively jolt of positive energy this summer movie season needs.

"F9" (June 25, in theaters only) — It's the ninth "Fast and Furious" movie and has wrestler-actor John Cena playing Vin Diesel's evil brother. At this point, you're either in or out on this ridiculous franchise. I'm firmly in for the ride.

"Disney's Jungle Cruise" (July 30, in theaters and streaming on Disney+) — Between "A Quiet Place Part II" and this one, it will be a big summer for Emily Blunt. Based on the Disney ride, this movie has Dwayne Johnson and Blunt looking for a mystical Tree of Life. If it's anything like other Disney movies based on amusement park rides, it should be dumb fun.

"The Beatles: Get Back" (Aug. 27, in theaters only) — Since stepping away from blockbusters, director Peter Jackson has emerged as an incredible documentarian and restorer of old films (as witnessed in the World War I doc "They Shall Not Grow Old"). Taking 64 hours of unseen footage, he will use his mastery to retell the story of The Beatles recording the album "Let It Be," previously captured in the 1970 Michael Lindsay-Hogg documentary. It aims to give a clearer picture of the dynamics in the band and show a side of The Beatles we may not have known.

Andrew Gaug can be reached at andrew.gaug@newspressnow.com.

Follow him on Twitter: @NPNOWGaug