Summer Movie Guide: What to watch from May through Labor Day
Apr 27, 2023, 9:38 PM | Updated: May 8, 2023, 1:26 pm
There is something for everyone at the movies this summer, both in theaters and streaming at home. In May, audiences can bid farewell to the Guardians of the Galaxy, go to Italy with Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen, or under the sea with Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy.
June brings “Indiana Jones 5,” a “Spider-Verse” sequel, “The Flash” a new Pixar pic and one film many have already called the best of the year (“Past Lives”).
And things get really exciting in July with the highly anticipated debuts of “Oppenheimer,” “Mission: Impossible 7,” “Barbie,” while August promises a new take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and introduces a new DC superhero, Blue Beetle.
Here’s a month-by-month guide of this summer’s new movies.
May 5
“ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ” (Disney/Marvel, theaters): Nine years after the non-comic obsessed world was introduced to Peter Quill, Rocket, Groot and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the misfits are closing out the trilogy and saying goodbye to director James Gunn, who is now leading rival DC.
“ What’s Love Got to Do with It? ” (Shout! Studios, theaters): Lily James plays a documentary filmmaker whose next project follows her neighbor (Shazad Latif) on his road to an arranged marriage in this charming romantic comedy.
May 12
“ Book Club: The Next Chapter ” (Focus Features, theaters): Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen travel to Italy to celebrate an engagement.
“ The Mother,” (Netflix, streaming): Jennifer Lopez is an assassin and a mother in this action pic timed to Mother’s Day.
“ Love Again ” (Sony, theaters): Priyanka Chopra Jonas plays a woman mourning the death of her boyfriend who texts his old number not knowing it belongs to someone new (Sam Heughan). Celine Dion (and her music) co-star in this romantic drama.
“ STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie ” (AppleTV+): Davis Guggenheim helps Michael J. Fox tell his story, from his rise in Hollywood to his Parkinson’s diagnosis and beyond.
“ Monica ” (IFC, theaters): A transgender woman, estranged from her family, goes home to visit her dying mother in this film starring Tracee Lysette and Patricia Clarkson.
“ The Starling Girl ” (Bleecker Street, theaters): Eliza Scanlen plays a 17-year-old girl living in a fundamentalist Christian community in Kentucky whose life changes with the arrival of Lewis Pullman’s charismatic youth pastor.
“ Fool’s Paradise ” (Roadside Attractions, theaters): Charlie Day writes, directs and plays dual roles in this comedic Hollywood satire.
“ Hypnotic ” (Ketchup Entertainment): Ben Affleck plays a detective whose daughter goes missing in this Robert Rodriguez movie.
“ It Ain’t Over ” (Sony Pictures Classics, theaters): A documentary about Lawrence Peter ‘Yogi’ Berra.
“Blackberry” (IFC): Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton star in this movie about the rise of the Blackberry.
May 19
“ Fast X ” (Universal, theaters): In the tenth installment of the Fast franchise, Jason Momoa joins as the vengeful son of a slain drug lord intent to take out Vin Diesel’s Dom.
“ White Men Can’t Jump ” (20th Century Studios, streaming on Hulu): Sinqua Walls and Jack Harlow co-star in this remake of the 1992 film, co-written by Kenya Barris and featuring the late Lance Reddick.
“ Master Gardener ” (Magnolia, theaters): Joel Edgerton is a horticulturist in this Paul Schrader drama, co-starring Sigourney Weaver as a wealthy dowager.
“ Sanctuary ” (Neon, theaters): A dark comedy about a dominatrix (Margaret Qualley) and her wealth client (Christopher Abbott).
May 26
“ The Little Mermaid ” (Disney, theaters): Halle Bailey plays Ariel in this technically ambitious live-action remake of a recent Disney classic directed by Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) and co-starring Melissa McCarthy as Ursula.
“ You Hurt My Feelings ” (A24, theaters): Nicole Holofcener takes a nuanced and funny look at a white lie that unsettles the marriage between a New York City writer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and a therapist (Tobias Menzies).
“ About My Father ” (Lionsgate, theaters): Stand-up comic Sebastian Maniscalco co-wrote this culture clash movie in which he takes his Italian-American father (Robert De Niro) on a vacation with his wife’s WASPy family.
“ Victim/Suspect ” (Netflix, on May 23): This documentary explores how law enforcement sometimes indicts victims of sexual assault instead of helping.
“ The Machine,” (Sony, theaters): Stand-up comedian Bert Kreischer brings Mark Hamill into the fray for this action-comedy.
“ Kandahar ” (Open Road Films, theaters): Gerard Butler plays an undercover CIA operative in hostile territory in Afghanistan.
June 2
“ Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ” (Sony, theaters): Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is back, but with things not going so well in Brooklyn, he opts to visit the multiverse with his old pal Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), where he encounters the Spider-Society.
“ The Boogeyman ” (20th Century Studios, theaters): “It’s the thing that comes for your kids when you’re not paying attention,” David Dastmalchian explains to Chris Messina in this Stephen King adaptation.
“ Past Lives ” (A24, theaters): Already being hailed as one of the best of the year after its Sundance debut, Celine Song’s directorial debut is a decades and continent-spanning romance about two friends separated in childhood who meet 20 years later in New York.
June 9
“ Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ” (Paramount, theaters): Steven Caple Jr directs the seventh Transformers movie, starring Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback.
“Flamin’ Hot” (Hulu, Disney+): Eva Longoria directs this story about Richard Montañez, a janitor at Frito-Lay who came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
“ Blue Jean ” (Magnolia, theaters): It’s 1988 in England and hostilities are mounting towards the LGBTQ community in Georgia Oakley’s BAFTA-nominated directorial debut about a gym teacher (Rosy McEwan) and the arrival of a new student.
“Daliland” (Magnolia, theaters): Mary Harron directs Ben Kingsley as Salvador Dalí.
June 16
“ The Flash ” (Warner Bros., theaters): Batmans past Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton assemble for this standalone Flash movie directed by Andy Muschietti and starring Ezra Miller as the titular superhero.
“ Elemental ” (Pixar, theatrical): In Element City, residents include Air, Earth, Water and Fire in the new Pixar original, featuring the voices of Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie and Catherine O’Hara.
“ Extraction 2 ” (Netflix, streaming): Chris Hemsworth’s mercenary Tyler Rake is back for another dangerous mission.
“ Asteroid City ” (Focus Features, limited and expanding June 23): Wes Anderson assembles Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman and Jeffrey Wright for a stargazer convention in the mid-century American desert.
“ The Blackening ” (Lionsgate, theaters): This scary movie satire sends a group of Black friends including Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg and X Mayo to a cabin in the woods.
June 23
“ No Hard Feelings ” (Sony, theaters): Jennifer Lawrence leads a raunchy comedy about a woman hired by a shy teen’s parents to help him get out of his shell before Princeton.
June 30
“ Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ” (Lucasfilm, theaters): Harrison Ford puts his iconic fedora back on for a fifth outing as Indy in this new adventure directed by James Mangold and co-starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
“Every Body” (Focus Features, theaters): Oscar-nominated documentarian Julie Cohen turns her lens on three intersex individuals in her latest film.
“ Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken ” (Universal, theaters): Lana Condor (“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”) lends her voice to this animated action-comedy about a shy teenager trying to survive high school as a part-Kraken.
“Harold and the Purple Crayon” (Sony, theaters): Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel and Lil Rel Howery help bring this adaptation of the children’s bedtime story to life.
July 7
” Insidious: The Red Door ” (Sony, theaters): Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are back to scare everyone in the fifth edition.
“ Joy Ride ” (Lionsgate, theaters): Adele Lim directs this raucous comedy about a friends trip to China to find someone’s birth mother, starring Ashley Park, Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu.
“The Lesson” (Bleecker Street): A young novelist helps an acclaimed author in this thriller with Richard E. Grant.
“ Biosphere ” (IFC): Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown are the last two men on Earth.
July 14
“ Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part I” (Paramount, theaters, on July 12): Tom Cruise? Death-defying stunts in Venice? The return of Kittridge? What more do you need?
“Theater Camp”(Searchlight, theaters): Musical theater nerds (and comedy fans) will delight in this loving satire of a childhood institution, with Ben Platt and Molly Gordon.
July 21
“ Oppenheimer ” (Universal, theaters): Christopher Nolan takes audiences into the mind of the “father of the atomic bomb,” J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) as he and his peers build up to the trinity test at Los Alamos.
“ Barbie ” (Warner Bros., theaters): Margot Robbie plays the world’s most famous doll (as do many others) opposite Ryan Gosling’s Ken in Greta Gerwig’s comedic look at their perfect world.
“Stephen Curry: Underrated” (Apple TV+): Peter Nicks directs a documentary about the four-time NBA champion.
“ They Cloned Tyrone ” (Netflix): John Boyega, Teyonah Parris and Jamie Foxx lead this mystery caper.
July 28
“ Haunted Mansion ” (Disney, theaters): A Disney ride comes to life in with the help of Rosario Dawson, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson and Danny DeVito.
“ Talk to Me ” (A24, theaters): A group of friends conjure spirits in this horror starring Sophie Wilde and Joe Bird.
“Happiness for Beginners” (Netflix, on July 27): Ellie Kemper is a newly divorced woman looking to shake things up.
“Sympathy for the Devil” (RLJE Films): Joel Kinnaman is forced to drive a mysterious gunman (Nicolas Cage) in this thriller.
“Kokomo City” (Magnolia): This documentary follows four Black transgender sex workers.
August 4
“ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem ” (Paramount, theaters): This animated movie puts the teenage back in the equation with a very funny voice cast including Seth Rogen and John Cena as Bebop and Rocksteady.
“Meg 2: The Trench” (Warner Bros., theaters): Jason Statham is back fighting sharks.
“ Passages ” (Mubi): The relationship of a longtime couple (Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw) is thrown when one begins an affair with a woman (Adèle Exarchopoulos).
“ A Compassionate Spy ” (Magnolia): Steve James’ documentary about the youngest physicist on the Manhattan Project who fed information to the Soviets.
“Dreamin’ Wild” (Roadside Attractions): Casey Affleck stars in this film about musical duo Donnie and Joe Emerson.
August 11
“ Gran Turismo ” (Sony, theaters): A gamer gets a chance to drive a professional course in this video game adaptation starring David Harbour and Orlando Bloom.
“The Last Voyage of the Demeter” (Universal, theaters): This supernatural horror film draws from a chapter of “Dracula.”
“ Heart of Stone ” (Netflix): Gal Gadot played an intelligence operative in this action thriller, with Jamie Dornan.
“The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films): This documentary explores a marriage and Alzheimer’s disease.
August 18
“ Blue Beetle ” (Warner Bros., theaters): Xolo Maridueña plays the DC superhero Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle in this origin story.
“ Strays ” (Universal, theaters): Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx voice dogs in this not-animated, R-rated comedy.
“birth/rebirth” (IFC, theaters): A woman and a morgue technician bring a little girl back to life in this horror.
“ White Bird ” (Lionsgate, theaters): Helen Mirren tells her grandson, expelled from school for bullying, a story about herself in Nazi-occupied France.
“Landscape with Invisible Hand” (MGM, theaters): Teens come up with a unique moneymaking scheme in a world taken over by aliens.
“The Hill” (Briarcliff Entertainment): This baseball drama starring Dennis Quaid is based on the true story of Rickey Hill.
August 25
“They Listen” (Sony, theaters): John Cho and Katherine Waterston lead this secretive Blumhouse horror.
“Golda” (Bleecker Street): Helen Mirren stars in this drama about Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel during the Yom Kippur War.
“Bottoms” (MGM, theaters): Two unpopular teenage girls (Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri) start a fight club to impress the cheerleaders they want to lose their virginity to in this parody of the teen sex comedy.
“The Dive” (RLJE Films): In this suspense pic about two sisters out for a dive, one gets hurt and is trapped underwater.
September 1
“ The Equalizer 3 ” (Sony, theaters): Denzel Washington is back as Robert McCall, who is supposed to be retired from the assassin business but things get complicated in Southern Italy.
