With its shocking and surprising billion dollar gross, “Super Mario Brothers” has given Hollywood a powerful signal that, finally, moviegoers will be ready to be to return to movie theaters and make this summer’s box-office haul one to remember.
Yes, writers may be on strike but since movies are routinely made a year ahead, Hollywood’s all-important summer slate – officially from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day — is unaffected.
And with billions of dollars invested in Come See packaging, the message is clear: Come to theaters and be truly entertained!
Studios are hopeful of a “halo” effect where the season’s blockbusters will become box-office behemoths and generate interest in more modest fare.
Hare are, then, the season’s mightiest contenders.
Easily leading the way and generating intense interest is one of the most expensive movies ever made: Tom Cruise’s years in the making “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” When it opens — on a global scale (July 14) — it’s but a prelude to next year’s finale, “Part Two.”
“Fast X” is the nicely named 10th “Fast and Furious” with Vin Diesel, like Cruise, preparing to exit a role that defines his career and his legacy. Like “M:I” “X” is but the first half with the final, final “Fast” not scheduled until 2025.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse” (June 2) sees Tom Holland continuing his dizzying exploits in a Spidery landscape where anything seems possible.
Long rumored to be troubled and often delayed due to the complicated legal history of its star Ezra Miller, “The Flash” (June 16) now boasts winning buzz and looks to surprise all skeptics.
“The Little Mermaid,” the latest Disney reboot of an animated hit into a live action version, has Halle Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy competing with vivid memories of the animated Ursula. There will also be new Alan Menken songs with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Opens May 26.
Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is touted as an epic look at J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the man who created the Atom Bomb. The visionary director stumbled badly with his 2020 time-travels-backwards “Tenet.” Much depends, including Nolan’s reputation as the thinking man’s filmmaker, on how this $100 million “Oppenheimer” scores (July 21).
A sturdy if not critically embraced franchise that’s been steaming along since 2005, “Transformers: Rise of the Beast” (June 9) is the 7th film in the series and a standalone sequel to the 2018 “Bumblebee.”
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (June 30) marks the 5th and, they insist, final outing for both the adventurer and for Harrison Ford as Indy. With a sneak preview at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the world will know what to expect by the time this hits local screens.
As for the season’s Not Quite Epic entries, could “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” (Aug.4) rival those “Mario” numbers?
The beach season’s hottest fashionista entrée has to be the Pop & Pink! “Barbie” with Margot Robie (July 21) bringing the bestselling doll or cinematic life.
Everyone’s favorite 75-foot long megalodon shark is back — in a very big way — with the Aug. 4“The Meg 2: The Trench.” Jason Statham returns, doubtless eager to again face a swirl of life-or-death thrills.
Finally, “Gran Turismo” (Aug. 11) races to score in this adaptation of the video game that tells a true story of a teen who became, in every sense, a player.
Dates subject to change
