Summer. To some, it means barbecues, beaches, and cold brews. But to others, it can mean sitting inside a dark theater with fellow movie lovers to take in Hollywood’s biggest, glitziest studio offerings. Yes, the dark cinematic purgatory that is winter has finally come to an end, and it’s time for the palate cleanser prior to awards season. And there’s plenty to get excited about this summer, from high-octane sequels like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Jurassic World, to vibrant Sundance standouts Dope and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Without further ado, here are this summer’s most hotly anticipated movies.
Marvel
Marvel’s mammoth superhero team-up made $1.5 billion, so you knew an even bigger sequel was coming, and here it is. This action-packed blockbuster sees all the heroes from the first Avengers—Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)—return to square off against a sentient AI named Ultron (voiced by James Spader) that’s hell-bent on destroying mankind. New to the proceedings are Russian twins Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) on the bad side, and the Vision (Paul Bettany) on Team Save the Planet.
Jay Maidment/Marvel
Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s follow-up to his gripping Oscar-nominated drama The Hunt is the latest cinematic adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel centering on Batsheba (Carey Mulligan), a determined, independent farm owner in Victorian England who’s torn between a trio of suitors: virile sheep farmer Gabriel (Matthias Schoenaerts); Frank (Tom Sturridge), a young, wild military sergeant; and William (Michael Sheen), a mature and worldly aristocrat. With Vinterberg at the helm and the talented Mulligan front and center, it should be a compelling journey.
20th Century Fox
David Oelhoffen’s French drama, adapted from a short story by Albert Camus, sees the versatile Viggo Mortensen play Daru, an ex-French soldier turned schoolteacher at the start of the Algerian War who’s tasked with transporting an Algerian Muslim prisoner, Mohamed (Reda Kateb), to a faraway town to face trial. A classic western, the film boasts stunning lensing and vistas, fantastic performances by Mortensen and A Prophet’s Kateb as two seemingly different men who begin to understand one another, and a score by the inimitable Nick Cave.
Tribeca Film Festival
Directed by The Proposal’s Anne Fletcher, this road comedy pairs Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara as a cop and the widow of a drug dealer, with Witherspoon’s policewoman forced to protect the witness from a gaggle of criminals and corrupt cops. It’s a fun full-circle moment for Witherspoon, who turned heads early on in her career as a foul-mouthed delinquent gal on the run in the bonkers Little Red Riding Hood with a twist, Freeway.
Warner Bros Pictures
Ever since “Nannygate,” film icon Arnold Schwarzenegger has been desperately trying to revitalize his career, but has mostly fallen terribly short (did you see Sabotage?). Maggie is a departure of sorts for Ahnuld in that it’s a decidedly more dramatic, less action-oriented turn. He plays Wade, a caring father to his teenage daughter, Maggie (Chloe Grace Moretz). When she becomes infected and transforms into a flesh-eating zombie, he chooses to stay by her side. It sounds a bit like Schwarzenegger’s I Am Legend with a fatherly twist.
Tracy Bennett/Lionsgate
The trailer to this, the fourth film in George Miller’s Mad Max series, was far and away the best of 2014. Once again helmed by Miller, the first Max flick in 30 years stars Tom Hardy as Mad Max Rockatansky, a loner in a post-apocalyptic desert world tasked by Furiosa (Charlize Theron) with guiding her across the treacherous desert to her homeland so that order can (hopefully) be restored. The eye-catching film, which was shot in Namibia, also stars Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Zoe Kravitz.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Star Anna Kendrick described the plot of this musical-comedy as “bigger in scale and outside the world of college a capella,” and as “very Mighty Ducks 2.” The film sees the Barden Bellas enter into an international a capella competition that no American team has ever won, and features Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson (aka Fat Amy), Brittany Snow, Adam DeVine, and Anna Camp reprising their roles from the previous film. Actress Elizabeth Banks will make her directorial debut, and the movie will also feature Hailee Steinfeld as a new, young Barden Bella, and Married with Children’s Katey Sagal as her overprotective mother.
Richard Cartwright/Universal Pictures
One of the most impressive films out of the Venice Film Festival, Good Kill centers on Major Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke), a drone pilot in the desert of Nevada who mercilessly bombs Middle Eastern villages by day and at night, drives through the decadent Vegas strip to his wife (January Jones) and family. But when the CIA takes over orders and begins instituting a system of double-taps—hitting the same target twice to wipe out first responders—Egan suffers a crisis of conscience. The movie, which also stars Zoe Kravitz, reunites Hawke and director Andrew Niccol, the duo behind Gattaca and Lord of War.
Lorey Sebastian/Voltage Pictures
Last year, actor Michael Fassbender surprised audiences with his bizarre—yet gripping—turn as the gentle, papier-mâché head-sporting front man of an indie rock band in Frank. His next non-X-Men indie feature is this, the feature directorial debut of John Maclean that traces the journey of a 16-year-old boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) across 19th-century frontier America in search of the woman he loves. He’s joined by Silas (Fassbender), a mysterious drifter with a dark past, and the cast is rounded out by TV stars Rory McCann (aka Game of Thrones’ The Hound) and Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline).
A24 Films
Yes, it’s a reimagined contemporary 3D version of the supernatural classic, but let’s not rush to judgment. After all, it’s directed by Gil Kenan, who helmed the impressive animated flick Monster House, produced by Sam Raimi, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, and features a talented cast, including Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris, and Jane Adams. The plot, of course, is similar in that it involves a gang of angry spirits who invade a suburban home and steal away a young daughter, forcing the family to come together to get her back and ward off the spirits for good.
Kerry Hayes/20th Century Fox
Directed by the gifted Brad Bird (Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol), co-written by Lost’s Damon Lindelof, and named after the futuristic land at Walt Disney theme parks, this mystery-adventure stars George Clooney as Frank Walker, a grizzled inventor who, along with his daughter, Casey (Britt Robertson), travels to an imaginative world called Tomorrowland where their actions affect the world at large. The Disney blockbuster also stars Hugh Laurie, Kathryn Hahn, Judy Greer, and Keegan-Michael Key.
Disney
Paul Newman was a prolific philanthropist and Oscar-winning actor, but one thing you may not know about the blue-eyed hunky cinema icon is his accomplished 35-year racecar-driving career, calling racing, “the first thing that I ever found I had any grace in.” Newman was no slouch, winning four Sports Car Club of America championships. His pro racing is chronicled in this documentary by comedian Adam Carolla and producer Nate Adams.
Handout
The third (and final) film in Tom Six’s kooky-ridiculous Human Centipede franchise sees the return of the first two films’ psychopaths—albeit in different roles. Bill Boss (Dieter Laser) is an overbearing prison warden who can’t maintain order, and is looked down upon by the governor, played by Eric Roberts. So, he enlists the services of Dwight (Laurence R. Harvey), a demented prison guard, to scare the prisoners straight by creating a 500-person prison human centipede. Yowza.
IFC Films
Though the hacked Sony emails revealed that this Cameron Crowe romcom might be a troubled project, it still boasts Crowe at the helm and a very impressive cast. Aloha centers on Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper), a 37-year-old disgraced military contractor who’s deployed to a Hawaiian base to oversee the launch of a covert spy satellite. There, he reconnects with a long-lost love (Rachel McAdams), while also falling for the Air Force watchdog (Emma Stone) assigned to him. The film also stars Bill Murray, Jay Baruchel, Alec Baldwin, and Danny McBride.
Neal Preston/Columbia Pictures
As if a devastating drought wasn’t enough, when a massive earthquake hits California along the San Andreas Fault, Ray (Dwayne Johnson), an L.A. Fire Department rescue helicopter pilot, and his ex-wife (Carla Gugino) try to get the hell out of L.A. and over to San Francisco to bring their endangered daughter (Alexandra Daddario) to safety. Brad Peyton’s $100 million film also stars Paul Giamatti and Kylie Minogue. And in a battle royale between The Rock and an earthquake, the safe money is on The Rock.
Jasin Boland/Warner Bros
Yes, there will be a film version based on the acclaimed HBO series of the same name. Directed by series creator Doug Ellin, it centers on Vinny Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his superagent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), who bankrolls Vinny’s directorial debut with a $100 million budget—which goes $15 million over. The project is being bankrolled by a Texan billionaire and his socialite son (Billy Bob Thornton and Hailey Joel Osment), who butt heads with Vinny and Ari. Cast members Kevin Dillon, Kevin Connolly, and Jerry Ferrara will reprise their roles as Johnny Drama, E, and Turtle, and the film will also feature tons of cameos, including producer Mark Wahlberg, Tom Brady, Liam Neeson, and more.
Warner Bros. Pictures
This action-comedy reunites filmmaker Paul Feig with his Bridesmaids and The Heat star Melissa McCarthy, who is Susan Cooper—a deskbound CIA analyst and the unsung hero behind many of the agency’s biggest missions. When a couple of top agents are compromised, Cooper is forced to enter the field and infiltrate a deadly arms dealing ring. The cast also includes Rose Byrne, Jason Statham, Jude Law, Allison Janney, Morena Baccarin, and 50 Cent, as himself.
Larry Horricks/20th Century Fox
Directed by film exec Bill Pohlad, this biopic on Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson offers parallel narratives of two very different times in Wilson’s life—the 1960s, where he’s played by Paul Dano, and the ‘80s, with John Cusack taking the reins. The ‘60s portion focuses on Wilson’s battle with psychedelics (and schizophrenia), as well as the making of Pet Sounds. And the ‘80s depicts a bottomed-out Wilson reliant on the manipulative medicine of a sleazy therapist (Paul Giamatti), and the woman (Elizabeth Banks) who attempts to save him.
Francois Duhamel/Roadside Attractions
The fourth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise is directed by Colin Trevorrow, who helmed the overlooked 2012 comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, and set 22 years after the events of the original. Isla Nublar is now a dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, owned by the Masrani Global Corporation. Owen (Chris Pratt) is a scientist on staff conducting behavioral research on various dinosaurs—including a new, genetically modified hybrid dinosaur species that’s been created by the park’s team of geneticists to boost attendance. Soon, however, the beast breaks free and wreaks havoc on the island. The $150 3D film also stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jake Johnson, BD Wong, Irrfan Khan, and Judy Greer.
Universal Pictures
The biggest acquisition of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival ($12 million) was this, an adaptation of Jesse Andrews’ YA novel of the same name directed by American Horror Story’s Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Greg (Thomas Mann) and Earl (Ronald Cyler II) spend their days worshipping Werner Herzog and making DIY shorts of classic films. When Rachel (Olivia Cooke) is diagnosed with leukemia, Greg’s mom (Connie Britton) forces him to cheer her up. The two high school outcasts eventually forge a unique, loving bond. Think of it as a cross between The Fault in Our Stars and a Michel Gondry flick.
Anne Marie Fox/20th Century Fox
This is, if I’m counting correctly, the seventh film adaptation of the Flaubert classic. Directed by Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls), it stars the brilliant Mia Wasikowska as Bovary, a farmer’s daughter in Normandy who marries a wealthy doctor, but soon is bored. So, she engages in a series of affairs with several men, played by the talented Ezra Miller, Rhys Ifans, and Logan-Marshall Green. The film also stars Paul Giamatti and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.
20th Century Fox
Pete Docter, who directed the brilliant Toy Story 3, will helm this original Pixar 3D animated film. It centers on Riley Anderson (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias), a young girl guided by her five emotions—Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). When Riley’s father (Kyle MacLachlan) moves the family from the Midwest to San Francisco, her five emotions holed up inside her fertile mind (dubbed “Headquarters”) are sent into overdrive, and struggle to navigate a new city, house, school, and friends.
Pixar
The latest by Rick Famuyiwa (Brown Sugar) was my favorite movie at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and sparked a major bidding war. It tells the story of Malcolm (Shameik Moore), a geek living in the rough neighborhood of Inglewood. When he comes across a bag of prime ecstasy belonging to local criminal Dom (A$AP Rocky), he and his ’90s hip-hop-head friends, played by The Grand Budapest Hotel’s Tony Revolori and Transparent’s Kiersey Clemons, must find a creative way to move the product. It’s a love letter to ’90s fashion and rap featuring ace performances—Zoe Kravitz and Chanel Iman included, four original songs by soundtrack composer Pharrell, and is brimming with energy.
Open Road Films
Before unraveling a bit in the final 20 minutes and slowing to a crawl, the latest film from Frenchwoman Mia Hansen-Løve is a pulsating chronicle of the rise of electronic music from ’90s Paris (see: Daft Punk) to ’00s New York, as seen through the eyes of Paul (Felix de Givry), one-half of a DJ duo called Cheers. The performances are naturalistic, the pace is fast, and the music is bumping. Plus, Greta Gerwig pops in to steal a few scenes as a hard-partying American gal, and Daft Punk are actual characters in the flick.
Palace Films
Patrick Brice’s racy sex comedy marks the first starring role in a film for Orange Is the New Black’s Taylor Schilling, who plays Emily, one half of a couple—along with Alex (Adam Scott)—that’s new to L.A. They take their kid on a playdate, where they meet a mysterious couple (Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godreche), and once the kids are put to bed, things get a bit… freaky.
Tribeca Film Festival
Seth MacFarlane’s 2012 comedy Ted, featuring Mark Wahlberg and a raunchy talking teddy bear come to life, was a left field smash, grossing $550 million worldwide. So naturally, it would spawn a sequel. While plot details are unknown, what we do know is it will once again be helmed by MacFarlane, who will return to voice the bong-ripping teddy. Wahlberg is also back, as is his love interest, played by Mila Kunis. And there have been several major additions to the cast, including Amanda Seyfried, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, John Slattery, David Hasselhoff, and a cameo by New England Patriots QB Tom Brady.
Universal Pictures
The plot to Jalmari Helander’s Finnish action adventure flick is a lot of fun: Air Force One gets gunned down by terrorists and the POTUS’s (Samuel L. Jackson) escape pod lands in Finland. There, he’s rescued by a 13-year-old boy, Oskari (Onni Tommila), who’s embarking on a hunting expedition to prove his manliness to his tribe. The two join forces to fend off the terrorists closing in on them from all corners, and plenty of heads will roll.
The trailer looked, well, iffy, and fanboys are up in arms about how the film basically negates the plot of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but we’ll see how it turns out. Directed by Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World), the fourth film in the Terminator franchise is a “reboot.” Set in 2029 Los Angeles, John Connor (Jason Clarke) is on the verge of winning the battle against the machines and Skynet. So, he sends his best lieutenant, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), back in time to save his mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), and ensure his own survival. Sarah, meanwhile, has been raised by a Terminator T-800 that’s been programmed to protect her and train her. When Skynet sends a T-1000 (Lee Byung-hun) back in time to kill her, Sarah and Kyle team up with the old T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to stop it.
Paramount Pictures
Directed by longtime Steven Soderbergh AD Gregory Jacobs, shot and edited by Soderbergh, and co-written by Channing Tatum, this McConaughey-less sequel to the 2012 flick sees the male stripping gang from the first outing embark on a road trip from Tampa to Myrtle Beach for a national stripping convention. Tatum will reprise his role as Magic Mike, as will Joe Manganiello as Big Dick Richie and Matt Bomer as Ken. Rounding out the cast will be Amber Heard as Tatum’s love interest, Jada Pinkett Smith, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Banks, and Donald Glover.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Filmmakers Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda have helmed this 3D animated prequel/spin-off to the Despicable Me flicks that follows the Minions—the tiny yellow henchmen who serve their supervillain masters. After all the world’s most evil beings are accidentally wiped out, the Minions attend a villain convention where they vie for Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock), an up-and-coming supervillain. The film also features the vocal talents of Jon Hamm, Pierre Coffin, Allison Janney, Michael Keaton, and Steve Coogan.
Universal Pictures
Directed by Tarsem Singh (The Fall), this sci-fi flick is about an incredibly rich man dying of cancer (Ben Kingsley) who undergoes an experimental medical procedure to have his consciousness placed in the body of a young, healthy man (Ryan Reynolds). Things go OK—until he figures out that people are out to kill him. The film also stars Matthew Goode, Michelle Dockery, and Victor Garber.
Alan Markfield/Shedding Productions
Not much is known about Woody Allen’s 52nd film other than that it stars one of our finest actors, Joaquin Phoenix, as a college professor in the throes of an existential crisis who is rejuvenated when he falls for one of his students, played by the always lovely Emma Stone. The film also stars Parker Posey and British actor Jamie Blackley.
Sabrina Lantos/Sony Pictures Classics
Overshadowed by the controversy surrounding filmmaker Edgar Wright leaving the project at the 11th hour over “creative differences,” and replaced by The Break-Up director Peyton Reed, this Marvel superhero flick stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, a petty thief who is taken under the wing of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas)—an entomologist and physicist who developed Ant-Man technology, which allows its user to decrease in size but increase in strength. Eventually, Lang takes over for Pym as Ant-Man, and does battle against Darren Cross/Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll), a former protégé of Pym’s. The film also stars Evangeline Lilly, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena, Judy Greer, and Tip “T.I.” Harris.
Marvel
Filmmaker Judd Apatow’s last two movies, Funny People and This Is 40, were disappointing, but this one is a major return to form and received standing ovations out of SXSW. Co-written by and starring comedienne Amy Schumer, this ensemble comedy is based on events from her wacky life. Plot details are under wraps, but the film stars Tilda Swinton as her mother and Brie Larson as her sister, and also features the talents of Bill Hader, Barkhad Abdi, Vanessa Bayer, Ezra Miller, LeBron James (yes, that one), Method Man, Daniel Radcliffe, and Marisa Tomei.
Universal Pictures
Novelist John Green became a star after the film adaptation of his book The Fault in Our Stars became a blockbuster hit. His latest novel will once again be adapted by the Fault screenwriting team of Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and features Fault actor Nat Wolff in the lead. He’ll play Quentin Jacobsen, a high school kid with a hopeless crush on the adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman (supermodel Cara Delevingne, in her first leading role). One evening, she climbs through his window and summons him for an all-night road trip. When she mysteriously goes missing, Q must piece together a series of clues that have been left for him about her disappearance.
Michael Tackett/20th Century Fox
Back in 2010, Patrick Jean released a short film online about classic 8-bit video game characters attacking modern-day New York City. This feature, directed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone helmer Christopher Columbus, is a 3D feature adaptation. When Pac-Man, Tetris, Space Invaders, and other video game characters invade Earth, the President (Kevin James) enlists the services of a 1980s video game champ (Adam Sandler) to lead an “elite” team of old-school arcade game experts (Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad) and a military weapons expert (Michelle Monaghan) to defeat the characters and save the planet.
Sony Pictures
Could this be Jake Gyllenhaal’s Oscar moment? Directed by Antoine Fuqua, who guided Denzel to an Oscar in Training Day, and writing by Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter, Southpaw stars Gyllenhaal as a ripped boxer who, after his wife (Rachel McAdams) is gunned down, spirals downward. In order to regain custody and win back the respect and love of his daughter, he mounts a boxing comeback with the help of a gifted trainer (Forest Whitaker). Oh, and have you seen the pictures? Gyllenhaal looks ripped and raring to go.
Scott Garfield/The Weinstein Company
Brad Bird’s previous entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Ghost Protocol, saw star Tom Cruise run up and down the Burj Khalifa. Most of the gang is back for the fifth installment, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, which sees them (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) try to take down the Syndicate—an evil version of their IMF. The film also stars Alec Baldwin and newcomer Rebecca Ferguson as the female lead, and features Cruise latched to the side of a plane as it takes off (he does all his own stunts).
This could go one of two ways: fun or complete disaster. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the screenwriting team behind Horrible Bosses, this National Lampoon’s Vacation remake centers on Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms), who decides to take his family to Wally’s World to reconnect with his kids and find that missing spark with his wife (Leslie Mann). The film boasts an all-star cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Charlie Day, and Keegan-Michael Key, as well as cameos by original cast members Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, and Christina Applegate.
Warner Bros. Pictures
James Ponsoldt is one of the more unheralded young filmmakers in Hollywood, having helmed the impressive Sundance entries Smashed, featuring Aaron Paul and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a couple coping with their mutual alcoholism, and The Spectacular Now, a heartrending coming of age drama starring Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. His latest effort is set in 1996 and, following the publication of his acclaimed novel Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) embarks on a five-day interview with Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg), revealing hidden truths. The film also stars Anna Chlumsky, Joan Cusack, and Mamie Gummer.
A24 Films
This franchise reboot by Chronicle director Josh Trank will (hopefully) let us forget about the crappy Fantastic Four flicks in the mid-aughts featuring a WASPy Jessica Alba and ditzy Chris Evans. Trank’s film centers on four people who are transported to an alternate universe where their forms mutate, blessing them with superhuman powers. There’s the elastic Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Miles Teller), Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman (Kate Mara), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Michael B. Jordan), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Jamie Bell), who team up to stop the evil megalomaniac Victor Domashev, aka Doom (Toby Kebbell), an evil computer programmer.
20th Century Fox
Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess helmed this throwback comedy about a night guard for an armored car company in the South who tries to pull off one of the biggest heists in American history: stealing $17 million. The film stars Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, and SNL’s Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.
Glen Wilson/Armored Car Productions
Written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), this dramedy stars Meryl Streep as Ricki, a woman who abandoned her family years ago to become a rock star. Years later, she reconnects with them when her divorced daughter, Julie (Streep’s real-life daughter Mamie Gummer), is in crisis mode. The film also stars Kevin Kline, Sebastian Stan, Audra McDonald, and Rick Springfield (yes, that Rick Springfield).
Bob Vergara/CTMG
Guy Ritchie has, it seems, abandoned his seat at the helm of the Sherlock Holmes movies in favor of a new franchise—this $75 million blockbuster remake of the 1960s TV series of the same name. This Cold War period flick follows two U.N.C.L.E. agents, Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) as they face off against a shadowy criminal organization enamored with the idea of nuclear annihilation. Hugh Grant, Alicia Vikander, and Jared Harris also star.
Warner Bros. Pictures
All the Suge Knight drama notwithstanding, Straight Outta Compton should be an interesting picture. Directed by F. Gary Gray (Friday) and produced by Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, this biopic of the rise and fall of rap supergroup N.W.A. traces their journey from humble beginnings in Compton, California, in the mid-1980s to the top of the charts. The film stars Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E, Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Ice Cube, and Aldis Hodge as MC Ren. It also features Paul Giamatti and Keith Stanfield, and was shot on location in East Los Angeles by famed cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Black Swan).
Jaimie Trueblood/Universal Pictures
In Ariel Vromen’s crime-thriller, the memories and skills of a dead CIA agent are transplanted into the body of a gifted criminal (Ryan Reynolds) in order for him to pull off a dangerous mission. Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Alice Eve, Gal Gadot, and Michael Pitt round out the very formidable cast.
Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters
While there is no release date yet for this comedy-drama, we have it on good authority that it’ll hit theaters sometime this summer. Directed by Max Joseph (MTV’s Catfish), the film stars Zac Efron as Cole, a 23-year-old DJ navigating L.A.’s EDM scene and dreaming of becoming a famous music producer. James (Wes Bentley), a successful older DJ, agrees to mentor him, but when Cole falls in love with James’s girlfriend (Emily Ratajkowski), things get very complicated.
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