Indiana Jones! Transformers! The Flash! Fast and the Furious! Summer 2023 definitely isn’t lacking in star power, and as temperatures rise all over the country, studios are going to battle for your hard-earned multiplex monies.
There’s horror to behold — like Insidious: The Red Door and The Boogeyman — and adventures to captivate, like Harrison Ford’s last outing as Henry Jones Jr. in Dial of Destiny and Miles Morales’ deeper dive into the multiverse in Across the Spider-Verse. A couple of mega-franchises are also nearing their end, so this summer will feature penultimate chapters for Dom Toretto’s family and Ethan Hunt’s team of impossible missioners. (Though does a franchise ever truly end?)
Plus, Barbie vs. Oppenheimer heats up July and the lack of MCU films (thanks to The Marvels being moved to November) swings the door wide open for the DCU’s The Flash and Blue Beetle.
So check out all the movies we can’t wait to catch this summer, from now until Labor Day…
Summer Movies 2023
Fool’s Paradise
US Date: May 12, limited
Always Sunny’s Charlie Day writes, directs, and stars in this Hollywood satire about a mute man who’s recruited by a down-on-his-luck publicist (Ken Jeong) to be the double for a difficult method actor. Ray Liotta co-stars, in one of his final performances, along with Kate Beckinsale, Adrien Brody, Common, Jason Sudeikis, Jillian Bell, John Malkovich, and Jason Bateman.
Hypnotic
US Date: May 12
AU Date: May 11 / UK Date: May 26
Robert Rodriguez directs this Ben Affleck-led sci-fi thriller about an Austin police detective who learns his missing daughter and a string of high profile bank robberies might be connected to an insane government project. Co-starring The Suicide Squad’s Alice Braga, Hypnotic was co-written by Rodriguez and Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island).
The Mother
US Date: May 12 on Netflix
Just in time for Mother’s Day comes Jennifer Lopez as an assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the estranged daughter she left behind. This Netflix film also stars Joseph Fiennes, Omari Hardwick, and Gael García Bernal.
Fast X
US Date: May 19
UK/AU Date: May 19 (UK), TBA (AU)
Delivered on time despite the initial production hurdle of director Justin Lin leaving after a week of principal photography (Louis Leterrier would replace), Fast X features Jason Momoa as the saga’s new villain. As the song of a drug lord, Momoa’s Dante seeks revenge for the destructive heist events of Fast Five by targeting Dom Toretto’s family… and “family.” The gang’s all back for this (maybe) penultimate Fast and Furious flick, even bringing Jason Statham back in as Shaw and Scott Eastwood as Little Nobody, while also introducing Brie Larson as Tess and Rita Moreno as Dom, Mia, and Jakob’s grandmother.
White Men Can’t Jump
US: May 19 on Hulu
Jack Harlow and Friday Night Lights’ Sinqua Walls headline this remake of the 1992 Wesley Snipes/Woody Harrelson Ron Shelton comedy about streetball hustlers, White Men Can’t Jump. Teyana Taylor and Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Laura Harrier also star, along with Lance Reddick in one of the late actor’s final roles.
Kandahar
US Date: May 26
UK/AU Date: TBA (UK), TBA (AU)
Gerard Butler stars in the action-survival adventure Kandahar as an undercover CIA operative who, after an intelligence leak, is outed and stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan. Homeland and Legion’s Navid Negahban co-stars, plus Vikings’ Travis Fimmel.
The Little Mermaid
US Date: May 26
UK/AU Date: May 26 (UK), TBA (AU)
Disney’s latest live-action adaptation of their ’90s animation renaissance slate is The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey as the “longing to be part of the human world” mermaid, Ariel. Melissa McCarthy plays Ursula, the sea witch, who offers Ariel the deal/curse of a lifetime, while Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, and Jacob Tremblay voice Sebastian, Scuttle, and Flounder, respectively. More live-action players include Javier Bardem as King Triton and Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric.
Shooting Stars
US: June 2 on Peacock
LeBron James biopic Shooting Stars, based on the biography by James and Pulitzer Prize-winner Buzz Bissinger, explores James’ life from his humble beginnings in Akron, Ohio, to his rise to NBA stardom, along with his four childhood best friends. Marquis “Mookie” Cook stars as LeBron in the Peacock exclusive, alongside Dermot Mulroney and Wood Harris.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
US Date: June 2
UK/AU Date: June 2 (UK), TBA (AU)
The highly-anticipated follow up to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will finally arrive (after a half-year delay), following Miles Morales’ continuing adventures as Spidey, plunging him deeper into the multiverse of web-heads and wall-crawlers. Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jake Johnson reprise their roles as Miles, Gwen, and Peter B. Parker while Issa Rae and Daniel Kaluuya enter the fray as Spider-Woman and Spider-Punk. Oscar Isaac is back too, after his cameo in Into the Spider-Verse, as Spider-Man 2099, a self-appointed protector of the multiverse who clashes with Miles’ optimism.
The Boogeyman
US Date: June 2
UK/AU Date: TBA (UK), TBA (AU)
Host’s Rob Savage directs this adaptation of a 1973 Stephen King short story about two sisters battling a malicious invading entity that preys on grieving families. Yellowjackets’ Sophie Thatcher stars with Chris Messina, David Dastmalchian, and Vivien Lyra Blair.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
US Date: June 9
UK/AU Date: June 9 (UK), TBA (AU)
The Transformers franchise gets a new coat of paint with a second prequel (after 2018’s ’80s-set Bumblebee), which is heavily influenced by the Beast Wars storyline. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, set in 1994, follows Brooklyn archaeologists who come into contact with the Autobots and get embroiled in an ancient conflict between three factions: the Maximals, the Predacons and the Terrorcons. All of this is happening while the planet-consuming Unicron makes its way to Earth. Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback star while new bots include Mirage, Arcee, and Optimus Primal.
Elemental
US Date: June 16
UK/AU Date: June 6 (UK), TBA (AU)
Pixar’s latest delight transports us to a city where fire, water, land, and air residents live together. Fire Town resident Ember (Leah Lewis) meets a go-with-the-flow water dude (Mamoudou Athie) and discovers how much they actually have in common despite being raised to believe elements can’t mix. Wendi McLendon-Covey and Catherine O’Hara also lend voices.
The Flash
US Date: June 16
UK/AU Date: June 16 (UK), TBA (AU)
Barry Allen’s habitual breaking of the multiverse, stemming from the Flashpoint comic arc, will now be explored on the big screen in The Flash, which will bring Michael Keaton’s Batman into the mix (while also featuring Bat-fleck) as well as a Supergirl played by Sasha Calle — all in the name of protecting an alternate, Superman-free Earth from Man of Steel’s General Zod invasion. The Flash has a lot of heavy lifting to do, being the film that officially ushers us into DCU’s multiverse and James Gunn’s “Gods & Monsters” reset slate.
Extraction 2
US: June 16 on Netflix
The eye-popping action of MCU stuntman Sam Hargrave’s 2020 directorial debut Extraction returns for a new high-octane, high-stakes mission for mercenary Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth). This time, Quantum of Solace and Black Widow’s Olga Kurylenko co-stars, as Rake is tasked with rescuing a family that is at the mercy of a Georgian mobster, requiring him to penetrate one of the world’s most dangerous prisons.
Asteroid City
US Date: June 23
UK/AU Date: June 23 (UK), TBA (AU)
Wes Anderson rounds up his usual suspects — including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, and Tom Hanks — among many others — for a whimsical visit to a 1955 Junior Stargazer convention held in a fictional American desert town.
No Hard Feelings
US Date: June 23
UK/AU Date: June 16 (UK), June 15 (AU)
The “coming of age sex comedy” returns in a big way, headlined by Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, in this story of a broke Uber driver hired by the parents of a socially awkward teen to become his “girlfriend.” Good Boys’ Gene Stupnitsky directs this romp, which also stars Matthew Broderick, Supergirl’s Laura Benanti, Andrew Barth Feldman, and Natalie Morales.
Harold and the Purple Crayon
US Date: June 30
UK/AU Date: June 30 (UK), June 29 (AU)
Beloved 1955 children’s book Harold and the Purple Crayon gets the live-action treatment, with an ensemble that includes Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery, and Zooey Deschanel. Originally slated for January of this year, the film will now battle Indiana Jones at the box office, telling the tale of a curious four-year-old who, with his purple crayon, has the power to create a world of his own.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
US Date: June 30
UK/AU Date: June 30 (UK), TBA (AU)
Logan and 3:10 to Yuma’s James Mangold takes over the Indiana Jones franchise for Harrison Ford’s final flight in the fedora. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny finds Indiana Jones in 1969 against the backdrop of the Space Race and the U.S. government having recruited former Nazis to help beat the Soviet Union. Phoebe Waller-Bridge stars as Jones’ goddaughter, who joins the retiring professor on one final adventure to defeat a Nazi-turned-NASA scientist (Mads Mikkelsen) out to “reset” the world with a mysterious artifact. Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, and The Sandman’s Boyd Holbrook also star while John Rhys-Davies reprises his role as Sallah.
Insidious: The Red Door
US Date: July 7
UK/AU Date: July 7 (UK), TBA (AU)
Star Patrick Wilson makes his directorial debut with this fifth installment in the Insidious franchise, which brings back the Lambert family — played by Wilson, Rose Byrne, and Ty Simpkins — along with Lin Shaye’s Elise Rainer, for a story set 10 years after Insidious: Chapter 2. In The Red Door, Simpkins’ Dalton heads off to college, only to find the repressed demons of his past suddenly returning to haunt him.
Joy Ride
US Date: July 7
UK/AU Date: July 7 (UK), July 6 (AU)
Adele Lim, writer of Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon, makes her directorial debut with Joy Ride, a raunchy comedy about childhood best friends Audrey (Beef’s Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola), who set out on a journey across China to find Audrey’s birth mother. Also starring The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng, Sabrina Wu, and Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
US Date: July 14
UK/AU Date: July 14 (UK), TBA (AU)
Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, and Guardians of the Galaxy’s Pom Klementieff join Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise for the beginning of the end, Dead Reckoning Part One, which also brings back Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and even Henry Czerny’s Kittridge from 1996’s original film. Not much is known about the nuts and bolts plot at this point, but that’s hardly the point seeing as how it’s set to feature the “biggest stunt in cinema history” as Cruise jumps off a cliff on a motorcycle.
Barbie
US Date: July 21
UK/AU Date: July 21 (UK), TBA (AU)
Indie film icons Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach wrote, and Gerwig directed, this surreal comedy about one of the biggest toy lines of all time — Barbie. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling play famous doll couple Barbie and Ken in a story about Barbie herself being expelled from Barbieland for being a less-than-perfect doll. The fun supporting cast features Michael Cera, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Dua Lipa, and Emma Mackey.
They Cloned Tyrone
US: July 21 on Netflix
John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jamie Foxx (who also executive-produces) star in this pulpy, sci-fi comedy about an unlikely trio that investigates a series of eerie events, alerting them to a nefarious conspiracy lurking directly beneath their neighborhood.
Oppenheimer
US Date: July 21
UK/AU Date: July 21 (UK), TBA (AU)
Christopher Nolan’s historical biopic, about “father of the atomic bomb” Robert Oppenheimer, features a who’s who of Hollywood, including Cillian Murphy (in the title role), Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Josh Hartnett and Kenneth Branagh (to name a few). The film follows theoretical physicist Oppenheimer during his time as the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory at the Manhattan Project during World War II.
Haunted Mansion
US Date: July 28
UK/AU Date: Aug 11 (UK), TBA (AU)
Disney theme park attraction Haunted Mansion gets its second go ’round in theaters, after 2003’s Eddie Murphy film, this time from Dear White People’s Justin Simien. Atlanta’s LaKeith Stanfield stars — with Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, and Danny DeVito (and let’s not forget Jamie Lee Curtis as Madame Leota and Jared Leto as the Hatbox Ghost) — as the mansion’s new tenants enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters.
Talk to Me
US Date: July 28
UK/AU Date: July 28 (UK), TBA (AU)
A24 acquired the distribution rights to this Australian creepfest, which is about a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand. Soon they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, and LOTR’s Miranda Otto star.
Sympathy for the Devil
US Date: July 28
UK/AU Date: TBA (UK), TBA (AU)
Nicolas Cage and The Suicide Squad’s Joel Kinnaman star in a new psychological horror film about a man (Kinnaman) who’s forced to drive a mysterious passenger (Cage) at gunpoint, finding himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse where nothing is as it seems.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
US Date: Aug 4
UK/AU Date: Aug 4 (UK), TBA (AU)
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg reignite the Ninja Turtle flame with animated feast Mutant Mayhem, co-written and directed by The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ Jeff Rowe. The turtle brothers set out on a quest to be accepted as normal teenagers through acts of heroism, aided by a crazy cache of celebrity voices from Jackie Chan (Splinter), Giancarlo Esposito (Baxter Stockman), The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri (April O’Neil), Paul Rudd (Mondo Gecko), Rose Byrne (Leatherhead), Post Mallone (Ray Fillet) and Rogen and John Cena as Bebop and Rocksteady.
Meg 2: The Trench
US Date: Aug 4
UK/AU Date: Aug 4 (UK), TBA (AU)
Get ready for the biggest Meg you’ve ever seen as Jason Statham’s rescue diver Jonas Taylor is recruited for an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean, where prehistoric life still lives and thrives. Based on 1999’s sequel novel The Trench, Meg 2 looks to chomp its way through the dog days of summer.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
US Date: Aug 11
UK/AU Date: Aug 11 (UK), TBA (AU)
Trollhunter’s André Øvredal takes on this new/old Dracula tale of the dreaded Count’s death-strewn journey from Transylvania to London onboard the ship known as the Demeter. Straight Outta Compton’s Corey Hawkins, Game of Thrones’ Liam Cunningham, and The Suicide Squad’s David Dastmalchian are just part of the ensemble here for this tale of the horrifying events that befall the doomed crew.
Gran Turismo
US Date: Aug 11
UK/AU Date: Aug 11 (UK), TBA (AU)
District 9’s Neill Blomkamp tackles the video game-rooted tale about a Gran Turismo player (Archie Madekwe) whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan-sponsored video game competitions, allowing him to become an actual professional race car driver. David Harbour and Orlando Bloom also star.
Heart of Stone
US: Aug 11 on Netflix
Gal Gadot stars as CIA Agent Rachel Stone in Netflix spy thriller Heart of Stone, the streamer’s stab at kicking off a franchise akin to the Mission: Impossible films. Co-starring Jamie Dornan, the film showcases Agent Stone as the only person who stands between her powerful, global organization and the loss of its most valuable — and dangerous — asset.
Strays
US Date: Aug 18
UK/AU Date: June 9 – streaming (UK), June 8 – streaming (AU)
Recently bumped back a month to August, Strays (from American Vandal co-creator Dan Perrault) stars Will Ferrell as a usually care-free Border Terrier who embarks on a trek to get revenge on the owner (Will Forte) who abandoned him. Other pooches in this bawdy canine comedy include Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, and Randall Park.
Blue Beetle
US Date: Aug 18
UK/AU Date: Aug 18 (UK), TBA (AU)
A month after The Flash, DCU origin tale Blue Beetle arrives in theaters, starring Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña as a teen who who gains superpowers, and a powerful exoskeleton suit, after he finds an alien scarab artifact. Originally intended as an HBO Max streaming exclusive, Blue Beetle was given a theatrical release instead. Susan Sarandon and George Lopez also star.
Vacation Friends 2
US: Aug 25 on Hulu
John Cena, Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji, and Meredith Hagner will all return for Hulu’s Vacation Friends 2. This time, Steve Buscemi, Ronny Chieng, and The Wire/Bosch’s Jamie Hector join in on the antics. The sequel finds the foursome traveling on an all-expenses-paid trip to a Caribbean resort, only to have their plans thrown out of whack by Kyla’s incarcerated father Reese (Buscemi) getting released from San Quentin and arriving without notice.
The Equalizer 3
US Date: Sept 1
UK/AU Date: Sept 1 (UK), TBA (AU)
The third film in the Antoine Fuqua/Denzel Washington vigilante franchise takes Washington’s Robert McCall to Southern Italy where he inadvertently gets into a war with the Sicilian Mafia, while also harkening back to an older Denzel revenge film, Man on Fire, and giving the actor a reunion with star Dakota Fanning.
Which movies are you most excited for this summer? Let’s discuss in the comments, and be sure to also check out our biggest new and upcoming movies in 2023.
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