Following the release of The Fall Guy and I Saw the TV Glow, it feels like we are officially heading into the summer where we can all find the comfort of air conditioning and the magic of the cinema inside our favorite theaters. From major blockbusters to indie horror flicks, the summer of 2024 will truly bring something for everyone! Our team selected their most anticipated films of the summer and broke them down below!

Hit Man

Glen Powell has felt like a movie star on the verge of bursting into the mainstream for years now. After being a featured player in Top Gun: Maverick, the highest grossing film of the Summer 2022 season, and co-starring in Anyone But You, a hugely successful romcom in the age of streaming purgatory for most in the genre, he now stars in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man. Hit Man is about a cop who goes undercover as a hit man, donning many identities and falling in love with a woman in need of his help. Richard Linklater’s last live-action outing was 2019’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette, a film with a middling response from critics and audiences. Social media reactions out of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and 2023 Toronto Film Festival for Hit Man are anything but milquetoast; viewers describe it as sexy, fun, and a crowd pleaser. This is the tone of a film I want to start my summer with! Traditionally, movie stars become stars by starring in a variety of parts: rom-com, action, franchise, and drama alike. With this rom-com and Twisters as a giant action tentpole movie, Glen Powell might just cement his movie star status this summer. Hit Man is in select cinemas on May 24th and streams on Netflix on June 7th (but see it in a theater, please!). – Madelyn

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Remember her! Boy, do I remember her! Anya Taylor-Joy stepping into the famous role of Furiosa in the highly anticipated prequel from George Miller will kick things off this summer. From the very first teaser, I was on board for this movie. We head back to the Wasteland on May 24th with Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth battling it out. The last Mad Max entry was not only a critical hit but an Oscar darling as well. In what will surely be the action film of the summer, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. – Kenzie

Inside Out 2

Out of all of the sequels coming out this summer, Inside Out 2 has the best chances of making its audiences cry uncontrollably.  Since the emotional roller coaster that was the original, Riley is back but now as a teenager.  With her changing life, new emotions are joining the original five, making the control room inside Riley’s head getting a little more crammed.  Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust are back but are getting pushed to the side as Anxiety, Ennui, Envy and Embarrassment become the forefront of what will become Riley’s core memories.  Pixar is not afraid to talk about deep messages when it comes to big life changes – like going through your early teen years – making it a highly anticipated second story. Inside Out 2 opens in theaters on June 14th. – Jessa

The Bikeriders

Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, and Jodie Comer is enough to get me in a theater, but The Bikeriders not only stars these incredible actors but was written and directed by Jeff Nichols. More than enough said! The film is a beautiful adaptation of a famous photography book by Danny Lyon. I was blessed to have already seen this amazing film at AFI last year and it really is an Americana classic as Nichols explores the lives of members of a riding club. There’s no romanticizing or judgement towards (most of) the characters. In addition to Butler, Hardy and Comer, The Bikeriders also includes Mike Faist, Michael Shannon, and Norman Reedus. The film opens exclusively in theaters on June 21st. – Kenzie

Kinds of Kindness

Fresh off four Oscar wins for Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos is already onto his next film, Kinds of Kindness. Reteaming with Emma Stone and some of his usual suspects and fresh faces, Lanthimos is breaking up the summer blockbuster mania with three anthologies wrapped into one film. In the contemporary piece Yorgos returns to the writing chair for the first time since The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Kinds of Kindness opens in theaters on June 21st. – Jillian

A Quiet Place: Day One

It’s not a summer movie season without an old-fashioned popcorn movie. Remember the A Quiet Place: Part II baseball scene? The quiet buildup of tension, as the filmmakers slowly reveal the origins of this invasion for the Abbott family. A Quiet Place: Day One expands on this scene, showing the minute aliens with ultrasonic hearing invaded. Following in the footsteps of War of the Worlds (2005) and Cloverfield (2008), this film follows a more traditional invasion narrative by placing the audience in a major city, namely New York City. It will be interesting to see how this film stands out from staples in the genre, and how this entry into the franchise changes with John Krasinski stepping away from the director’s chair. Academy Award Winner Lupita N’yongo stars in A Quiet Place: Day One. She is a modern icon of horror, as evidenced by her work in Us (2019). Joseph Quinn is set to have his breakout year in film with A Quiet Place: Day One and Gladiator II, it will be interesting to see how he works in a blockbuster like this. Speaking of Gladiator, Djimon Hounsou returns to the Quiet Place franchise; he is always a welcome addition to any film. A Quiet Place: Part II did extremely well during the pandemic box office. It was the film that many broke out of their pandemic bubbles to see for the first time since March 2020. I have high hopes for the box office returns on this entry too, the Quiet Place films have so far exceeded my expectations.  A Quiet Place: Day One is exclusively in theaters June 28th, 2024. The film will be shown on IMAX screens. – Madelyn

MaXXXine

Audiences will continue to follow Maxine Minx after both X and Pearl when the latest Mia Goth and Ti West film opens this summer. After Minx escapes the events of X, she finds herself in Hollywood aiming to transition from adult films to more mainstream films gracing the silver screen. She finds herself in more of a jam when her past catches up to her all the while the Night Stalker roams the City of Angels. An all star cast assembles for this film, including Kevin Bacon, Halsey, Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale. The most American film obviously opens the weekend of the 4th of July exclusively in theaters. – Kenzie

Despicable Me 4

The Despicable Me franchise will probably outlast all of us with the fourth addition hitting theaters this summer. The entire main voice cast as well as the director from the first two have returned with a new voice cast including Sofia Vergara for an all new adventure full of heists, minions, and a new baby. Despicable Me 4 releases into theaters on July 3rd for the holiday weekend in the US. – Jillian

Longlegs

A horror film with incredible posters, teaser trailers, and Maika Monroe? We are SO BACK! Longlegs is a movie I truly could still not tell you the plot or premise, but that doesn’t even matter. The more vague the better with horror films honestly. In addition to horror icon Monroe, the film also stars Nicholas Cage. Monroe plays FBI Agent Lee Harker as she is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes an unexpected turn. She discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again. There is nothing else I need to know to be seated and the insanely creepy marketing has only intensified my need to see this film as soon as possible. Longlegs opens in theaters on July 12th. – Kenzie

Twisters

Take cover as the Twisters are coming late this year with a very much anticipated standalone sequel to the 1996 hit, Twister. From the director of Minari, Academy Award Nominee Lee Isaac Chung takes the reins to concoct a thrilling adventure that explores the world’s natural disaster starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar Jones, and Anthony Ramos. A new era of storm chasers are set out to battle this double header, watch out for flying cows. Twisters hits theaters on July 19th. – Jillian

TRAP

Fresh off the heels of his 2023 release, M. Night Shyamalan is back with another summer thriller. A father (Josh Hartnett) takes his daughter to a performance of her favorite singer (played by Shyamalan’s daughter) only to find out the entire concert is a set up to catch a serial killer. This is a nightmare for Hartnett as he may be the one the whole thing is set up to “trap.” While it seems as though too much was given away in the trailer, Shyamalan being the king of twists will have viewers on the edge of their seas waiting to see what the real story is. Trap opens in theaters on August 9th. – Jessa

Alien: Romulus

The image of a baby xenomorph bursting out of a chest in the original Alien has haunted my brain for years and the latest story in the long running franchise takes a new twist on that horrifying sequence. A new crew of colonizers come face to face with the ever evolving Alien: Romulus that is scarring audiences many years after its original introduction. Still no one has figured out how to properly fight and survive against these creatures and Romulus looks like the most thrilling, chilling one to come yet taking place between the first and second film. Alien: Romulus will be released in theaters on August 16th. – Jillian

The Crow

The original film was truly one of the films that got me interested in movies with its dark premise and aesthetic. Now, Bill Skarsgård is set to portray the iconic Eric Draven in the reimagining of The Crow. Skarsgård stars alongside FKA Twigs as Shelly as well as Danny Huston as the evil at the core of the story. The new look we caught of the film at CinemaCon made me all the more excited for the film as it is intense and full of violence (shotguns to the face???). The film looks dark, romantic, and visceral. The Crow opens exclusively in theaters on August 23rd to wrap up the summer movie season. – Kenzie