Hey, how’s the water? Pleasant? Sharks? Any shark trouble?
Fifty years ago, a certain film franchise hadn’t yet asked audiences those questions, in so many words. “Jaws” the first, and by several hundred thousand miles the best, opened in 1975; three years later “Jaws 2” arrived, dangling the marketing tagline “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.” That first sequel wasn’t much, but people went. That’s what moviegoers did then, reliably. They went to the movies, in a time just before sequels clogged an entire popular culture’s plumbing system.
It’s different now. “Star Wars” and then Marvel Studios, among others, have ensured our risk of franchise fatigue, and a rickety industry’s default reliance on a few big familiar name brands. So why am I cautiously optimistic — hope springs occasional, as they say — about the summer season, a time when all the franchisees come out to play and take you away from the sun?
My reasoning is simple.
A few weeks ago, “Thunderbolts” — the 36th title in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and yes, that’s too many — turned out pretty well. More recently, “Final Destination Bloodlines,” the sixth in the “Final Destination” killing spree, was fresh enough, in its blithe smackdowns between humans and Death, to remind us: You never know when one of these franchise entries will pay off, even modestly.
“Mission: Impossible — the Final Reckoning,” already in theaters, will soon be joined by dinosaurs, superheroes, naked guns and men in capes, all familiar, most having endured earlier big-screen adventures somewhere between bleh and much, much better than bleh. If many can’t help but favor the forthcoming releases promising something new, or -ish, well, the ones that succeed have a way of ensuring the industry’s future. And every time a standalone of populist distinction like this year’s “Sinners” finds an audience, an angel gets its wings.
Here’s a list of 10 summer offerings, five franchisees, five originals. Release dates subject to change.
“Materialists” (June 13): Writer-director Celine Song’s second feature, after the quiet triumph of “Past Lives,” stars Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, aka the Man Who Is Everywhere, in a romantic comedy about a high-end matchmaker’s triangular conundrum. Song knows the value of a triangle; in an apparently glossier vein, her “Past Lives” follow-up should make it crystal clear and, with luck, a winner.
“28 Years Later” (June 20): Ralph Fiennes brings nice, crisp final consonants to a ravaged near-future in director Danny Boyle’s return to speedy, menacing rage-virus junkies, with a script from franchise-starter Alex Garland. This is my kind of continuation; the first two films, “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later,” both worked, in interestingly different ways. Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson co-star.
“Elio” (June 20): Pixar’s back, which historically and statistically means good news more often than not. This one’s about an 11-year-old accidentally but not unpleasantly beamed into outer space’s “Communiverse” after making contact on Earth with aliens. Can Elio save the galaxy while representing his home planet well and truly? The directors of “Elio” are Madeline Sharafian (who made the Pixar short “Burro”), Domee Shi (“Bao,” “Turning Red”) and Adrian Molina (“Coco”).
“Sorry, Baby” (June 27): I’ve seen this one, and it’s really good. The story hinges on a maddeningly common incident of sexual assault, this one rewiring the life of a future college English department professor. But “Sorry, Baby” is not a movie about rape; it’s about the days, weeks and years afterward. Writer-director-star Eva Victor (who played Rian on “Billions”), here making a sharp-witted feature directorial debut, proves herself a triple threat with a wide-open future.
“F1” (June 27): “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski returns for what sounds a little like “Top Gun: Maverick: This Time on Wheels, and the Ground.” Brad Pitt plays a former Formula 1 superstar, now mentoring a reckless hotshot either to victory and wisdom, or defeat and a tragic embrace of his character flaws. Damson Idris, Javier Bardem and Kerry Condon co-star.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” (July 2): The latest in a hardy multi-decade franchise that has known triumph as well as “Jurassic World Dominion.” Heartening news on the director front: Gareth Edwards, who did so well by Godzilla in the 2014 “Godzilla,” wrangles the new storyline, with Scarlett Johansson leading an ensemble of potential snacks (humans, that is) in and out of digital harm’s way on a secret research facility island fulla’ trouble.
“Superman” (July 11): The whole double-life thing has gotten to the Kryptonian strongman by now, and in director James Gunn’s take on the “Superman” myth, he’s determined to resolve his Smallville upbringing and Clark Kent newspapering with the wider galaxy’s perilous demands. David Corenswet leaps into the title role; his co-stars include Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane) and Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luthor).
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” (July 25): Despite two of the least grabby words ever to fill the right-hand side of a movie title’s colon, “First Steps” already has stoked the enthusiasm of millions with a pretty zingy trailer, which of course automatically means the film is a classic. (Kidding.) We’ll see! The motley yet stylish quartet, led by Pedro “Everywhere, All the Time” Pascal, squares off with the ravenously evil Galactus and Galactus’ flying factotum, the Silver Surfer.
“The Naked Gun” (Aug. 1): First there was “Police Squad!”, the one-season 1982 wonder that introduced America’s most serenely confident law enforcement know-nothing, Frank Drebin, originated by the magically right Leslie Nielsen. Then came the “Naked Gun” movies. Now Liam Neeson takes over in this reboot, with a cast including Pamela Anderson and Paul Walter Hauser.
“Caught Stealing” (Aug. 29): In director Darren Aronofsky’s 1990s-set NYC thriller, a former pro baseball player (Austin Butler) attempts the larceny equivalent of stealing home once he’s entangled in the criminal underworld. This one boasts an A-grade cast, with Zoë Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, Regina King and Vincent D’Onofrio taking care of goods and bads alike.
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
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