Every summer 2017 movie you need to see — TRAILERS
Ah, summer.
It’s the time of year when moviegoers can come in from the heat, turn off their brains and watch stuff blow up real good.
In other words, it’s pretty much like spring, except the stuff blows up bigger and better.
All the usual summer movie players — Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg — are back.
But while this summer still offers the expected onslaught of sequels and superhero movies, the studios are taking chances on smaller and more original fare.
This summer’s hot new trend? Lovesick girls with bizarre illnesses. One (in “Midnight Sun”) is allergic to sunlight. Another (in “Everything, Everything”) is allergic to, well, everything.
With that in mind, here’s a look at what summer has in store at the multiplexes. And, as always, release dates are subject to change.
Friday
As Mae (Emma Watson) advances inside the world’s biggest social media company, she’s asked by its founder (Tom Hanks) to push the boundaries of ethics and privacy in the thriller “The Circle.”
An aging gigolo (Eugenio Derbez) moves in with his sister (Salma Hayek) and tries to seduce a wealthy widow (Raquel Welch) in the comedy “How to Be a Latin Lover.”
May 5
Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) help Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) find his father in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.”
A gubernatorial candidate (Richard Gere), his estranged brother (Steve Coogan) and their wives (Rebecca Hall, Laura Linney) settle in for a tense meal to discuss the shocking crime committed by their sons in “The Dinner.”
When teenager Ray (Elle Fanning) wants to transition into a man, her mother (Naomi Watts) must track down Ray’s father (Tate Donovan) for consent while Ray’s lesbian grandmother (Susan Sarandon) struggles with the decision in “3 Generations.”
May 12
Arthur’s (Charlie Hunnam) rise from the alleys to England’s throne is chronicled in “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” from co-writer/director Guy Ritchie.
A recently dumped woman (Amy Schumer) takes her mother (Goldie Hawn) on an exotic vacation in the action-comedy “Snatched.”
May 19
The crew of a colony ship discovers a dangerous world at the far side of the galaxy in the prequel “Alien: Covenant,” which marks the return of director Ridley Scott to the world he launched with 1979’s “Alien.”
Maddy (Amandla Stenberg), an 18-year-old who can’t leave her hermetically sealed home, falls in love with Olly (Nick Robinson), the literal boy next door, in “Everything, Everything,” based on the young adult best-seller.
Greg (Jason Drucker) and his parents (Alicia Silverstone, Tom Everett Scott) hit the road in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul.”
A New York City schemer (Richard Gere) leverages an unlikely friendship with the new prime minister of Israel (Lior Ashkenazi) into a potential life-changing deal in “Norman.”
May 25
Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon (Dwayne Johnson) tries to tame a new recruit (Zac Efron) in this R-rated comedic take on the campy “Baywatch.”
May 26
Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is on the run from ghost sailors, led by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), and must find the Trident of Poseidon to save himself in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
As they’re about to leave each other for their new partners, a married couple (Debra Winger, Tracy Letts) discover a long-lost spark between them in “The Lovers.”
June 2
When American pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes on her remote island home, Diana (Gal Gadot), princess of the Amazons, is drawn into World War I in “Wonder Woman” — awesome 1970s theme song not included.
In less spectacular superhero news, two students (voiced by Kevin Hart and “Silicon Valley’s” Thomas Middleditch) hypnotize their principal (Ed Helms) into thinking he’s a caped avenger in the animated “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.”
June 9
When her tomb is uncovered, an ancient princess (Sofia Boutella) unleashes her brand of supernatural malevolence on Tom Cruise in “The Mummy,” which has absolutely nothing to do with those old Brendan Fraser movies.
With the world under attack, a father (Joel Edgerton) unwittingly puts his family in greater danger when he invites another family into his secluded home in “It Comes at Night.”
A young Marine (Kate Mara) bonds with an aggressive dog, trains him and completes more than 100 missions in Iraq in “Megan Leavey,” a drama based on a true story.
Thinking she murdered his guardian, a young Englishman (Sam Claflin) seeks revenge against his cousin (Rachel Weisz), only to end up falling for her, in the dark romance “My Cousin Rachel.”
June 16
Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is forced out of racing by a new generation of speedsters in “Cars 3.”
During a bachelorette weekend in Miami, five friends (Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Ilana Glazer, Zoe Kravitz and Bishop Gorman grad Jillian Bell) accidentally kill a male stripper in the raunchy comedy “Rough Night.”
The life of Tupac Shakur (Demetrius Shipp Jr.) is chronicled, from his rise to the top of the rap world to his shooting death in Las Vegas, in “All Eyez on Me.”
When a woman (Naomi Watts) discovers the family next door’s disturbing secret, her 11-year-old son (Jaeden Lieberher) devises a plan to rescue the family’s daughter (Maddie Ziegler) in the thriller “The Book of Henry.”
While shark diving on vacation, two sisters (Mandy Moore, Claire Holt) become trapped in a cage at the bottom of the sea in “47 Meters Down,” which is apparently a more marketable title than “154.1976 Feet Down.”
The wife (Diane Lane) of an inattentive Hollywood producer (Alec Baldwin) finds a new sense of purpose during a trip through France in “Paris Can Wait.”
June 23
Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), an English Lord (Anthony Hopkins), an Oxford Professor (Laura Haddock) and Bumblebee band together to save the planet in “Transformers: The Last Knight.”
The sheltered young women at a Southern boarding school take in an injured enemy soldier (Colin Farrell) in writer-director Sofia Coppola’s Civil War-era thriller “The Beguiled,” co-starring Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning and Kirsten Dunst.
When his mother dies, a young man (writer-director Demetri Martin) escapes New York for Los Angeles while his father (Kevin Kline) copes with his grief by putting the family home up for sale in “Dean.”
June 28
After a young getaway driver named Baby (Ansel Elgort) falls in love with a waitress (Lily James), he tries to break free of a crime boss (Kevin Spacey) in “Baby Driver,” written and directed by Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead”) and co-starring Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx.
June 30
Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) meets his long-lost brother, Dru (Carell), as well as his biggest threat yet, former 1980s child star Balthazar Bratt (“South Park’s” Trey Parker), in “Despicable Me 3.”
After a couple (Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler) lose their daughter’s college fund, they set up an underground casino to earn it back in the comedy “The House.”
Speaking of houses, a girl, her sister, her comatose twin brother and their single mom move into a haunted one in “Amityville: The Awakening,” starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bella Thorne and Jennifer Morrison.
July 7
After his time with The Avengers, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) returns home to Queens, his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and his mentor, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), while trying to be a normal high school student — at least until the arrival of the villainous Vulture (Michael Keaton) — in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley”) and Emily V. Gordon wrote the Sundance sensation “The Big Sick,” a comedy starring Nanjiani based on their courtship and his trying to help her through a medical crisis while winning over her parents (Holly Hunter, Ray Romano).
Patricia Dombrowski (Danielle Macdonald) tries to make it in the New Jersey hip-hop scene in another Sundance hit, “Patti Cake$.”
July 14
Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his simians are forced into a deadly battle with an army of humans led by Colonel (Woody Harrelson) in “War for the Planet of the Apes.”
A teenager (Bella Thorne) who’s allergic to sunlight hides her condition from her crush (Patrick Schwarzenegger), whom she sees only at night, in “Midnight Sun.”
In darker teen territory, a 17-year-old’s (Joey King) miserable life turns around when her father (Ryan Phillippe) brings home a music box that grants wishes — at the expense of the lives of the people closest to her — in the horror tale “Wish Upon.”
July 21
Hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are trapped on a beach in director Christopher Nolan’s World War II drama, “Dunkirk,” starring Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance and Tom Hardy.
Intergalactic operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are assigned a mission to Alpha, home to thousands of species, in hopes of saving the human race in “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” a sci-fi adventure from writer-director Luc Besson.
Lifelong friends (Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish) head to New Orleans in the comedy “Girls Trip.”
July 28
An MI6 agent (Charlize Theron) is sent to recover a priceless dossier from Berlin, days before the fall of the wall, in the brutal thriller “Atomic Blonde,” co-starring James McAvoy and John Goodman.
Emojis Gene (voiced by T.J. Miller), Hi-5 (James Corden) and Jailbreak (Anna Faris) travel through various apps in an effort to save their phone in the animated “The Emoji Movie.”
Former Vice President Al Gore continues his fight against climate change in the documentary “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.”
When he’s reunited with his birth parents after being kidnapped as a child, a grown man (co-writer Kyle Mooney) sets out to make a movie of his favorite children’s TV show in the Sundance standout “Brigsby Bear.”
Aug. 4
Gunslinger Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) is determined to stop the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) from destroying the universe in “The Dark Tower,” based on the Stephen King novels.
The “Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” team of writer Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow bring you “Detroit,” a drama based on the city’s 1967 riots.
A blind woman (Blake Lively) regains her sight and begins noticing disturbing things about her relationship with her husband (Jason Clarke) in “All I See Is You.”
Aug. 11
A Las Vegas FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) heads to frigid Wyoming, where she teams with a local tracker (Jeremy Renner) to investigate the death of a girl on tribal lands, in the drama “Wind River,” from Oscar-nominated writer Taylor Sheridan (“Hell or High Water”).
Go back to the beginning in that rarest of rarities, a prequel to a spinoff, in “Annabelle: Creation,” which tells the backstory of that creepy doll from the “Conjuring” movies.
Surly Squirrel (voiced by Will Arnett) and his friends rally to save their park from a bulldozer in the animated “The Nut Job 2.”
Aug. 18
Three siblings (Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough) set out to rob Charlotte Motor Speedway in “Logan Lucky,” the feature film return of director Steven Soderbergh.
The world’s best protection agent (Ryan Reynolds) is forced to team with a notorious assassin (Samuel L. Jackson) in the action comedy “The Hitman’s Bodyguard.”
Aug. 25
Teenagers start dying after they’re photographed by an old instant camera in the horror story “Polaroid.”
In 17th-century Amsterdam, a married woman (Alicia Vikander) and an artist (Dane DeHaan) gamble on the booming tulip bulb market to raise money to run away together in “Tulip Fever.”
Instead of shuttering a small church as he was assigned to do, a pastor (John Corbett) opens it to refugees from Southeast Asia and begins farming the surrounding land in “All Saints,” a faith-based film inspired by a true story.
Aug. 30
In 1884, an orphaned 11-year-old (voiced by Elle Fanning) arrives in Paris with a dream of becoming a dancer in the animated “Leap!,” featuring the voices of Kate McKinnon and, in what is sure to be their only collaboration, Mel Brooks and “Call Me Maybe” singer Carly Rae Jepsen.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_onthecouch on Twitter.
