23 Summer Movies to Watch in 2024

Alas, Barbenheimer is in the rearview—but there’s a whole new crop of summer movies waiting to take 2024 by storm. We’ve got popcorn flicks; we’ve got art house curiosities; we’ve got sequels, sequels, and sequels. (Some of them are filled with tornados!) Below, Vanity Fair breaks down the 23 movies coming out this summer that we’re most looking forward to catching, starting with Memorial Day’s one-two (-three?) punch.

Furiosa: A Mad Max SagaRelease Date: May 24Director: George MillerNoteworthy Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris HemsworthYou needn’t reacquaint yourself with the glorious, post-apocalyptic mumbo jumbo of Miller’s Mad Max universe to appreciate its latest installment: a prequel that casts Anya Taylor-Joy as the younger version of Charlize Theron’s imperious heroine. Taylor-Joy stars alongside an unrecognizable Chris Hemsworth, who was not Miller’s first choice for the role: “Oh God, my mind was completely somewhere else in terms of who might play Dementus,” he recently told VF. Nevertheless, the Marvel vet charmed the director and led a set that was apparently much less fraught than the famously troubled production of Mad Max: Fury Road. Hopefully this time around, all the chaos is confined to the screen. —Hillary Busis

Hit ManRelease Date: May 24 in theaters, June 7 on NetflixDirector: Richard LinklaterNoteworthy Cast: Glen Powell, Adria ArjonaAfter Challengers, The Idea of You, and The Fall Guy, why not let the fun, sexy times continue with Richard Linklater’s Hit Man—an old-fashioned Saturday-night date movie that you can catch in a real theater before it heads to Netflix. Glen Powell plays a humble philosophy professor (albeit the hottest philosophy professor you’ve ever seen) who, through a minor twist of fate, finds himself working undercover for the police, donning a series of clever disguises as a fake killer for hire ensnaring would-be clients. He’s soon caught up with one of his intended targets, played by Adria Arjona, and the movie saunters off into steamy romance and mild suspense. One centerpiece scene, a dazzling display of Powell’s movie-star dexterity, had audiences cheering when the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival last summer, and then again when the movie played at Sundance Toronto Film Festival. Among the best of Linklater’s laid-back “one for them” commercial plays, Hit Man is trying to do little more than entertain. It does just that, in abundance. —Richard Lawson

BabesRelease Date: May 17 (wide release)Director: Pamela AdlonNoteworthy Cast: Ilana Glazer, Michelle ButeauIf Ilana from Broad City got knocked up, she might look a lot like Glazer’s Eden, a free-spirited 30-something navigating an unplanned pregnancy alongside her best friend Dawn (Michelle Buteau, in the more grounded Abbi Jacobson role). The film has the bawdy jokes you’d expect of an Apatovian comedy, but it’s directed by Pamela Adlon, a multihyphenate who spent five seasons of Better Things sensitively exploring family and femalehood. Also, as seen in the trailer, they set a breast pump on fire—something any nursing mother has fantasized about doing at one point or another. —HB

Bad Boys: Ride or DieRelease Date: June 7Director: Adil El Arbi and Bilall FallahNoteworthy Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa HudgensWill Smith’s post-slap career rehabilitation could begin in earnest with the release of this fourquel, which reunites the Oscar winner and Martin Lawrence with superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer. (And which was not put on pause after Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, despite reports to the contrary.) Anyway, Smith and Lawrence are back as detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, now working to clear the name of upstanding Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano, who—like Smith and Lawrence—has been making these movies since the ’90s). This may be one of those cases where the press tour is every bit as interesting, if not more, than the movie itself. —HB

The WatchersRelease Date: June 7Director: Ishana Night ShyamalanNoteworthy Cast: Dakota FanningThe feature directorial debut of M. Night Shymalan’s daughter, Ishana, The Watchers is a supernatural horror film set in Ireland and based on A.M. Shine’s novel of the same name. Fanning plays the main character, a woman who finds herself stranded in a sinister forest. When she finally finds shelter with three strangers, the group is observed by mysterious creatures. —Julie Miller

Inside Out 2Release Date: June 14Director: Kelsey MannNoteworthy Cast: Amy Poehler, Tony Hale, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Phyllis SmithThere’s nothing like puberty to throw the emotional control room of Inside Out’s Riley into utter turmoil. Joy (Amy Poehler) is still there as Riley moves into adolescence, as are Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale steps in for Bill Hader), and Disgust (Liza Lapira replaces Mindy Kaling). But entering high school also means that Riley’s brain has become home to several new emotions, including Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (voiced by Blue Is the Warmest Color’s Adèle Exarchopoulos). “It’s what you would call…the boredom,” she explains in the trailer. But it is Maya Hawke’s Anxiety that will commandeer Riley’s inner self for a sure-to-be existential sequel from Pixar’s Kelsey Mann, who was part of the creative teams on Lightyear and Elemental. —Savannah Walsh

The BikeridersRelease Date: June 21Director: Jeff NicholsNoteworthy Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom HardyAfter spending almost a year in second gear, The Bikeriders is revving up. Inspired by Danny Lyon’s 1968 photography book of the same name, the highly anticipated drama from Loving director Jeff Nichols follows a fictional 1960s Midwestern biker gang called the Vandals. The Bikeriders originally premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival in August 2023, where it received positive reviews and early Oscar buzz. But the buzz faded after the film’s intended release date was pushed back due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Jodie Comer stars as strong-willed Kathy, paramour to Austin Butler’s Benny, the newest member of the increasingly dangerous Vandals. The cast also includes Norman Reedus, Nichols’ longtime collaborator Michael Shannon, and Challengers star Mike Faist. “I’m really proud of this film and I think it does what I’ve set out to do, which is just dip you in this world and this feeling, the same feeling I got from these photos,” Nichols told VF after the Telluride premiere. —Chris Murphy

Kinds of KindnessRelease Date: June 21Director: Yorgos LanthimosNoteworthy Cast: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Hunter SchaferDetails remain scant on Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film, which is structured as an anthology composed of three distinctive stories. What we do know is that the movie reunites Lanthimos with his Dogtooth and The Lobster cowriter, Efthymis Filippou, following his collaborations with Tony McNamara on the Oscar-winning The Favourite and Poor Things—which may mark a return to (even) weirder form for the Greek filmmaker. Emma Stone and other actors from that film are back in the company—Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley—alongside Lanthimos newcomers like Jesse Plemons, Hong Chau, and Mamoudou Athie. —David Canfield

Janet PlanetRelease Date: June 21Director: Annie BakerNoteworthy Cast: Julianne Nicholson, Zoe ZieglerAnnie Baker is one of the most exciting American playwrights of the 21st century, writing work that’s somehow simultaneously grounded and metaphysical. She transitions to film for Janet Planet, which earned rave reviews from the Telluride and New York film festivals last year. The marvelous actor Julianne Nicholson lands the lead role she’s deserved since finally breaking big in Mare of Easttown, playing a single mom raising her 11-year-old daughter in 1991 Massachusetts. Don’t expect a ton of heavy plotting from Baker, who favors mood over exposition. But should you find yourself in need of a little quiet and introspection this summer—maybe the kids are away at camp and you’re craving some pensive me time, or those curious summertime blues come calling as they do for so many of us—you could probably do no better than a film from an artist who consistently fascinates, surprises, and moves. —RL

ThelmaRelease Date: June 21Director: Josh MargolinNoteworthy Cast: June Squibb, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, Fred HechingerCall it a grandmother vengeance story. This Sundance charmer stars June Squibb as the titular Thelma—a woman who falls for a phone scam, then sets out across the country to hold her perpetrator accountable. Inspired by writer-director Josh Margolin’s relationship with his own grandmother, the movie is a send-up of action films, with the 90-something Squibb doing many of her own scooter stunts. “I loved it,” the Oscar nominee said at Sundance. “I’ve always been physical.” —JM

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1Release Date: June 28Director: Kevin CostnerNoteworthy Cast: Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena MaloneKevin Costner may hope to out-Yellowstone Yellowstone with his own epic Western. But don’t think that this project was born entirely out of rancor for Taylor Sheridan; Costner says he first commissioned the story in 1988, in his Bull Durham/Field of Dreams heyday. (In another universe, it’s Horizon, not Dances with Wolves, that got Costner his first Oscars.) The throwback drama, which Costner partially funded as well as directing, cowriting, and starring in it, follows the overlapping stories of American settlers and Indigenous people in the Civil War era. And if you dig it, you won’t have long to wait for more: Chapter 2 is out on August 16, while parts three and four are also planned. —HB

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel FRelease Date: July 26Director: Mark MolloyNoteworthy Cast: Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kevin BaconThirty (gulp) years after Beverly Hills Cop III, Eddie Murphy is back as fast-talking fish out of water Axel Foley. This time around, the Detroit native has returned to Los Angeles to help out his daughter (Zola star Taylour Paige). Expect familiar faces—franchise mainstays Jude Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot are in the mix as well—and the first film’s signature mix of action and comedy (though the official trailer implies a tilt more toward the former than the latter). Hey, maybe that means Sylvester Stallone will also stop by for a cameo! —HB

MaXXXineRelease Date: July 5Director: Ti WestNoteworthy Cast: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Giancarlo Esposito, Kevin Bacon, Moses SumneySteadily emerging as one of the most dynamic horror pairings of the decade, director Ti West and star Mia Goth bring their X trilogy to a close with this eponymous slasher film. Goth’s Maxine reaches Los Angeles circa 1985 in this edition, following the Texas-set X, and we chart her steadfast—perhaps deadly—continued determination to become an actress. She joins the cast of a cheesy horror sequel whose director is portrayed by the great Elizabeth Debicki, so expect the meta commentary to come in fast and bloody. —DC

Fly Me to the MoonRelease Date: July 12Director: Greg BerlantiNoteworthy Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson, Ray RomanoThose fatigued by a recent onslaught of musical biopics can relax—this is not a Frank Sinatra movie. It’s a quirky period comedy starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, reunited after the Coen brothers’ 2016 film, Hail Caesar! Tatum plays Cole Davis, a NASA director entrusted with the Apollo 11 launch. Johansson is Kelly Jones, a Don Draper–esque marketing guru brought in to “sell the moon” when public support for the launch plummets. But Kelly’s gonzo tactics go overboard when her boss (Woody Harrelson) asks that she stage a fake launch as backup. In other words, consider this the ideal date movie for that one Hinge match who thinks Stanley Kubrick shot the moon landing. Fly Me to the Moon will debut theatrically, then stream on AppleTV+. —SW

Sing SingRelease Date: July 12Director: Greg KwedarNoteworthy Cast: Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin, Sean San José, Paul RaciUndisputed red-carpet king Colman Domingo gets the sort of showcase actors dream of in Sing Sing, a drama about inmates at the titular prison staging a play. Domingo is one of just a few professional actors in the movie; most of his cohort are played by formerly incarcerated men who really did participate in the life-affirming theater program depicted in the film. It’s a small movie, but Domingo’s strong, finely shaded work could very well attract awards notice. And so could supporting actor Paul Raci, exuding the same warmth and strength that earned him an Oscar nomination for Sound of Metal. —HB

TwistersRelease Date: July 19Director: Lee Isaac ChungNoteworthy Cast: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Maura Tierney, Anthony RamosIf you’re one of those people who watched 2020’s delicate, sensitive (and Oscar-winning) family drama Minari and thought, “This guy should make an action movie about tornados,” you’re in luck. Minari director Lee Isaac Chung pivots wildly to Twisters, a so-called standalone sequel to the 1996 sidewinder spectacular Twister. (“Standalone” in that nobody in the new film is playing the kid of the original characters or anything—we think.) Glen Powell, who will have just charmed the pants off you in Hit Man, and Normal People star Daisy Edgar-Jones play storm chasers who, well, go chasing storms. We finally get to see Maura Tierney in a weather-based thriller, something many of us have long desired. Anthony Ramos, of the doe eyes and Hamilton fame, is also in the movie. And again, there are lots of big tornados. What more do you need to know? —RL

Deadpool & WolverineRelease Date: July 26Director: Shawn LevyNoteworthy Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena BaccarinIrreverent, fourth-wall-shattering Deadpool will certainly not have much to say about his first official entry into the Marvel cinematic universe or his franchise’s new home under the Disney umbrella. Likely he will also have few to no comments about Hugh Jackman’s highly hyped return to the role of Wolverine, a part Jackman previously tried to say goodbye to in 2017’s Logan. And the motor-mouthed antihero is definitely going to stay quiet about those persistent rumors that Taylor Swift (best friends with Blake Lively, who is married to Deadpool star and writer Ryan Reynolds—keep up!) will show up for a cameo in the new film. No, sir—this is set to be a quiet movie with no graphic violence, scored by ironic ’90s pop hits. Not on our watch. —HB

The InstigatorRelease Date: August 2Director: Doug LimanNoteworthy Cast: Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau, Paul Walter Hauser, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ving Rhames, Alfred MolinaOkay, it’s not the Damon-Affleck reunion you’re probably thinking of, but still: We’re getting the Bourne series star back together with the original’s director, Doug Liman, and Casey Affleck is coming along for the ride. The heist thriller centers on a botched robbery, two career criminals, and a therapist (Hong Chau) who somehow gets caught up in the getaway plan. And the other Affleck—Ben—happens to be involved too, producing alongside Matt Damon under their Artists Equity banner. —DC

BorderlandsRelease Date: August 9Director: Eli RothNoteworthy Cast: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar RamírezHot on the heels of The Last of Us and Fallout is another splashy video game adaptation, based on the eponymous space Western that was first released in 2009. Cate Blanchett leads an ensemble of heavy hitters—also including Barbie breakout Ariana Greenblatt and fellow Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis—playing intergalactic misfits searching for a buried treasure. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, except Bradley Cooper’s Rocket Raccoon has been replaced by Jack Black as a pooping robot. We come to this place…for magic! —HB

TrapRelease Date: August 9Director: M. Night ShyamalanNoteworthy Cast: Josh Hartnett, Hayley Mills, Alison PillThe prolific director behind The Sixth Sense, Split, and Knock at the Cabin returns with Trap, a film starring Oppenheimer’s Josh Hartnett. The trailer, which immediately went viral, opens with Hartnett’s Cooper taking his daughter to a concert by her favorite artist, Lady Raven. By the trailer’s end, we learn that the event is a ruse, designed to catch an elusive serial killer known as The Butcher. The twist? Cooper happens to have a hostage trapped in his basement at this very moment, heavily implying he’s the man the authorities are looking for. But the twists in Trap don’t stop there. Trap is a family affair: Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, stars in the film as Lady Raven, and the tunes featured in the film are actually Saleka originals. —CM

It Ends With UsRelease Date: August 9Director: Justin BaldoniNoteworthy Cast: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Hasan MinhajThe lily-covered book that has infiltrated beaches, book clubs, and all manners of public transit is finally making its way to the big screen. Based on Colleen Hoover’s blockbuster 2016 novel, Blake Lively stars as Lily Bloom, an aspiring florist who falls in love with desirable neurosurgeon Ryle—a man that, despite his charm, mimics abusive behavior Lily witnessed as a child. He is brought to life by Jane the Virgin’s Justin Baldoni, who also directs. The couple’s already tenuous relationship gets further complicated by a chance reunion with Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s first love—played by Brandon Sklenar—as well as the input of Ryle’s family members, including his sister, Allysa (Jenny Slate), and her husband, Marshall (Hasan Minhaj). —SW

The CrowRelease Date: August 23Director: Rupert SandersNoteworthy Cast: Bill Skarsgård, FKA twigs, and Danny HustonThirty years after Brandon Lee played the comic-book character, and 31 years after the tragic fatal accident on set that killed him, The Crow is getting a Hollywood remake. This time, Bill Skarsgård—son of Stellan Skarsgård, brother of Alexander Skarsgård, and star of Stephen King’s recent It adaptation—will portray the title figure, a murdered musician resurrected to avenge his and his girlfriend’s death. FKA twigs costars as the girlfriend in The Crow, the latest film to spring from the comic-book universe created by James O’Barr. —JM

Blink TwiceRelease Date: August 23Director: Zoë KravitzNoteworthy Cast: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, Simon Rex, Alia ShawkatYes, the movie formerly known as Pussy Island. Blink Twice stars Zoë Kravitz’s romantic partner, Channing Tatum, as tech billionaire Slater King. King meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) and whisks her and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) away to his private island. There, Frida meets King’s friends, played by Slater, MacLauchlan, Rex, and Haley Joel Osment, and things start to take a diabolical turn. Kravitz first met Tatum during his initial audition for the film, and called him her personal caretaker on set. “Whether it was making me tea, or pouring me a drink, or going to whip someone into shape or whatever—he really was my protector and it was really wonderful and sweet,” she told GQ in 2022. “I think if you can do something like that together, it’s a good test. And we came out even stronger.” So if you want to see how Zoë met Channing, you’ll have to watch Blink Twice. —CM

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