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HED: What to look forward to at the movies this summer
WEBSUM: Summer blockbusters are coming soon to a theater near you.
The weather gets warmer, while the theaters start getting cooler. The trailers are continuously louder, and the box office predictions are now officially in the $100 million-plus range. Yes, my friends, summer blockbuster season is upon us.
Of course, this doesn’t have the same grandeur as it did, say, 10 years prior. Blockbusters now come out throughout the year, and budgets are so ridiculously high these days it’s hard to tell what’s a mid-budget movie and what’s a full-out blockbuster anymore. Regardless, Avengers: Age of Ultron, which premieres May 1, is the kickoff of the summer movie season. But based on the phenomenal box office success of Furious 7 these past two weeks — I still haven’t seen it, no spoilers please — it looks like the blistering cinematic season has already come.
Perhaps it’s a sign of maturity, or maybe it’s a point of exasperation, but blockbusters don’t excite me like they used to. It’s hard to get excited by explosions and CGI-fests over and over and over again. Plus, studio movies today are so formulaic and repetitive there’s little wonder in what Hollywood’s multi-million dollars can make.
That said, there are still movies that literally make me shake in anticipation, and the biggest baddie of the bunch for me is Mad Max: Fury Road. I haven’t seen one Mad Max movie in my life, but I hope that changes soon. This movie looks balls-out ballistic. There are fire tornados, a one-armed, buzz-cut sporting Charlize Theron, skull masks and me quivering with excitement for the film to hopefully be good. Please don’t disappoint me.
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Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck is on a different spectrum. The trailer for this Amy Schumer led/written-comedy is one of the most genuinely funny things I’ve seen in years, and early reviews from SXSW promise it delivers the goods. When a movie has John Cena and LeBron James not only on tap to star but as comedic highpoints, you know the filmmakers did something right.
Ever mysterious and bound with potential comes Tomorrowland, Brad Bird’s latest, original high-concept movie starring George Clooney. Between The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, Bird has done no wrong, and this soaring actioner looks to be a breezy, high-minded summer addition. Speaking of Disney, I also really, really hope Pixar’s latest, Inside Out, brings back Pixar’s greatness, and early reports suggest it’s possible.
Also, I may be the only straight man legitimately hyped up to see Magic Mike XXL in all its beefed-up glory, and I sincerely believe this new Fantastic Four reboot has potential to be a big surprise. I additionally think The Man From U.N.C.L.E. looks like a good, fun throwback, and since Mission: Impossible was brought up, the trailer shot of Tom Cruise holding on for his life in a plane flying thousands of feet above the air — a stunt the actor/producer actually performed — gives me wonderful goosebumps for Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.
So there are plenty of films to sustain you through these hot months. I can’t muster up the same excitement for films like Ant-Man, Jurassic World or the aforementioned Avengers: Age of Ultron, but I’ll go in with as open a mind as possible. In short, I’m ready summer. Bring it.
Will Ashton is a senior studying journalism and a writer for The Post. Email him at wa054010@ohio.edu or find him on Twitter @thewillofash.
