Focus Features
It seems that Hollywood was too quick to crown Bad Boys: Ride or Die as the savior of the summer box office. Because Pixar’s Inside Out 2 blew away all box office projections with a $154 million opening last weekend. That’s not too far behind Barbie‘s $162 million opening from last year. Inside Out 2 probably won’t have the legs that Barbie did at the box office, but it’s well on its way to being one of the biggest hits of the year. A $500 million domestic finish for Inside Out 2 is not an unreasonable estimate when the film finally leaves theaters.
In the short run, this week’s new addition, The Bikeriders, has no shot at overtaking Inside Out 2. None. This battle was over before the first motorcycle started. Unfortunately for The Bikeriders, it’s unlikely to take No. 2 either, since Bad Boys: Ride or Die proved to be good counterprograming for Inside Out 2 last weekend. That’s likely going to mean a third place finish for The Bikeriders at best.
Regardless, having a genuine blockbuster in theaters is the game-changer we’ve been waiting for this summer. And if you want to keep on top of what’s coming next, check back here every week for our roundup of the best new movies coming to theaters in 2024. We update this list on Friday mornings so you’ll have a guide to what’s arriving in theaters this summer and beyond.
Need more recommendations? Try the best new movies to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Max (HBO), and more and the best new shows to stream on Netflix, Hulu, (HBO) Max, and more.
June 2024
Focus Features
The Bikeriders
THE BIKERIDERS – Official Trailer 2 [HD] – Only In Theaters June 21
Release date: June 21
Jodie Comer’s new drama, The Bikeriders, may be a surprise sleeper hit at the box office this summer. Comer’s character, Kathy, provides the perspective as she witnesses a motorcycle club called The Vandals slowly transform over the course of the 1960s from a social group of bikers into a feared group of outlaws played by Austin Butler (Dune: Part Two), Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist (Challengers), Norman Reedus, and Boyd Holbrook.
Fancy Dance
Fancy Dance — Official Trailer | Apple TV+
Release date: June 21
Killers of the Flower Moon‘s Lily Gladstone is back this summer in Fancy Dance, an original movie produced by Apple Studios that will get a theatrical release. Gladstone will portray Jax, a woman who is taking care of her niece, Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson), because her sister is missing. Jax and Roki want to stay together, while Roki’s grandfather, Frank (Shea Wigham), wants sole custody of his granddaughter. The only solution that Jax and Roki see is to find Roki’s mother, if they can.
Kinds of Kindness
KINDS OF KINDNESS | Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos | SearchlightUK
Release date: June 21
Yorgos Lanthimos, stop being weird. The director of Poor Things has a follow-up film that has a confusing premise. As far as we can tell, almost every member of the cast is playing three different characters from separate anthology stories. At the very least, Lanthimos didn’t have any trouble attracting A-list talent, including Poor Things stars Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, as well as Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, and Hong Chau.
A Quiet Place: Day One
Release date: June 27
Now this is more like it: A summer release that’s both a sci-fi film and a horror story. A Quiet Place: Day One acts as a prequel to the first two films by showing what happened when the aliens invaded New York City. In just a short period of time, a city of millions is cut down to just a handful of survivors, including Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) and Eric (Joseph Quinn).
They’ve both smart enough to realize that the aliens can only hear them. Yet that knowledge may not be enough to save them when New York City is sealed off from the rest of the state.
Horizon: An American Saga
Horizon: An American Saga – Official Trailer #2 – Warner Bros. UK & Ireland
Release date: June 28
Kevin Costner really loves Westerns. So much so that he put up his own money to write, direct, and star in Horizon: An American Saga, which will hopefully play out over the course of four movies. Only two of the films have already been shot, and both are coming out this year.
Story details are still a bit hard to come by, but Costner is playing a man who is leading a group of settlers west so they can build new lives for themselves after the Civil War.
July 2024
Universal Pictures/Illumination
Despicable Me 4
Despicable Me 4 | Official Trailer 2
Release date: July 5
It’s been seven years since the last Despicable Me movie, and the Minions have since launched a film franchise of their own. But everybody is back together this summer for Despicable Me 4.
This time, Gru (Steve Carell) and his family have new adversaries: Maxine Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and Valentina (Sofia Vergara). Unfortunately for Gru, he badly underestimated his foes, and the family will have to stay one step ahead of these latest villains.
MaXXXine
Release date: July 5
Mia Goth returns as Maxine Minx in MaXXXine, the sequel to X and Pearl. This time, the film is set in Los Angeles in 1985, as Maxine finally takes a real shot at achieving her dreams of stardom. However, Maxine hasn’t lost her talent for attracting big trouble, and she will have to contend with the Night Stalker.
Director Ti West has put together an impressive cast that includes Giancarlo Esposito, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Monaghan, and Elizabeth Debicki to close out his trilogy of terror.
Fly Me To The Moon
Fly Me to The Moon – Official Trailer – Only In Cinemas July 12
Release date: July 12
Fly Me To the Moon gets points for originality if nothing else. How many other romantic comedies get to play off the race to put a man on the moon in the ’60s? Channing Tatum plays Cole Davis, the man in charge of NASA’s moon landing project, while Scarlett Johansson portrays Kelly Jones, a marketing specialist who crafts NASA’s public image. Somewhere along the way, they fall in love.
Twisters
Twisters – Official Trailer 2 – Warner Bros. UK & Ireland
Release date: July 19
Twister was not really a film that needed a sequel 28 years later, but when has that ever stopped Hollywood before? Twisters has cast the new Superman, David Corenswet, to star alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos as the latest generation of storm chasers. Together, they go looking for trouble – and they’re gonna find it.
Deadpool & Wolverine
Deadpool & Wolverine | Official Trailer | In Theaters July 26
Release date: July 26
If anything is going to break Marvel’s box office slump, it’s Deadpool & Wolverine. Getting Hugh Jackman to reprise his role as Wolverine after two decades of X-Men movies was just the boost that the film formerly known as Deadpool 3 needed. Ryan Reynolds practically willed this movie to happen, and it’s Marvel’s best defense against superhero fatigue.
As for the plot, who cares?! It’s got Deadpool and Wolverine beating each other up before teaming up to fight the villain. That’s good enough for us.
August 2024
Sony Pictures
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Harold And The Purple Crayon – Official Trailer – Only In Cinemas August 2
Release date: August 2
There have been plenty of children’s’ books that have been turned into movies, but Harold and the Purple Crayon may be the first that’s actually a sequel to the book that inspired it. Zachary Levi (Shazam! Power of the Gods) plays Harold, a guy who lived his entire life in a book making his dreams come true with his magical purple crayon. Now, Harold has used the crayon to enter the real world, and he became a real man in the process. Harold has a lot to learn about being an adult, but his magic crayon still works in this world.
Trap
Trap – Official Trailer – Warner Bros. UK & Ireland
Release date: August 2
M. Night Shyamalan is back with a new movie this summer called Trap. Oppenheimer‘s Josh Hartnett plays Cooper, a man who brings his daughter, Riley (Ariel Donoghue), to see Lady Raven in concert. Think of Lady Raven as Taylor Swift on a much smaller scale. But after arriving with his daughter in tow, Cooper realizes that the entire concert is a trap to lure a serial killer called The Butcher into police custody.
And since Cooper is The Butcher, the real question is how far he’s willing to go to escape now that he’s sealed in with his daughter and thousands of unsuspecting music fans.
Borderlands
BORDERLANDS – Official Trailer – In Cinemas August 9
Release date: August 9
August is usually where the summer movies wind down a month early. Director Eli Roth (Thanksgiving) is looking to buck that trend with his adaptation of the Borderlands video games. Cate Blanchett leads the cast as Lilith, the leader of an intergalactic group of mercenaries that includes Roland (Kevin Hart), Kreig (Florian Munteanu), Tiny Tina (Barbie‘s Ariana Greenblatt), Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and Claptrap (Jack Black). If this reminds you of Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s not a coincidence.
It Ends With Us
It Ends with Us – Official Trailer – Only In Cinemas August 9
Release date: August 9
Not every romance is a fairy tale. That’s a lesson that Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) learns the hard way in this adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel. Lily thought she found the man of her dreams in Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni). Ryle’s a surgeon, he’s handsome, and he’s fabulously rich. Unfortunately for Lily, Ryle is also abusive toward her. Now, Lily will have to summon the strength to leave Ryle behind, if she can.
Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulus | Teaser Trailer
Release date: August 16
We’ll all be screaming in space when the Alien franchise revisits its horror roots in Alien: Romulus. All we’ve seen so far is a teaser trailer that even makes the face huggers scary. We can only imagine what director Fede Álvarez is going to do with the xenomorphs themselves as he unleashes the lethal aliens on a young cast that includes Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux, and David Jonsson.
The Crow
The Crow (2024) Official Trailer – Bill Skarsgård, FKA twigs, Danny Huston
Release date: August 23
James O’Barr’s The Crow was a popular indie comic book before the 1994 film adaptation starring Brandon Lee. That character has since been overshadowed by Lee’s tragic death on the set of what turned out to be his final film. Three decades later, director Rupert Sanders is reimagining the franchise with Boy Kills World star Bill Skarsgård taking over the lead role from Lee.
Eric (Skarsgård) and his fiancée, Shelly (British singer FKA Twigs), are young lovers who are cut down in the prime of their lives by heartless murderers. However, Eric is given the opportunity and the power to rise from his grave and avenge their deaths as The Crow. And he’s coming to get his revenge on their killers.
Blink Twice
Blink Twice – Official Trailer – Warner Bros. UK & Ireland
Release date: August 23
Zoë Kravitz (The Batman 2) is making her directorial debut with Blink Twice, but she resisted the urge to cast herself in a leading role. Instead, Naomi Ackie plays the main character, Frida, a waitress who becomes enamored with Slater King, and not just because he’s played by Channing Tatum. King is also an incredibly wealthy man who wants Frida to come to his own private island for a party that she’ll never forget.
However, Frida may soon wish that she could forget the experience, as she finds herself feeling out of place among the rich and powerful. More alarming, Frida’s sense of reality is starting to break down as she is forced to wonder if the strange things that start happening around her are real.
September 2024
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE | Official Trailer
Release date: September 6
We can thank Netflix’s Wednesday series for getting the Beetlejuice sequel out of development hell a mere 36 years after the original movie. Wednesday director Tim Burton cast the leading actress of the show, Jenna Ortega, as Astrid Deetz, the teenage daughter of Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz from the first film. Wednesday showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar also co-wrote the script.
Michael Keaton is reprising his role as Beetlejuice, and we don’t know what he’s been up to for the last few decades. But we do know that Astrid will accidentally let Beetlejuice back into the land of the living. And once the juice is loose, it may not be possible to keep him from causing all kinds of trouble.
Transformers One
Transformers One | Official Trailer (2024) – Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson
Release date: September 13
The last few Transformers movies haven’t exactly been blockbusters, so there is a real risk that audiences won’t show up for Transformers One, an animated film that is neither a musical nor aimed at young children. Instead, it seems to be aimed at older teens who may not have much idea why the Transformers live on a planet called Cybertron.
Transformers One is also taking the odd path of presenting the primary hero and villain of the franchise – Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry) – and essentially turning them into buddy action heroes. The thing is, we know their friendship doesn’t last and they go on to lead warring factions against each other. So presumably, we’ll see some touch of tragedy that shatters their bond. Paramount also lined up a stellar voice cast for this flick, including Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm. If this movie fails to connect movie fans, it won’t be from lack of trying.
Speak No Evil
Release date: September 13
Don’t you just hate when you make vacation friends who invite you to their remote English estate and then they turn out to be complete psychos who try to kill you? No? Then perhaps Speak No Evil is a little bit too specific about the issue at hand.
Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis play the hapless American couple, Ben and Louise Dalton, with Alix West Lefler as their daughter, Agnes. At first, the Daltons are completely charmed by Paddy (James McAvoy) and his wife, Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), as well as their mute son, Ant (Dan Hough).
But the more time that the Daltons spend with the family, the more they notice unsettling things about them. Young Ant even seems to imply that his parents cut his vocal cords to keep him from speaking ever again. If they’ll do that to their own kid, then what will they do with the innocent family they’ve lured into their trap?
Wolfs
WOLFS – Official Trailer (HD)
Release date: September 20
Director Jon Watts has been directing feature films for a decade, and Wolfs is both his sixth movie and only his third non-Spider-Man flick. This flick is not lacking for star power either, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the leading roles as Jack and Nick, both of whom are criminal fixers. In other words, they’re lone wolf operators who get called in to clean up crime scenes and cover up criminal activity.
Of course, the plural of wolf is wolves, but the title of Wolfs is presumably misspelled because these two guys are not a team and they are not happy to be working together. Jack and Nick have both been summoned to take care of a murder scene, which only draws them into a mystery. If this unlikely duo wants to make it through the ordeal, they’ll have to get over themselves and find a way to coexist.
The Wild Robot
The Wild Robot | Official Trailer 2
Release date: September 20
This year’s big DreamWorks Animation movie is based on Peter Brown’s The Wild Robot, and features Lupita Nyong’o in the title role. Nyong’o voices Roz, a robot who is trapped on a remote island without any signs of civilization. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of life. As Roz adjusts to life in the wild, she befriends a fox named Fink (The Last of Us 2 star Pedro Pascal), and she adopts a goose named Brightbill (Kit Connor).
The rest of the voice cast includes Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, and Stephanie Hsu. The script was written by director Chris Sanders.
Never Let Go
Never Let Go (2024) Official Trailer – Halle Berry
Release date: September 27
There seems to be a lot of thematic similarities between Never Let Go and A Quiet Place, as well as Netflix’s Bird Box. This time, it’s Halle Berry’s turn to play a mom in a postapocalyptic world. Berry’s character is the mother of two boys, who are portrayed by Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins. For years, the mother has trained her sons to remain tied to their cabin or else evil will claim them.
But when one of the sons accidentally lets go of his rope, he understandably questions his mother and doubts her explanations. Is the mother crazy? Or has something unspeakable tricked this family into destroying themselves from within?
Megalopolis
Megalopolis – Teaser Trailer
Release date: September 27
Francis Ford Coppola has wanted to make Megalopolis for nearly five decades. When none of the Hollywood studios got behind him, Coppola raised the $120 million he needed to fund Megalopolis on his own. Even then, the major studios still didn’t bite. Only Lionsgate came forward to give this movie an actual theatrical release.
The story takes place in an alternate world where a city called New Rome has been nearly destroyed by an accident. Cesar Catilina (Ferrari‘s Adam Driver), an architect who can control time, wants to rebuild the city as a utopia for all of its residents. Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) is against that because Cesar’s ideal city threatens the mayor’s ability to control it. Nathalie Emmanuel plays Franklyn’s daughter, Julia Cicero, who has romantic feelings for Cesar. Julia’s connection to both men may turn the fate of their city toward one or the other.
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