New summer movies 2022: The 20 releases to watch out for this year

We are nearing the summer movie season! Following two years of release calendars sent spiraling into flux in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022 has symbolized something of a realignment back to the rhythm of the expectations of our pre-pandemic world, already boasting a diverse swath of films that easily stand out as some of the year’s best.

That doesn’t appear to be changing as we steadily move into May and beyond, with a robust catalog of new releases to watch in theaters and at home coming this summer. Hotly anticipated trailers like Maverick: Top Gun, Jurassic World Dominion, LightyearPlease see the following: Thor: Love and Thunder to cerebral horror fare like Alex Garland’s Men, Jordan Peele’s Nope, and David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the FutureYou can find eccentric films of the left like Bullet Train Ten Thousand Years Of LongingThe season offers a wide variety of movies and is filled with excitement.

Here’s our list of the the biggest releases of the summer, as well as some of the most promising upcoming titles currently flying a bit under the radar.

Men

Image by DNA Films/A24

Alex Garland’s Men is shaping up to be the director’s most mysterious film yet. Moving beyond the sci-fi elements of Ex Machina Annihilation, Garland’s latest follows the story of Harper (Jessie Buckley), a woman who moves into an estate on the English countryside to distance herself from the recent loss of her husband. Something’s up with this town though, as Harper begins to feel more and more threatened by the leering smiles and inscrutable motivations of the men in the nearby town. It certainly doesn’t help that all the men appear to be played by Rory Kinnear and, at one point, look like they’re out to kill her. The question isn’t whether this is all in her head, but rather, what could it possibly be if it’s not? —Toussaint Egan

Available in theaters May 20

Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Image: Disney

This is the most recent trailer Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers didn’t just show off the mischievous chipmunks and their peers. Nor did it just jam-pack Disney characters from across the company’s history. No, it pulled in cartoon characters from across animation history, in a mega crossover that’s giving Roger Rabbit: Who is the Framer? Space JamThis is what they call a “run for their money”. After the cancellation of their show, Chip and Dale have split. Chip works in insurance, while Dale tries to relive the glory days — going so far as to get the “CG surgery.” They’re called back into action after several animated characters go missing. John Mulaney and Andy Samberg star as Chip and Dale respectively, with The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer directing. —Petrana Radulovic

Available on Disney Plus on May 20

Maverick: Top Gun

Image by Paramount Pictures

Nearly forty years after its original publication Top GunTom Cruise’s latest movie, “The Last Ship,” has finally arrived in theaters. And this time, he’s a certified pilot.

Cruise plays Maverick again, and he has been chosen by Iceman (Val Kilmer returning to Top Gun) to guide a new group of Top Gun graduates in a mission. That group includes Rooster, the son of Maverick’s best pal from Top Gun, Goose.

Our few glimpses at a movie star who was never afraid to do high-elevation stunts during his long and successful movie career. Maverick: Top GunShow us Cruise once more prioritizing practical effects rather than CG. The film promises to take audiences into the cockpits, where they will be able to see the actors in action. They went through intense training to ensure that the pilots could safely fly the fighter jets. If you haven’t watch the training video, it’s fascinating and sold me on the whole project (enjoy the glee with which Cruise talks about the aviation training he designed for his co-stars). —Pete Volk

Available in theaters May 27

The Bob’s Burgers Movie

Image: 20th Century Animation

After 12 seasons, the Belcher family will be heading to the big screen. (2) Two years delay in release related to pandemics

Bob, Linda (Linda), Tina (Tina), and Gene must save their restaurant from a sinkhole. This forces them to shift their operation to a food cart. You can expect the debut of “Summer Tina,” silly songs, and puns. There are so many puns.

In the words of show creator Loren Bouchard, let’s hope it continues to make “small stories feel big.” —PV

Available in theaters May 27

Fire Island

Photo by Jeong Park/20th Century Studios

Andrew Ahn directs (Driveways) Written by Joel Kim Booster and starring as a comedian, Fire Island Is it a Pride and PrejudiceA rom-com inspired by the famous gay resort of Fire Island. Booster, Bowen Yang (Saturday Night LiveComedy star Margaret Cho (pictured above) and the comedian Claude Cho lead in what appears to be a hilarious, raunchy time about finding family, class, race and romance within the gay community. —PV

Available on Hulu on June 3

Crimes of the Future

Photo: Nikos Nikolopoulos/Neon

David Cronenberg, the body-horror guru is back to define the subgenre of horror he created with his 2022 film Crimes of the Future. Viggo Mortensen, who is a frequent collaborator in the film stars as Saul Tenser. He’s a performer in a future society and rises to fame by performing elaborate self-mutilation acts for entertainment. Unbeknownst to him, Saul’s actions have attracted the attention of a mysterious group who views his career as a means to steer the course of human evolution. Joining Mortensen are Léa Seydoux as Saul’s partner, Caprice, and Kristen Stewart as Timlin, an investigator from the National Organ Registry.

The footage seen from the teaser trailer looks appropriately gnarly, with glimpses of Saul seated in a strange Gigerian apparatus, a man with ears protruding from his forehead having his eyes and mouth sewn shut, and Stewart’s Timlin holding an eyepiece while probing a camera inside the abdomen of an unseen person. A boy is seen eating from a ceramic wastebasket made of pink ceramic. Cronenberg is Back, baby! —TE

At theaters June 3

Jurassic World: Dominion

Universal Pictures

“Excited” might not be the right word for Jurassic World: Dominion. “Morbidly curious” is probably a better fit. This is the first film in the series. Jurassic Park sequel trilogy was almost absurd enough to come off as a parody of the last decade’s deluge of reboots and revivals of long-dormant series — after all, the dinosaurs are a perfect metaphor. Jurassic World: Fallen KingdomIt was obvious that there wasn’t anything that smart going on. This sequel, however, opened the door to this absurdity. It attempted to portray dinosaurs as a lethal, new military tech. This premise is absurd enough on its own, but the fact that the third movie seems poised to suggest the idea of dinosaurs taking over the world — despite the existence of things like guns, missiles, drones, tanks, and human’s opposable thumbs — means that the movie has a chance to be a tremendous amount of fun, even if it isn’t likely to be particularly good. —Austen Goslin

On June 10, in theaters

Hustle

Photo: Scott Yamano/Netflix

Basketball is a passion of Adam Sandler. He was an actor in The Greatest Basketball Movie Ever. Gems Uncut (one of our best thrillers you can watch at home), but he’s also a huge Knicks fan and pickup basketball legend who will somewhat randomly show up for games at courts around the country. You can read the entire article here. Hustle, produced by Sandler and LeBron James, he plays Stanley Sugarman, a struggling basketball scout who discovers a promising basketball prospect overseas (played by current NBA player Juancho Hernangómez). The supporting cast also includes Queen Latifah (Ben Foster), Robert Duvall and NBA stars Anthony Edwards, Trae Young. Hustle It is the only promising sports vehicle that stars with a passion for the game. —PV

Netflix is available starting June 10

Lightyear

Image: Pixar

Pixar makes a bold turn to hard sci-fi. Lightyear. It’s shaping up to be less of a “fifth movie in the Toy Story franchise” and more like a gritty, epic adventure of its own. And for those of you wondering: No, it’s not the “real” human Buzz Lightyear, but the main character of an in-universe movie called Lightyear Andy most likely watched this movie growing up. Chris Evans portrays Buzz, the reimagined Buzz. He is determined to finish his mission at all costs. He is forced to work with several rookies when the cost of his mission becomes a time-consuming one that will leave him without a job for years. It’s an adult science fiction film that also happens to be accessible to children — a first for Pixar. —PR

On June 17, in theaters

Elvis

Warner Bros. Pictures

If there’s one director who could bring new life to the well-worn musician biopic formula, it’s ostentatious blockbuster king Baz Luhrmann. It doesn’t hurt to have such a fascinating figure to focus on, either.

Elvis Stars Austin Butler (Tex Watson) Hollywood: Once Upon a Time Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the future Feyd – Rautha Harkonnen Part two of DuneAs the King, he is played by Tom Hanks and Colonel Tom Parker (as his manager). With Luhrmann’s typical flair and some bold line delivery choices by Hanks in the trailer, Elvis It looks almost like a superhero movie made into a musical biopic. —PV

On June 24, in theaters

Black Phone

Universal Pictures

Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, SinisterEthan Hawke’s supernatural serial killer thriller, based on Joe Hill’s 2007 book, sees a return to horror. That’s honestly enough for us to be interested, but if you need a little plot to help you out: Hawke plays a serial killer who abducts a young boy. When the child sees a disconnected phone in the room he’s being held in, he discovers he can communicate with the killer’s past victims. A fellow classmate dreams of the kidnapping while attempting to aid the search for him. —PV

On June 24, in theaters

The Princess

Image by 20th Century Fox

This “Rapunzel meets Raid” action movie is directed by Le-Van Kiet, who made the excellent Vietnamese martial arts movie Furie. The Princess Joey King plays a Princess who has been imprisoned after she refused to marry a ruler. A R-rated action film about a princess who kicks ass is too tempting to miss, particularly from an accomplished director. —PV

Hulu Available July 1

Thor: Love and Thunder

Image: Disney

Following the successful completion of Thor: RagnarokTaika Waititi will be returning to the Thor series to direct and co-star with Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie also return, naturally, and the additions of Russell Crowe as Zeus and Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher are intriguing. It appears that the Guardians of the Galaxy also return.

However, there is one aspect of Thor: Love and ThunderIn terms of excitement, Buff Lady Thor Jane Foster takes first place. Natalie Portman returns to the franchise with a new look and new powers, and we can’t wait to see her mess some folks up with Mjolnir. —PV

On July 8, in theaters

Mrs. Harris visits Paris

Photo by Liam Daniel/Ada Films Ltd

The 1958 novel inspired this charming comedy. This story is about a housekeeper who finds herself in love with a Dior dress. When she receives a delayed pension for her husband’s death in the war, she travels to Paris to buy one herself. Lesley Manville plays Mrs. Harris. Isabelle Huppert, Jason Isaacs and Jason Isaacs play supporting roles in the story. This is a tale about a comedy that mixes class commentary with beautiful dresses and meets a fish out of water. —PV

On July 15, in theaters

Nope

Monkeypaw Productions

Competing with Alex Garland’s Men for this summer’s most succinctly titled movie, Jordan Peele’s Nope stars Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya as Jill and James Haywood, proprietors of the Black-owned horse-training ranch in a small California town who bear witness to a “miraculous” and terrifying event of immense proportions. Are they ghosts or aliens? Or is it a collective hallucination triggered by 21st-century traumas? We don’t know! We don’t know. What we know so far is that Keith David, Steven Yeun and Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira have supporting roles and that the film will likely turn out to be a social thriller in the vein of Move Out Use. We’ll have to wait until July to find out for ourselves. —TE

On July 22, in theaters

Bullet Train

Photo: Scott Garfield/Columbia Pictures

We’re in a post-John Wick moment of action movies, and Bullet Train This is just the latest example. Brad Pitt appears in the new film by David Leitch, his ex-stunt man and director of Wick’s first movie. Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2Please see the following: Hobbs & Shaw. The high-octane action thriller features five assassins who are on the bullet train together. It stars Aaron Taylor Johnson and Zazie Beetz. Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji and Bad Bunny. You can expect a tough-hitting action film setting in contained areas, which I am sure the trailer will deliver. —PV

On July 29, in theaters

DC League of Super-Pets

Warner Bros. Pictures

After big changes to Warner Bros.’ schedule for DC movies, the animated adventure DC League of Super-Pets The studio’s biggest summer movie is this. With some very god dogs (voiced by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart), a turtle with super speed, and a villain who looks like the Brainiac of guinea pigs, this movie will follow the Justice League’s pets as they hope to rescue their superhero companions from said guinea pig. Also, Keanu Reeves voices Batman. —PV

On July 29, in theaters

Resurrection

Image: IFC Films

Andrew Semans, writer and director of the first film in a decade (Nancy.Rebecca Hall (Night House() in horror-thriller that is somewhat similar to the 1981 masterpiece Possession. Hall plays a woman who seems to have her life together — a single mom with a daughter going off to college and a successful career. Then, a terrifying ghost (Tim Roth), returns to haunt her. Things start getting spooky. Hall starring in this kind of project is always worth paying attention to — she’s one of our great modern screen actors, and it seems like the kind of project ripe for an unforgettable performance. —PV

On Aug. 5, in theaters

Day Shift

Photo by Parrish Lewis/Netflix

J.J. Perry, legendary stunt coordinator and second-unit director, finally makes his directorial debut in this Netflix original. The story is about a pool cleaner (Jamie Foxx), who is a father and secretly a vampire hunter. Scott Adkins (action legend) and Dave Franco star as Snoop dogg. Day Shift Shay Hatten wrote the screenplay.John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum, Army of the Dead). —PV

Netflix available Aug. 12

Three Thousand years of longing

Image: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Inc.

Details are light on George Miller’s long-awaited follow-up to Mad Max: Fury Road, but that’s OK — the fact that he’s making another movie, and that Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton are in it, is plenty enough for us. It is the story about a student who encounters a djinn at Istanbul. He offers him three wishes. —PV

At theaters Aug. 31