This summer at the movies, superheroes, from ‘Superman’ to ‘Fantastic Four,’ return

By LINDSEY BAHR Superman already has a lot on his broad shoulders It seems unfair to add the fate of Hollywood to his worries Related Articles Florence Pugh jumps into Thunderbolts superhero mode Monty Python and the Holy Grail returns for th anniversary The Vietnam War produced classic Hollywood films and hardly any classic female roles Matt Dillon channels his icon Marlon Brando in Being Maria Sinners bites off a phenomenal nd weekend as a -year-old Star Wars movie takes nd place But that s the kind of pressure that comes with being one of the biggest stars in the comic book universe who is getting a grand reintroduction at a tumultuous time Thankfully he s not doing it alone Marvel Studios is also returning to theaters in a big way with two movies this summer Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four First Measures Five years after the COVID- pandemic brought movie business to a halt and two years after the strikes the industry has yet to fully recover Critics may have complained of superhero fatigue but after several summers of depleted offerings it s clear that they re a vital part of the mix especially when they re good The billion summer of Barbenheimer may be largest part remembered for those two movies but it didn t get to that number without the Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man movies the second- and third-highest grossing of the season The filmmakers behind s ome of the summer s biggest movies spoke to The Associated Press about what to expect in Summer Movie Math Summer begins early in Hollywood on the first weekend in May Kids might still be in school and pools might still be closed but that kickoff can make or break that pivotal -day corridor that has historically accounted for around of the annual box office Last year was the first in numerous that didn t launch with a Marvel movie and it proved the business limped along for weeks until Disney came to the rescue with Inside Out and Deadpool Wolverine This year the powerful studio is back in that familiar spot with Thunderbolts which brings together misfits and antiheroes like Yelena Belova Florence Pugh Red Guardian David Harbour and Bucky Barnes Sebastian Stan It s a fun twist on what a movie like this could be disclosed director Jake Schreier There are certain places we re gonna go that are different from what you would normally expect He added It s trying to be a movie about something and the moment we re in not in a political sense but just where everybody s at and what everyone s been going through The Memorial Day weekend could also be a behemoth a sparse weeks later with the live action Lilo Stitch and Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning storming theaters With a new Jurassic World a live-action How to Train Your Dragon and a Formula One movie also on the schedule through June and July the summer season has the probable to be the biggest in the post-COVID era This combination of photos show promotional art for top row from left Years Later Another Simple Favor The Bad Guys Ballerina Bring Her Back Don t Let s Go to the Dogs Elio second row from left F Final Destination Bloodlines Freakier Friday Friendship How to Train Your Dragon Hurry Up The upcoming day I Know What You Did Last Summer and bottom row from left Jurassic World Rebirth Materialists The Naked Gun Smurfs Superman The Surfer and Thunderbolts Sony Amazon Universal Lionsgate A Sony Pictures Classics Disney-Pixar Warner Bros Warner Bros Disney A Universal Lionsgate Sony Universal A Paramount Paramount Warner Bros Roadside Attractions and Marvel-Disney via AP This image published by Marvel Studios shows from left David Harbour Hannah John-Kamen Sebastian Stan Florence Pugh and Wyatt Russell in a scene from Thunderbolts Disney-Marvel Studios via AP This image published by Warner Bros Pictures shows Damson Idris left and Brad Pitt in a scene from F Warner Bros Pictures via AP This image published by Disney Pixar shows Elio voiced by Yonas Kibreab center and OOOOO voiced by Shirley Henderson in a scene from Elio Disney Pixar via AP This image published by Disney shows the character Stitch left and Sydney Agudong as Nani in a scene from Lilo Stitch Disney via AP This image issued by Paramount Animation shows No Name voiced by James Corden left and Smurfette voiced by Rihanna in a scene from Smurfs Paramount Animation via AP This image distributed by Universal Pictures shows Mason Thames in a scene from How to Train Your Dragon Universal Pictures via AP This image disclosed by Netflix shows Christopher McDonald left and Adam Sandler in a scene from Happy Gilmore Scott Yamano Netflix via AP This image distributed by Lionsgate shows Ana de Armas in a scene from Ballerina Murray Close Lionsgate via AP Tom Cruise star of the upcoming film Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning discusses the film during the Paramount Pictures presentation at CinemaCon at Caesars Palace on Thursday April in Las Vegas AP Photo Chris Pizzello This image distributed by Paramount Pictures and Skydance shows Simon Pegg left and Tom Cruise in a scene from Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning Paramount Pictures and Skydance via AP This image published by Paramount Pictures and Skydance shows Tom Cruise in a scene from Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning Paramount Pictures and Skydance via AP This image published by Paramount Pictures and Skydance shows Tom Cruise left and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning Paramount Pictures and Skydance via AP Show Caption of This combination of photos show promotional art for top row from left Years Later Another Simple Favor The Bad Guys Ballerina Bring Her Back Don t Let s Go to the Dogs Elio second row from left F Final Destination Bloodlines Freakier Friday Friendship How to Train Your Dragon Hurry Up In the next 24 hours I Know What You Did Last Summer and bottom row from left Jurassic World Rebirth Materialists The Naked Gun Smurfs Superman The Surfer and Thunderbolts Sony Amazon Universal Lionsgate A Sony Pictures Classics Disney-Pixar Warner Bros Warner Bros Disney A Universal Lionsgate Sony Universal A Paramount Paramount Warner Bros Roadside Attractions and Marvel-Disney via AP Expand Before the pandemic all but one summer since broke the billion mark Since only one has led by Barbie Saving Superman and the DC Universe After three Guardians movies James Gunn knows enough to know that he doesn t have much control over whether people buy tickets for his movies His job is to make something good entertaining and worthy of the audience But that s also possibly underplaying the pressure of taking on Superman and overseeing a unified DC universe that kicks off with Superman on July He considers it the first true superhero movie he s ever made It s a personal journey for Superman that s entirely new Gunn disclosed It is first and foremost about what does Superman learn about himself But it s also about the robots and the flying dogs and all that stuff It s taking a very real person and putting them in the middle of this outrageous situation and outrageous world and playing with that I think it s a lot of fun because of that This image disclosed by Warner Bros Pictures shows Nicholas Hoult left David Corenswet center and director James Gunn on the set of Superman Jessica Miglio Warner Bros Pictures via AP The film introduces a new actor to the role of Superman Clark Kent in David Corenswet who stars alongside Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor Gunn reported to expect different things from both It was a lot of fun making a Lex that is literally going to kill Superman he reported He s pretty scary The film is also seeding the rest of the DCU Gunn disclosed If it works as a movie in a basic way that s what we need to happen that s what I care about Superman as a brand has unfailingly trailed Batman at the box office None of the Zack Snyder films crossed billion not accounting for inflation while both Christopher Nolan Dark Knight sequels did But Gunn isn t thinking a lot about that I just want to make a decent movie that makes a little money Gunn declared Marvel s First Family Superman s not the only legacy brand getting a splashy reintroduction this summer A new Fantastic Four crew assembled for the first time under umbrella of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Kevin Feige is heading to theaters July Fantastic Four is a comic I ve loved since I was a kid reported director Matt Shakman They are the legendary heroes of the s that the Marvel silver age was built on Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby The Fantastic Four is among Marvel s longest-running comics series But it has not had the most of distinguished history on film including two with Chris Evans and one with Michael B Jordan This image release by th Century Studios Marvel Studios shows from left Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm The Thing Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm Invisible Woman Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards Mister Fantastic and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm Human Torch in a scene from The Fantastic Four First Efforts th Century Studios Marvel Studios via AP The Fantastic Four First Measures is set in a retro-futuristic s New York where Pedro Pascal s Reed Richards is basically Steve Jobs meets Einstein who s creating tool that s changing the world and Vanessa Kirby s Sue Storm is essentially the secretary-general of the U N Shakman declared A television veteran with directing credits on shows like WandaVision and It s Constantly Sunny in Philadelphia Shakman mentioned he wants to do right by the characters and audience It s working on an incredibly large scale in terms of world building but it s also no different from all of the great comedies and dramas that I ve done Shakman noted In the end it comes down to character it comes down to relationships it comes down to heart and humor Plus he feels a responsibility to the idea of the big summer movie It was the enjoyment of my childhood A lot of it has to do with building worlds and entering into a place of wonder he stated That s what I felt when I saw Indiana Jones when I was a kid and it s what I hope people feel when they see Fantastic Four this summer Why summer might be a big year for movies Studios know that superheroes alone don t make a robust theatrical marketplace and there are plenty of other options on the menu including franchises event movies and independents There are family pics Smurfs Elio The Bad Guys action and adventures Ballerina The Karate Kid Legends horrors thrillers and slashers Years Later I Know What You Did Last Summer M GAN romances Materialists Jane Austen Wrecked My Life dramas Sorry Baby The Life of Chuck a new Wes Anderson movie The Phoenician Scheme and comedies Freakier Friday Bride Hard The Naked Gun though one of the most of anticipated Happy Gilmore will be on Netflix The frequency of movies the cadence the sheer number of them and the perceived quality and excitement surrounding this lineup is like almost like never before noted Paul Dergarabedian senior media analyst for Comscore Draw me a blueprint of a perfect summer lineup is it One of the biggest movies of the season may be Jurassic World Rebirth the seventh movie in a billion franchise Even its poorly received predecessor made billion This time they enlisted a new filmmaker self-proclaimed Jurassic Park superfan Gareth Edwards and the original s screenwriter for a new adventure with Scarlett Johansson Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey This image published by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment shows from left Bechir Sylvain Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson in a scene from Jurassic World Rebirth Jasin Boland Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment via AP People say like do you feel pressure and the the greater part pressure I feel is from myself as a fan and to Steven Spielberg to not disappoint him Edwards explained Weirdly what s great about doing a Jurassic movie is that everybody knows deep down that like half the reason they re in this business is because of that film and Steven s work It s fitting in a way that marks the th anniversary of what s considered the first summer blockbuster Jaws Edwards stated he was born into that world of big summer blockbusters that shaped his early love of movies Directing one he mentioned is kind of the dream You get the chance to swing for the fences And the unstable economic activity might work in the industry s favor at least when it comes to moviegoing Even with increased ticket prices theatrical movies remain the bulk affordable entertainment outside of the home and attendance tends to increase during recession years The annual domestic box office crossed billion for the first time in More not long ago the week the tariffs were disclosed A Minecraft Movie doubled its opening weekend projections and all of those ticket buyers saw trailers and posters for everything to come It was Dergarabedian noted one of the only positive financial stories that week Top Gun Maverick filmmaker Joseph Kosinski knows a limited things about launching a pricey big screen spectacle into a turbulent marketplace But he s feeling good about the summer and F s place within it Warner Bros will release F on June This is the summer where all this product that we ve all been working on for the last meager years is definitively coming into the marketplace so I m very optimistic Kosinski reported By the end of this summer hopefully people aren t talking about being in a funk anymore and it feels like we got our mojo back and we re off to the races