Us’ Complete Guide to Summer’s Biggest Blockbuster Movies
From action adventure to heartbreaking romance, there is a summer blockbuster for every type of cinephile this year, and Us Weekly has your complete guide to all of them.
Potentially the most anticipated movie of the season, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, serves as the fifth installment in director George Miller’s post-apocalyptic franchise. The film follows a young Furiosa played by Anya-Taylor Joy — first made famous by Charlize Theron in 2015’s Max Max: Fury Road — as she finds herself snatched from her home and caught between two rival tyrants, Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme).
Creating a summer epic, however, isn’t always an easy feat. Taylor-Joy told The New York Times in May that she would go “months” on the movie’s Australia set without speaking a single line of dialogue, noting that she’s “never been more alone than making that movie.”
Taylor-Joy did clarify, however, that her grievances were less about Miller as a director and more about what was required of her to bring Furiosa to life.
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“I do want to 100 percent preface this by saying I love George and if you’re going to do something like this, you want to be in the hands of someone like George Miller,” she explained. “But he had a very, very strict idea of what Furiosa’s war face looked like, and that only allowed me my eyes for a large portion of the movie. It was very much ‘mouth closed, no emotion, speak with your eyes.’ That’s it, that’s all you have.”
Despite the challenges of the role, Taylor-Joy added that she was interested in playing the character because she is a “really strong advocate of female rage,” and demanded that Furiosa’s pain come across on screen.
“We’re animals, and there’s a point where somebody just snaps,” she continued. “There’s one scream in that movie, and I am not joking when I tell you that I fought for that scream for three months.”
Keep scrolling for the Us’ biggest summer blockbusters of 2024:
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
Release Date: Friday, May 24
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke
Synopsis: Expanding George Miller’s franchise, Mad Max’s fifth installment follows a young Furiosa (Joy) who, after being snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, falls into the hands of a great biker horde led by the warlord Dr. Dementus (Hemsworth). As they sweep through the Wasteland, they come across the Citadel, presided over by the Immortan Joe (Hulme). As the two tyrants fight for dominance, Furiosa soon finds herself in a nonstop battle to make her way home.
‘The Garfield Movie’
Release Date: Friday, May 24
Starring: Chris Pratt, Nicholas Hoult, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein
Synopsis: Garfield (Pratt) has an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father (Jackson), a scruffy street cat who draws him into a high-stakes heist.
‘The Crow’
Release Date: Friday, August 23
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Isabella Wei
Synopsis: A reimagining of the original 1994 film, The Crow follows soulmates Eric (Skarsgård) and Shelly (Twigs) as they are brutally murdered after the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Draven returns to seek bloody revenge against the killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.
‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’
Release Date: Friday, June 7
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens
Synopsis: The fourth film of the iconic franchise, Ride or Die follows wisecracking Miami cops Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) as they embark on a dangerous mission to clear their late captain’s name after he gets linked to drug cartels. In the process, the duo are framed and have to go on the run while attempting to clear their names.
‘The Watchers’
Release Date: Friday, June 14
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, Olwen Fouéré
Synopsis: Directed by M. Night Shyamalan and written by his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan, The Watchers centers on a 28-year-old artist (Fanning) who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. Finding shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are stalked by mysterious creatures every night.
‘Inside Out 2’
Release Date: Friday, June 14
Starring: Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Tony Hale, Ayo Edebiri, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Liza Lapira, Paul Walter Hauser, Kensington Tallman, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan
Synopsis: Joy (Poehler), Sadness (Smith), Anger (Blake), Fear (Hale) and Disgust (Lapira) have been running a successful operation of Riley’s (Tallman) emotions by all accounts following Pixar’s original 2015 film. However, when Anxiety (Hawke) shows up in the sequel as Riley turns 13, they aren’t sure how to feel.
‘The Bikeriders’
Release Date: Friday, June 21
Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Mike Fast, Norman Reedus
Synopsis: After a chance encounter at a local bar, Kathy (Comer) is drawn to Benny (Butler), the newest member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals led by the enigmatic Johnny (Hardy). Over the course of a decade, the club begins to evolve from a gathering place for local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence, forcing Benny to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.
‘Kinds of Kindness’
Release Date: Friday, June 21
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Joe Alwyn, Willem Defoe, Margaret Qualley, Hunter Schafer
Synopsis: While much of the story details are being kept under wraps, the film will follow three simultaneous and overlapping stories; a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.
‘A Quiet Place: Day One’
Release Date: Friday, June 28
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou, Alex Wolff, Eliane Umuhire
Synopsis: Serving as a spinoff and prequel to the first two Quiet Place films, Day One takes audiences back to the first day the world went quiet, following Sam (Nyong’o) and Eric (Quinn) as they team up in an attempt to escape the city — and stay alive.
‘Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1’
Release Date: Friday, June 28
Starring: Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Abbey Lee, Jamie Bower Campbell, Sam Worthington, Jenna Malone, Ella Hunt
Synopsis: In part 1 of Costner’s Western epic — which he directed, cowrote, partially-funded and stars in — families, friends and foes discover the lure of the Old West through overlapping stories of American settlers and Indigenous people in the Civil War era. If you’re a fan, Chapter 2 drops on Friday, August 16.
‘Despicable Me 4’
Release Date: Friday, July 3
Starring: Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig, Joey King
Synopsis: Round 4! Gru (Carell) welcomes a new member to the family, Gru Jr., who’s intent on tormenting his dad. However, their peaceful existence soon comes crashing down when criminal mastermind Maxime Le Mal (Ferrell) escapes from prison and vows revenge against Gru.
‘MaXXXine’
Release Date: Friday, July 3
Starring: Mia Goth, Halsey, Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins
Synopsis: In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx (Goth) finally gets her big break. However, as a mysterious killer stalks — yes, that Night Stalker — the starlets of Los Angeles, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past in this horror flick, the third installment of the X franchise.
‘Fly Me to the Moon’
Release Date: Friday, July 12
Starring: Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Nick Dillenburg, Anna Garcia, Jim Rash,
Synopsis: During the 1960s Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, sparks fly between a marketing executive (Johansson) and a NASA official (Tatum) as he makes preparations for the Apollo 11 moon landing.
‘Twisters’
Release Date: Friday, July 19
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Kiernan Shipka, Anthony Ramos
Synopsis: A standalone sequel to 1996’s Twister, Kate Cooper (Edgar-Jones) gets lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Ramos), to test a groundbreaking new tracking system. She soon crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), a charming but reckless social-media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures. As storm season intensifies, Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves in a fight for their lives as multiple systems converge over central Oklahoma.
‘Deadpool and Wolverine’
Release Date: Friday, July 26
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Synopsis: In the third installment of the Marvel franchise, Wolverine (Jackman) finally crosses paths with the merc with a mouth, Deadpool (Reynolds). The duo team up to defeat a common enemy, Cassandra Nova (Corrin).
‘Borderlands’
Release Date: Friday, August 9
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu
Synopsis: A movie adaptation of the famous video game franchise, Borderlands finds infamous outlaw Lilith (Blanchett) returning to her home planet and forming an unexpected alliance with a team of unlikely heroes. Together, they battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find a missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power.
‘It Ends With Us’
Release Date: Friday, August 9
Starring: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj
Synopsis: Based on Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name, Lily (Lively) overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life. A chance meeting with neurosurgeon Ryle (Baldoni, who is also directing) sparks a connection, but Lily begins to see sides of him that remind her of her parents’ relationship. Further complications arise when a mysterious figure from her past, Atlas (Sklenar), resurfaces.
‘Cuckoo’
Release Date: Friday, August 9
Starring: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Jan Bluthardt, Marton Csokas
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Gretchen (Schafer) reluctantly leaves America to live with her father at a resort in the German Alps. Plagued by strange noises and bloody visions, she soon discovers a shocking secret that concerns her own family.
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‘Alien: Romulus’
Release Date: Friday, August 16
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux, David Jonnson
Synopsis: The eighth installment in the Alien franchise, Romulus follows a group of young space colonizers who, while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
Bonus: ‘The Fall Guy’
Release Date: Friday, May 3
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham
Synopsis: A little bit of a cheat, The Fall Guy is technically a spring-not-summer blockbuster. However, it may be the most fun you have all year. The film follows Colt Seavers (Gosling), a retired and beaten-down stunt performer who gets pulled back into the game when he’s recruited to find the missing star of a film (Taylor-Johnson). He also comes back to face the lost love of his life, Jody (Blunt), who happens to be directing the movie.
Bonus: ‘Hit Man’
Release Date: Friday, June 7
Starring: Glen Powell, Gary Johnson, Adria Arjona, Retta, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman
Synopsis: Co-written by leading man Powell, Hit Man will stream on Netflix, not the big screen, but it’s still a major movie of the summer. Professional killer Gary Johnson (Powell) breaks protocol to help a desperate woman, Maddy (Arjona), who is trying to flee an abusive husband and finds himself falling for her.
