JULY
THE BFG
WHO: Ruby Barnhill, Mark Rylance, Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement
WHAT: The number of directors who can’t really screw up at this point in their careers is slim indeed, but Steven Spielberg is at the top of it. He may be more used to drama, action, and sci-fi, but the last two times he tackled family films, the results were E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Hook. Now, he’s got Roald Dahl’s imagination to play in.
WHEN: July 1
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN
WHO: Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, John Hurt
WHAT: Edgar Rice Burrough’s famous “lord of the apes” gets a new interpretation, courtesy of Skarsgård, Robbie, and David Yates, director of the final four Harry Potter movies.
WHEN: July 1
THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR
WHO: Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell
WHAT: Taking place fifteen years after the events of The Purge: Anarchy, Election Year deals with Sgt. Leo Barnes (Grillo), now employed by a senator/presidential candidate (Elizabeth Mitchell) who’s running on the platform of eliminating the annual suspension of law known as “the purge” — making her the perfect symbolic target.
WHEN: July 1
MIKE AND DAVE
NEED WEDDING DATES
WHO: Zac Efron, Adam DeVine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza
WHAT: Immature playboy brothers Mike (DeVine) and Dave (Efron) are forbidden from attending their sister’s wedding unless they bring dates, leading to them advertising their search on national TV. Two crass hustlers (Plaza and Kendrick) con Mike and Dave into taking them, only for their facades to start slipping once in Hawaii.
WHEN: July 8
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS
WHO: Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper
WHAT: Like Toy Story before it, The Secret Life of Pets imagines the adventures that go on once humans have left the house. Terrier Max (C.K.) doesn’t like new addition to the house Duke (Stonestreet), but has to team up with him to stop a villainous rabbit named Snowball (Hart) and his gang of Flushed Pets.
WHEN: July 8
GHOSTBUSTERS
WHO: Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Michael K. Williams
WHAT: The reboot everyone’s talking about this year, the new Ghostbusters eschews the development quagmire that has plagued Ghostbusters III for over two decades by starting over anew. This time, the genders are flipped, with Wiig, McKinnon, McCarthy, and Jones taking up the proton packs, while Chris Hemsworth tackles the receptionist role played by Annie Potts the first time around.
WHEN: July 15
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS:
THE MOVIE
WHO: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield, Jane Harrocks
WHAT: The Brit-com that never dies finally makes the leap to the big screen, with Eddy (Saunders) and Patsy (Lumley) on the run after accidentally killing Kate Moss at a fashion event. Expect cameos galore.
WHEN: July 22
ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE
WHO: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Simon Pegg
WHAT: Like a snowball rolling down a mountain, the Ice Age franchise gets bigger each time (acquiring more and more actors who then return for sequels) and can’t really be stopped at this point. The fifth prehistoric adventure of Manny (Romano), Sid (Leguizamo), and Diego (Leary) has them searching for safety after a new catastrophe is triggered by Scrat (Chris Wedge).
WHEN: July 22
LIGHTS OUT
WHO: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Maria Bello
WHAT: Adapted from a 2013 short film of the same name, Lights Out centers on a family (Palmer, Bateman, and Bello) haunted by a poltergeist that’s only visible in the dark.
WHEN: July 22
STAR TREK BEYOND
WHO: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba
WHAT: Now that J.J. Abrams has traded in warp drives for hyperdrives, director Justin Lin (Fast & Furious movies 3-6) beams aboard for the franchise’s 50th anniversary and the third in the reboot series starring Pine, Quinto, Urban, and Saldana. Elba promises his antagonist, Krall, is one of the most brutal the series has yet seen.
WHEN: July 22
BAD MOMS
WHO: Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Christina Applegate
WHAT: Three overworked and underappreciated moms (Bell, Kunis, and Hahn) decide to just let loose and start having some raunchy, intoxicated fun — much to the anger of prim PTA leader Gwendolyn (Applegate).
WHEN: July 29
JASON BOURNE
WHO: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Julia Stiles, Vincent Cassel, Tommy Lee Jones
WHAT: The amnesiac assassin returns in the fifth entry in the Bourne franchise, piecing together even more of his memory. Jason Bourne won’t be the crossover movie that was already teased, combining Bourne with The Bourne Legacy’s Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), but Damon’s return still sets the stage for an ultimate team-up in perhaps the sixth Bourne picture.
WHEN: July 29
On the last page: Suicide Squad, Pete’s Dragon, and Sausage Party…
The Apple Box 