I began my summer movie preview posts yesterday with a look at the superhero movies opening between April 27 and July 27. Today, we’ll dig into the horror films, suspense thrillers and monster movies. Yes, that may be a bit broad, but I hope you’ll humor me.
In this list, we have one of the biggest (if not the biggest) movies of the summer, the most explicitly political movie of the summer, and that movie about that guy and that giant shark. Buckle up, because these films will hopefully leave your forearm a bit bruised and your armchair rest clawed to shreds.
As always, these will be in the order of release date. And no, despite the somewhat creepy trailer, Walt Disney's Christopher Robin did not make the list. But I will happily eat crow if Winnie the Pooh wracks up a body count in that early August release.
Bad Samaritan (May 4):
This will be Dean Devlin’s second theatrical directorial effort following the underrated (if still not all that great) Geostorm from last October. This is a much cheaper genre offering, about two burglars who stumble upon a woman being held hostage in the home they are intending to rob and the hijinks that ensue when the crooks try to do the right thing. If that sounds a little bit like The Collector from several years back, well, A) this looks very different beyond the core concept and B) it’s a solid premise for a horror movie, so what’s the harm in taking it out for another spin? Written by Brandon Boyce and directed by Devlin, this David Tenant vehicle could vanish without a trace. But it’s got a nice, pulpy trailer so I guess you could consider this a glorified mitzvah.
Breaking In (May 11):
The best part of seeing Proud Mary on opening weekend was getting a good look at this terrific-looking Will Packer release. The Universal/Comcast Corp. offering presents a kind of reverse-Panic Room, with a desperate mother (Gabrielle Union) trying to break into her fortified home to rescue her kidnapped children. This is both a departure for Packer and a clear example of “make old-school thrillers, but for black audiences” thing whereby we get loose variations on the classic 1990’s suburban thrillers starring the kind of actors who never got to headline such fare. James McTeigue directed the very good V For Vendetta, the not-so-good Ninja Assassin and… we won’t talk about The Raven, so this could go either way. But writer Ryan Engle’s Non-Stop was a kicky and clever blast, and this is going to get a heavy Mother’s Day weekend push.
Hereditary (June 8):
Written and directed by Ari Aster, A24's Hereditary stars Toni Collette, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne. I’ve been told by people I trust that it’s excellent and may well challenge A Quiet Place for the “scariest movie of 2018” crown. Beyond that, and the most general of plot synopsis’s (something about the death of a matriarch and the supernatural effects on the rest of her family), I don’t know jack about this one. I’ve avoided all trailers, TV spots, images and conventional press. So I figured that I’d do you the same courtesy. Will this one break out like The Witch ($25 million on an $8.8m debut) or flame out like It Comes At Night ($13.9m domestic, which isn’t awful for a relentlessly grim $3-$5m movie)? Horror is on a roll these days, so we’ll see if Hereditary rides the wave.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (June 22 in North America, June 6 overseas):
Jurassic World earned $652 million domestic from a then-record $208m opening weekend and earned $1.671 billion worldwide. Universal/Comcast Corp.’s J.A. Bayona-directed installment (allegedly more of a horror flick) will probably not match the Colin Trevorrow-directed sequel, since that one A) had a good hook (“the park is open”) and B) was the first Jurassic Park movie in 14 years. Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt and BD Wong are back, with Jeff Goldblum popping up this time as well. The plot, rescuing the dinosaurs from the now-closed island resort before the volcanos blow everything to hell, seems like a Lost World retread. But, I have to assume the man who made A Monster Calls and the guy who wrote the twisty Book of Henry have something up their sleeves. Tomorrow’s trailer might give us clues to what sets this Jurassic Park apart.
The First Purge (July 4):
Gerard McMurray directs a screenplay from Purge trilogy director James DeMonaco which goes back to the beginning. It’s a prequel to the previous Purge movies, detailing how America began its annual “Purge Night.” Whether a Purge movie will too much to endure or the fantasy catharsis we need in the aftermath of the last two years is an open question. Still, this Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes prequel (“from the creators of Get Out and A Quiet Place”) will be cheap enough that it can survive a downturn. I’m sure we’ll get our share of violence, horror and political topicality. I, for one, would love to just know the legal logistics and caveats behind Purge Night or at least have one movie that takes place on the incredibly awkward day after Purge Night. Maybe we’ll get both in the upcoming television series.
The Meg (August 10):
The $150 million Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc. release may be more gee-whiz exciting than scary, but it does include scenes of a giant shark presumably eating people. The Jon Turteltaub-directed adaptation of Steve Alten’s 1997 novel (which spawned six sequels) stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing and Ruby Rose, and is an American/Chinese co-production. The original plan was to release it in China over New Year’s weekend (Feb. 16) before opening domestically on March 2. That didn’t happen (to the benefit of Operation Red Sea and Detective Chinatown 2), and now it’ll go worldwide the week of Aug. 10. The Meg is expecting to at least score in China along with the rest of the world. Considering the first three months have been dominated by Chinese blockbusters and Hollywood exports that played better over there than over here, that’s almost a safe bet.
