22 summer movie releases to get psyched about in 2017

May 5 isn’t quite summer yet, but there’s no denying that the best film to kick off summer movie season is James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” After grossing some $775 million at the worldwide box office, “Guardians of the Galaxy” has spawned a much-anticipated sequel that brings back Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, while adding big names like Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, as well as Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, and Chris Sullivan.

How can we not get psyched for Goldie Hawn’s first feature film in 15 years? It took Amy Schumer to bring her back for “Snatched,” which was written by Schumer and Katie Dippold (“The Heat,” “Ghostbusters”) and directed by Jonathan Levine. In addition to Hawn and Schumer, the film also stars Christopher Meloni, Ike Barinholtz, Joan Cusack, and Wanda Sykes.

May 19 will usher in the sixth film in the “Alien” franchise, the third directed by Ridley Scott, the second prequel, and the first release in five years. The last movie, 2012’s “Prometheus,” grossed more than $400 million worldwide. Michael Fassbender returns for “Alien: Covenant,” alongside Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and Demián Bichir.

We haven’t seen Captain Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) since the third installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, but he’ll return in the fifth, “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” which will be released on May 26. Teaser trailers seem to hint that Captain Turner may be turning into a villain, which means Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, and franchise newcomers Javier Bardem, Brenton Thwaites, and Kaya Scodelario will have their hands full in this sequel. While Keith Richards had roles in the last two films, it seems fellow rocker Sir Paul McCartney will get a cameo this time around.

The first blockbuster comedy of 2017 comes on May 26 when the ‘90s action drama “Baywatch” hits the big screen. Boasting a cast that includes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Zac Efron, and Priyanka Chopra (and hopefully David Hasselhoff), the film is helmed by Seth Gordon, director of the comedies “Four Christmases,” “Horrible Bosses,” and “Identity Thief.”

Wonder Woman first debuted in All Star Comics #8 in Dec. 1941, and yet this is the first feature film ever made starring the character. After appearing as Wonder Woman in 2016’s “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” Gal Gadot will be reprising the role in this Patty Jenkins film, as well as the upcoming blockbusters “Justice League” (Nov. 2017) and “Justice League 2” (June 2019). If all goes well, Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, David Thewlis, Robin Wright, and the rest of the “Wonder Woman” cast could eventually see a sequel of their own – assuming they all survive the first film.

It’s been 20 years since Dav Pilkey’s best-selling children's book was first released, and since then it has inspired 11 sequels (for a total of 70 million copies sold worldwide), three spin-offs, and, finally, an animated film that will be released on June 2. After waiting that long, the movie doesn’t appear to be cutting any corners. DreamWorks enlisted a superhero voice acting team of comedians Ed Helms, Kevin Hart, Nick Kroll, Thomas Middleditch, Jordan Peele, and Kristen Schaal.

Quality-wise, Tom Cruise movies are very much hit or miss nowadays. But based on box office numbers, they’re still quite successful, which means droves of moviegoers will likely line up for Cruise’s latest film, a reboot of Universal’s “The Mummy” franchise. The film also stars Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, and Russell Crowe, without Brendan Fraser or Dwayne Johnson in sight. 

This biographical drama about rap legend Tupac Shakur will be fittingly released on June 16, 2017, on what would have been Shakur's 46th birthday. The film stars newcomer Demetrius Shipp, Jr. as Shakur and Jamal Woolard reprising his role as The Notorious B.I.G. (whom he played in the 2009 movie"Notorious"), as well as Danai Gurira and Lauren Cohan (both of “The Walking Dead” fame), and numerous other familiar faces. For anyone interested in hip-hop and its history, this long-awaited film is a can’t-miss.

Pixar’s “Cars” and “Cars 2” raked in a combined $1 billion at the worldwide box office, making “Cars 3” an inevitability – much to the delight of kids everywhere. Recent additions Armie Hammer and Cristela Alonzo join franchise standards Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, and countless others in this star-studded animated comedy that’s scheduled to hit theaters on June 16. “Cars 3” attendees will also be treated to a Pixar short film entitled “Lou,” which will premiere in theaters prior to the movie.

Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox are long gone from the “Transformers” franchise, but the fifth film, “Transformers: The Last Knight,” still packs some star power thanks to Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, and the return of John Turturro, who was absent from the last film. Michael Bay announced that this will be the last film he directs in the franchise, even though “Transformers 6” and a Bumble Bee spinoff are already in the works.

How much money do you think the first two Despicable Me movies made at the worldwide box office? Answer: $543.1 million for the first and $970 million for the second. (And this doesn’t even include the $1.16 billion made by the prequel “Minions"!) So it's a no-brainer that Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment would make a third. The sequel will again star Steve Carell (as both Gru and his happy-go-lucky twin brother), Kristen Wiig, and Miranda Cosgrove, but this time, the franchise will add “South Park” creator Trey Parker to the mix.

Regardless of critical reviews, comedy fans turn out in droves for any film with Will Ferrell’s name attached to it, and we’re guessing the same will be true of “The House” when it drops on June 30. The always-hilarious Amy Poehler will co-star alongside Nick Kroll, Jeremy Renner, and Jason Mantzoukas. It was written by “Neighbors” co-writers Brendan O’Brien and Andrew J. Cohen, with the latter making his directorial debut.

In the second reboot of the Spider-Man films, Spidey journeys back to his old high school in an attempt to be named homecoming king. Alright, in all honesty we have no idea if that last part is true, but this Jon Watts-directed film does deal with a younger Spider-Man attempting to balance his high school and superhero lives. And although this is yet another reboot, there are still plenty of things to get excited about, such as a cast that includes Tom Holland in the titular role, as well as Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Marisa Tomei, Donald Glover, and Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.

“War for the Planet of the Apes” is the third installment in this most recent franchise reboot, following 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” It features the returns of Andy Serkis, Judy Greer, Karin Konoval, and Terry Notary on the ape side, with Woody Harrelson making his franchise debut as one of the humans. Matt Reeves, who directed the 2014 installment that banked more than $710 million worldwide, is also at the helm for its sequel.

We're never going to be cool enough to travel to New Orleans with Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish, so we're going to vicariously live through their fun times in "Girls Trip" as they party their way through the Big Easy. Filmed during the 2016 Essence Music Festival, "Girls Trip" looks to hit all the sweet spots of a road trip flick; old friends in new location having to reconcile who they were in the past and who they are now (just with more absinthe). 

In his first feature-film since 2014’s “Interstellar,” Christopher Nolan returned to write and direct this war thriller centering on World War II’s Operation Dynamo, an attempt to evacuate Allied forces from the German-controlled beaches of Dunkirk, France. It stars Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, and One Direction’s Harry Styles in his film debut.

Charlize Theron plays MI6 operative Lorraine Broughton working in West Berlin in a sexy spy thriller filled with double-crosses and style for days. Based on Antony Johnston’s graphic novel “The Coldest City” and directed by David Leitch of "John Wick" fame, "Atomic Blonde" was the talk of SXSW for its intense action sequences that brought together the strength of Theron's "Furiosa" character from "Mad Max: Fury Road" with the beautifully choreography from "Wick." If the fight moves look familiar, it shouldn't be surprising as Theron even sparred with Keanu Reeves during training for the film.

Turning a Stephen King book into a film is usually a smooth transition (at least from the audience’s viewpoint), but just to be sure, the folks behind “The Dark Tower” hired Nikolaj Arcel, who wrote the screenplays for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and the Academy-Award nominated “A Royal Affair.” The project has actually been in the works since 2007, with both J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard previously attached to direct (Howard stayed on as a producer). King’s sci-fi western will also feature a cast that includes Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, and newcomer Tom Taylor.

When Al Gore’s global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” was released back in 2006, it received three standing ovations at Sundance, won numerous awards, broke box office records for its genre, and earned both Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Needless to say, eco-conscious audiences are anxiously awaiting the release of its sequel, “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” which will focus on Gore’s continued efforts to battle climate change and showcase alternative energy options.

Ansel Elgort plays "Baby" the driver, who with the right set of tunes to match his mood, can speed himself and his passengers out of any situation they might find themselves in. Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and Jon Ham are the criminals who are determined to keep Baby behind the wheel for as long as possible just went it looks like he might finally break free from his life of cars and music with the help of his new girlfriend. '"Shaun of the Dead'" director Edgar Wright throws everything but the kitchen sink into this heist flick, but who cares about 'too much' when it's this much fun.

Summer movie season technically ends after Labor Day Weekend (even though summer lasts for another two or three weeks), but we couldn’t resist including the much-anticipated remake of Stephen King’s classic horror film, “It.” Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård takes over for Tim Curry as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in this Andrés Muschietti-directed film, which is actually titled “It: Part 1 - The Losers Club,” as it will be the first of two movies.