Summer Movie Guide: 23 Movies to See in Summer 2023
BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Release date: June 2
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Starring Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Jake Johnson, Issa Rae, Brian Tyree Henry, Jason Schwartzman
Synopsis: Miles Morales catapults across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence.”
Past Lives
Release date: June 2
Directed by Celine Song
Starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro, Moon Seung-ah
Synopsis: Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.
The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster
Release date: June 9
Directed by Bomani J. Story
Starring Laya DeLeon Hayes, Chad L. Coleman, Denzel Whitaker
Synopsis: Victoria, a teenage anti-hero, is on a desperate quest to cure death.
Maggie Moore(s)
Release date: June 16
Directed by John Slattery
Starring Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Nick Mohammed
Synopsis: A police chief in a dusty desert town where nothing ever happens is suddenly faced with the back-to-back murders of two women with the same name.
The Blackening
Release date: June 16
Directed by Tim Story
Starring Antoinette Robertson, Dewayne Perkins, Grace Byers, X Mayo, Jay Pharoah, Yvonne Orji
Synopsis: Seven Black friends who go away for the weekend find themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. Will their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies help them stay alive? Probably not.
Elemental
Release date: June 16
Directed by Peter Sohn
Starring Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie Del Carmen, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Joe Pera
Synopsis: Ember and Wade become friends in a city where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together.
Asteroid City
Release date: June 16
Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Steve Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie
Synopsis: The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
No Hard Feelings
Release date: June 23
Directed by Gene Stupinsky
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Morales, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti, Andrew Barth Feldman, Hasan Minhaj, Kyle Mooney
Synopsis: On the brink of losing her home, Maddie finds an intriguing job listing: helicopter parents looking for someone to bring their introverted 19-year-old son out of his shell before college.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Release date: June 30
Directed by James Mangold
Starring Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones
Synopsis: Archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary artifact that can change the course of history.
Biosphere
Release date: July 7
Directed by Mel Eslyn
Starring Sterling K. Brown, Mark Duplass
Synopsis: In the not-too-distant future, the last two men on earth must adapt and evolve to save humanity.
Earth Mama
Release date: July 7
Directed by Savannah Leaf
Starring Tia Nomore, Erika Alexander, Keta Price, Doechii, Sharon Duncan-Brewster
Synopsis: A pregnant single mother embraces her Bay Area community as she determines the fate of her family.
Joy Ride
Release date: July 7
Directed by Adele Lim
Starring Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park, David Denman, Desmond Chiam, Annie Mumolo, Sherry Cola
Synopsis: Four Asian American friends bond and discover the truth of what it means to know and love who you are while they travel through Asia in search of one of their birth mothers.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Release date: July 14
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Shea Whigham
Synopsis: Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must track down a dangerous weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.
Theater Camp
Release date: July 14
Directed by Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman
Starring Ben Platt, Molly Gordon, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Ayo Edebiri, Amy Sedaris, Nathan Lee Graham, Patti Harrison
Synopsis: The eccentric staff of a rundown theater camp in update New York must band together with the beloved founder’s bro-y son to keep the camp afloat.
Barbie
Release date: July 21
Directed by Greta Gerwig
Starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, Helen Mirren, Will Ferrell, John Cena, Hari Nef, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, Dua Lipa, America Ferrera, Alexandra Shipp, Kate McKinnon
Synopsis: To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.
Oppenheimer
Release date: July 21
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Gary Oldman, Tony Goldwyn, Kenneth Branagh, Olivia Thirlby, Dane DeHaan, Alden Ehrenreich
Synopsis: The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
They Cloned Tyrone
Release date: July 21
Directed by Juel Taylor
Starring John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, Kiefer Sutherland, J. Alphonse Nicholson, David Alan Grier, Teyonah Parris
Synopsis: A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in this pulpy mystery caper.
The Beanie Bubble
Release date: July 28
Directed by Kristin Gore, Damian Kulash
Starring Elizabeth Banks, Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Snook, Geraldine Viswanathan
Synopsis: Inspired by the story behind one of the biggest speculative crazes that blazed through American culture in the 90s.
Problemista
Release date: August 4
Directed by Julio Torres
Starring Julio Torres, Tilda Swinton, RZA, Isabella Rossellini, Catalina Saavedra, James Scully
Synopsis: Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in NY. As time runs out on his work visa, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Release date: August 4
Directed by Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears
Starring Rose Byrne, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Giancarlo Esposito, Ayo Edebiri, Maya Rudolph, Ice Cube, Post Malone
Synopsis: The Turtle brothers work together to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants.
Gran Turismo
Release date: August 11
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Starring Sang Heon Lee, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Djimon Hounsou, Geri Horner
Synopsis: The ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver. Based on a true story.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Release date: August 11
Directed by André Øvredal
Starring Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, Chris Walley, Woody Norman
Synopsis: Based on a single chapter, The Captain’s Log, from Bram Stoker’s classic 1987 novel Dracula. The story follows the strange events aboard the Russian schooner Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo—24 unmarked wooden crates.
Bottoms
Release date: August 25
Directed by Emma Seligman
Starring Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Kaia Gerber, Lacey Dover, Havana Rose Liu, Punkie Johnson, Miles Fowler
Synopsis: Two unpopular queer high school students start a fight club to have sex before graduation.
