The 40 Most Anticipated Movies Of Summer 2016

Obviously the biggest event of the summer is The Playlist moving to the shiny new digs in which you’re now seeing us. But seriously, the summer movie months are packed with films both big and small guaranteed to thrill, delight and provoke you, and keep you out of the sunshine, and inside basking in air-conditioned comfort.

The time when big movies were released only in summer has long gone — this year has seen “Deadpool,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice,” and “The Jungle Book” among those that were smashing box office records while the temperatures were still low and the days still short. That said, nothing says summer like a hazy, hot night spent chowing down popcorn as Hollywood razzle dazzles you with shiny CGI and explosions.

There’s a stacked schedule of releases, both blockbuster and arthouse, ahead of us in the next four months until Labor Day, and we’ve assembled the forty that we’re most excited about. Take a look below, and make sure to sign up to our new comment system to have your say. And we’ll be bringing you our verdicts on all the films below closer to their release, so stay tuned.

Update: Amazon just dated “The Neon Demon” for a June release: as one of our most anticipated films of the year, we’ve added a cap for it below.

“The Neon Demon”
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn (“Drive”)
Cast: Elle Fanning, Bella Heathcote, Jena Malone, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks
Synopsis: An aspiring model moves to Los Angeles, where she falls in with a sinister agent and a group of women who prey on her youth and beauty.
What You Need To Know: After “Drive,” Nicolas Winding Refn looked, for a minute, after “Drive” (which itself followed the well-regarded “Bronson” and “Valhalla Rising”) like he was going to rule the world. But despite reteaming him with Ryan Gosling, follow-up “Only God Forgives,” a film significantly more violent and nihillistic than its predecessor, went down like something of a lead balloon at Cannes three years back. But Winding Refn is back, and Amazon have now confirmed that they’ll be releasing his latest, “The Neon Demon,” in June, a month after its Cannes premiere. Appearing to be a mix of giallo and Sofia Coppola (the marketing campaign has even cannily played up comparisons to a perfume commercial), it’ll either be another film that puts style way over substance, or Refn’s redemption in a big way. Either way, we can’t wait, especially with Cliff Martinez returning to score the film, and “The Rover” DoP Natasha Braier lensing.
Release Date: June 24th

40. “Alice Through The Looking Glass”
Director: James Bobin (“The Muppets”)
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway
Synopsis: Alice returns to Wonderland to stop the evil Time from freezing the world, while helping the Mad Hatter reunite with his family.
What You Need To Know: It might have been a gaudy nightmare that marked a nadir in the career of Tim Burton, and it might have been boosted by the brief post-“Avatar” mania for 3D, but the fact remains that “Alice In Wonderland” made a billion dollars worldwide, so the only real surprise is that it’s taken six years for the follow-up to arrive. Burton declined to return, so we get talented “Flight Of The Conchords” and “Muppets” mastermind James Bobin at the helm, though the gaudy green-screen aesthetic hasn’t been changed. Sacha Baron Cohen as the villain is the main addition this time, and we hope that away from Burton, this could at least retain a sense of fun and, well, wonder that the original film lacked. Then again, the last time that Burton didn’t return for a sequel, we got Joel Schumacher’s ‘Batman’ movies, so…
Release Date: May 27th

39. “The Legend Of Tarzan”
Director: David Yates (“Harry Potter’ 5-8)
Cast: Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Hounsou
Synopsis: Years after he left Africa, John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, returns to the Congo where he was raised by apes, with his wife Jane, to face off again an evil Belgian soldier.
What You Need To Know: Few movies this summer seem as risky as the latest big-screen attempt to capture Edgar Rice Burroughs’ vine-swinging hero. Burroughs’ John Carter lost Disney a bomb a few years back, the well-reviewed “The Jungle Book” threatens to steal its thunder, and it comes after a long string of Warner Bros disasters masterminded by studio boss Kevin Tsujihara. Trailers haven’t done much to put confidence in this, and it looks like it’ll generate more than a few thinkpieces on issues more serious than ‘could you really get wildebeest to destroy a village?’ But director David Yates mostly did a bang-up job on the Potter movies, particularly the latter ones, the cast is strong, and if this can come closer to, say, “Sherlock Holmes” than to “Pan,” it could turn out to be a pleasant surprise.
Release Date: July 1st

38. “Now You See Me 2”
Director: Jon M. Chu (“G.I. Joe: Retaliation”)
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe
Synopsis: A year after their audacious heists, magicians The Four Horseman return when they’re blackmailed by a young genius with a grudge.
What You Need To Know: The first “Now You See Me” was among the more notable sleeper hits of recent years, bucking trends by being a mid-budget non-franchise movie that was released at the height of summer and still proved popular with audiences (outgrossing movies like “The Hangover Part III,” “The Lone Ranger” and “”Pacific Rim” the year it was released). That it was almost unfathomably dumb, and an utter waste of its excellent cast seemed to be beyond the point. Inevitably, a hit spawned a sequel, with almost all of the original cast (bar Isla Fisher, getting out of contractual obligation through pregnancy) returning, and ‘Step Up” veteran Jon Chu directing. The first film was, yes, really, really bad, but the vibe from trailers has been a little looser and funnier, and Chu’s vowed to rectify the biggest mistake of the original and do the magic tricks for real, eschewing CGI effects. Maybe this can fulfil the promise of the premise?
Release Date: June 10th

37. “Warcraft”
Director: Duncan Jones (“Moon”)
Cast: Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell, Paula Patton, Dominic Cooper, Ben Foster
Synopsis: The orc race are fleeing their own, dying world, Draenor, and their search for a new home puts them on the path to war with the humans of Azeroth. A human and an orc set out to forge a peace before war becomes inevitable.
What You Need To Know: With Middle-Earth again dormant, and the Wizarding World still dormant for another six months or so, there’s still a giant-fantasy-franchise-sized hole to be filled, and Universal and Legendary are hoping that “Warcraft” will be the one to fill it. The talented Duncan Jones, only on his third feature, has been working on this translation of the giant online RPG for literally years, but few of the film commentariat seem to be convinced of the CGI-heavy imagery they’ve seen so far. That said, we’re not losing hope: footage has improved as release has neared, there’s something intriguing in the idea of a film like this told from both sides (especially given the real-world parallels the setup draws), and Universal have put it on the “Jurassic World” slot, so clearly have some confidence. Hopefully this proves a “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes”-sized surprise?…
Release Date: June 10th

36. “Cafe Society”
Director: Woody Allen (“Midnight In Paris”)
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Corey Stoll
Synopsis: A kid from a Jewish family in the Bronx heads to Los Angeles in the late 1930s to work as an agent, falling in love along the way.
What You Need To Know: Another year, another Woody Allen movie, though there’s only so long that’ll be true: the filmmaker, who turned 80 last year, is shifting into TV, with his currently filming Miley Cyrus-starring show for Amazon (the workload behind which could mean that 2017 will be the first year without an Allen movie since 1981). After a good recent run taking in “Midnight In Paris” and “Blue Jasmine,” Woody’s last two, “Magic In The Moonlight” and “Irrational Man” were both stinkers, but there’s reason to be hopeful with his latest, a Hollywood-set comedy. The film reunites him with a number of performers who’ve been excellent in his recent films (Corey Stoll, Parker Posey, Steve Carell, who replaced Bruce Willis when the latter clashed with the director, and Jesse Eisenberg), while adding a few new names who should click nicely, including Kristen Stewart, Anna Camp and Jeannie Berlin. And it’s opening Cannes: the last time Woody did that, we got his biggest ever hit with “Midnight In Paris.”
Release Date: July 15th

35. “Southside With You”
Director: Richard Tanne
Cast: Parker Sawyers, Tika Sumpter, Vanessa Bell Calloway
Synopsis: A young associate takes a Chicago lawyer on a date in 1989, to the Art Institute of Chicago and a screening of “Do The Right Thing.” Their names are Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson.
What You Need To Know: Last year, Sundance debuted a ludicrous-sounding two-hander of a movie about a famous public figure, that unexpectedly turned into a treat. This year, it seems like “Southside With You” and President Barack Obama could be the 2016 equivalent of “The End Of The Tour” and David Foster Wallace. As with the previous film, a sort of future-president twist on “Before Sunrise” seemed like a terrible idea, but word from Park City was that Richard Tanne’s directorial debut was something of a pleasure. Showcasing two breakout turns from Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter as Barack and Michelle, the film was, per Noel Murray’s review from Sundance, “winningly sweet and earnest, and refreshingly frank about the problems that minorities face when they try to get ahead in a culture dominated by white males.” By August, after a summer full of explosions and CGI, this could be the refreshing antidote we’ll all need, particularly as the current disastrous electoral cycle makes us already start to miss President Obama even before he’s gone.
Release Date: August 19th

34. “The Infiltrator”
Director: Brad Furman (“The Lincoln Lawyer”)
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger, Yul Vazquez, John Leguizamo, Amy Ryan
Synopsis: A DEA agent goes undercover to become a money launderer for drug lords, including Pablo Escobar.
What You Need To Know: Reviews might have been mixed on “Trumbo,” Bryan Cranston’s first big starring role since he blew up with “Breaking Bad,” but it in some respects did what it set out to do: namely, land Cranston his first Oscar nomination for playing the blacklisted screenwriter. He’s soon to reteam with the director of that film, Jay Roach, on HBO movie “All That Way,” but we’re rather more interested in this, which returns him to more Walter White-ish territory as a real-life figure who took on the cartels and won. Brad Furman is at the helm, and while his last film “Runner Runner” was kind of dire, we really enjoyed the one before, “The Lincoln Lawyer” (the film that actually began the McConaissance), and this seems to be a passion project for him: it’s actually written by his mother, Ellen Brown Furman. We need to see some footage before we’re totally convinced here, but if nothing else this is an adult drama in the candy floss summer months, and that’s potentially something to be grateful for.
Release Date: July 13th

33. “War Dogs”
Director: Todd Phillips (“The Hangover”)
Cast: Jonah Hill, Miles Teller, Bradley Cooper, Ana de Armas, J.B. BLanc
Synopsis: The true story of two pot-smoking twentysomethings who landed a government arms contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
What You Need To Know: There might have been a level of diminishing returns, both creatively and financially, as the series went on, but “The Hangover” still made an insane amount of money, and that bought Todd Phillips the kudos to do… pretty much whatever he wants. And it turns out that whatever he wants is “War Dogs” (formerly titled “Arms And The Dudes”), a true-life tale that still lets him play into his comedic comfort zone. With Jonah Hill and Miles Teller toplining (plus Phillips’ pal and production company partner Bradley Cooper cameo-ing), this certainly has the star power, but it’s not looking like the safest prospect: the similarly toned “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” tanked earlier in the year, marketing suggests a film weirdly celebratory about its subject matter (which wouldn’t be out of character for Phillips) and the film got pushed back to the normally quiet months of August. Nevertheless, we’d love for Phillips to return to his best work, and Hill and Teller could help him do it.
Release Date: August 19th

32. “Independence Day: Resurgence”
Director: Roland Emmerich (“Independence Day”)
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe, Jessie Usher, Bill Pullman
Synopsis: Two decades after the alien invasion, humanity has prepared for their return with enhanced technology and global unity. But when the creatures come back, they pose a far greater threat than anyone anticipated.
What You Need To Know: The original “Independence Day” was absolutely massive — still, adjusted for inflation, the 39th biggest movie ever (ahead of films including “Home Alone,” “Back to The Future” and all the “Lord Of The Rings” movies), it’s remarkable that it’s taken this long for Roland Emmerich’s alien invasion blockbuster to get a sequel (or in this case, “Jurassic World”-style re-quel). Will Smith proved too pricey and has had his character killed off, but most of the survivors from the first movie are returning (including Judd Hirsch, because millennials just love Judd Hirsch), while the aliens now seem to specialise in dropping cities on top of other cities with some kind of gravity weapon. So far, the marketing hasn’t delivered the kind of iconic visuals that made the original such a hit — bigger isn’t necessarily better, guys. But Emmerich usually knows what he’s doing with this kind of mass destruction, and if it comes near the original it should be a passable afternoon at the movies.
Release Date: June 24th

31. “Our Little Sister”
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda (“Like Father, Like Son”)
Cast: Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho, Suzu Hirose, Ryo Kase
Synopsis: After their father’s death, three adult sisters ask their half-sister, who they meet for the first time at the funeral, to move in with them.
What You Need To Know: It’s easy to take Hirokazu Koreeda for granted: the Japanese filmmaker has been knocking his films out at a steady pace for over twenty years, with this year’s “Deeper Than The Sea” marking his third film in just four years. But we shouldn’t undervalue him: his brand of delicate, understated melodrama is always welcome, with few filmmakers tackling the kind of subject matter that he does with the kind of sensitivity and nuance that he does. His latest, an adaptation of manga “Umimachi Diary,” might sound like a sort of Japanese riff on “Party Of Five,” but as our review from Cannes last year revealed, there’s little in the way of soapiness to it. That said, what Jess called the film’s “sexless delicacy” and “frictionless tastefulness” perhaps marks it as minor Koreeda, but its gentleness will surely be a good thing in this summer season.
Release Date: July 8th