41 Must-See Movies to Watch This Summer Season

Who says this summer is light on blockbuster fare, despite the strikes holding productions and release dates up?

Big movies coming to theaters in the next hot few months include favorite IP getting a 2024 burnish, from “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (May 10, Wes Ball) to “Alien: Romulus” (August 16, Fede Alvarez) and “Twisters” (July 19, and from one of our favorite indie directors, “Minari” filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung). Oh, and a little movie called “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (May 24), which George Miller will first bring to the Cannes Film Festival before opening it in theaters later that month. Plus, poised to be a Netflix hit this summer is Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man” (May 24 in theaters), playing for a couple of weeks in select cities before the crime comedy starring Glen Powell hits the streaming platform.

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But those bigger-ticket titles aside, summer 2024 is a time for indies to shine, from Annie Baker’s long-awaited festival hit “Janet Planet” (June 14) to India Donaldson’s wonderful Sundance premiere “Good One” (August 9), two coming-of-age movies that skirt the usual formulas for such films. Plus, on the genre side, there’s plenty for horror fans to look forward to, from Ti West’s “MaXXXine” (July 5), the final installment in the trilogy preceded by “X” and “Pearl,” plus Oz Perkins’ mysterious “Longlegs” (July 12), the serial killer thriller for which Neon has been slow-dripping a creepy and tantalizing marketing strategy. Oh, and Yorgos Lanthimos is already back in theaters after the Oscar-winning “Poor Things” with his follow-up “Kinds of Kindness” (June 21), also starring Emma Stone and playing first at Cannes.

Rising filmmakers on the list include Sean Wang with Sundance audience winner “Didi” (July 26) and Ally Pankiw with “I Used to Be Funny” (June 7), sure to be a Gen Z hit thanks to comedy star Rachel Sennott leading the ensemble.

Below, IndieWire picks 41 movies we’re looking forward to this summer season. OK, we’re cheating a bit and actually kicking off our preview with May release dates (summer doesn’t technically start until June 20), but hey, we’re all already in summer mode anyway, so why not lean into it already?

Christian Blauvelt, Wilson Chapman, Bill Desowitz, Chris O’Falt, Erin Strecker, Samantha Bergeson, Brian Welk, and Christian Zilko contributed to this story.

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