Summer Movie Preview 2024: The 16 Films We Can’t Wait to See

From rom-coms to thrillers, here are the films you’ll want to check out

Tim Appelo,

AARP

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En español

Published April 11, 2024

Kevin Costner riding a horse in Horizon An American Saga, Eddie Murphy and Taylour Paige in a scene from Beverly Hills Cop Axel F, and Will Smith and Martin Lawrence talking to each other in Bad Boys Ride or Die

(Clockwise from top left) Kevin Costner in "Horizon: An American Saga"; Eddie Murphy and Taylour Paige in "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F"; Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in "Bad Boys: Ride or Die."

Courtesy Warner Bros. Discovery; Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix; Frank Masi/Sony Pictures Entertainment

As director Francois Truffaut once said, “It’s a beautiful day — let’s see a movie!” Keep track of the sunny season’s new batch of movies, and when they’ll arrive in theaters and on streaming platforms, with our critics’ guide. And we’ll see you at the movies!

The Garfield Movie (May 24, in theaters)

The lasagna-gobbling indoor cat Garfield (Chris Pratt) gets swept up into a heist with his long-lost street-cat dad Vic (Samuel L. Jackson, 75) in an animated comedy also starring the voices of SNL’s Cecily Strong and Bowen Yang, Ving Rhames, 64, and Snoop Dogg, 52, as Snoop Cat.

Ezra (May 31, in theaters)

While his agent (Whoopi Goldberg, 68) tries to keep his flailing career afloat, a stand-up comic (Bobby Cannavale, 53) moves in with his dad (Robert De Niro, 80), who thinks he’s a loser. But he’ll fight for his autistic son, Ezra, 11 (William A. Fitzgerald), who’s read The New York Times since age 5 but gets booted from school for impulsive outbursts. Screenwriter Tony Spiridakis, who raised a neurodivergent son, writes from experience.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die (June 7, in theaters)

What you gonna do when bantering Miami detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett (Will Smith, 55, and Martin Lawrence, 59) come for you in their fourth pedal-to-the-metal action romp? Probably, you’ll help push the 29-year-old film franchise’s ticket sales past the billion-dollar mark. This time, they’re out to burn cars, escape falling helicopters, bicker over Skittles, and clear the name of their old police chief (The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano, 72) — and their own.

Hit Man (June 7, on Netflix)

Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) wrote and stars in the latest from Richard Linklater, 63, a film loosely inspired by Gary Johnson, a nerdy professor who actually moonlighted as a fake hit man to help Houston police nab over 60 would-be killers. When a woman asked him to kill her abusive boyfriend, he got her into a shelter instead. Powell’s Gary falls in love with such a woman (Adria Arjona), and trouble ensues. It’s a screwball comedy, a rom-com, a thriller and Linklater’s biggest critical hit in almost a decade. Some call it his most entertaining film ever.

Inside Out 2 (June 14, in theaters)

In the sequel to a smart animated hit with heart and wisdom, Riley (Kensington Tallman) copes with her parents (Kyle MacLachlan, 65, and Diane Lane, 59) and the emotions inside her newly teenage head: Amy Poehler, 52, as Joy; Lewis Black, 75, as Anger (of course!); Tony Hale, 52, as Fear; and June Squibb, 94, as Nostalgia.

Thelma (June 21, in theaters)

After 70 years in the industry, Nebraska Oscar nominee June Squibb lands her first lead role at 94, in an action film about a grandma who gets victimized by a phone scammer impersonating her grandson (The White Lotus’ Fred Hechinger). She joins a friend (Shaft’s Richard Roundtree, who died at 81 last year) to take back what’s hers. Parker Posey, 55, and Malcolm McDowell, 80, costar — and Squibb does most of her own stunts!

The Bikeriders (June 21, in theaters)

In a movie clearly inspired by Goodfellas, a nice girl (Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer) gets less nice fast by falling for a sensitive, muscled motorcyclist (Elvis’ Austin Butler) who’s a member of the Vandals, a violent Chicago gang whose leader (Mad Max: Fury Road’s Tom Hardy) is obsessed with Marlon Brando in The Wild One. It’s a violent tale meant to evoke the 1960s, and the soundtrack — Cream, the Animals, the Shangri-Las — will take you back.

Horizon: An American Saga (Part 1 June 28, Part 2 Aug. 16, in theaters)

Kevin Costner, 69, spent 36 years and mortgaged his home to direct his dream: a four-movie saga about how the American West was won and what it cost, to Native Americans and others. The cast includes Costner, Will Patton, 69 (Yellowstone), Tatanka Means (Killers of the Flower Moon), Giovanni Ribisi (Saving Private Ryan), Sienna Miller (American Sniper), Luke Wilson, 52 (Legally Blonde), Thomas Haden Church, 63 (Sideways), and more than 160 others with speaking roles.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (July 3, on Netflix)

Three decades after Eddie Murphy, 63, shot to stardom as Detroit cop Axel Foley, Axel returns to L.A. to solve a crime with fellow gumshoes Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold, 66) and Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser, 68). Will the outrageously semi-comprehensible accent of their art gallerist/arms dealer acquaintance Serge (Bronson Pinchot, 64) be the funniest bit in the movie, as it was in 1984?

Despicable Me 4 (July 3, in theaters)

The most popular animation franchise in history continues, as Gru (Steve Carell, 61) and his wife, Lucy (Kristen Wiig, 50), confront jailbreaker supervillain Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell, 56) and his femme fatale Valentina (Sofia Vergara, 51).

Twisters (July 19, in theaters)

Both tornado-fighting techniques and special effects have come a long way since the half-billion-dollar 1996 action hit Twister, so expect things you haven’t seen before — and nobody from the first film. This one stars Glen Powell as a risk-loving, storm-chasing, self-promoting social media star and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdads Sing) as a tornado-traumatized recovering twister chaser in peril once more in Oklahoma’s Tornado Alley.

*Find M**e Falling* (July 19, on Netflix)

An aging, flopping rock star (not-at-all-flopping singer/actor Harry Connick Jr., 56) flees to a remote home on a cliff on the spectacular island of Cyprus, where he rekindles an old flame (Agni Scott) and is forced to choose what he loves most: his music or his woman.

The Fabulous Four (July 25, in theaters)

Three lifelong pals (Susan Sarandon, 77, Sheryl Lee Ralph, 67, and Megan Mullally, 65) visit Key West to be bridesmaids at the surprise wedding of their college girlfriend (Bette Midler, 78).

Deadpool & Wolverine (July 26, in theaters)

What could be better than the return of Ryan Reynolds as the potty-mouthed, wiseacre superhero Deadpool? Deadpool teaming up with the slashing-fingered Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, 55), with Emma Corrin (Diana in The Crown) as the villainess Cassandra Nova and Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Paradox, a crony of the titular heroes. Marvel movies have been in a dire slump, but this one’s got hit written all over it.

Borderlands (Aug. 9, in theaters)

This sci-fi comedy action flick, adapted from a popular video game and looking a lot like Guardians of the Galaxy, puts the fate of the universe in the seemingly unreliable hands of a band of quarrelsome eccentrics: alien outlaw on the run Lilith (Cate Blanchett, 54), mercenary Roland (Kevin Hart), sarcastic robot Claptrap (Jack Black, 54) and mad scientist Dr. Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis, 65).

Reagan (Aug. 30, in theaters)

Dennis Quaid, 69, plays Ronald Reagan from his 30s to his 80s, with Penelope Ann Miller, 60, as Nancy Reagan, Mena Suvari as Jane Wyman (his movie star first wife) and Lesley-Anne Down, 70, as Margaret Thatcher.

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Tim Appelo covers entertainment and is the film and TV critic for AARP. Previously, he was the entertainment editor at Amazon, video critic at Entertainment Weekly, and a critic and writer for The Hollywood Reporter, People, MTV, The Village Voice and LA Weekly.