If it were up to me, we’d kickstart summer movie season today with Challengers, which is sure to be one of the year’s hottest releases. (I’m headed to see it for my third time tonight, whoops.)
But even so, we’re about to kick 2024 in cinema into high gear with some of the year’s most anticipated releases! Pack those theaters for cool A/C and cool new movies, friends.
Something notable about 2024: per Scott Mendelson of Puck, this is the first normal summer movie season since 2006 not to open with a Marvel-related property. The spirit of discovery and risk-taking is in the air! Sure, there will be Despicable Me, Deadpool & Wolverine, a new Inside Out, and more franchise titles guaranteed to rack up some serious coin at the box office. But let’s make this one for the books by seeking out titles big and small that are by no means guaranteed propositions.
As far as this post goes, I’m going to keep it interesting by not recommending anything I’ve seen out of festivals (such as Sundance, which I ranked for paid subscribers back in February) or anything I named as one of my most anticipated films of 2024 (sorry, Kinds of Kindness, whose trailer I’ve watched approximately 100 times now).
But I do have to give one recommendation up at the top because I really do feel this strongly about it. The movie of summer 2024 is, or at least should be, Richard Linklater’s Hit Man. I have already seen this movie twice out of festivals, which should tell you how much I love it.
Netflix is giving it a small theatrical release on May 24 before putting it on their platform on June 7. I cannot recommend highly enough that you see this with a big, raucous crowd if you can. Glen Powell’s star power absolutely lights up the screen. There’s a scene in Hit Man that drew a rowdy ovation both times I’ve seen it, and I cannot wait for us to be able to discuss it.
Try not to watch the full trailer — I think it gives a little too much away. The teaser below is fine:
And now, paying subscribers, here are ten titles I think you should have squarely on your summer movie radar:
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