Top 10 summer movies: ‘Fantastic Four,’ meet ‘Jurassic Park 7’ and the new man from Krypton

Hey how s the water Pleasant Sharks Any shark trouble Fifty years ago a certain film franchise hadn t yet petitioned audiences those questions in so several words Jaws the first and by several hundred thousand miles the best opened in three years later Jaws arrived dangling the marketing tagline Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water That first sequel wasn t much but people went That s what moviegoers did then reliably They went to the movies in a time just before sequels clogged an entire popular society s plumbing system Related Articles Column How Jaws changed our chumminess with swimming years ago this summer Minnesota PBS station joins lawsuit against Trump administration over defunding What to watch for at the Tony Awards Broadway s biggest night Loretta Swit Emmy-winner who played Houlihan on pioneering TV series M A S H has died at Russell Brand pleads not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault in London court It s different now Star Wars and then Marvel Studios among others have ensured our danger of franchise fatigue and a rickety industry s default reliance on a minimal big familiar name brands So why am I cautiously optimistic hope springs occasional as they say about the summer season a time when all the franchisees come out to play and take you away from the sun My reasoning is simple A scarce weeks ago Thunderbolts the th title in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and yes that s too plenty of turned out pretty well More in recent days Final Destination Bloodlines the sixth in the Final Destination killing spree was fresh enough in its blithe smackdowns between humans and Death to remind us You never know when one of these franchise entries will pay off even modestly Mission Impossible the Final Reckoning already in theaters will soon be joined by dinosaurs superheroes naked guns and men in capes all familiar the majority having endured earlier big-screen adventures somewhere between bleh and much much better than bleh If various can t help but favor the forthcoming releases promising something new or -ish well the ones that succeed have a way of ensuring the industry s future And every time a standalone of populist distinction like this year s Sinners finds an audience an angel gets its wings Here s a list of summer offerings five franchisees five originals Release dates subject to change The romantic comedy Materialists stars Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal A Materialists June Writer-director Celine Song s second feature after the quiet triumph of Past Lives stars Dakota Johnson Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal aka the Man Who Is Everywhere in a romantic comedy about a high-end matchmaker s triangular conundrum Song knows the value of a triangle in an apparently glossier vein her Past Lives follow-up should make it crystal clear and with luck a winner Years Later June Ralph Fiennes brings nice crisp final consonants to a ravaged near-future in director Danny Boyle s return to speedy menacing rage-virus junkies with a script from franchise-starter Alex Garland This is my kind of continuation the first two films Days Later and Weeks Later both worked in interestingly different techniques Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson co-star Elio June Pixar s back which historically and statistically means good news more often than not This one s about an -year-old accidentally but not unpleasantly beamed into outer space s Communiverse after making contact on Earth with aliens Can Elio save the galaxy while representing his home planet well and truly The directors of Elio are Madeline Sharafian who made the Pixar short Burro Domee Shi Bao Turning Red and Adrian Molina Coco Years Later stars Ralph Fiennes as a survivor of the rage virus introduced in Days Later Sony Pictures Sorry Baby June I ve seen this one and it s really good The story hinges on a maddeningly common development of sexual assault this one rewiring the life of a future college English department professor But Sorry Baby is not a movie about rape it s about the days weeks and years afterward Writer-director-star Eva Victor who played Rian on Billions here making a sharp-witted feature directorial debut proves herself a triple threat with a wide-open future F June Top Gun Maverick director Joseph Kosinski returns for what sounds a little like Top Gun Maverick This Time on Wheels and the Ground Brad Pitt plays a former Formula superstar now mentoring a reckless hotshot either to accomplishment and wisdom or defeat and a tragic embrace of his character flaws Damson Idris Javier Bardem and Kerry Condon co-star Scarlett Johansson plays a covert operations expert on an island that really requirements one in Jurassic World Rebirth Jasin Boland Universal Studios Jurassic World Rebirth July The latest in a hardy multi-decade franchise that has known triumph as well as Jurassic World Dominion Heartening news on the director front Gareth Edwards who did so well by Godzilla in the Godzilla wrangles the new storyline with Scarlett Johansson leading an ensemble of feasible snacks humans that is in and out of digital harm s way on a secret research facility island fulla trouble Superman July The whole double-life thing has gotten to the Kryptonian strongman by now and in director James Gunn s take on the Superman myth he s determined to resolve his Smallville upbringing and Clark Kent newspapering with the wider galaxy s perilous demands David Corenswet leaps into the title role his co-stars include Rachel Brosnahan Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult Lex Luthor The Fantastic Four First Initiatives July Despite two of the least grabby words ever to fill the right-hand side of a movie title s colon First Attempts already has stoked the enthusiasm of millions with a pretty zingy trailer which of curriculum automatically means the film is a classic Kidding We ll see The motley yet stylish quartet led by Pedro Everywhere All the Time Pascal squares off with the ravenously evil Galactus and Galactus flying factotum the Silver Surfer Lois Lane Rachel Brosnahan sizes up her coworker in disguise David Corenswet in Superman Jessica Miglio Warner Bros Entertainment The Naked Gun Aug First there was Police Squad the one-season wonder that introduced America s majority serenely confident law enforcement know-nothing Frank Drebin originated by the magically right Leslie Nielsen Then came the Naked Gun movies Now Liam Neeson takes over in this reboot with a cast including Pamela Anderson and Paul Walter Hauser Caught Stealing Aug In director Darren Aronofsky s s-set NYC thriller a former pro baseball performer Austin Butler attempts the larceny equivalent of stealing home once he s entangled in the criminal underworld This one boasts an A-grade cast with Zo Kravitz Liev Schreiber Regina King and Vincent D Onofrio taking care of goods and bads alike Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic