By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It may feel like spring around here, but according to the Hollywood calendar it’s already summer.
That’s because the splashy and commercially successful opening of Iron Man 3 last weekend kicked off the official summer movie season of 2013.
So what do moviegoers have to look forward to (or, perhaps, in some cases, dread) through the rest of May and into June, July, and August?
Here are this summer’s multiplex highlights. Each gets four stars. Until it opens.
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MAY
Director Baz Luhrmann directs Leonardo DiCaprio (top photo) in the latest movie version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, The Great Gatsby.
Chris Pine and Jeremy Quinto return as Kirk and Spock, with JJ Abrams back in the director’s chair, in the science fiction sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness.
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zack Galifianakis are back, as is director Todd Phillips, as the comedy franchise returns to Las Vegas but veers from the formula in The Hangover Part III.
(“Fast & Furious 6.”)
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Dwayne Johnson return in a fifth high-octane action sequel on wheels, Fast & Furious 6 (right).
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy return as Jesse and Celine for a third walk-and-talk go-round, again collaborating on the script with director Richard Linklater in the dramedy threequel, Before Midnight.
JUNE
FBI agents and detectives are pitted against illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances in a thriller featuring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Michael Caine, and Woody Harrelson in Now You See Me.
M. Night Shyamalan directs Will Smith and real-life son Jaden as father and son on a human-free Earth in the science fiction adventure, After Earth.
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson co-star (yep, it’s a Wedding Crashers reunion!) as unemployed salesmen who get into a Google internship program at their advanced age in the workplace comedy, The Internship.
A gaggle of celebrities play fictional versions of themselves as Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd, Craig Robinson, Jason Segel, and others are attending a party at James Franco’s house when a global apocalypse interrupts their party in the unusual end-of-the-world comedy, This Is the End.
(Henry Cavill stars as Superman in “Man of Steel.”)
Relative unknown Henry Cavill (right) stars as Superman/Clark Kent in a fresh take on the comic book-inspired legend, with support from Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Shannon in Man of Steel.
John Goodman and Billy Crystal give voice to Sulley and Mike during their college careers in the prequel to 2001’s Monsters Inc. in the animated attraction about professional scaring, Monsters University.
Producer Brad Pitt stars as a family man and former United Nations employee seeking a solution to a zombie epidemic in the post-apocalyptic horror thriller, World War Z.
The year’s second Executive Mansion Under Attack thriller, following the recent Olympus Has Fallen, comes from director Roland Emmerich and finds Channing Tatum trying to protect the president, played by Jamie Foxx, in White House Down.
Sandra Bullock as an FBI agent and Melissa McCarthy as a cop team up in a female buddy comedy from Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, The Heat.
JULY
A classic radio and television western series gets a fresh mask, with Armie Hammer as the title character, Johnny Depp as his Native American sidekick, and Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski behind the wheel in The Lone Ranger.
Steve Carell returns as the voice of Gru, as do his minions, while Al Pacino signs up as the villain and Kristen Wiig as an anti-villain, in the animated comedy sequel, Despicable Me 2.
Under the direction of Guillermo del Toro, robots battle monsters in an Earth-threatening conflict in the action-adventure science fiction thriller, Pacific Rim.
(“Grown Ups 2.”)
Adam Sandler reunites with Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, and Maria Bello in the comedy sequel, Grown Ups 2.
Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds co-star as members of an undead police force in a science fiction action comedy adapted from the Dark Horse comic book, R.I.P.D.
Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman, reprising his X-Men role for a sixth time, plays the title character, who finds himself in modern-day Japan in the action-adventure fantasy sequel, The Wolverine.
Woody Allen, shooting in the US for the first time in four years, writes and directs Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Louis CK, Sally Hawkins, and Peter Sarsgaard in the San Francisco- and Manhattan-set romantic-triangle dramedy, Blue Jasmine.
Retired but extremely dangerous returnees Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich are joined by Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the action-thriller sequel, RED 2.
AUGUST
Persians and Athenians engage in a series of naval battles in the sequel to the CGI-heavy 2007 period action thriller, 300: Rise of an Empire.
Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg are hired by the mob to investigate each other in an action crime thriller based on a graphic novel, 2 Guns.
District 9 writer-director Neil Blomkamp delivers another science fiction thriller, this one set in the 22nd century and starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, Elysium.
(“We’re The Millers.”)
Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston co-star as a drug dealer and a stripper, respectively, who form a fake family as a coverup in the comedy, We’re the Millers (right).
Amanda Seyfried stars as porn star Linda Lovelace, with Peter Sarsgaard as her husband, in the R-rated biodrama, Lovelace.
Jim Carrey joins Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz as Kick-Ass and Hit Girl, who return in the sequel to the comedic 2010 crime-fighting action hit, Kick-Ass 2.
Parks and Recreation’s Aubrey Plaza feels pressured to gain more sexual experience before she goes to college in the R-rated comedy, The To Do List.
And Laurence Fishburne and Bill Paxton play survivors living underground during a new ice age in the science fiction thriller, The Colony.
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See you at the summertime movies!
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