Once it starts getting unbearably hot and the ice cream truck comes down your street blaring “Turkey in the Straw” while kids scream after it, you just know you want to lock yourself in a dark room with AC for two hours to watch one of the best summer movies, filled with expensive special effects.
We’ve come a long way since a little movie called Jaws became the first summer blockbuster in 1975. Since then, summer blockbuster season has just become a part of pop culture life. But it’s not what it used to be; the flicks we’d normally expect to be the best summer movies (read: sequels, Marvel movies) are now being released earlier and earlier. For example, Black Panther, one of the biggest movies of the year, was released in February.
Over the past 40 years, there have definitely been some movie seasons that were better than others, but this year we lucked out, with a variety of films coming out over the summer months, and not all of them expensive superhero/action flicks. Great films sometimes have trouble getting an audience during the summer, but this year proved to be lucrative even for some small titles. Even though bigger hits like Black Panther, Ready Player One, and A Quiet Place all came out earlier in the year, we still managed to get three Marvel movies, a Pixar sequel, and several movies starring Josh Brolin.
It’s been an embarrassment of riches, cinematically (and literally as well, all of the blockbusters in this list have made more than 100 million dollars). There’s been something for everyone this summer, from heist movies to horror movies to, of course, superhero movies. Here are this year’s summer blockbusters, ranked for your viewing pleasure.
10. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
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Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Starring: Selena Gomez, Adam Sandler, Adam Sandberg
The third(!) installment of the Hotel Transylvania series, Hotel Transylvania: Summer Vacation is the highest grossing children’s movie of the summer. The series has been surprisingly successful—it helps that there wasn’t too much family friendly fare this summer—with the third installment. Summer Vacation follows Mavis (Selena Gomez) as she convinces her dad, Dracula (Adam Sandler), who’s overworked, to take a vacation with the whole family, including her husband Johnny (Andy Samberg), Frankenstein (Kevin James), and Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), among other monster friends. What follows is very much a children’s movie, from a recurring gag that garlic makes Dracula fart a lot to a dog sneaking aboard by wearing a trenchcoat. Director Genndy Tartakovsky clearly has a love for animation, as shown in his works Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack. Unfortunately, the buoyant animation is in service of material that’s ultimately slapstick-y and immature, which does make sense for children and few other audiences.
9. Solo: A Star Wars Story
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Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover
One of the more embattled blockbusters in recent memory thanks to numerous reports about creative issues on set, Solo: A Star Wars Story arrived with much fanfare and ultimately became the first Star Wars film to bomb (or bomb as much as a movie of its stature can bomb), which is a shame, because it’s a fun, if a bit unnecessary, diversion in the Star Wars franchise.
Alden Ehrenreich proved many fans’ worries were for naught with a strong performance that’s evocative of Harrison Ford without outright copying him. Emilia Clarke is charming as well, but the movie is stolen by Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. While not as epic in scale as the rest of the Star Wars movies, Solo is scrappy and charming, just like its star.
8. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
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Director: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum
To be clear, Jurassic World wasn’t a very good movie. It took a tried and true parable about the simultaneous hubris and wonder of scientific advancement and turned it into “muscular guy and attractive woman run from dinosaurs.” Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is that, plus a bunch of additional questionable plot choices. After the events of the first movie, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the leader of a pro-dinosaur organization, working to convince the government to save the remaining dinosaurs from the titular park, which will soon cease to exist because of a volcanic eruption.
Why do all of these people, including Claire, who spent the entire first movie and (spoiler alert) also this movie running from dinosaurs, care about saving these genetic experiments? We don’t know and the movie doesn’t, either. After she is let in on a plan by the co-founder of the park to save the dinosaurs, she calls in Owen (Chris Pratt) and they travel back to Jurassic World, and well, run from dinosaurs. The movie’s lumpy plot isn’t helped by bad dialogue and uninteresting or stereotypical characters. A finale set in a mansion at night occasionally feels like an inventive haunted house movie with dinosaurs, but the movie ultimately fails to come together. And yet, the ending only promises an even more inane sequel.
7. Deadpool 2
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Director: David Leitch
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz
While the first Deadpool was a reliable joke machine centered on a charming Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool 2 unexpectedly goes for a more dramatic storyline and makes it sort of work. The plot is essentially a more comedic take on T2, focusing on Deadpool and company stopping a mercenary from the future named Cable (Josh Brolin, who’s having a year) who goes back in time to kill a child named Russell (Julian Dennison) before he can grow up to be a monstrous mutant that kills his family. Typical Deadpool shenanigans ensue, including incongruous music cues, witty quips, and many, many Marvel in-jokes.
Despite how heavy the storyline can be (Russell lives in a “mutant reeducation center,” which seems an awful lot like a gay conversion therapy center) and the controversial treatment of Deadpool’s girlfriend Vanessa (played by Morena Baccarin), the movie is pretty light and fun. The cast additions stand out, especially Atlanta’s Zazie Beetz. Beetz plays Domino, a mutant whose power is that of luck. Her parts are some of the most fun in the movie, as Beetz strolls through high-octane chase scenes without a scratch on her, kind of like a reverse Final Destination. Deadpool 2 is a solid improvement over the first.
6. Ocean’s 8
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Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna
Easily the internet’s most anticipated movie of the year, Ocean’s 8 mostly lives up to expectations. The sequel/quasi-reboot of the Ocean’s trilogy (which ended in 2007 with Ocean’s Thirteen) follows Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), the sister of previous heist leader Danny Ocean, as she’s released from jail and plans to rob the Met Gala with six other women (played by *deep breath* Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, and Awkwafina). It’s a light, breezy movie, even if it isn’t as stylish as previous Ocean’s installments, and it flows well.
Now, you may be saying to yourself, wait, Debbie only recruits six people? Isn’t it Ocean’s 8? Don’t think about it too much or else you’ll spoil it for yourself, but Anne Hathaway is the MVP of this movie, rounding out the cast as the unwitting spoiled celebrity who Ocean’s crew is also stealing from. All of her lines drip with the hilarious inflection of a celebrity who knows she’s more important than everyone around her. Ocean’s 8 is solid summer fun, even if it could use more Rihanna (to be fair, though, everything could use more Rihanna).
5. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!
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Director: Ol Parker
Starring: Meryl Streep, Cher, Lily James, Amanda Seyfried
Your mom’s most anticipated movie of the summer is surprisingly one of the best movies of the summer, period. While it does have a loyal fanbase and did incredibly well at the box office (it was both the highest grossing live action musical and the highest grossing movie directed by a woman until Beauty & The Beast and Wonder Woman were released in 2017), Mamma Mia! wasn’t exactly a critical success, and it’s easy to see why: its lack of direction and actors who can, well, sing.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! corrects all of this by adding lavish, well-directed musical numbers as well as adding more actors who can, well, actually sing. The sequel takes an approach similar to The Godfather Part II (no, seriously) in that it takes place in both the present and the past, following Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) as she reopens her mother Donna’s (Meryl Streep) hotel after her death, and a younger Donna (Lily James) in flashbacks as she meets the three men who will become Sophie’s possible fathers. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! takes what could have been a shallow retread with obscure ABBA B-sides and turns it into a joyous, ridiculously fun musical celebration (even ABBA’s obscure B-sides are bops), anchored by the incredibly charming Lily James. Oh, also, Cher plays Meryl Streep’s mom and performs “Fernando” for Andy Garcia’s character. I’m not lying when I say it’s the scene of the summer.
4. Ant-Man and the Wasp
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Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Michelle Pfeiffer
This is the *third* Marvel movie that came out this year, in case you thought Marvel was letting up anytime soon. While it didn’t make as big of a splash as Black Panther or Avengers: Infinity War (more on this later), Ant-Man and the Wasp takes an opposite approach from these movies and makes a Marvel movie on a smaller, ant-sized (not sorry) scale.
Following the events of 2015’s Ant-Man and 2016’s Captain America: Civil War (this movie is a bit incomprehensible without seeing both of these, sorry casual Marvel fans), Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest and his Ant-Man suit has been taken away. After Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) discover that their wife and mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) is trapped in the quantum realm, a small universe that one can reach by shrinking, Scott teams up with them to help them save her, as well as evade a mysterious new enemy known as Ghost.
The movie is pleasingly low-stakes, especially compared to Infinity War, and as always, Paul Rudd is extremely charming. Ant-Man and the Wasp is also one of the more innovative Marvel movies, as watching people and things shrink and then get big again as they chase, fight, and run is weirdly very funh—a Hello Kitty Pez dispenser becomes huge and hits a motorcycle henchman in this movie! Michelle Pfeiffer is a great addition to the MCU as well, even if she gets a criminally small amount of screentime, and the design of the quantum realm gives this movie the trippiest Marvel visuals since Doctor Strange. As much trippy science and action as there is in this movie, however, it’s also just a movie about people wanting to be there for their family, from Scott and his daughter, to Hank and Hope with Janet, and even to some degree with the villain and her surrogate father. Ant-Man and the Wasp shows that Marvel can still successfully create a low-stakes feel-good movie, even though the two post-credits scenes directly reference Infinity War (skip the credits if you want an uncomplicated, happy ending).
3. Crazy Rich Asians
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Director: Jon M. Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Kris Aquino, Awkwafina
One of the most widely anticipated blockbusters ever since the hit novel came out, Crazy Rich Asians lives up to all the hype. The blockbuster is the first present-day set movie released by a major Hollywood studio with an all Asian cast since 1993’s The Joy Luck Club, so it had a lot to live up to. Thankfully, it’s an absolute delight.
The film follows New Yorker Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) as she visits the family of her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) in Singapore, and as she finds out that they’re, well, crazy rich. The film boasts an all-star cast, from the legendary Michelle Yeoh to Fresh Off The Boat star Constance Wu to recent Ocean’s 8 standout Awkwafina. Michelle Yeoh in particular gives a surprisingly complex performance as Nick’s mother, who disapproves of Rachel based on her lower class upbringing. Not only is the movie funny and emotional in all the right romantic comedy ways, but it also manages to address classism and other conflicts that can arise in relationships where one person is rich and the other person isn’t. Crazy Rich Asians is not only one of the most diverse blockbusters in recent memory, but one of the best, thanks to its finely tuned romantic comedy sensibilities.
2. Mission Impossible: Fallout
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Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhames
The Mission: Impossible franchise doesn’t get as much attention as other big blockbuster franchises, which is a bit strange given that the movies have been steadily increasing in quality since 2011’s Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol. This year’s Mission:Impossible Fallout was released to rave reviews from seemingly every critic, leading to the best Rotten Tomatoes score of the entire series. Is it really that good? Is Ethan Hunt a living god? The answer to both of those questions is yes.
While by and large the franchise doesn’t rely much on continuity, Fallout has continuity in spades; the villain from Rogue Nation factors into the plot, as well as Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise) wife, Tess, and mysterious ally Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who we haven’t seen since Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, respectively. It’s always a bit hard to explain the plots of spy movies, but the gist is that Ethan and his team must track down a terrorist organization that’s trying to build a nuclear bomb, while working with an aggressive CIA agent (Henry Cavill) and the head of the CIA herself (Angela Bassett). What follows is Tom Cruise pulling off extreme stunt after extreme stunt (did you know he does all of his own stunts?) in increasingly exhilarating and well-directed action scenes. There’s literally a scene where Cruise chases someone in a helicopter and then fights that helicopter with his helicopter. Mission: Impossible Fallout could be the best action movie of the year. Well, the best non-animated action movie of the year.
1. Incredibles 2
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Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson
The movie that Pixar fans have been waiting 14 years(!) for finally arrived this summer and it was truly everything that fans could have wanted. The Incredibles is widely considered one of the best movies Pixar has ever done, which is saying a lot given their track record, but the Cars series be damned. The sequel delivers on the promise of the first, thankfully giving the main plot to Helen Parr/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), while Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible stays home with the kids. Like the first movie, complex themes are examined; while the first one explored exceptionalism, this one examines the roles of law enforcement and vigilantism. There are also twice as many plots as the first movie, not only following Bob and Helen’s separate storylines but also daughter Violet’s (Sarah Vowell) love life and baby Jack-Jack’s burgeoning powers. Each storyline manages to get its due throughout the movie. The action scenes are some of the best of the year, animated or live action; here’s a scene where Elastigirl chases a train on motorcycle that’s more inventive and fun than most live action movie chase scenes this year. A truly satisfying sequel that lives up to the hype Incredibles 2 is everything a summer blockbuster should be, making it the best one of the year.
