Hollywood aims for a super summer

We'll get more of the action heroes we've seen before

Actor Tom Holland answers a reporter's question during a press conference for the movie "Avengers: Infinity War" in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

This summer’s slate of blockbusters is positively super.

That’s not necessarily a descriptive adjective for the caliber of those movies scheduled to play theaters nationwide over the next few months. That a Johnny Knoxville movie, Action Point, is a major studio player in June says quite enough about quality.

Super is actually in reference to genre, as in superhero. There are five superhero movies opening this summer film season, which officially kicks off on Friday — nearly a month before the summer season actually begins — with Avengers: Infinity War. It will be followed a few weeks later by The Untitled Deadpool Sequel (May 18), The Incredibles 2 (June 15), Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6), and Teen Titans GO To the Movies (July 27). It’s worth noting that Deadpool and Teen Titans GO, a big-screen version of Cartoon Network’s popular animated series, are themselves gentle (and otherwise) pokes at the superhero film factory and its paradigm.

And for those who don’t like superhero films, there’s ... well, a remake of the 1987 Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell comedy Overboard (May 4); a solo Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story (May 25), another Equalizer (July 20) and Mission: Impossible (July 27), a new Hotel Transylvania (July 13), and a Purge prequel (July 4).

Did we mention the five superhero films?

Anyway, a by-no-means-comprehensive list of what’s coming soon to a theater near you is below. As always, the film release dates are tentative and subject to change at the whims of Hollywood executives.

April 27

Actor Tom Holland answers a reporter's question during a press conference for the movie "Avengers: Infinity War" in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday.

Avengers: Infinity War — The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building up to this big-screen spectacular for years, as the galaxy’s ultimate villain, Thanos (Josh Brolin), wages a winner-takes-all war against Earth’s mightiest forces.

Also opening: Animal Crackers, I Feel Pretty, Traffik.

May 4

Overboard — This 1987 Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell comedy remake features a twist: It’s a rich, self-absorbed man (Eugenio Derbez) who falls off his yacht, wakes up with amnesia, and is made to believe he’s the spouse of an employee (Anna Faris) he mistreated.

Also opening: Tully.

May 11

Life of the Party — Freshly burned from a divorce, a middle-aged mom (Melissa McCarthy) attends college with her daughter and creates chaos and mishaps for them both. In other words, comedy ensues.

Breaking In — Outside of an impenetrable home in which her two children are being held hostage, a mom (Gabrielle Union) does what needs to be done to save them in a tense action thriller.

May 18

The Untitled Deadpool Sequel — “Merc with a Mouth” Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) returns to taunt then tussle with villains and assembles a team of young mutants to help fight the time-traveling super-soldier Cable (Josh Brolin).

Also opening: Show Dogs, Book Club.

May 25

This photo provided by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment shows, Mark Hamill, from left, as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa, and Harrison Ford as Hans Solo in the original 1977 "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" film.

Solo: A Star Wars Story — The story of Han Solo, including how the young wannabe pilot, played by Alden Ehrenreich, meets his wookie copilot, befriends Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), and acquires the “fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.”

Also opening: Mary Shelley.

June 1

Action Point — Johnny Knoxville stars and performs his own stunts as the owner-operator of a notorious New Jersey amusement park known and popularized for its lax safety standards. It’s a crazy but mostly true story.

Also opening: Adrift, Upgrade, A Kid Like Jake.

June 8

Ocean’s Eight — Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), Danny’s estranged sister, puts together her own team to rob from the rich and keep for themselves. Also starring: Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, and Awkwafina.

Also opening: Hereditary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

June 15

This animated image released by Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios, shows a scene from "The Incredibles."

Incredibles 2 — Incredibles’ writer-director Brad Bird brings back his beloved superhero family, now in turmoil as wife-mother Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) is out saving the world, and husband-father Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) is struggling as a stay-at-home dad.

Also opening: Tag, Superfly, Gotti.

June 22

Owen meets the vicious T. rex in "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom."

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — This time it’s the dinosaurs that need saving, as Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) return to rescue the beasts before the island’s volcano erupts. And, yes, they again must deal with a dino science experiment gone wrong.

Also opening: The Catcher Was A Spy, Boundaries.

June 29

Sicario: Day of the Soldado — In the unexpected sequel to 2015’s brilliant Sicario, the trouble on the U.S.-Mexico border is escalating with the rise of the drug cartels. Once again federal agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) turns to Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) as the solution.

Also opening: Uncle Drew, The Hustle.

July 4

The First Purge — This prequel to the horror-thriller movie series is for fans flummoxed by how such an event — an annual 12-hour period of consequence-free lawlessness — began.

July 6

Ant-Man and the Wasp — With a title that sounds like an Elton John song, this sequel brings more adventures for size-shifting Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and his new partner, Wasp (Evangeline Lilly).

July 13

Hotel Transylvania 3 — Summer Vacation. In need of a vacation, Dracula (Adam Sandler), his family, and his groovy ghoul pals take a trip on a luxury Monster Cruise Ship.

Skyscraper — Dwayne Johnson stars as the hero who must save his family and others held captive in a towering building in this hostage thriller that in no way resembles Die Hard.

July 20

The Equalizer 2 — Denzel Washington returns as Robert McCall, the former covert agent turned quiet everyman who erupts in rage and unstoppable violence to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Also opening: Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!

July 27

Mission: Impossible — Fallout — Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team encounter the familiar and battle through staggering odds in a covert mission that’s nigh impossible.

Teen Titans GO To the Movies — Robin leads this dysfunctional team of adolescent superheroes in animated form who are as likely to make potty jokes as they are to save the world as they quest for big-screen stardom.

Also opening: Hot Summer Nights.

Aug. 3

Christopher Robin — Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor), now older, married, and a father, is depressed about how things have turned out — until a childhood friend from the Hundred Acre Woods returns to help him sort it out.

The Spy Who Dumped Me — Comedy pairing Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon as best friends Audrey and Morgan who become the targets of assassins because Audrey’s ex-boyfriend (Justin Theroux) is a spy.

Also opening: The Darkest Minds, Mile 22, Searching.

Aug. 10

The Meg — Steve Alten’s Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror finally arrives on the big screen, as the titular Megladon, a 70-foot prehistoric shark (think Jaws but nearly three times bigger), torments a veteran seaman (Jason Statham), who survived his first encounter with the man-eater and now must face his fears to save others from the aquatic beast.

Also opening: Dog Days.

Aug. 17

Crazy Rich Asians — A native New Yorker (Constance Wu), while in Singapore for a wedding, discovers her longtime boyfriend (Henry Golding) is the scion of one of the country’s wealthiest families and quite popular with the ladies, which, in this comedy, puts a strain on their relationship.

The Happytime Murders — In a reality in which puppets and humans co-exist, the puppet cast of a 1980s TV show is being offed one at a time, which leads a disgraced puppet cop-turned private detective and his former human partner (Melissa McCarthy) to solve the case.

Also opening: White Boy Rick, Three Seconds, Captive State.

Aug. 24

Slenderman — A horror film based on the 2009 meme about a tall, thin, and faceless man in a black suit responsible for the vanishing of children and teens.

Contact Kirk Baird at kbaird@theblade.com or 419-724-6734.