The Hottest Films Of Summer 2016

As we head towards summer with its warm days and azure, cloudless skies, what better time to head into a darkened room and watch a movie?

 

Am I right?

 

Well, we all need to escape the heat for a couple of hours every now and then don't we? Also, for many of us, the summer months are really no guarantee of good weather.

 

That is why cinemas are bursting with a variety of films to tempt us inside this summer. 

 

And so, without further ado, here are the hottest summer movies to look out for this year!

 

May

X-Men: Apocalypse

Release Date: 18th May

Directed By: Bryan Singer

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and  Jennifer Lawrence

 

What's It All About?

Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto, to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven with the help of Professor X must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

 

Sing Street

Release Date: 20th May

Directed By: John Carney

Starring: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Aidan Gillen and Maria Doyle Kennedy 

 

What's It All About?

Sing Street tells the story (set in 1980’s Dublin) of a 14-year-old boy called Cosmo who must break free of a home strained by his parents’ relationship and money troubles, deal with his drop-out older brother’s antics, and survive a new public school where the kids are rough and the brothers are tougher.

   

Alice Through The Looking Glass

Release Date: 27th May

Directed By: James Bobin

Starring: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman 

 

What's It All About?

Alice returns to the strange and magical world of Wonderland and travels back in time to try to save the Mad Hatter. 

 

Money Monster

Release Date: 27th May

Directed By: Jodie Foster

Starring: Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Jack O'Connell

 

What's It All About?

Financial TV host, Lee Gates, and his producer Patty, are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor who has lost everything forcefully takes over their studio. During a tense standoff broadcast to millions on live TV, Lee and Patty must work furiously against the clock to unravel the mystery behind a conspiracy at the heart of today's fast-paced, high-tech global markets.

  

Love And Friendship

Release Date: 27th May

Directed By: Whit Stillman

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwell, Justin Edwards, Tom Bennett, Morfydd Clark, Jemma Redgrave, James Fleet, Jenn Murray and Stephen Fry

 

What's It All About?

Love & Friendship is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novella Lady Susan. Set in the 1790s, the film sees beautiful young widow, Lady Susan Vernon, arrive at Churchill, the estate of her in-laws, to wait out the colourful rumours about her dalliances that are circulating through polite society. While there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and for her daughter, Frederica.

 

Warcraft: The Beginning

Release Date: 30th May

Directed By: Duncan Jones

Starring: Travis Fimmel, Ben Foster and Paula Patton

 

What's It All About?

The peaceful realm of azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people and their home. 

 

June

Me Before You

Release Date: 3rd June

Directed By: Thea Sharrock

Starring: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin and Jenna Coleman 

 

What's It All About?

Based on the bestselling novel by Jojo Moyes, Me Before You tells the story of Louisa "Lou" Clark who goes from one job to another in order to help her family make ends meet. Her life changes forever when she takes a job as a caregiver and companion for Will Traynor, a wealthy young banker who became wheelchair bound following a tragic accident.

 

The Nice  Guys

Release Date: 3rd June

Directed By: Shane Black

Starring: Russell Crow and Ryan Gosling

 

What's It All About?

The Nice Guys takes place in 1970s Los Angeles. Down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March and hired enforcer Jackson Healy must work together to solve the case of a missing girl and the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star. During their investigation, they uncover a shocking conspiracy that reaches up to the highest circles of power.

  

The Conjuring 2

Release Date: 17th June

Directed By: James Wan

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Franka Potente  

 

What's It All About?

In one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, renowned demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by malicious spirits. (Click here for my review of The Conjuring)

 

Elvis & Nixon

Release Date: 24th June

Directed By: Liza Johnson

Starring: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey and Alex Pettyfer  

 

What's It All About?

On a December morning in 1970, Elvis Presley showed up on the lawn of the White House to request a meeting with the most powerful man in the world, President Nixon. This film tells the untold story behind this revealing, yet humorous moment in the Oval Office one forever immortalized in the most requested photograph in the National Archives.

 

Independence Day: Resurgence 

Release Date: 24th June

Directed By: Roland Emmerich

Starring: Maika Monroe, Joey King, Jeff Goldblum, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bill Pullman and Liam Hemsworth 

 

What's It All About?

The nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program using recovered alien technology to protect the planet. However, nothing can prepare the human race for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring the world back from the brink of extinction.

  

The Secret Life Of Pets

Release Date: 24th June

Directed By: Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney

Starring: Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell and Jenny Slate 

 

What's It All About?

A cute animated comedy about what our pets do when we are away from home.

  

July

Absolutely Fabulous The Movie

Release Date: 1st July

Directed By: Mandie Fletcher

Starring: Jennifer Saunders, Gwendoline Christie, Cara Delevingne and Joanna Lumley

 

What's It All About?

Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone are living the high life in London. However, when they accidentally push Kate Moss into the river Thames, Eddy and Patsy become entangled in a media storm surrounding the supermodel's untimely demise. Penniless, they flee to the French Riviera where they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent.

 

The Legend Of Tarzan

Release Date: 8th July

Directed By: David Yates

Starring: Margot Robbie, Alexander Skarsgård, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson 

 

What's It All About?

It has been years since the man once known as Tarzan left the jungles of Africa behind for a gentrified life as John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane at his side. Now, he has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge. But those behind the murderous plot have no idea what they are about to unleash.

 

Ghostbusters

Release Date: 15th July

Directed By: Paul Feig

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon

 

What's It All About?

Ghostbusters makes its return this summer, rebooted with a cast of new characters. Thirty years after the beloved original franchise took the world by storm, director Paul Feig brings a fresh take on the classic supernatural comedy.

 

The BFG

Release Date: 22nd July

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader and Mark Rylance 

 

What's It All About?

Based on the beloved children's classic by Roald Dahl, The BFG tells the story of a sweet orphan called Sophie and the kind giant who befriends her.

 

Star Trek Beyond

Release Date: 22nd July

Directed By: Justin Lin

Starring:  Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana and Chris Pine

 

What's It All About?

When the USS Enterprise is nearly destroyed on a remote planet, Captain Kirk and his crew must work together to find a way home.

 

Finding Dory

Release Date: 29th July

Directed By: Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane

Starring: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks and Idris Elba

 

What's It All About?

Finding Dory reunites everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory, with her friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did she learn to speak Whale? 

 

Jason Bourne

Release Date: 29th July

Directed By: Paul Greengrass

Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel and Tommy Lee Jones

 

What's It All About?

Matt Damon returns to our screens once more as Jason Bourne. In this latest installment in the franchise, the CIA’s most lethal former operative is drawn out of the shadows.

 

August

Suicide Squad

Release Date: 5th August

Directed By: David Ayer 

Starring: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davies, Ben Affleck, Cara Delevingne and Scott Eastwood

 

What's It All About?

Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity.  What could possibly go wrong?

 

Pete's Dragon

Release Date: 12th August

Directed By: David Lowery

Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford and Wes Bentley 

 

What's It All About?

This Disney film features a story about an orphaned boy named Pete who is discovered after spending six years lost in the forest. Thankfully, he wasn't there alone - he had his best friend Elliott with him. However, Elliott happens to be a dragon.

 

The Shallows

Release Date: 12th August

Directed By: Jaume Collet-Serra

Starring: Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada and Brett Cullen 

 

What's It All About?

When Nancy is attacked by a great white shark while surfing alone, she is stranded just a short distance from shore. Though she is only 200 yards from her survival, getting there proves the ultimate contest of wills.

 

Swallows And Amazons

Release Date: 19th August

Directed By: Philippa Lowthorpe

Starring: Rafe Spall, Andrew Scott, Kelly Macdonald and Dane Hughes

 

What's It All About?

Swallows And Amazons follows four children dreaming of escape from the tedium of a summer holiday in the Lake District with their mother. When finally given permission to camp on their own on a remote island in the middle of a vast lake, they are overjoyed. But when they get there they discover they may not be alone. As a desperate battle for ownership of the island ensues, the real dangers of an adult world on the brink of war encroach on their paradise in the form of a mysterious pair of Russian spies hot on the tail of the enigmatic Jim Turner. As the sleepy British summer is turned on its head, the children must learn skills of survival, responsibility, and the all-important value of friendship

 

Ben-Hur

Release Date: 26th August

Directed By: Timur Bekmambetov

Starring: Jack Huston, Morgan Freeman, Nazanin Boniadi and Haluk Bilginer

 

What's It All About?

Judah Ben-Hur is a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala, an officer in the Roman army. Stripped of his title, separated from his family and the woman he loves, Judah is forced into slavery. After years at sea, Judah returns to his homeland to seek revenge.

 

What Film Are You Looking Forward To?

Looking at this list, the films I am most excited about are The BFG, Elvis & Nixon, Sing Street, Money Monster, Finding Dory, Jason Bourne and Independence Day: Resurgence. 

 

What films are you most excited to watch over the summer?

 

Do let me know by leaving me a comment in the box below!

 


Film Search

Contact

Jane Douglas-Jones
Jane Douglas-Jones

E: jane@500daysoffilm.com


Disclaimer:

This site contains my own

thoughts and opinions on

films. Other opinions are

available but may not be correct.