What The Biggest Summer Movies Of 2026 Could Mean For Hollywood

0:00This message comes from Dataiku. AI is everywhere, but companies struggle to prove results. For that, they need people, orchestration, and governance working as one. Dataiku is the platform for AI success, built to bring it all together. Visit dataiku.com slash NPR.

0:29Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of the summer movie season. And as the temperatures heat up, the box office is already off to a blazing start. This year, the film industry is experiencing its strongest theatrical rebound since the pandemic. And this summer is expected to bring even more audiences to theaters to see highly anticipated sequels like Toy Story 5 and star-studded epics like The Odyssey. I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A Podcast. With all the new releases, what films should you have on your radar this summer? We'll get some guidance from our guests and hear from you after this short break.

1:04Stay with us.

1:09This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash podcast.

1:44unlimited access to all 25 Rosetta Stone languages, plus all the new Sapphire learning tools. Visit rosettastone.com slash NPR and receive 20 % off today. Support for this podcast and the following message come from Dataiku. AI agents are transforming how enterprises work. The problem is many operate in secret. The right people rarely know what their agents are doing, if they're doing it right, or that they even exist at all. Dataiku gives companies one place to see, control, and measure every agent across the entire business. Visit dataiku.com slash NPR. That's D-A-T-A-I-K-U dot com slash NPR.

2:27This message comes from MidiHealth, a virtual care platform for women in paramenopause and menopause. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kathleen Jordan shares the wide range of symptoms they work to address for women in midlife. There's dry eyes, dry hair, dry skin, there's dry mouth, trouble sleeping, panic and anxiety attacks. When we ask patients about common symptoms, on average, they report six. MidiHealth, committed to helping women in midlife with paramenopause and menopause care, accessible via telehealth visits. At joinmidi.com. This message comes from Allianz Travel Insurance. The kids are with grandma while you're at a resort spa in Italy for your birthday.

3:09Then your phone rings. Instead of hearing the happy birthday song you were hoping for, you hear a symphony of toddler sniffles and sneezes, not the kind of homesickness you were expecting. You decide grandma can't fend off the germs alone. Luckily, trip interruption benefits can help cover the extra costs of heading home early, saving you money while you save the day. Learn more at AllianzTravelInsurance.com. Welcome back to the 1A Podcast. We're talking about this summer's blockbusters and what movies you should have on your radar. Joining us from Los Angeles is Jacqueline Coley. She's the awards editor for Rotten Tomatoes and host of the Award Tour podcast.

3:48Jacqueline, it's great to have you back. So glad to be back. And also with us, pop culture writer and film and TV critic Jen Cheney. Jen, welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for having me. The official start of the summer season might still be a few weeks away, but if you're just playing the box office, we're off to a pretty good start. In mid-May, U.S. ticket sales in one weekend topped$161 million. It's nearly 88 % more than the same weekend last year. And leading the pack was The Devil Wears Prada 2, the highly anticipated follow-up to the 2006 original film. Right behind it, Mortal Kombat 2, which draws on the iconic video game, and Michael, about the early life and career of Michael Jackson.

4:28As of Sunday, Michael's grossed$788 million worldwide, and the Devil Wears Prada 2 has pulled in$608 million. I'm curious to hear both of your descriptions of the state of cinema right now. Do you think the industry is fully recovered from the pandemic, Jacqueline? I mean, I think so. But we also have to remember with the addition of COVID, there was also the strike action that happened last year. And so I would say that I don't, I think a lot of people that are paid a lot more than me are going to be able to determine whether or not we are officially back. But I would say that the road to be coming back has had a lot of stops and starts due to other things outside of even the pandemic.

5:11Yeah. Jen, what about you? Yeah, I mean, to Jacqueline's point, even before the pandemic, you know, people weren't going to the movies quite as much. And I think the pandemic kind of maybe accelerated that trend a little bit. But, you know, as we've seen in recent years, when you put out the right movie, people will go. Barbenheimer was not that long ago. You know, maybe it'll be the Odyssey this year or Disclosure Day, but when the right movie is out there, people do want to go and see it. Well, Memorial Day weekend is reliably a big weekend for films. And while some movies performed better than expected, others performed worse.

5:45Disney, Star Wars, The Mandalorian, and Grogu brought in$81 million in U.S. ticket sales over the weekend. It's the lowest opening for a Disney Star Wars film ever. Jacqueline, are audiences just growing lukewarm on Star Wars films, or do you think something else is happening? I mean, I don't know. I think it may be, and I don't have the data, but we'd have to look at the audience for it, because what we found is people under the age of 40 are going to the theaters. Fandango just recently released a survey in which we actually touted the fact that Gen Z was the group of individuals who were going to the theater more often and sort of like powering the industry.

6:23Right behind them was millennials. Shout out to my generation. And so I think it may be older folks who are the ones that are lagging behind a little bit in the box office recovery. And if we really look at Star Wars, that's that age group now. So maybe it's that the age group that goes to that particular movie is now more of an at-home watcher. We've seen that with some of the more what we consider adult indie fairs. I mean, over the past few years, the dates in which you put out those award movies has actually shifted. It used to be like October, and then you ride into January. Now that has actually shifted to where a lot of these movies just do a small two-week run in December and then do their rollout in January.

7:03And that is because of changing viewer habits. Jen, is this a place where streaming comes into play too? The Mandalorian and Grogu, that relationship, that friendship, started as a streaming series on Disney +, and now they're trying to transition that story to the big screen, and maybe it just doesn't work. Yeah, I mean, that's interesting because that's the opposite of what has traditionally happened with Star Wars. I mean, obviously it started as a film franchise and this is asking people to take something they've watched on television at home and go to the movies and see it, which, you know, people are willing to do that.

7:40I also think maybe it's hurt a little bit by the fact that it's just been a long time since there's been a Star Wars movie. And, you know, they've been doing these sort of sidebar things like Solo and Rogue One. And I think at a certain point people maybe have a hard time keeping up with where they are in the chronology of the narrative. And I actually liked Mandalorian and Grogu. I mean, it wasn't great, but I was very entertained by it. Okay. That's kind of faint praise. I mean, yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, we'll take that. I like Baby Yoda. I'm sorry. I will not apologize for it. I think he's very cute.

8:16He is adorable. He is adorable. Well, one film that saw a boost Memorial Day weekend was the indie horror romance Obsession. Bear, I love you so, so, so, so, so much. I don't think I could live without you. You love me more than anyone in the world? Yes, more than anyone. Does your dad really have cancer?

8:46No, no, no. What? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that! I thought we were having a nice date. We are. Why does it matter? I thought we were having a nice date. We are. We are. We are. We are. It's okay. We are. We are. Okay, now I've seen trailers for this film, and it is super creepy. It had a budget of under a million dollars, but it made more than$60 million over two weekends. So Jacqueline, this is an original non-sequel movie performing this well on its second weekend. That's not common. What do you think worked to bring audiences to the theaters to see this? I mean, I love that we're talking about this movie.

9:37I will forever be shook by the fact that you call it a horror romance because it's quite possibly one of the most terrifying romantic endeavors of a film that I've ever seen. This is courtesy of Curry Barker. He's somebody that actually grew up making movies and sketch comedy on the internet. He comes from a comedy duo called Milk and Cereal. And this is his directorial debut that premiered, I believe at TIFF last year, was acquired by Focus Features. It's a really gripping thriller. The acting, it is incredible. It absolutely does not look like a film that was made under a million dollars. And I think it speaks to this new generation of filmmakers, like the director of Backrooms, who's about to have his moment this weekend, who's also someone that comes from the internet.

10:17There's a ton of these what I would consider, even Zach Krieger. I mean, he actually also started in a sketch comedy internet group where Hollywood is shifting. But the idea of having singular visions, singular filmmakers, or in this case, groups of filmmakers who can still bring out stories that get people into theaters as possible. There was a great victory lap earlier this year by internet personality Markiplier with his film Iron Lung. I truly do feel that that is going to usher in the next wave of Hollywood. It's going to be our new Hollywood moment from names like Corman and Coppola. This is going to be that moment right now, and I'm so excited for it.

10:54Well, you mentioned Backrooms, and that's on our listeners' minds as well. Justin and Cincinnati emails. I am so excited for the release of Backrooms this weekend. This is A24's new liminal horror movie based on a viral YouTube series. I cannot wait to see something new and fresh in the genre from A24's youngest commission director, Cain Parsons. Now, Back Rooms stars Chewy Tell, Ejiofor, and Renata Reinsva. It premieres this weekend, and it's based on a piece of internet lore that spread from a horror-themed message board to broader social media in 2019. And for the uninitiated, here's how the film's director, Kane Parsons, describes the film's setting.

11:33It's kind of like a very benign version of a sort of purgatory or hell myth, but without any kind of damnation aspect. It's inherently a force of nature that you can't negotiate with, and it doesn't pull you in because you did something wrong. It does it because reality broke. Jen, what did you make of this movie? I just want to echo what was said about original ideas. You know, I think we especially see a lot of this in the horror genre, and I also think we see a lot of enthusiasm from audiences about the horror genre. They are always willing to go because those movies, first of all, are often more fun to see with a crowd.

12:12and they're really genuinely surprising, and this movie is definitely surprising. The production design in this, I cannot say enough about, because these rooms that they discover, they're just odd. You'll see furniture that's sunk into the carpet as if the carpet is sand, and hallways that just get very, very narrow. It's just going around every corner, you have no idea what to expect. So it's very tense to watch, but just you feel like you haven't really seen anything like this before in a movie, even though obviously, as you said, Kane Parsons did this on the internet before. But I thought it was really creepy and unsettling, and I liked it a lot.

12:49If you're not familiar with the internet lore, is this still an approachable film? Oh, absolutely. Like, I knew about it, but I purposely did not go and watch any of the videos beforehand because I wanted to just experience the film on its own merits. And not knowing that doesn't matter at all. it's perfectly fine. Susan emails, we recently saw The Sheep Detectives. What a delightful movie and an allegory to highly recommend. And Jason in Naples, Florida emails, I will be seeing Masters of the Universe on release night and I am beyond excited. I've waited 40 years for what looks like a faithful and action-packed hit.

13:26Well, hopefully Masters of the Universe has the power. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. Coming up, more of the buzziest releases this summer, including movies for the whole family. That's just ahead.

13:44This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology, hosted by Katie Milkman, an award-winning behavioral scientist and author of the best-selling book, How to Change. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions. Hear true stories from Nobel laureates, historians, authors, athletes, and more about why people do the things they do. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash podcast or wherever you listen. Support for NPR and the following message come from ID Tech. ID Tech is a summer camp for ages 7 to 17 with over 50 courses like BattleBots, AI, coding, game design, and more.

14:26Visit IDTech.com and use code IDTech to save$150. Support for this podcast and the following message come from Dataiku. AI agents are transforming how enterprises work. The problem is many operate in secret. The right people rarely know what their agents are doing, if they're doing it right, or that they even exist at all. Dataiku gives companies one place to see, control, and measure every agent across the entire business. Visit dataiku.com slash NPR. That's D-A-T-A-I-K-U dot com slash NPR. This message comes from Allianz Travel Insurance. You stopped for something to eat on the family road trip.

15:10The vending machine ate your dollar instead. You think about breaking the glass, but you're just hangry, not a thief. But someone else has sticky fingers. Now the back window of your rental car is broken and all your bags are gone. Stolen baggage benefits, rental car protection, and 24-7 assistance can help get your trip back up to speed. Learn more at AllianzTravelInsurance.com. This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at MintMobile.com slash switch. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.

15:52Let's get back into the conversation. We're talking about the films, big and small, that you should have on your radar this summer. Before we get back to our guests, we got this message from one of you. Aiden emails, I just went to Boots Riley's I Love Boosters this weekend and had a wonderful time. The film was phenomenally weird and fun and funny, and somehow even more pro-workers' rights than his previous work, Sorry to Bother You. The twist kept coming, and it keeps getting weirder. I love that the ending had me smiling wide. So they mentioned there Boots Riley's second feature film, I Love Boosters.

16:28It follows a band of professional shoplifters known as the Velvet Gang. Jen, what did you make of this film? I believe the listener said wonderfully weird, and that's exactly right. If you've seen any of Boots Riley's work before. He made Sorry to Bother You. He also made a television show called But I'm a Virgo. He goes into these kind of flights of fancy that are just surprising and strange, and I find them delightful. Just as an example, Demi Moore plays the fashion designer who's kind of stealing some ideas from Kiki Palmer, and she's kind of the antagonist in the film. her office is on a ridiculous slant that no one can walk in, even her with her heels on.

17:15And it's just, to me, it's a way of Boots Riley kind of demonstrating slyly just how cockeyed this world is and how impossible it is to kind of keep your footing literally in this world. And I really liked it. I think there will be some people who are a little bit more, I'm going to use the word normie, that maybe can't get on the same wavelength with Boots, but I liked it a lot. Well, I Love Boosters has gotten overwhelmingly positive, critical reception. Another is the revenge thriller Is God Is. It's based on a 2018 play of the same name by the film's director, Alicia Harris. Jen, what did you think of Is God Is?

17:55This is another one where it just feels like this is a singular vision in a film that I haven't quite seen before. Alicia Harris wrote a play. This was a play before it became a movie, and I I have not seen the play, but it's hard for me to imagine what it would have been like because this feels so cinematic to me. It's about twin sisters who believe their mom has died. Turns out she hasn't. And they have to go hunt down their father, who's played by Sterling K. Brown, and get revenge. She wants him to kill them because he caused this fire that they all were traumatized by. It's really well acted.

18:32It's exciting. And it's saying a lot about how we treat black women through this culture of, or through this lens of this film. So I really like that one as well. We heard from Michelle in Ann Arbor who emails, the sheep detectives packed the theater last night. Okay, maybe the audience was a little white haired on a Tuesday evening, but still it was a delightful film. The live action and animation elements are amazing. Highly recommended for viewers of all ages. And Peggy in Florida emails, I was gifted a trip to see Project Hail Mary for Mother's Day, despite not having read the book yet. So glad to see it on the big screen.

19:08I liked it a lot, would happily watch again, and will read the book. Jacqueline, when you think of the movies that have come out as we sort of head into this big summer season, there have been some big films that have dropped. Any that really stand out to you that are worth maybe revisiting, whether they're still in the theaters or you can stream it from home? I mean, I would say one of the ones that your listeners mentioned, which is Project Hail Mary. I mean, it is an incredible viewing experience. And especially right now, I think one of the reasons why the film is like, you know, certified fresh on our tomato meter with critics and also one of the highest rated audience reviews is because even though it is sciencey and very sort of out there with the fact that they are like really applying the science, it's really a story about friendship and cooperation, which I think right now a lot of people are hoping for.

19:56I think somebody called it, forgive the word, competency porn at the time when we were like up in Artemis. It was just nice to see. It's like, oh, we can come together and do big things both in real life and then also on the big screen. And also I just want to also add to Back Rooms, while we were speaking, just debuted with its critical reception at 79%. So continuing for both, you know, these internet YouTube kids to continue also to get these great critical receptions. Yeah, and I have to say Project Hail Mary as a book is, it's a fabulous book. I am not really an audiobook listener very often, but this is one of those books where I think you can read it, but I also recommend the audiobook.

20:39Ray Porter does the narration and it is absolutely, it is amazing. It's fabulous. I cannot recommend the audiobook along with the book enough. Well, award-winning director Steven Spielberg is back with a new alien mystery thriller. It's called Disclosure Day. Good morning, Kansas City. Let's take a look at today. Let's, let's, today is, today's. Steve.

21:13Steve. Do you understand what she's saying? I hear it. It's gibberish. I can't understand it. And I can. So the movie comes out on June 12th. It stars Emily Blunt, who's also in The Devil Wears Prada 2, along with Coleman Domingo, who's also in Michael, and Josh O 'Connor of the 2024 film Challengers. Spielberg has been pretty closed mouth about the plot so far. He's kept it pretty much a secret. Jen, what do we know about this movie at this point? What we know is that it appears that what's happening in the film, and you could hear Emily Blunt doing this in that trailer, is that there are some aliens among us and she suddenly starts speaking in what sounds like an alien language.

22:01And I believe Josh O 'Connor's character knows something about this and there's some connection between him and Emily Blunt that we learn as we're watching the film. You know, I don't mind that they've been closed mouthed about this because if Steven Spielberg is making a movie about aliens, I'm showing up. You know, it doesn't matter. I'm going to be there. So I'm really looking forward to this one. Well, also coming to theaters late in June is a new film from A24 called The Invite. In it, Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen play a couple in a troubled marriage, hosting a dinner for their upstairs neighbors who are a little strange, played by Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton.

22:37Here's what Wilde, Rogen and Norton told IndieWire about the process of making this film. You should be in love with the process and not the result. And this was the best example of that. We didn't know if anybody would like it. We weren't making it for anything. We kept trying to make the thing we thought was the best thing as we were doing it. I find there is an inverse equation where the more personal the thing you are making, the more people like it. And logic would dictate that is not how it should work. On something like this, all you can do is throw what you've learned and what you feel and what you're nervous about actually talking about out loud.

23:08And then light it on fire and let it go, you know. Olivia Wilde also directs the film. She told the Associated Press that the movie is a nod to film and theater director and comedian Mike Nichols. Jacqueline, you've seen this. What can audiences expect? Well, I think that's a perfectly apt description of it. It does feel like a throwback to these crazy, farcical Mike Nichols endeavors. It's written by, I want to just shout it out, Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. And Olivia Wilde, behind the camera of this one, is so sharp and so, I think, prescient with the way that she deals with these actors.

23:41I mean, you're talking about Oscar nominees and really, I think the best part of it is it's just four people in a room in the most absurd setting. And you cannot look away with every twist and turn and every cringeworthy but also hilarious moment. This sounds interesting to me. It sounds like it's sort of like having a theater experience almost, but in the movie theater. Yeah. I mean, I love French farcical sort of comedies. If you think about the throwback, like French farces that used to be like swashbucklers, it's that. You just put them in this absurd premise. This is the weird but very sexy upstairs neighbors that we are curious about.

24:18We're in a boring middle-aged marriage where we fight all the time. Let's invite them to dinner when we absolutely should not have and roll the dice. And girl, do the dice get rolled. Well, I will look forward to that one, adding that to the list. Now, it's summer, so that means we've got a new Christopher Nolan movie, his latest. The Odyssey is based on Homer's 3 ,000-year-old Greek epic poem. It comes out on July 17th. Matt Damon will take on the role of Odysseus. It also stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong 'o, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron, among others. So big, big cast list with this one.