(Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
Family-friendly films entice movie-goers back this summer.
Families have spent little time in movie theaters since 2020. Often stuck at home, kept out of theaters or choosing to stay away the last couple of years, the summer of 2022 is likely to be different. In fact, it’s likely to resemble normal.
While masks might be optional, a slew of good films are sure to be on the screen. Either lockdowns or public anxiety about COVID exposure have dogged theaters big and small for two years, but this summer is the first since the start of the pandemic that appears to have enough quality films opening in theaters to bring people back. To bring families back.
A Gallup Poll in late 2021 showed current movie theater attendance at roughly one quarter of its typical numbers this century. But Phil Contrino, director of media and research at the National Association of Theater Owners, told National Public Radio in January the recent success of Marvel movies and others have shown that movie-going is primed for a comeback.
“There have been enough bright spots to show that there’s not necessarily a decrease in enthusiasm — it’s just people are generally cautious right now,” Contrino said.
If moms and dads are trying to choose their movie-going experiences more carefully, there promises to be enough quality movies to choose from over the next few months to comfortably bring families back.
Here are a few highlights.
Superhero Summer
The MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) triumphantly returns with Marvel’s heroes, villains and storylines back in action in May with “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” The Sorcerer Supreme faces the consequences of the bad spell he cast in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and in July, the God of Thunder gets back in the superhero business with “Thor: Love and Thunder,” with his girlfriend Jane Foster becoming a superhero herself.
In another superhero universe — one that’s also animated — the pets of DC’s Justice League join together to save their famous — and captured — owners in “League of Super-Pets,” and Owen Wilson stars in a film about a hero’s lair discovered below a kid’s house in “Secret Headquarters.”
Familiar Characters Return
Marmaduke, Chip ’n’ Dale, Buzz Lightyear, Minions and Puss in Boots return this summer as well. Marmaduke gets his feature debut, while the Minions, Puss in Boots and Chip ’n’ Dale get sequels and Buzz Lightyear gets a sort of prequel/origin story.
New Tales
Dreamworks puts storybook villains into a “Dirty Dozen” and “Suicide Squad” kind of tale about redemption, where a wolf, snake, shark, piranha and tarantula work to change their images and themselves in “The Bad Guys.”
Marcel the Shell, introduced in a stop-motion short in 2010, gets his own stop-motion feature “mockumentary” about finding a community of fellow shells. Anime feature “Bubble” tells the story of kids coping with the loss of their families after bubbles attack Tokyo, and a retelling of Jules Verne’s classic tale features a marmoset taking the bet of a greedy frog in “Around the World in 80 Days.”
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At The Frida
Orange County’s only indie art movie house, The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, will feature acclaimed French film “Petite Maman” (Little Mommy) through the month of May. The film about a girl who accompanies her parents to her mom’s childhood home after the death of her grandmother and makes friends with a girl building a tree house is an examination of grief, memory and connection.
Marvel
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” — May 6
“Thor: Love and Thunder” — July 8
At The Frida
“Petite Maman” — Through the month of May
“Jurassic Park” (Free outdoor screening) — May 19
New Releases
(In theaters/streaming)
“The Bad Guys” — Now playing
“Bubble” — Now playing
“Around the World in 80 Days” — May 6
“Marmaduke” — May 6
“Chip ’n’ Dale Rescue Rangers” — May 20
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie” — May 27
“Lightyear” — June 17
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” — June 24
“Minions: The Rise of Gru” — July 1
“The Sea Beast” — July 8
“Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” — July 15
“DC League of Super Pets” — July 29
“Secret Headquarters” — Aug. 12
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” — Sept. 23
“Pinocchio” — September (TBD)
by Shawn Price
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