OUR WATCHLIST FOR JULY

So we’ve finally entered summer blockbuster season and this month has its fair share of heavy-hitters with strong fanbases. Enough family- and adult-oriented movies, so get your popcorn and groundnuts ready! LOL. Here we go!

JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH (July 2)

The month gets underway with a monster franchise that began back in 1993. The original nail-biting hit Jurassic Park, based on Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel of the same name (hopefully we still read, folks!), got everyone at the edge of their seats with its avant-garde CGI technology. Its animatronics brought these extinct creatures to life in a way we had never imagined possible. No surprise, it became the highest-grossing movie of all time till Titanic came along. Over three decades later, with Spielberg vacating the director’s chair after the first sequel for an executive producer role, Rebirth is the seventh installment in the franchise with two trilogies in its kitty (Jurassic Park and Jurassic World). So this movie presents us with a whole new set of characters and cast, and just as well. With the risk of dinosaur fatigue, judging from the mixed reviews over the last installments, a rebirth was required. It will need to introduce interesting characters and an adrenaline-pumping plot like the first one to keep the franchise going for more generations to discover. With Scarlett and Mahershala there, we’re guaranteed great acting and, from the trailer, there’s also a depth in story arc.

In this film, we follow the team to a forbidden island, where the last remaining dinosaurs can be found, in search of biomaterial from them to make a revolutionary drug that can save millions of human lives from heart disease. Our team find themselves stranded…

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ed Skrein. Directed by Gareth Edwards

DORA & THE SEARCH FOR SOL DORADO (July 2)

Okay, so if you have kids too young to watch that scary dinosaur flick, perhaps this adventure comedy about good ol’ Dora the Explorer would be a better watch. It premieres on Nickelodeon and Paramount+ the same day. Based on the popular children’s animated TV series about an adventure-seeking young Latina girl and her monkey Boots, it is a sequel to the 2019 movie Dora & the Lost City of Gold. (‘Sol Dorado’ translates to ‘Golden Sun’ by the way). Dora goes after lost treasure in this one too, but with a different lead actress (Samantha Lorraine). Which is quite understandable since Isabela Merced (the original actress) is too old for the part now, at 24, and was cast as Hawkgirl in the upcoming Superman movie premiering some days later.

Starring Samantha Lorraine, Jacob Rodriguez, Daniella Pineda, Gabriel Iglesias, María Cecilia Botero. Directed by Alberto Belli

SUPERMAN (July 11)

The hype and publicity over this potential blockbuster has been on for quite a while now with various camps slugging it out online about the movie, the padded costume, the main actor, and the dog- in that order. While a lot of fans are excited about this lighter version of Superman, which is truer to the original comic, die-hard fans of Zack Snyder’s version have scoffed at it (possibly still miffed). The movie was bound to be controversial- just like whenever we have a new James Bond actor. On the other hand, it also triggers nostalgia for the late Christopher Reeve, the Superman, in the eyes of many. Fortunately, the film director, James Gunn, recognized the ‘iconic-ness’ of the ‘Superman March’ (theme song for Reeve’s version, composed by the late legend John Williams) and has decided to bless us with its iteration here. Nothing else provides a better seal of validation!

We’re not quite sure about the caped canine ourselves and the numerous heroes/characters who will show up in this movie. Let’s hope DC is not being gratuitous again in its drive to make this one a chart-topper. If not handled well, including the CGI, it could detract from the movie and the star of the show, whom we are just being introduced to…again. From the trailers, though, we think they’ve gotten Lois Lane right this time- in the image of the late pugnacious Margot Kidder. They seem to have also reintroduced the personality dichotomy between Superman and Clark Kent, which is great (heck, how else will glasses as your only disguise make sense?!).

While we agree that Snyder’s Superman might have been too dark and sombre, we hope that this one won’t be a stark popcorn flick of a contrast as some have touted. That was what killed Reeve’s run eventually, remember? Being arguably the most anticipated superhero movie of the year, there is a lot of pressure for this movie to succeed. Especially as the genre has been getting a lot of flack recently. We hope the best parts of the movie have not already been seen in the many trailers. That was one of the errors with Thunderbolts*. Don’t put too much out there; it kills the wow factor when you eventually watch it.

David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced. Directed by James Gunn

MADEA’S DESTINATION WEDDING (July 11)

Okay, so let’s take a break from fantasy and blockbusters for a while and discuss a more down-to-earth (excuse the pun) film. Like the previous movies discussed, Madea’s Destination Wedding is also part of a franchise- the thirteenth, to be exact. Hopefully, its luck continues. Tyler Perry reprises his role as Madea as the family travel for a wedding. The movie premieres on Netflix on the same date as Superman, so if you’re a Madea fan and not the cinema or superhero genre type…this one’s for you.

Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis Patton, David Mann, Tamela Mann, Taja V. Simpson, Diamond White. Directed by Tyler Perry

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (July 18)

Another franchise movie but this time of the horror (slasher) genre. There was also a TV series in 2021. The first movie was released back in 1997 and freaked everyone out! It was based on a 1973 mystery novel by Lois Duncan. This is the fourth installment and was written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.The plot for the fourth is strikingly similar to the original film, like a reboot. It’s about a hit-and-run accident but not quite- more like a hit-and-bury accident. Later on, the passengers of this unfortunate vehicle who felt no-one had witnessed what they had done, find themselves being stalked and murdered one by one. But who? Surely, the pedestrian they had hit was dead and buried.

Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt. Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS (July 25)

Two blockbuster superhero movies – DC’s Superman and Marvel’s FF- will slug it out this July for top position. One similarity between them is that they are both more or less reboots. MCU finally got back Fantastic Four after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox and decided to reboot it. Another similarity is that both have a shaky foundation as they push to become this year’s blockbuster smashes. This is due to previous movies not meeting box office expectations. In this case, the last three Fantastic Four movies by 20th (21st) Century Fox have been largely disappointing at the box office. Now that intellectual property rights are back with Marvel, as the creators, they are hard-pressed to get it right.

Also, like this July’s Superman, there is already fan criticism on social media over the movie, particularly its cast, the gender-swap for an all-time fan favourite- Silver Surfer, the fact that the movie is happening in a parallel dimension, etc. Fantastic Four, as one of Marvel’s oldest superhero comics, is a tricky one to get right, especially with sentiments involved. The story is set in a 1960s-inspired retrofuturistic parallel Earth (perhaps in tribute to the ’60s era when Stan Lee & Jack Kirby launched the team with aplomb) where the team faces their greatest threat in Galactus- the world-eating celestial being (think Thanos but a hundred times his size)- and his herald- Silver Surfer. Hopefully, MCU’s Fantastic Four will share the same ’60s fortune with a positive reception but it’s dicey.

Other movies to look out for in July are the Nollywood film, HER EXCELLENCY (July 4th), HAPPY GILMORE 2 (July 25), and DRACULA: A LOVE TALE (July 30)

Next month’s movies have a lot of potential to become this year’s smash hits at the box office but they also have the potential to bomb or get a largely lukewarm reception. Why? The expectations are quite high for most of them, and there’s also the risk of franchise fatigue. It would be interesting to see which ones make it and get an encore.

See you in July for August