5. Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
(August 2)In recent years, one of the most surprising phenomena in children’s entertainment has been the remarkable quality of the various live-action, animation hybrid SpongeBob SquarePants movies. While there’s no guarantee that Saving Bikini Bottom will be good, it’s definitely not going to be the kind of generic schlock that is so often fed to children.
SpongeBob has always been a funnier, sharper show than many of its detractors give it credit for, and that sense of humor has served the franchise well in its latest leap to the big screen.
4. Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution
(June 18)There are plenty of great documentaries about the history of standup comedy, but Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution is bringing a unique perspective to the story. The film chronicles the history of LGBTQ+ comedy and the way it has intersected with the overall history of LGBTQ+ people in America.
The film offers a perspective not just on comedy but specifically on how queer comedians advanced both the art of comedy and the rights of the queer community, and were consistently funny the entire time.
3. A Family Affair
(June 28)Asking Zac Efron (The Iron Claw) to play a movie star caught in the middle of some romantic turbulence is like asking a bee to make some honey. In A Family Affair, Efron stars alongside Joey King and Nicole Kidman, and it doesn’t take long for things to get complicated.
King plays an assistant to Efron’s movie star, a relationship that becomes complicated after he falls in love with her mother. Kidman is one of our great working actresses, and she hasn’t starred in this kind of straightforward romantic comedy in some time, which makes A Family Affair all the more enticing.
2. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
(July 3)As we’ve all discovered in recent years, legacy sequels can be hit or miss. Even so, the excitement couldn’t be much higher for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which sees Eddie Murphy returning as Axel Foley, the wise-cracking detective that he made so popular in the 1980s.
When Axel’s daughter is kidnapped, he teams up with a new partner and some old friends to get to the bottom of a sinister conspiracy. Eddie Murphy has proven that he still has plenty of comedic juice left in the tank in recent years, so here’s hoping that Axel F can take full advantage of its star.
1. Hit Man
(June 7)Richard Linklater’s done a little bit of everything over the course of his career, but he’s never made an action comedy quite like Hit Man. Starring Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell as a man who pretends to be a hitman for his city police department, Hit Man sees him pushing the boundaries of his professional obligations when he finds himself falling for a woman who is trying to escape her abusive husband.
2024 is set to be the summer of Glen Powell, and Hit Man is the opening salvo of the charm offensive. (Twisters is coming to theaters later in the season to pick up the slack.) If Hit Man is as good as the trailer, it will be well worth checking out.
