July Summer Movie Preview 

July used to be all about who got the coveted 4th of July slot, but now that May has stolen a lot of the record breaking thunder, July is more or less the last big month for summer movies to try and make a splash. 

With not a ton of geek offerings in June, July has stacked the deck with three movies that got their start as comic books; one movie each from the sci-fi, western, and horror departments; and a bunch of family movies that are all basically fantasy films. And there’s a new Adam Sandler movie.
 
Now, onto the previews, and your chance to rank them in order of anticipation. 

July 3 

The Lone Ranger 

 

The western genre has hardly been box office gold for decades now, but considering this movie features the reuniting of Pirates of the Caribbean’s Director Gore Verbinski and star Johnny Depp (who took that film and spun it into a billion dollar franchise when pirate movies had all failed up to that point) then it might have a shot. The long 4th of July weekend is probably their best chance, but if it doesn’t click with audiences, it will be remembered alongside big budget disasters like Wild Wild West instead. 

Despicable Me 2 

 

Releasing just a few short weeks after Pixar’s Monsters University, the sequel to the hit animated film looks to syphon off some of those viewers in a summer that has been surprising light on kids fare to this point. I never watched the first movie, but I feel like I’ve had my fill of the little yellow Minion characters from all the fast food commercials they pop up in.
  
July 12 

Pacific Rim 

 

One of the big movies I’ve been anticipating for a while now is this Guillermo del Toro film featuring giant monsters duking it out with giant robots. For the geek in me, that’s all I really needed to hear plot-wise, but I do think del Toro brings a lot more to the table, as he did with Hellboy, and this movie could definitely be more than just an awesome premise. 
 

Grown Ups 2 

 

When your sequel trailer starts with the “funniest” scene from the original movie’s trailer, you may be in trouble. I just can’t help thinking what the late Chris Farley would have to say about Kevin James taking over the role clearly meant for him in these movies. 


July 17 

Turbo 

 Unfortunately, this is not a prequel to Wreck-It-Ralph, but an animated movie about a snail that goes fast. I think I already mentioned how this summer has not been strong on family films, so I’ll just move on to the next preview.
  
July 19 

R.I.P.D. 

 

Based on the Dark Horse comic, this movie looks like a combination between Men in Black and the old Showtime series Dead Like Me. It’s actually the second Ryan Reynolds movie this weekend (he’s the voice of that fast snail in Turbo) so it will be interesting to see which one does better business, though Dark Horse comics have turned out a few surprise hit films. 

RED 2 

 

Joining one of the most competitive weekends all summer is this sequel to yet another comic book movie. This movie seems more geared towards the older audience and is less comic book-like than R.I.P.D. so maybe that’s why the studios didn’t see them drawing from the same audience. Still, despite being already established, I don’t think this movie is going to do as well given all the competition. 
 

The Conjuring 

 

The director of Saw takes a shot at the haunted house sub-genre of horror. The Purge was already a surprise summer hit in the thriller department, but on a packed weekend like this, it may not be so easy. The Purge wisely changed its release date for a reason. 


July 26 

The Wolverine 

I wasn’t a big fan of the Wolverine prequel movie that came out a few years ago. However, it seems the X-Men movie franchise is getting back on track, so I have faith they are going to try and get this one right as well. 

 
July 31 

The Smurfs 2 

If June was the month of comedy, then July must be the month for family films. I know the first Smurfs movie made a ton at the box office, and I love NPH as an actor, plus the Smurfs were a huge part of my childhood, but I will still never see one of these movies. 


That’s it for July, only one month of summer movies to follow. Fortunately, while August doesn’t attract the heavy hitters, there are typically a lot of genre films that are sure to appeal to geeks and it should be a great end to the summer movie season. 

As always feel free to comment on anything on the list or anything I missed and don’t forget to rank the movies below and earn points!