Summer movie guide: Wonder Woman to Death Note

Ah, summer. That time of year when the air is warm, school is out and people are packing themselves into air-conditioned theaters to watch some of the biggest movies of the year.

Even though the blockbuster season is getting longer each year, summer remains the hub for action and superhero movies. Last year gave us Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse and Suicide Squad — some of the highest-grossing films to be released during the May through September period. This year, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Wonder Woman and Baby Driver are set to keep us entertained during the hottest of days, but those aren’t the only movies to look forward to.

Collected below are the biggest movies being released in the summer of 2017.

May

Warner Bros. Pictures

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Director: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey

Release date: May 12

Set in the early period of Arthurian lore, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword follows a young version of the titular character in Londinium. Unaware of his royal heritage, Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) runs the backstreets of the city with his gang of friends. When he pulls the mighty sword Excalibur from its stone, he’s immediately influenced by the power it brings him. It’s up to Arthur to defeat the evil Vortigern, played by Jude Law, and exact revenge for the death of his parents.

Snatched

Director: Jonathan Levine

Starring: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn

Release date: May 12

The new comedy from Amy Schumer follows the comedian as she sets off on a journey of relaxation and self-discovery in an exotic location. She and her mother (Goldie Hawn) try to better their relationship by bonding over the course of the trip, but it all goes terribly wrong when they’re kidnapped. With no one around to save them, the two must fight their way out of the situation they’ve found themselves in and try to get home safely.

Baywatch

Director: Seth Gordon

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach, Ilfenesh Hadera, Priyanka Chopra

Release date: May 25

Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron team up for the beach comedy of the summer. Based on the popular TV series from the ’80s and ’90s that starred David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson, Baywatch will follow a couple of lifeguards who get caught up in an illegal crime ring and will stop at nothing to ensure their town — and more importantly, the beach they watch over — remains safe.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Directors: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg

Starring: Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem

Release date: May 26

The fifth installment in Disney’s popular franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales follows Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he searches for Poseidon’s trident. If the film is anything like the past four, something will go wrong but everything will ultimately turn out all right for Disney’s worst pirate. Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush will reprise their roles.

June

Clay Enos/DC Comics

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Director: David Soren

Starring: Jordan Peele, Kevin Hart, Nick Kroll

Release date: June 2

Based on the popular series of children’s books by Dav Pilkey, this animated movie will follow two best friends, George Beard (Kevin Hart) and Harold Hutchins (Thomas Middleditch), who manage to hypnotize their principal (Ed Helms) into becoming the legendary Captain Underpants. The superhero — a character drawn up by the two comic book fans for their own series — will stop at nothing to end the reign of terror enacted by evil beings like Professor Poopypants and the Turbo Toilet 3000. In case it wasn’t clear, there will be a ton of bathroom humor included in the movie.

Wonder Woman

Director: Patty Jenkins

Starring: Gal Gadot, Robin Wright, Chris Pine

Release date: June 2

One of DC’s most iconic characters makes her stand-alone feature debut in this film directed by Patty Jenkins. Although fans already got an idea of what the heroine was capable of in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice last year, Wonder Woman will focus solely on her. Like Man of Steel, Wonder Woman will be an origin story of sorts, exploring Wonder Woman’s past as Diana and the world she came from.

It Comes at Night

Director: Trey Edward Shults

Starring: Joel Edgerton, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough

Release date: June 9

The newest movie from A24, one of the most important film studios distributing work today, It Comes at Night follows a man, his wife and young son who have set up camp in the safety of a remote home in the middle of nowhere as an unnatural force threatens humanity’s very existence. The fate of his family will be put to the test when a younger family shows up at their home begging for refuge.

Universal Pictures

The Mummy

Director: Alex Kurtzman

Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis

Release date: June 9

The first installment in the Universal Monsters shared universe, The Mummy follows an archaeologist, Nick Morton (Tom Cruise), who stumbles upon the tomb of an ancient Egyptian princess named Ahmanet. When she awakens for her 2,000-year slumber, it’s up to him and his team to seal her back in the tomb and save the world from devastation.

All Eyez on Me

Director: Benny Boom

Starring: Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Kat Graham

Release date: June 16

All Eyez on Me is the story of Tupac Shakur, the iconic rapper. The biopic will look at Tupac’s childhood and the events that shaped his life, from his time in New York and Oakland, California, to becoming a king on the streets of Los Angeles. The movie will also explore Tupac’s controversial relationship with notorious rapper Biggie Smalls and the importance his career played in the growth of hip-hop as a genre.

Cars 3

Director: Brian Fee

Starring: Owen Wilson, Nathan Fillion, Armie Hammer

Release date: June 16

The third film in Pixar’s series about Lightning McQueen and his fellow vehicular friends, Cars 3 promises to be the most intense and emotional yet: A devastating car accident leaves McQueen trying to figure out how to live in a world where he’s no longer wanted. The movie will also introduce a couple of new cars for McQueen to go up against, but old favorites are set to return, too.

The Bad Batch

Director: Ana Lily Armipour

Starring: Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi, Jim Carrey

Release date: June 23

Following the success of her last movie, 2014’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, director Ana Lily Amirpour is back with The Bad Batch. The movie takes place in a dystopian, rundown Texas town overrun by cannibals. It promises to be weirder than Amirpour’s previous film, but there are quite a few similarities between the two. If you’re looking for your weird movie of the summer to get lost in for a couple of hours, this is a good place to start.

The Beguiled

Director: Sofia Coppola

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Colin Farrell

Release date: June 30

From director Sofia Coppola comes The Beguiled, a story about a group of young women at an all-girls school in Virginia during the Civil War. When the women take in a wounded Union soldier, the school is torn apart by sexual tension, jealousy and rivalries. The welcoming of a stranger turns into a series of unfortunate events for the residents of the school.

Paramount Pictures

Transformers: The Last Knight

Director: Michael Bay

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Laura Haddock, Gemma Chan, Anthony Hopkins

Release date: June 21

Optimus Prime is gone as humans and Transformers continue to fight against one another in a never-ending war. The only way to end the conflict is to revisit the past and dig into the long history of the Transformers’ existence on Earth. Transformers: The Last Knight marks director Michael Bay’s final installment in the franchise.

Baby Driver

Director: Edgar Wright

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Kevin Spacey

Release date: June 28

Edgar Wright’s film about a particularly skilled driver who works for an illegal crime family won over crowds when it debuted at South by Southwest. So much so that Sony Pictures Entertainment decided to move its release date up in order for the film to get as much attention as possible during the summer months. If you’re a fan of Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy — Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End — this may be the movie to keep an eye out for.

Okja

Director: Bong Joon Ho

Starring: An Seo Hyun, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano

Release date: June 28

Finally, a movie you won’t have to leave your house to watch! Okja is Joon-ho Bong’s (Snowpiercer) new Netflix-exclusive film. The movie follows a young girl named Mija (Seo-Hyun Ahn) who will stop at nothing to ensure a large corporation doesn’t take her best friend away from her. Oh, and her best friend just so happens to be a gigantic animal named Okja.

Despicable Me 3

Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin

Starring: Jenny Slate, Kristen Wiig, Steve Carell

Release date: June 30

Despicable Me 3 is the third movie in Universal’s charming series of animated films about Gru (Steve Carell), an evil mastermind trying to raise his three young daughters. When Gru meets his long-lost twin brother, Dru (also voiced by Carell), he get whisked away to a fantasy world that seems to reflect everything he could have been — if only he’d been successful. Despicable Me’s most divisive characters, the Minions, will also return in full form for the newest film.

July

Sony Pictures

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Director: Jon Watts

Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Downey Jr.

Release date: July 7

Spider-Man (Tom Holland) is finally set to return home for his feature-length debut within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is one of the youngest versions of the character we’ve seen yet, and unlike 2002’s Spider-Man or 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming will not be an origin story. Instead, it will continue the story set up in Captain America: Civil War that saw Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) collect the youngest Avenger and mentor him in controlling his powers.

War for the Planet of the Apes

Director: Matt Reeves

Starring: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Judy Greer

Release date: July 14

War for the Planet of the Apes promises to be a bloody, dark conclusion to the Planet of the Apes trilogy. After the apes lose one of their closest family members, Caesar (Andy Serkis) will lean into his dark side and gather an army to exact revenge.

The Big Sick

Director: Michael Showalter

Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter

Release date: July 14

A semi-autobiographical story, The Big Sick is written by and stars Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani. The movie was co-written by comedian Emily V. Gordon, a well-known podcast host and Nanjiani’s wife. The Big Sick follows the two as they become a couple and the difficulties that often arise when people from two different cultures enter a relationship. The movie is directed by Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer).

Dunkirk

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy

Release date: July 21

Christopher Nolan’s ambitious movie about the evacuation of more than 350,000 men during World War II’s Battle of Dunkirk is one of our most anticipated movies this summer. Nolan has proven time and again that he has an eye for grand, cinematic sequences, and it will be fascinating to see how he handles something as notable as the Second World War. Nolan has said before that this won’t be a traditional war movie, however — that it takes its influences from Hollywood’s silent film era.

STX Entertainment

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Director: Luc Besson

Starring: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne

Release date: July 21

Description: It may not be the sequel to The Fifth Element that fans have asked for, but Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is Luc Besson’s return to weird sci-fi. This was the movie that he wanted to make years ago, but couldn’t until the technology was there. Based on the French comic Valérian and Laureline, the film follows two special operatives, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne), as they try to protect an entire interconnected galaxy from a dark force.

Atomic Blonde

Director: David Leitch

Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Sofia Boutella

Release date: July 28

Described as a female-led John Wick, Atomic Blonde shares quite a few similarities with the Keanu Reeves-starring action vehicle. Director David Leitch also co-directed John Wick, but this film follows the lives of secret agents instead of underground assassins. Charlize Theron stars as Lorraine Broughton, an MI6 agent who’s sent to Berlin to investigate the murder of a fellow agent during the Cold War. Like Baby Driver, the movie earned a round of praise after its debut at South by Southwest.

The Emoji Movie

Director: Tony Leondis

Starring: Anna Faris, Sofia Vergara, T.J. Miller

Release date: July 28

It’s a movie about emojis. The entire movie takes place in a universe overrun with emojis. This will either be the best or worst movie of the summer. We’re sure there are plenty of emoji characters to choose from that can be used to sum it up immediately after seeing it.

August

Ilze Kitshoff/Sony Pictures Entertainment

The Dark Tower

Director: Nikolaj Arcel

Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey

Release date: Aug. 4

Based on Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, The Dark Tower will bring the Man in Black and the Gunslinger to the big screen for the first time. With the future of his world in question, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) journeys to find the Dark Tower. He must survive Walter Padick’s (Matthew McConaughey) attempts to thwart him from his journey and climb to the top of the tower to achieve his goal. The first trailer for the movie was released in April, and was met with apprehension from many of the books’ biggest fans.

Detroit

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Starring: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith

Release date: Aug. 4

The newest movie from director Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Detroit tells the true story of a police raid that occurred in Detroit in 1967 that led to one of the biggest citizen uprisings in the United States.

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature

Director: Cal Brunker

Starring: Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl, Maya Rudolph

Release date: Aug. 11

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature picks up right where the first movie left off. Surly and his crew of adorable animals have to prevent Oakton City's mayor from destroying their home in order for an amusement park to be built.

Death Note

Director: Adam Wingard

Starring: Nat Wolff, Margaret Qualley, Lakeith Stanfield, Willem Dafoe

Release Date: Aug. 25

Description: Netflix’s adaptation of one of the biggest anime and manga series of all time will finally be able to stream at the end of August. The movie follows a high school student who comes into possession of a death notebook that allows him to kill whomever he wants without being caught. When his vigilante killing spree catches the attention of a famous detective, simply referred to as L, it becomes a game of cat and mouse.