It may still be spring, but with the opening on “Iron Man” comes the start of the Summer Movie Season. And it should be a fun one (which is why I did the title they way I did).
Let’s start with “Iron Man”, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as the comic book super hero. The buzz on the film is pretty good. I think it’ll make around $95-million this weekend, but it could crack $100-million. It’s rated PG-13. I’ll have my review later this weekend.
Next-up (at least on my schedule) is “Speed Racer.” It opens May 9th. We’ve been seeing the trailer forever. Looks good. It’s rated PG.
The sequel to Disney’s biggest hit of 2005 comes out May 16. “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” picks up only a few years later than the original, but that turns-out to be a lot of years in the world of Narnia. PG.
The first “Indiana Jones” film (which I just watched a few months ago) was rated PG. The new one: “Kingdon of the Crystal Skull”, which opens May 22, is rated PG-13. Everyone is predicting that this will be the highest grossing movie of the summer. More on that later. Harrison Ford and Karen allen are back in this 4th “Indy” film. They’re joined by Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf.
This summer’s Dreamworks animated film is the comedy “Kung Fu Panda.” Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Jackie Chan headline a star-studded voice cast. It’s rated PG and opens June 6.
The rest of the June blockbusters include “Get Smart”, “Wall-E” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D.”
I don’t think this summer’s box office total will beat 2007, but it could be close.
As for the winners – I’ll start with “Indiana Jones”, which will make $307.8 million, followed by “Narnia” ($297.6) and then “Wall-E” ($248.2). “Iron Man ($217.7) and “Kung Fu Panda” ($208.3) will round-out the Top 5.
I’m most excited about seeing “Wall-E”. It looks like it’s going to be very funny. Plus, they say in 85-90% of the film there’s no dialogue. Very interesting experiment by Pixar. I hope it really pays off.