7 Most Anticipated June Releases To Kick Off The Summer Movie Season!

May is already over with, and as existential as this makes us (time needs to slow down, we can’t keep up!), it does get me excited that, with a new month, comes a whole new slate of Summer movies! In June’s case, many of these upcoming releases now have the added pressure to help the box office recover from a lackluster May. Yes, while a majority of these movies have gotten strong praise from critics and audiences alike (we are big fans of The Fall Guy and Furiosa), none of them have done particularly well at the box office, aside from Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (one of the few movies connected to an IP).

With all of that in mind, some of these June releases have some big shoes to fill, both for movie theaters and their own success. Are any of these movies going to finally break the dam with an $100 million-plus opening weekend? What movies will come out on top, critically, financially, and all of the above? Could any of these films have legs come awards season? We may not have the answer to all these questions yet, but from where we stand, these following movies are currently our most anticipated Summer releases for the month of June! 

1. Bad Boys: Ride or Die (June 7)

Although this movie probably isn’t going to mention “Academy Award Winner” too much in the marketing, this is one of Will Smith’s first major blockbusters following his Oscar win for King Richard. Following the release of the previous film in the franchise in 2020, Bad Boys for Life, this 4th installment reteams Smith and Martin Lawrence with directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. The directing duo have since received more critical acclaim in the years since with the Disney+ "Ms. Marvel" series getting high praise, alongside the positive word-of-mouth for their Batgirl movie before that was controversially shelfed at Warner Bros. Regardless, Sony clearly has faith in them after their previous Bad Boys movie garnered $424.6 million worldwide on a $90 million production budget, with a fresh 76% score on Rotten Tomatoes to boot. So, it seems safe to say that we know what the Bad Boys are going to do when Ride or Die comes to a theater near you!

2. The Watchers (June 7)

Although audiences will have to wait until August for M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap to release in theaters, they won’t have to wait too long to check out something else from the Shyamalan family. Specifically, The Watchers is the directorial debut of M. Night's daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan, and from the trailers we have seen so far, this film looks to be in a very similar genre to much of her father’s work. With Dakota Fanning leading the film based on a novel from author A.M. Sine, The Watchers has all the potential to be a movie for any genre to look out for come June 7th.

3. Inside Out 2 (June 14)

Ok, I know I said we weren't picking favorites, so I won’t say this is one of our most anticipated movies of the year, but like, I’m not NOT saying that either! Anyways, Inside Out 2 is easily looking to be one of the biggest releases of the year so far. The original Inside Out did extremely well at the box office (even against the massive success of Jurassic World) and has also became a favorite for many Pixar fans. The original movie earned itself an Oscar for Best Animated Feature and even a nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a feat no other animated release has achieved since. In case it wasn’t obvious, people have plenty of reasons to be excited for this. Most of the original cast are returning to voice our deepest emotions alongside newcomers Maya Hawke and Ayo Edebiri as Anxiety and Envy, respectively. Combine that with early buzz hinting toward another slam dunk sequel for Pixar, and we are pretty hyped to say the least! Note: Don’t forget to bring tissues with you to the theater, you’re gonna need them.

4. The Bikeriders (June 21)

Veering away from the world of beloved IP, Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders has been in the conversation for many cinephiles since last year, namely due to the film’s original release date moving from awards season because of the ongoing strikes at the time. With the added wait came a boost in anticipation for the film on biker culture, which is impressive to say the least for a mid-budget drama. The film already has strong critical praise going into it and with audiences likely to enjoy the leading trio of Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy. We think The Bikeriders has a very good chance to be a surprise underground hit this summer. Plus, bikes go vroom so that's cool too!

5. Kinds of Kindness (June 21)

If you read our previous article on Kinds of Kindness, then I don’t need to tell you too much more to get you excited for this movie. It’s Yorgos Lanthimos’s follow-up to Poor Things and we think that movie did pretty well at the Oscars. Combine that with a stacked ensemble cast and a successful premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Kinds of Kindness is a must-watch for any cinephiles that weekend. Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal lowkey!

6. A Quiet Place: Day One (June 29)

Despite John Krasinski’s latest directorial efforts with IF not receiving the fanfare audiences had hoped for, he still has another good egg in the basket with this upcoming spin-off of his beloved A Quiet Place franchise. While Krasinski is only on-board as a writer and producer this time around. Day One seats Michael Sarnoski in the director’s chair, and he has a proven track record in the genre already with his previous film, Pig. With that, the Day One sequence in A Quiet Place: Part Two being a fan-favorite for many, and oh yeah, we have this up and coming actress Lupita Nyong’o in the lead role, we would say that A Quiet Place: Day One is gonna have people cheering in the theater. But, given the premise, I suspect the praise will be kept to a timid round of applause so that no aliens decide to make the theater their lunch...

7. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (June 29)

Rounding out the list is... another saga?! How many sagas are releasing this Summer?? Alright, in all seriousness, the choice on Kevin Costner’s part to return to directing with a 2-part western epic is intriguing by every stretch of the word. Having previously worked in the genre before, the decision to split Horizon into 2 movies to maintain a theatrical release is a bold one for sure. If this film works as well as Costner’s previous westerns, it could be a risk that will pay off. Of course, we won’t know for sure until the second chapter of Horizon releases in August, yet this release is sure to be an interesting case study no matter how many moviegoers ride their way into the theater (if any of those people actually ride in on a horse, they should be let in for free!).

Which movies are you most excited to see this summer?