June is finally here and with it comes the start of the summer movie season. It’s an exciting time, but as usual, a lot of this year’s summer releases are adaptations or the next entries in a long franchise. So, it can be a little intimidating making sure you’re “ready” for a movie.
That’s why we’ve prepared this handy guide of summer movie releases and the materials that they’re adapted from, inspired by, or the previous entries in the franchise that they’re a part of. Most of the items listed are in the CPL catalog, but a few need to be requested via MeL interloan.
May 16, 2025
Final Destination: Bloodlines
The sixth installment in the Final Destination franchise and the first one since 2011’s Final Destination 5, this installment concerns a college student with foreboding visions of her family’s demise and her quest to find the person who can prevent it.
May 23, 2025
Lilo & Stitch
A remake of the 2002 Disney classic, this time with both live action and CGI.
May 23, 2025
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Allegedly the final installment in the beloved action franchise and a direct sequel to 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, this film sees Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his team tasked with finding and destroying a rogue AI known only as The Entity.
May 30, 2025
Karate Kid: Legends
The newest Karate Kid installment serves as a bridge between generations, combining characters from 1984’s The Karate Kid and the 2010 remake of the same name.
May 30, 2025
The Life of Chuck
The Life of Chuck marks the now third Stephen King adaptation by writer/director Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep). More character than horror-driven, the film and novella are about a man dying of a brain tumor, told in reverse order.
June 6, 2025
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
A spinoff from the popular John Wick saga, Ballerina takes place between the third and fourth Wick films and features a new protagonist in Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro, a ballerina turned assassin out to avenge her murdered father.
June 13, 2025
How to Train Your Dragon
A remake of the 2010 Dreamworks animated film of the same name, itself a loose adaptation of the 2003 children’s book by Cressida Cowell. Hiccup, raised in a culture of dragon-slaying, instead befriends a small dragon named “Toothless.”
June 20, 2025
28 Years Later
Reuniting 2002’s 28 Days Later’s original writer (Alex Garland) and director (Danny Boyle), the third installment in the series takes place 28 years after the Rage Virus escaped a medical research laboratory, where survivors have found ways to exist amidst the infected. When a father and his son leave the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, they discover secrets, wonders, and horrors of the outside world.
June 27, 2025
M3GAN 2.0
Two years after the events of M3GAN, Gemma has become an author and advocate for regulation of artificial intelligence. M3GAN's technology has been stolen and used by a defense contractor to create a spy robot called Amelia, who becomes self-aware and set on AI takeover. Gemma responds by reconstructing an upgraded M3GAN to fight Amelia.
July 2, 2025
Jurassic World Rebirth
The fourth Jurassic World film and the seventh overall, this latest installment sees a team of scientists infiltrate a forbidden island to locate dinosaur DNA capable of being made into a drug that could save countless lives.
July 2, 2025
The Old Guard 2
The sequel to 2022’s The Old Guard and a continued adaptation of the graphic novel series, Andy and her team of immortal warriors return to protect humanity from a formidable new enemy who threatens their existence.
July 11, 2025
Superman
A new generation’s reboot of the titular character, this film is the first in over 10 years not to have Henry Cavill featured as its hero. David Corenswet takes over the role under the guidance of writer/director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad) in which Superman aims to reconcile his human upbringing with his Kryptonian roots.
July 18, 2025
I Know What You Did Last Summer
A group of friends is terrorized by a stalker who knows about a gruesome incident from their past. This sequel comes 27 years after the second installment in the trilogy, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), and features characters from the original films as well as a new generation of stars.
July 18, 2025
Smurfs
Tracing its roots to the original Belgian comic series and continuing the tradition of previous Smurfs films, this new take on the Smurfs features live action actors combined with animation. Featured voice talents include Rihanna, John Goodman, and Nick Offerman.
July 25, 2025
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Television director Matt Shakman and television star Pedro Pascal bring their talents to the big screen for the first Fantastic Four film since 2015’s Fantastic 4. Featuring a rebooted cast, this vision of the Marvel Comics heroes sees them protecting the planet from Galactus and the Silver Surfer.
August 1, 2025
The Bad Guys 2
Based on the popular chapter book series and following 2022’s The Bad Guys, this sequel has the Bad Guys struggling to find trust and acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys until they are pulled out of retirement and forced to do "one last job" by an all-female squad of criminals who are fans of their earlier exploits: the Bad Girls.
August 8, 2025
Freakier Friday
The sequel to 2003’s Freaky Friday, this film reunites stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. Anna (Lohan) now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice.
August 15, 2025
Nobody 2
Suburban dad Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a former lethal assassin, is pulled back into his violent past after thwarting a home invasion, setting off a chain of events that unravels secrets about his wife Becca's past and his own. The follow-up to 2021’s Nobody.
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