2014 SSN Summer Movie Preview Part One: The Tentpoles http://t.co/xwEeSH4TNo
— Nikki Finke (@NikkiFinke) April 21, 2014

Well, it’s that time again; the Summer Silly Season. With so many movies coming out between the first weekend of May and Labor Day, we thought the best way to give you a proper preview was to break it into separate parts. We’ll spend the next couple days looking at the medium- and smaller-sized films headed for the multiplex, but will kick things off by taking a look at the big, monster tent poles coming your way over the next few months.

 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Release Date: May 2 (also in IMAX)

SSN Insight: If there’s one thing we know by now, it’s that Spider-Man movies do enormous numbers at the box office. Considering that this one comes at the official start of the summer season, there’s a dead-solid certainty that people will be lined up around the block to catch Andrew Garfield’s second outing in red and blue spandex. It doesn’t hurt that this one features a bevy of villains, Jamie Foxx and Paul Giamatti among them, as well as up-and-comer Dane DeHaan. And, if rumors are true, we might see the unfortunate end of Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy.

 

Godzilla

Release Date: May 16 (also in IMAX)

SSN Insight: This is not the studios’ first attempt at rebooting the franchise that features the giant, radioactive, fire-breathing lizard, but it has a pretty solid pedigree. Latest trailers have featured star Bryan Cranston and a spectacular level of devastation, but they also give a fleeting glance at the actual beast, and it’s pretty darn scary. Director Gareth Edwards is a VFX veteran whose feature directorial debut, 2010 cult hit Monsters, got him the gig, and expectations are high. So is the buzz, and since its only real competition is the smaller-budget Disney drama, Million Dollar Arm, expect a big opening weekend.

 

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Release Date: May 23

SSN Insight: Almost certain to be one of the top three movies of the summer, if not the whole year, the highly-anticipated fifth installment of the X-Men series picks up a few years after 2011’s X-Men: First Class left off, and marks the return of director Bryan Singer, as well as stars Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. Hugh Jackman likewise returns for his seventh outing as Wolverine, as is just about every actor who’s played a mutant up until now.

 

Maleficent

Release Date: May 30 (also in IMAX)

SSN Insight: It’s been nearly four years since Angelina Jolie has appeared onscreen, so it’s an understatement to say that a lot of people have anxiously awaited this retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Jolie looks fantastic in the title role of the evil (or simply misunderstood?) witch, which promises an alternative take on just what made her so unpleasant in the first place.

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