June 5: Spy
What it is: An action comedy following a CIA analyst (Melissa McCarthy) who takes to the field for the first time on a top-secret, high-stakes mission.
Why you should care: Give or take a Jason Bourne or an Ethan Hunt, 007 has basically cornered the market on blockbuster spy movies — until now. Bridesmaids and The Heat director Paul Feig re-teams for his third consecutive film with Melissa McCarthy, leading a cast that spans a murderer's row of great actors, including Jude Law, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, and Allison Janney. Early reviews have been extremely strong, making this the rare 2015 blockbuster that stands a chance of spawning a new franchise in its own right.
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What else is coming out: Insidious: Chapter 3, a prequel to a franchise you might vaguely remember, with Dermot Mulroney taking over for Patrick Wilson; Entourage, a wildly unnecessary film adaptation of the TV series of the same name, which ran for eight bro-tastic seasons on HBO; Love & Mercy, a biopic charting the fraught relationship between Beach Boy Brian Wilson (Paul Dano/John Cusack) and his manipulative therapist (Paul Giamatti).
June 12: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
What it is: A pair of teenaged amateur filmmakers (Thomas Mann and RJ Cyler) combine their talents to make a movie for a classmate with leukemia (Olivia Cooke).
Why you should care: I know, I know — another tearjerker about a teenager with cancer. But while most modern cancer movies go out of their way to market themselves as "not just another cancer movie," Me and Earl and the Dying Girl may actually have the goods to back it up. (The trailer even features a scene that feels like a pointed rejoinder to last summer's smash-hit weepy The Fault in Our Stars.) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, which is based on Jesse Andrews' 2013 YA novel of the same name, was an absolute smash at this year's Sundance Film Festival, netting both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, alongside a slew of rave reviews from critics. It's a difficult subject, but by all accounts, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl handles it with grace, sensitivity, and warmth.
What else is coming out: Jurassic World, the big-budget reboot of the Jurassic Park series featuring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and a bunch of velociraptors; Vendetta, the latest slapdash action flick starring a pro wrestler.
June 19: Inside Out
What it is: Pixar's latest takes place inside the mind of an adolescent girl, as a series of personified personality traits — including Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) — vie for control.
Why you should care: Between 2007 and 2010, Pixar had a streak of brilliant movies unrivaled by any studio in modern history: Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3. Though Disney has since beaten the studio at its own game with the mega-hit Frozen, Inside Out looks like the long-awaited return to the multifaceted, emotional, all-ages epics for which Pixar is known. Inside Out balances a clever premise with a top-notch voice cast, and reviews from a special screening at Cannes last month were universally positive (and generally ecstatic).
What else is coming out: The Overnight, a wonderfully strange comedy about a playdate that leads two married couples (Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman, and Judith Godreche) to experiences they'd never have expected; Dope, a dramedy about a group of geeky high schoolers (led by Shameik Moore) making their way through life in a crime-ridden part of Inglewood; Manglehorn, a slice-of-life drama in which director David Gordon Green attempts to revive Al Pacino's career in the same way he revived Nicolas Cage's career with 2013's Joe; Infinitely Polar Bear, a dramedy about a manic-depressive father (Mark Ruffalo) taking responsibility for his two adolescent daughters.
June 26: Big Game
What it is: After Air Force One is shot down in his backyard, a young boy (Onni Tommila) teams up with the U.S. president (Samuel L. Jackson) to evade the big-game hunters who want to make the president their latest trophy.
Why you should care: Even in a summer that's overloaded with action movies, how could anyone resist a film that's so gleefully, openly ridiculous? Hailing from the team behind 2010's innovative Santa Claus horror flick Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, Big Game is the most expensive movie ever produced in Finland. Based on the reviews that have already arrived, that money went exactly where it should have: goofy but visceral action, a surprisingly accomplished supporting cast, and a series of cuss-laden monologues from President Samuel L. Jackson.
What else is coming out: Ted 2, the sequel to 2012's raunchy comedy, in which the titular teddy bear (the voice of Seth MacFarlane) sues the government for full citizenship rights; Max, a glurge-y family drama about a kid (Josh Wiggins) coming to terms with his older brother's death in Afghanistan by taking care of his Marine-trained dog.
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