The Summer After Barbenheimer and the Strikes, Hollywood Charts a New Course

"Barbenheimer" is a hard act to follow. But as Hollywood enters another summer movie season, armed with fewer superheroes and a landscape vastly altered by the strikes, it's worth remembering the classic William Goldman quote about what works: "Nobody knows anything."

Four decades later, that still may be true. Yet one thing Hollywood has learned in releasing films through the pandemic and the strikes is how to pivot quickly.

The summer of 2023 brought a new enthusiasm for moviegoing, with the fortuitous counterprogramming of "Barbie" and " Oppenheimer," and surprise hits like " Sound of Freedom," helping the season's box office crack $4 billion for the first time since 2019. But before the industry could take a victory lap, there was another crisis looming with the dual Hollywood strikes, which shuttered most productions for months.

Movies Find a Way Post-Strike

In the fallout, theaters lost big summer titles like "Mission: Impossible 8," "Captain America: Brave New World" and "Thunderbolts" to 2025. But they gained a gem in Jeff Nichols' "The Bikeriders" (June 21), about a 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club, as studios moved films around on the summer chessboard. "Deadpool & Wolverine," once set to kick off the summer moviegoing season on May 3 like many Marvel movies before it, is now sitting happily on July 26, patiently waiting to dominate the summer charts.

"I do love being right there in the belly of summer," said director Shawn Levy. "That's a juicy moment."

The kickoff weekend instead belongs to an original film about a different kind of superhero. " The Fall Guy," starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, is part romantic-comedy, part action-comedy, and all love letter to the stunt performers that make movies spectacular. It's an earnest crowd-pleaser that could jumpstart a season that feels, in some ways, like a throwback, with full-throttle spectacles ("Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," "Twisters"), comedies ("Babes"), IMAX wonder ("The Blue Angels") and even a Kevin Costner Western.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has seen the highs and lows of summer movies over the decades, with blockbusters including " Top Gun: Maverick " and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

This season, he has three very different offerings on the calendar, two are fourth installments in popular franchises – "Beverly Hills Cop" (July 3, Netflix) and "Bad Boys" (June 7, theaters) – and one was planned for streaming but tested so well that it's getting a theatrical rollout ("Young Woman and the Sea," May 31).

"People just want to be entertained," Bruckheimer said. "It really comes down to us to make the right movies that they want to go see."

The $4 Billion Goal Post

In the fallout, theaters lost big summer titles like "Mission: Impossible 8," "Captain America: Brave New World" and "Thunderbolts" to 2025. But they gained a gem in Jeff Nichols' "The Bikeriders" (June 21), about a 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club, as studios moved films around on the summer chessboard. "Deadpool & Wolverine," once set to kick off the summer moviegoing season on May 3 like many Marvel movies before it, is now sitting happily on July 26, patiently waiting to dominate the summer charts.

"I do love being right there in the belly of summer," said director Shawn Levy. "That's a juicy moment."

The kickoff weekend instead belongs to an original film about a different kind of superhero. " The Fall Guy," starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, is part romantic-comedy, part action-comedy, and all love letter to the stunt performers that make movies spectacular. It's an earnest crowd-pleaser that could jumpstart a season that feels, in some ways, like a throwback, with full-throttle spectacles ("Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," "Twisters"), comedies ("Babes"), IMAX wonder ("The Blue Angels") and even a Kevin Costner Western.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has seen the highs and lows of summer movies over the decades, with blockbusters including " Top Gun: Maverick " and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

This season, he has three very different offerings on the calendar, two are fourth installments in popular franchises – "Beverly Hills Cop" (July 3, Netflix) and "Bad Boys" (June 7, theaters) – and one was planned for streaming but tested so well that it's getting a theatrical rollout ("Young Woman and the Sea," May 31).

"People just want to be entertained," Bruckheimer said. "It really comes down to us to make the right movies that they want to go see."

The $4 Billion Goal Post

A Hollywood summer lasts 123 days from the first Friday in May through Labor Day Monday in September. Pre-pandemic, $4 billion was a normal summer intake and theaters could count on anywhere between 37 and 42 films to open on over 2,000 screens. The outlier was 2017, which had only 35 movies on over 2,000 screens and topped out at $3.8 billion. It makes last summer's $4 billion haul with 32 wide releases (45% of the $9 billion domestic haul) even more impressive.

This summer should have 32 wide releases as well and over 40 movies opening in 500+ theaters. Notably only one, "Deadpool & Wolverine," is a Marvel movie (Sony's "Kraven the Hunter" shifted to a December release date late Friday ) and are the only superhero movies on the calendar until the "Joker" sequel in the fall.

"People are going to see movies, not box office, and it looks like a really solid summer from a moviegoer's perspective," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.

Revving Up For Originals

"The Bikeriders" was one that planned for an awards season rollout, with a turbo boost from stellar reviews out of the Telluride Film Festival hailing star turns for Austin Butler and Jodie Comer. But as they inched closer to its release date it became clear that the strikes were not going to resolve in time for a press tour.

"It was kind of like walking on frozen glass for three months," Nichols said. "I was touring around doing press and trying to build this energy on my own. Let me tell you, it's not the same as Austin Butler."

Later in June, after a splashy Cannes debut, Kevin Costner will begin rolling out his two-part Western epic "Horizon: An American Saga," set during the Civil War. And as always there are a slew of Sundance breakouts peppered throughout the summer, from Jane Shoenbrun's "I Saw the TV Glow" and "Didi" to " Thelma " and "Good One."

Fare for the Whole Family

Family films often go into hyperdrive in the summer, capitalizing on long days out of school. This year has plenty, like "The Garfield Movie" and "Despicable Me 4," re-releases of Studio Ghibli classics, and streaming options ("Thelma the Unicorn"). But perhaps none has more anticipation behind it than "Inside Out 2" (June 14, theaters), which meets up with Riley as she enters her teenage years as a new group of emotions crash Joy's party, including Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment.

"That age gives us everything we need and love for a Pixar film," director Kelsey Mann said. "It's full of drama, it has potential for a lot of heart, and I could also make it really funny."

John Krasinski is also delving into the inner world of children with his ambitious live-action hybrid "IF" (May 17, theaters) about the imaginary friends that get left behind and two humans (Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming) who can still see them.