Welcome to summer. Well, okay, technically summer doesn’t actually begin until late June, but for the sake of Hollywood, this is when the season officially kicks off. Originally I was going to cover the entire blockbuster calendar from May-August similar to what I wrote earlier this year, but instead I’m going to make this a monthly thing as there’s a lot more to talk about for this slate.

So far, the two biggest heavy-hitters of 2025 come from Warner Bros.: A Minecraft Movie and Sinners, and both of them are still going strong. In fact, they might even take a bite out of our freshman entry for the month, Marvel’s Thunderbolts*. The good news is this looks like a great movie which has been rewarded with some absolutely glowing reviews. The bad news is…this is essentially a B-movie superhero team, lacking the “cool” roster that boosts something like Suicide Squad despite clearing going for a similar vibe. Seriously, what casual Marvel fan has been itching to find out what Ghost has been up to? Still, I’m rooting for this one to succeed.

We get some breathing room in the second week of May with Fight or Flight, which is a brilliant title for an R-rated actioner which pits Josh Hartnett against a bunch of assassins on a plane. Like Thunderbolts*, this one was been receiving a very warm critical reception, but unfortunately this is from a smaller distributor, meaning there has been virtually no marketing. Likewise, Juliet & Romeo turns the Shakespeare tragedy into a jukebox musical. Sounds like my kind of shit, but it could easily turn out to be terrible. But again, no marketing. Finally, Shadow Force also comes out that day, although I had completely forgotten about that until I double-checked the release schedule. You’ll forgive me for that when you hear it’s about “an estranged couple with a bounty on their heads who then have to go on the run when their past catches up with them.” Go figure this is from Lionsgate.

Next up, we return to potential tentpole mode with Final Destination: Bloodlines, the comeback for a franchise which has ironically been dead for more than a decade. This one aims to be bigger and badder than the previous entries by spicing up the premise (Death is such a dick that he’s going full Jaws: The Revenge and targeting a specific family), but the tone of the trailers has leaned more into the comedy side than the horror. This series is notoriously nasty, and I’m not sure if I can even say I “like” these films. But I’ll be there for the carnage, especially for the late Tony Todd’s final performance as everyone’s favorite creepy mortician.

That said, I’m not sure if there’s really an appetite for Final Destination to make a comeback in a post-Terrifier world, but I’m even less certain about whatever the fuck Hurry Up Tomorrow is supposed to be. Supposedly in the tradition of Prince’s Purple Rain, here we have The Weeknd and Jenny Ortega dropped into a surreal musical thriller about…well, I actually have no idea. And that’s probably the point. Are The Weeknd’s fans strong enough to turn this into more than a one weeknd wonder? My gut leans towards no (it looks too weird!), but I could be proven wrong.

Now we have the heavy-hitters. Last year, Memorial Day disappointed with the underwhelming performance of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (one in which Mad Max never made an appearance despite being a part of the title). This year is going to be way different, with Mission: Impossible–The Final Reckoning and the live-action Lilo & Stitch remake looking to potentially deliver a holiday weekend record.

But who will emerge victorious? Some might say it’s a coin toss, but my money is on Stitch. Like last Thanksgiving’s Moana 2, Lilo & Stitch was originally going to be a straight-to-streaming release until someone at Disney realized how stupid that was. Have you heard how fucking huge Stitch is in Japan? It would be like flushing money down the crapper if this one didn’t go to theaters. By the way, if you want a weird coincidence, the first Lilo & Stitch opened against Minority Report back in 2002. Tom Cruise really fucking hates Stitch.

The momentum continues the following week with Karate Kid: Legends. Pardon my French, but fuck, this one looks good! This should be an easy moneymaker even as it faces the sophomore frame of Stitch. Aiming for a much more mature crowd is Bring Her Back, the latest tale of terror from the people behind Talk to Me. And hey, Wes Anderson is back with another quirky offbeat comedy with The Phoenician Scheme (no, I don’t know how to pronounce it). Anderson has never been what people would call “mainstream,” and he isn’t going to start with this.

And the winner is…

Lilo & Stitch. People may be quick to write off live-action Disney remakes after Snow White struggled to make it to seven figures (that’s an exaggeration, but I won’t be denied an easy joke), but Lilo is one of the Mouse House’s most beloved films of all time, and unlike Snow White, this one looks like a faithful recreation.