Ah, the summer: a season where the sun always shines, the heat rises, people crowd the beach, and old men mow the lawn shirtless.
Other than that horrific sight on many lawns across the country, I love all the fruits of summer, especially the air conditioning.
Fortunately for all of us, the best place to cool down is the movie theater.
Even though the theaters felt as cold as ice, the box office was on fire this summer.
From May 4 to Sept. 3, the box office grossed a total of $3.7 billion nationwide.
The top five highest grossing movies of the summer were The Incredibles 2 ($595.5 million), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($412.3 million), Deadpool 2 ($318.4 million), Solo: A Star Wars Story ($213.5 million), and Ant-Man and the Wasp ($209.7 million).
Audiences were heading to the theaters to chill from the smoldering heat and to catch some great flicks.
Of course, there were plenty of duds like the head splitting Mile 22, laughable Hereditary, and abismal Superfly; but the good outweighed the bad.
I found myself going to the theater frequently not only because Moviepass still worked, but there were a lot of releases that caught my interest released by studios from here and abroad.
An average of two movies a year receive my coveted four star score (the highest rating on my scale), but this summer four features earned the rating: The Guardians, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, Mission Impossible: Fallout, and What Will People Say.
Mamma Mia and Mission Impossible were domestic releases, while The Guardians and What Will People Say were foreign releases.
The excellent domestic movies achieved the score because they were perfect for the summer with entertainment enjoyable for all.
Contrarily, the international films delivered insight on global issues through incredible performances and heart crushing drama.
These great features were accompanied by other strong ones from an array of genres.
Romance was in full bloom on the screen with beautiful films like the tear jerker Adrift, the inclusive box office hit Crazy Rich Asians, and the sensitive On Chesil Beach (and yes, I cried in all).
You can’t have romance without a little drama.
Some captivating dramas of the summer included the salute to motherhood Tully, the French melodrama filled with bank robberies and racing in Racer and the Jailbird, the scandalous affair of two Jewish ladies in a strict community flared in Disobedience, and Ethan Hawke gave the Word as a priest for First Reformed.
All of these films had small budgets, but their messages and stories were poignant.
There were messages shared through a surprising amount of documentaries over the past four months too.
Documentaries were sizzling in theaters with hits like RBG on the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? on the legacy of Mr. Rogers, Whitney about the times of Whitney Houston, and Three Identical Strangers, which tells the story of how three identical twins were separated at birth.
We’re accustomed to big blockbuster action flicks stealing the heat, so it’s shocking documentaries made their own waves.
While we fed our brains with knowledge through the documentaries, we also left them outside the theater doors to stuff our faces with popcorn for action flicks.
As previously mentioned, the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible series was one of the greatest action movies ever made because of Tom Cruise’s incredible stunt work, draw dropping action, and a story filled with double crosses.
Along with MI, we had other exciting features like The Meg where star Jason Statham attempts to kill a gigantic megalodon shark, a sequel fourteen years overdue in The Incredibles 2, and the unlikely thriller where a handful of nerdy students attempt to rob their college library’s valuable book collection in American Animals.
Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman felt like the culmination of what summer had to offer.
The director’s latest joint was filled with action, laughs, and a powerful message as it followed the incredible true story of black police officer Ron Stallworth’s attempt to infiltrate the KKK in the early 1970s.
The cinema was burning from start to finish this summer. Every weekend, there was always something exciting to check out.
Hopefully there will be more fuel to add to the fire in the closing months of an excellent year for film.
PHOTO TAKEN from Variety
PHOTO TAKEN from Essence
