For 14 months, the question on movie-lovers’ minds was: When will the theaters reopen? But now that theaters throughout Israel are opening their doors on May 27, the new question is: What’s playing?
The answer is: A lot. Naturally, more than a year’s worth of releases have piled up and movies of every category are coming: blockbusters, comedies, serious dramas, kids’ movies (including the big animated features from the likes of Disney and Pixar), arthouse movies from around the world and the latest Israeli movies. And while many have found ways to stream some of these films, let’s agree that there is something special about the experience of seeing a movie on the big screen. Some of these movies are opening on May 27 and the rest will follow over the next few weeks.
In the blockbuster category, audiences here have been waiting for the Wonder Woman sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, which features Gal Gadot reprising her role as the warrior princess and also playing Wonder Woman’s contemporary alter ego, Diana Prince. The rest of the cast includes Kristen Wiig as her nemesis, Cheetah, Chris Pine reprising his role as Steve Trevor, and Pedro Pascal as the villain Maxwell Lord. It features action, fights, groovy ‘80s fashions and music and Amazon-warrior wisdom.
A different kind of sequel was actually the box-office champ in 2021: Godzilla vs. Kong. The title tells the story, obviously, and the humans who either triumph or end up as monster snacks include Alexander Skarsgard (Big Little Lies, True Blood), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Lance Reddick (The Wire) and Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights).
For many, the release of The Suicide Squad, the sequel to Suicide Squad, with Margot Robbie and Idris Elba, will be something to live for. Other big action movies include Mortal Kombat and F9 (Fast and Furious 9). Another super-heroine, played by Scarlett Johansson, is coming our way in Black Widow.
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is his latest twisty thriller that makes no sense if you think about it, but fortunately you won’t have time to while you’re trying to follow the plot. It stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki.
A Quiet Place 2 is the sequel to John Krasinski’s movie about a family struggling to survive in a world where horrible creatures who can’t see but can hear kill anyone in their path. It stars Emily Blunt.
Musicals are especially appealing when seen at the theater, and Hamilton fans will be pleased to hear that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s semi-autobiographical In the Heights is being released. Set in the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York where he grew up, it stars Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins and Leslie Grace. It’s not clear whether the coronavirus regulations will allow for dancing in the aisles, but audiences at this film will find out.
This year’s Best Picture Oscar winner, Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, tells the story of a “houseless but not homeless” woman who travels the US in her van and meets many like-minded souls.
Promising Young Woman was another Oscar winner this year (for Best Original Screenplay) and it’s a dark story, obviously influenced by Hitchcock, of a heroine (Carey Mulligan), who will do anything to right a wrong.
DENZEL WASHINGTON and Rami Malek star in The Little Things, about the hunt for a serial killer terrorizing Los Angeles.
Love Sarah stars Candice Brown and Celia Imrie in a multi-generational story about a young woman opening a bakery.
The War with Grandpa stars Robert De Niro and Uma Thurman in a comedy about a boy who is unhappy about sharing a room with his grandfather.
In Those Who Wish Me Dead, Angelina Jolie plays a survival expert who protects a teen murder witness in the wilderness.
Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul stars in Nobody as a man who becomes the target of a drug lord after he helps a woman who is being harassed.
Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play a retired sheriff and his wife looking for their grandson in Let Him Go.
Honest Thief stars Liam Neeson as a bank robber who goes straight, only to find himself double-crossed by the FBI.
Freaky is one of those comic horror thrillers about a girl who swaps bodies with a serial killer.
For those who prefer arthouse films, The Truth, Hirokazu Koreeda’s first movie in French, will be opening. It stars Catherine Deneuve as a diva movie star who has just published her memoirs, and Juliette Binoche as her adult daughter who is not very happy with what her mother wrote.
A favorite film at festivals around the world, And Then We Danced, is a coming-of-age story set among competitive dancers in Tbilisi.
The first new Israeli movie to be released into theaters will be Eytan Fox’s Sublet, which opens throughout the country on June 3. It stars Tony Award-winning actor John Benjamin Hickey (In Treatment, The Good Wife) as an American travel writer grieving a loss who finds himself beginning to heal on a visit to Tel Aviv and through his relationship with a young man (Niv Nissim), who becomes his guide to the city. Other upcoming Israeli releases for which a date has not yet been set include Ruthy Pribar’s Asia, for which Shira Haas won the Best Actress Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Talya Lavie’s Honeymood. Those looking forward to Avi Nesher’s war epic, Image of Victory, will have to wait until the fall.
Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated movies of all are the children’s movies. A generation ago, Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny charmed audiences in Space Jam. Now, LeBron James is back with Space Jam: A New Legacy. Bugs Bunny, who never retired, plays himself again.
Pixar created Soul, the story of an African-American jazz musician who finds himself in a kind of limbo. It has gotten some of the best reviews of any children’s release in years. Luca, another new Pixar movie, tells the story of a boy who befriends a sea monster disguised as a human.
If you ever wondered what Cruella de Vil was like as a young woman, you can see Emma Stone playing this part in Cruella.
Other children’s releases include the new animated version of Scooby Doo, Trolls World Tour, The Croods: A New Age, Raya and the Last Dragon, Tom and Jerry and Peter Rabbit 2.
So many movies, so little time – and many more are set to be released later in the summer.