With Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Barbie, Oppenheimer and more, it’s going to be one of the biggest months of the year on the big screen.
Barbie. Oppenheimer. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. It’s no understatement to say July is going to be one of the year’s biggest months on the big screen. As well as all the blockbusters, there’s also plenty of comedy in store including the much-anticipated Joy Ride with an all-Asian lead cast that includes Ashley Park and Stephanie Hsu and Theater Camp starring Ben Platt and Molly Gordon. Those looking for something scary also have plenty to choose from withInsidious: The Red Door and Talk to Me or the lighter-hearted Haunted Mansion. Insidious: The Red Door Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Theater Camp North of Normal Barbie Oppenheimer A new Christopher Nolan film is always an event and Oppenheimer is no exception. The movie marks the acclaimed director’s first biopic, telling the real-life story of the “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer. Cillian Murphy, who previously appeared in several of Nolan’s previous films – Inception, Dunkirk and his Dark Knight trilogy – will take on the lead role. It will also star several other acting heavyweights including Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and Robert Downey Jr. Just like Nolan’s previous films that favour practical effects over CGI, Oppenheimer will feature epic real explosions. With many scenes shot in IMAX (with sections in IMAX black and white for the first time) and a whopping $100 million budget to fund all those explosions, Oppenheimer absolutely must be experienced on the biggest screen possible. Talk to Me Haunted Mansion
Here's a look at everything coming to theatres this July:
Joy Ride
Starring: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu
Directed by: Adele Lim
Release date: July 7, 2023
Sherry Cola recently told Cineplex that Joy Ride is unlike anything that’s ever been done before and we can’t wait to see what all the buzz is about when this ground-breaking, original comedy hits the big screen. With an all-Asian lead cast that also includes Ashley Park, Sabrina Wu and recent Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu, the story is a hilarious road trip that takes the four friends to China to search for one of their birth mothers. The film is also the directorial debut for Adele Lim, screenwriter behind Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon and produced by Canada’s own Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Sinclair Daniel, Peter Dager, Hiam Abbass
Directed by: Patrick Wilson
Release date: July 7, 2023
Fans of Insidious have been waiting five long years for the next installment and the wait is almost over. The fifth movie in the franchise features returning cast Patrick Wilson, Lin Shaye, Rose Byrne, Josh Lambert, Ty Simpkins and Andrew Astor and has Wilson in the director’s chair for the first time. The film will once again focus on the Lambert family for the final chapter of their horrifying ordeal. It’s been 10 years since we last saw them in Insidious 2 and the story picks up with Dalton now heading to college. But it’s not long before demons from the past once again threaten the family’s future.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Angela Bassett
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Release date: July 12, 2023
For the second summer in a row, Tom Cruise is bringing us an epic blockbuster that can only be experienced on the big screen (keep ‘em coming Tom). This time it’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – the seventh film in the franchise that will have Cruise back as veteran agent Ethan Hunt. He will be joined by his usual IMF team of Simon Pegg as Benji, Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa and Ving Rhames as Luther. The Mission: Impossible films always feature incredible stunts but Dead Reckoning Part One is upping the ante with the biggest stunt in cinema history. It will have Cruise driving his motorcycle off a cliff into a base jump that will have us (and likely the crew during filming) holding our breath until he’s safely on the ground. The film will also feature newcomers Esai Morales, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Shea Whigham and breath-taking new locations including Italy, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.
Starring: Ben Platt, Molly Gordon, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro
Directed by: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman
Release date: July 14, 2023
With a solid ensemble cast, catchy musical numbers and early glowing reviews, Theater Camp is shaping up to be one of the must-see comedies of the summer. When the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, it received two standing ovations from the audience, an impressive feat for a musical comedy about summer camp. The story centres around a group of kids with big dreams who head to an upstate New York camp with an eccentric staff to hone their craft and put on the annual musical production. But when the owner falls into a coma and the camp is at risk of financial ruin, her ill-prepared “bro” son Troy is tasked with leading the charge and banding everyone together to save it. Ben Platt, Molly Gordon, Noah Galvin both star in and co-wrote the script with Nick Lieberman, who also directs the film with Gordon. We’re expecting plenty of laughs, nostalgia and sing-along numbers we won’t be able to get out of our heads.
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Sarah Gadon, James D’Arcy, Benedict Samuel
Directed by: Carly Stone
Release date: July 14, 2023
Another Canadian film that had its premiere at TIFF last fall is North of Normal, a true story about a girl who was raised in the wilderness and moves to the city to live with her eccentric mother in search of a “normal” life. The film is based on the memoir by Cea Sunrise Person who grew up in the Canadian wilderness. Directed by Toronto’s Carly Stone, the film stars Amanda Fix as Cea and Sarah Gadon as her mother Michelle and was filmed in various locations around Northern Ontario including Sudbury and North Bay.
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Ariana Greenblatt, Simu Liu, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Helen Mirren
Directed by: Greta Gerwig
Release date: July 21, 2023
Barbie isn’t being released in theatres until July 21 but Barbiemania has already taken over our feeds and our fashion (Barbiecore anyone?) securing its spot as one of the most-anticipated movies of the summer. Starring Margot Robbie as Barbie, the film also features several other Barbies played by the likes of Emma Mackey, Issa Rae and Ritu Arya. It also features multiple Kens including Canada’s own Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu and Michael Cera, along with Will Ferrell as Mattel CEO and Dame Helen Mirren as the narrator. Although there hasn’t been too much revealed about the plot, we do know that Barbie gets tired of her perfect pink plastic life and heads to the “Real World” with her Barbie Dream Car and Ken in tow. With Robbie as a producer and Greta Gerwig as co-writer and director, we expect this live-action adaptation to be as thought-provoking as it is fun.
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Release date: July 21, 2023
Starring: Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Otis Dhanji
Directed by: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Release date: July 28, 2023
If you’re in the mood for something scary, look no further than Talk To Me, a new original horror film from brothers Danny and Michael Philippou in their feature directorial debut. The story centres around Mia, a high school student who is grieving the loss of her mother who committed suicide two years earlier. When she and her friends attend a house party they discover a mysterious embalmed hand that can conjure up spirits from the beyond. But what starts as a fun party trick turns into a terrifying nightmare when dark supernatural forces are unleashed. With a 97 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Talk To Me is being praised for its modern take on a possession story and the way it deals with the complicated nature of grief. A heads up to movie-goers, the film is graphic and gory and not for the faint of heart.
Starring: Rosario Dawson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Winona Ryder, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Dan Levy, LaKeith Stanfield, Jared Leto
Directed by: Justin Simien
Release date: July 28, 2023
If you’re looking for something scary but don’t think you can handle the intensity of Talk To Me, Haunted Mansion might be the perfect pick for you. It’s a reimagining of the 2003 film that starred Eddie Murphy as a real estate agent who becomes trapped in a haunted mansion with his family. The new adaptation stars Rosario Dawson as Gabbie, a single mother who moves into a creepy old mansion with her son and soon learns it is haunted. They enlist the help of a medium (Tiffany Haddish), a priest (Owen Wilson), a tour guide (LaKeith Stanfield) and a historian (Danny DeVito) to try and rid their new home of spirits. Even though Haunted Mansion features a new cast and plot, it is also based on the Disney ride of the same name and features some familiar ghouls like the Hat-Box Ghost and Madame Leota.
