A summer with strikes in the rearview and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” poised to keep kicking ass at the box office and sticking in IMAX theaters? We’re here for it.

Starting this month, the summer movie season is upon us, with indies and blockbusters and some freshly burnished I.P. rolling out in theaters and on streamers (looking at you, Netflix’s “Happy Gilmore 2”). Plus, the Cannes Film Festival kicks off May 13, so we’re about to get some much-welcome vigor restored in the moviegoing conversation. But people vote with their dollars — and, these days, their Letterboxd accounts — not their mouths, after all.

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So which summer movies are likely to hit big?

While IndieWire always roots for originals (again, looking at you, “Sinners”), there are, of course, some familiar properties coming back to theaters this summer to guarantee cash flow. This is Hollywood after all, where rinse-and-repeat is hopefully less rote with (we hope) invigorating updates on titles and characters we already know (and hopefully love).

Think “Superman,” “Jurassic Park Rebirth,” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” all coming to theaters this summer to revitalize classic franchises with a 2025 sensibility (for all the good and bad that may entail). And who doesn’t want a sequel to “M3GAN,” the artificial intelligence horror movie that reminded us all why Allison Williams is so great? (And why, yes, maybe Marnie was the best character on “Girls” all along.) Speaking of horror, arguably the best film in the “Final Destination” franchise is also upon us.

But sequels and requels aside, there are plenty of intriguing, one-of-a-kind offerings on the horizon, from Zach Cregger’s buzzy ensemble horror “Weapons,” which reportedly ignited a bidding war back in 2023, to the Sundance midnight sensation “Together,” with Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a dangerously codependent couple. Eva Victor’s A24 Sundance smash “Sorry, Baby” announces a vital new voice in filmmaking (and the way we tell stories about trauma, here with an underhandedly humorous touch), and Oscar-nominated “Past Lives” auteur-in-the-making Celine Song makes her second coming with another A24 movie, the romantic dramedy “Materialists.”

Don’t count out some early awards season starters, either, like Wes Anderson’s latest “The Phoenician Scheme” or Darren Aronofsky’s return to screens with “Caught Stealing,” or Ethan Coen’s second solo directing effort “Honey Don’t!” (what a title!). Who says the summer movie season has to be about numbing out to big-budget spectacle? Characters and original stories get a spotlight this season, too. Maybe we are onto something with people pouring in for a totally original movie like “Sinners.” Maybe people want to see something different, startling, and not torn from nostalgia. Time will tell, or at least the next few months will.

Below, IndieWire rounds up 35 movies to see this summer through the end of August. P.S. for IndieWire, summer movies start in May, as we expect some of this month’s releases to have legs (as well as wider releases) into June and beyond.

Wilson Chapman, Daid Ehrlich, Kate Erbland, Marcus Jones, Jim Hemphill, Chris O’Falt, Brian Welk, and Christian Zilko contributed to this story.

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