July 2024 box office preview: ‘Deadpool and Wolverine,' ‘Despicable Me 4,' ‘Twisters' will heat up theaters

June has thankfully bounced back from a weaker start to the summer movie season, but July has two or three offerings that could end up being the biggest films of the year, going by their predecessors. Read on for Gold Derby’s July 2024 box office preview.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” (Disney/Marvel – July 26)

The fact that we’ve gotten this far into 2024 without a superhero movie is pretty astounding, and that’s going to greatly benefit the introduction of Ryan Reynolds‘ Wade Wilson to the MCU, since he’s bringing along his “frie-mesis,” Hugh Jackman‘s Wolverine. Both the original “Deadpool” in 2016, and its sequel, “Deadpool 2” in 2018, grossed over $300 million domestically and $780 million worldwide, and the addition of Jackman’s Wolverine, whose own “Logan” movie grossed $614 million worldwide, should help make this one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, likely to challenge “Inside Out 2” as the biggest opening weekend for the year, even with its R-rating. Look for this to open with $180 million or even more, as “Deadpool and Wolverine” does for Marvel what “Inside Out 2” did for Pixar.

Despicable Me 4

“Despicable Me 4” (Universal – July 3)

Illumination Entertainment presents actually the SIXTH movie in the “Gruniverse” (I made that up) which began back in 2010 with the original “Despicable Me” that introduced Steve Carell as the voice of the villainous Gru, who ended up being sidelined by his own lovable Minions. 2017’s “Despicable Me 3” was the first movie in the series not to make $300 million domestically since the first movie, but otherwise, the franchise has done very well with early July releases, even though the “Minions” movies have generally done better. Opening on Wednesday, this should do well over the 4th of July, though it should have enough business to bring in $75 to $80 million over the three-day weekend post Independence Day. We’ll have more about this in next Wednesday’s weekend preview.

Twisters

“Twisters” (Universal – July 19)

Another potentially huge movie this month is a thematic sequel to the 1996 blockbuster disaster movie, “Twister,” which starred Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. That opened with $41 million (not bad for 1996) and grossed nearly $500 million worldwide. Following new tornado chasers played by Glenn Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Normal People”) and Anthony Ramos (“A Star is Born”), the sequel is directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who received two Oscar nominations for writing and directing his 2020 semi-autobiographical drama, “Minari,” making a huge leap to big budget studio films with “Twisters.” Universal has been pushing this movie for most of the year with trailers in front of just about everything, and opening a week ahead of “Deadpool & Wolverine” could help this open with between $50 and $60 million.

Fly Me to the Moon

“Fly Me To the Moon” (Apple/Sony – July 12 )

Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson star in Greg Berlanti‘s period rom-com set in the space race with Johansson playing NASA marketing guru Kelly Jones, who is commissioned to stage a fake moon landing, along with Tatum’s launch director, Cole Davis. It’s a cute premise from Apple Studios that will be getting a theatrical release a la last year’s “Napoleon” and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” though it’s probably not an Oscar movie, rather just a cute movie that will never be #1 by being released in between “Despicable Me 4” and “Twisters.” Expect it to open somewhere between $15 and $20 million due to its two stars.

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“MaXXXine” (A24 – July 5)

Mia Goth returns as adult film star Maxine Minx from Ti West‘s 2022 horror film, “X,” which ended up being the first part of a trilogy, including “Pearl” from that same year. The extended cast includes Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Debicki, Giancarlo Esposito, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Monaghan and Lily Collins, which should add to the interest for the movie that takes advantage of being set in 1980s Hollywood. Considering how well the previous two movies have done on streaming following their theatrical release, there should be a much bigger theatrical audience for this one, especially since it doesn’t open until the Friday after 4th of July. I’ll get into this one more in next week’s weekend preview as well.

“Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” (Angel Studios – July 4)

Last year, Angel Studios released “Sound of Freedom” on the 4th of July, and it ended up being one of last summer’s most unexpected blockbuster hits, so they’re trying to replicate that by renaming “Possum Trot” with a longer title that’s reminiscent of that one. This is presumably a far more inspirational story involving children, telling the true story of the church of Reverend and Donna Martin who urged 22 families to adopt 77 children from the local foster system. This seemingly has a lot more direct competition but it could be good for $8 to 10 million over its four-day weekend. More on this next week.

“The Fabulous Four” (Bleecker Street – July 26)

Susan Sarandon and Bette Midler star in Australian filmmaker Jocelyn Moorehouse‘s comedy as two friends who travel to be bridesmaids at the surprise wedding of their college friend. Hopefully, hilarity will ensue, but we’ve seen many of these types of movies to know it’s only being released this weekend (probably unwisely) as counter-programming to “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

“Didi” (Focus Features – July 26 in NY/LA, nationwide on Aug. 16)

Sean Wang’s coming-of-age film about an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese-American (Izaac Wang), who wants to hang out with older skaters by filming them, was bought after its Sundance premiere, where it won a Special Jury award. The movie also stars Chinese acting legend Joan Chen as his difficult and demanding mother, and we’ll have to see how wide this gets released.

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Next, we get to the month’s limited releases, but the way things have been going, a few of these could just as likely get a nationwide release.

“Kill” (Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate – July 5)

The gory Indian action revenge-thriller from Nikhil Nagesh Bhat takes place fully on a high-speed train, where a soldier (played by Lakshya) must fight a band of murderous bandits. This was a huge hit on the festival circuit last September, though we’ll have to see how wide it’s released or if it does as well as more traditional Bollywood imports.

​​“Mother, Couch” (Film Movement –  July 5)

Niclas Larsson‘s drama, which also premiered at TIFF last year, stars Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans and Lara Flynn Boyle as three siblings brought together when their mother (Ellen Burstyn) refuses to budge from a furniture store couch where she’s camped out. The movie also stars Taylor Russell, F. Murray Abraham and Lake Bell.

“Touch” (Focus Features – July 12)

Baltasar Kormákur (“Everest”) adapts Olaf Olafsson‘s romantic novel about an elderly Icelandic man (Egill Ólafsson) who travels to London, then Japan looking for the woman that he fell in love with while working at a Japanese restaurant in the ’70s, as played by Japanese model Kôki. It’s unclear how wide this might be released, at least opening weekend.

“Skywalkers: A Love Story – The IMAX Experience” (Netflix – July 12)

A hit out of Sundance, Jeff Zimbalist and Maria Bukhonina‘s doc follows Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, a daredevil couple who travel the world climbing skyscrapers as they attempt to climb the last super skyscraper in an attempt to salvage their relationship. It will be released next month on IMAX screens ahead of its Netflix debut.

“Longlegs” (NEON – July 12)

Osgood Perkins‘ enigmatic horror-thriller stars Maika Monroe (“It Follows”) as FBI agent Lee Harker, who is assigned to solve the case of a Satanic serial killer, known as Longlegs. Also starring Nicolas Cage, Alicia Witt, Blair Underwood and Kiernan Shipka, this could end up going wider, but as of now, it’s just opening in limited.

“Sing Sing” (A24 – July 12)

Oscar nominee Colman Domingo plays Divine G, a man imprisoned at the Sing Sing, who plays a large part in the prison’s acting theater group and is threatened by an angry newcomer, played by Clarence Maclin. Directed by Greg Kwedar and mostly starring inmates from Sing Sing’s actual Rehabilitation Through the Arts program. This one won’t expand nationwide until early August.

“National Anthem” (Variance – July 12)

Charlie Plummer (“Lean on Pete”) stars in Luke Gilford’s drama, playing a New Mexico construction worker who joins a community of queer rodeo performers. This premiered at the SXSW Film and TV Festival in March 2023 and is finally getting a theatrical release.

“Oddity” (IFC Films – July 19)

Damian McCarthy‘s Irish thriller involves the search for the reasons for the death of a man’s sister with the help of a wooden mannequin.

“The Beast Within” (Well Go USA – July 26) Kit Harrington from “Game of Thrones” stars in Alexander J. Farrell‘s horror film about a 10-year-old girl who begins to wonder about her family’s secluded life in rural England.

“Only the River Flows” (Kimstim Films – July 26)

Wei Shujun‘s hit Chinese indie noir, among that country’s highest-grossing arthouse films, will finally open in North America, as it follows a police detective exploring a series of murders in ‘90s China.

That’s it for July, but August will be the last official month of the summer movie season, so let’s hope that things keep going.

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