If you’re on a plane this summer, I can’t recommend an inflight movie any more than Lego Batman. That’s not to say that the movie is only worthy of being watched on a tiny airplane screen, just that you’re almost definitely going to end up watching it. And it will be a very good choice.
I was among the last to board an international flight the other week, and by the time I got on, half of the people around me were already watching Lego Batman. It seemed to be slightly less of a hit on my return flight, but a bunch of screens were broken in my surrounding area, and I assume all of them would have been Lego Batman if given the chance.
I’m pretty amazed at how great these first two Lego movies have been. They have such a distinct personality and a zany sense of humor that feels like it could become too much at any moment, but they always manage to pull off a balance between comedy and building characters. They’re kind of just a pure joy to watch — plus a great distraction on a long flight.
Check out 12 trailers from this week below.
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle
A first trailer is out for the rebooted Jumanji, and it looks very different from the film Robin Williams starred in. Instead of the game breaking out into the real world, a bunch of teens are instead sucked into the game and swap bodies with folks like The Rock and Kevin Hart. Mostly, it seems to be an excuse to set an action movie in a jungle. The movie comes out December 20th.
Pitch Perfect 3
The last Pitch Perfect crushed at the box office, and there’s not much reason to think that won’t happen again. I haven’t seen the earlier films, but it looks like Pitch Perfect 3 takes the a cappella conceit that’s worked so well and then cranks up the ridiculousness of the plot around it to new levels. It comes out December 22nd.
Marvel’s Inhumans
Marvel originally planned to turn Inhumans into a film series, but instead we’re getting a TV show. And while ABC has had less luck with Marvel series than, say, Netflix, the show’s huge scope and epic feel could make it a great fit for the longer medium. It starts September 29th.
The Greatest Showman
Hugh Jackman stars as P.T. Barnum, of Barnum & Bailey, in this musical about his start in the circus business. From the trailer, this looks like a big, huge, classic musical — it’s quirky, happy go lucky, and Jackman looks kind of manic. It is very likely what you’re going to be watching with family this Christmas, when it comes out.
Good Time
Good Time has Robert Pattinson playing a failed bank robber trying to get his brother out of his prison over the course of a single strange, messy night. It’s an intriguing plot, but what’s really going to hook people on Good Time (or turn them off of it) is the film’s indulgently ’80s aesthetic. It comes out August 11th.
Insecure
HBO has finally put out a real look at Insecure season two, and it has pretty much exactly what we want: even more of Issa going on painfully awkward dates. The show kicked things off with a very well received first season, and this looks like a good start for season two. It starts July 23rd.
Marshall
This looks like a surprisingly action-packed film about Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. More specifically, about how Marshall became known as a defense lawyer representing wrongly accused black men. Chadwick Boseman stars as Marshall. It comes out October 13th.
The Foreigner
Jackie Chan’s characters are usually straightforward heroes, but he seems to be playing someone in much more of an antihero role in The Foreigner, which has Chan facing off against a bearded Pierce Brosnan. The film comes from the director of Goldeneye and Casino Royale (but also Green Lantern), so between that and Chan’s involvement, it seems safe to expect some good fights. It comes out October 13th.
Columbus
The story behind this film is kind of neat: Kogonada, its director, became pretty well known for publishing film essays online (at least, as well known as one can be for a thing like that), and then parlayed that into actually making a movie. Columbus debuted at Sundance earlier this year to some very good reviews, and now we’re finally getting a look at it. The film will be playing in limited screenings throughout the year.
Heroes of the Empire
This documentary takes a look at the UK chapter of the 501st Legion, a group of Star Wars fans with a serious dedication to costuming. Rather than focus solely behind the scenes on how their outfits are made, Heroes of the Empire appears to focus more on the why of costuming. There’s no release date just yet as it’s still in postproduction.
Gook
Justin Chon’s new film follows a pair of Korean American brothers and a young black girl in the lead up to the LA riots. The film looks funny and personal and seems to turn a big event into a series of intimate exchanges, which it won some positive reviews out of Sundance for. The film comes out August 18th.
Polaroid
This is a movie about a haunted Polaroid camera. I am not making this up.