The 20 most anticipated movies of the summer

First off, Ryan Reynolds. Second off, directed by John Krasinski. Third off, imaginary friends. Fourth off, fun for the entire family. The summer season kicks off with a cute film about a girl whose ugly imaginary friends come to life. 

George Miller said he spent 74 days shooting a single action scene. How else do you top one of the best action movies ever made? Following the success of Mad Max: Fury Road, he gives Furiosa the wheel in a prequel about how Charlize Theron's character — in this outing played by Anya Taylor-Joy — became the driving force behind Max's adventure. 

This could either be a furball or a furry classic. We won't know until we've seen it, but there is something fun about letting Garfield in on a heist.

Richard Linklater has given us some of the best movies ever made. Dazed and Confused! Before Sunrise! Now he's giving us a hitman movie that should hit its target. 

Plot twist! The latest horror movie set around a twist isn't directed by M. Night Shyamalan, but his daughter Ishana (the senior Shyamalan is on board as a producer, however). Could be interesting to see how she tackles her own horror flick.

Emotions bounce around like pinballs in Pixar's latest film, a sequel to the beloved 2015 Pixar coming-of-age classic about a young girl learning to deal with her increasingly complex emotions. Our emotions could range from frustration to excitement, depending on whether this comes off as a cash grab or not.

They don't make them like they used to — or at least they didn't, until Jeff Nichols decided to direct a spin on films like Easy Rider and Two-Lane Blacktop. It looks to have the energy of a New Hollywood-era road movie, when directors were pushing boundaries and questioning society as a construct.

They don't make them like they used to, you say? Don't tell that to Kevin Costner, who has been directing old-school Westerns for decades. His latest could bring back an appreciation for the dusty genre.

A rom-com starring Scarlett Johansson set during the Space Race — specifically involving the Apollo 11 mission to send the first astronauts to the moon? You had us at Scarlett Johansson.

Wait, so the guy who gave us Minari is planting the seed for a loud, obnoxious disaster flick about tornadoes destroying people's homes? What happened? Let's hope he brings a similarly light touch to such thunderous source material in 1996's Twister.

Marvel has been struggling at the box office lately, mainly because all their movies are basically the same. Leave it to Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool to save the day with his auterist brand of wit, with an assist from Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.

Didi won the Audience Award at Sundance, so you can assume it's going to be a coming-of-age story with grand emotions and grand cliches. That's what Didi is supposed to be, but it's supposed to be great as well. 

Call it Madder Max. Call it Apocalypse Later. Whatever you call it, this desert apocalypse — based on the highly-acclaimed video-game franchise that started back in 2009 — is going to make a lot of money at the box office, thanks to a cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jack Black.

Both M. Night Shyamalan and his daughter are releasing movies this summer. This one is about a serial killer who finds himself cornered during a night out to a concert with his daughter.

Yes, you read that right. The sequel to Kevin Costner's Western arrives the same summer as Horizon.

In space, no one can hear 20th Century Studios making endless sequels to Alien. We can, however, and some of them are actually quite good.

Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishburne losing their minds in space? Should make for some fine acting and emotional gravity.

A mysterious project from Blumhouse. We're keeping our ears open for more on this film.

Disney is slated to release a new film in September, but we still are not sure what that is. Hopefully it's an original film and not a remake. 

A list of most anticipated summer movies is obviously going to be skewered toward blockbusters, but there should be a number of wonderful arthouse films as well. While those films remain to be seen, we are excited to check those movies out.