LEILA FADEL, HOST:
There was Barbenheimer summer, then Brat summer. So what will this year bring?
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Everything you are - everything you've done - has come to this.
FADEL: Maybe it's the new Mission: Impossible movie or the return of a favorite TV show like "The Bear." Here to tell us about a few movies and shows they're excited to watch this summer is NPR pop culture correspondent Linda Holmes. Hi, Linda.
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Hello, Leila.
FADEL: OK. So the movie "Sinners" is on everyone's mind as we enter the summer movie season. What other movies are worth a trip to the theater?
HOLMES: Yeah. "Sinners" has definitely been the big splash of the year so far. As the summer goes on, we'll see the more expected kinds of summer movies. One kind is sequels. One of the biggest of those is the one you heard there, "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning." That makes it sound like it's the last one, by the way, but all evidence suggests it's not. So don't take the title too literally. There are also two big superhero movies coming, one of which is a new Superman. That gives that character another fresh start. The other is "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," which is an effort to get those characters going after a couple of false starts in the past. That one is headlined by Pedro Pascal, who's working a ton right now, so we'll see whether people go for it.
FADEL: Are there any movies that you think people should really consider that aren't typical blockbusters?
HOLMES: Well, you know, one of the breakout movies of 2022 was "M3GAN," a horror story about an AI-driven doll who, of course, becomes terrifyingly violent and ends up murdering a bunch of people.
FADEL: Of course.
HOLMES: It made a lot of money. It got actually very good reviews, and now there is a sequel coming. It's called "M3GAN 2.0." One of the few genres that continues to do really well at the box office outside of action franchises is horror, as we did see With "Sinners." So I expect this one to get a lot of attention and maybe make a lot of money, too.
FADEL: OK. So we've covered movies. What are you looking forward to on TV this summer?
HOLMES: There are a couple of new shows I'm looking forward to. One is "Adults" on FX, which is kind of a Gen Z hangout show of the kind they made a lot of after shows like "Living Single" and "Friends" were popular. But they don't make them as much recently, so I'm very curious to see it. The other is an HBO movie called "Mountainhead," which I'm interested in because it comes from Jesse Armstrong, who was the creator of "Succession." This film is also about terrible rich people, so it's something I've seen him do well before. And there are shows that are good that are coming back. "The Bear" is coming back. "Poker Face" is coming back. And if you're still following the "Sex In The City" universe, the sequel series, "And Just Like That..." is coming back, too.
FADEL: OK. So, as I mentioned at the top, we've had Barbenheimer, Brat summer. Is there a single theme you see that will define how this summer unfolds?
HOLMES: Well, you know, these kinds of themes often don't emerge until audiences get to weigh in...
FADEL: Right.
HOLMES: ...And decide what they care about. Right now, it looks pretty safe. Lots of sequels, existing franchises and characters getting follow-ups or new beginnings. But if something is going to break out, it may be something we don't even know about yet. So that is always where my optimism lies.
FADEL: That is Linda Holmes. She hosts NPR's podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour. Thank you, Linda.
HOLMES: Thank you, Leila.
(SOUNDBITE OF MICHAEL GIACCHINO'S "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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