2016 summer movie guide

By Michael O'Sullivan Published: May 5, 2016

Summer movie season is upon us, which means it's time to get ready for all the eagerly awaited films about Maxwell Perkins, Ray Kroc, Pablo Escobar, Roberto Duran, Florence Foster Jenkins, and Ed and Lorraine Warren. Sorry, I meant: Captain America, Professor X, Dory, Tarzan, James T. Kirk, Jason Bourne, the Joker and Ben-Hur. Those others are the real people who have movies coming out about them, but we go to the cinema to escape reality, not experience it, right?

Click through the posters below for quick synopses of the season's most notable films — along with a few less prominent selections — that you might want to consider when planning your summer. We've rated them for buzzworthiness on a scale of 1 to 5.

Movies with a buzz factor of 5 are denoted by:     

Note: Release dates are for the Washington, D.C., area and are subject to change.

Filter by genre

Comedy
Drama
Family/Kids
Romance
Action
Horror

Filter by film rating

PG
PG-13
R
Not yet rated
Unrated

Captain America: Civil War — click to learn more

    

    

The Angry Birds Movie — click to learn more

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising — click to learn more

    

Alice Through the Looking Glass — click to learn more

    

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping — click to learn more

    

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows — click to learn more

Central Intelligence — click to learn more

    

Independence Day: Resurgence — click to learn more

Free State of Jones — click to learn more

    

    

The Legend of Tarzan — click to learn more

The Secret Life of Pets — click to learn more

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates — click to learn more

    

Ice Age: Collision Course — click to learn more

    

    

Florence Foster Jenkins — click to learn more

Kubo and the Two Strings — click to learn more

The Space Between Us

    

The Light Between Oceans — click to learn more

Max Steel

Captain America: Civil War

PG-13

Action/Adventure

Buzz factor:     

Release date: May 6, 2016

Stars: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Brühl

The basics: Marvel’s team of crime-fighting Avengers is torn apart by in-fighting — Captain America (Evans) vs. Iron Man (Downey) — as new villain Helmut Zemo (Brühl) pulls the strings.

A Bigger Splash

Drama

Buzz factor:   

Release date: May 13, 2016

Stars: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson

The basics: While recovering from throat surgery on a sunny Mediterranean island, a rock superstar (a mostly mute Swinton) and her lover (Schoenaerts) must deal with the unexpected arrival of the singer’s ex (Fiennes). Whoops, he’s accompanied by a sexy young thing, who may or may not be his daughter (Johnson). Slather on the STF-30 (for sexual tension).

High-Rise

Drama

Buzz factor:  

Release date: May 13, 2016

Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller

The basics: Based on English writer J.G. Ballard’s dystopian 1975 parable of social decay, the film follows the malaise that sets in when the residents of an apartment building — divided between the haves on the upper floors and the have-nots below — begin warring over amenities. Playing a doctor who circulates between the two factions is Hiddleston, who, like his character, is caught in the middle: still recovering from the poor reviews for “I Saw the Light” while basking in the critical praise for AMC’s “The Night Manager.”

Money Monster

Drama

Buzz factor:     

Release date: May 20, 2016

Stars: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O’Connell

The basics: Director Jodie Foster’s first film since “The Beaver” reunites Clooney and Roberts (“Ocean’s Twelve”). He’s a Jim Cramer-esque host of a financial-advice television show; she’s his producer. When a disgruntled investor (O’Connell) shows up, taking the host hostage on the air, they keep the cameras rolling, in a timely update to the themes of “Network.”

The Angry Birds Movie

Family/Kids

Buzz factor:  

Release date: May 20, 2016

Stars: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Bill Hader

The basics: Seven years after the introduction of the once-popular mobile game — centering on ballistic birds who are trying to retrieve their stolen eggs from a race of plundering pigs — comes an animated feature film. While the fortunes of Rovio (the game’s Finnish developer) have dropped, the movie’s strong vocal cast — and a script by Jon Vitti of “The Simpsons Movie” and TV show — just might renew fading interest.

The Lobster

Romance

Buzz factor:   

Release date: May 20, 2016

Stars: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz

The basics: In this quirky, futuristic fable, single adults are locked in a hotel, where they must find a mate or be transformed into animals of their choosing. Variety called it an “unexpectedly moving satire of couple-fixated society.”

Love & Friendship

Comedy

Buzz factor:   

Release date: May 20, 2016

Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Morfydd Clark

The basics: Beckinsale’s scheming, 40-ish widow works all the angles as she tries to snag herself an eligible husband — as well as one for her daughter (Clark) — in Whit Stillman’s witty adaptation of Jane Austen’s least-known work, the comic novella “Lady Susan.” Austenites, rejoice.

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Comedy

Buzz factor:    

Release date: May 20, 2016

Stars: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Chloë Grace Moretz

The basics: When a rowdy sorority moves into the house next door, the quiet married couple of “Neighbors” (Rogen and Byrne) enlist the assistance of their former nemesis, frat-boy Teddy (Efron), to help shut the party down.

The Nice Guys

Comedy

Buzz factor:     

Release date: May 20, 2016

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe, Margaret Qualley, Kim Basinger

The basics: A bumbling private eye (Gosling) and a violent goon (Crowe) team up to find a missing woman (Qualley) in this 1970s-set buddy comedy from director Shane Black (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” “Iron Man 3”).

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Family/Kids

Buzz factor:  

Release date: May 27, 2016

Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Sacha Baron Cohen, Johnny Depp

The basics: Disney’s heavily altered adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s second “Alice” book features time travel and extra-canonical characters (Cohen, playing a personification of time). One bonus: You can hear the voice of the late Alan Rickman, returning as the hookah-smoking caterpillar.

Maggie's Plan

Comedy

Buzz factor:   

Release date: May 27, 2016

Stars: Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph

The basics: Gerwig’s title character falls in — and then out — of love with a married man (Hawke). Once he’s left his wife, she regrets the decision. The New York Times said that this film, written and directed by Rebecca Miller (“Personal Velocity: Three Portraits”), rises, at its best, to the level of “vintage Woody Allen.”

X-Men: Apocalypse

PG-13

Action/Adventure

Buzz factor:     

Release date: May 27, 2016

Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac

The basics: The titular villain (Oscar Isaac) is an ancient mutant hellbent on the destruction of humanity, enlisting the aide of Magneto (Fassbender) and other mutants. Although most of the characters appear in their young forms — Charles Xavier and Mystique are played by McAvoy and Lawrence, for instance, not Patrick Stewart and Rebecca Romijn — look for an appearance by Hugh Jackman as fan-favorite Wolverine.

Me Before You

PG-13

Romance

Buzz factor:    

Release date: June 3, 2016

Stars: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin

The basics: Novelist Jojo Moyes’s 2012 bestseller is the inspiration for this sure-fire tearjerker, about a young woman (Clarke) who finds herself falling in love with the suicidal disabled man she cares for (Clafin). Watch the trailer: If you find yourself getting misty-eyed, proceed to the ticket window. If you start barfing, never mind.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Comedy

Buzz factor:     

Release date: June 3, 2016

Stars: Andy Samberg, Sarah Silverman

The basics: Judd Apatow produced this mockumentary, co-written by Samberg with his Lonely Island (“D--- in a Box”) collaborators Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, who also co-directed. Samberg plays Conner4Real, a Justin-Bieber-esque singer and rapper.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

PG-13

Family/Kids

Buzz factor:  

Release date: June 3, 2016

Stars: Megan Fox, Stephen Amell, Laura Linney, Will Arnett

The basics: The members of the testudinate crimefighting quartet — Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael — crack wise as they battle to save New York City from their arch-enemy Shredder, in a live-action/CGI sequel to the 2014 film.

Genius

PG-13

Drama

Buzz factor: 

Release date: June 10, 2016

Stars: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney

The basics: The first film from theater director Michael Grandage (“Hughie”) pits book editor Maxwell Perkins (a “hammy” Firth, according to the Guardian’s review) against long-winded author Thomas Wolfe. The film is based on A. Scott Berg’s award-winning biography of Perkins.

The Conjuring 2

Horror

Buzz factor:    

Release date: June 10, 2016

Stars: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson

The basics: Fans of supernatural horror have been waiting with bated breath for the sequel to James Wan’s creepy 2013 ghost story, supposedly inspired by the case files of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Wilson and Farmiga). This installment is set in 1977 England, during the infamous haunting by an entity known as the “Enfield poltergeist.”

Central Intelligence

PG-13

Comedy

Buzz factor:  

Release date: June 17, 2016

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart

The basics: The genial Johnson plays a formerly obese victim of high-school bullying who has grown up to become a muscly CIA agent. Hart is his best friend, a risk-averse accountant who has fallen from his one-time status as the most popular kid in school. They fight international espionage with odd-couple chemistry in this buddy action comedy.

Finding Dory

Family/Kids

Buzz factor:     

Release date: June 17, 2016

Stars: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks

The basics: In the title role, DeGeneres plays the forgetful sidekick to clown fish Nemo from the 2003 Pixar charmer “Finding Nemo.” This time, she’s the one who runs off — to find her long-lost family. Brooks reprises his role as Nemo’s neurotic dad, along with a new supporting voice cast that includes Idris Elba, Kate McKinnon, Diane Keaton and Ed O’Neill.

Independence Day: Resurgence

PG-13

Action/Adventure

Buzz factor:   

Release date: June 24, 2016

Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth

The basics: Two decades after mankind fought off the aliens of “Independence Day,” the invaders have returned, taking another crack at our most iconic landmarks, including Goldblum and Hemsworth.

Free State of Jones

Drama

Buzz factor:    

Release date: June 24, 2016

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali

The basics: Written and directed by Gary Ross (“The Hunger Games”), this fact-based Civil War drama tells the story of Newton Knight, a disillusioned Confederate Army deserter who, with the help of escaped slaves and like-minded Southern farmers, rises up against the Confederacy.

The Shallows

PG-13

Drama

Buzz factor:     

Release date: June 29, 2016

Stars: Blake Lively

The basics: In this “Jaws” for a new generation, Lively plays a surfer who is stranded off a remote beach on a small rock outcropping after being attacked by a 20-foot great white shark (CGI, not animatronic). As the tide rises, she must use her ingenuity to avoid becoming chum.

The BFG

Family/Kids

Buzz factor:     

Release date: July 1, 2016

Stars: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill

The basics: Steven Spielberg and his “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” collaborator Melissa Mathison — who died after completing this script — adapt Roald Dahl’s 1982 book about a Big, Friendly Giant (Oscar winner Mark Rylance, with a bit of CGI magic). The BFG, as he is called, takes a lonely orphan girl under his wing, protecting her from other, less sociable ogres.

The Legend of Tarzan

PG-13

Action/Adventure

Buzz factor:  

Release date: July 1, 2016

Stars: Alexander Skarsgard, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson

The basics: Raised by apes — but now living as a civilized British aristocrat — Lord Greystoke (Skarsgard) returns to his roots (and vines) when the ape-man’s jungle home is threatened by colonial exploitation. David Yates (of the “Harry Potter” films) directs.

Swiss Army Man

Drama

Buzz factor:    

Release date: July 1, 2016

Stars: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

The basics: In this darkly funny, Michel Gondry-esque fable, Dano plays a desert-island castaway whose discovery of a corpse (Radcliffe) with surprising utility — postmortem flatulence turns him into a Jet Ski — assists the hero in his effort to reach civilization. Directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, creators of the “Turn Down for What” music video, won the directing award — and lots of buzz — at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The Secret Life of Pets

Family/Kids

Buzz factor:   

Release date: July 8, 2016

Stars: Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Lake Bell, Kevin Hart

The basics: Could this be “Toy Story” with a terrier? The animated comedy imagines the lives that our pooches and kitties hide from us while we’re at work. Here, a pampered terrier (C.K.) and his mutt housemate (Stonestreet) tussle with a resentful bunny (Hart).

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Comedy

Buzz factor: 

Release date: July 8, 2016

Stars: Zac Efron, Adam DeVine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza

The basics: In trying to find dates who will civilize them, two out-of-control brothers (Efron and DeVine) find a couple of wild women (Kendrick and Plaza) who make them look sedate by comparison.

The Infiltrator

Drama

Buzz factor:   

Release date: July 13, 2016

Stars: Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger, Benjamin Bratt

The basics: In a 180-degree reversal of his “Breaking Bad” role, Cranston plays Robert Mazur, the real-life DEA agent who went undercover in the ’80s to set up a sting operation on Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Captain Fantastic

Drama

Buzz factor:   

Release date: July 15, 2016

Stars: Viggo Mortensen, George MacKay, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn, Missi Pyle

The basics: Mortensen plays an eccentric father raising six kids as hunter-gatherers in a tepee in the woods when their manic-depressive mother (Trin Miller) kills herself. Screen Crush called the ensuing road trip to the funeral “one of the most moving and uplifting stories of an American family.”

Equals

PG-13

Romance

Buzz factor:  

Release date: July 15, 2016

Stars: Kristen Stewart, Nicholas Hoult, Guy Pearce

The basics: In a sterile, dystopian future where sex has been outlawed and all emotion is suppressed from birth, an infection enables two lonely souls (Stewart and Hoult) to experience feelings for the first time.

Ghostbusters

PG-13

Comedy

Buzz factor:     

Release date: July 15, 2016

Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones

The basics: The only thing taking a bit of luster off this highly anticipated distaff reboot of the 1984 paranormal comedy hit is the Internet’s less than rave reviews of the film’s first trailer. Still: killer cast, ectoplasmic slime. We’re in.

Ice Age: Collision Course

Family/Kids

Buzz factor: 

Release date: July 22, 2016

Stars: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Jennifer Lopez, Keke Palmer

The basics: In the 15th — er, fifth — installment of the animated franchise about prehistoric talking animals, a woolly mammoth (Romano), a ground sloth (Leguizamo) and other now-extinct critters are distressed to learn that an asteroid is hurtling toward Earth. Astrophysicist and science nerd Neil deGrasse Tyson, playing a weasel, is among the voice talent. Sounds like “Armageddon” meets “Madagascar 5,” but in the Pleistocene.

Lights Out

PG-13

Horror

Buzz factor:   

Release date: July 22, 2016

Stars: Maria Bello, Teresa Palmer

The basics: Director David F. Sandberg’s feature-length expansion of his 2013 short revolves around a schizophrenic woman (Bello) who is terrorized by an entity that can be seen only when the lights are off. If you think you’ve seen this before, remember that it’s produced by horror maestro James Wan (“The Conjuring 2”).

Star Trek Beyond

PG-13

Action/Adventure

Buzz factor:     

Release date: July 22, 2016

Stars: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba

The basics: Director Justin Lin of the “Fast and Furious” franchise takes the helm from J.J. Abrams for this third installment in Abrams’s rebooted sci-fi saga about the beloved crew of the starship Enterprise. Little news has leaked out from the production, except that Elba — under an unrecognizable rubber mask — plays Krall, the new alien nemesis of the Federation.

Bad Moms

Comedy

Buzz factor: 

Release date: July 29, 2016

Stars: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christina Applegate

The basics: Kunis, Bell and Hahn play stressed-out mothers who go on a bender, pitting them against Applegate’s Pinterest-perfect PTA mom.

Indignation

Drama

Buzz factor:  

Release date: July 29, 2016

Stars: Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon

The basics: Philip Roth’s semiautobiographical 2008 novel “Indignation” — loosely based on the writer’s college years in the 1950s — is the basis for Academy Award-nominated arthouse producer and writer James Schamus’s directorial debut. Lerman (“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”) plays Roth’s alter-ego in a relationship drama that Variety calls “smart” and “melancholic.”

Jason Bourne

PG-13

Action/Adventure

Buzz factor:    

Release date: July 29, 2016

Stars: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones

The basics: “You have no idea what you’re dealing with!” That line (or some variation on it) appears in all three “Bourne” films starring Damon. But after the original trilogy about an amnesiac, CIA-trained killing machine — and the Damon-free spinoff “The Bourne Legacy” — don’t we all have a pretty good idea of what to expect? Let’s hope that Paul Greenglass, director of the Oscar-nominated “Captain Phillips” and the adrenalized “Bournes” No. 2 and 3, still has a little fuel left for this fifth trip down memory-loss lane.

The Founder

PG-13

Drama

Buzz factor:   

Release date: Aug. 5, 2016

Stars: Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, John Carroll Lynch, Nick Offerman

The basics: It may not be “Super Size Me,” but there’s a certain amount of irony — if not actual controversy — surrounding McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc. According to the fast-food giant, the milkshake-machine salesman (Keaton) bought the rights to the chain’s name fair and square from the original restaurant’s owners, Dick and Mac McDonald (Offerman and Lynch). According to many others, Kroc cheated them out of it. The film attempts to split this hamburger right down the middle.

Suicide Squad

PG-13

Action/Adventure

Buzz factor:     

Release date: Aug. 5, 2016

Stars: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Viola Davis, Jared Leto

The basics: A band of imprisoned DC Comics villains — Deadshot (Smith), Harley Quinn (Robbie), Killer Croc (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and others — is granted clemency by a manipulative government agent (Davis) in exchange for taking on a high-risk mission. Leto, who famously messed with the heads of his castmates by sending them such gifts as a live rat, takes on the iconic role of the Joker, always a loose cannon. The presence behind the camera of David Ayer (“Fury,” “Sabotage” and “End of Watch”) virtually assures blood and testosterone.

Florence Foster Jenkins

PG-13

Comedy

Buzz factor:  

Release date: Aug. 12, 2016

Stars: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg

The basics: There’s already been one movie (“Marguerite”) inspired by the life of Jenkins, a New York socialite and amateur opera singer with the voice of an injured animal. (Her singing was so, er, remarkable that David Bowie included a recording of hers on his list of 25 favorite albums). This version of the story — starring Streep in the title role — was directed by Stephen Frears, the twice-Oscar-nominated director of “The Queen” and “The Grifters.”

Pete's Dragon

Family/Kids

Buzz factor:    

Release date: Aug. 12, 2016

Stars: Oakes Fegley, Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford

The basics: This upgrade of Disney’s 1977 musical — an awkward mix of live action and hand-drawn cartoon — ups the ante with a state-of-the-art CGI beastie that befriends a little boy (Fegley of “Boardwalk Empire”). One thing thankfully missing from the retread: the original’s cheesy songs.

Sausage Party

Comedy

Buzz factor:   

Release date: Aug. 12, 2016

Stars: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek

The basics: A Pixar-slick adult cartoon in which Rogen plays a randy hot dog and Wiig the bun he’s eyeing? Sounds both well-cast and very, very naughty. In this animated comedy, Rogen’s Frank — get it? — leads an uprising of food items when he discovers that the anticipated moment of bliss that attends the union of weiner and bun entails actually getting eaten.

Ben-Hur

PG-13

Action/Adventure

Buzz factor:  

Release date: Aug. 19, 2016

Stars: Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Morgan Freeman

The basics: Timur Bekmambetov’s remake of the Oscar-winning 1959 sword-and-sandal epic about feuding brothers (Huston and Kebbell) who spar over the reins of chariots should at least boast well-staged action scenes by the director of “Night Watch.” (Then again, Bekmambetov also made “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”)

Kubo and the Two Strings

Family/Kids

Buzz factor:    

Release date: Aug. 19, 2016

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes, Rooney Mara, George Takei

The basics: Stop-motion animation studio Laika has a flawless track record, with each of its previous three films — “Coraline,” “ParaNorman” and “The Boxtrolls” — getting Oscar nominations. In its latest, the titular hero (Art Parkinson) — the son of a fallen samurai — takes up a magical string instrument to do battle with gods and monsters.

The Space Between Us

PG-13

Romance

Buzz factor:   

Release date: Aug. 19, 2016

Stars: Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, Gary Oldman, Carla Gugino

The basics: Call it “The Martian” for teens. After falling in love with an Earth girl (Robertson) he has been communicating with online, a teenager (Butterfield of “Ender’s Game”) raised on a red-planet settlement sets off to find her.

War Dogs

Comedy

Buzz factor:     

Release date: Aug. 19, 2016

Stars: Jonah Hill, Miles Teller

The basics: The fact-based comedy by Todd Phillips (“The Hangover” trilogy) was inspired by an article in Rolling Stone about David Packouz (Teller), a former Miami massage therapist, and his weed-smoking pal Efraim Diveroli (Hill), who somehow won a $300 million contract with the U.S. government to supply arms to our allies in Afghanistan.

Don't Breathe

Horror

Buzz factor:  

Release date: Aug. 26, 2016

Stars: Jane Levy, Stephen Lang

The basics: This well-received entry at the 2016 South by Southwest festival is the first original feature screenplay from Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez, whose directorial debut was a remake of Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead.” Nominated for a Fright Meter Award for her performance in that 2013 film, Levy plays as a woman who recruits her pals to break into the house of an unexpectedly resourceful blind man (Lang).

Hands of Stone

Drama

Buzz factor:  

Release date: Aug. 26, 2016

Stars: Robert De Niro, Edgar Ramirez, Usher Raymond

The basics: De Niro plays boxing trainer Ray Arcel to Ramirez’s Roberto Duran as the fighter prepares to go up against Raymond’s Sugar Ray Leonard in this fact-based biopic.

Patient Zero

Not yet rated

Horror

Buzz factor: 

Release date: Sept. 2, 2016

Stars: Matt Smith, Natalie Dormer, Clive Standen, Stanley Tucci

The basics: After a rabies-like infection transforms people into a new species, a man who speaks their language (Smith of “Dr. Who”) teams with a sexy virologist (Dormer) to combat, and maybe cure, the sick.

The Light Between Oceans

PG-13

Drama

Buzz factor:   

Release date: Sept. 2, 2016

Stars: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz

The basics: Novelist M.L. Stedman’s 2012 bestseller is the inspiration for filmmaker Derek Cianfrance’s follow-up to “The Place Beyond the Pines.” Set on the Australian coast, the story centers on a couple (Vikander and Fassbender) who raise an abandoned baby as their own, only to meet a woman (Weisz) who may be the child’s mother.

Max Steel

Not yet rated

Family/Kids

Buzz factor: 

Release date: TBD

Stars: Ben Winchell, Josh Brener

The basics: Based on a Mattel action figure and two television cartoons, the film — whose trailer resembles a hybrid of “Ben 10” and “Power Rangers” — once attracted the fleeting interest of producer Joe Roth (“The Huntsman: Winter’s War”) and actor Taylor Lautner (“Twilight”), neither of whom was able to participate in the finished product. Oh well.