The rise of streaming has changed the box-office significantly: remakes have flooded mainstream culture, movie theatres can’t make as much money, and original thought can oftentimes be a rarity in new releases. However, these recent box-office hits have managed to make their mark in this new era of film.
Superman is a movie that follows Clark Kent as he tries to reconcile his Kryptonian background with his human upbringing in Smallville, Kansas. The movie starts with Kent, a journalist at the Daily Planet, who navigates a world that thinks traditional heroism is outdated. When a new threat challenges his peaceful nature, he pushes to show that kindness can be a superpower too. By critiquing modern day issues while still maintaining Superman’s classic charm, James Gunn creates an instant classic in the world of reboots.
Project Hail Mary, based on the Andy Weir novel of the same name, follows Ryland Grace who wakes up on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or how he got there. Eventually realizes he is Earth’s last hope to stop a sun-eating organism. The core of the movie is his unexpected friendship with Rocky, an alien engineer from another system who is also trying to save his home planet.
Another great movie is Fear Street: Prom Queen. Set at Shadyside High, the plot follows a group of outsiders during prom season. When the popular girls start being picked off one by one by a masked killer, the survivors must uncover a historical curse that connects the current murders to their town’s dark past. Director Matt Palmer beautifully mixes classic slasher elements with a supernatural mystery.
The Black Phone 2, after the events of the first film, focuses on the survivors as they cope with the trauma of their previous escape but the supernatural link to the Black Phone remains. When the “Grabber” returns in a more ghostly, vengeful form, the kids must use the basement’s secrets again to stop a new wave of disappearances in their neighborhood.
Wicked: For Good is the second half of the story that begins with Elphaba as the “Wicked Witch” and Glinda as the “Good Witch”, which addresses the political corruption of the Wizard of Oz and the tragic events that lead to the original plot of the 1939 movie. The movie’s emphasis on Elphaba’s sacrifice to Oz and how that complicates her relationship with her friends including Glinda. It is a beautiful farewell to the beloved characters of this franchise and the wonderful world that is Oz.
Freakier Friday starts decades after their first body swap, Lindsay Lohan and Jaime Lee Curtis return as Anna and Tess to find themselves in a new situation when Anna’s teenage daughter is involved. It’s a multi-generational swap that forces all three women to understand the pressures of motherhood, marriage, and being a teenager in the 2020s.
Final Destination: Bloodlines reimagines the Final Destination franchise and follows a college student who experiences a vision of a premonition that prevented her grandmother from being crushed by a sky scraper. The grandmother warns her that death is coming for their family and that she must navigate through a world that wants anything but her survival.
Scream 7 begins as Sidney Prescott returns to the mystery when a new Ghostface starts targeting people close to her in a way that feels uncomfortably personal. The plot deconstructs its original premise, with Ghostface using social media leaks and deepfakes to gaslight the survivors. The suspense is almost unbearable at times, but the nostalgia and perfectly timed comedic relief makes this film worth watching.
28 Years Later is set nearly three decades after the original outbreak, the Rage Virus has been dormant but is beginning to resurface in a more evolved form. The story follows a young man seeking a doctor who might hold the key to a permanent cure as he travels across a desolate and terrifyingly quiet depiction of the British Isles.
The I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel follows a new group of friends who are being stalked by a hook-handed killer after a graduation night accident. The suspense can be agonizing, but the nostalgia and perfectly timed comedic relief makes this film worth watching.
