For a month with at least three major blockbuster releases, July also has plenty of highly anticipated indie releases, many of which made their premieres earlier in the year at film festivals. From “Theater Camp” to “Kokomo City,” smaller releases will be fighting for the spotlight as big-budget productions such as the latest in the “Mission Impossible” franchise and, of course, “Barbie” is released. What’s nice to see is that each week has some major release, with the original script and R-rated comedy “Joy Ride” kicking things off this week.
READ MORE: Summer 2023 Movie Preview: 52 Must-See Films To Watch
“Joy Ride”
Adele Lim’s “Joy Ride” joins “No Hard Feelings” as another R-rated comedy released this summer. Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu star as friends who set out on a journey across China to help Park’s Audrey find her birth mother. The film premiered at SXSW, where our critic called it an instant “crowd-pleaser,” writing, “Sometimes, you have to be really smart to be really stupid, and “Joy Ride” threads that needle with aplomb.”
Release Date: In theaters July 7 via Lionsgate.
“Insidious: The Red Door”
People keep talking about the need for the return of the mid-budget film with a touch of genre, and hello, the “Insidious” spooky, ghostly horror films, now on their fifth installment, are essentially just that. The fifth chapter, ‘The Red Door,’ is now directed by its star Patrick Wilson; he’s clearly done this rodeo enough times, and he knows how to make the sausage. Dubbed the final chapter of the Lambert family’s terrifying saga (we shall see), this Blumhouse Productions edition features former franchise stars like Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Andrew Astor, Rose Byrne, and Lin Shaye, plus Hiam Abbass and Sinclair Daniel.
Release Date: In theaters July 7 via Warner Bros.
“Earth Mama”
Acclaimed at Sundance with a 100% RT score, you might think this is the kind of intimate family drama that A24 scooped up after the festival, but nope, the company bought it six months before its Sundance premiere; they were so taken by it. From writer/director Savanah Leaf and starring Tia Nomore, Erika Alexander, Keta Price, Doechii, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Bokeem Woodbine, and Dominic Fike, “Earth Mama” centers on a pregnant single mother— with two children already in foster care—pitted against the system, fights to reclaim her family. Our review from Sundance described the movie as desolate but said the drama “is grounded enough and empathetic enough to be worth the bleak toll it exacts.”
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
Following last summer’s smash hit “Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise returns to make another attempt at box office domination with “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” Director Christopher McQuarrie returns with a script co-written by him and Erik Jendresen for the seventh installment in the series. Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, with Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Esai Morales all joining as new additions. Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames all return to reprise their roles (read our review, which calls the film “exhilarating”).
Release Date: In theaters July 12 via Paramount Pictures.
