After weeks or promotion (and preparation), the 2012 Summer Movie Season officially kick starts with the opening of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, a blockbuster in every sense of the word that already has established itself as a critical and commercial success.
We’ve spent so much time looking forward to The Avengers that we’ve barely had time to look beyond it. There are dozens of highly-anticipated crowd-pleasers on the horizon this summer … and a few of them don’t have superheroes. Ridley Scott returns to sci-fi with the epic Prometheus. Action junkies will strap in for G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Expendables 2. Pixar attempts to rebound with Brave, and Will Ferrell runs against Zach Galifianakis in the political comedy The Campaign.
Could this be the “Best Summer of All Time,” as some already have claimed? Of course, it depends on your tastes. If you like comic book movies, you’ll likely overdose on The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises. Kristen Stewart enthusiasts likely will pick up their swords for Snow White and the Huntsman, with Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. Moonrise Kingdom, from Wes Anderson, is just one of the art-house comedies we’re looking forward to.
Basically, this summer, there appears to be a little something out there for everyone.
But it has a long way to go before it touches the Summer of 1982. Get a load of the masterpieces that reached theaters that summer:
The Road Warrior
Blade Runner
John Carpenter’s The Thing
Tron
An Officer and a Gentlemen
Conan the Barbarian
Poltergeist
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
E.T.
All in one summer! That’s mind-blowing. I caught very few of those films in theaters. I was eight, and my parents weren’t what you’d call “movie buffs.”
But I’ll always, ALWAYS remember seeing John G. Avildsen’s The Karate Kid in theaters in June 1984, and standing – cheering! – at the finale liked a crazed movie fan. Crane kick to Johnny’s face? Magical. I feel like I chase that sensation every summer.
Do you have a favorite summer-movie experience, a jolt of cinematic joy that keeps you coming back to the multiplexes every summer? Share it with us below. And enjoy the summer movie season, with all of its thrills, chills, laughs and tears. We’re hoping for the best, and we look forward to sharing it all with you.
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