Fandango's Top Summer Must-Sees

Our staff weighs in on all the big movies headed your way during the long, hot, awesome moviegoing summer of 2013!

Iron Man 3

Release Date: 5/3/13
Genre: Action
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How do the Avengers pick up the pieces after the attack on New York City in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers? Iron Man 3 will be the first standalone Marvel movie to ask that question. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) faces off with a classic comic-book antagonist in The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley).

The Great Gatsby

Release Date: 5/10/13
Genre: Drama
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Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and star Leonardo DiCaprio provide their star power to this big budget version of the classic novel, with DiCaprio taking on the title role of Jay Gatsby, the New York millionaire who invites Tobey Maguire’s writer Nick Carraway to take a closer look at his life of luxury, privilege and particular tragedy.

Peeples

Release Date: 5/10/13
Genre: Comedy
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Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington star in this Tyler Perry-presented comedy about a laid-back man who crashes his girlfriend’s uptight family reunion and hilariously tries to win over her family members, especially disapproving dad Judge Peeples.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Release Date: 5/17/13
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action
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James Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) face a new foe played by the wonderful Benedict Cumberbatch, while Abrams and company will attempt to live up to Wrath of Khan – the movie they believe to be the strongest "second chapter" in Trek history.

Epic

Release Date: 5/24/13
Genre: Family, Animation
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The makers of Ice Age and Rio present an animated tale about an ongoing struggle deep within the forest between forces of good and evil. A teenager finds herself transported into this world, and teams up with the inhabitants to save their world and her own.

Fast & Furious 6

Release Date: 5/24/13
Genre: Action
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The long-running franchise jumps over to Europe for the sixth installment that welcomes Gina Carano and Luke Evans as well as early franchise star Michelle Rodriguez.

The Hangover Part III

Release Date: 5/24/13
Genre: Comedy
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The gang’s all back, sans wedding and bachelor party, but still hitting the road for all sorts of off-color and zany, sure-to-be raunchy and rollicking adventures.

Now You See Me

Release Date: 5/31/13
Genre: Thriller, Drama
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The FBI and a group called “The Four Horsemen” – magicians who steal from corrupt business leaders and give their money to their audiences – play a high-stakes game of cat and mouse in this film co-starring Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Common and Michael Caine.

The Purge

Release Date: 5/31/13
Genre: Thriller
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Ethan Hawke exists in a future world where the government allows an annual 12-hour period where anything goes, including murder. When an intruder breaks into the locked-down, gated community where Hawke and his family reside, he and his neighbors are faced with a test.

After Earth

Release Date: 6/7/13
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
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Will and Jaden Smith co-star as interstellar traveler and teenage son who crash land on Earth centuries after the population abandoned it to seek refuge elsewhere. In order to save his injured father, Jaden sets out on a dangerous mission to signal for help.

The Internship

Release Date: 6/7/13
Genre: Comedy
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Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are back together again and it feels oh so right. Like macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly or Kibbles and Bits, the duo are perfectly cast as two laid off men in their 40s who intern at a successful Internet company.

Man of Steel

Release Date: 6/14/13
Genre: Action
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Director Zack Snyder reportedly worked closely with producer Christopher Nolan to reimagine the Superman mythology for this summer blockbuster. Not much is known, though, beyond the casting. Henry Cavill will play Superman; Amy Adams is Lois Lane; Michael Shannon is evil General Zod; and Russell Crowe plays Jor-El, Kal-El’s dad.

This Is The End

Release Date: 6/14/13
Genre: Comedy
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Inspired by a short film, This Is the End is an end-of-the-world comedy that stars Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride as themselves. Somehow, the six Hollywood actors all manage to survive the apocalypse, or at least the start of it.

Monsters University

Release Date: 6/21/13
Genre: Comedy, Animated, Family
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Pixar's offering this year is a prequel to their 2001 hit, Monsters, Inc., which takes us back to Mike and Sully's college days – a time when they weren't necessarily the best of friends.

World War Z

Release Date: 6/21/13
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action, Thriller
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Brad Pitt tries to save the world from zombies? Yeah, we’re in. Director Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) works off an adaptation of the best-selling book by Max Brooks, which tells – via flashbacks – how select members of humanity survived a sudden, rapid zombie apocalypse.

The Heat

Release Date: 6/28/13
Genre: Comedy, Action
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Bridesmaids director Paul Feig takes on the female buddy action comedy with this all-star pairing of Sandra Bullock’s uptight FBI agent and Melissa McCarthy’s foul-mouthed Boston cop. Together, this dynamic duo/odd couple are tasked with tracking down a major druglord.

White House Down

Release Date: 6/28/13
Genre: Action
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Roland Emmerich loves destroying America’s landmarks, and here he’s going after a previous target – the White House – in his terrorist thriller that stars Channing Tatum as a Secret Service agent tasked with protecting the U.S. President (Jamie Foxx).

Despicable Me 2

Release Date: 7/3/13
Genre: Comedy, Animated, Family
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Those crazy minions are back in Universal's sequel to the 2010 smash hit. Steve Carell returns to voice Gru as he, his girls and their hoard of minions face a new villain, voiced by Al Pacino.

Lone Ranger

Release Date: 7/3/13
Genre: Action
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Despite all the talk about budget issues and script changes, Jerry Bruckheimer's latest big budget spectacle is set to arrive on Independence Day weekend. Gore Verbinski helms the popcorn flick which finds Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp starring in the adaptation of the classic '50 television series.

Grown Ups 2

Release Date: 7/12/13
Genre: Comedy
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Adam Sandler, Kevin James, David Spade, Chris Rock and Rob Schneider are all back as childhood buddies, this time tasked with taking on a cocky group of frat boys including Nick Swardson and Taylor Lautner.

Pacific Rim

Release Date: 7/12/13
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
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Guillermo del Toro brings us this sci-fi action flick featuring giant robots and monsters doing battle and a band of heroic fighters led by Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi, who seek to prevent an apocalypse from occurring.

The Conjuring

Release Date: 7/19/13
Genre: Horror/Thriller
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Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star in this story about demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, two of the first paranormal investigators involved in the Amityville haunting. The new film takes place prior to the Amityville events.

R.I.P.D.

Release Date: 7/19/13
Genre: Drama, Action
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Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds star in this adaptation of the comic book, Rest in Peace Department. The story follows a slain young cop who joins a team of undead police officers to try and find the man who murdered him.

Red 2

Release Date: 7/19/13
Genre: Action, Comedy
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Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich are back for a second turn in this action comedy which welcomes Catherine Zeta-Jones and Lee Byung-hun to the cast.

Turbo

Release Date: 7/19/13
Genre: Family, Animation
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In this family animated adventure, Ryan Reynolds provides the voice of Turbo, a turtle who longs to become the greatest racer in the world, just like his hero, 5-time Indianapolis champ, Guy Gagne.

The Wolverine

Release Date: 7/26/13
Genre: Action
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Hugh Jackman returns as the quick-tempered, adamantium-clawed mutant Wolverine as he journeys to Japan in James Mangold's adaptation of a Chris Claremont-Frank Miller story arc that sees Logan battling The Silver Samurai and ninjas.

2 Guns

Release Date: 8/2/13
Genre: Drama, Action
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Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington face off against the mob in this action crime drama that co-stars James Marsden, Paula Patton and Bill Paxton.

300: Rise of An Empire

Release Date: 8/2/13
Genre: Action
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The follow-up to Zack Snyder’s 300 (penned by Snyder) is said to tell the story of Greek General Themistocles and his battle against Persian invaders at the same time as 300’s Battle of Thermopylae.

The Smurfs 2

Release Date: 8/2/13
Genre: Family, Comedy
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Gargamel’s up to his usual dastardly deeds, here creating smurf-like baddies called The Naughties, who kidnap Smurfette, take her to Paris, and try to get her to be a bad girl smurf. It’s up to Papa Smurf, Clumsy, Grouchy and Vanity, along with their human friends, to rescue her and save the day.

Elysium

Release Date: 8/9/13
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
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Matt Damon leads a future rebellion in the year 2159, where poor people are confined to a decrepit Earth while the rich are allowed to inhabit a clean, man-made station called Elysium. District 9’s Neill Blomkamp directs.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Release Date: 8/9/13
Genre: Action, Fantasy
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Logan Lerman returns to the title role of Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, here continuing on a quest with his powerful friends to retrieve the Golden Fleece and save his home and his training ground, Camp Half-Blood.

Planes

Release Date: 8/9/13
Genre: Comedy, Animated, Family
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Originally slated as a direct-to-DVD release, Pixar's sort-of spin-off from the Cars franchise flies into theaters in the late summer months. What's next? Boats?

We're the Millers

Release Date: 8/9/13
Genre: Comedy, Action
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Jason Sudeikis stars as a small-time pot dealer who ends up in debt to dealer Ed Helms, and manages to convince his stripper neighbor played by Jennifer Aniston and streetwise teen Emma Roberts to masquerade as a family and head south of the border to complete a drug deal.

Kick Ass 2

Release Date: 8/16/13
Genre: Action, Comedy
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Normally, comic-book movies instantly get sequels. But no one knew, for sure, that Kick-Ass would earn a second feature because the first movie was so strange and deliriously off-putting. Thankfully, enough people dug the dark humor. All the stars return, but the big news is the addition of Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes.

The To-Do List

Release Date: 8/16/13
Genre: Comedy
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Aubrey Plaza (Safety Not Guaranteed, TV’s Parks & Recreation) is cast as an overachiever who decides to spend her summer between high school and college checking off all of the wild things on her to-do list that she never was able to achieve during her high school years.

Mortal Instruments

Release Date: 8/23/13
Genre: Action, Fantasy
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Lily Collins and Jaime Campbell Bower appear in this first adaptation of the popular young adult fantasy book series, which concern teenager Clary Fray, who discovers that she is descended from a line of Shadowhunters, a secret group of half-angel warriors.

You're Next

Release Date: 8/23/13
Genre: Horror
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This well-reviewed horror/thriller concerns a group of twisted killers who set their sights on a family reunion at a remote location. What they don’t realize is that one of the family’s guests is anything but a victim, and is ready and willing to fight back with her own special set of skills.

Getaway

Release Date: 8/30/13
Genre: Action
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Ethan Hawke’s a burnt out race car driver who’s forced to put the pedal to the metal to save his kidnapped wife. Watched by hidden cameras in his car and forced by an unknown voice to follow directions or else, Hawke’s only ally is a young female hacker in the passenger seat.

One Direction Concert Movie

Release Date: 8/30/13
Genre: Documentary, Music
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The hugely popular musical act – over 13+ million records sold worldwide and counting – star in their first movie, presented as a 3D concert film that should be the next best thing to being there for the pop outfit’s legion of fans.