The calendar may say Spring, but if you ask me, summer movie season officially began when Furious 7 hit the gas and made a bonkers amount of cash at the box-office! The Avengers: Age of Ultron was next, grabbing the second best opening weekend of all time (behind the first Avengers film).

Here are the 10 films I most want to see this summer, in order of importance:

01) Vacation I love the Griswold’s! The original vacation was the first R rated comedy I ever saw, and it began a life-long love of all things John Hughes (who penned the original, based on his National Lampoon short story). Clark and Ellen (Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo) are back, hopefully for more than a fleeting cameo, but Rusty (now played by Ed Helms from the Office) takes the wheel for this road trip back to Wally World. With no John Hughes, this sequel makes me nervous. It’s written and directed by the guys behind Horrible Bosses, which some loved, but I thought could have been meaner and funnier. Here’s hoping they don’t pull their punches here. Judging from this red band trailer (not safe for work), they are earning their R rating. Helms, plus the always funny Christina Applegate and Leslie Mann,  give me hope. (7/31)

02) Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation I’m a sucker for this spy crap, and the MI series may hold the distinction of getting better, not worse, with each sequel. Say what you want about Tom Cruise, but he’s an all-star leading man and he really throws himself into the MI action. Literally. When you see him strapped to the outside of a flying plane in this movie? Yeah, he really did that. (7/31)

03) Entourage One thing I already know about this movie: once it ends, I’ll be wanting more. Such is the power of TV characters that enter your home each week. I just hope a great HBO series translates into a good movie. My fingers are crossed for Turtle, Drama, Ari and the rest. (6/5)

04) Avengers: Age of Ultron Easily the most anticipated popcorn movie of the summer, so yeah, I’m in. Just a few days later than everyone else. I wanted a good seat. (now playing)

05) Mad Max: Fury Road There hasn’t been a new Mad Max movie since the 80’s (Beyond Thunderdome), and I’m ready for some drive-in era heroes and villains to battle it out in the dystopian future. Car crashes, explosions, and crazy haircuts! Director George Romero promises this film will use minimal CG, but plenty of Charlize Theron. (5/15)

06) Ant Man Is Marvel serious with this one? Thankfully, not entirely. That’s why they hired improv comic actor Paul Rudd to play the incredible-shrinking-superhero. Michael Douglas is always fun to watch as well. (7/17)

07) Jurassic World I think the premise of cloning dinosaurs is genius and terrifying, and since the franchise itself has been extinct for some time now, I’m ready to visit again, with Chris Pratt as my guide. Frankly, just give me more blockbusters with Chris Pratt. (6/12)
Poltergeist They’re heeeere! Again! I’m not usually drawn to remakes, especially of movies that I love, but in the hands of Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spiderman), I think this one is worth a look. Or maybe just a peek (I might be too scared to watch without my hands in front of my eyes). (5/22)

08) Poltergeist They’re heeeere! … Again! I’m not usually drawn to remakes, especially of movies that I love, but in the hands of Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spiderman), I think this one is worth a look. Or maybe just a peek (I might be too scared to watch without my hands in front of my eyes). (5/22)

09) Tomorrowland I’ve got to be honest: nothing about this movie excites me yet, I’m just betting on director Brad Bird (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, the Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant), who hasn’t let me down yet. (5/22)

10) Ted 2 I like my comedies R Rated, with plenty of profanity, nudity, awkward situations and slapstick. Okay, not all comedies, but if you profess to be naughty, you’d better be naughty! The first Ted was a raunchy treat, which (surprisingly) actually made me care for the talking bear, so why not go for another run? (6/26)

Does this mean I think all of these movies will be great? No. It just means that I hope they will be.

“Producer Dan” Roberts

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