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Do you have plans for June? Cancel them. There’s simply too much to watch — at home and at the movies — for any other activities.
Returning television shows alone could keep you busy. Among favorites coming back for new seasons you’ll find The Eric Andre Show, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Human Resources, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Outlander, And Just Like That, The Bear, The Witcher, Jack Ryan, and The Righteous Gemstones.
But there’s plenty of new stuff, too, to say nothing of the many movies arriving in multiplexes and arthouses near you, starting with a sequel to an instant classic animated film about a bunch of webslingers.
The Best Movies and Shows to Watch This June
From the new Indiana Jones to new seasons of your favorite shows, here’s your guide to the best theatrical releases and everything worth streaming this month.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Theaters, June 2)
Released in 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse became an instant-classic thanks to a gripping story, winning characters, a healthy sense of humor, and some truly innovative animation that made it look like no other animated feature out there. So how do you follow it up? By going even bigger, apparently. Across the Spider-Verse sends Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and Peter Parker through a multiverse where each stop has been rendered in a distinct animation style. The expanding cast includes characters voiced by Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya, Issa Rae, and others. Get tickets here.
The Boogeyman (Theaters, June 2)
Delving deep into Stephen King’s bibliography, The Boogeyman adapts a 1973 short story and stars Chris Messina as Will Harper, a therapist whose family is threatened by a mysterious entity. But could Will himself be making the problem worse by neglecting his children? Director Rob Nelson has made a name for himself with stripped-down, low-budget chillers like Host and Dashcam and this looks likely to play to his strengths. Get tickets here.
Past Lives (Theaters, June 2)
One of the hottest tickets at Sundance this year, Past Lives marks the directorial debut of playwright Celine Song (whose innovative past work includes a version of The Seagull staged using Sims 4). In a story drawing from Song’s own experience, Greta Lee and Ted You star as two childhood friends whose reunion leads them to contemplate the past. Get tickets here.
30 for 30: The Luckiest Guy in the World (ESPN, June 6)
ESPN’s acclaimed sports doc series continues with a four-part look at a larger-than-life figure directed by a documentary giant. The latest from Steve James (Hoop Dreams) explores the career of NBA legend Bill Walton and includes interviews with Larry Bird, Julius Erving and others and, of course, a lot of Grateful Dead tunes on the soundtrack.Stream it here.
Based on a True Story (Peacock, June 8)
Coming off two seasons of The Flight Attendant that proved she could do a lot more than The Big Bang Theory allowed her to do, Kaley Cuoco co-stars in this new dark comedy series opposite Chris Messina as a couple whose true crime obsession takes an extremely dark turn. Stream it here.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Theaters, June 9)
It’s been five years since the release of the pretty good Bumblebee in 2015, the longest time between Transformers films since the big-screen series debuted in 2007. (The pandemic definitely had something to do with it.) Will Rise of the Beasts make up for lost time? Set in the Ninties, it stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback and concerns the conflict between some Transformers who take the forms of animals. Get tickets here.
Flamin’ Hot (Hulu / Disney+, June 9)
Did Richard Montañez really invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for Frito-Lay, the company where he worked as a janitor? The facts of that story have been disputed, but perhaps they shouldn’t get in the way of a good story either way. Eva Longoria makes her feature directing debut with this account of the Montañez story starring Jesse Garcia. Stream it here.
Brooklyn 45 (Shudder, June 9)
Ted Geoghegan (We Are Still Here) directs this promising-looking horror film involving old friends getting together in 1945 New York for a seance that goes awry. The cast includes horror vet (in front of and behind the camera) Larry Fessenden. Stream it here.
The Crowded Room (Apple TV+, June 9)
In 1978 Billy Milligan became the first person acquitted of a crime due to dissociative identity disorder after claiming his crimes were committed by one of his multiple personalities. Drawing from Daniel Keyes’ non-fiction novel The Minds of Billy Milligan, this miniseries fictionalizes the Milligan story and moves the action from Ohio to New York. Tom Holland stars as the Milligan-inspired Danny Sullivan opposite Amanda Seyfried as a sympathetic investigator who delves into his past. Stream it here.
The Full Monty (FX/Hulu, June 14)
Picking up 25 years after the events of the hit 1997 film about a bunch of working class Sheffield men who discover the joys of stripping, this eight-episode series reunites much of the original cast (including Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, and Mark Addy). Are the they still taking off their clothes for cheering crowds? Tune in and find out. Stream it here.
The Blackening (Theaters, June 16)
When a group of Black friends retreat to a cabin in the woods they find themselves forced to navigate horror movie cliches about race in order to survive. A big hit at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, the Tim Story-directed film comes from a script by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins (who also co-stars), whose collective credits include contributions to Girls Trip, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Amber Ruffin Show. Get tickets here.
Pixar’s Elemental (Theaters, June 16)
Pixar’s 27th feature film is a culture-clash rom-com with an extremely Pixar twist. Ember (Leah Lewis) and Wade (Mamoudou Athie) start a could-be romance but worry that their different cultural backgrounds could keep them apart. She’s a fire element and he’s a water element. Directed by Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur), the film is set in a city where the four elements live side-by-side, if not always in harmony. Get tickets here.
The Flash (Theaters, June 16)
James Gunn and Peter Safran are about to hit the reset button on DC’s film and TV universes. We’ll see what happens with Blue Beetle and the Aquaman sequel, but the long-in-the-works The Flash almost by design feels immune to that sort of issue since it explores a multiverse and features multiple versions of DC’s heroes and villains. Ezra Miller, whose personal problems at one point seemed likely to overshadow the film, stars as the super-speedster Barry Allen whose attempts to undo a past tragedy threatens the fabric of existence itself. Get tickets here.
Asteroid City (Theaters, June 16)
Set in the Southwest of the 1950s, Wes Anderson’s latest concerns what happens when a group of Young Stargazers and Space Cadets and their friends and family share an extraterrestrial encounter. If it’s not Anderson’s most ambitious film it’s almost certainly his most overstuffed, with a cast that includes Anderson regulars (Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Tony Revolori, Adrien Brody) joined by newcomers like Tom Hanks, Steve Carell, and Hong Chau. Get tickets here.
Stan Lee (Disney+, June 16)
David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi) directs this feature-length look at the larger-than-life writer who co-created much of the Marvel Universe with artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. A brilliant writer and self-promoter, Lee was beloved by fans though his tendency to take the spotlight made him a divisive figure. (How much this Disney-produced doc will get into that remains to be seen.) Stream it here.
Secret Invasion (Disney+, June 21)
How do you fight an enemy that can look like anyone? That’s the problem faced by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) in this six-part miniseries pitting him against a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Focusing heavily on S.H.I.E.L.D. and its agents, the supporting cast includes Cobie Smulders, Ben Mendelsohn, Martin Freeman, and Emilia Clarke. Stream it here.
No Hard Feelings (Theaters, June 23)
Last year’s intimate drama Causeway served as a reminder of what a subtle dramatic actor Jennifer Lawrence could be. With that out of the way Lawrence plunges into the world of gleefully crude comedy playing a down-on-her-luck Uber driver who agrees to date a shy 19-year-old (Andrew Barth Feldman) after she’s hired by the kid’s parents. Gene Stupnitsky of the well-liked Good Boys directs. Get tickets here.
I’m a Virgo (Prime Video, June 23)
Boots Riley made his feature film directorial debut with 2018’s terrific Sorry to Bother You, an absurdist comedy that found Riley continuing the career-long critique of capitalism he began as part of the hip-hop duo group The Coup. This new series appears to be in a similar vein. Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us) stars as Cootie, a 19-year-old Oakland resident who steps out into a world his guardians have long felt wasn’t ready for him. The reason?: Cootie is 13-feet-tall. Stream it here.
Hijack (Apple TV+, June 28)
When an international flight is hijacked, only one man with mysterious qualifications (Idris Elba) can resolve the situation — one way or another in this UK-produced miniseries. Archie Panjabi co-stars. Stream it here.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Theaters, June 30)
Harrison Food returns as the legendary archeologist and adventurer for what’s said to be his final time playing the character in this adventure film that pits Indy against Nazis. (Yes, again.) Phoebe Waller-Bridge co-stars as Indy’s granddaughter and Mads Mikkelsen is on board as the bad guy. Get tickets here.
