Hollywood’s summer movie season is shaping up to be epic.
There are superheroes, franchises and thrillers galore with many of the regulars on the lineup: “Spider-Man,” “Minions,” “Star Wars” and “Toy Story.” But the most eagerly anticipated is not a superhero, toy, or franchise: It’s one of the oldest stories in Western literature. Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” is sailing into theaters, on much smoother waters than Odysseus faced, on July 17.
The Associated Press spoke to over two dozen people involved in some of the summer’s biggest releases, from studio executives, to filmmakers, writers, actors and those who seem to do it all about their films and the industry. Here are some of the key takeaways from AP’s Summer Movie Preview.
For Nolan, “The Odyssey” seemed like a foundational piece that deserved to be done on the biggest possible scale, with all the resources modern Hollywood had to offer.
“There’s a massive amount of pressure,” Nolan said. “Anyone taking on ‘The Odyssey’ is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility.”
It reminded him of working on the Batman films.
“What I learned from that experience is that what people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation,” Nolan said. “They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it. I really tried to make the best film possible.”
Three summers ago, “Oppenheimer” made nearly a billion dollars. “The Odyssey” has battles, gods, creatures and an army of movie stars — Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Tom Holland included. It’s also the first movie shot entirely on IMAX film. Tickets for some IMAX 70mm showings sold out in under an hour a full year in advance.
Kicking off the season on May 1 is “The Devil Wears Prada 2," followed by “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” (May 22) bringing the franchise back to the big screen after seven years. Later, Steven Spielberg returns to sci-fi with “Disclosure Day” (June 12). There are superhero movies too, including “Supergirl” (June 26) and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (July 31).
A lot of power recently has shifted to PG-rated offerings. This summer has “Toy Story 5” (June 19), “Minions & Monsters” (July 1), a live-action “Moana” (July 10) and “The Sheep Detectives” (May 8).
Horror fans can find franchises like “Evil Dead Burn” (July 10) and unnerving indies like “Leviticus” (June 19) and a new Jane Schoenbrun, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (Aug. 7).
There are smaller gems too, including Daniel Roher’s “Tuner” and Boots Riley’s colorful shoplifting movie “I Love Boosters,” (both May 22), Olivia Wilde’s chamber dramedy “The Invite” (June 26) and the wholesomely raunchy comedy “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” (July 10).
Christopher Nolan on ‘The Odyssey’ runtime: “One of the things that’s really important to me is to be showing the film wherever possible on IMAX film, projecting the format, because we shot the entire movie on IMAX film, and the longest we’ve ever been able to get onto the IMAX projector is three hours. So we know it’s less than three hours. I can say the film is shorter than ‘Oppenheimer.’ It’s still an epic, it’s an epic film as the subject matter demands, but it is shorter.”
James Cameron on the business rebounding: “Hope springs eternal … We still have a very robust theatrical industry at a time when it was kind of almost pronounced dead.”
DC co-chair and co-CEO Peter Safran on superhero films: “I never felt that there was superhero fatigue. I felt it was mediocre movie fatigue. You gotta try something new. You have to change the game a little bit. The essential story on which ‘Supergirl’ is based is something cool and original and we haven’t seen before.”
Jon Favreau on made for IMAX films: “People have got great TVs at home. You’ve got to give them a reason to go out.”
Olivia Wilde on taking risks: “I think one of the reasons that audiences really enjoy the films that A24 are investing in and putting out into world is they can tell that risk is sort of part of the process for them … there’s something exciting about that.”
Marlon Wayans on big screen comedies: “The world needs comedy. It’s a shame that there haven’t been more comedies in the past 15, 20 years. I think it’s really hurting our world … I hope people come out to the theater and they feel good.”
Hollywood doesn’t save all its blockbusters for the summer anymore, but the 18-week corridor running from the first weekend in May through Labor Day remains the industry’s most important, accounting for around 40% of the year’s box office.
And it’s only surpassed $4 billion once since the pandemic, in 2023 with “Barbenheimer.” Last summer capped out at just under $3.7 billion, led by Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch.” It was about the same in 2024, when Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” topped the charts.
FILE - Billie Eilish, left, and director James Cameron speak about their upcoming film "Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D" during the Paramount Pictures presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
CAIRO (AP) — Iran is offering to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz without addressing its nuclear program, two regional officials with knowledge of the proposal said Monday, as the country's foreign minister made a visit to Russia he said was an opportunity to consult with Moscow regarding the war against Israel and the United States.
Iran also wants the U.S. to end its blockade of the country as part of its proposal, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.
The new proposal, passed to the United States by Pakistan, likely won't be supported by U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to end Iran’s atomic program as part of an overall deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and make the ceasefire permanent.
“We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us,” Trump said Sunday to Fox News Channel.
The Axios news outlet first reported Iran’s proposal.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in St. Petersburg on Monday morning ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His trip over the weekend has included two stops in Pakistan and a visit to Oman, which shares the strait with Iran.
Araghchi’s visit comes as a standoff between Iran and the U.S. in the crucial Strait of Hormuz persists despite a ceasefire, keeping oil prices high.
“It is a good opportunity for us to consult with our Russian friends about the developments that have occurred in relation to the war during this period and what is happening now,” Araghchi said in a video interview posted by IRNA.
Pakistan has been seeking to revive stalled talks between Iran and the U.S., and negotiations had been expected in Islamabad over the weekend. But U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested the talks could take place by phone instead.
Araghchi said it was America’s approach that “caused the negotiations to be delayed.”
“The previous one, despite the progress that had been made, could not achieve its goals,” he said, blaming what he called Washington’s “excessive demands.”
Trump has questioned who is in charge in Iran at the moment and said confusion within its theocracy made it difficult to reach a deal.
The White House last week said it would dispatch envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad to follow up on historic face-to-face talks earlier this month. But Araghchi left the Pakistani capital Saturday, and shortly afterward Trump said he had called off the mission because of a lack of progress with Iran.
“If they want, we can talk but we’re not sending people,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday. He said earlier on social media: “All they have to do is call!!!”
Araghchi later returned to Islamabad, and also visited Oman's capital of Muscat before heading to Russia. He also spoke by phone with counterparts in Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
A standoff remains on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas normally passes, as Iran has restricted movement through it and the U.S. enforces a blockade of Iranian ports.
The June contract for Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at around $107 per barrel Monday, compared to $72 a barrel before the war began.
Oil prices have risen steadily since the war began and tankers full of crude became stranded in the Persian Gulf, unable to safely transit through the strait and reach global distribution points.
The economic fallout is growing two months into the war as global shipments of not only oil, but also liquefied natural gas, fertilizer and other supplies are disrupted by the near-closure of the strategic strait.
Iran wants to persuade Oman to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Oman’s response wasn’t immediately clear.
The official, who is involved in mediation efforts, also said Iran insisted on ending the U.S. blockade before new talks and that Pakistan-led mediators are trying to bridge significant gaps between the countries.
Trump last week indefinitely extended the ceasefire the U.S. and Iran agreed to on April 7 that has largely halted fighting that began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. But a permanent settlement remains elusive in the war that has killed thousands of people and shaken the global economy.
Even before Saturday’s developments, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said any talks would be indirect and Pakistani officials would act as go-betweens, reflecting Tehran’s wariness after rounds of indirect talks last year and earlier this year ended with Iran being attacked by the U.S. and Israel.
Both sides have continued to make military threats. Iran’s joint military command Saturday warned that “if the U.S. continues its aggressive military actions, including naval blockades, banditry, and piracy” it will face a “strong response.”
Trump last week ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could be placing mines in the waterway.
Trump told journalists Saturday that within 10 minutes of him canceling Witkoff and Kushner’s trip to Islamabad, Iran sent a “much better” proposal.
He did not elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.” The status of Iran’s enriched uranium has long been at the center of tensions. Tehran has 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 people in Lebanon, where the Israel-Hezbollah fighting resumed two days after the Iran war started. Another 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.
Another ceasefire — between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group — has been extended by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. AP journalist Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Pro-government demonstrators wave Iranian flags as one of them holds up a picture of the slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S. and Israel strikes on Feb. 28, in a gathering, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Pro-government demonstrators wave Iranian flags during a gathering in Tehran, Iran, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 27, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi walk to attend the talks at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)
A woman walks past an anti-U.S. graffiti painted on the wall of the Tehran University on Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Fadi Al Zein, left, who lost both his homes in Israeli strikes in his village of Khiam and in Dahiyeh, searches through the rubble of his heavily damaged home as a child stands nearby, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
FILE - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stands waiting to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, June 23, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
