It's a full lineup of summer movies

The summer movie season officially starts the first weekend of May and it's a full lineup.

Films originally scheduled for release in 2020 or 2021, are finally making it to theaters. The pandemic forced film studios to decide whether to hold the films for theatrical release or have them debut on streaming services or on demand.

Now, Hollywood is banking on a return to the tradition of getting out of the heat and into an air-conditioned movie theater.

Here is a sampling of what’s in store this summer:

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”

Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) casts a forbidden spell that opens the doorway to the multiverse including alternate versions of himself whose threat to humanity is too great for the combined forces of Strange, Wong (Benedict Wong), and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). Sam Raimi directs. May 6

“Downton Abbey: A New Era”

In this incarnation, the downstairs help and their upstairs employers travel to an island on the French Riviera while their British countryside compound is being rented out to a film studio. All sorts of mayhem ensues. May 20

“Top Gun: Maverick”

Thirty-six years after the original blasted into theaters, this sequel tries to recreate the magic. In addition to Tom Cruise’s Maverick, (the lead in the original and this sequel), Val Kilmer returns as Iceman. Miles Teller plays the son of fallen Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) from the original film. May 27

“Jurassic World: Dominion”

The sixth in the big-screen franchise, (which began in 1993 with “Jurassic Park”), starring Chris Pratt, features dinosaurs now living and hunting alongside humans. June 10

“Lightyear”

This is not a story about the "Toy Story" action figure Buzz Lightyear, but the "movie" that exists within the universe that spawned the toy. Chris Evans lends his voice to the title character. June 17

“Elvis”

This is Baz Luhrmann’s ("Moulin Rouge!," "The Great Gatsby") latest is a biopic of the King of Rock n’ Roll. Newcomer Austin Butler puts on his blue suede shoes and does his own singing in the movie. Tom Hanks plays Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. June 24

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”

Jenny Slate’s passion project, which began as a short film a decade ago, just may become the sleeper hit of the summer. For children of all ages, it features a mollusk named Marcel who goes on a quest to find his family. June 24

“Where the Crawdads Sing”

Based on the NY Times Best Selling novel of the same name, and produced by Reese Witherspoon, the Crawdads will undoubtedly be singing all the way to the bank. It tells the story of a woman who raised herself in the marshes of the deep South and becomes a suspect in the murder of a man with whom she once was involved. July 15

“Nope”

Get Out and Us writer/director Jordan Peele is back with another psychological thriller. Less is more when it comes to knowing anything about this film before you see it. July 22

“Bullet Train”

Oscar winners Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock star in this action flick about five assassins, whose missions have something in common, are aboard a fast-moving bullet train. July 29

“The Man from Toronto”

The world's deadliest assassin and New York's biggest screw-up are mistaken for each other at an Airbnb rental in this action/comedy starring Kevin Hart, Woody Harrelson and Kaley Cuoco. August 12

These films also arriving in theaters this summer have a chance of becoming box office bonanzas: a remake of the 1983 film “Firestarter” (May 13); a big screen treatment of Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers” (May 27); Ethan Hawke in what may become the summer’s scariest thriller – “Black Phone” (June 24); “Minions: The Rise of Gru” (July 1); “Thor: Love and Thunder” (July 8); “Samaritan,” a family film starring Sylvester Stallone (August 26).

Tim Nasson, who lives is Boston, can be reached at tim.nasson@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: It's a full lineup of summer movies with Cruise returning as Maverick