The 15 movies we’re most excited for this summer

With all due respect to “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Elvis” and “Nope,” this summer movie season marks the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that feels like it’s firing on all cylinders. Selected by L.A. Times entertainment staffers, the titles below — all scheduled to open between Memorial Day weekend and the dog days of August — represent the full range of possibilities that longer days and sunny weather seem to offer, from in-your-face indies to Indiana Jones, with films for all tastes arranged in between. So dust off those Havaianas, fire up your favorite ticketing app and get ready to hit the cinema.

Here are the 15 movies we’re most excited for this summer:

‘The Little Mermaid’ (May 26)

There’s photographic proof in my family circle of my failed attempt as a toddler to dress as Ariel for Halloween — my mom couldn’t find a red wig and thought one that looked more like Tina Turner’s coif in the “What’s Love Got to Do With It” music video was somehow a suitable alternative. Still, I was Ariel. And grown or not, I’m looking forward to watching the live-action reimagining (and “Barbie” too!) with the kids and women in my life. Directed by Rob Marshall, the film features Halle Bailey as our beloved mermaid, Melissa McCarthy as the terrifyingly wicked Ursula the Sea Witch, and Javier Bardem as Ariel’s strict father, King Triton. Then there are, of course, Ariel’s scene-stealing animal companions, Flounder, Sebastian and Scuttle,