Unmissable TV, Movies, and Music
When you need a break from the beach this summer, there are plenty of fun ways — that don’t involve sun and sand — to spend your time. From a 93-year-old action star in Thelma, to exciting new seasons of House of the Dragon and The Boys, to the return of old favorites like Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley and new installments in the Alien and Terminator franchises, there’s something for everyone. Check out EW’s 2024 Summer Preview to see which TV shows, movies, and albums you need to add to your list this season.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix
Premieres July 3 on Netflix
In 1984, Beverly Hills Cop cemented a then-23-year-old Eddie Murphy as a superstar who could sell a movie on his own. Now, 40 years later, Murphy returns to his most iconic character in Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. The fourth installment in the franchise reunites Murphy with original cast members Judge Reinhold (Lt. William “Billy” Rosewood), John Ashton (Sgt. John Taggart), Paul Reiser (Det. Jeffrey Friedman), and Bronson Pinchot (the scene-stealing Serge). There’s also some new blood with the addition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Axel’s partner, Det. Bobby Abbot, and Taylour Paige as Axel’s estranged daughter, Jane Saunders, who also happens to be Abbot’s ex-girlfriend. —Lester Fabian Brathwaite
Read more about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
Eric
Ludovic Robert/Netflix
Streaming now on Netflix
In Eric, Benedict Cumberbatch plays Vincent, a successful puppeteer and the creator of Good Day Sunshine, a Sesame Street-esque kids show. But when his son goes missing, Vincent’s addiction takes over and in his desperation to get his son back, he starts hallucinating Eric, the puppet his son had drawn. “We’ve always tried to see Eric as a manifestation of the inner workings of Vincent’s psychosis,” creator Abi Morgan says. “When I pitched it, I said it’s kind of a buddy movie of an obsessive puppeteer and his puppet who go looking for his son.” —Samantha Highfill
Read more about Eric.
A Quiet Place: Day One
Gareth Gatrell/Paramount
In theaters June 28
We’ve seen what happens when the monsters of A Quiet Place prowl the rural grounds of upstate New York. Now we’ll find out what happens when these aliens that hunt through sound storm one of the noisiest locations on the planet: the Big Apple. A Quiet Place: Day One goes back to, duh, day one of the invasion. A woman named Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) just so happens to be on a day trip to the city with her cat when all hell breaks loose, and she’s forced to team up with a stranger named Eric (Joseph Quinn) in order to escape from New York, Snake Plissken style! “Yes, these are monster films, they’re horror-thriller movies that have these exciting, scary moments,” says director Michael Sarnoski, “but at their core, they’re stories about people dealing with something that they don’t know how to deal with. I wanted to focus on that, but in its own unique way.” —N.R.
Read more about A Quiet Place: Day One.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.