Some movies just have a certain feel to them, and summer movies are no exception. Summer movies can evoke the feeling we had when the school year would end, or bring to mind summer imagery like beaches, sunshine, and fireworks.

The best part of summer movies is that you can watch them year-round, whether it’s in comfy air conditioning in the middle of July, or reminding you of warmer times during an ice cold February blizzard. Here’s some summer movies that will always bring the sunshine:

Jaws

The 1975 classic is the definitive summer movie, not only taking place on (and scaring people away from) the beach, but it was also the first summer blockbuster, making popcorn movies as much of a summer staple as ice cold lemonade. The shark-starring thriller also launched director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams into the stratosphere.

Grease

One of the most famous summer love stories ever takes place before the musical film even starts, but watching the sparks fly all over again between Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and Danny (John Travolta) makes this film an all-time classic.

National Lampoon’s Vacation

The ultimate road trip movie, Vacation was comic actor Chevy Chase in peak form as the head of the Griswold family on a doomed trip to theme park Walley World. The film, directed by Caddyshack director and Ghostbusters writer and star Harold Ramis, spawned three sequels starring Chase, as well as a fourth sequel that served double duty as a remake.

Lilo & Stitch

Academy Award nominee for Best Feature in 2003, the Disney film showcases the friendship between an adorable little girl and an even cuter alien creature. Even though the movie is animated, its Hawaiian setting will give you summer vibes while giving you all of the feels.

The Parent Trap

Both the 1961 and 1998 versions of the Disney family comedy are must-watches. Stars Hayley Mills in the original and Lindsay Lohan in the remake are perfectly cast in dual roles as identical twin sisters little ready to do whatever it takes to bring their divorced parents back together, even if it means pretending to be one another.

Dirty Dancing

The 1987 film tells the story of Frances (Jennifer Grey), a teenage girl who falls in love with her dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) at a summer resort in the Poconos. The film spawned timeless quotes, heated dance moves, and iconic track “(I’ve Had) The Time of my Life,” which won the Golden Globe, Oscar, and Grammy for Original song. Nobody puts this movie in a corner.

Mr. Bean’s Holiday

Rowan Atkinson reprises his iconic role as Mr. Bean in a family-friendly farce that also showcases the stunning vistas of France. Along the way, Bean finds true love and helps a young boy reunite with his father.

Little Miss Sunshine

If you’re looking for a little subdued dramedy in your summer films, Little Miss Sunshine is probably for you. The road trip indie stars Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin (who won an Oscar for his role), and tells the story of an adorable little girl who wants nothing more than to win a pageant, and her miserable family stuck along for the ride.

The Great Outdoors

Another 80s vacation classic, The Great Outdoors shows off comedic greats John Candy and Dan Aykroyd as bickering, competitive in-laws sharing a summer cabin by the lake. Full of slapstick humor and barenaked bears, The Great Outdoors was written by John Hughes at the height of his Hollywood powers.

You don’t need huge budgets or a major film studio system in place to create a timeless film. While you may be familiar with some well-known American independent films, there are many foreign indie movies that may have flown under your radar. Here’s just a sample of some foreign independent films that should be on everyone’s watchlist:

Amélie (2001), France

Amélie is a 2001 romantic comedy directed by famed French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet. In the film, a shy waitress named Amélie tries to have a positive impact on those around her despite struggling herself to survive in modern-day Paris. Amélie‘s numerous accolades include Best Film at the European Film Awards, four César Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and five Academy Award nominations.

Cronos (1993), Mexico

The first feature film of master director Guillermo del Toro, this horror drama about an ancient artifact is considered one of the best independent Mexican films of all time. Cronos received an overwhelmingly positive critical response from international film critics. Accolades include winning several international film festival competitions and being chosen as the Mexican entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Academy Awards.

Dreamchild (1985), United Kingdom

Nominated for 1985’s Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film, Dreamchild is a British drama about Alice Liddell, the famous young girl said to have inspired Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. While traveling from England to the United States to receive an honorary degree celebrating what would have been Lewis Carroll’s 100th birthday, an elderly Alice begins suffering flashbacks and hallucinations involving characters from the novel that made Carroll famous.

Breathless (1960), France

À bout de souffle, which directly translated to “out of breath”, is a 1960 French crime drama written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, perhaps the most prominent figure in the French New Wave movement. In the film, a young thief named Michel comes to depend on an aspiring American journalist while on the run after killing a policeman. Breathless is considered an early pioneer of French New Wave cinema and helped bring international attention to the fresh, unique style of filmmaking.

Ran (1985), Japan

Ran is an epic period drama edited, directed, and co-written by legendary Japanese director and screenwriter Akira Kurosawa. Set in Medieval Japan, the story follows a retired warlord who hands his empire to his three sons, only to see them grow corrupt and violent towards each other. Receiving critical acclaim across the globe, Ran was the first Japanese film to earn an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best International Film.

Wings of Desire (1987), Germany

Known as Der Himmel über Berlin (The Heaven Over Berlin) in Germany, this romantic fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders is about angels that dwell in the city of Berlin while listening to the thoughts of its human residents. One angel eventually falls in love with a woman and sacrifices his immortality to be with her. Wings of Desire earned numerous awards and nominations, including winning Best Foreign Film at the 1988 Independent Spirit Awards. It was remade as the American film City of Angels, starring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage, in 1998.

Before the Rain (1994), Macedonia

Helmed by Macedonian film director Milcho Manchevski, Before the Rain garnered worldwide acclaim, earning an Academy Award nomination, a Silver Condor, Golden Bug, and the Golden Lion at the 51st Venice International Film Festival. In the film, three love stories unravel as civil war begins spreading throughout Macedonia.

Bad Taste (1987), New Zealand

This sci-fi comedy horror splatter film served as iconic New Zealand film director Peter Jackson‘s first feature film. Made with a budget of $25,000, Bad Taste went on to become a cult film despite being banned in Australia for its high levels of gore. Its plot revolves around aliens that arrive in New Zealand in order to harvest humans for their intergalactic fast food franchise, a far cry from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies Jackson would later helm.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), China

Selected in 2010 as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years by the Independent Film & Television Alliance, this acclaimed wuxia film by Ang Lee revolves around skilled Chinese warriors fighting for a powerful sword called Green Destiny. The film is based on a Chinese novel written by Wang Dulu and featured a strong cast of actors, including Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen. Winner of more than 40 awards, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s top wins include Best Picture at the Academy Awards, four BAFTAs, and two Golden Globes. It is considered one of the most influential martial arts films of all time.

The final victim after eight seasons of fire, ice, and bloodshed on HBO’s fantasy epic Game of Thrones just might be our Sunday nights. Thrones had established itself as the appointment TV show of the decade, and now that the game is over, there’s a void left in both the television landscape and the hearts of many viewers who crave watercooler-ready event pop culture.

But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of shows, both old and new, to fill the vacuum left by Game of Thrones. Here’s ten of the most notable:

[SPOILERS below]

Westworld

Westworld’s third season is still a year away, but there’s a reason the sci-fi western drama adapted for HBO by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy takes its time between installments, and it’s not just its incredibly high production values. The show’s incredibly complex, weaving storylines take time to map out and write, but leave fans with plenty of theories and mythology to chew on each week in the same way Game of Thrones has since 2011.

Stranger Things

There will be more than just fireworks this Independence Day–this Fourth of July will see the season three premiere of Netflix’s nostalgic horror/sci-fi series, Stranger Things. As the show’s child stars mature into teenagers and the time period reaches the heart of the 1980s, we’re expecting shopping malls, New Wave music, and of course, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) facing off with terrifying grotesque monsters.

A Discovery of Witches

The new critically-acclaimed BBC series A Discovery of Witches stars Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey, The Good Wife) and Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge, Triple 9) and is based on Deborah Harkness’ bestselling All Souls trilogy. Its first season comprises eight episodes and its tale of magic and witchcraft should scratch the itch of Thrones fans wanting more magic in their pop culture.

His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials was first adapted into a blockbuster 2007 Hollywood film, The Golden Compass, that bombed hard and put the planned trilogy to a halt. Fans of the beloved series have been clamoring for another adaptation ever since, and are finally getting it thanks to a collaboration between HBO, BBC, and New Line Cinema. The cast includes Ruth Wilson (The Affair), James McAvoy (X-Men), Dafne Keen (Logan), and Hamilton star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. The historical fantasy that, yes, deals with magic, spirits, and the end of the world–but also talking polar bears–is expected to surpass fans’ already-high expectations; its second season is already in pre-production.

The Walking Dead

The zombie smash hit will be back on AMC for its tenth season in October, coming off its game-changing ninth season that saw the loss of series protagonist Rick Grimes. New showrunner Angela Kang was praised for steering the show into a new era with several new castmembers and the rise of big, big bads The Whisperers. The Whisperers storyline will continue in the new season, and likely lead to the deaths of even more fan favorite characters, including Michonne, whose actress Danai Gurira is rumored to be leaving the show soon.

Good Omens

One of the most anticipated shows of 2019 is Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of Good Omens, the fan favorite comedic novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman about the birth of the Antichrist and the end of everything. Amazon spared no expense and the show boasts an incredible cast: Michael Sheen, David Tennant, Jon Hamm, Miranda Richardson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brian Cox, and Frances McDormand. The six episodes of the series were directed by Douglas McKinnon (Doctor Who) and focuses on Sheen and Tennant as a bickering angel and demon forced to team up to stop the Apocalypse.

The Witcher

Based on the wildly popular video game, The Witcher will be a Netflix original about Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, who struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more evil than the creatures he faces. Henry Cavill is moving on from Superman and Justice League and has physically transformed into the fan-favorite, silver-haired protagonist.

The Expanse

The Expanse has been drawing comparisons to Game of Thrones since its debut in 2015, and the parallels are obvious. Both are adapted from a series of epic, bestselling novels and both deal with multiple alliances, betrayals, political maneuvering, and a supernatural threat that overwhelming it all. The story by James S. A. Corey involves grounded, realistic space exploration in the somewhat near future when Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt are all warring governments who must come together to deal with an extragalactic… something. Its first three seasons aired on Syfy, but after being cancelled, season four will air on Amazon Prime Video, possibly because Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is a huge fan of the series.

The Lord of the Rings

Amazon Prime Video is pouring over a billion dollars to create the most expensive television show in history, a five-season prequel to JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth epic. Amazon has been keeping details surrounding the production very close to the vest, but a late 2019 release hasn’t yet been ruled out. Once the show does air, expect Lord of the Rings to dominate pop culture conversation in the same way Game of Thrones, and the original Lord of the Rings film trilogy, once did.

Untitled Game of Thrones Prequel

Then again, maybe Game of Thrones will fill the Game of Thrones-shaped hole in our hearts. Well before the series ended, HBO had commissioned up to five spinoffs to be created, though details about most of them have been sparse. One such show, by Bryan Cogman, has already been cancelled. Another is rumored to be an adaptation of Robert’s Rebellion, the near-recent civil war that directly led to the first season of Thrones.

However, one prequel is already in production, with a pilot to be filmed sometime this year. Its cast includes Naomi Watts as series lead, as well as Miranda Richardson and John Simm. The story is supposedly set 10,000 years before the current series, and will involve the Age of Heroes and possibly the mysterious origin of the Night King.

So while the watch has ended for Game of Thrones, one of the most epic, expensive, talked-about series in the history of television, rest assured there will still be plenty more content to watch, dissect, and argue about online.

Ludovic Coutaud is a NYFA alum and writer. For more information, click here. 

March 20, 2019 wasn’t just the first day of spring–it was also the day Disney officially bought a majority of 20th Century Fox, including a good deal of their film and television properties. Perhaps the biggest merger in Hollywood history–Disney bought Fox for over $71 billion dollars, there will be repercussions in the entertainment industry for years, if not decades, to come. While some of these will become more apparent in time, other changes have been obvious since the moment the deal was even being talked about.

So what does the merger with Fox mean for the new Disney? Here’s just a few likely scenarios:

A host of new franchises for Disney’s theme parks

Many would argue that Disney already has plenty of iconic intellectual properties ripe for the picking when it comes to creating new attractions. For example, with just Pixar alone there are many sentimental favorites that fans would love to see more representation of at Disney’s iconic theme parks, including: Up, Wall-E, Inside Out, and Brave.

But now that Disney has acquired 21st Century Fox, the House of Mouse has an even bigger pool of popular characters and worlds to use. Boasting around a dozen theme parks across the globe, Disney can now include mascots from The Simpsons or Ice Age, and people would love it.

Disney will have two giant streaming services

In 2017, Disney announced Disney+, a streaming service set to compete against Hulu and Netflix. As more and more details come out, Disney+ is looking mighty tempting for Disney aficionados when it lands later this year, including animated classics as well as original series from Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The vast library of Fox properties will give Disney+ even more intellectual property to draw from for their original content.

Additionally, Disney now essentially owns 60 percent of Hulu, which Disney+ originally intended to compete with. Rather than merge the two, Disney plans to keep both, allowing Disney+ to remain a more family-oriented platform while Hulu can be used to stream more mature content, such as the films from the Alien franchise, or television series from the FX network.

Small-budget vs. big-budget

There’s a lot of excitement for comics fans now that previously Fox-owned Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Deadpool can finally appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But 21st Century Fox also offers Disney more intimate, smaller-budgeted affairs. Fox was the studio behind films like Slumdog Millionaire, Birdman, and 12 Years A Slave–types of films Disney has shied away from as it became more focused on tentpole franchises. While these budgets can still be a lot larger than smaller, independent films, the releases through Fox and its Fox Searchlight label pale in comparison to the megabudgets of Disney’s summer blockbusters, ranging anywhere from a few million to $50 million.

While Disney has already been paring down its Fox resources as it combines the two massive studios into one, plans have already been announced to release four theatrical films annually through Fox and four on streaming services. While this isn’t as many smaller films an art house aficionado would prefer, it’s perhaps more than Disney would normally put out in a given year. Perhaps one of these films will finally give Disney something the studio has never had–a Best Picture win at the Academy Awards.

The new MCU

With Avengers: Endgame likely saying goodbye to some of the stars that made the MCU and characters like Iron Man and Captain America household names, many have been wondering what Phase 4 (and 5 and 6 and 7) will look like for the epic franchise-spanning film series. While sequels to Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy were a given, it’s likely that the MCU will gradually start populating with characters previously-owned by Fox.

Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, is a genius inventor who lives in a big tower in New York City–and would easily fit the whole Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark will be leaving. Similar, his archnemesis Doctor Doom could be a great follow-up villain to Thanos. While Marvel head Kevin Feige says the X-Men will probably take longer to show up in the MCU, he also didn’t rule it out, so don’t be surprised if in a few years Spider-Man and Ant-Man are fighting alongside Wolverine and Nightcrawler.