Disney+ has been doing a lot of heavy lifting for families looking for entertainment this summer, and they've just unveiled their newest event screening series, "Summer Movie Nights."
Based on the lineup, it looks like Disney is mining its new Fox catalog for titles, including the "X-Men" franchise, which makes up a big portion of the streaming premiere titles.
The series starts Friday, with the high anticipated filmed production of "Hamilton" premiering, as well as the junior hockey classic "The Mighty Ducks," starring Emilio Estevez (though I gotta say, I'm much more of a "D2: The Mighty Ducks" fan _ so check that one out on HBO).
July 10 brings a pair of epic superhero/sci-fi adventures with "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and "Solo: A Star Wars Story," in which a charming Alden Ehrenreich plays a young Han Solo in this origin story. If you have any "Star Wars" completists in your home, make sure they watch the loopy "Star Wars" holiday special from 1978, presented in its entirety on YouTube. You know, just so they can say they did.
On July 17, it's more X-Men with "X-Men: Apocalypse" _ not the greatest one in the series, but also no "Dark Phoenix." It is a summer of sequels on Summer Movie Nights, however, with July 24 bringing "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," and July 31, the incredible "Incredibles 2."
The first mutants film, "X-Men," drops on Aug. 7. It is a widely accepted fact, however, that "X2: X-Men United" is the best film of the franchise, the one to rule them all, so you better chase that first one with the sequel ($3.99 digital rental). Aug. 7 is also the premiere of "The Peanuts Movie," a nice animated film for younger kids, and Hulu also has a bunch of classic Charlie Brown and Snoopy movies to go with that. Aug. 14 marks the arrival of "Ant-Man and the Wasp," as well as "The Greatest Showman," if you need a dizzying dose of swaggering Hugh Jackman in your life (I can attest it has healing properties).
Aug. 21 brings another musical with "Beauty and the Beast," and on Aug. 28, pair the 2005 "Fantastic Four" with "Alice Through the Looking Glass" for a really wacky double feature. The series wraps up with "The Wolverine" on Sept. 4 if you've been following Hugh Jackman's adamantium journey (with a circus sideshow) all summer. Parents, at that point, you're going to want to fire up the very best Jackman/Wolverine film, "Logan," after the kids go to bed. This brutally violent, poignant Western noir in the style of "Shane" features Jackman's best performance yet. That's available for a $3.99 digital rental.
