by Sara Michelle Fetters - SGN A&E Writer

Technically, the Summer Movie Season began two weeks ago with the release of Marvel's massive Avengers: Age of Ultron on May 1. But that sequel was always preordained to be a gigantic hit, its path to worldwide box office domination set in stone the very moment its predecessor, 2012's The Avengers, came to an end. It also meant that last week's offering, the Reese Witherspoon/Sofía Vergara biddy comedy-action hybrid Hot Pursuit, was equally destined to underwhelm no matter what its actual qualities (of which it had only a precious few), making the talking about it a relative waste of time.

For a variety of reasons, this third Friday of May finally seems to be the appropriate time to talk about what Hollywood has in store for the first two months of the Summer. Not only do we see the 30 years in coming Mad Max: Fury Road, there's also fellow sequel Pitch Perfect 2, the a cappella musical comedy generating a ton of excitement ready to enjoy another concert by Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and the rest of the Barden Bellas. Most importantly, with yesterday's gala screening of director Paul Fieg's star-studded comedy Spy, this year's Seattle International Film Festival has begun its annual 25-day assault on local theaters, over 400 features, documentaries and shorts scheduled to play at some point between now and June 7.

But what else does Hollywood have up its sleeve for May and June? Let's just say Max Rockatansky's return isn't the only comeback relying about fans fond remembrances of cinema decades past. Next week sees a new Poltergeist, while early June offers up a return to Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg's dinosaur theme park playground with the release of Jurassic World. Other sequels include horror trilogy capper Insidious Chapter 3 and ribald talking stuffed animal comedy Ted 2, while Warner Bros raids HBO's television vaults in order to unleash a big screen continuation of Entourage.

There are some notable original properties, not the least of which is director Brad Bird's ambitious, shrouded in mystery Tomorrowland, while Pixar impresario Pete Docter animates arguably his most outlandish family-friendly fable yet, Inside Out taking place almost entirely inside the mind of an adolescent girl. There's also a pair of breakout favorites from the Sundance Film Festival, both Me, Earl and the Dying Girl and Dope generating the kind of buzz usually only associated with Oscar frontrunners, while one-time wunderkind (and Seattle legend) Cameron Crowe makes his return to the multiplex with the quirky drama-comedy-romance Aloha starring Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams and Alec Baldwin.

The following is a short list of some of the films scheduled to hit Seattle screens throughout the remainder of May and all of June. As always, release dates are subject to change, so check with the venue before heading out to the theater.

May 14 - June 7
The 41st Annual Seattle International Film Festival

May 15
Animals, Heaven Adores You, Mad Max: Fury Road, Pitch Perfect 2

May 22
About Elly, Good Kill, In the Name of My Daughter, Poltergeist, Réalité, The Sacrifice (1986), Tomorrowland

May 29
Aloha, Gemma Bovery, Heaven Knows What, I'll See You In My Dreams, San Andreas, Set Fire to the Stars

June 3
Entourage

June 5
The Connection, Insidious Chapter 3, The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq, La Sapienza, Love and Mercy, Spy

June 12
Jurassic World, The Wolfpack

June 19
Dope, Inside Out, Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, Manglehorn

June 26
Big Game, A Little Chaos, The Little Death, Max, The Outskirts, The Overnight, Ted 2

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