'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' Rules Summer 2023 Family-Friendly Box Office

'The Little Mermaid' leads live-action titles.

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Columbia Pictures)

2. The Little Mermaid (Walt Disney Studios)

3. Elemental (Walt Disney Studios)

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount Pictures)

5. Ruby Gilman: Teenage Kraken (Dreamworks)

6. Rally Road Racers (Viva Pictures)

7. Lonely Castle in the Mirror (GKids)

The summer movie season stretches from May 5 through September, according to Box Office Mojo, which means a few days remain for the box office totals to change a bit, but I think the summary above accurately reflects the paucity of PG-rated titles released this summer.

Spring smash The Super Mario Bros. Movie continued to earn theatrical money into the summer, before it finally veered off to Video On Demand platforms. (If it were included above, it would be #5 in the seasonal totals.)

Six of the seven titles listed above are headed eventually to various streaming platforms, which is good news for subscribers to Netflix (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Disney Plus (The Little Mermaid, Elemental), Paramount Plus (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), Peacock (Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken), and Max (Lonely Castle in the Mirror).

Because of personal circumstances — losing a job + missed advance screenings — I’ve only seen two of the seven: The Little Mermaid and Elemental, of which the latter is easily my favorite. As I wrote in my review:

Refreshing in its simplicity, Elemental is nonetheless beautiful to behold, as much as any Pixar movie in memory. It's also quite clever, as evidenced by a multitude of puns in shop signs. The absence of a true 'Big Bad' villain character minimizes the 'one versus another' riffing, which seems to have become a plague in the modern era of animated features. The freedom from that artificial construct is invigorating.

Based on all available evidence — gained from typing a few keywords into a search engine (?!) — it’s likely that Elemental will arrive on Disney Plus in mid- to late-September; a specific release date has not yet been announced.

Looking ahead, the fall family-friendly season looks like it will revolve around PAW Patrol: The Might Movie, due on September 23, and Trolls Band Together, heading to theaters on November 17, with Wish coming from Disney on November 22. In the final month of the year, Wonka arrives December 15, and Migration (from Illumination Studios, the Minions and Mario Bros. Movie studio) on December 22.

We’ll see if anything changes with these upcoming release dates, in view of the writers’ and actors’ strikes that are currently paralyzing Hollywood. For now, it’s a good time to get caught up on shows and movies, by whatever means (theaters and/or streaming services) available to you. Stay cool!