With the release of “Avengers: Endgame” next week, the summer movie season is already beginning.
Our job as Young Life leaders is to lead our middle and high school friends into the adventure of following Christ. Part of that means helping them discover different ways to use their time than just settling for the big screen. But another part of our role is to meet them right where they are, and this summer, they’re likely to be at the movie theaters.
We can take advantage of this by planning well. Last summer I wrote in my calendar the opening nights of the blockbuster movies. A couple weeks before one I wanted to see came out, I started talking it up with kids. We went to see a couple midnight showings and they thought it was cool that their leader was willing to drive them around in the wee hours of the morning.
One night we met at a field around 10pm to play “Glow in the Dark Ultimate Frisbee” before the movie. Another night we hit up Waffle House after the film. Great bonding memories!
Disclaimer
I haven’t seen any of these movies below and would highly recommend checking out reviews on kids-in-mind.com or commonsensemedia.org before taking kids to see a movie you might regret. When in doubt, talk to your Area Director. Also, be sure to communicate well with parents, especially if you’re keeping their kids out late at night. Don’t just settle for “my mom said it was cool.” Go ahead and make that phone call to a parent.
Below are the opening dates for some 2019 summer movies you might want to see with your middle/high school friends. You can view the trailer for each movie by clicking the movie title below.
April 26 – Avengers: Endgame
May 10 – Pokémon Detective Pikachu
May 10 – The Biggest Little Farm
May 10 – Tolkien
May 24 – Aladdin
May 31 – Godzilla: King of the Monsters
June 7 – X-Men: Dark Phoenix
June 7 – The Secret Life of Pets 2
June 14- Men in Black International
June 21 – Toy
Story 4
June 28 – Yesterday
July 5 – Spider-Man: Far From Home
July 19 – The Lion King
August 2 – Dora And The Lost City of Gold
August 2 – Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
August 9 – Artemis Fowl
What movies are missing from this list? Any “movie contact work ideas” you can share? Shoot us an email.
Read more about how we as leaders can help kids engage with movies in this post, Jesus Goes to the Movies.