You’ve got the projector, big screen and surround sound ready to go. The snacks and hand sanitizers are out. And the canopy is up, just in case the weather takes a turn.
Or maybe you just dug up an extension cord and dragged your TV out to the backyard.
Either way, your outdoor movie night still needs the most important element: a good movie.
Here are 10 flicks that epitomize summer — think baseball, camp, vacations — plus alternatives if those movies aren’t thrilling your crowd.
Note: These movies are also plenty enjoyable indoors with the AC cranked up. No judgment here.
Second, more relevant note: In addition to the listed streaming services, all of these movies are available for rental or purchase on digital platforms.
“The Sandlot” (1993)

Best for: Those in need of a serious dose of nostalgia, or anyone who wants to share a childhood favorite with their kids. The movie, about a bunch of preteen baseball players who are scared of a very good dog, has held up pretty well, minus the part where Squints pretends to drown so he can make out with a lifeguard. Not cool, dude.
Or watch: “Rookie of the Year,” about a kid who breaks his arm and, after it heals, magically has the ability to hurl a baseball at 100 mph. Under the tutelage of Gary Busey, he becomes a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.
Where to stream: Starz
“The Goonies” (1985)

Best for: Those also in need of a serious dose of nostalgia, but who are slightly older than people who grew up watching “The Sandlot.” The movie, about a bunch of teens and preteens saving their town by finding pirate treasure, has also held up pretty well, minus all the fat-shaming Chunk goes through. Not cool, Goonies.
Or watch: “Muppet Treasure Island.” Sure, it’s not strictly a summer movie, but it’s got pirates and it’s enjoyable at any age.
Where to stream: HBO Max
“Wet Hot American Summer” (2001)

Best for: Anyone with a weird sense of humor. The cult comedy about counselors who save their camp from a piece of Skylab falling from the sky features tons of quotable lines and a bunch of rising stars, including Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Meloni and H. Jon Benjamin as a can of talking mixed vegetables.
Or watch: “Heavyweights.” The movie about campers at a fat camp revolting against their tyrannical counselor (Ben Stiller) is ... not that great, actually. But it’s a lot more family-friendly than “Wet Hot.”
Where to stream: Starz
“Grease” (1978)

Best for: Fans of musicals, summer and John Travolta. Pretty much every song from the movie is still annoyingly catchy.
Or watch: “Saturday Night Fever,” if you’d prefer for your John Travolta movie to come with a side of disco.
Where to stream: Available for digital rental or purchase
“Jaws” (1975)

Best for: Fans of Shark Week, or anyone in need of a good scare. Steven Spielberg’s movie, about a New England beach town that’s terrorized by a killer shark and politicians who want to ignore the killer shark, essentially invented the modern summer blockbuster.
Or watch: “Jurassic Park.” It’s not strictly a summer movie but, like “Jaws,” it does involve a lot of people being eaten.
Where to stream: HBO, HBO Max
“Dazed and Confused” (1993)

Best for: Anyone who wants to relive their high school days, assuming their high school days involved vicious hazing, hangouts at the drive-in and endless plays of Foghat’s “Slow Ride.”
Or watch: “Everybody Wants Some!!” Though it takes place in the fall, the movie — which follows a group of college baseball players — is essentially Richard Linklater’s spiritual sequel to “Dazed and Confused.” It does not feature Foghat’s “Slow Ride.”
Where to stream: Starz
“Dirty Dancing” (1987)

Best for: Anyone who dislikes being put in a corner. Or anyone who wants to watch people spend an entire summer practicing their dance moves.
Or watch: “Footloose,” the other seminal ’80s dance movie.
Where to stream: Amazon Prime, Hulu
“Caddyshack” (1980)

Best for: Fans of golf, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and animatronic gopher antics. It’s maybe the funniest sports movie ever made, or at least the funniest not named “Major League.”
Or watch: “Happy Gilmore,” another movie about a man-child (Adam Sandler) playing golf. At the very least, it’s got a great cameo from Bob Barker.
Where to stream: Fubo
“National Lampoon’s Vacation” (1983)

Best for: Anyone who’s had to cancel their summer vacation this year. Whether you were driving to Walley World or planning something else, hopefully this helps to fill the void.
Or watch: “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” It obviously doesn’t take place during summer, but what’s wrong with a little Christmas in July?
Where to stream: Fubo
“Independence Day” (1996)

Best for: Everyone. It’s a movie about Will Smith, President Bill Pullman and ’Merica saving the world from aliens.
Or watch: Why do you need an alternative for this one? Just watch “Independence Day.” It’s the ultimate summer movie. Stuff blows up, Will Smith is in his prime and Bill Pullman gives the greatest presidential speech in history. What’s not to like?
Where to stream: Fubo
10 movies destined for the Oscars that didn’t win a thing
Cats (2019)

All the pieces were there. An Oscar-winning director. Oscar-winning cast members. An original song by Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber. A screenplay based on a smash-hit musical about cats, an animal many people like and enjoy. How could it go possibly wrong?
Turns out, in several ways: crummy CGI, a paper-thin, nonsensical plot and some truly nightmarish imagery. (The visual of cat-Rebel Wilson eating human-faced cockroaches will haunt me for the rest of my days.) Even Swift and Webber’s song, the one seemingly sure thing in this movie, couldn’t garner a nomination.
Welcome to Marwen (2018)

Another weird CGI mess, this one from Robert Zemeckis, who’s directed such beloved films as the “Back to the Future” trilogy and best picture-winner “Forrest Gump.”
But he went deep, deep into the CGI uncanny valley with “Welcome to Marwen,” an adaptation of the documentary “Marwencol,” about a hate crime victim who copes with his trauma by building a miniature city. But while “Marwencol” attempts to explore the therapeutic value of art, “Welcome to Marwen” just mashes together courtroom drama with fantasy sequences where sexy dolls shoot at Nazis. It … doesn’t really work.
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2017)

“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” is a movie ahead of its time, in a way. Director Ang Lee — a two-time Oscar winner — filmed the movie in 4K HD at 120 frames per second, which is five times the frame rate of a standard film. And if that sounds like nonsense, all you really need to know is that the movie was filmed in a manner that’s so technologically advanced, virtually no theater could properly screen it. Moviegoers watching the film on standard screens typically found the high frame rate distracting and the movie difficult to follow.
Collateral Beauty (2016)

Maybe the poster child for “Oscar bait gone wrong,” the movie assembles an absolutely stacked cast (Will Smith, Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren) and completely wastes it on a plot that’s basically “A Christmas Carol” meets “Catfish.” The movie is laughably bad, and another Oscar misfire for Smith in the same vein as the equally maudlin “Seven Pounds.”
Stonewall (2015)

Oscar voters love a good true-story drama, especially when that true story involves people overcoming prejudice (see also: “Green Book.”) The 1969 Stonewall riots were a pivotal point in the gay rights movement, and the event seemed like prime subject matter for an Oscar-courting drama. Unfortunately, the director courting that Oscar was Roland Emmerich — he of such nuanced, introspective films as “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” “Stonewall” bombed at its festival premiere and never received a wide release.
The Monuments Men (2014)

Hollywood icon George Clooney writes, directs and stars in a World War II historical drama, and brings along Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Cate Blanchett. How could it fail? It didn’t take much, actually. Take a disjointed story about Allied soldiers tasked with saving art stolen by Nazis, add a few historical errors and … voilà!
The Counselor (2013)

Ridley Scott directs a movie written by Cormac McCarthy (“No Country for Old Men”) and casts Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt in it, and all anyone really remembers about it is a scene where Cameron Diaz has sex with a car. And no, that’s not hyperbole. That’s really all that needs to be said about this one.
Cloud Atlas (2012)

Probably the most polarizing movie on this list, “Cloud Atlas” stars three Oscar winners (Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Jim Broadbent) in its ensemble cast, and features a generations-spanning story that has most of the cast playing multiple roles. It’s kind of a mess, to put it lightly, though its visual elements were certainly Oscar-worthy. But the Academy stayed away from the film completely come nomination time.
J. Edgar (2011)

It’s a biopic! Directed by Clint Eastwood! Starring Leonardo DiCaprio! It’s basically catnip for Oscar voters, but they didn’t bite. Leo does his best, but the film doesn’t really have an interesting story to tell. Bad lighting and even worse makeup (seriously, Google “j edgar old age makeup”) don’t help matters.
Love & Other Drugs (2010)

In retrospect, it’s weird to think this movie would ever get Oscar consideration, but I guess 2010 was a different time. Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, five years removed from Oscar-nominated performances in “Brokeback Mountain,” star in a movie that basically chronicles the rise of Viagra (no pun intended). It sort of just ends up being a so-so rom-com, but with more nudity than usual.
402-444-3118, cory.gilinsky@owh.com