by Gabriel Storment (@SeaStorm24)

We’re one month in to the official Summer Movie Season, so I thought it might be a good time to kick off the inaugural Summer Movie Scoreboard. Instead of tracking meaningless metrics like box office receipts, audience demographics, or aggregate critic reviews, this Summer Movie Scoreboard tracks who’s having a good summer or bad summer based on the movies that have been released in theaters. This isn’t limited to the actors in those movies, as you’ll see.

For the purposes of this year’s Summer Movie Scoreboard, we’re including movies that debuted in theaters on or after April 1^st in order to include Furious 7. Any summer movie list would be incomplete without it.

THE GOOD

Pitch Perfect 2

Those plucky Bellas stormed out of the gate to a $70 million opening weekend. Some people claimed to be surprised by those numbers since PP2 shared the same May 15^th release date as Mad Max: Fury Road. I don’t want to be too harsh, but those people are idiots. Not only did it compete, PP2 almost doubled Fury Road’s weekend take. It’s almost as if women enjoy going to the theater. I saw Fury Road and PP2 on consecutive nights, and judging by the crowds I had to wade through, I’m honestly surprised the numbers weren’t more lopsided. [Read the original Pitch Perfect script]

Dwayne “THE ROCK” Johnson

The Rock is, without a doubt, the most likeable of all the Wrestlemania-Champions-turned-box-office-superstars. He’s 6’5” and 260 pounds of chiseled Samoan charisma. I always feel the need to do push-ups after I see him, whether he’s in a movie, doing an interview, or hosting SNL.

And this guy is always working. With two huge movies already under his belt this summer in Furious 7 (4/1) and San Andreas (5/29), he has no plans to slow down. His HBO series, Ballers, premiers in June. This guy is busier than the PR team at TLC.

Mad Max: Fury Road

My goodness, this movie. Thanks to the three previous Mad Max movies starring Mel Gibson, audiences were already familiar with George Miller’s post-apocalyptic wasteland. So when the movie starts, it’s okay that there’s barely enough time to look around before the action starts.

And that action. At first I thought it would be a disservice to describe it as a two hour car chase through the desert, but that’s exactly what it is, and it’s brilliant. Since each sequence brings a new set of challenges, the action never gets repetitive and the tension never lets up. I saw Fury Road twice, first in 2D and then in 3D. I honestly can’t say one format is better than the other, but this movie absolutely must be seen on the big screen.

Note: My only disappointment from this movie is that my idea for a sequel, Too Fast, Too Furiosa, didn’t get much traction on Twitter. I’m just ahead of my time.

Marvel

For audiences, the anticipation for Avengers: Age of Ultron exceeded the realization somewhat. The primary complaint seems to have been that there were just too many storylines and subplots to squeeze into one movie. [Read the script for The Avengers.]

I think Joss Whedon did a pretty incredible job, considering he had to find room for Ironman, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Fury. Oh, and then introduce Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and The Vision and establish Ultron as the villain. That’s like trying to cobble together a coherent all-star buddy cop movie using the characters from 48 Hours, Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, Men in Black, and Turner & Hooch.

Even with less than stellar reviews, Ultron is still on pace to be one of the highest grossing movies of all time. With Ant Man still on tap for release in July, Marvel doesn’t look to be losing any momentum. Sorry DC, but for the foreseeable future, it’s a Marvel Cinematic Universe, and we’re all just living in it.

THE BAD

Tomorrowland

Less than positive reviews consistently pointing to the muddled plot and a preachy third act proved to be enough for Disney’s kid-friendly fantasy to land with a thud at the box office. A $40 million opening was enough to outpace Pitch Perfect 2 in its second weekend, but just barely. Without context, that number doesn’t sound too bad, but with a $190 million budget, a more resounding debut was needed. Now it’s a relative longshot to break even.

Tomorrowland’s weak tally is a blow to people who want Hollywood to produce more original material. It represented one of the summer’s only big budget releases that didn’t belong to an already-established film property. Despite some great performances, action sequences, and special effects that are really well done, studio execs will no doubt focus on Tomorrowland’s bottom line and conclude that people just don’t want to see new, original stories. You know, “original” stories based on lands found in Disneyland.

Poltergeist

This one smarts. I’m not the biggest fan of the horror genre, but I did enjoy the original. I’m more saddened by any negative effect the remake’s poor showing may have on Sam Rockwell’s career. I’ve written about my love for Gary Oldman and his ability to embody any character. Rockwell isn’t the chameleon Oldman is, but he possesses a similar quality in that he makes every movie he’s in better. Especially when he dances.

Consensus among critics seems to be that Poltergeist didn’t take any chances and there were no significant breaks from the original. So what was the point of remaking it?

There’s a growing chorus of movie fans requesting that, as long as studios are dead set on remaking everything, they should focus on remaking the movies that didn’t work the first time. Robocop, Total Recall, Footloose? All successful films the first time out whose remakes fell flat with audiences. On the other hand, movies like Dredd, Batman Begins, and Casino Royale reinvigorated known characters and stories that had either not landed with fans in the first place or had grown stale and needed to be taken in a new direction.

Hot Pursuit

I’m not sure how much was really expected of this one, but so far it’s in the lead for worst movie of the summer. It’s one thing if a comedy just doesn’t work. It’s another if it actively annoys the audience, which seems to be the case here.

Since we get so few of them, it’s unfortunate when a female-driven comedy misses the mark. On the other hand, when James Franco and Seth Rogan release a stinker, it’s not a big deal because they’ll have another one out in a few months. Adding to the disappointment on this one is that Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara have proven comedy chops, Witherspoon with films like Election and Legally Blonde and Vergara with Modern Family.

So far, the summer is off to a good start. We’ve seen a lot of action, some comedy, some drama, and even a little seedy underworld a cappella competition with the Green Bay Packers. No telling what will happen in June, although, based on the movies scheduled for release, I have a hunch there will be a few more entries in the “Bad” section.

Until the next Summer Movie Scoreboard…

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Gabriel Storment is an aspiring screenwriter, husband and father of two little hellraisers. He is based in Seattle and can be found on Stage 32, Twitter, and Facebook.