Summer arts 2025: All you need to know for movies, concerts, food festivals and more
Here are all of the Tribune's guides and critics' picks for summer 2025. Our writers and critics make their Top 10 lists and recommendations for this season's TV, movies, music, theater, books, dance events, concerts, food festivals and more.
What's on Chicago stages this summer? Our list also includes 'Billie Jean' at Chicago Shakespeare and a new play by Kristofer Diaz. Read more from Chris Jones here.
Experiences, not exhibitions, are coaxing folks off their couches and into cultural institutions. Read more from Hannah Edgar here.
The Art Institute has a big summer show on Gustave Caillebotte, the Intuit Art Museum has reopened and 'The First Homosexuals' at Wrightwood 659 is not to be missed. That's just for starters. Read more from Lori Waxman here.
A look at 15 shows on tap in the summer months, when streaming is your best bet for new and returning series. Read more from Nina Metz here.
A new 'Superman,' a new 'Jurassic Park' sequel, plus a few genuinely new un-franchised hopefuls fill the summer 2025 movie calendar. Read more from Michael Phillips here.
Chicago summer looks to be as busy as ever, with classical and jazz programming packed with blockbusters. Read more from Hannah Edgar here.
There's also Cerqua Rivera, a weekend for emerging choreographers and the annual Dance for Life gala. Most of our selections are indoors, though you can find dance in the open air. Read more from Lauren Warnecke here.
'Someday, when I open a bookstore and the big bucks roll in, I'll display titles in narrow categories, ensuring no one finds anything and has to wander,' Christopher Borrelli writes. 'This summer survey will be my trial run.' Read more here.
Our picks for live music have the boldface names — Beyoncé, AC/DC, Lady Gaga and Oasis — as well as club dates and music festivals. Read the full list here.
Festivals are one of the best parts of summer in Chicago, ranging from blowout concerts to small neighborhood parties. Read more from Samantha Nelson here.
The Tribune Food team dives into patios across the city that are worth exploring, from recently opened spots to patios featuring pizza under sparkling lights. Read the full list here.
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an hour ago
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Dinosaur Journey offers prehistoric fun at Dino Day
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Jurassic Park story so far ahead of new film Jurassic World: Rebirth
The Jurassic Park franchise will soon return with a brand new story following new characters in a new setting in Jurassic World: Rebirth, but one that has a strong connection with its predecessors. Jurassic World: Rebirth is set five years after the events of Jurassic World: Dominion, and it follows a team of scientists who travel to a remote island that has been taken over by dinosaurs in order to extract DNA for groundbreaking medical research. Jonathan Bailey, Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali lead the cast of the exciting new film. While it is, for all intents and purposes, a rebirth for the franchise (pun very much intended), the film is impacted by the events of the movies that came before it. So for those in need of a refresher, here is what has happened in the franchise so far. The one that started it all, Jurassic Park sees wealthy businessman John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) invite paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neil), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to the tropical island Isla Nublar where he has built a park full of dinosaurs. In order to open it Hammond needs to complete a safety check with some of the best scientists in the business, or his funding will be pulled. The dinosaurs were brought back to life by cloning dinosaur DNA found in fossils and splicing it with the DNA of other animals. The result is spectacular but also, as it will soon become apparent, incredibly dangerous. At the park a tropical rainstorm hits leading to issues with the technology, computer programmer Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) claims he will get the park back online but really he plans to hack the database to stop anyone from foiling his plan — get out of the park with dino DNA that he can sell to the highest bidder. However, things start to take a turn when the dinosaurs escape their confines, with Dennis being killed by a venomous Dilophosaurus. While Alan, Ian, and John's grandkids Tim and Lex contend with a rampant Tyrannosaurus Rex. Ian is injured in the process while Alan and the kids manage to escape, as they try to piece their way back to the visitor centre Ellie helps get Ian to safety. After contending with many dangers, Alan and the kids make their way to the visitor centre which is still without power because of Dennis' hack (though Samuel L Jackson's engineer Ray Arnold is on the case) and Alan goes in search of Ellie. Unfortunately this leaves Tim and Lex on their own, where they must evade a group of Velociraptors. The pair manage to escape through some quick thinking in a kitchen, and they find their way back to the others in the control centre. Before everything can go wrong the remaining raptors are killed by the Tyrannosaurs Rex, giving the team enough time to escape. As the group leave the island via helicopter the scientists agree not to endorse the park. Only Goldblum of the main trio returned for Jurassic Park 2, subtitled The Lost World. Set four years after the original, Hammond (Attenborough) has lost control of his company InGen to Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) his nephew. Ludlow wants to exploit his uncle's work and use the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna — the second island owned by the company — to save it. In a bid to avoid disaster Hammond sends Ian and a crackpot team to go to the island and document the dinosaurs, so that they can persuade the powers that be to leave them alone. Ian heads to the island where he reconnects with his ex-girlfriend Sarah Harding (Julianna Moore) and Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), there they learn that Ludlow's plan is to capture the dinosaurs and ship them to San Diego where he intends to create a dinosaur theme park in Los Angeles. They face a number of obstacles along the way, including several terrifying dinosaurs. Ian, Sarah, and Nick try their best to dissuade Ludlow from taking the dinosaurs to San Diego, and after a Tyrannosaurs Rex manages to run rampant throughout the city the trio are forced to try and capture it. The mistake leads to any plans for the park to be scrapped, with the dinosaurs taken back to Isla Sorna which is declared a nature reserve by the American and Costa Rican government. It was Neil and Dern's time to return with 2001's Jurassic Park III, which sees Alan Grant tasked with helping a divorced couple who will fund Alan's research into Velociraptors, which has hit a dead in the years since the original, if he gives them a guided aerial tour of Isla Sorna. Alan and his assistant Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola) head to the island alongside the couple and a number of others where it is revealed that the divorced couple Paul and Amanda Kirby actually wanted Alan to help find their missing son and Amanda's boyfriend Ben Hildebrand who were illegally parasailing on the island. The group encounter the likes of a Spinosaurus and Tyrannosaurus along the way, learning that Ben was killed above a Velociraptor nest. When he is separated from the group Alan encounters Eric, who saves his life from raptors, and the duo try to reunite with his parents. It turns out that Billy stole Velociraptor eggs which is why they were attacked, later in the film the raptors take their eggs back after Alan successfully confuses them while they try to kill the group. After reclaiming their eggs they retreat, giving Alan and the group the window they need to get off the island — but not before Alan dreams of a raptor calling out his name. In 2015 the Jurassic Park franchise was rebooted with Jurassic World, which takes place on Isla Nublar 22 years after the original film. The Jurassic Park as Hammond envisioned it has come to fruition, though this time is is called Jurassic World. The park has been up and running for years, but when a genetically spliced dinosaur the Indominus rex escapes from its enclosure and goes on a rampage everything starts to go awry. Brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) get caught in the chaos whilst visiting their aunt Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) who is operations manager of Jurassic World. Claire asks Navy veteran and ethologist Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) for his help to get them to safety. Owen has been working in the park to train Velociraptors into a squad with Blue, Charlie, Delta, and Echo listening to his commands, and InGen want to weaponise the creatures but he is determined not to make that happen. As Claire and Owen search the park they evade the Indominus by the skin of their teeth, with the creature's rampage leading to a number of dinosaurs escaping their confines and attacking the guests. The good news is that Claire and Owen find her nephews and take them to safety. With the Indominus on the loose, Owen agrees to use his raptor squad to try and stop the beast and all but Blue perish in the process. In order to stop the dinosaur Claire decides to take matters into her own hands, and lets loose the Tyrannosaurus Rex which battles the Indominus. The T-Rex is overpowered but the battle gives Blue the chance she needs in order to recover and attack the Indominus, and the two dinosaurs work together to defeat the genetically enhanced creature. They ultimately win when the Indominus is dragged underwater by another dinosaur. Six months after the events of the first Jurassic World movie a mercenary team travel to Isla Nublar in order to extract DNA from the Indominus Rex. While many of the team are killed by dinosaurs, some successfully escape with the DNA sample giving scientists Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) the tools he needs to create an all new dinosaur. Cut to three years later and the US government are considering whether to save the dinosaurs who live on the island, and whose lives are threatened by an impeding volcanic eruption. Dr Ian Malcolm returns to tell them all that the dinosaurs are meant to be extinct and this event shows that "life finds a way" to redress the balance. Claire wants to protect the creatures after establishing a dinosaur sanctuary, but officials vote not to save the animals. However, she is invited to the home of John Hammond's former partner Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) who tells her of his plan to bring some of the dinosaurs to his own personal sanctuary and he asks Claire for her help. Claire enlists the help of Owen to complete the rescue mission, particularly to find Velociraptor Blue, however while they are on the island they are betrayed and left to die with an injured Blue taken captive by mercenary Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine) who also takes paleo-veterinarian Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda) with him to save the animal's life. Owen and Claire manage to sneak onto a ship full of captured dinosaurs headed for Lockwood's manor, and the remaining dinosaurs are killed by the volcanic eruption. At the estate it is revealed that the dinosaurs aren't intended for a sanctuary but will be sold on the black market, and that Dr Wu created a new Indominus Rex that has been genetically cloned with Velociraptor DNA — but it's only a prototype and he hoped to use Blue's DNA to make it susceptible to commands. At the auction, Owen and Claire work towards creating a distraction so they can stop the dinosaurs from being shipped off to private clients. During the chaos the Indominus Rex prototype goes on a rampage and it's up to Blue to try and stop the creature — the pair battle atop the glass roof of the building and fall through it with the Indominus impaled. Blue survives the encounter, and while someone tries to make off with a tooth from the Indominus the man is eaten by a T-Rex and the DNA sample trampled on. The dinosaurs in the estate manage to escape, leaving humanity to try and find a way to co-exist with dinosaurs. Four years have passed since the Lockwood Estate incident and dinosaurs now roam freely on Earth, and in a bid to control them a dinosaur preserve has been established in Italy's Dolemites by Biosyn Genetics where genomic research is conducted ostensibly for pharmacological purposes. Claire, Zia and Franklin Webb (Justice Smith) work towards exposing illegal dinosaur breeding, while Owen helps rescue and relocate stray dinosaurs. Claire and Owen live in a secluded mansion with Lockwood's biogenetic granddaughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon), who leaves the safety of their home with the asexually-produced baby of Velociraptor Blue, named Beta, and are kidnapped. It's up to Claire and Owen to save Maisie. Meanwhile, the original trilogy's trio Neil, Dern and Goldblum return as Alan, Ellie and Ian, who now work towards exposing the truth about Biosyn Genetics and what they are doing. Biosyn are genetically engineering locusts using dinosaur DNA in a bid to dominate the world's food supply, forcing Dr Wu to make this a reality despite his protestations that it will cause an ecological collapse. Dr Wu meets Maisie and reveals that his former colleague Dr. Charlotte Lockwood used her DNA to create an exact genetic copy of herself, Maisie, who she could give birth to. He reveals that Maisie and Beta's asexual conception could be key to stopping the locusts if he creates a pathogen with their DNA. Ellie, Alan and Ian reunite in Biosyn where they plan to get a DNA sample from the locusts to uncover the conspiracy, with CEO Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) trying to get away with dinosaur embryos in order to continue his research. When Claire and Ellie manage to stop him from escaping he is killed by a trio of dinosaurs, while the characters from both the original and sequel trilogy unite in order to save Maisie and Beta. The group succeed but not before some locusts escape a blaze started by Dodgson and start a wildfire, they and Wu manage to escape Biosyn whilst dodging a number of dinosaur encounters and reunite Blue with Beta. Dominion ends with Ian testifying against Biosyn and Wu releasing a locust hosting a pathogen that will be able to eradicate the locust swarms that escaped Biosyn. The film ends with man and dinosaur finding a way to co-exist peacefully, with Biosyn Valley deemed a dinosaur sanctuary. Jurassic World: Rebirth premieres in UK cinemas on Wednesday, 2 July.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
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Choose Chicago launches new marketing campaign: Never Done. Never Outdone.
Chicago, that toddlin' town with the big shoulders, is ready to rebrand itself through a new slogan and marketing campaign aimed at driving tourists, businesses and even locals to explore the second city. Developed over more than a year of listening sessions, focus groups, research and spitballing with creative agencies, the new campaign was unveiled by Choose Chicago on Thursday. The city's tourism arm is hoping it has found a way to sum up and sell Chicago to the world in four words: 'Never Done. Never Outdone.' The city's new branding will launch at home and abroad as summer ushers in Chicago's busiest tourist season. The rollout also coincides with the U.S. Travel Association's IPW 2025 trade show, which returns to McCormick Place this weekend for the first time in a decade, providing an influential international test audience for the new campaign. 'I think it's going to change the narrative for Chicago,' Kristen Reynolds, Choose Chicago's new president and CEO, told the Tribune. Destined for everything from billboards and social media to TV, the campaign is being introduced with a 60-second spot featuring fast-moving vignettes of the city, from obligatory overhead shots of the 'L' to street festivals, sporting events and skyscrapers. The video is narrated by award-winning Chicago poet J. Ivy, who touts the people and places in the 'greatest city in the world.' The campaign, which is slated to run locally, nationally and internationally, incorporates the red stars and colors of the Chicago flag, and features scenes of people making doughnuts, running by the lakefront and partying en masse at a live concert. The ads include slogans such as 'outwork,' 'outplay' and 'outlast,' sounding very much like the tagline from the 'Survivor' TV show. Reynolds, who took the helm at Choose Chicago in May after previously serving in the same role at Discover Long Island, didn't take credit for the campaign, but added a few last-minute tweaks and gave her stamp of approval to 'Never Done. Never Outdone.' 'The first part really is about evolution and always staying and innovating and keeping current,' Reynolds said. 'And then never outdone is really dropping that Midwestern humble and bringing some of that New York City swagger in here, and being able to say, we're the best at what we do, and we're going to work harder and we won't settle.' Choose Chicago has an annual marketing budget of about $4 million — far less than comparable cities such as Boston. But Reynolds said the campaign will find its way out into the world through paid and earned media, and partnered with other Chicago institutions. Target domestic markets will include Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and New York City, while international focus will be on Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Choose Chicago created the new marketing campaign in collaboration with local agencies including Envisionit, Agents of Slang, October Productions, Word and Soul, and Chu Batsaihan. The branding was developed with MMGY Global, which works with many destination marketing organizations. Successfully branding a city can significantly boost visibility and tourism, searing memorable taglines into the collective unconscious of potential visitors. A good example is 'What happens here, stays here,' the ubiquitous Las Vegas slogan which has captured the essence of the city's appeal in countless commercials since its introduction in 2003. The slogan was updated in 2020 to 'What happens here, only happens here.' Chicago, which has accumulated a number of slogans over the years from sources both literary and cultural, has evolved from 'hog butcher for the world' to a diverse world city, a major convention and tourism destination, and an international business center. But recent attempts at rebranding have not quite stuck. In 2015, Choose Chicago introduced 'Chicago Epic,' a bold national TV campaign recasting the city as a hotbed of music festivals, hipsters, fine dining and shopping. At the time, officials said the slogan 'Chicago Epic' would become as famous as 'I Love New York.' It didn't. In 2022, a pandemic-battered city launched 'Chicago Not in Chicago,' a low-budget guerrilla marketing campaign touting a long list of homegrown innovations — from the cellphone and the coffee maker to the skyscraper — that changed the world, but with little credit given to Chicago. Despite the campaign, for the most part, the world has yet to thank us. Officials nonetheless have high hopes for the new slogan and marketing campaign. 'I am proud of the work our colleagues at Choose Chicago have done in developing this new campaign,' Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a news release Thursday. 'I'm confident it will ultimately share an authentic depiction of our city and convey the open-minded, welcoming spirit of Chicagoans.' Chicago seeing fewer international travelers, but local hotels still expect 'solid' summer Tourism in Chicago is on the rise, with the city welcoming 55.3 million visitors in 2024, up 6.5% year-over-year and setting a post-pandemic high, according to data released last month by Choose Chicago. But economic and political headwinds may make it hard to match that total this year, with tariffs, civil unrest and international backlash to President Donald Trump's policies and bluster potentially tamping down tourism. Choose Chicago is nonetheless projecting a strong summer tourism season, with events such as upcoming Premier League soccer exhibitions and the NASCAR Chicago Street Race setting the pace in July. While the budget is limited, Choose Chicago will remain nimble in targeting markets — domestic and international — for the best chance to get a return on investment, Reynolds said. A newer market she has her sites set on is Phoenix, hoping to lure Chicago expatriates and transplanted Californians to visit from the 'Valley of the Sun.' As to the new campaign, Reynolds expects the 'Never Done. Never Outdone' slogan to become ubiquitous, including buy-in from Chicagoans, who provide the bulk of recreational activity during the winter months. Chicago saw a boost in tourism last year. Will the pope be a blessing in 2025? 'This is a campaign that we're hoping the entire community embraces and you're going to see it so much that it's going to be second nature,' Reynolds said. If the new marketing campaign doesn't resonate, the city's image may still get a boost from divine intervention — the selection of south suburban Dolton native Robert Francis Prevost as the first American pope. On Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV was photographed sporting a White Sox cap at the Vatican, spreading the gospel of Chicago around the world. rchannick@
