Spring is here, the weather is changing and it even looks as though the horrible pandemic could be in the rearview mirror in the near future. In the meantime, there are plenty of movies arriving for those needing some entertainment. A few of the films will still be premiering on streaming platforms, but others will also be arriving at drive-ins and open theaters. So, let’s go through some of the flicks coming your way in the next few weeks.
Please be aware that release dates are still being shifted around (especially with theaters slowly reopening), so a couple may be bumped back to a later date.
Those preferring to stay indoors this weekend can check out the Netflix release of Thunder Force with Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, and Jason Bateman. The comedy follows a scientist who finds a way to give incredible powers to regular folk. She and her best friend decide to use the discovery to become superheroes and save Chicago from a sinister threat.
IFC Films is presenting the drama Monday as an option to order for online streaming on April 16. Sebastian Stan and Denise Gough play two vacationers who fall for each other while traveling in Greece and must determine whether or not their relationship is more than a casual fling. You can also check out the foreign-language Japanese drama Ride or Die on Netflix, which follows two women who fall for each other as one of the two helps the other escape from an abusive husband. This streaming service is also premiering an original animated film called Arlo, the Alligator Boy.
The tale depicts a humanoid gator who heads out to the big city to try to reconnect with his estranged father.
Warner Brothers has been very happy with the box office success of the monster movie, Godzilla vs. Kong. On April 23, they’ll try to keep the cash rolling in with their remake of a popular martial arts movie and video game franchise. Mortal Kombat will be opening at theaters and should also be available to subscribers of HBO Max. The same weekend, Neon is releasing the pandemic horror film In the Earth from British writer/director Ben Wheatley (Rebecca, Free Fire).
The Asset is an action movie from Lionsgate about a pair of spies teaming up to thwart the person who killed their mentor.
This effort stars Maggie Q, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Keaton, and is directed by Martin Campbell (The Foreigner, Casino Royale, The Legend of Zorro, Goldeneye).
The same weekend, those who have subscribed to Paramount+ will be able to access Cher and the Loneliest Elephant. A group of documentarians follow the celebrity around as she heads to Islamabad and tries to free an elephant from captivity. And Netflix is delivering a big science-fiction thriller called Stowaway, in which Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette play astronauts who find their lives in danger while on a mission to Mars.
April 30 is an even busier time. Limbo from Focus Features is a quirky drama set in Scotland about a musician and Syrian refugee waiting for his case to be processed. Amazon Prime is presenting the thriller, Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse. It features Michael B. Jordan as a Navy SEAL tasked with stopping a villain from triggering a war between the U.S. and Russia.
Netflix is presenting the animated family feature The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which involves a family trying to stop a robot invasion. The impressive voice talent includes Eric Andre, Olivia Colman, Maya Rudolph, Danny McBride, Fred Armisen and many others. The streaming service also has a new psychological horror flick called Things Heard and Seen with Amanda Seyfried. And Magnolia is making the eccentric Swedish drama About Endlessness available to rent online.
The following month will get off to a rollicking start on May 7 with the Jason Statham action picture Wrath of Man from United Artists, which will likely be premiering at open cinemas. And IFC Films is handling the release of the independent feature Mainstream from Gia Coppola, granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) and niece of Sofia Coppola (On the Rocks, Lost in Translation).
As the month continues, a couple of Hollywood studios are hoping to release some high-profile titles. On May 14, the horror picture Spiral will be coming your way from Lionsgate. This is a new feature in the Saw series that stars Chris Rock as a cop who goes up against a psychotic criminal mastermind. Cruella, a spin-off of 101 Dalmatians, stars Emma Stone as the villainess and is slated for theatres on May 28.
Those who have Disney+ will also be able to stream it through their service for an extra fee. And Paramount is still hoping to release the horror sequel A Quiet Place: Part II in cinemas at the end of the month.
Things are beginning to pick up as we creep closer to summer. So be ready for plenty of new movies hitting streaming services (and if we’re lucky, theaters) in the near future!
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By Glenn Kay
For the Sun
