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Coming to a theater near you

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It’s almost the end of the summer, which means that movie studios are gearing up for the fall season. As such, the next couple of weeks feature titles that aren’t quite being screened early enough for this reviewer to cover (this doesn’t necessarily mean that the pictures themselves are bad, but some aren’t getting quite as big of a marketing push as efforts from June or July). So, it seems like a good time to have a look at what is coming soon to theaters. As always, please remember that releases can change rather suddenly, so one or two may bounce to another date.

Aug. 2 sees the arrival of a live-action adaptation of a beloved children’s classic. Harold and the Purple Crayon from Sony Pictures stars Zachary Levi as a grown-up Harold who decides to leave the pages of his book for the real New York City. It eventually turns out that sinister forces want to take the magical plum crayon for themselves.

Sony Pictures Classic is putting out Kneecap in limited release. It’s a dark comedy loosely based on the story of a real band from Northern Ireland who attempt to make a name for themselves rapping in traditional Irish Gaelic. The film has generated a great deal of buzz in indie film circles.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is an animated spin-off of SpongeBob SquarePants that provides a deeper backstory for the Sandy Cheekscharacter. This family effort will be available to stream on Netflix.

And Trap from Warner Bros. is the latest thriller from M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Visit, Split, Knock at the Cabin). Josh Hartnett plays a dad who tries to impress his daughter by taking her to see her favorite pop singer in concert, only to learn that police have surrounded the building and are searching the arena for a serial killer.

 

On Aug. 9, Lionsgate is releasing Borderlands, a video-game adaptation about an outlaw who teams with mercenaries and oddballs to locate her daughter. It seems that she holds the secret to a source of power that could save the universe from an alien attack. The cast includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Bobby Lee, Jack Black, Gina Gershon, Jamie Lee Curtis and many more.

The same weekend, Neon is presenting the chiller Cuckoo, which involves a teen who moves to the German Alps with her father, only to experience disturbing phenomena. And if you’re looking for a small, coming-of-age festival hit, you can try to find Didi from Focus Features. It tells the story of a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy trying to find his way in the world.

The Instigators is a comedy with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck as a pair of thieves whose latest heist goes wrong. They take their therapist along with them while on the lam, hoping to work through their personal problems in the process. Apple Studios produced the film and are giving it a one-week run at theaters before it debuts everywhere Aug. 9 on the AppleTV+ streaming platform.

It Ends with Us is a Colleen Hoover romance novel that topped bestseller lists in 2016. Sony will be releasing the film adaptation with Blake Lively as a florist in an abusive relationship.

20th Century Studios is opening a sequel in one of their most famous franchises on Aug. 16. Alien: Romulus follows a group of space colonists who encounter the deadly, acid-blooded monsters. The timeline for this story is somewhere between the original Alien and Aliens, but recent rumors suggest there are connections to Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

If you follow independent cinema and don’t mind driving great distances, you may be able to find a screening of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut from Drafthouse Films.

The original Caligula was a notorious 1979 epic about the corrupt Roman emperor. Directed by famed writer Gore Vidal, it features Malcolm McDowell, John Gielgud, Peter O’Toole and Helen Mirren. Shockingly, financier Bob Guccione (publisher of Penthouse) notoriously took control of the film away from Vidal, re-edited and reshot elements, and then inserted X-rated sex scenes into the picture. After 45 years and the discovery of 100 hours of lost footage, Vidal’s original version has been completely reassembled and is premiering at cinemas. It will be on digital platforms and on disc in the coming months.

If you’re looking for some family entertainment, you can seek out My Penguin Friend from Roadside Attractions. Jean Reno plays a loner fisherman who discovers an oil-covered penguin and tries to help the animal. In the process, the two become inseparable friends.

The Union is an action/comedy set for a streaming release on Netflix the same day. Mark Wahlberg plays a construction worker who is recruited by his high school sweetheart turned secret agent to help her on a mission. Halle Berry plays the ex.

The Brandon Lee cult film The Crow has been remade and it’s appearing in theaters on Aug. 23. Bill Skarsgard takes on the role of a man who returns from the dead to take revenge on the individuals who killed both him and the woman he loved. Lionsgate is releasing this redo.

This day also sees the Sony Pictures Classics comedy Between the Temples arrive in limited release. It involves a Jewish cantor going through a crisis of faith. The man gets a surprise when his grade school music teacher attends his class hoping he’ll help with her Bat Mitzvah.

The thriller Blink Twice follows a tech billionaire who invites a waitress to a dream vacation gathering with him and his friends. Things quickly take a sinister turn and she begins to fear for her life. Channing Tatum plays the billionaire and it’s arriving in cinemas on Aug. 23 from Amazon MGM Studios.

Sony is releasing the faith-based drama The Forge which follows a teen trying to choose a path in life. The kids in the comedy Incoming are interested in far raunchier activities as they try to figure out how to be cool while attending their first high-school house party. This title will be available to stream on Netflix.

Independent distributor A24 is also putting out the drama Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo. He plays a man wrongly accused of a crime he didn’t commit. He finds some happiness in prison after joining a theater group with other inmates.

The month ends with Sony debuting the thriller Afraid on Aug. 30 from indie horror company Blumhouse Productions. It’s about a family who are selected to live in a new home with A.I. They agree, only to be tormented by the artificial lifeform after it takes control of their abode. Jon Cho plays the patriarch of the new residents.

You can also stream The Deliverance on Netflix the same weekend. It’s an exorcist-themed chiller about a mother under great duress when her children become possessed by demonic forces. The cast includes Andra Day, Glenn Close and Mo’Nique.

As the month of September arrives, some higher profile titles begin to appear. The Tim Burton sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will debut on Sept. 6 from Warner Bros. Winona Ryder returns as a middle-aged Lydia Deetz, who is shocked to learn that her teenage daughter has opened up a portal to the afterlife and released Beetlejuice. Jenna Ortega plays the newest member of the family and Micheal Keaton returns as the supernatural bio-exorcist.

The same day, A24 will premiere the R-rated horror film The Front Room, about a struggling pregnant woman who have to spend time with her terrifying mother-in-law who believes she has paranormal powers.

Rebel Ridge is a thriller from Netflix involving a standoff between an ex-marine trying to post bail for his cousin and a possibly corrupt police chief. The cast includes Aaron Pierre and Don Johnson.

On Sept. 13, Lionsgate is set to debut The Killer’s Game, an action/comedy with Dave Bautista. He plays an assassin diagnosed with a terminal illness. The protagonist puts out a contract on himself and must then square off against old colleagues.

Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions are releasing Speak No Evil the same weekend. This is a remake of a well-regarded Dutch psychological horror film about a family who are invited by loose acquaintances to their isolated country home. Things get very awkward and even dangerous when the leads find the owners probing them with disturbing questions. James McAvoy takes the lead in the new edition.

The science-fiction film The Uglies is arriving on Netflix the same week. It’s based on a 2005 young adult novel set in a world where teens must undergo mandatory plastic surgery on their 16th birthday to be pretty. A young girl rebels against the procedure as the big day nears. His Three Daughters is also set to stream on Netflix on Sept. 20. This drama stars Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as siblings who return home to care for their elderly father.

Transformers One is an animated action film based on the popular Hasbro toy line. It’s an origin story about the robots that ultimately shows the rise of the heroic Optimus Prime and sinister Megatron. Paramount Pictures is releasing the movie September 20th. and Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm provide the voices.

A “fixer” is an individual who cleans up crimes and makes large problems disappear. In the action/comedy Wolfs, two cantankerous experts are called in to handle the disposal of the same body and are forced to partner with each other when major issues arise. Sony and Apple Studios teamed up for this big release that teams George Clooney and Brad Pitt together onscreen for the first time since 2008 (in the film Burn After Reading).

The end of the month ends with even more major titles. On Sept. 27, the dramatic biopic Lee will arrive from Roadside Attractions. The movie stars Kate Winslett as noted World War II photographer Lee Miller.

Legendary 85-year-old filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather series, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Bram Stoker’s Dracula) recently completed his self-financed epic Megalopolis starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and many other familiar faces. Lionsgate has picked up the North American distribution rights and it will open at cinemas on this day. The story is about a time-manipulating architect trying to rebuild a decaying city into a modern utopia.

As counterprogramming, the same studio is releasing the survival-horror picture Never Let Go the same weekend.

And Universal Pictures is putting out the animated science-fiction feature The Wild Robot, which is based on a popular children’s book series. The plot involves a robot that finds itself alone on an uninhabited island. It becomes a friend and protector to the animal life there.

There’s plenty of interesting material arriving over the next couple of months, so let’s hope much of it ends up being as good as it sounds!

VISIT: WWW.CINEMASTANCE.COM

By Glenn Kay
For the Sun