By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
With all eyes on the 98th Academy Awards, which air on Sunday, March 15th, little attention is being paid to new theatrical releases. While there won’t be many to choose from, there will be a few major releases to keep an eye on as potential must-see films. Consider it the month of female driven action/horror. Here’s a look at the biggest releases this month.
March 6th
Make way for the first highly anticipated film of the year. Here comes “The Bride!,” a new take on an old classic that has some of the best actors in the business. Headlined by potential Oscar winner Jessie Buckley and Oscar winner Christian Bale, this horror infused romance takes inspiration from the 1935 film, “The Bride of Frankenstein.” With such a monstrous cast and a trailer that gives a “Bonnie and Clyde” vibe, this looks to be not only a must-see, but one that could potentially contend for end of the year awards.
If you’re looking for more of a family-oriented film, then check out “Hoppers,” which bounces into theaters on this day as well. This is the latest animation from Disney/Pixar and is about an avid animal lover whose consciousness is transferred into a robotic beaver to get hands on experience in the animal world. Hopefully, there’s enough comedy and heartfelt messaging to appeal to audiences of all ages, but this will be the best animated option this month.
March 13th
With it being Friday the 13th, a horror film is a necessity this week. “Undertone” is an independent supernatural horror film that earned a spot at the coveted Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and has been hailed by many to be one of the scariest movies made in recent years. That’s high praise for a first-time feature film director, so we’ll see if it lives up to it, but it was picked up by A24, so maybe the hype is accurate.
“Reminders of Him” offers a dramatic alternative this week. Based on the book from Colleen Hoover, the same author of “It Ends with Us,” this movie promises romance born of tragedy. The film doesn’t exactly feature an A-list cast, and it has the potential to be the equivalent of a Lifetime movie, so wait for some reviews before committing to seeing this in the theaters. At least this Colleen Hoover adaptation doesn’t have the off-screen controversy surrounding it like that aforementioned film.
March 20th
Ready for a sci-fi space adventure? “Project Hail Mary” hits theaters this day and should be a big budget blockbuster that has a good chance of taking the lead for best box office this year so far. It’s based on the novel by Andy Weir, and if that name sounds familiar, he’s the same author who wrote the award-winning “The Martian.” Another point in this film’s favor is having the talented Ryan Gosling in the lead, but the cute little rock alien he interacts with could make the movie overly cheesy.
Offering up some quality competition this week is the sequel to the surprise hit from 2019. “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” is a splatter horror that promises double the kills and double the laughs with the same two directors behind the wheel. Samara Weaving also reprises her role, and she was spectacular the first the time around, so this should be more of the same. This is one of the safer bets of the month for an entertaining spectacle.
March 27th
Continuing the trend of female led one-person army flicks is “They Will Kill You,” which seems to have an all-too similar plot to “Ready or Not.” It’s again a situation in which a woman is stuck in a massive building where all its residents are attempting to kill her to satisfy some satanic sacrifice, and it is layered with splatter horror and dark comedy. This time it is Zazie Beetz in the lead role, who was most recently in “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.” This one is far from being a sure thing, so it will be better to wait for reviews first.
