It’s another week with no wide releases and the trend doesn’t look to be stopping anytime soon.
Our Highest Rated Films: Out Stealing Horses
Our Best Awards Ratings: No consensus.
Black Water: Abyss (Limited)
Creem: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine (Limited)
SamSam (Limited)
Trump Card (Limited)
The Green Years (Virtual)
You Never Had It: An Evening With Bukowski (Virtual)
There was one wide release film scheduled for release this weekend (Unhinged), but like several others, it was pulled from release. All we have are limited releases this weekend.
Our Highest Rated Films: The Cuban
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
23 Walks (Limited)
Boys State (Limited)
The Fight (Limited)
A Most Beautiful Thing (Limited)
Rebuilding Paradise (Limited)
Save Yourselves! (Limited)
Another weekend of limited releases only with no end in sight.
Our Highest Rated Films: Amulet
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
Impetigore
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life
Yes, God, Yes
Another week of no releases sees yet more limited releases opening in scattered theaters. Here are our thoughts.
Our Highest Rated Films: The Painted Bird
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
The Grizzlies (Limited)
My Brothers’ Crossing (Limited)
Wide releases still appear to be on the distant horizon, but the uptick in coronavirus cases is no doubt worrisome to Hollywood studios and theaters alike. We’ll see if those currently scheduled for release in August will be moved again in the not-so-distant future.
Our Highest Rated Films: Palm Springs
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly (Virtual)
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Limited)
Guest Artist (Limited)
Olympia (Virtual)
Parallax (Limited)
The Rolling Stones Havana Moon (Limited)
The Tobacconist (Virtual)
Widow of Silence (Virtual)
With the July film landscape continuously changing (all of the impending wide releases have been moved into August), there’s just not much to choose fun. What’s most palpable is the sense of dread having a July 4 holiday weekend, especially with most people getting the Friday before off, vacant of new wide releases.
Our Highest Rated Films: The Truth
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
John Lewis: Good Trouble (Limited)
Denise Ho — Becoming the Song (Virtual)
Elliott Erwitt: Silence Sounds Good (Virtual)
Hollywood is still struggling to find a suitable pace at which to re-open production as well as release to the cinemas and those cinemas are likewise trying to figure out the best way to balance safety and profitability. We are seeing more theatrical releases than the prior three months, but wide releases have all been pushed back to the end of July at the earliest. That said, here is our look at limited releases coming this weekend, hopefully to a theater near you.
We do encourage you that if you cannot wait to see a movie in the theater again that you observe proper safety procedures where possible. Six at least 6 feet apart from all other patrons and wear a mask. If you want to buy popcorn or other treats, I would recommend waiting until after the movie and take them home with you rather than increasing your risk by taking off your mask to each while watching the film. That way the theaters still make some money off of their concession stands and you keep you and your families as safe as possible by avoiding unnecessary risks.
Our Highest Rated Films: House of Hummingbird
Our Best Awards Ratings: none
All I Can Say
The Transcendants
As theaters begin re-opening, we’re going to start highlighting what’s coming out in the following weeks. It will be a slow, but steady build back to what everyone had been expecting prior to the pandemic.
Creating a Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy
A Girl Missing
Guest Artist
Proud
Quarantine Cat Film Fest
Queen of Lapa
The Transcendents
Vampire Dad
Woman on the Beach
With theaters shut down, this article will go onto hiatus until everything normalizes.
With all of the wide releases being pushed out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s nothing to say what will be on top of the charts this week, but we know it won’t be a new wide release.
Our Highest Rated Films: The Infiltrators
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
Bull (Limited)
Chichinette: The Accidental Spy (Limited)
Children of the Sea (Limited)
The Climb (Limited)
The Conversation (Limited)
Deerskin (Limited)
Dino Dana: The Movie (Limited)
A Dog Called Money (Limited)
DOSED (Limited)
Draupadi Unleashed (Limited)
The Grizzlies (Limited)
Hooking Up (Limited)
Nina Wu (Limited)
Phoenix, Oregon (Limited)
To Your Last Death (Limited)
The Wolf House (Limited)
Four new films go up against the second weekend of Pixar’s Onward and it’s likely that one of them should be able to topple a film that had a rather unimpressive opening for a Pixar feature. Bloodshot is a sci-fi actioner starring Vin Diesel, which has some solid potential. The Hunt was held back from 2019 release due to a mass shooting and has only now been given the go ahead and could be an interesting test case of negative buzz bolstering a film’s performance. I Still Believe is the latest Christian-themed film to try and buck the recent pattern of poor performances. My Spy was also delayed from 2019, but not for a reason that makes sense, but because it probably wasn’t strong enough to open its previous window. Ultimately, the first two films on this list have the best potential of victory with Diesel’s film having the better shot due to his sizable box office bona fides. (Editor’s Note: This article’s deadline was prior to the announcement that My Spy would be pushed back again. I’ve removed that entry below, but left the references above.)
Our Highest Rated Films: Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Our Best Awards Ratings: No consensus
Cruel Peter (Limited)
The Dog Doc (Limited)
Human Nature (Limited)
A Kid From Coney Island (Limited)
Leona (Limited)
Lost Girls (Limited)
M.O.M. (Mothers of Monsters) (Limited)
Miss Fisher & The Crypt Of Tears (Limited)
My Senior Year (Limited)
The Postcard Killings (Limited)
Slay the Dragon (Limited)
Tuscaloosa (Limited)
There will be nothing stopping the latest Pixar effort from topping this week’s box office chart and the year’s biggest opening to date is likely.
Our Highest Rated Films: Onward, Sorry We Missed You
Our Best Awards Ratings: Onward (Oscars)
Baaghi 3 (Limited)
Bacurau (Limited)
The Booksellers (Limited)
The Burnt Orange Heresy (Limited)
The Dare (Limited)
Dark Star (Limited)
Dwitiyo Purush (Limited)
Go Back to China (Limited)
Heimat is a Space in Time (Limited)
King’s Gambit (Limited)
Like Harvey Like Son (Limited)
Made in Hong Kong (Limited)
Powerbomb (Limited)
The Wild Goose Lake (Limited)
The Invisible Man is the most likely winner of this final weekend of February with Emma expanding, but not doing much otherwise. The second weekends of Sonic the Hedgehog and Call of the Wild won’t likely amount to much.
Our Highest Rated Films: The Invisible Man, Straight Up
Our Best Awards Ratings: None
10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up (Limited)
Blood On Her Name (Limited)
Disappearance at Clifton Hill (Limited)
Greed (Limited)
Ik Sandhu Hunda Si (Limited)
Lost in America (Limited)
Ride (Limited)
Saint Frances (Limited)
Tread (Limited)
A White, White Day (Limited)
A new number one is likely with this week’s debut of Call of the Wild starring Harrison Ford. It’s an adaptation of a well known novel by Jack London and the previews definitely sell it as a one-of-a-kind adventure between a man and his dog. Unlike this week’s other debut, Brahms: The Boy II, Call of the Wild is an original with a beloved star tackling a young audience with families going in tow. That should be enough for it to pull off a number one finish.
Our Highest Rated Films: Emma
Our Best Awards Ratings: Emma (Oscars)
Acquitted by Faith (Limited)
Come and See (Limited)
Conundrum: Secrets Among Friends (Limited)
Corpus Christi (Limited)
Goldie (Limited)
Jinpa (Limited)
Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream (Limited)
Just One More Kiss (Limited)
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (Limited)
Power of the Air (Limited)
Premature (Limited)
Ride the Wave (Limited)
Seberg (Limited)
Shooter (Limited)
True Fiction (Limited)
Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations (Limited)
Vitalina Varela (Limited)
Young Ahmed (Limited)
Four films will attempt to win the weekend in the wake of the minor debut that was Birds of Prey. Fantasy Island and Sonic the Hedgehog have the most potential, though being Valentine’s weekend, The Photograph could pull in enough on Friday to top the others. Maybe, but doubtful. Sonic probably has a better shot because it will appeal to kids, but the film looks like a dud, which may be reflected in a decent Friday and a plummeting Saturday and Sunday. Fantasy Island promises to have a consistent weekend for a horror film with a strong open and a quick fade away.
Our Highest Rated Films: Ordinary Love
Our Best Awards Ratings: Ordinary Love (Oscars)
What About Love (Supposedly Wide)
After Parkland (Limited)
After Midnight (Limited)
Brown Paper Bag (Limited)
Camp Cold Brook (Limited)
Come As You Are (Limited)
The Cordillera of Dreams (Limited)
Enter the Fat Dragon (Limited)
First Lady (Limited)
I Wish I Knew (Limited)
Impossible Monsters (Limited)
The Innocent (Limited)
Olympic Dreams (Limited)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Limited)
Spy Intervention (Limited)
Sufna (Limited)
Those Who Remained (Limited)
The Times of Bill Cunningham (Limited)
Underneath the Same Moon (Limited)
Varane Avashyamund (Limited)
VFW (Limited)
World Famous Lover (Limited)
You Go to My Head (Limited)