Brian Truitt
USA TODAY
Published 8:51 PM EDT Mar 18, 2020
Cinephiles have been left scrambling in the wake of coronavirus, with movie theaters closed all over the country. Then there are the films themselves completely yanked off the release calendar: The ninth “Fast and Furious” installment was postponed all the way to next year and other potential blockbusters like “Mulan” and “Black Widow” are currently in limbo.
But all is not lost in terms of new releases in the time of social distancing. You’ll just have to make your own popcorn and fire up your favorite at-home device.
Smaller films and indie projects with digital releases are staying put, and there’s often a diamond to be discovered in non-mainstream fare. Plus, Universal is one studio that understands the untapped potential of internet streaming (and fans needing their movie fix): The animated sequel “Trolls World Tour” will release simultaneously in theaters and on digital platforms next month, and movies that were already in theaters (including “The Invisible Man” and “The Hunt”) will be available on demand beginning Friday.
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Here are 10 films definitely coming out on digital and video on demand platforms through the end of April that you’ll want to give a try (and don’t need to leave the house to see):
‘Blow the Man Down’ (Friday)
In the female-led New England noir drama premiering on Amazon Prime, young sisters (Sophie Lowe and Morgan Saylor) in a Maine fishing village have a killer run-in with a man and dump his harpooned body. After he washes up on shore, the pair is forced to deal with the town’s formidable matriarch (Margo Martindale).
‘Hooking Up’ (Friday)
The romantic comedy stars Brittany Snow (“Pitch Perfect”) as a journalist and sex addict who embarks on a cross-country tour of all the places she’s done the deed, this time with a guy she just met, a hopeless romantic (Sam Richardson of “Veep”) diagnosed with testicular cancer.
‘Human Capital’ (Friday)
A tragic accident and a risky business deal intertwine two families in this ensemble drama starring Liev Schreiber as a real estate agent, Maya Hawke as his teenage daughter, and Peter Sarsgaard and Marisa Tomei as a rich couple with infidelity issues.
‘Resistance’ (March 27)
The World War II drama features Jesse Eisenberg as famed mime Marcel Marceau and focuses on Marceau’s untold days as part of the resistance in Nazi-occupied France, when he was integral in helping thousands of orphans escape German clutches.
‘Vivarium’ (March 27)
Heck, you can have an Eisenberg double feature! In this sci-fi thriller, he and Imogen Poots play a couple looking for the perfect home and an odd real estate agent recommends a subdivision called Yonder, where every house is exactly the same. The search for a new place turns maddening when they can’t figure out how to leave.
‘The Other Lamb’ (April 3)
Horror lovers who dug “The Witch” and “Midsommar” will appreciate this tale of toxic masculinity and abusive power centered on a teen (Raffey Cassidy) who’s part of an isolated cult run by a messianic figure (Michiel Huisman), where she learns things that make her question every belief she has.
‘Trolls World Tour’ (April 10)
Returning dynamic duo Poppy (voiced by Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake) discover there are six tribes of Trolls each devoted to a specific genre of music, and the twosome needs to stop metalhead Barb (Rachel Bloom) and her dad King Thrash (Ozzy Osbourne) from ruling the world with their hard rock.
‘We Summon the Darkness’ (April 10)
Amid a spate of satanic killings in the area, Alexis (Alexandra Daddario) – the daughter of a fiery preacher (Johnny Knoxville) – and her two friends go to a heavy metal show and meet a trio of dudes they invite back to Alexis’ place. Things get, as the horror comedy’s title promises, pretty dark from there.
‘The Quarry’ (April 17)
Shea Whigham stars in the crime drama as a mysterious and charismatic preacher who rolls into a Texas small town. While he grows a local following, the police chief (Michael Shannon) becomes suspicious of the guy – especially as the sins of the reverend’s past arise.
‘True History of the Kelly Gang’ (April 24)
George MacKay, a breakout in last year’s Oscar-nominated “1917,” plays notorious Australian outlaw Ned Kelly in a new biopic. The drama follows the ne’er-do-well’s boyhood as an accomplice to a criminal bushranger (Russell Crowe), Ned’s contempt for the law when his mother (Essie Davis) is unfairly imprisoned, and his anarchic days as an adult running a rebellious gang.
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