Say goodbye to the bitter chill of winter, because the spring movie season has sprung. The sun is shining, the temperature is rising, and Warner Bros. has finally taken Mickey 17 off the shelf after missing roughly 17 release dates. Still, even with a glut of Robert Pattinsons, Mickey 17 isn’t the biggest movie on the March docket. The Russo Brothers return to Netflix for their post-Gray Man project The Electric State, while Disney bites the poison apple and releases its live-action Snow White. Elsewhere in our March film preview, John Malkovich leads a pop music cult, John Lithgow rules a nursing home with an iron hand puppet, and Steve Coogan and Naomi Watts have their lives turned upside-down by inspirational animals.
The latest from Toronto New Wave staple Atom Egoyan, Seven Veils follows a lapsed theater director (Amanda Seyfried) who returns to the stage to mount a production of her dead mentor’s masterpiece. As rehearsals get underway and she begins putting more of herself into the show, her past traumas gradually blur the lines between reality and performance.
Director Carson Lund’s tribute to our national pastime aims to capture the contemplative essence of the sport. Assembling a team of over-the-hill ballplayers for a final game on their cherished neighborhood field, Eephus takes a swing at both the philosophy and physical reality of watching and playing the game. Call it Zen And The Art Of Recreation League Baseball.
In The Lost Lands (March 7)
Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson re-teams with wife and muse Milla Jovovich for a trip to the wasteland, with Dave Bautista in tow. Based on a George R.R. Martin short story and resembling Furiosaby way of Zack Snyder, In The Lost Lands concerns a witch (Jovovich) and a hunter (Bautista) sent into the cursed Lost Lands to retrieve an ancient MacGuffin. Demon battles ensue.
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl (March 7)
In this Zambia-set black comedy from writer-director Rungano Nyoni, Shula (Susan Chardy) finds her abusive uncle’s corpse on the side of the road. Now in charge of arranging the dead man’s funeral, Shula and her family must reckon with the crimes of a man they’re expected to honor. But the more her family ignores the truth, the more surreal Shula’s reality becomes.
Mickey 17 (March 7)
We hate to jinx Mickey 17 by reporting on its supposedly imminent release. After several release date shake-ups, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite follow-up is finally set to show off Robert Pattinson, who plays clones of an expendable grunt named Mickey. Mickey’s job is to work an off-world colony’s deadliest jobs, his employers printing another Mickey every time he succumbs to his task. More Snowpiercer than Mother, Mickey 17 sees Bong return to his love for broad sci-fi satires.
The Rule Of Jenny Pen (March 7)
Retirement is far from relaxing under the ruthless hand of John Lithgow and his horrific hand puppet, Jenny Pen. Lithgow menaces those around him in a care home with his ruthless right hand, homing in on a judge (Geoffrey Rush) recovering from a stroke. Rest and relaxation has no place under the rule of Jenny Pen.
Black Bag (March 14)
Director Steven Soderbergh and writer David Koepp’s second 2025 offering, Black Bag, sees the former return to his wheelhouse after the duo’s inventive ghost story Presence. Playing lavish Spy Vs. Spy games with a Mr. And Mrs. Smith formula, Soderbergh pits super-spy Michael Fassbender against wife and potential rogue agent Cate Blanchett. Black Bag also has a terrific supporting cast, including Pierce Brosnan, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, Tom Burke, and Marisa Abela.
Novocaine (March 14)
Don’t call him Deadpool. In Novocaine, Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is a normal guy with a supernatural pain tolerance. While Caine can’t feel pain,fans of The Boys’ extreme violence will be relieved to hear that he can still bleed, making him the perfect pincushion to rescue his girlfriend (Amber Midthunder) after bank robbers take her hostage.
The Electric State (March 14)
Returning to Netflix, Joe and Anthony Russo reunite with Avengers: Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to take AI boosterism to another level in their Simon Stålenhag adaptation. Following a war between man and machine, humankind has imprisoned the remaining bots in a controversial open-air prison called the Electric State. When Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) goes after her deaf brother (Woody Norman) who’s trapped behind Electric lines, fellow robot-sympathizer Chris Pratt and an Amblin-inspired ‘bot join the rescue effort to retrieve him.
Opus (March 14)
John Malkovich gets his groove back in this satire about a reclusive pop star’s reemergence and the young journalist (Ayo Edebiri) getting the exclusive of a lifetime. But music is the farthest thing from Alfred Moretti’s (Malkovich) mind as his cult following grows into an actual cult. Opus joins a recent crop of pop-music-themed thrillers like Trap and Smile 2, targeting the parasocial relationships, poptimism, and access journalism currently flooding airwaves and algorithms.
Magazine Dreams (March 21)
Arriving in the shadow of Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence conviction, Magazine Dreams is no longer the coronation of a new Hollywood leading man that it was on the 2023 festival circuit. The bodybuilding drama continues to make Majors’ shredded physique and full-throated performance the center of its sales pitch, though Majors playing an unstable and violent man in the spotlight might still feel too close to reality.
Bob Trevino Likes It (March 21)
This isn’t a great time for an “Ain’t Facebook grand?” story. Nevertheless, Bob Trevino Likes It imagines, or maybe remembers, a world where social media could solve real-world loneliness. After her erratic father emancipates himself from parenthood, Lily Trevino (Barbie Ferreira) reaches out to a different Bob Trevino (John Leguizamo) on Facebook, striking up an unlikely bond with the man on the other side of the screen.
Snow White (March 21)
Burning through a remake of another classic, Disney goes all the way back to its first animated feature. The story remains the same: Cast out by her evil queen stepmother, Snow White meets seven dwarfs, eats a poisoned apple, and gets a kiss from a Prince. Rachel Zegler stars as the eponymous character, with Gal Gadot’s Evil Queen doing all the magic mirror talking. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the scariest CGI dwarf of all? It’s got to be Dopey.
Death Of A Unicorn (March 28)
Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega play father-daughter unicorn slaughterers in another A24 class satire. Here, Rudd runs down the mythical beast en route to his billionaire boss’ compound, which doubles as a stable for great supporting actors like Téa Leoni, Will Poulter, Richard E. Grant, and Anthony Carrigan. Despite resembling other class-based satires, specifically Ready Or Not and The Menu, Death Of A Unicorn differentiates itself by charging horn-first into fantasy.
A Working Man (March 28)
Beekeeper hive, rise up! The dynamic duo of director David Ayer and action hero Jason Statham are back for a thriller about a construction worker who uncovers a sex trafficking plot deep inside the federal government. Forget Q, Statham will take care of the so-called “Deep State” pervs and sex pests once and for all.
The Ballad Of Wallis Island (March 28)
Here’s a premise: Charles Heath (Tim Key), living on a secluded island, uses his lottery winnings to book his favorite jaded folk singer (Tom Basden) to perform for an audience of one. Wallis Island‘s journey to the screen is a ballad all its own. Based on the 2008 BAFTA-nominated short from Key, Basden, and director James Griffiths, The Ballad Of Wallis Island is a passion project 20 years in the making.
The Penguin Lessons (March 28)
The Penguin Lessons follows a British professor (Steven Coogan) who rescues and befriends a penguin while working in Argentina. Don’t get confused. Penguin Lessons did not come out already. You’re thinking of last year’s based-on-a-true-penguin-story, My Penguin Friend. Here’s how you can tell the difference: The Penguin Lessons features Coogan repeatedly answering the question, “Is that a penguin in your bag?”
The Friend (March 28)
In like a lion, out like a lamb—March saved its inspirational animal stories for the end. The Friend is about a workaholic (Naomi Watts) to whom Bill Murray bequeaths a neurotic Great Dane Dalmatian so she can learn to deal with the chaos of life. Get this, though: Instead of teaching the dog a thing or two about friendship, the dog teaches her.
Thank You Very Much (March 28)
Andy Kaufman’s mysterious career and artistry are under the microscope again in Thank You Very Much, a new documentary executive produced by the Safdie brothers and the producers of Won’t You Be My Neighbor. Through never-before-seen footage and new interviews with Danny DeVito, Steve Martin, Marilu Henner, Bob Zmuda, and Lynne Margulies, director Richard Braverman focuses on the blurry reality of Kaufman’s life.
