Weekly Dip: A Look Ahead to April in Cinemas

 

After all the pomp and circumstance of the Oscars the industry has entered a quiet period. Sliding out the odd pre-summer blockbuster before the really busy period kicks off. We'll go through the top picks for the months but first:

UK Box Office Results (Weekend 22nd-24th March)

1. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Weekend gross £4.1 million)
2. Dune Part 2 (Weekend gross £2.6 million)
3. Immaculate (Weekend gross £491,000)
4. Wicked Little Letters (Weekend gross £373,413)
5. Migration (Weekend gross £370, 415)

As the only big, established IP to hit cinemas Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire taking the top spot felt like an inevitablility. What's surprising is just how lackluster its dominance is; with £4.1 million being a far cry from the £11 million Dune Part 2 took earlier in the month. For it's money Dune 2 finally fell after three weeks as top dog proving that the series, based on an obscure series of science fiction books, has real appeal among the moviegoing public.

Elswhere in the chart Immaculate makes an impressive debut for horror film. Teaching us all a lesson in the viability of smaller, grungier, female-led original properties that Studios will naturally fail to learn. Olivia Colman's profanity farce Wicked Little Letters continues to appeal while kids animation Migration picks up whatever residual family cash is lying around. A fairly predictable week for the Box Office, only made interesting for the precarious position of the top dog.

April Makes for Indie-Dumping Ground

Looking over the releases it appears that studios have designated April as an appropriate dumping ground for all the indies it hasility picked up during all the excitement of Sundance. Several of the festival's high-profile films will be going on general release, which is good news for an indie fan like me who's too poor to make the annual trip to Utah. German Oscar nominee The Teacher's Lounge will be coming to the UK, which means we'll be just about the last country to find out what the fuss was about. the Daisy Ridley starring/produced by dramedy Sometimes I Think About Dying will also hit UK cinemas after a generally favourable response at the 2023 festival. Finally there is the satire The American Society of Magical Negros, starring Justice Smith, promising a thorough skewering of the pervasive trope. Of all the Sundance releases this is probably the one I'm most excited about. Smith made for a fun comedic presence in last year's Dungeon and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and after American Fiction I'm down for some more race-related satire. See also The Book of Clarence on April 19th.

The lone major blockbuster of the month actually comes this weekend (March 28th) with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Despite my fondness for 2023's Godzilla Minus One I just can't drum up any excitement for this. I only saw the 2021 release as it came out during a chaotic release schedule when cinemas needed all the support the could get. However this series has been such a cascade of empty specatacle that I routinely find myself bludgeoned into numbness by the sheer weight of all the stimuli. despite solid turns from Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry I don't see myself rushing to spend my limited time and money on this studio tentpole.  

Perhaps the real blockbuster this April will be on the small screen as Netflix brings us Rebel Moon Part 2-The Scargiver. The conclusion to Zack Synder sci-fi epic in which memorable protagonist Kora leads her asembled teams of rebels against the vile Imperium, led by Atticus Noble, in order to save the humble farming community of-I'm sorry is anyone still interested? It seems like even the most staunch defenders of Snyder aren't coming out to bat for the next Rebel Moon film. I dunno why I should even pretend to for the purposes of satire. I went into this franchise with an open mind, I like Zack Synder and I wanted to see his take on a Star Wars universe. But Rebel Moon Part One was just not good. Every step of the way Synder has been given the reigns to do whatever he wanted, to apply his visual style to the story he wanted to tell. Despite it all he couldn't even tell a decent rip-off of Seven Samurai. Snyder needs to seriously focus on being a director and not a storyteller, maybe then we'll have something to get excited about.