COVID-19 is going to keep us all indoors for a while, so here’s a handy list of all the new movies arriving for rental and purchase on digital this week – as well as one physical disc recommendation, because there’s no school like the old school. Prices may vary by platform.
And this week marks the first time a major studio has released a planned theatrical title directly to streaming. Universal is making Trolls: World Tour, which was scheduled to open around the world today, available to watch at home as a 48-hour rental. (It’s the same model the studio is using for The Invisible Man, Emma, The Hunt and Never Rarely Sometimes Always but those movies started their theatrical runs before the megaplexes shut down last month.)
April 10
Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool
Documentary directed by Stanley Nelson
iTunes pre-order, Google Play pre-order
Trolls World Tour
With the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Rachel Bloom directed by Walt Dohrn
iTunes rental Google Play rental
Available April 14
Fantasy Island
Lucy Hale, Maggie Q, Michael Peña directed by Jeff Wadlow
iTunes pre-order, Google Play pre-order
High Fantasy
Nala Khumalo, Qondiswa James, Francesca Varrie Michel directed by Jenna Bass
iTunes pre-order
Ray & Liz
Tony Way, Ella Smith, Justin Salinger directed by Richard Billingham
Google Play pre-order
The Rhythm Section
Blake Lively, Jude Law, Sterling K. Brown directed by Reed Morano
iTunes pre-order, Google Play pre-order
She Never Died
Olunike Adeliyi, Katie Messina, Michelle Nolden directed by Audrey Cummings
iTunes pre-order, Google Play pre-order
Underwater
Kristen Stewart, Jessica Henwick, Vincent Cassel directed by William Eubank
iTunes pre-order, Google Play pre-order
We Summon The Darkness
Alexandra Daddario, Keean Johnson, Johnny Knoxville directed by Marc Meyers
iTunes pre-order, Google Play pre-order
Disc recommendation of the week
Police Squad! The Complete Series
(Paramount, Blu-ray available April 14)
Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker only got to produce six episodes of Police Squad! in 1982, but every single one is a stone classic, applying the stone-faced absurdity of their theatrical smash Airplane! to creaky old cop shows, and giving Leslie Nielsen a much-deserved second act as Detective Frank Drebin, who’s as gung-ho as he is dense. As much as you may love the Naked Gun movies, none of them can hold a candle to the show that preceded them – and now it’s available in HD with a host of supplemental features, including commentaries from Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker, writer/producer Robert K. Weiss and writer Robert Wuhl, an archival interview with Nielsen, screen tests of co-stars Alan North and Ed Williams, and the option to watch the show without the laugh track ABC demanded be added for broadcast. Also, since O.J. Simpson had yet to join the cast yet, the entire series can still be enjoyed without any of the discomfort the Naked Gun movies engender.
@normwilner
