The Biggest Movie Releases of Winter and Spring 2019
Generally-speaking, January and February are traditionally quiet periods of the year for movies, but things are set to pick up in March and April in order to lead into a white-hot Summer Movie Season. Here are the movies you need to know about that hit theaters in the first four months of the year.
Escape Room (January 4)
In what could be described as a young-adult-friendly take on Cube and Saw, Escape Room puts six strangers in lethal scenarios with cutting-edge technology, and their wits and riddle-solving abilities are the only thing that can save them.
A Dog’s Way Home (January 11)
A spiritual follow-up to A Dog’s Purpose (which, like that film, has a script penned by the book’s author W. Bruce Cameron), A Dog’s Way Home shows the story of how one loyal dog (whose internal narration is voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard) loses her way before making a 400-mile trek to reunite with her owner.
Replicas (January 11)
In which Keanu Reeves plays a scientist that breaks the law – and several moral and scientific principles – in order to resurrect his dead wife and child. What could possibly go wrong?
The Upside (January 11)
An American remake of the 2011 French film The Intouchables, a wealthy, lonely quadriplegic (played by Bryan Cranston) hires a man trying to turn his life around after a past of minor crimes (played by Kevin Hart) to help him with his day-to-day life. The two form an odd friendship in a movie inspired by true events.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly (January 16)
The twentieth movie based on the enduringly-popular Dragon Ball franchise, and the first one to bear the Super portion of the title. Covering the untold origins of the Saiyan species, the movie reimagines the non-canon movie villain Broly and places him within the official Dragon Ball timeline with an all-new story.
Glass (January 18)
The first real event film of the year, Glass is the culmination of director M. Night Shyamalan’s trilogy of real-world superhero movies started by Unbreakable back in 2000 and continued in 2017 with Split. Fate has the notorious split-personality serial killer Kevin Wendell Crumb cross paths with the noble cloaked vigilante David Dunn before both are captured. Placed in a mental institution to treat people who believe that they have superpowers, the two then run into a figure from Dunn’s past: Elijah Price, a notorious mastermind of several terrorist acts. Price plots to use Crumb as a way to escape his prison and reveal to the world that people like them exist, and only Dunn can stop them from harming anyone else.
The Kid Who Would be King (January 25)
An ordinary primary-school kid rediscovers Excalibur in the modern day. Assisted by Merlin and a new Knights of the Round Table made up of his contemporaries, they’ll have to work together to stop a resurrected Morgan le Fay from taking over the world.
Serenity (January 25)
As a captain (Matthew McConaughey) comes to terms with his mysterious past, he’s left questioning his moral compass when a mysterious woman (Anne Hathaway) wants to hire him to murder her ex-husband (Jason Clarke).
Jacob’s Ladder (February 1)
After a war veteran returns home, his PTSD causes him to see nightmarish visions in his day-to-day life – and he’s starting to worry that they’re not just visions. (Due to a lack of promotional material thus far, the image used here is taken from the poster for the original film.)
Miss Bala (February 1)
An American remake of the 2011 foreign film of the same name. A Latino-American woman (Gina Rodriguez) goes on vacation in Mexico, only to end up caught in the midst of a drug war between the cartels and the DEA. Finding power within herself that she never knew she had, she must use her wits to escape and return home.
Cold Pursuit (February 8)
Someone made the mistake of killing Liam Nesson’s kid, so he goes about murdering the entire gang responsible and burying them under several feet of permafrost. So like Taken, but with a lot more murder and snow, and lot less of actually saving anyone.
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (February 8)
Everything isn’t so awesome anymore in the LEGO universe, as Bricksburg has been reduced to a Mad Max-like wasteland following the Duplo invasion that destroyed the city. So when another alien invader kidnaps Lucy and the others, it’s up to Emmet and a pastiche of all of Chris Pratt’s major film roles to travel to the Systar system and come to their rescue.
The Prodigy (February 8)
A mother grows increasingly concerned about her young son’s behavior as she enlists a therapist to figure out what’s wrong with the boy. She soon realizes that she may have wanted to phone for an exorcist instead.
What Men Want (February 8)
A gender-flipped remake of the romantic comedy What Women Want. Taraji P. Henson plays a sports agent who is looking to make a name for herself. When she suddenly gains the power to understand men’s thoughts, she tries to use that to her advantage to advance her own career.
Happy Death Day 2U (February 14)
Tree Gelbman once again finds herself trapped in a time loop after stopping a serial killer from killing her repeatedly, but this time, her friends are trapped in the loop as well. They’ll have to work together to find out who the real killer is so they can escape.
Alita: Battle Angel (February 14)
A robot created centuries ago, with no memory of her past, is repaired by a cybernetic doctor, who soon discovers that she could be the key to changing everything. When other robots start targeting her, she quickly realizes that she’s a mechanical weapon and fights to protect the people she’s grown to care about.
Isn’t It Romantic (February 14)
After Natalie (Rebel Wilson) gets hit in the head, she finds herself seeing everything in her world play out like a romantic comedy. Wanting to defy the clichés of this reimagined world, Natalie seeks to find her own happily ever after while escaping this odd world.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (February 22)
The closing chapter to the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, The Hidden World has Hiccup and Toothless uncover a hidden world believed only to exist in myth, and its secrets come in handy when Hiccup finds his entire village under attack from someone who wants to destroy the dragons of Berk.
The Rhythm Section (February 22)
Another year, another spy thriller. This one stars Blake Lively as a person looking to investigate the circumstances behind a plane crash that killed her family – a flight that she was meant to be on herself. As expected for the genre, the crash was no accident, and espionage and ass-kicking both ensue as she looks to hunt down those responsible.
The Turning (February 22)
A modern adaptation of The Turn of the Screw, two orphans and a nanny find out that the old country mansion that they’re looking over is haunted by ghosts.
Chaos Walking (March 1)
Set in a world where all women are believed to be dead and all men and animals emit a psychic field known as noise, one young man (Tom Holland) finds a young woman (Daisy Ridley) who emits only silence. While on the run, the duo discover more of the hidden history of New World, the planet their ancestors colonized.
Due to Ridley’s commitment with Star Wars Episode IX (which will conclude filming in February), planned reshoots that haven’t yet been filmed, and an absence of any marketing for the project, the film is expected to be delayed from this release date.
Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral (March 1)
Set to be Tyler Perry’s final movie with his long-running Mabel “Madea” Simmons character, a hopeful family reunion becomes something of a nightmare when some of the Simmons family’s less favorable secrets begin to surface.
Captain Marvel (March 8)
A prequel to most of the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel covers a non-linear origin story for an amnesiac Carol Danvers, who gained cosmic superpowers and was drafted into fighting alongside the Kree in a war against the Skrulls, two sets of aliens who aren’t particularly noble. After landing on Earth and meeting a young Nick Fury, Danvers regains her lost memories, and in doing so, discovers untold truths about her place in the galaxy. Ultimately, it’s up to Danvers to put an end to the conflict before Earth can become a battleground for either side.
Us (March 15)
A family of four’s trip to a beach house for a vacation takes a turn for the disturbing when doppelgängers known as the Tethered invade their home and stalk them.
Wonder Park (March 15)
A girl discovers that a theme park that she used to daydream about is actually real, and must team up with a group of animals who run the park to protect it. The movie will kickstart a show of the same name on Nickelodeon.
Five Feet Apart (March 22)
A patient with cystic fibrosis spends much of her time in the hospital, only to bond with someone else who has the same condition as her. While the two are allowed to interact, they may only do so at a distance – a rule that both patients find harder and harder to disobey as they fall in love.
Greyhound (March 22)
At the beginning of America’s involvement in World War II, Commander Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks) leads a fleet across the North Atlantic to take on Germany’s submarines and clear a path for a land invasion of Nazi-occupied territory. Krause must face not only the might of Germany’s naval forces, but his own self-doubt and personal demons. (With no promotional images of this film, lead actor Tom Hanks has been pictured here instead.)
The Informer (March 22)
A reformed criminal with a history with special operations seeks to expose a corrupt portion of New York’s FBI and their dealings with the Polish mob by working undercover. As one drug deal leads him back to his former prison, things go wrong, and he must complete his mission before he’s exposed as a mole.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette (March 22)
An agoraphobic architect (Cate Blanchett) mysteriously goes missing, and it’s up to her daughter to find her in director Richard Linklater’s latest film.
Dumbo (March 29)
In which a flying elephant tries to reunite with his mother. The movie is the first of three live-action Disney remakes this year, and Dumbo will have the distinction of focusing less on the “talking animal” aspect of the story in favor of putting a little more emphasis on the people involved in the elephant’s story than the titular elephant himself.
Captive State (March 29)
When aliens take over the world under the guise of peaceful cooperation and enslave humanity, two vastly different sides of one Chicago neighborhood must come together to overthrow their oppressors.
Shazam! (April 5)
An orphaned boy is deemed worthy of the powers of the wizard Shazam which turns him into a magic-powered adult with a single word. In other words, it’s Big mixed with a superhero movie origin.
Pet Sematary (April 5)
Family buries dead cat in a cemetery. The cat comes back, but something’s off about it. Their son gets killed after being run over by a truck, and they decide to bury him there in the hopes that he’ll be resurrected. You can probably guess where this is going.
The Best of Enemies (April 5)
A woman working as a African-American civil rights activist (Taraji P. Henson) and a man working as a Ku Klux Klan leader (Sam Rockwell) engage in a two-week meeting that changes his perspective on life. Based on a true story.
After (April 12)
A cautious college freshman opens up when she meets a bad boy who makes her question where she wants to take her life going forward.
Hellboy (April 12)
An R-rated reboot starring David Harbour as the title superhero, Hellboy and his pals at the B.P.R.D. have to work together to stop Nimue, an ancient sorceress who seeks to destroy mankind.
Little (April 12)
An adult woman disillusioned by her life seeks out to revisit the good old days as a child… And somehow, she ends up back in the past, as a younger version of her present self. (With no promotional images of this film, lead actress Marsai Martin has been pictured here instead.)
Missing Link (April 12)
A stop-motion adventure has a paranormal creature investigator and an explorer search for the missing link between animals and men, and as it turns out, he’s pretty personable. However, as a creature, he’s misunderstood, and he needs the help of these two in order to find his true place in the world.
Breakthrough (April 12)
A religious drama (based on the book The Impossible by Joyce Smith and Ginger Kolbaba) about a boy who survives falling into the ice, but went comatose afterward. The faith of his parents are tested as a recovery seems uncertain.
The Curse of La Llorona (April 19)
In a new take on the ghost story in Mexican folklore, a woman discovers that her children have been targeted by the vengeful ghost of a woman who intends to take them away. Enlisting the help of a disillusioned priest, she will do anything to keep her children safe This story may or may not be tied to The Conjuring universe, but as of now, it does not not have clear connections to the movies in that series.
Disneynature’s Penguins (April 19)
Disney’s latest nature documentary, this time covering Penguins as its subject. Dane DeHaan narrates. That’s basically it.
Avengers: Endgame (April 26)
Like in 2018, the Summer movie season is starting about a week early with a huge Avengers crossover. Set after the traumatic events of Infinity War, the survivors of Thanos’s culling of half the universe do what they can to pick up the pieces. But if they have any hopes of setting things back to the way things used to be, each of the Avengers must be willing to make significant sacrifices as the reality they fight to protect is left in an increasingly fragile state.
What movies are you most looking forward to in the remainder of the year? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments below.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
