They’re back. RLJE Films presents the Stephen King reboot Children of the Corn by Kurt Wimmer on 500+ screens. It’s a redo of the classic 1984 slasher-horror film about kids possessed by a demonic spirit in a dying cornfield, with bloody, rampaging results.
King’s iconic short story features a 12-year-old Nebraska girl who recruits the kids in her small town for a killing spree of all the adults, and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won’t go along with the plan is the town’s only hope of survival. There are some new twists, in Wimmer’s version, the corn is genetically modified. Starring Elena Kampouris, Kate Moyer, Callan Mulvey and Bruce Spence.
The story is great, spawning numerous spinoffs beginning with Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice in 1992 followed by Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest in 1995. Most went direct to video. In 2009 an adaptation of the short story aired on Syfy.
This one will have an 18-day theatrical window before hitting digital/VOD.
Other specialty openings: Welcome Villain Films, the new genre label launched last year, presents horror Hunt Her Kill Her by Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen, starring J.C. Oakley III, Larry Bunton, Natalie Terrazzino on 150 screens. On an otherwise peaceful evening during her first night on the job, a lone night-shift janitor finds herself in an unexpected fight for survival when she becomes the target of sinister masked intruders.
Small Batch Studio Entertainment presents a thriller at the intersection of politics, race, class and criminal justice. What We Do Next, from NYC-based playwright and filmmaker Stephen Belber, opens on 30 screens in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia, expanding in coming weeks. With Corey Stoll (currently in theaters as Ant-Man: Quantumamia’s Darren Cross/MODOK), Karen Pittman and Michelle Veintimilla. Theater royalty is turning out. John Patrick Shanley will moderate a Q&A with Belber and the film’s stars at the Quad on Friday night. Lynn Nottage, a producer, will moderate Saturday.
Momentum Pictures presents Palm Trees and Power Lines by Jamie Dack opens in 12 major markets including NY/LA and on demand. Staring Gretchen Mol, Jonathan Tucker and Lily McInerny. Premiered at Sundance last year, taking the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award. Deadline review here. Seventeen-year-old Lea (McInerny) spends her summer break aimlessly tanning in her backyard with her best friend, tiptoeing around her needy mother and getting stoned – a monotony interrupted by a chance encounter with Tom (Tucker), an older man who promises an alternative to Lea’s unsatisfying adolescent life.
Kino Lorber presents The Forger by Maggie Peren. Starring Louis Hofmann, Jonathan Berlin and Luna Wedler. Based on the true story of Cioma Schönhaus, a young Jewish man in Berlin who survived the Holocaust by hiding in plain sight after adopting the identity of a marine officer. Drawing on his art school background, he joins a network of underground rescuers and becomes infamous for his masterfully forged IDs. Opens at the Quad in New York, adding LA on March 17 with national expansion to follow. Premiered in Berlin last year.
Quiver Distribution presents Blueback by Robert Connelly starring Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell and Eric Bana on 100 screens, mostly AMC. Wasikowska plays a marine biologist who befriends a rare fish, the blue groper — affectionately named Blueback – when she returns home to care for her mother. Based on Tim Winton’s 1997 novella. Screened at Toronto and this year’s Sundance.
Gravitas presents Alex Heller’s debut feature The Year Between on six screens and VOD. Forced to return home from college after her erratic behavior alienates everyone around her, Clemence (Heller) begrudgingly begins an undesired new chapter in the suburbs, hellbent on defying her mom (J. Smith-Cameron), dad (Steve Buscemi), younger siblings, therapist — and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Premiered at Tribeca.
Saban Films presents comedy A Little White Lie by Michael Maren in about 20 theaters. Michael Shannon plays Shriver, a down-on-his-luck handyman who has never read a book in his life. He’s mistaken for a famous writer who has been in hiding for years and winds up at a college literary festival. An adaptation of Chris Belsen’s 2013 novel also stars Don Johnson, Kate Linder, Wendie Malick, Aja Naomi King and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
Another from Saban, Matt Nable’s action thriller Transfusion. Sam Worthington is an ex-Special Forces operative who plunges into the criminal underground for one final mission in order to protect his son. With Nable, Phoebe Tonkin. On 16 screens, digital and on demand.
Event, or eventy, films: (wide) Crunchyroll presents Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village in 1,722 theaters. This is Episodes 10 and 11 of the anime series Entertainment District Arc, and the extended Episode 1 of the Swordsmith Village Arc packaged into feature length and remastered in 4K.
Utopia presents Give Me Pity! by Amanda Kramer starring Sophie von Haselberg (daughter of Bette Midler) as Sissy St. Claire, the singing, dancing host of a television special. On one screen (Alamo Lower Manhattan) this weekend following a week of sneak-peek showings with Alamo Drafthouse, Reading Cinemas and select arthouses.
Variance Films and Sarigama Cinemas present RRR Fan CelebRRRation. SS Rajamouli’s RRR, with a Best Original Song Oscar nom for “Naatu Naatu” by M.M. Keeravaani, expands to 200 screens.
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