Imaginary
This looks very silly, and I’m not sure if it’s in a good way or a bad way yet. It’s directed by Jeff Wadlow, who hasn’t made a ton of great stuff, in my opinion, so it’s hard to say if he can pull off the balance between sincere and campy that something like M3gan pulled off. But who knows, it could be a pleasant surprise. I’ll keep an open mind.
Imaginary hits theaters on March 8th, 2024.
Madame Web
I honestly don’t have a ton of knowledge of the Madame Web character, so I’m mostly just taken aback by how bananas this looks. It’s so weird seeing Dakota Johnson in something like this, it seems like she’d be above material like this post-50 Shades, but I guess something with the project attracted her. I don’t know, these Sony Spider-Man adjacent movies have kinda mostly been trash, even the best one like the Venom sequel is like good trash, but still trash. I have no idea what to expect from this, so let’s at least hope it’s a fun time.
Madame Web hits theaters on February 16th, 2024.
Role Play
I feel like I’ve seen a lot of variations of this basic premise so many times now, it’s just not that interesting. Also, David Oyelowo and Kaley Kuoco are such a random pairing. I just don’t see it, and I’m not detecting much chemistry in the trailer. Plus, there’s not as much humor in this as I would’ve expected, the tone feels off, with the trailer at least. I don’t know, this doesn’t look especially good to me. It’s also weird that this is being released by Amazon when they also have that Mr. & Mrs. Smith series coming up. Odd. Just very odd all around.
Role Play premieres exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on January 12th, 2024.
Arthur The King
Interesting. Haven’t heard of this story. I wonder how much of it is true to real life. I’m a big sucker for dog movies, so I’m sure I’ll need some napkins when I see this one. Even if the movie itself is kinda mid, which it does seem like if I’m being honest. I just don’t see what’s particularly special about this story, at least from what I see in the trailer. But I’m always ready to be proven wrong.
Arthur The King opens in theaters on March 22nd, 2024.
The Teachers’ Lounge
Now we got something good! This is a great trailer. Doesn’t give much away, but definitely sets up the vibes and the general feeling and atmosphere. Kinda reminds me of The Hunt, though I’m sure the stakes aren’t quite as dire here. I haven’t seen anything from this filmmaker before, so not sure what to expect, but I feel non-American filmmakers have become so good at telling grounded stories like this. I don’t know if anyone else gets that impression, but it’s something I’ve observed a lot recently. Anyways, really looking forward to this.
The Teachers’ Lounge will be released in select theaters on December 25th.
Tótem
I heard a lot of really good things about this, so I’m really excited to see it when it comes out. I enjoyed The Chambermaid, so it’ll be great to see how this filmmaker has evolved since. I like how the camera seems to be mostly set on the kid’s eye level, like you’re experiencing all this through their eyes, really cool and evocative. I’ll be keeping this on my radar for sure.
Tótem hits select theaters on January 26th, 2024.
Thoughts on any of the trailers? Feel free to discuss in the comments!