March Film Schedule

Historically, there are a few fairly solid titles released in March, though it is still a slow month.  This year, it seems we are getting a taste of summer blockbusters, but most likely ones that wouldn't compete with this years schedule, so we are getting them early.

March 7th

300: Rise of an Empire

Sequel to the 2007 film 300, this films appears to consist of the battle that we get a glimpse of at the end of 300.  The Persian are closing in on Greece, and the Greeks rise to battle.  The movie looks entertaining, most likely fairly mindless, but that's okay for something like this.  The first movie did a whopping $210 million, while this won't come close to that, I'm sure it will do pretty well for itself.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Dreamworks new animated movie features characters from a Rocky and Bullwinkle segment from the 1960s.  Mr. Peabody and Sherman is about a dog and his boy who travel through time to fix a few...inconsistencies they may have accidentally created.  Without seeing the trailer, I didn't have a tremendous amount of hope for this film, but the preview was very funny, and it looks like a decent kids movie.  It's done $22 million in Europe so far, so it looks like this movie should knock Lego off the top of the charts in a few weeks.

March 14th

Need for Speed

Need for Speed stars Aaron Paul, of Breaking Bad fame, and is based on the popular video game franchise.  This movie seems pretty awful.  The previews aren't getting great publicity, and the film looks to be ridiculous, but not in a good way like Fast and Furious of GI Joe.  That being said, they are definitely appealing to fans who are ready for another Fast and Furious movie, so I think the film will be reasonably well considering the negativity towards it already.

Tyler Perry's: The Single Moms Club

The Single Moms Club is the next movie by Tyler Perry.  It's been just over three months since the last one, so it's about time!  Honestly though, I've never seen a Tyler Perry movie, and I honestly probably never will.  All the film do reasonably well, some much better than others, but none of them are flops.

March 21st

Divergent

Having never read of the books, I honestly know very little about the story.  Divergent is about a futuristic America where people as faction-ed based on their personalities.  The main character, for some reason, is special because she doesn't belong in any faction.  It's a post-apocalyptic world staring a strong female lead.  It really appears they are just trying to cash in on the Hunger Games craze.  Regardless, I've heard a lot of people interested in seeing it.  It will do better than recent novels (City of Bones and Vampire Academy), but it certainly won't be Twilight or Hunger Games numbers.

Muppets Most Wanted

Muppets Most Wanted is personally the film I am most excited about in March.  The film is a sort of sequel to 2011's The Muppets.  This one is about an international criminal who looks just like Kermit the Frog, and switches places with him.  The movie looks fun, but I am biased as a huge Muppets fan. The first film did fairly well, but not as well as Disney, or most others, expected.  I am trying to be hopeful, but I'm not sure this movie will do much better than the first one.  There's also a chance that Mr. Peabody and Sherman will still have decent numbers this week if Europe's numbers for that film are any representation.

March 28th

Noah

Noah is based on the story of Noah's Arc from the Book of Genesis.  The film stars Russell Crowe along with a bunch of other huge names.  On paper, it appears the movie will do great.  Unfortunately, the film is already under scrutiny for its depiction of a religious story.  Test audiences are saying they are not satisfied with the representation of the story.  Religious movie goers are going to be the main ticket buyers for this film, and if most of them decide they are pleased with it, it won't be good for the movie.

Sabotage

Sabotage is another generic looking Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.  Arnold's last few films haven't done anything spectacular, Last Stand was pretty much a failure, and while Escape Plan did okay, I have a feeling that was due to Stallone more then Schwarzenegger.  Sabotage follows some elite DEA agents who are being taken out one by one.  While I always find these movies to be fun and entertaining, they work better for me as Red Box rentals or something to stream on Netflix as background noise.

Overall, March doesn't look like a super busy weekend on paper, but there are a few titles here that I think have potential to do more than most would think.  That comes from a building excitement to see movies as we get close to summer, and really a lack of any major titles to steal all the business from everyone else.