Movie roundup: Support cinema this April
April always marks a shift in the theatrical calendar. The month that once served as a quiet runway for sleeper titles now hosts the first wave of genuine tentpoles, while still leaving room for a handful of indie experiments that refuse to wait. The 2019 slate captured that exact tension. Blockbusters arrived with marketing muscle, and smaller films slipped into limited runs hoping word of mouth could carry them further. Some delivered exactly what the studios expected. Others vanished faster than the press notes predicted. The result was a month that offered everything from cosmic-scale superhero conclusions to intimate arthouse detours, all playing in the same multiplexes.
Shazam! (Warner Bros.)
April 5th. The seventh installment of the DCEU introduced the original Captain Marvel, rebranded to avoid confusion with Carol Danvers. Orphan Billy Batson meets a wizard and gains the power to transform into an adult superhero. Zachary Levi starred as the transformed hero. The film earned a 90 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed 367.8 million dollars worldwide. A sequel arrived in 2023.
Pet Sematary (Paramount Pictures)
April 5th. Louis Creed moves his family to rural Maine and discovers a mysterious burial ground that brings the dead back changed. When tragedy strikes, he makes the fateful choice to use the site. Jason Clarke starred as Louis, with John Lithgow as the unsettling neighbor. The remake grossed 113 million dollars and landed at 57 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. A prequel later entered development.
Peterloo (Entertainment One)
April 5th. Mike Leigh directed this account of the 1819 Manchester protest that turned into a massacre. Sixty thousand people gathered to demand parliamentary reform. Government forces charged the crowd, killing fifteen and wounding hundreds. Rory Kinnear and Maxine Peake led the cast in a film that treated the event with measured, precise reconstruction.
High Life (A24)
April 5th. Claire Denis made her first English-language feature with Robert Pattinson as one of several criminals sent into space for sexual experiments. Juliette Binoche, Mia Goth, and André 3000 appeared alongside him. The film earned an 83 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and drew praise for its rigorous, unsettling approach to sci-fi.
The Haunting of Sharon Tate (Saban Films)
April 5th. Hilary Duff portrayed the actress during the final months of her life. The film depicted her premonitions of the Manson murders in graphic detail. Roman Polanski appeared as a supporting character. The project drew immediate criticism for its exploitative framing of real events.
The Public (Universal Pictures)
April 5th. Emilio Estevez wrote and directed this story of homeless patrons and librarians who stage a sit-in during a brutal cold snap. Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, Michael K. Williams, and Jeffrey Wright rounded out the ensemble. The film stayed grounded in the practical logistics of the standoff.
Teen Spirit (Lionsgate)
April 5th. Max Minghella directed his first feature, casting Elle Fanning as an aspiring singer navigating the pop industry. The film followed her through auditions, handlers, and the grind of manufactured fame. Purple lighting and a familiar rise-and-fall structure marked it as an early-2019 indie entry.
The Best of Enemies (STX Films)
April 5th. Sam Rockwell and Taraji P. Henson starred in this account of a real 1971 school desegregation fight in North Carolina. Rockwell played a local Klansman who gradually shifts his position. The film leaned on familiar reconciliation beats that drew mixed responses from critics.
Native Son (HBO Films)
April 6th. Rashid Johnson directed this adaptation of Richard Wright’s novel. Ashton Sanders played Bigger Thomas, a young Black man who takes a job with a wealthy white Chicago family. The film updated the setting while keeping the original novel’s core tension intact.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (Screen Media Films)
April 10th. Terry Gilliam’s long-delayed project finally reached theaters after nearly thirty years of development. Adam Driver starred as a director pulled into his own chaotic version of Cervantes’ story. The film received mixed reviews and modest box office returns. A making-of documentary later chronicled its troubled history.
Sauvage (Les Films de la Croisade)
April 10th. Félix Maritaud played a 22-year-old sex worker drifting through Lyon. The film followed his search for connection amid transactional encounters and growing isolation. It offered a direct, unsentimental look at the local queer scene.
Hellboy (Lionsgate)
April 12th. David Harbour took over the title role in this reboot directed by Neil Marshall. Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, and Milla Jovovich joined the cast. The film grossed 55 million dollars and earned a 15 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. No sequels followed from this version.
After (Aviron Pictures)
April 12th. Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin starred in this adaptation of Anna Todd’s novel about a turbulent college romance. Selma Blair appeared in a supporting role. The film moved quickly from theaters to streaming platforms.
Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy (Universal Studios)
April 12th. Max Zhang reprised his role as Cheung Tin Chi in this spin-off from the Ip Man series. Dave Bautista and Michelle Yeoh appeared alongside him. The film continued the franchise’s focus on Wing Chun technique and personal redemption.
Dogman (01 Distribution)
April 12th. Marcello Fonte played a dog groomer who sells cocaine to make ends meet. The film tracked his uneasy relationship with a volatile neighbor and the paranoia that followed. It earned comparisons to David Lynch for its off-kilter tone.
Her Smell (Gunpowder & Sky)
April 12th. Elisabeth Moss starred as a fading punk singer struggling with sobriety and creative burnout. The film followed her band through reunion attempts and personal collapse. Agyness Deyn and Dan Stevens appeared in supporting roles.
Mia and the White Lion (Ledafilms Entertainment Group)
April 12th. A young girl moves to South Africa and forms a bond with a white lion. When the animal faces danger, she sets out to find it a safe home. Mélanie Laurent appeared in a supporting role. The family-friendly premise drew modest theatrical interest before heading to home media.
Little (Universal Pictures)
April 12th. Regina Hall played a demanding boss who wakes up as her teenage self. Issa Rae and Marsai Martin co-starred. The body-swap comedy received a quick streaming release after its theatrical run.
Mary Magdalene (Focus Features)
April 12th. Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix starred in this account of Mary’s relationship with Jesus. The film received lukewarm reviews overseas and a limited U.S. release. It remained a minor entry in the year’s biblical drama slate.
Stockholm (Blumhouse Productions)
April 12th. Ethan Hawke played the real-life bank robber whose 1973 hostage situation gave rise to the term Stockholm Syndrome. Noomi Rapace and Mark Strong appeared in supporting roles. The film mixed heist tension with character study.
Justice League vs. the Fatal Five (Warner Bros. Animation)
April 16th. The animated feature brought Superman, Batman, and the rest of the team against a group of time-traveling villains. It served as a lower-stakes alternative to the live-action franchise entries that year.
Breakthrough (20th Century Fox)
April 17th. This faith-based drama told the story of a Missouri teenager who survived after spending 45 minutes underwater. Chrissy Metz and Josh Lucas starred. It became the first Fox title released under Disney ownership.
The Curse of La Llorona (Warner Bros.)
April 19th. Linda Cardellini played a mother targeted by the weeping woman of Mexican folklore. The film was marketed as a standalone horror entry but carried loose ties to The Conjuring universe. It grossed modestly before moving to streaming.
Under the Silver Lake (A24)
April 19th. Andrew Garfield starred as a Los Angeles slacker who investigates his neighbor’s disappearance. The film layered conspiracy theories, pop-culture references, and noir tropes across a sprawling runtime. It divided audiences but found a cult following on home video.
Drunk Parents (Vertical Entertainment)
April 19th. Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek played a couple hiding their financial troubles from their daughter. The comedy leaned on familiar midlife-crisis gags and earned a quick path to video-on-demand.
Little Woods (Neon)
April 19th. Lily James and Tessa Thompson played sisters navigating crime in rural North Dakota. One runs an illegal cross-border healthcare operation. The other pulls her back into riskier territory. The neo-Western gave both actresses rare leading roles in the genre.
Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios)
April 26th. The culmination of eleven years of interconnected storytelling grossed nearly 2.8 billion dollars worldwide. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and the original core cast returned for what many viewed as the end of a major phase. The film briefly held the all-time box office record and received an extended re-release in 2026.
The White Crow (BBC Films)
April 26th. Ralph Fiennes directed and starred in this account of Rudolf Nureyev’s defection. Oleg Ivenko played the dancer, with Adèle Exarchopoulos in a supporting role. The film offered a restrained look at the pressures of Soviet ballet training and the decision to seek asylum.
Box Office Outcomes
Endgame and Shazam! stood out as clear commercial successes. Endgame set records that held for years. Shazam! comfortably exceeded its budget and proved the DCEU could still draw audiences with lighter fare. Hellboy, by contrast, underperformed both critically and financially. Several mid-budget indies struggled to find wide audiences in a month dominated by franchise titles. The spread of results showed how quickly the marketplace separated event films from everything else.
Critical Reception Snapshot
Shazam! landed at 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with many critics noting its playful tone as a welcome shift. High Life earned 83 percent and drew praise for its uncompromising vision. Pet Sematary finished at 57 percent, with reviewers split on its handling of the source material. Hellboy received the weakest notices at 15 percent, with most critics finding the reboot directionless. The rest of the slate landed in familiar middle ground, where individual performances or directorial choices earned notice even when the films themselves did not break through.
Long-Term Franchise Impact
Shazam! produced a sequel three years later. Endgame closed out the Infinity Saga and set the template for future MCU crossovers. Hellboy’s reboot generated no follow-ups. The Conjuring-adjacent La Llorona led to no immediate expansion. Ip Man spin-offs continued on their own track. The month demonstrated how quickly studios moved on from underperformers while doubling down on titles that cleared the commercial bar.
Streaming and Home Media Legacy
Several titles moved to streaming faster than expected. Little and After appeared on major platforms within months of their theatrical runs. Drunk Parents and The Haunting of Sharon Tate followed similar paths. Endgame and Shazam! remained available across multiple services with periodic re-releases. The pattern reflected the industry’s growing reliance on home viewing windows even before the pandemic accelerated the shift.
