April 2014 Movie(s) On Our Radar

Only One April Release Gets Our Full Attention.

By: Matt Cummings 

After a strong March which elevated three of our four 'radar' releases into the top 10, April arrives with only one guaranteed hit. Typically a dull month, April 2013 featured only one release (Oblivion) and 2012 had none. This year promises one that should challenge leaders The LEGO Movie and Ride Along: Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That's good or bad depending on how you look at it, with Hollywood essentially throwing all its eggs in Marvel's lap. But for now, we'll highlight a couple of others that might make a decent profit, but which should only bounce off Cap's vibranium shield:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4th) 

Marvel - and its parent company Disney - are now the undisputed leader in Hollywood. The studio famous for Thor, Iron Man, and The Avengers releases the second Captain America film on a crest of both critical praise and a huge marketing push that's seen the film everywhere. But this one promises to be different, with a deeper story centered around the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and Cap's involvement with The Winter Soldier, a dark and mysterious figure from his past. We've seen the first 10 minutes of this one, and if the rest of the film is anything like this, we think it could dominate the box office through April. Our suggestion is to watch both Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers before standing in what will no doubt be long lines.

Watch the trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Oculus (April 11th) 

A horror film with a long list of supporters (on the shelf since last year), this WWE Film is produced by the same team that brought us Paranormal Activity and Insidious. That basically means a small-budgeted affair hoping to capitalize on the wave of successful flicks like The Conjuring and Insidous 2. Although this one features only one major star in Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff, the trailer does comes complete with plenty of tension. With this subgenre of smarter horror over the torture porn and slasher hits of the 80's, we can see it making a decent amount of cash, but it won't dethrone any of the already established March releases. Still, we're intrigued.

Watch the trailer for Oculus.


Rio 2 (April 11th) 
The animated sequel Rio 2 seems to have a lot going for it. Most of the voice cast including Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, and Leslie Mann are back, while the animation looks gorgeous and strangely life-like. Still, we don't know a lot of people who saw the original, even after it was nominated in 2011 for Best Original Song, We're not entirely sold on it, especially with Muppets Most Wanted and Mr. Peabody & Sherman still in the mix. Still, families might already be seeking something new, so only the box office numbers will tell us if Rio 2 can make a splash.

Watch the trailer for Rio 2.
 

Transcendence (April 17th) 
Starring Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, and Morgan Freeman, Transcendence postulates a frightening theory: what happens when a human consciousness is dumped into a computer? The answer promises to be either one of the most bizarre hits of 2014 or a potential flop. Director Wally Pfsiter gets us to use his Dark Knight cinematographer skills to good use, with Transcendence being his first as a lead. The cast includes SJF favorites Cillian Murphy and Paul Bettany, but that might not be enough to draw a mainstream audience who already distrust some technology as a potential invasion of privacy. We're not predicting a huge draw here, but audiences have supported worse this year - see Divergent.

Watch the trailer for Transcendence.


The Raid 2: Berandal (already released, BUT...) 
We got a lot of grief for not including this follow-up in our March list, but its release continues to be so slow that many audiences might not see it until late April, if at all. The original, about a SWAT team who comes into contact with a vicious drug dealer in a high-rise apartment, is one of the best action films you'll ever see. Berandal sees one of the survivors going undercover in Jakarta to expose the corruption that ultimately led his team into disaster. We hope this one gets a wider release, but no one's holding their breath. If the deleted scenes are any indication, The Raid 2 looks to be another memorable release.

Watch the trailer for The Raid 2: Berandal. 


How Long Will Cap Lead? 
The only question worth discussing here is not IF Captain America: The Winter Soldier impresses, but for how long it impresses. If March's box office numbers prove anything, it's that moviegoers are still motivated by quality, regardless of brand. Nothing this month looks close to outpacing Cap 2, but we were also surprised at Muppets Most Wanted tanking and Son of God and God's Not Dead outperforming Need for Speed. We're not impressed with many of the month's releases, and suspect mainstream audiences might save their cash for a longer May stay. With The Raid franchise still inexplicably stuck in cult film status, Cap 2 seems to be the preemptive winner, unless something catastrophic happens. But just like other hits from 2014, Cap 2 will need to grow beyond its core audience into LEGO Movie territory before we can crown it a big winner. That means repeat showings for those superfans as well as interested viewers taking a chance based on the already huge flood of positive buzz.

April is merely a tune-up for May, so anything here just keeps the theater lights on until the big push arrives. 

Be sure to add these to your Movies To-Do List:
•April 4th: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
•April 11th: Rio 2 and Oculus 
•April 17th: Transcendence 
•The Raid 2: Berandal 

Which films are you looking forward to this month? Comment below and join the conversation!

Discuss this story with fellow SJF fans on Facebook.  On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms, and follow author Matt Cummings at @mfc90125.

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