Well, it was bound to happen eventually, wasn’t it?

With Disney making bank on their live-action remakes of animated classics, it was only a matter of time before we started seeing other animation powerhouses dipping their toes into the live-action well. And, the latest comes from DreamWorks and their upcoming remake of How to Train Your Dragon.

Now, while I’m not particularly fond of what Disney has done so far with their live-action projects, I am pretty excited for what DreamWorks might have to offer. There are some obvious picks for where they could go next after How to Train Your Dragon, such as Shrek, Madagascar, or Kung Fu Panda. But, I think there are much more interesting routes that they could take if this remake turns out to be successful. Such as…

The Boss Baby

The story of a big brother who works to help his baby brother (who arrives wearing a suit, no less) figure out why puppies are becoming more popular than babies is just as weird as it sounds on paper as it is on the screen.

The main joke is that the baby is voiced by Alec Baldwin (who even makes a sanitized reference to the very R-rated movie, Glengarry Glen Ross) and his parents have no idea that their new baby is a spy. Over the years, it’s become a whole franchise with a sequel and a TV series, and you know what? I think this would be a great live-action film.

Don’t get me wrong. I know we’ve already gotten precocious baby movies in the past (I’m an ‘80s baby, mind you, so I saw Look Who’s Talking when it was new). I’m also well aware that the Baby Geniuses series exists. However, what if we combined Look Who’s Talking with Baby Geniuses while also having the imaginative whimsy that we’ve gotten in the animated The Boss Baby movies and TV show?

I mean, I know it sounds like it might not work, but I just have a feeling that it would. If anything, it would definitely set itself apart from anything that Disney has been remaking, that’s for sure.

The Croods

A family of cave people who hunt, gather, and sleep in a big ‘ol pile at night, encounter a new cave person who seems to have new-aged ideas that the patriarch doesn’t like. That is, of course, until the father learns that this new guy might be right all along. Silliness ensues.

I’m a huge fan of the first Croods movie, as well as its superior sequel. I even really like the animated series, The Croods: Family Tree. The thing is, I’m not quite sure why. I mean, you’d think that the caveman gags would get tiresome after a while. But, much like The Flintstones, the adventures this family go on just always seem to get better and better every time.

All throughout, it seems like the Croods are slowly advancing, and I love the concept of a live-action movie doing something similar. Because unlike The Flintstones, where we have a whole bunch of cave people living together with dinosaurs, the world of this family is constantly in peril.

Yes, it’s all played for laughs (like the daughter, Eep, has a peanut for a toe since hers was apparently eaten off), but I think it would be really cool to see some of these dangers in live-action, while still being really silly. It could work!

Monsters Vs. Aliens

A meteorite makes a woman transform into a giant, and she is placed in a holding facility with other creatures that are deemed “monsters.” However, when hostile aliens come to take over our planet, the “monsters” have to – you guessed it – fight the aliens in order to save the world, hence the title.

Monsters vs. Aliens is one of those DreamWorks movies that was a huge hit upon release (It made $381 million worldwide) but somehow seems to be a bit more on the obscure end of their catalogue these days.

This is a shame, because the movie is all sorts of funny and exciting. I especially like characters like Dr. Herbert Cockroach, Ph.D, and the massive bug, Insectosaurus, which looks like it could be a stand-in for one of Godzilla’s enemies.

I think a live-action version could really benefit when it comes to Monsters vs. Aliens. For one thing, it could be baby's first kaiju movie…that is, if you’re not the kind of parent who already takes their children to Godzilla movies. Secondly, I think all the modern special effects could make this movie feel fresh and new. Because it deserves another audience to fall in love with it, dammit!

Megamind

A supervillain (who is not very good at his job) somehow manages to defeat his arch-nemesis. However, once his enemy is out of the picture, Megamind doesn’t really have much to do, so he creates a new villain for himself…with disastrous results.

I once dream cast a Wreck-It Ralph movie, and honestly, I think if one were ever made, it would be something like Megamind. The story of a “villain” who isn’t really all that bad (more misunderstood than anything), a live-action movie could be all sorts of fun.

Firstly, I envision it being playful like We Could Be Heroes, or Sky High, and secondly, I also see it parodying movies like Batman v. Superman, and being a whole hodgepodge of other superhero movies over the past few decades.

Honestly, if any movie on this list has the best chance of making a successful live-action transition, I think it’s Megamind. The ingredients are already established. Bonus points if Will Farrell and Brad Pitt could reprise their roles.

Rise Of The Guardians

Childhood guardians, such as Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, The Sandman, and Jack Frost, must fight to keep children’s imaginations alive from the Boogieman, who has nefarious plans.

Rise of the Guardians freaking rules. It made money, but apparently not enough to be considered a success, and the Guardians have fallen by the wayside when it comes to DreamWorks animation. That said, I definitely think these characters deserve a second chance, and I think it could be in live-action.

A part of me thinks it would be somewhat in the vein of a Red One, but I think it would be cool if they really leaned into the idea of children losing their sense of wonder due to a boogie man trying to take it away from them.

My children are 9 and 7, and each year, I wonder when they’re going to stop believing in Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny. A story of parents not wanting their children to lose that magic could be a good bridge into this world of childhood imagination.

The Prince Of Egypt

Lastly, what better movie for DreamWorks to give the live-action adaptation to than possibly their greatest movie ever, The Prince of Egypt? The story of Moses from childhood to becoming a prophet is rife with beautiful animation and music. The film also makes the Book of Exodus exciting for young audiences. In every way, it’s a winner.

Which kind of makes me hesitant to put it on this list. The movie already works so well in animated form, and transitioning it to live-action might take something away from it.

However, I also think that it could make it feel even more majestic and grand in live-action. The Ten Commandments is one of the most powerful movies of all time, and while I’m not sure if a Prince of Egypt movie could come anywhere close, I don’t think it could hurt to try, either.

Which one of these movies, if any, would you like to see next after How to Train Your Dragon?

We all know movies like Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, and Titanic have made a ton of cash at the box office, with each comfortably eclipsing the $2 billion line. However, there are other films whose impressive theatrical runs aren’t as remembered, despite making a ton of money before they left the silver screen. Here are 32 movies you might not know made over $500 million, per Box Office Mojo.

The Smurfs (2011)

Remember The Smufs, the 2011 CGI/live-action hybrid starring Neil Patrick Harris and those titular blue villagers from the classic cartoon of the same name? If not, you’ll probably be even more surprised to learn the forgotten film made a staggering $564 million at the box office. Sure, the vast majority of that was in international markets, but still!

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)

Despite being far from the best Indiana Jones movie, 2008’s The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull happens to be the best-performing entry in the franchise with a ridiculous $787 million theatrical run. Sometimes folks go in droves to see a bad movie, especially when there’s a nearly 20-year break between entries in a franchise.

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Mission: Impossible II is considered by many to be the worst film in the Tom Cruise action franchise, and there’s a case to be made for that. And even though we don’t look at the 2000 movie fondly, there’s no denying the fact that moviegoers were all about it nearly a quarter-century ago, as the film made $546 million worldwide during its theatrical run.

The Grinch (2018)

It’s no secret that animated movies make a ton of cash, especially releases that appeal to both children and adults. And it appears that was the case for Illumination’s 2018 adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic Christmas book, The Grinch. This movie, which we often forget about, made an impressive $540 million back in late 2018.

The Passion Of The Christ (2004)

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was one of the most talked about movies of the early 2000s, but we honestly forgot it made THIS much money during its run. The celebrated or controversial film, depending on who you ask, made a mind-boggling $612 million worldwide, with most of that being in the United States (remember all those church groups buying up entire screenings?).

Mamma Mia! (2008)

We all remember Mamma Mia! for its catchy renditions of ABBA classics, a fun-loving spin on a Broadway musical, and its all-star cast, but what’s often forgotten is the fact that it raked in a ton of cash. Though the lion’s share of its $695 million gross was in international markets, there’s no denying this Greek-set romance story was a success.

Ted (2012)

The 2012 summer box office was wild with successful movies like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, but there was another major hit released between two of the best superhero movies of all time: Ted. Seth MacFarlane’s raunchy comedy about a man and his stuffed animal was a massive hit with audiences, bringing in $549 million by the time everything was said and done.

Cinderella (2015)

There have been a crazy number of Disney live-action adaptations over the past decade or so, but one that is often left out of the conversation is Cinderella. Though not as successful as The Lion King or The Jungle Book, this Lily James-led fantasy film brought in an impressive $542 million worldwide back in 2015.

The Meg (2018)

People must really like to see a) Jason Statham movies or b) shark-centric thrillers or c) all of the above because The Meg, a seemingly non-descript 2018 action flick took a massive bite out of the box office with a wild $529-million run a little more than a half-decade ago. And while its sequel didn’t reach as high of a mark, it still performed really well.

Meet The Fockers (2004)

No one would hold anything against you if you didn’t remember a single thing from Meet the Fockers, the 2004 sequel to the Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro 2000 comedy, Meet the Parents. This is especially true when it comes to how well the movie performed worldwide: $523 million.

World War Z (2013)

One of the more recent additions to the list of movies with disastrous productions, World War Z was able to turn it around and absolutely kill it in theaters back in the summer of 2013. Despite all the problems during production and post-production, as well as OK reviews, this Brad Pitt zombie thriller brought in $540 million worldwide.

Night At The Museum (2006)

The Night at the Museum franchise has gone on to produce multiple sequels and give families something to watch on family movie night, and so it shouldn’t be surprising that the Ben Stiller-led fantasy comedy performed well at the box office. But did you know it made $574 million back in 2006? That’s a stack of cash.

Life Of Pi (2012)

Sometimes it feels like Ang Lee’s Life of Pi is a movie that has been lost to the sands of time, but let’s not forget that the 2012 book-to-screen adaptation of one of the most decorated novels of the early 21st century made more than $609 million during its run. It didn’t perform all too well in the States ($125 million), but its international gross was something to behold.

The Croods (2013)

Remember The Croods, the 2013 animated film that saw Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, and Catherine Kenner voice a family of cavemen? If the answer is no (or even if it is yes), you’ll probably be surprised to learn that it made $587 million worldwide during its theatrical run, which was enough to launch an entire franchise that included movies, shows, and even video games.

The Boss Baby (2017)

The Boss Baby is a movie many of us probably remember for one reason or another, meaning we either watched the Alec Baldwin-led animated film or saw its trailer during our visits to the theater in 2017. Well, the movie was not only a hit, but a massive hit, bringing in a total of $527 million before it finally left the big screen.

Hancock (2008)

Here’s something crazy to think about: Hancock, the 2008 Will Smith-led superhero movie made more money at the box office than Iron Man, the film that launched the MCU and changed Hollywood as we know it today. 

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Not only was Kong: Skull Island the most successful movie in the Monsterverse, but it also performed really well at the box office back in early 2017. By the time everything was said and done, this monster movie made a staggering $569 million worldwide.

The Martian (2015)

We’re not knocking the movie, but Ridley Scott’s The Martian somehow won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 73rd Golden Globes, which is crazy to think about. Know what else is crazy? Oh, just the fact that this 2015 Matt Damon movie made $631 million months before it received all those accolades.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Thor: The Dark World is nowhere near the top of the ranking of best Marvel movies, and at one point it was seen as a failure or misstep for the young franchise. However, it still made $645 million worldwide. Sure, it’s not quite Avengers numbers, but this mops the floor with some of the later MCU films.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

The first Venom movie made more than $850 million back in 2018. And while its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, didn’t come close to touching that, its $506 million run is impressive considering several factors. The biggest of these is the fact that it came out in October 2021, a time in which theaters were still struggling to rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Men In Black 3 (2012)

Men in Black 3 wasn’t necessarily a bad movie, but it’s wild to think that the third entry in the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones franchise would be its most successful. Released in 2012, this sci-fi action comedy brought in an otherworldly $654 million in box office receipts.

Maleficent (2014)

2014 was a massive year at the box office with movies like Godzilla, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Interstellar bringing in bundles of cash and millions of moviegoers to screens around the world. Another addition to that list was the Angelina Jolie-led Maleficent, which earned $760 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest movies of all time.

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

The Da Vinci Code is a bad movie with one of the worst Tom Hanks hairdos of all time. However, Ron Howard’s 2006 adaptation of Dan Brown’s conspiracy thriller was a huge hit with audiences and made $760 million worldwide.

2012 (2009)

Roland Emmerich’s 2012 is one of the craziest disaster movies of all time, but it’s also one of the most successful, which is somehow hard to believe. Released in 2009, a time in which people still thought the world would end in 2012, this John Cusack-led thriller brought in an impressive $791 million worldwide.

The Secret Life Of Pets (2016)

This one is wild, but did you know The Secret Life of Pets made $876 million at the box office back in 2016? No, well, it actually happened and we can’t figure out a) how it happened and b) why we don’t recall its massive success. But with Illumination being behind the runaway hit, it shouldn’t be all that surprising.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

A wildly inaccurate historical film or a biopic everyone needs to see depending on who you ask, Bohemian Rhapsody was one of the biggest movies of 2018. And while Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther dominated the box office conversation that year, let’s not forget that the Queen movie made $911 million before it left the big screen.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald (2018)

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald didn’t quite reach the heights of its predecessor or the more popular Harry Potter movies, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a success. In fact, the 2018 sequel made a cool $656 million in the weeks following its release, which is quite a feat.

Suicide Squad (2016)

David Ayer’s Suicide Squad has received a ton of crap over the years for not really making sense and feeling like multiple movies taped together instead of one cohesive film. And while we can go on and on about the 2016 DCEU movie’s shortcomings, the movie did happen to make $749 million at the box office. 

Beauty And The Beast (2017)

Not only did the 2017 live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast make more than $500 million at the box office, but it also crossed over into the $1 billion territory, which is quite surprising. All in all, the movie made $1.2 billion, which makes it one of the most successful films of all time.

Alice In Wonderland (2010)

Is Alice in Wonderland a good movie? No, not really. But did Tim Burton’s 2010 adaptation of the classic Lewis Carroll novel make a ton of cash? Yeah, by the boatloads. This wild, nonsensical, and nightmarish movie brought in more than $1 billion back in the day, which is mindboggling.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (2009)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is often considered not only one of the worst movies in the franchise but also one of Michael Bay’s worst films. However, this 2009 summer blockbuster made a mind-blowing $836 million at the box office, which was more than $100 million more than its predecessor.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Though it didn’t make nearly as much as some of the earlier movies in the comic book franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse didn’t have a terrible run upon its release in 2016. In fact, the movie, which saw Oscar Isaac play a villain that looked a lot like a certain Power Rangers big bad, made a cool $544 million by the time it left theaters.

When I think of actors who make great villains, Catherine Keener is far from the first person to cross my mind. That may be exactly what made her performance as the villain of Netflix’s fun, time travel adventure, The Adam Project, so unexpected and memorable.

Yet, while looking up some of the best Catherine Keener movies for this particular list, I came to realize that the two-time Academy Award nominee has actually been mastering the art of playing bad for years now, as you will be able to see by streaming the titles below. Let’s start, however, with a role that is not quite so sinister, from one of the earlier years of her career.

Johnny Suede (Amazon Rental)

An aspiring musician (Academy Award winner Brad Pitt) struggles to maintain the style and personality of the rock ’n roll legends he idolizes.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: In what is described in the promotional material as a “smooth comedy” from acclaimed writer and director Tom DiCillo, things start shakin’ up for Brad Pitt’s title character from Johnny Suede after he begins a romance with Catherine Keener’s Yvonne, who challenges him to begin seeing himself for who he really is.

Rent/Buy Johnny Suede on Amazon.

Being John Malkovich (Peacock)

After taking a job as a file clerk, a puppeteer (John Cusack) finds a portal hidden in his office building that allows him to inhabit the mind of actor John Malkovich (Malkovich as himself).

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: Johnny Suede’s Brad Pitt makes a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in 1999’s Being John Malkovich alongside Catherine Keener, who received her first Oscar nomination for playing the scheming, manipulative Maxine Lund in this extremely inventive, surreal, satirical fantasy from writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze.

Stream Being John Malkovich on Peacock.
Rent/Buy Being John Malkovich on Amazon.

Death To Smoochy (Amazon Rental)

A disgraced, fired children’s TV star (Academy Award winner Robin Williams) plots revenge against his replacement (Academy Award nominee Edward Norton), who is already growing disillusioned by his job dressing as a purple dinosaur as it is.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: Three years after Being John Malkovich, Catherine Keener played a TV producer in another dark, bizarre and unique, but highly misunderstood and unjustly underrated, satire called Death to Smoochy, which fellow star Danny DeVito also directed.

Rent/Buy Death To Smoochy on Amazon.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (HBO Max)

A middle-aged tech store employee (Academy Award nominee Steve Carell) is urged by his friends to make some changes to his life after they discover that he has never had sex.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: Catherine Keener gives one of the sweetest and funniest performances of her career as a woman who falls for Carell’s titular character in 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virigin - the theatrical, feature-length directorial debut of Judd Apatow, which remains one of his most beloved smash hits to this day.

Stream The 40-Year-Old Virgin on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy The 40-Year-Old Virgin on Amazon.

Into The Wild (Netflix)

Wishing to get away from his privileged life and start anew, a recent college graduate (Emile Hirsch) abandons all of his belongings and sets out on a cross-country trip hitchhiking to Alaska, encountering a unique variety of interesting characters along the way.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: In 2007, Catherine Keener gave yet another sweet, but not very funny, performance as a fellow nomad who proves to be an especially inspirational figure to Hirsch’s Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild - director Sean Penn’s mesmerizing dramatization of author Jon Krakauer’s cautionary non-fiction tragedy.

Stream Into The Wild on Netflix.
Rent/Buy Into The Wild on Amazon.

Capote (HBO Max)

Acclaimed writer Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman in a well-deserved Oscar-winning performance) becomes dangerously and emotionally attached to an inmate (Clifton Collins Jr.) on death row for the murder of a Kansas family while researching the crime for his latest book.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: In 2006, Catherine Keener earned her second Academy Award nomination for playing Harper Lee, who would one day publish To Kill A Mockingbird, in Capote - an intriguing inside look at the real life story behind the shocking non-fiction crime novel, In Cold Blood.

Stream Capote on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy Capote on Amazon.

An American Crime (Tubi, IMDb TV, Peacock)

A single mother (Catherine Keener), with the help of her subservient six children and other neighborhood youngsters, subjects a teenage girl (Elliot Page) to horrific and senseless abuse after her parents put her and her younger sister in their care while they are away.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: Catherine Keener’s villainous role in The Adam Project looks like Mary Poppins when compared to her Emmy nominated portrayal of Gertrude Baniszewski in An American Crime - a Showtime original, feature-length dramatization of the unspeakable circumstances surrounding Sylvia Likens’ death in 1960s Indiana.

Stream An American Crime on Tubi.
Stream An American Crime on IMDb TV.
Stream An American Crime on Peacock.

Get Out (Amazon Rental)

A Black photographer (future Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya) cannot shake the feeling that something is wrong while visiting the parents of his white girlfriend (Alison Williams), unaware how horrifyingly correct his instincts would turn out to be.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: While this thriller is not a true story, but very true to real life in many upsetting aspects, Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning debut as a writer and director, Get Out, features a brilliantly subtle, yet equally disturbing, performance by Catherine Keener that draws some amusing parallels to the plot of Being John Malkovich.

Rent/Buy Get Out on Amazon.

Incredibles 2 (Disney+)

After they are forced to come out of hiding to save the day, a family of superheroes (including Holly Hunter as Elastigirl) are given a much-desired second chance to “relive the glory days” and hopefully reinforce public opinion about vigilanteism.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: Without giving too much away, Catherine Keener’s naturally endearing quality, once again, proves to be an effective misdirect for her character in 2018’s Incredibles 2 - the long-awaited, action-packed sequel to one of the best Pixar movies from returning writer and director, Brad Bird.

Stream Incredibles 2 on Disney+.
Rent/Buy Incredibles 2 on Amazon.

The Croods Movies (Peacock Premium, Hulu)

After their home is destroyed, a family of cave people search for a new place to live and later discover a whole new way of living when they cross paths with a more “evolved” family.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: Another notable voice acting performance from Catherine Keener is as the motherly Ugga Crood from 2013’s fun prehistoric animated hit, The Croods, whom she would reprise alongside the all-star cast of The Croods: A New Age in 2020.

Stream The Croods on Peacock Premium.
Rent/Buy The Croods on Amazon.

Stream The Croods: A New Age on Hulu.
Rent/Buy The Croods: A New Age on Amazon.

Where The Wild Things Are (Netflix)

Disillusioned by the common pressures of boyhood, the angsty and overly imaginative Max (Max Records) runs away from home and finds himself in a strange land where unusual beasts reside.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: In 2009, Catherine Keener reunited with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze for a visually stunning and surprisingly dark adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s seminal children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, in the role of Max’s mother.

Stream Where The Wild Things Are on Netflix.
Rent/Buy Where The Wild Things Are on Amazon.

Enough Said (HBO Max)

A divorced massage therapist (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) discovers that her new client (Catherine Keener) is the ex-wife of her new beau (James Gandolfini), which she keeps secret as she allows her new friend to vent about the previous relationship.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: Years after she made a funny appearance on Seinfeld, Catherine Keener gives one of her most endearing performances in 2013’s Enough Said - a clever romantic comedy from Oscar-nominated writer and director Nicole Holofcener.

Stream Enough Said on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy Enough Said on Amazon.

The Adam Project (Netflix)

A troubled 12-year-old (Walker Scobell) crosses paths with a pilot who also happens to be his future self (Ryan Reynolds) and joins him on an adventure to ensure a better tomorrow by preventing the invention of time travel.

Why it’s worth checking out if you like Catherine Keener: When you are done binging the other great Catherine Keener titles above and have a better understanding of how well she has played a villain in the past, revisit her race across time against Reynolds and Scobell in The Adam Project - Netflix’s, overall, critically well-liked tribute to Amblin-produced sci-fi classics, from director Shawn Levy.

Stream The Adam Project on Netflix.

This is just the tip of iceberg of what to look out for if you are a Catherine Keener fan, but they most definitely round out the majority of the actress’ greatest hits.

We were first introduced to the Croods family in the DreamWorks animated feature The Croods and the prehistoric family met the allegedly more-evolved Bettermans in The Croods: A New Age. Both are back and up to their usual antics in The Croods Family Tree, which continues the ever-evolving story as the Croods and the Bettermans learn to live together on the most idyllic farm in prehistory. The Croods have been introduced to all kinds of new foods since first arriving at the Bettermans’ farm, and now they’re learning about bounce berries, which are very hard to catch.

While the Croods adapt some of the Bettermans’ way of life, like living on the farm and growing their own food, they are still cavemen. This means when a new food like the bounceberry is introduced, The Croods feel more than prepared to run up some berries using their hunter-gatherer roots. See their plan in action in the clip below.

This clip is a good indication that The Croods Family Tree will keep us laughing just like the films did, as it opens with a humorous exchange from the Croods lack of understanding. Mr. Betterman (voiced by Matthew Waterson) warns the Croods that while the berries may look fun, they aren’t, and Grug (voiced by Kiff Vandenheuvel) guesses this is because they’re heavy while Eep (voiced by Ally Dixon) guesses they’re poisonous. Of course, Mr. Betterman is only referring to the fact that the berries bounce, explaining that the moment the berries leave their bushes they bounce for the hills.

The bouncing berries are no setback for the Croods, who instantly spring into action. Grug is the leader, as per usual, and he draws out the plan on a rock like he’s laying out a football play. He breaks the Croods and the Bettermans into various roles in the berry capture, but he leaves out Dawn Betterman.

Kelly Marie Tran reprises her role of Dawn Betterman, and she has quite the breakout moment in the above clip. After questioning what her role will be in the berry collection, Dawn is told by her mother to sit this one out because it’s too dangerous. Not having it, Dawn pushes back with an eruption from deep within and says she can’t be stopped from living her life. She immediately adjusts her calm, and it’s hilarious.

After Dawn’s outburst, Mr. Betterman suggests a dry run before they harvest for real, but of course the Croods ignore him and take off running. He also warns not to eat the berries while harvesting them, which none of the Croods do in the clip, but I have a sneaking suspicion someone will break that rule. We’ll have to watch The Croods Family Tree to find out! As The Croods: A New Age was the perfect sequel to The Croods, we have no doubt the team at DreamWorks has created a fantastic continuation series.

Season 1 of The Croods Family Tree debuts with six episodes on Peacock and Hulu September 23. The journey from sparring rivals to unlikely friends is fraught with hilarious misadventures as the two families slowly overcome their differences to turn a tree house divided into a tree home united.

In the last ten years or so, new stars have emerged in Hollywood who have truly taken over, bringing in a brand new generation of amazing talent. One of those actresses was none other than Emma Stone, a young woman who has gone on to have quite the career so far.

It’s about time that we gave Emma Stone the honor that she deserves in re-watching some of her best films. Because, trust me, there are plenty of them. These are the best Emma Stone movies on Amazon, Hulu, and other streaming platforms which you should go and watch right now if you’re a fan of the actress.

Superbad (2007)

Starting off this list, we take a look at Emma Stone’s film debut, Superbad. In this classic comedy, starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera, we follow the story of two high school students, who have been best friends since they were small, on their quest to lose their virginity to the prettiest and coolest girls in school before they go away to college.

There’s a reason why, after this film, Emma Stone was signed up for so many other roles. Her performance as Jules was comically fantastic and showed off her acting chops, as well as her natural talents with comedy. This might have been the first comedic role she starred in, but it's been far from her last. The rest of the Superbad cast is great, but Stone was a standout. 

Stream Superbad on Peacock..
Rent/Buy Superbad on Amazon.

Zombieland (2009)

Moving into another genre that Emma Stone rocks, we take a look at Zombieland. This apocalyptic comedy follows the story of a geeky college kid, who has a set of rules for surviving in an apocalypse filled with zombies. He ends up meeting three strangers along the way, and they band together for a long road trip across the country to find sanctuary from the zombies.

There was a sequel ten years later for more than one reason. Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg have amazing chemistry. Not only is their comedic timing fantastic, but their strange and yet quirky relationship is believable, as well. Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin also add to this awesome ensemble that not only makes you laugh but gets you prepped for the zombie apocalypse. But, remember to get a kickass partner to do it with. It’s a shame Stone didn’t get that Walking Dead crossover that she wanted though. 

Stream Zombieland on Apple TV+.
Rent/Buy Zombieland on Amazon. 

The Amazing Spider-Man (And The Sequel) (2012, 2014)

I’ve always felt that a lot of people forget these movies exist because of how popular Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man became, but Emma Stone rocked it in The Amazing Spider-Man movies. In the first Amazing Spider-Man, we see the origin story of Peter Parker, the boy who would go on to be bitten by a radioactive spider and become the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, saving NYC.

Emma Stone portrays Gwen Stacy, Peter’s love interest in the two films, and while she looks amazing as a blonde, she also kills this role. You’d never think she could be anything other than an awesome scientist. I always wished that we got to see more of her as the character – but, let’s be honest, neither she nor Andrew Garfield really looked like high schoolers, did they? They’re still great films, though. It’s a shame she wasn’t in Spider-Man: No Way Home like her co-star Andrew Garfield, but that’s something I can live with as long as I have these films. 

Stream The Amazing Spider-Man on Netflix.
Stream The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on Netflix.
Rent/Buy The Amazing Spider-Man on Amazon.
Rent/Buy The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on Amazon.

Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) (2014)

Winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2015, Birdman, otherwise known as Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), is a black comedy-drama that tells the story of a faded Hollywood actor and his rise to try and come back by starring in a new adaptation of Broadway play. 

Birdman has an impressive cast overall, and Emma Stone was one of the best additions the movie could have had, co-starring as Sam Thomson. Birdman actually earned Stone her first Academy Award nomination, and showed just how talented she is in the drama sphere. She went on to win for a different film a couple years later, but her role in Birdman is legendary. 

Stream Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) on Hulu.
Rent/Buy Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) on Amazon.

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

Crazy, Stupid Love is just another example of how great Stone performs in a comedic manner – with a hint of drama as well. In this popular romantic dramedy starring Steve Carell in one of his best movies, we follow the story of a recently separated man who wants to rediscover his manhood and is taught by his new friend, Jacob, how to pick up women at bars.

Let me just say that this film is ridiculously funny. Not only are the dramatic moments on point and pull at your heartstrings in a great way but the jokes land every single time. Even the scenes between Emma Stone and Steve Carell are some of the best in the film because it feels like a father and a daughter conversing, not two actors. It’s just so great. Please, give it a watch if you haven’t seen it!

Stream Crazy Stupid Love on Hulu.
Rent/Buy Crazy Stupid Love on Amazon.

Battle Of The Sexes (2017)

If you’re looking for a great biographical sports film, Battle of the Sexes is one that you need to check out, starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell. The film is based on the real-life match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, two major tennis players who took the world by storm, and the drama that led up to this competition. 

Battle of the Sexes premiered a year after Birdman and continued to show just how brilliant Stone was in more dramatic roles. While the movie itself was a box-office bomb, both Stone and Carell received plenty of praise for their performances, including a Best Actress in a Comedy for the Critics Choice Awards and Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Stone.

Rent/Buy Battle of the Sexes on Amazon.

La La Land (2016)

If you haven’t heard of La La Land at this point, then you’ve been living under a rock. La La Land is a wonderfully written musical telling the story of two unlikely lovers meeting in Hollywood, who have two very different dreams for their lives.

Emma Stone won the Academy Award for Best Actress because of her role in the La La Land cast. We like to talk about how she’s amazing in comedy, but you listen to her sing, dance, and show off her drama skills. I promise you will be crying by the end of this film. Plus, the music is incredibly catchy. I found myself listening to “City of Stars” for months after the film’s release. Your dreams just might come true with La La Land if you take the time to watch it.

Rent La La Land on Amazon.

The Help (2011)

In The Help, we are told the story of Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, a young white woman who works as a journalist, and her relationship with two Black maids during the Civil Rights Movement in 1963.

The film received high praise and several awards. Emma Stone stars as the journalist, and her story captivates you as you watch her interactions with the women who face constant racism on a daily basis. It’s raw and real, which is what makes The Help so fantastic. The performances of this amazing ensemble cast will have you clapping at your TV screen like you would do at the credits in a movie theater. Truly outstanding.

Stream The Help on the Roku Channel.
Rent/Buy The Help on Amazon.

Easy A (2010)

After some heavy choices on this list, we turn back to a comedy – which was the first Emma Stone movie I ever saw. Easy A is about Olive, a high school student who ends up as a victim of her school's “rumor mill” when she lies to her best friend that she had sex for the first time. When word spreads, she welcomes the attention she receives.

I’ve gone off so many times on this list with how amazing Emma Stone is at comedy, but in my opinion, she is at her best in Easy A. The jokes are consistent (I don’t think any of us could forget that ‘Pocketful of Sunshine’ bit), and the acting talent beside her, like Lisa Kudrow and Stanley Tucci, is phenomenal. Plus, this movie is all about women’s empowerment and embracing your sexuality – who wouldn’t want to watch a hysterical movie with a message like that?

Rent/Buy Easy A on Amazon.

The Favourite (2018)

Coming off of her win for La La Land, Emma Stone decided she wanted another Oscar nomination and signed onto the period piece, The Favourite. In this black comedy, we are given the chance to look at the relationship between two cousins, the Duchess of Marlborough and Abigail Masham, both of which are trying to be the Court favourite for the queen.

Emma Stone with a British accent is something I didn’t think I ever needed but God, it’s one of my favorite movies ever. The chemistry that she shares with Rachel Weisz is top-notch, and the comedic moments that come from this film will have you snorting out whatever drink you have. Not only that, but the set design is absolutely gorgeous. Sometimes you won’t even be focusing on the jokes, but looking at the beautiful landscapes, or even the outfits that they have on. If you’re a supporter of period pieces, but want to laugh your butt off, The Favourite is the way to go.

Stream The Favourite on Hulu.
Rent/Buy The Favourite on Amazon.

Poor Things (2023)

You knew at some point this would be on here. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things is based on the novel of the same name and tells the story of a young woman who is brought back to life, but with the brain of someone else in her head, and follows her journey into adulthood and discovering more about herself and the world around her. 

Emma Stone knocks it out of the park with Poor Things, so much so that she won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film. I’ll be honest and say that out of all the 2024 Best Picture nominees, Poor Things is certainly the wackiest, but it’s such a fun time. It tells an intriguing story that will capture your interest instantly. 

Stream Poor Things on Hulu.
Rent/Buy Poor Things on Amazon.

Kinds Of Kindness (2024) (Coming Soon)

While this isn’t a film you can watch right now, I have to bring it up because it’s coming out soon. Kinds of Kindness is Stone’s third collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos after The Favourite and Poor Things, and while not much is known about the film, we know it follows three different stories, as if they’re like three different films.

Stone is just one of the many talented cast members who are in this new film. Willem Dafoe reunites with her, as well as newcomers to Lanthimos movies like Mamaoudou Athie, Hong Chau, Margaret Qualley and more. Trust me when I say this is a movie you’re going to want to see. 

Kinds of Kindness opens in theaters June 21, 2024.

I mean, let’s be honest – these are some of the best movies on Amazon, on Apple TV+, on Hulu and many more. You all need to watch them – but if you’re a fan of Emma Stone, then you have to check all of these out. Now, if you don’t mind me, I’m going to go stream Zombieland for the millionth time.

Emma Stone looks like someone who has a lot of fun doing whatever she’s doing. Like you could go with her to the grocery store and somehow end up laughing or playing some kind of dumb but also amazing game. I can’t verify for sure since we’re regrettably not best friends, but I feel like this clip the studio emailed us from Croods 2 is evidence in my favor.

The featurette gives us a look at Emma Stone talking about her character Eep Crood, and we get a chance to see her recording some of her dialogue in character. She looks like she’s having an absolute blast, which is not easy given sometimes in voice work you have to record the same lines over and over again. People who like voice work, however, seem to enjoy the freedom all those takes can give you to try new things. You can watch Stone have a blast below…

Voice work seems to be either a love it or hate it thing for many in Hollywood. Some actors appreciate the often flexible schedule, the lack of wardrobe and the ability to just get after it and record a lot of takes without inconveniencing others. Then again, there are some that have a harder time connecting to the character and have a harder time recording lines, which often occur without being able to hear the dialogue from the other actors that will actually be used in the film. Thankfully Stone enjoyed her work on the first movie enough to give voice acting another whirl in the sequel.

Emma Stone is best known for her work in critically acclaimed films. Getting nominated for 3 Oscars will do that kind of thing to a person’s reputation, as she was recognized for Birdman, La La Land and The Favourite between 2015 and 2019, but that success in more challenging roles doesn’t mean she can’t do broad comedy. Her earliest wins came in movies like Superbad and Easy A, and that likeability, charm and relatable energy come out really well in The Croods: A New Age.

The first Croods movie made almost $600M at the global box office back in 2013. A sequel was announced almost immediately, but the project sat on the shelf for years, thanks in part to factors outside of its control like Universal acquiring DreamWorks and then, of course, Covid-related movie theater closures. The Croods: A New Age eventually opened in November of 2020 and viewers eventually had the option to do either theaters or OnDemand at home. So far it has picked up almost $150M, which isn’t too bad for where we’re at right now with the industry. It's also, by the way, a good time and way better than most sequels.

The Croods: A New Age is available right now on digital. Fans will also be able to buy the movie on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on February 23rd. In addition to the film itself, the sets will contain tons of bonus features including deleted scenes, a gag reel and feature length commentary.

Along with the sequel to Sharkboy and Lavagirl, I saw The Croods: A New Age 3 times this past holiday. Three times! This is mostly because it’s on VOD right now and only available to rent—for now. But you would think that I would be sick of the movie by now, right? Well, actually, no, since I really liked the original Croods, and I like this one even more.

Granted, I didn’t watch this movie 3 times for my own health. No, it was because my kids wanted to see it 3 times. But each time I watched The Croods: A New Age, I caught more and more reasons of why this sequel is the perfect follow-up to the 2013 original. There will of course be some spoilers up ahead, so keep that in mind. And if you haven’t seen it yet, you can currently stream it on pretty much every rental platform, including YouTube, Amazon, Vudu, and Google Play. Now, let’s venture off into tomorrow.

The Sequel Expands Upon The World Of The Croods Astronomically

Remember in the first movie when The Croods (and Guy, voiced by Ryan Reynolds) experienced that earthquake and then found themselves in that tropical forest? Well, the sequel has an even bigger expansion of the world once the Croods and Guy find a giant wall, which actually has more advanced people living behind it (known as the Bettermans, and yes, they spell out the joke so that even kids can get it). The Bettermans are like Guy, who seemed like an anomaly in the first movie. This is because Guy is actually a member of this tribe, and the Bettermans knew Guy’s parents. This expands upon the world astronomically because it shows that this world really is much more vast outside of the cave than the Croods originally thought.

So much so that the Bettermans even have modern technology like an elevator, so evolution may be at play here. The question is, though, who is more evolved?: The people who have developed advanced technology but have to appease a group of monkeys with bananas just so they’re not eaten, or the Croods who can survive nomadically? This movie tries (and mostly succeeds) to answer that question.

Grug Has Grown To Accept Guy As A Member Of The Family, Showing Huge Character Growth

Nicolas Cage returns as Grug, the patriarchal figure of the Crood family. And like any dad, he’s not really happy about a boy making moon eyes at his daughter, Eep, who is voiced by Emma Stone. That said, Grug begrudgingly accepts Guy into the family to the extent that he even lets him stay with them as they journey to find another home. This shows huge growth for his character, because if you remember, Grug wanted to pound Guy’s face in the first movie. So the fact that he lets Guy stay and flirt with his daughter really does say a lot about how much Grug has changed since the first movie.

And that’s just in the beginning of the sequel. Throughout the rest of the film, Grug begins to dislike Guy even more once Guy starts to relate more with the Bettermans. But of course things make a turnaround, and Guy himself realizes that he hasn’t been the best boyfriend to Eep, as he calls her a “cave girl” as a defamatory term about midway through the film. In the end, though, once Guy sees the error of his ways, Grug gives him permission to date his teenage daughter, which I guess makes him a better man than me. My daughter’s not dating anybody until she’s 40.

There Is More Is At Stake This Time Around Than Ever Before

There is a lot of external conflict in the first Croods movie, making for a lot of broad comedy. And while there’s plenty of that here, too (including a pretty cool scene toward the end similar to the one in Avengers: Endgame when the women lead the charge), there’s actually a lot more internal conflict in this one as well, raising the stakes substantially on an emotional level.

There’s Grug himself, who often feels slighted and belittled by the Bettermans’ way of life. Then there’s Eep who is struggling to understand why Guy is turning away from her, since she doesn’t comprehend what it means to be “a cave girl.” That’s all she’s ever known, and it’s kind of throwing her for a loop. And then finally there’s Guy, who’s trying to make sense of who he was before he met the Croods. So, even though there’s all kinds of physical comedy in the sequel, the best stuff is all the emotional stakes involved, making this a much more compelling, personal film than the original.

We Get to Learn About Guy's Backstory

As mentioned earlier, Guy kind of sticks out in the first movie since he’s the straight man out of the bunch. This is quite strange since there really isn’t a main protagonist in the first movie at all. Because think about it. Is Grug the main character? I mean, he learns to let go of his fear of his daughter’s curiosity, so he has the most growth in the film. But then you have Eep, who better learns to appreciate her father and her family in general. So, I’m not really sure who the main character is in the original, because saying it’s Grug would be like saying that King Triton is the main character in The Little Mermaid, which obviously isn’t true. But I wouldn’t exactly say that Eep grows as much as Ariel does in that movie, either. So, I don’t know.

But I would say that Guy is definitely the main protagonist in the sequel as he has the biggest character growth. We also learn a lot more about his backstory because of where he originally came from, and how that must have impacted his life psychologically when he had to go out on his own and meet these drastically different people. And whew. I just realized that I’m thinking way more into this kids’ movie than I probably should be, but again, that’s what happens when you watch a movie multiple times. I’ll only watch Tenet once, but I’ve seen The Croods: A New Age three times already and probably put a lot more thought into it than I did with Tenet. I just find that comical.

It Has A Great Message For More Grown Up Children About Embracing People Who Might Seem Different

And last but not least, I really love the message of this movie. In the first film, I guess the message was to not stay in your comfort zone. And I only got that message when assuming that Grug was the main character, who again, I’m not quite sure if he was. But in the sequel, the theme of the film is clear—don’t judge a book by its cover. Yes, it’s a familiar theme and one that you find in plenty of stories. But for a kids’ film, it’s a worthy message and I’m happy that my kids, who are 4 and 5, could even understand it.

Because you see, by the end of the film, the Croods can respect the Bettermans’ way of life, and the Bettermans’ can see how woefully unprepared they were for genuine conflict. So, in the end, the two families work together to rescue one another. And I like how this film is clear with its message. Not every theme is as cut and dry as it is in this movie.

In the end, The Croods: A New Age is a natural progression of the story, and one that works really well. But what do you think? Did you get to watch the sequel yet? Sound off in the poll or the comments section down below if you liked the original movie or its sequel better. Ooga booga.

This poll is no longer available.

Thanksgiving weekend is traditionally a big one for Hollywood, and the reasons should be obvious. With the holiday set up on a Thursday, the work week is cut short, allowing more time for audiences to catch a movie on the big screen; and it also creates a scenario in households where extended families are gathered together and looking for any kind of way to kill time (especially when there are a lot of kids running around). Unfortunately, the on-going pandemic has had a massive impact on all things Thanksgiving-related in 2020, with theater-going most definitely proving to be no exception – but the silver lining to be found is that the biggest new release this past weekend actually managed to overperform and exceed expectations. Admittedly folks weren't expecting a whole hell of a lot from Joel Crawford's The Croods: A New Age, but it still managed to put up some surprising numbers.

In my last box office column earlier this month I made the observation that the majority of significant new releases actually playing in theaters were making between $3.5-4 million in their first three days, but the new feature from DreamWorks Animation has crushed that figure and become the biggest "blockbuster" since Christopher Nolan's Tenet first arrived at the end of summer. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Croods: A New Age made $3.9 million on Black Friday alone, and over the course of the normal Friday-to-Sunday it made $9.7 million. Being a Thanksgiving movie, though, it got a bit of a head start at the box office, being released on Wednesday. With those numbers in, the film has made a little over $14 million thus far domestically. It is currently playing in over 2,200 screens – which is approximately every screen that is currently available to it, with major markets like Los Angeles and New York still closed.

Given this news, what should surprise few is that the audience for The Croods 2 skewed heavily in the "young" category. Per the survey system PostTrak, 41 percent of those who went to go see A New Age were under the age of 17.

A direct sequel to The Croods, which made a stunning $587.2 million when it was first released in March 2013, the film follows its titular family (Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke) as they encounter another clan, the Bettermans (Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage, Kelly Marie Tran), who are far more evolved than they are – having established a full farm and homestead while the cave people continue to scrounge for scraps and sleep in a pile. A strange kind off class warfare kicks off, with Ryan Reynolds' Guy trapped in the middle, having both been accepted by the Croods, and having known the Bettermans as a child.

The Croods made $43.6 million domestically in its first three days, though its definitely unfair to compare those numbers to the sequel given all of the extenuating circumstances.

The trade report adds that The Croods: A New Age has made $35.8 million globally – but it's interesting to note that the film's moneymaking opportunities aren't going to be strictly relegated to theatrical ticket sales. Though its a DreamWorks Animation production, the film is being distributed by Universal Pictures, which struck a special mid-pandemic deal with AMC Theatres this past summer that will allow the studio to launch the animated sequel on PVOD platforms in just 17 days. That means that The Croods 2, in a way, has a chance to have its cake and eat it too. It's currently making more cash than expected from its contractually-obligated big screen release, and then on December 15 it will have the chance to make even more money as families who don't feel comfortable going to auditoriums right now will rent and/or purchase it digitally. When all of the dust settles the film won't be looking at half-a-billion in purchases, but it's not impossible to believe that it will turn at least some kind of profit.

One downside is that it's likely that we will see a rather steep decline in box office sales for The Croods 2 from this weekend to the next one. It's easy to imagine that the numbers are particularly frontloaded in this circumstance, with all of those who are willing to go to a theater to see it right now likely having seen it at some point during the extended holiday weekend.

With most other big releases scared off into 2021, The Croods: A New Age is one of the last major releases of 2020, though there are some notable ones coming up at the end of next month. Following multiple delays, Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 1984 will be heading to theaters and HBO Max simultaneously on Christmas Day. Providing it some competition that same day will also be Paul W.S. Anderson's video game adaptation Monster Hunter, which will start as a big screen exclusive. We'll continue to provide you with major box office updates as we get closer to the end of the year, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend.

Blockbuster animated movies frequently employ massive A-lister casts these days – a trend that launched with Robin Williams’ hailed performance in Aladdin – but what you may not realize is that these performers don’t get a lot of opportunities to actually mingle while the film is being made. Recording sessions are usually done independently for scheduling purposes, and dialogue is all synced in post. Group recording sessions do happen, but they’ve become rare.

The Croods: A New Age is a perfect example. The film’s cast is overloaded with talented actors, but it’s now just a few days away from its theatrical release, and Kelly Marie Tran is still “dying” to meet just about everyone in the ensemble – especially Nicolas Cage.

It’s typical that the cast of a blockbuster animated movie may not get together until the press days and/or the premiere, but the pandemic has taken away those opportunities during the run up to the release of The Croods sequel. As such, when I spoke with Kelly Marie Tran on the phone last week and asked about who in the ensemble she has met, the list turned out to be pretty short. Said the actress,

As fans will remember, the first Croods movie featured an awesome group of stars – including not only Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone, but also Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, and Clark Duke – and The Croods: A New Age goes even bigger. Kelly Marie Tran plays a new character named Dawn Betterman, and her parents, Hope and Phil Betterman, are voiced by the great Leslie Mann and Peter Dinkage.

Though she has had the experience of being in not one, but two Star Wars movies, Tran still geeked out about her Croods co-stars, and made it clear that she would love to meet all of them – be it by working together on another project, or just having a post-release cast dinner:

The Croods: A New Age is arriving in theaters just in time for Thanksgiving, and will be available in digital release next month. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more about the film, and more from my interview with Kelly Marie Tran!

At this point in 2020, movie lovers have pretty much come to expect that a number of studios will continue to shift theatrical release plans for upcoming films as things continue to change with the global health crisis. In some cases, however, films have been given simultaneous PVOD releases or have just moved to that method of release exclusively. Well, in a surprising turn of events, Universal has now moved up one of its 2020 films, and it could have some implications for PVOD as well.

Universal Pictures has confirmed that it will be shifting DreamWorks Animations’ The Croods: A New Age from December 23 to November 25, 2020, according to TheWrap. The film will mark the first release from DreamWorks Animation since Trolls World Tour. That film had a limited theatrical run back in April and was simultaneously dropped on PVOD.

Ultimately, releasing Trolls World Tour on PVOD turned out well for Universal, as the film reportedly earned over $100 million in sales. When NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell stated that the studio would consider this as a future model for some of its future releases, it drew backlash from AMC Theaters, which at one point said it would no longer screen Universal films as a result of Shell’s sentiments.

However, the studio and theater chain would eventually reach a historic agreement. Per the deal, Universal films would continue to be shown at AMC locations and there would also be a 17-day exclusivity period for the films to be shown at those venues. Following that stretch of time, films can receive Premium VOD releases, and Universal and AMC will reportedly share the profits.

So what does this all mean for The Croods: A New Age? Well, with the film’s new release date and the new deal between Universal and AMC, The Croods can be released to PVOD just in time for the holiday season. This could theoretically help to boost sales for viewers looking for home viewing options.

The Croods: A New Age was announced to be in development shortly after the release of the original film back in 2013. After being in production for a few years, the film was reportedly cancelled in 2016, yet it went back into production in the fall of 2017. The film, which has been worked on remotely in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to reunite the original cast, which includes the likes of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds and Catherine Keener.

The Croods: A New Age is in a prime position to be a success for Universal Pictures, and its new release date should also serve as a pleasant surprise for viewers, especially those with young children who will be looking for something to watch over the holidays.

Keep it here at CinemaBlend for more news from the world of movies and TV.

For several decades now, Nicolas Cage has been continuously mastering the fine art of Nouveau Shamanic. The perplexing inconsistent actor isn't always known for his triumphs, but he'll often commit wholeheartedly to his material when asked to, resulting in several outstanding or, at least, very memorable performances throughout his strange and fascinating career. If you're a Nic Cage fan, here are just a few titles that you should check out now on various streaming services.

Raising Arizona (HBO Max)

An ex-con (Nicolas Cage) and an ex-cop (Holly Hunter) in a childless relationship kidnap a quintuplet baby from another family to disastrous results.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: Sadly, Nicolas Cage and the Coen brothers have only collaborated once in their respective careers, but the resulting film, Raising Arizona, is a splendidly wacky comedy with the benefit of featuring one of the actor's funniest, most lively performances. With a premise that could've easily fallen sideways, Joel and Ethan Coen ramp up the cartoonish silliness with the ample Cage playing up the goofiness well. It results in an oddly charming lead performance with the actor providing a nicely boyish look at an ex-criminal with a desire to do right for his makeshift family. It's hard to imagine how many other actors could've pulled this role off, but Cage nails it.

Stream it on HBO Max here.

National Treasure (Disney+)

An adventurous historian (Nicolas Cage) goes on a quest searching for clues left in (or near) famous U.S. monuments in order to discover lost treasure hidden during the American Revolutionary War. To find these archival riches, this wannabe cryptologist will need to steal the Declaration of Independence.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: Certainly among the actor's most commercially successful blockbusters, National Treasure might not be the most formal history lesson you'll find of our country's history, but its endearing mix of entertainment and loose education proved to be a rousing new take on the action-adventure formula, allowing Nic Cage to lend his atypical charisma to this foolhardy, gold-hunting protagonist who'll stop at next-to-nothing to discover the treasure he seeks. Even if that involves stealing one of the most foundational U.S. monuments. You'll have no trouble finding something here for everyone to enjoy.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Mandy (Shudder/Hoopla)

A once-peaceful woodsman (Nicolas Cage) seeks bloody, merciless revenge on a deranged, drug-addled hippie cult after they murder his wife (Andrea Riseborough) in cold blood.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: After littering Redbox machines nationwide with underwhelming b-movies, lackluster action movies, and listless revenge tales, Mandy provided Nic Cage super-fans with this ultimate Cage Rage experience, a moody, majestically manic acid trip of an odyssey into the psyche of a man with nothing to lose and everything left on the line. The results are splashy and sensational, providing artsy rumination and genre-heavy leanings into a goofy, deranged new take on this familiar vigilante genre. Through its intoxicating atmosphere, pulpy visuals, and Cage's gleefully unhinged central performance, Mandy is an outstanding return-to-form, playing to his strengths to produce one of the most spellbinding horror films in years.

Stream it on Shudder here and Hoopla here.

Leaving Las Vegas (Amazon Prime, PlutoTV)

A disgraced Hollywood screenwriter (Nicolas Cage) travels to Las Vegas in order to drink himself to death. From there, he forms an unlikely relationship with a local sex worker (Elisabeth Shue).

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: Leaving Las Vegas is a depressing, haunting, and a fittingly (or, perhaps, ironically) sobering film that's elevated nicely by Nicolas Cage's mesmerizing, award-winning performance. In the role that turned him into an Oscar winner, Cage provided his signature blend of conviction and uninhibited dedication to provide an introspective, unrestrained look at an addict walking along the edge, lacking remorse or any desire for treatment. What could've been an utterly bleak, entirely soul-crushing movie is given a dark sense of fascination through Cage's peculiarly unique performance. It's certainly among Cage's most celebrated, well-recognized performances in a constantly scattered career.

Stream it on Amazon Prime here and PlutoTV here.

The Weather Man (Hulu)

A disliked Chicago weatherman (Nicolas Cage) struggles with a midlife crisis following his separation from his wife and children. Battling emotional and sexual frustration, this television personality must determine whether or not personal and professional success can be mutually beneficial.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: For my money, The Weather Man remains one of the most underrated dark comedies of the '00s, as well as one of Nicolas Cage's strongest, most overlooked performances. While the character isn't always the most likable son-of-a-gun, Cage brings a good bit of warmth and humility to this cynical comedy about a befuddled man with a cloudy mind who must weather (har har) the storm of his personal life outside of professional livelihood. It's an engrossing character study, particularly into a profession that's often denounced. Alas, the movie hasn't gotten its full due.

Stream it on Hulu here.

The Croods (Netflix)

A family of prehistoric cavemen, led by patriarch Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage), must trek through lands unknown and undiscovered in search of their new home.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: Though he's more well-known for his adult work, Nicolas Cage's family movies (as discussed with National Treasure) can also be a great bit of fun, producing some of Cage's most consistently watched and ritually enjoyed performances. With The Croods, Cage provided a surprisingly sweet-hearted performance as a lug-headed caveman trying to find safe dwellings for his B.C. household. This DreamWorks Animation movie balances the company's blend of humor and heart to good measure, resulting in an amusing, winning family film with beautiful visuals and a nice message to boot. There are sequel plans, which will see Cage returning to the familial role. Hopefully, it's as rock-solid as the original!

Stream it on Netflix here.

Con Air (IMDbTV)

A freshly paroled U.S. Ranger (Nicolas Cage) finds his plans to reunite with his family derailed when he's ironically held prisoner on a transport plane seized by maniacal inmates.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: Either you're on-board for Con Air's stylistic shenanigans or you're not. Thankfully, I'm definitely in the former camp. Simon West's absurd, high-testosterone macho action blockbuster is far from the smartest, most sophisticated, or most logical film you'll ever see. But this delightfully dim-witted extravaganza relishes in every ludicrous moment and every cheeky bit of nonsense, never losing the big smile that's permanently plastered over its face. With an all-star ensemble, including John Malkovich, John Cusack, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Colm Meaney, Danny Trejo, and Dave Chappelle, Con Air is exactly the sort of '90s high-stakes buffoonery you expect from a Jerry Bruckheimer production, and Cage's winningly sincere performance allows it to soar.

Stream it on IMDbTV here.

Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call - New Orleans (Tubi, IMDbTV, Peacock, PlutoTV, Kanopy, Hoopla, Vudu)

Loosely inspired by 1992's Bad Lieutenant, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans follows a deeply corrupt detective (Nicolas Cage) investigating the killing of Senegalese immigrants in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: Nicolas Cage teaming up with legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog was bound to produce some memorable results, but Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans isn't merely a striking cinematic descent into madness but also one of Cage's best, most unhinged performances of the '00s. Liberated by Herzog's soulful, unbridled direction, Cage unleashes a compellingly bizarre turn and throws himself fully and completely into the insanity at the heart of his utterly despicable lead character — producing a deliriously enrapturing experience.

Stream it on Tubi here, IMDbTV here, Peacock here, PlutoTV here, Kanopy here, Hoopla here, and Vudu here.

8MM (Showtime)

A private investigator (Nicolas Cage) must discover if a snuff film is authentic.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: To remember the late director Joel Schumacher, this might be the ideal time to check out 8MM, one of two collaborations between the filmmaker and Nicolas Cage (the other being 2011's Trespass), if you haven't seen it already. With an excellent cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Stormare, Anthony Heald, Chris Bauer, Catherine Keener, and James Gandolfini, who is also sadly no longer with us, this mystery-thriller didn't receive the best reception upon release — though it has found an audience over the years, notably through its explorative look into human depravity and Nicolas Cage's fixated central performance. It might not be the film that either the actor or the director is best known for, for better or worse, but it's a curious watch.

Stream it on Showtime here.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Netflix)

Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) becomes the new Spider-Man of his universe, only to join forces with Spiders-Man (Spider-Men?) from other multiverses to stop a threat to all their well-beings.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: While Nicolas Cage only played one part in this animated hit's enormous success, he contributed to what's been widely been considered not only one of the best animated movies in recent memory but one of the finest superhero films in years (even in a crowded market). In the role of Spider-Man Noir, the brooding, black-and-white, Nazi-punching web-shooter allowed Cage to lend his voice to a moody variation of the popular character, thus letting the comic book-loving actor have another swing at leap a popular superhero character off-the-page following missed opportunities (Ghost Rider) and failed attempts (Tim Burton's abandoned Superman project).

Stream it on Netflix here.

Mom and Dad (Hulu)

Two children (Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur) must fight for their lives when mass hysteria from sources unknown causes a pair of parents (Selma Blair, Nicolas Cage) to turn violent against their own children.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: Reuniting with director Brian Taylor, one half of the duo behind Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Nicolas Cage provides a rambunctious, gleefully self-aware performance in this wicked dark comedy. Paired with the similarly-game Selma Blair, Cage allows this disturbing premise to indulge his manic energy and menacing terror to great effect, showcasing a patriarch with all inhibitions lost and truly vicious disdain ruling this nightmarish 24-hour period. In what other movie are you going to see Nicolas Cage swinging a sledgehammer around while singing "Hokey Pokey?" Much like their past collaboration, Taylor indulges Cage's goofiest sensibilities in this effectively nasty horror-comedy.

Stream it on Hulu here.

Birdy (Amazon Prime)

When teenage buddies return home from the Vietnam War, one friend (Nicolas Cage) turns unstable while the other (Matthew Modine) obsesses about becoming a bird.

Why It's A Good Option for Nicolas Cage Fans: To commemorate the loss of director Alan Parker, you should be sure to check out Birdy, an unlikely story with a pair of effecting performances from Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine. While it didn't take the box office by storm, this William Wharton adaptation earned a great deal of praise for Cage as a developing young talent, particularly shown through his dedication and singular intensity to his craft. This performance helped prove that Cage was the real deal.

Stream it on Amazon Prime here and PlutoTV here.

In addition to all these titles, it's also worth noting that you can stream Face/Off and The Rock on Fubo, Moonstruck on Hulu, Bringing Out the Dead on Amazon Prime, World Trade Center on Crackle, Knowing on Tubi, Red Rock West on Peacock, and Color Out of Space on Hoopla, to name a few more options available on various platforms. Certainly, if you're a Nicolas Cage, you have a lot of streaming options. What is your favorite Nicolas Cage movie? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

This past week, The Willoughbys hit Netflix, providing families everywhere with a charmingly morose new animated movie to watch on family nights. Based on the book of the same name by Lois Lowry (The Giver), the splendidly-animated movie matched colorful animation with a darkly funny tale of a dysfunctional family. The result is an inspired, entertaining animated movie that also harkens back to other morbidly amusing family movies from the not-too-distant past. Therefore, if you're looking for a few family films to watch in the same vein as The Willoughbys, we have a few recommendations. Here are some other streaming-friendly family movies you can watch with your family from the comfort of your home if you loved this animated movie.

The Addams Family

What It's About: Based on Charles Addams' cartoon of the same name, The Addams Family follows an eccentric family of morbid oddities and the con artists who plan to swindle them by using an accomplice who eerily looks like their long-lost uncle.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: As I watched The Willoughbys, the property that came to mind most often was The Addams Family. The long-popular comic characters have a lovably wicked taste for all things kooky and ooky, mysterious and spooky. While The Willoughbys doesn't fall into that same exact Halloween-esque vibe, its love for bombastic mischievousness makes it an easy companion. While The Addams Family were given a new look this past fall, the 1991 live-action movie remains superior. With fantastic casting, excellent production design, a fabulously kooky screenplay, and some delightfully twisted antics, it's a delightfully deprived good time.

Stream it on Starz here.

Despicable Me

What It's About: A criminal mastermind uses a trio of orphans as pawns for his plan to steal the moon, but his heart softens by their small company.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: If you like animated comedies about dysfunctional families with vibrant colors, punchy animation, slapstick violence, and a great deal of heart and humor, you'll find a good double feature with Despicable Me, which is also currently available on Netflix. This 2010 animated movie turned Illumination Entertainment into one of the biggest animation studios of the past decade. Through this enormously successful critical/commercial smash, we saw a wave of wackier, zanier animated films — not the least of which includes The Willoughbys. While the latter doesn't center around evil characters learning to be good, it does have a similarly warm, loving look at adoptive parenting. It's also lots of fun.

Stream it on Netflix here.

James and the Giant Peach

What It's About: A lonely orphan who lives with two wickedly cruel aunts befriends a group of anthropomorphic bugs who live inside a gigantic peach. Together, they go on an adventure to New York City.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: James and the Giant Peach is based on the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, and the author's cheekily twisted sense of humor is similar to the one shared in The Willoughbys. The macabre outlook is apparent throughout this Disney production, though for all its morbid tendencies and general weirdness, there's a beaming sweetness to its dysfunctional family story. Centered around a young protagonist living with two horrendously awful parental figures, James eventually sneaks away and finds his own sense of family in these enormous bugs. These similar themes connect these two off-kilter family movies together.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Coraline

What It's About: A young girl discovers a strange alternate version of her home, but she soon discovers that it holds dark secrets.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: Harry Selick's Coraline is another adaptation that shares similar themes with The Willoughbys. When our title character cannot connect with her demanding parent, she discovers an unconventional world that mirrors her own but in seemingly better ways... until its sincere underbelly grows apparent. Filled with spooky surprises and wondrous visuals, Coraline is a wonderfully dark family film, one that isn't as consistently funny as The Willougbys but shares its similarly unconventional perspective. Children will often accept creepier, even scarier stories when they're presented in an agreeable way. While Coraline can be unsettling for some younger viewers, it's also an oddly accessible movie too, one that's filled with splendid animation and a great big heart.

Stream it on Starz here.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

What It's About: Jack Skellington, the skeleton king of Halloween, wonders into Christmas Town and decides to celebrate the elusive holiday.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: Likewise, if you enjoyed both Coraline and James and the Giant Peach, you should enjoy the director's most famous and recognizable movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Produced by Tim Burton at the height of his fame, this darkly hilarious holiday treat combines the spirits of Halloween and Christmas — in more ways than one — by providing a visually stunning, wonderfully original new take on two of the most popular year-end holidays. It shares a moody, morbid (but never bleak) vision, which should make it an easy companion to The Willoughbys.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

The Rugrats Movie

What It's About: In their first movie, the central babies of Rugrats get lost in the forest — away from their mommies and daddies — shortly after Tommy Pickles gets a new baby brother.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: When it comes to tales of children outwitting their neglectful, absent-minded parents and taking wild, weird adventures, The Rugrats Movie makes an easy point of comparison. The first in a trilogy of movies based on the popular '90s animated Nickelodeon series, The Rugrats Movie doesn't go quite as wild as the sequels, but this emotional, sweet feature-length film adaptation of the series does capture the sense of adventure and thrills at the center of this baby-based show. Filled with heart, humor, and action, The Rugrats Movie is an appealing movie for all ages. It'll win over fans of the show and newcomers alike.

Stream it on Netflix here.

Storks

What It's About: Once known for delivering babies, storks carry packages now. But when an order for a baby arrives, the company's best delivery stork scrambles to deliver the child.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: Family is what you make of it. Learning to change your life for the children introduced later in the game is something that nearly every parent must learn with their first child, and Storks tackles that idea in a clever, vibrant, highly entertaining way. From Warner Bros.' animation studio, there is an undeniably goofy Looney Tunes-esque aesthetic to Storks, one that captures the style and high energy of those older cartoons. The fluid animation, consistently amusing jokes, and bubbly emotions make Storks share several common similarities to The Willoughbys. While it doesn't ever dive into dark humor, its similarly charming ending makes you carry the same sweet-hearted feelings.

Stream it on HBO Go here.

The Croods

What It's About: A prehistoric family set off on a fantastical adventure into undiscovered lands.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: An inspired family road trip comedy with great visuals, passionate voice performances, good laughs, and a wallop of heart, The Croods takes what could've been a fairly conventional family movie and makes it something dynamic, lively, inspired and moving. Similarly, The Willoughbys is another family comedy that could've fallen into familiar traps, but through its kooky sense of humor and its oddball cast of characters, it becomes something more enjoyably off-beat. Both dysfunctional movies are quick to win over your heart, though, by their tender finales.

Stream it on Netflix here.

The Cat in the Hat

What It's About: Based on Dr. Seuss' beloved book, The Cat in the Hat follows two home-ridden kids who are paid a visit by a talking anaphoric cat.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: Admittedly, many folks find 2003's The Cat in the Hat live-action adaptation to be... less-than-worthy of its inspiration. With its inappropriately crude sense of humor, inconsistent tonal shifts, ramshackle plotting, and its oddly mean-spirited tone, it isn't what many readers — young or not — thought this feature-length film would become. While these criticisms hold weight, The Cat in the Hat is fascinating; it almost disdains the work that inspired it. It has a sense of chaos and anarchy that's absurd and genuine, likely due to its unstable behind-the-scenes production. It's a vibrantly weird, off-balance, and morally unhinged adaptation, and it makes an interesting companion piece.

Stream it on Netflix here.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

What It's About: Count Dracula and his monstrous friends and family leave the hotel for a few weeks to take a summer cruise vacation.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: With its frenetic, zany high-energy and slapstick-heavily family antics, The Willoughbys does share a good bit in common with the gleefully juvenile Hotel Transylvania movies. The Adam Sandler-led animated comedies have won over several families and young audiences with their wackily lowbrow looks at these familiar horror characters, but the beating heart of those movies ultimately resides in the emotional dysfunctional family ties, and the same can be said for The Willoughbys. They both revel in lighthearted dark humor, never letting the darkness get too intense, violent, unsettling, or mean-spirited for young audiences. The third Hotel Transylvania film is, in my view, the best, and it's available on Netflix.

Stream it on Netflix here.

Meet the Robinsons

What It's About: A brilliant boy inventor meets a stranger who whisks him into a time machine with life-altering implications.

Why The Willoughbys Fans Will Like It: Made just a few short years before Disney would have another animation resurgence, Meet the Robinsons can be forgotten in terms of '00s cinema, though its kooky plot, wacky sense of humor, biting bits of oddball eccentrics, and warm dysfunctional family plot make it an easy comparison to The Willoughbys. Meet the Robinsons takes more of a sci-fi/futuristic bend, and it also doesn't get quite as dark as The Willoughbys, but they each have a beating heart amid their goofiness. It's easy for audiences to be won over by the emotions presented in their finales.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Did you love The Willoughbys? Which movies would you recommend? Let us know in the comment section below.

Competition continues to heat up in the streaming world, as Netflix is driving the conversation around its platform yet again with a new slew of material debuting on the streaming service in July. With the usual mix of older movies and new additions headed to the streaming catalog, there are some long-awaited TV programs that are returning. In one particular case, fans will be saying goodbye to a long running Netflix Original as it takes its final bow.

If you're curious about June's slate of releases, you can head over to that lineup to see what's been added throughout this past month. But if you're ready for the future of Netflix's continued campaign of entertainment, then follow us into July's brand new offerings...

Week of July 1

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - 7/1/19

Astro Boy - 7/1/19

Caddyshack - 7/1/19

Caddyshack 2 - 7/1/19

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - 7/1/19

Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke - 7/1/19

Cloverfield - 7/1/19

Designated Survivor: 60 days - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/1/19

Disney's Race to Witch Mountain - 7/1/19

Frozen River - 7/1/19

Inkheart - 7/1/19

Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/1/19

Kill the Irishman - 7/1/19

Lady in the Water - 7/1/19

Little Monsters - 7/1/19

Mean Dreams - 7/1/19

Mean Streets - 7/1/19

Megamind - 7/1/19

Nights in Rodanthe - 7/1/19

Paul Blart: Mall Cop - 7/1/19

Philadelphia - 7/1/19

Rain Man - 7/1/19

Road House - 7/1/19

Room on the Broom - 7/1/19

Scream 3 - 7/1/19

Starsky & Hutch - 7/1/19

Swiped - 7/1/19

Swordfish - 7/1/19

Taxi Driver - 7/1/19

The Accountant of Auschwitz - 7/1/19

The American - 7/1/19

The Book of Eli - 7/1/19

The Brothers Grimm - 7/1/19

The Hangover - 7/1/19

The Pink Panther - 7/1/19

The Pink Panther 2 - 7/1/19

War Against Women - 7/1/19

Who's That Knocking at My Door? - 7/1/19

Bangkok Love Stories: Objects of Affection - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/2/19

Bangkok Love Stories: Plead - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/2/19

Good Witch: Season 4 - 7/2/19

The Last Czars - NETFLIX ORIGINAL -7/3/19

Yummy Mummies: Season 2 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/3/19

Kakegurui: Season 2 - 7/4/19

Stranger Things 3 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/4/19

In The Dark: Season 1 - 7/5/19

Free Rein: Season 3 - NETFLIX FAMILY - 7/6/19

The Iron Lady - 7/6/19

Sicilian Ghost Story - 7/6/19

Week of July 7

Disney's Mary Poppins Returns - 7/9/19

Kinky - 7/9/19

Family Reunion - NETFLIX FAMILY - 7/10/19

Grand Designs: Season 10 - 7/10/19

Grand Designs: Season 15 - 7/10/19

Parchís: El documental - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/10/19

Cities of Last Things - NETFLIX FILM - 7/11/19

3Below: Tales of Arcadia: Part 2 - NETFLIX FAMILY - 7/12/19

4 latas - NETFLIX FILM - 7/12/19

Blown Away - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/12/19

Bonus Family: Season 3 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/12/19

Extreme Engagement - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/12/19

Kidnapping Stella - NETFLIX FILM - 7/12/19

Luis Miguel - The Series: Season 1 - 7/12/19

Point Blank - NETFLIX FILM - 7/12/19

Smart People - 7/12/19

Taco Chronicles - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/12/19

True Tunes: Songs - NETFLIX FAMILY - 7/12/19

Sorry Angel - 7/13/19

Week of July 14

The Break-Up - 7/16/19

Disney's The Princess and the Frog - 7/16/19

Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/16/19

Wynonna Earp: Season 3 - 7/16/19

Pinky Malinky: Part 3 - NETFLIX FAMILY - 7/17/19

Secret Obsession - NETFLIX FILM - 7/18/19

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: New 2019: Freshly Brewed - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/19/19

The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants: Season 3 - NETFLIX FAMILY - 7/19/19

La casa de papel: Part 3 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/19/19

Last Chance U: INDY: Part 2 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/19/19

Queer Eye: Season 4 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/19/19

SAINT SEIYA: Knights of the Zodiac - NETFLIX ANIME - 7/19/19

Typewriter - NETFLIX ORIGINAL - 7/19/19

Week of July 21

Inglourious Basterds - 7/22/19

The Great Hack - NETFLIX ORIGINAL – 7/24/19

Another Life - NETFLIX ORIGINAL – 7/25/19

Workin' Moms: Season 2 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL – 7/25/19

Boi - NETFLIX FILM – 7/26/19

The Exception – 7/26/19

Girls With Balls - NETFLIX FILM – 7/26/19

My First First Love: Season 2 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL – 7/26/19

Orange Is the New Black: Season 7 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL – 7/26/19

The Son - NETFLIX FILM – 7/26/19

Sugar Rush: Season 2 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL – 7/26/19

The Worst Witch: Season 3 - NETFLIX FAMILY – 7/26/19

Week of July 28

The Croods – 7/29/19

Whitney Cummings: Can I Touch It? - NETFLIX ORIGINAL – 7/30/19

Kengan Ashura: Part l - NETFLIX ANIME – 7/31/19

The Letdown: Season 2 - NETFLIX ORIGINAL – 7/31/19

The Red Sea Diving Resort - NETFLIX FILM – 7/31/19

Wentworth: Season 7 – 7/31/19

If you're looking for some good movie based entertainment on Netflix, you'll be pleased to know there's plenty to pull from in the coming month. The classic golf comedy Caddyshack is one such option, as Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Rodney Dangerfield lead a rambunctious cast in this time-tested laugh riot depicting life on, and off of, a snooty golf course. Should monsters be more your speed, Cloverfield is headed back to Netflix, making a marathon of the entire series that much easier to accomplish.

However, action fans will have something to sink their teeth into on the Netflix Original side of things, as Netflix's American remake of Point Blank sees Marvel Cinematic Universe vets Anthony Mackie and Frank Grillo teaming up to fight their way through a twisted mystery that'll pit them against everything this particular case has to throw at them. Based on the French action thriller of the same name, it promises to be a bone-crunching, bullet-blazing good time; so perhaps you'll want to have some friends over to enjoy the fun in a group.

If you've been waiting for Stranger Things 3 to rear its head on your Netflix streaming queue, you won't have to wait much longer as July's TV offerings bring that to the forefront toward the beginning of the month. With the Starcourt Mall opening in Hawkins, Indiana, and the summer of 1985 heating up, there seems to be trouble on the horizon yet again. This time, not everyone in the core gang of Hawkins residents is guaranteed to make it out alive. On a similarly anticipated, though more somber note, Orange Is The New Black will be debuting its final season next month, with Season 7 marking the last chapter in the story Piper Chapman and her former fellow inmates of Litchfield Correctional.

Lightening the mood is the debut of two of Netflix's breezier programs, starting with Season 4 of Queer Eye, which will undoubtedly see the Fab Five turning new leaves and new looks for those in desperate need of some massive makeovers. If you're one of those folks who believes that Netflix is a joke, then you'll love the fact that Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee has a new season headed your way. During this round, Jerry Seinfeld talks with notables such as Sebastian Maniscalco, Seth Rogen, and Eddie Murphy.

Now keep in mind, all of these incoming Netflix titles are subject to change. So if you see something disappear from the lineup, or debut a little later than intended, there was probably a slight tweak. In any case, if there are updates to this lineup, you can usually find that information noted here after the fact. So stream wisely! Other than that, enjoy your July's worth of Netflix content, and we'll see you back here in a month to see what August brings our way.

2013's The Croods performed well both critically and commercially, so understandably, Dreamworks Animation began developing a sequel after its release. The project has hit some bumps over the last couple years, but until now, we were all under the impression it would still planning on being released in 2018. However, it was announced earlier tonight that The Croods 2 has been scrapped.

According to Variety, Dreamworks Animation has "pulled the plug" on The Croods 2, with Universal Chairman Donna Langley breaking the news to workers at the studio's Glendale headquarters on Thursday. No specific reasons were provided about why this decision was made, although it may have happened before the Universal regime change occurred earlier this year. 30 employees had been working on The Croods 2, and while that's now finished, the report did note that Dreamworks Animation hopes to keep as many of those individuals as possible, whether it involves them being moved to a different project or enrolling them into "training or artistic development programs."

While The Croods may not be as well-known as the likes of Shrek or Kung Fu Panda, it did impress a decent amount of moviegoers, earning mostly positive reviews and hauling in over $587 million worldwide. Featuring the voice talents of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman, the movie revolved around a caveman family in a prehistoric era (duh) dealing with their way of life being threatened by "modern" thinking, as well as having to travel through dangerous land in search of a new home. Had The Croods 2 moved forward, audiences would have also heard Leslie Mann and Kat Dennings as new members of the cast.

Admittedly, there were problematic signs concerning The Croods 2 for much of its production. The sequel was originally supposed to be released November 3, 2017, but it was soon pushed to December 22 of that same year. Then back in August, the movie was pushed back again to January 5, 2018 so it wouldn't have to go up against Star Wars: Episode VIII. Along with that last scheduled change also came the news that directors Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders had handed off writing duties to Kevin and Dan Hageman. It seemed like everything was under control, and Dreamworks Animation was still keen on continuing the Croods' adventures on the big screen. Alas, those plans are no more.

Fortunately, all of you Croods enthusiasts aren't being left empty-handed. The Dawn of the Croods TV series is airing on Netflix, although unlike the movie, it's traditionally animated. One of Variety's sources at Universal also said that since The Croods will rest in the studio's catalog, there's always the possibility the property could be re-explored in the future.

Let us know what you think of Dreamworks Animation killing The Croods 2 in the comments below.

It's unfortunate that a The Croods sequel isn't happening. However, if you are looking to add the original to your dvd or blu-ray collection, you can check that out here.

The world is filled with memorable animated movies. In fact, many of these titles are films that we all saw as children and still cherish to this day. What’s more, Hollywood keeps producing new classics every year, ensuring the future generations will have some beautiful hand drawn and CGI films to remember forever. Unfortunately, however, for every instant classic there are also the instantly forgettable titles – and those are the films that we are here to shine a light on today.

While researching this list, you wouldn’t believe how many incredibly forgettable animated movies we discovered that were released over the last decade – but we culled the list down to 15, and we’re betting that you won’t be able to guess the titles for most – if not all – of them. Do you accept the challenge? If so, read on!

Round #1

Release Date: September 17, 2010

Worldwide Box Office: $50,507,267

Stars: Christina Ricci, Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper and Danny Glover

Plot: Two wolves from very different classes within their pack find themselves lost, and must work together in order to find their way home.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "If [title] were a short film it might be more effective. The plot is simple enough to fill 20 minutes and using each joke once might let them have an actual impact. Even as a feature, the movie works in spurts, but it’s ultimately ruined by repetitive, lazy writing."

Round #2

Release Date: September 24, 2010

Worldwide Box Office: $140,073,390

Stars: Abbie Cornish, Ryan Kwanten, Helen Mirren, Sam Neill, Richard Roxburgh and Geoffrey Rush

Plot: An evil owl army abducts a young owl, and this protagonist must work with four new friends to try and find the only creatures who can save the world.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "If only [title] wasn’t saddled with this terrible script. The problem is that once you get past the film’s consistently incredible visuals, it has nothing of real value to offer except a strange, perhaps almost unintentional hatred of logical thought."

Round #3

Release Date: April 29, 2011

Worldwide Box Office: $16.960,968

Stars: Hayden Panettiere, Glenn Close, Joan Cusack, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, David Alan Grier and Andy Dick

Plot: Fairy tale characters are forced to team up after two of their own mysteriously disappear.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "It's one thing to make a mediocre film that panders to children, but another to post-convert the entire thing into unnecessary 3D, twisting the knife even further into families who will be stuck paying extra for this because they've already seen Rio."

Round #4

Release Date: March 11, 2011

Worldwide Box Office: $38,992,758

Stars: Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Fogler, and Billy Dee Williams

Plot: Aliens come down from outer space in search of caregivers, and a boy must learn to love and appreciate his own.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "[Title] may be just good enough to be disappointing, but there are plenty of kids’ movies that don’t even try enough to let us down. A longer running time, a little more determination, and this film could have been something. Instead it’s just a what if, a movie not quite good enough to recommend."

Round #5

Release Date: March 22, 2013

Worldwide Box Office: $587,204,668

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, and Cloris Leachman

Plot: A prehistoric family is forced to leave their cave and venture out into the wildy evolving world that they have spent a lifetime separated from.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "…its sentimental messages are garbled by its noisy, repetitive action sequences. But it’s entertaining enough for younger audiences seeking a colorful trip through a familiar land."

Round #6

Release Date: May 24, 2013

Worldwide Box Office: $268,426,634

Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Beyonce Knowles, Colin Farrell, Christopher Waltz, and Aziz Ansari

Plot: A young woman finds her shrunk down after an accident, and in discovering a whole new world, she finds herself stuck in the middle of a battle between good and evil.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "Its story is sloppily told without a lack of forward momentum, but it has some fun characters, and a handful of amusing moments. While its animation isn't Pixar level, it is at times quite lovely with unfurling ferns and explosions of armored boggins masquerading as tree bark."

Round #7

Release Date: November 1, 2013

Worldwide Box Office: $110,387,072

Stars: Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson, Amy Poheler, Dan Fogler, and Colm Meaney

Plot: Two turkeys travel back in time to try and stop Pilgrims and Native Americans from putting them on the menu at the first Thanksgiving.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "There is nothing obscene, destructive, or harmful about [title] - it’s just not a very good movie. Take the kids, enjoy what you can about it, and leave knowing that it won’t take long for the memory of the film to be deleted by short attention spans."

Round #8

Release Date: July 17, 2013

Worldwide Box Office: $282,570,682

Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Samuel L. Jackson and Luis Guzman

Plot: A snail who dreams of winning the Indianapolis 500 gets the opportunity to live it when a freak accident leaves him with the ability to travel at super speed.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "I don’t even need to see the rest of 2013’s schedule to know [title] will end the year in the middle of the pack. 2.5 stars has never felt so right."

Round #9

Release Date: May 9, 2014

Worldwide Box Office: $18,662,027

Stars: Lea Michele, Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, and James Belushi

Plot: Dorothy finds herself thrown back into her dream world and must protect her friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion from a rising evil force.

Rotten Tomatoes Consensus: "Faced with the choice between staying in or seeing [title], most filmgoers will be forced to conclude that there's no place like home."

Round #10

Release Date: July 28, 2016

Worldwide Box Office: $55,181,129

Stars: Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Paul Giamatti

Plot: A young boy who enjoys torturing insects gets shrunk down, and is punished for his crimes.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "Hey kids! Raise your hands if you’ve been dying to see yet another computer-animated depiction of anthropomorphized insects crawl across the big screen. Anyone? Anyone? Not interested? Didn’t think so."

Round #11

Release Date: February 24, 2006

Worldwide Box Office: $26,691,243

Stars: Chevy Chase, Judi Dench, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy and Jon Stewart

Plot: A candy-loving dog finds himself on a quest to save the world from an evil sorcerer who wishes to freeze the world.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "[Title] has poor visuals, a terrible story, and only fart jokes to entertain the kiddies. I don’t think that’s enough to explain that calling this movie horrible really is an insult to other horrible movies I’ve seen, though."

Round #12

Release Date: September 29, 2006

Worldwide Box Office: $197,309,027

Stars: Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Debra Messing, Gary Sinese and Jon Favreau

Plot: A grizzly bear and a mule deer must team up with other forest animals in order to form an army against a wave of incoming hunters.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "The worst thing about it is that Sony's Animation Division really isn't up to the challenge of making a decent looking computer animated film yet. That might be forgivable if the story was better; great story and great characters can easily overcome technological limitations, but [title] doesn't have that."

Round #13

Release Date: September 19, 2008

Worldwide Box Office: $30,747,504

Stars: John Cusack, Christian Slater, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Molly Shannon and Jennifer Coolidge

Plot: One of the most famous henchmen of all time tries to make a go at being a mad scientist.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "[Title] has all the makings of a biting, sarcastic masterpiece. Its animated sets are dreary and bleak. Its dialogue is jaded and clever. Unfortunately, it realizes a few foolish, gangster-wannabe adolescents might get the wrong idea and deteriorates from original Willy Wonka-like magic to second rate Sleeping Beauty imitation."

Round #14

Release Date: October 23, 2009

Worldwide Box Office: $39,886,986

Stars: Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, and Kristen Bell

Plot: An android is rejected by its creator and goes out into the world to find its purpose – ultimately understanding that he has been made to be a superhero and stop evil.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "Nothing can save the this from becoming just another cliché kids’ movie. It has too many different parts, parts that have been used over and over again by so many other, better movies. No matter how much lubrication you use, those parts just don’t fit together."

Round #15

Release Date: November 20, 2009

Worldwide Box Office: $105,647,102

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Justin Long, Seann William Scott, Gary Oldman and John Cleese

Plot: An alien world freaks out when an astronaut from Earth lands and is presented as a terrifying invading force.

Excerpt From CB’s Review: "[Title] is so inane that not only is adult enjoyment unattainable, even younger audiences will be on to its lack of intelligence and novelty."

This poll is no longer available.

Today is the day when, all around the world, fireworks are ignited as people celebrate the departure of 2014 and the arrival of 2015. So it seems only appropriate that we would end our year in cinema with a bang as well:

This is the latest supercut to come our way from the folks over at Screen Junkies, and it's pretty hard to argue with their choices for the most memorable cinematic explosions. They borrow from multiple genres and multiple generations to assemble what is a pretty fantastic collection of big boom moments from his history of blockbusters.

Some of these explosions are fairly recent - like the one from James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy - and some are just so memorable that we will never forget them - like the explosion of the Death Star in the original Star Wars - but can you name all of the movies that are featured in this video? Give it your best shot and then check your answers below, courtesy of the video's description on YouTube:

• Fight Club
• Lethal Weapon 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
• The Mask
• Face/Off
• Die Hard with a Vengeance
• Independence Day
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• The Dark Knight
• Transformers: Age of Extinction
• Tropic Thunder
• The Expendables
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Star Wars
• Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
• Die Hard
• Django Unchained
• Caddyshack
• V for Vendetta
• Strangelove
• Ghostbusters
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• Robocop (1987)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
• The Terminator
• Speed
• Oz The Great and Powerful
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• Mary Poppins
• Rio
• Paul
• The Theory of Everything
• Neighbors
• The Croods

This compilation has just about everything you'd want on it, from the rooftoop boom in Die Hard to the jungle bombing in Tropic Thunder, and it even includes a surprising number of movies from this past year... but there is one gripe that I have. The intro from Fight Club is cool, but how could you not include the shot of the towers exploding at the end? The Dark Knight was in there a few times - so why no love for David Fincher's cult hit?

While we're talking about 2014 coming to an end, it feels appropriate to thank all of you awesome readers out there for spending another year with us covering an amazing year in film. We saw a lot of amazing stuff unfold over the last 12 months, and have a great deal to look forward to next year, so be sure to come back in 2015 as we head off on a brand new cinematic adventure!

No one really wanted Scary Movie 5. Seven years ago audiences turned out to give Scary Movie 4, what easily should have been the last one, a decent send off with a very respectable $40 million opening and a domestic total of $90 million. But some folks don't know when to let it go and audiences showed just how last decade the franshise is. The movie launched to the tune of $15 million, taking a distant second place at this weekends box office and setting a record low for the series, far below what most of the other Scary Movies entries enjoyed.

We haven't seen Brian Helgeland behind the lens since his thriller The Order tanked almost ten years ago. But the director of A Knights Tale discovered his directorial second wind with the historical drama 42, the number one movie this weekend. The movie recounts the tumultuous events surrounding the signing of Jackie Robinson, baseball's first black player. The movie debuted with $27 million, the highest opening for a baseball movie according to RT.

The Place Beyond the Pines stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes, and has been slowly working to find a place beyond the film festival circuit. Released in just a handful of theaters two weeks ago, it expanded to just over 500 venues and banked enough to slip into the top ten this weekend.

Last weekend's top flick Evil Dead slipped hard, dropping almost 65% to fifth place behind The Croods which is holding strong in its fourth week, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation which crossed the $100 million mark line this weekend.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:

With so many titles to choose from, Netflix Instant's library can be overwhelming. So we bring you this biweekly column as a tool to cut through the clutter by highlighting some now streaming titles that pair nicely with the latest theatrical releases.

Looking to G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The Croods, and Admission for inspiration, we've pulled together a selection of military action flicks, outrageous animated adventures for kids, and rites of passage comedies for grown-ups.

G.I. Joe Retaliation

The Joes are back to battle the evil forces of Cobra once more. But once the President of the United States cuts the Joes loose after a devastating frame-up, they'll need to add some new blood, and major firepower to their forces. Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis star; RZA, Adrianne Palicki, Byung-hun Lee co-star. Jon M. Chu directs.

Want some more stories of All-American heroes? Whether you're craving superhero-level action, real life heroics, or old school (as in 1980s) machismo, we've got you covered with a batch of movies that offer epic action sequences, brawny leading men, and loads of bravado.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Before there was Iron Man, there was Captain America, the first Avenger! Scrawny Steve Rogers is dedicated to serving his country in World War II, if he can only get past the physical. But when his fearlessness and bravery impresses a military scientist, Rogers is given a superhero serum that transforms him from a pint-sized wannabe soldier into America's greatest hero. Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving co-star; Joe Johnston directs.

Act of Valor (2012) Inspired by true invents and starring a band of active-duty Navy SEALs, this action-thriller takes its audience deep into the duties of some of the world's most highly trained, hi-tech decked out warriors. The story follows an elite Navy SEALs team on a covert mission to extract a kidnapped CIA agent from a dangerous terrorist cell. Alex Veadov, Roselyn Sanchez, Nestor Serrano co-star; Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh co-direct.

Commando (1985) Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as John Matrix, a retired Black Ops Commando who is forced to use all the his acquired skills and bulging muscles when his daughter is kidnapped by some South American terrorists. They plan to blackmail him into kicking off a revolution that will put an exiled dictator back in power, but they have no idea the fury they've unleashed. Raw Dawn Chong co-stars; Mark L. Lester directs.

Admission

Tina Fey and Paul Rudd team up in this bubbly and heartwarming comedy about a Princeton admissions officer who puts her professional reputation at risk after meeting an unconventional high school teacher and the bright but bizarre student he's pushing toward the Ivy Leagues. Nat Wolff, Gloria Reuben, and Wallace Shawn co-star; Paul Weitz directs.

Much less a rom-com than the trailers would lead you to believe, Admission is at its core a comedic roite of passage movie. For more hilarious features that center on a flustered protagonist figuring out life and love, check out this fiercely funny triple play.

Friends with Kids (2011) In this R-rated New York-set comedy, Jennifer Westfeldt and Adam Scott star as two longtime friends that decide to have a kid together, while sidestepping all the romantic stuff. Against all odds, this platonic and pragmatic plan works like a dream…until the two start dating other people. Chris O'Dowd, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, and Jon Hamm co-star; Westfeldt directs.

Sleepwalk With Me (2012) Mike Birbiglia's stand up routine is known for its hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking anecdotes from his life. Here he taps into both, building a story about a struggling stand-up who flees his commitment-seeking girlfriend by taking any gig he can find. But the more he runs from her, the worse his sleepwalking gets. Something's got to break. Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane and James Rebhorn co-star. Birbiglia stars and directs.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) This sci-fi laced comedy first won rave reviews at Sundance last year. Aubrey Plaza stars as a jaded magazine intern whose tracking down the man behind a classified ad that seeks a partner for traveling back in time. What starts off as a quirky fluff piece assignment soon evolves into a life-changing experience for her, him, and her colleagues. Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, and Karan Soni co-star; Colin Trevorrow directs.

The Croods

DreamWorks Animation's latest adventure centers on a prehistoric family who must set out on the world's first family road trip once the separation of Pangaea destroys the cave that has so-long protected them from the curious but dangerous creatures that inhabit their world. Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, and Clark Duke lend their voices. Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders co-direct.

You can learn more about The Croods with this short behind-the-scenes featurette. But if you're looking for animated delights where heroes set out into a brave new world full of colorful characters, treacherous situations, and loads of adventure, be sure to check out these charming cartoons.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) Milo Thatch is a bookworm who deeply believes that the sunken city of Atlantis exists. And with a mythic guide book, a quirky team, and a massive submersible he aims to prove it! Note: this one's rated PG. With implied death and subtitles, this movie may not be suitable for some kids. Michael J. Fox, Corey Burton, Cree Summer, and James Garner lend their voices. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise co-direct.

The Rescuers (1977) The mice who make up the Rescue Aid Society dedicate themselves to protect and serve! So when it's discovered a little girl may have been kidnapped by the maniacal Madame Medusa, Bernard and Miss Bianca embark on a quest to rescue her from the deadly Devil's Bayou. Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor star; John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Art Stevens direct.

The Secret of Kells (2009) This Oscar-nominated film is equal parts breathtakingly gorgeous and thought provoking. Inspired by the Book of Kells, its story centers on Brendon, a young boy who taps into his creativity while helping a charismatic monk craft the illuminated manuscript. This quest sends Brendon into the nearby woods, where he meets a shape-shifting sprite and must confront one of the darkest monsters that lurks within us all. Whether you have kids or not, you'll swoon over this exhilerating animated effort that brilliantly blends hand drawn and computer animation. Evan McGuire, Brendan Gleeson, and Mick Lally co-star; Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey co-direct.

For even more selections, peruse our Now Streaming archive.

Perhaps looking to follow up on their success with the Ice Age series of movies, Fox released the highly mediocre but also highly franchisable The Croods this weekend. The reception in theaters wasn't record breaking, but it was enough to give the movie a solid Spring Break number one debut, leaving star studded Olympus Has Fallen in the dust.

Call it crappy timing, but with the increasing amount of war threats from North Korea and decreasing satisfaction with its government, American audiences seemed to have only a moderate interest in watching a movie about a terrorist attack on Washington DC. Perhaps it would have done better if Morgan Freeman had been cast as the President (haven't we all wished he could get a real chance at the role after the lameness of Deep Impact?), but whatever the reasons, Olympus took in $30 million for a soft second place behind The Croods and their $44 million bow in.

Tina Fey's track record took a hit this weekend. Her last two comedic leading roles in Baby Mama and Date Night helped those movies to $17 million and $25 million openings respectively. Her latest, Admission, opened at fifth place on just $6 million. Fortunately Fey can turn to cry on the shoulder of her co-star Paul Rudd who knows just how it feels. His last several comedies have fizzled at the box office.

Speaking of Spring Break, the aptly released Spring Breakers expanded to over 1,000 venues and raised enough attention to break into the top ten. The first wide release movie from director Harmony Korine apparently has something to say about modern youth culture, but it was probably the presence of ex-Disney princesses Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens in bikinis hanging out with James Franco that drew most of the audience attention. Made on a simple $2 million budget and then circulated on the film festival circuit, Spring Breakers finally broke through to the tune of $5 million and six place this weekend.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:

Though there are pretty much no guarantees at the box office-- studios will pump hundreds of millions of dollars into films that seem like sure things and go on to be bombs-- it's hard to go wrong with an animated children's film around the season of spring break. DreamWorks Animation, which needed a hit after last fall's disappointing Rise of the Guardians , scored another this weekend with The Croods, which made $11.6 million on Friday and is on track for a $42 million weekend.

That handily made it the #1 movie on Friday, but it got surprisingly strong competition from Olympus Has Fallen, which according to Deadline made $10 million on Friday, putting it on track for a $28 million weekend-- particularly strong considering its hard-R rating. That's slightly more than the family-friendly Jack the Giant Slayer made in its disappointing debut, and a whole lot more than the $24 million A Good Day to Die Hard made in its own bummer weekend. Here's another, hilarious way to look at it: by the end of this weekend Olympus Has Fallen will have made more than Gerard Butler's last five movies combined.

The news isn't quite as good for Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, the incredibly likable stars of Admission which only managed to make $2 million on Friday and is heading toward a $6.4 million weekend. That would put it in fifth place, right behind-- unbelievably-- the cult festival hit Spring Breakers, which has expanded to wide release and made $1.9 million on Friday. That's far, far more than any Harmony Korine-directed movie has ever made, and sure, it probably happened because it can boast a whole lot of young girls in bikinis on the poster-- but the fact that it's a hilarious and truly bizarre film ought to help too.

We'll have a full box office report to you on Sunday, but in the meantime, hop in the comments and let us know what you're seeing this weekend!

Because of their own previous experiences with fire, parents have no trouble warning their children of the element's dangers. Sure it's pretty and warm, but getting too close to it and handling it inappropriately can mean disaster. This knowledge has been passed on from generation to generation - which explains why our societies aren't just burning cinders. But there was a learning curve for the earliest evolutionary stages of man, as shown in the new trailer for DreamWorks Animation's The Croods.

We've already seen two different trailers for the prehistoric animated comedy, but today the studio has unleashed a new "sneak peek" at the movie, which you can watch below.

Written and directed by Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders, The Croods follows the first prehistoric family as they escape from the cave that they previously believed to be the whole world and set out on a fantastic adventure into uncharted territory. The all-star cast includes Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman. The film will be the first released by DreamWorks Animation under their new deal with 20th Century Fox and will have it in theaters on March 22nd. For more about the movie, including trailers and posters, head over to our Blend Film Database.

It would seem that movie-goers don’t want our stars looking us in the eye anymore. We just want it quick, dirty, and, most importantly, from behind.

Earlier today we saw the release of the first poster for the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan-directed sci-fi thriller After Earth, but if you’ve been paying attention to the film world over the last few months you probably realized that the design is very similar to some other recently released posters for 2013 blockbusters. In fact, it almost seems that every movie that is set to debut next year is getting a different version of the same poster.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s do some quick mental time travel all the way to late September when the folks over at Dreamworks Animation released this poster for The Croods:

About a month later Marvel Studios unveiled this piece for Iron Man 3:

Then earlier this month we got the first one-sheet for Paramount Picture’s Star Trek Into Darkness:

That was followed just four days later by Universal Pictures’ Oblivion:

And then another four days passed and Warner Bros. Jack The Giant Slayer came out with this:

Just to cement the point, here’s the poster for Columbia Pictures’ After Earth:

For those keeping score, that’s six practically identical 2013 movie posters from six different studios that were all released within four months of each other (and four came from December alone). Obviously I’m not naïve enough to think that this is a brand new thing. Not only have movie studios reduced the number of poster templates in general down to about 10, they’ve even been doing the behind-the-back look for a while now – and it was popularized by this pair of pieces from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight:

Though it’s been happening for years now and the diminishing amount of creativity in Hollywood has been long apparent, it is now becoming a legitimate problem. It’s one thing for studios to release stupid, generic designs a couple times over the course of a year, but when they’re all released at the exact same time there is a danger of homogenization. Serious film fans may not have the problem, but is a casual movie-goer going to look at the posters for Oblivion and After Earth and know the difference? Absolutely not. They’re going to be processed mentally as the exact same thing, and how does that help either film?

What’s funny about the whole situation is that it will end up being the studios that are hurt by flooding the market with material like this. If everything looks the same people will have to decide whether they want to spend money on the same thing twice. And that’s going to hurt at the box office.

Repetitive designs like these come from excessive market research and testing, so it’s very likely that people do actually respond to the “hero’s back to the camera” poster, but marketing folks have to start pumping the brakes. Otherwise they may as well just go with pure grey backgrounds with movie titles on them.

For better or worse, the family road trip is an institution that is as old as time. So it's fitting that The Croods, the latest animated adventure from DreamWorks, goes back to the land before time to tell the tale of a family of Neanderthals forced to leave the comfort of their cramped but safe cave behind and set forth to places unknown.

Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon) and Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) wrote and directed the prehistoric comedy, which boasts a voice cast that includes Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman. We got a peek at The Croods' clan encountering the brave new world that lies ahead of them in the film's first poster, and now we can see this cave-dwelling family in action in the feature's first trailer. Check it out below, or in hi-res at Apple:

I have to admit, I was initially unimpressed by this premise, but from the looks of this promo, DreamWorks has an imaginative new take on the father-daughter narrative here. Cage's overprotective papa Grug just wants his family to be safe. To him that means keeping them confined to the cave, and so he tells stories that equate curiosity to death. But this falls on deaf ears when it comes to Stone's angst-driven teen Eep, who—like many animated heroines before here—dreams of exploring the world outside her window, and so sneaks out on a journey that will impact not only her, but her whole family.

The Croods is coming to theaters in 3d on March 22nd, 2013.

This November, some legendary characters will unite in Rise of the Guardians, and then, come March, DreamWorks' other upcoming animated film The Croods will make its way into theaters. A new poster for the animated comedy adventure has made its way online. It gives us a look at this cave-family as they prepare to embark on an adventure.

Directed by Christopher Sanders and Kirk De Micco, The Croods features the voices of Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage and Catherine Keener, and follows a caveman named Grug who - due to an earthquake - must uproot his family and take them out into the dangerous world in search of a new home. Yahoo shared the poster below, which gives us a look at this family and what's ahead...

It's interesting to note that their backs are to us. Of course, that means we don't get to see their faces, but there's still plenty to look at. Based on their backs, it seems there's a son, a daughter and a baby/toddler, in addition to a mother and Gran, who's holding a staff and wearing an excellent (gater-skin?) dress. Love the tail. (Animal prints are definitely in season for this family.)

And speaking of animals, the poster has no shortage of them. The family is surrounded by flora and lots of fauna, including tigers, monkeys and birds. The poster definitely suits the tagline, "The journey begins." With their backs to us, their faces are set on the wide world in front of them and the adventure that awaits.

In addition to Cage, Reynolds and Keener, Emma Stone, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman are also among the voice cast.

The Croods arrives in theaters March 22 at 2013.

DreamWorks Animation is often dinged for seemingly valuing quantity over quality, pursuing sequels and spin-offs to get their lovable characters again and again into marketable movies and shorts. And yes, Shrek the Third is essentially unwatchable with a messy story and a groan-inducing amount of pop culture references, but Shrek Forever After was a return to form that offered an engaging story and a fresh and fun take on classic fairy tale characters, so let's not condemn all their sequels right out the gate…especially because there's more in store.

Deadline reveals DreamWorks production slate through the summer of 2016, and in the mix there's How to Train Your Dragon 2, How to Train Your Dragon 3, Kung Fu Panda 3 and the inevitable spin-off The Penguins of Madagascar. However, there are also a slew of new titles making their way through DreamWorks development.

Coming in the spring of 2013 is The Croods, a comedy about a family of cavemen forced out into the dangerous prehistoric world in search of a new home. Hot on its heels DreamWorks offers Turbo, which centers on a snail with dreams of winning the Indy 500. The fall will see the release of the Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie, adapted from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon short, and Me & My Shadow follows in the spring unraveling the story of a man whose shadow demands adventure!

Summer 2014 will see the return of Hiccup and Toothless in How to Train Your Dragon 2, then Happy Smekday!, based on Adam Rex's novel The True Meaning of Smekday, will hit theaters over Thanksgiving. Four more releases are slated for 2015, with off The Penguins of Madagascar in the spring, Trolls inspired by the popular '90s plaything coming that summer, and a wholly original and newly announced pic called B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operationshitting in the fall.

Penned by Tom Wheeler, who contributed to the Puss in Boots script and created the short-lived action series The Cape, this animated effort is the biggest mystery on the slate. All we know is that Tony Leondis, who helmed the fun but forgotten animated adventure Igor, will direct, and Seth Rogen is slated to star in this comedy which is reportedly "about ghosts." But despite the creepy subject matter, we are talking DreamWorks here, so don't expect something as spooky as Tim Burton. Even for all its less than cuddly creatures, Monsters vs Aliens was sweet and very brightly colored.

December of 2015 will offer Mumbai Musical--the film's working title—which will tell a tale of monkeys in the style of a Bollywood musical with a music from A.R. Rahman, composer of Slumdog Millionaire. Then Kung Fu Panda 3 and How to Train Your Dragon 3 will follow in spring and summer respectively. A complete list of release dates is included below:

The Croods - March 22, 2013

Turbo – July 19, 2013

Mr. Peabody & Sherman - November 1, 2013

Me And My Shadow – March 14, 2014

How To Train Your Dragon 2 – June 20, 2014

Happy Smekday! – November 26, 2014

The Penguins Of Madagascar – March 27, 2015

Trolls (working title) – June 5, 2015

B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations – November 6, 2015

Mumbai Musical (working title) – December 19, 2015

Kung Fu Panda 3 – March 18, 2016

How To Train Your Dragon 3 – June 18, 2016