Want to know what’s coming soon to digital and what to watch right now on FandangoNOW and Vudu? Here is your weekly guide to the latest releases:

 

What are the latest new releases to watch right now?

The superhero sequel Wonder Woman 1984 is now available to rent digitally from FandangoNOW and Vudu. Patty Jenkins directs this fun, over-the-top follow-up to her 2017 Wonder Woman solo installment of the DC Extended Universe while Gal Gadot reprises her role as the titular Amazon princes, a.k.a. Diana Prince, and Chris Pine returns as love interest Steve Trevor. The setting is now the 1980s and the villains include wannabe oil tycoon Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), who gains magical wish-granting powers, and the animalistic nemesis the Cheetah (Kristen Wiig).

If you’re still avoiding movie theaters but want to experience the feeling of being at the cinema, check out The Projectionist, which is now available to buy and rent from FandangoNOW. Directed by indie film icon Abel Ferrara (Ms .45, Bad Lieutenant), the documentary profiles New York City projectionist Nicolas “Nick” Nicolaou, who worked in the notorious Times Square adult film houses in the 1970s and saw the Big Apple and its moviegoing culture change over the last half century.

 

What movies are great to pair with those new releases?

Wonder Woman 1984 goes with the original Wonder Woman, of course, and you can buy them both together in a two-film collection. Older DC superhero sequels that also pair well with the new Wonder Woman include Superman III and Batman Returns. And if you want to watch Wonder Woman 1984 with a non-DC movie, I recommend the 1984 literal-fish-out-of-water rom-com Splash, the drama Ghost for a parallel love story to Diana and Steve’s, and the 2000s fantasy comedies The Family Man and Bruce Almighty. 

With The Projectionist, I recommend other Abel Ferrara movies, particularly Bad Lieutenant, King of New York and the recent filmmaker biopic Pasolini, as well as the Bette Gordon drama Variety, the recent horror comedy Porno and the adult-film-focused documentary Inside Deep Throat. Also, you can pair it with two classics about projectionists, the Buster Keaton comedy masterpiece Sherlock Jr. and the beautiful Italian film Cinema Paradiso.

 

Are there any other big movies coming out this week?

Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah, which is up for six Academy Awards, including a history-making Best Picture nomination for its all-Black producing team, arrives on VOD this Friday, April 2. The powerful biographical drama is based on the true story of the FBI’s targeting of the Black Panthers Party and the killing of leader Fred Hampton in the late 1960s. Daniel Kaluuya, who portrays Hampton, and LaKeith Stanfield, who portrays FBI informant William O’Neal, each gives an incredible performance, and both are Oscar-nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category. 

Also coming to digital this Friday is Vaughn Stein’s Every Breath You Take, a thriller starring Casey Affleck as a psychiatrist whose life is turned upside down after one of his patients winds up dead. Think of it as a more subdued, somber, dramatic, trauma-focused version of Cape Fear (either version), since the main character and his family, including his wife (Michelle Monaghan) and teenage daughter (India Eisley), are stalked, tormented and manipulated by a disturbed man (a wickedly good Sam Claflin) with his own connection to the late patient.

 

What are some great horror movies about pranks gone wrong to rent this week?

April Fool’s Day is this week, and while it’s a time for jokes and pranks, the occasion is perfectly suited for watching horror movies as much as comedies. A lot of scary movies are based around pranks gone wrong, from the 1976 Stephen King adaptation Carrie to the first installment of the Joy Ride franchise. There’s also the 1981 slasher The Burning, the 1988 teen black comedy Heathers, and one of the segments of the 2007 anthology Trick ‘R Treat (it’s not just for Halloween!). I also love the aptly titled 1986 scary movie April Fool’s Day, though it doesn’t quite fit the theme.

 

Can you recommend some more great movie deals on Vudu?

This week, Vudu has a sale on 1960s movies for just $6 each. They’ve got some genuine classics you could pick up individually, like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Odd Couple, but here are some double feature pairings I recommend: Hitchcock’s Psycho and The Birds; the original heist movies Ocean’s 11 and The Italian Job, John Wayne westerns The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and True Grit; Kirk Douglas movies Spartacus and Lonely Are the Brave; World War II films The Dirty Dozen and Battle of the Bulge; and sci-fi favorites Barbarella and Fantastic Voyage.

Vudu’s Actor’s Spotlight series continues to focus on actresses this week for the end of Women’s History Month, with deals on movies starring Anne Hathaway, Thandie Newton, Ana de Armas, Nicole Kidman, Alfre Woodard and Kristen Wiig. My recommendations for their one best movie to buy, in order, are: Rachel Getting Married, for Hathaway; The Pursuit of Happyness, for Newton; Knives Out, for de Armas; Birth, for Kidman; 12 Years a Slave, for Woodard; and Bridesmaids, for Wiig.

Also, Vudu has two cool mix and match deals this week. The first one offers three 1980s comedies for less than $15 total. I say go with the high school movies Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Breakfast Club and Three O’Clock High, only one of which is an obvious John Hughes pick. The other offers two Tearjerkers for less than $12 total. My pairing recommendations for that theme are Ghost and The Sixth Sense, Edward Scissorhands and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the celebrity documentaries I Am Heath Ledger and I Am Paul Walker.

 

Are we celebrating any big movie anniversaries this week?

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the original Spy Kids as well as the US releases of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Amores Perros and the Mamoru Oshii anime Ghost in the Shell. Also, the twisty thriller Primal Fear turns 25 this week, the comedy Career Opportunities turns 30, the aforementioned horror movie April Fool’s Day turns 35 and the Best Picture-winner Chariots of Fire, John Carpenter’s Escape From New York, Louis Malle’s Atlantic City and the concert film This Is Elvis all turn 40.

Going back further, the Clint Eastwood Civil War drama The Beguiled turns 50 this week, the original Alfie turns 55, the Sidney Poitier drama A Raisin in the Sun turns 60 and the Humphrey Bogart sports drama The Harder They Fall turns 65. More recent movies with anniversaries include James Gunn’s Slither, which turns 15, Duncan Jones’s Source Code, the first Insidious, Jackass 3.5 and the cult classic documentary Shut Up Little Man!, which all turn 10, and Richard Linklater’s college comedy Everybody Wants Some!!, which is already 5 years old!

 

What are the 10 most popular new movies on FandangoNOW?

1. The Little Things
2. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
3. News of the World
4. Wonder Woman 1984
5. Boogie
6. Monster Hunter
7. The Father
8. The Croods: A New Age
9. Soul
10. The Vault
 

What are the 10 most popular movies on Vudu?

1. Wonder Woman 1984
2. Soul
3. Monster Hunter
4. The Little Things
5. News of the World
6. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
7. The Croods: A New Age
6. Promising Young Woman
8. Greenland
9. The Vault
10. SAS: Red Notice