Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 17 April 2026 - 23 April 2026

Festival time!

• Independent FIlm Festival Boston begins on Wednesday, starting at the Somerville Theatre with Boots Riley's I Love Boosters, then expanding to the Brattle the next day with Aanikoobijigan and Maddie's Secret while three shorts packages, First They Came for My College and The Last Yztari play the Somerville, with the festival continuing until the 29th.
• Much as I liked The Hole in the Ground and Evil Dead Rise, it's odd to see Lee Cronin's The Mummy named like the filmmaker's John Carpenter or something (honestly, it was weird for Carpenter); his mummy story has a family reuniting with their missing daughter who was found in a sealed crypt, wrapped in dressings. It opens at Fresh Pond, Jordan's Furniture (Imax Friday-Sunda), CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay (including Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), and Arsenal Yards (including CWX)
  
  The Christophers opens at the Coolidge, West Newton, Dedham Community Theatre, Boston Common, and Assembly Row, with Ian McKellan playing a washed-up artist whose children hire a reformed forger (Michaela Cole) to find and complete eight unfinished works. Very nifty creative team with Steven Soderbergh directing a script by Ed Solomon.
  
  BUFF opener Normal, an action movie directed by Ben Wheatley and starring Bob Odenkirk as a man filling in as sheriff for a small town with a big secret until its upcoming election, opens at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Kendall Square, the Seaport, and South Bay.
  
  Morgan Neville's new documentary, Lorne, which has him following Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, plays West Newton, the Lexington Venue, Boston Common, and Assembly Row.
  
  Speaking of SNL, comedy Busboys stars co-writers David Spade and Theo Von as the morons of the title getting into misadventures as they strive to become waiters. David Spade, in 2026! It's at Boston Common, Causeway Street, and South Bay.
  
  French comedy A Little Something Extra, with father/son fugitives hiding out in a special-needs summer camp, plays Boston Common.
  
  Imax mini-feature 2DIE4, which do
  
  cuments the Le Mans endurance race through the eyes of driver Felipe Nasr, plays late afternoons at Boston Common through Monday. There's an anniversary re-release of Bridesmaids at Boston Common (Saturday/Sunday/Monday), Causeway Street (Saturday/Sunday/Tuesday), the Seaport (Sunday/Wednesday), Arsenal Yards (Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Tuesday). Ferris Bueller's Day Off also gets at Boston Common (all week but mostly matinees so folks can play hooky I guess) and the Seaport (Friday). Speed Racer's 4K upconversion plays Assembly Row and South Bay in Imax Monday/Tuesday. A 4K remaster of Fight Club plays Boston Common, Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row Wednesday.
  
  The BTS World Tour: Arirang concert film has encore presentations at Kendall Square, South Bay, and Assembly Row on Saturday; concert doc American Youngboy plays Boston Common on Wednesday. Stranger Things: Tales from '85 has theatrical previews at Boston Common on Saturday. There's mystery previews at Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, South Bay, and Assembly Row on Monday (the AMC ones specify horror). This week's Imax 3D doc at Boston Common is "A Beautiful Planet"; Cave of Forgotten Dreams has an Imax 3D encore at Boston Common and Assembly Row on Sunday morning; and "Under the Sea" plays Boston Common in Imax 3D Sunday afternoon. Greek historical feature Kapodistrias plays Boston Common on Wednesday. Michael has early access shows at Jordan's (Imax), Boston Common (Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), South Bay (Imax Xenon & Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), and Arsenal Yards (CWX) on Wednesday, before opening wide the next day.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens François Ozon's new adaptation of Albert Camus's The Stranger, which moves the action to colonial Algeria and shoots it in sharp black & white.
  
  The Coolidge also continues to show Project Hail Mary in 70mm through Sunday, with The Drama on 35mm those days. Midnight bio-horror shows at the Coolidge this weekend are The Thing from Another World on 35mm Friday and Annihilation on Saturday. Disney's animated Aladdin plays Saturday & Sunday mornings; Jackie Brown runs on 35mm Monday night with a seminar led by Mikal J. Gaines. The Mel Brooks centennial series continues with Vertigo on Tuesday and his spoof High Anxiety on Wedesday. Thursday's Cult Classic is presented by the Salem Horror Fest, pairing the 1932 Island of Lost Souls with The Leopard Man. The National Center for Jewish Film's 2026 Festival continues on Sunday, with Ada - My Mother the Architect at The Museum of Fine Arts in the afternoon (with director Yael Melamede) and Once Upon My Mother.
• Canadian film Mile End Kicks opens at Landmark Kendall Square and the Seaport Alamo, featuring Barbie Ferreira as a music writer who moves to the Montreal neighborhood of the title, getting involved with two members of a local band. I'm not sure if I was in the neighborhood during the movie's 2011 time frame, but it's a cool place now.
  
  Gore Verbinski's animated adventure Rango plays the Kendall Saturday & Tuesday; David Lowery's A Ghost Story plays there Sunday & Wednesday.
• The week's new South Asian movies at Apple Fresh Pond include Hindi-language horror/comedy Bhooth Bangla (also at boston Common), Nepali drama Pahaad, Malayalam-language caper Pallichattambi. Bengali-language thriller Rakkhosh and Bengali-language drama DOMM: Until the Last Breath play Saturday & Sunday, and short film program "The India Experience" plays daily beginning Saturday. Telugu-language action film Dacoit: A Love Story continues at Boston Common and Causeway Street and Dhurandhar The Revenge continues at Fresh Pond. Punjabi-language comedy Khushkhabri plays the AMC out in Burlington.
  
  The last Lunar New Year straggler, Panda Plan 2: The Magical Tribe, has Jackie Chan following the panda he rescued in the first into the jungle and meeting a lost clan, including comedy star Mary Ma Li. It's at Causeway Street for matinees.
  
  Anime feature That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Scarlet Bond plays Boston Common, the Seaport, Assembly Row on Monday; Ghibli classic Whisper of the Heart plays Boston Common (Imax), South Bay (Imax) Assembly Row (Imax) Tuesday. Japanese horror film Exit 8 continues at the Coolidge, Boston Common, the Seaport, and Assembly Row.
• After kicking the weekend off with a Friday Film Feature of FernGully: The Last Rainforest on 35mm, The Brattle Theatre spends a good chunk of the run-up to IFFBoston with a standout from last year's Fall Focus as My Father's Shadow plays Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening. They also celebrate Record Store Day with Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story on Friday night and Pavements Saturday night. German feature Sound of Falling, featuring four teenage girls living in the same farmhouse over the course of generations, plays Saturday & Sunday afternoon.
  
  Massachusetts Space Week features include Pixar's Up at noon Saturday & Sunday, Galaxy Quest Monday evening, and a 35mm print of The Right Stuff on Wednesday. There's also an RPM Festival presentation of short films by Josh Weissbach, "For All Audiences", on Sunday afternoon. The Muppet Marathon Monday movies this year - The Muppet Movie, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth (first two on 35mm) also have encores Tuesday.
• The Somerville Theatre has the last night of The Taiwan Film Festival of Boston's spring program on Friday, with drama A Foggy Tale. They fill out the extra screen with locally-shot film Watching Mr. Pearson from Sunday to Tuesday.
  
  The Capitol Theatre picks up The Drama ahead of their sister cinema in Somerville being taken over by the festival.
• In addition to opening Mile End Kicks The Seaport Alamo has The Master and Johnnie To's >Romancing in Thin Air on Saturday, a The Big Lebowski movie party on Monday, an advance screening of Hokum and double feature of Fuck My Son & Dance Freak on Tuesday, Fantasia alum $Positions on Wednesday, and Face/Off on Thursday.
• The Harvard Film Archive continues their Béla Tarr/László Krasznahorkai series with The Turin House on Friday and Wreckmeister Harmonies on Sunday. Saturday has two more Korean crime movies, with Lee Min-yong's A Hot Roof early in the evening and Kim Jee-woon's debut feature The Quiet Family later. And, by now, we know the drill with the Kurbrick series - Eyes Wide Shut plays Monday, it's sold out, but there may be seats if you're in line at showtime. Everything is on 35mm this weekend.
• The Regent Theatre has school vacation sing-along shows for The Wizard of Oz on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, with a Wicked sing-along Thursday afternoon. And while it doesn't seem to be listed as part of the Mass Space Week festivities, they have astronaut Eileen Collins on-hand Wednesdayfor a post-film Q&A with Spacewoman, a documentary about her life.
• The Museum of Science adds "Splash and Bubbles" to its 4D film rotation starting Saturday. They also have astronauts Cady Coleman and Al Sacco Jr. on-hand for a panel before their Massachusetts Space Week screening of Apollo 13 on Tuesday.
• The Boston Asian American Film Festival presents Saving Face with director Alice Wu on-hand for a Q&A at ArtsEmerson's Paramount Theater on Thursday. It's a free show, and though ArtsEmerson's site says all tickets have been claimed, it also says to check back during the week and that they will have a rush line/waitlist starting an hour before showtime.
• The Lexington Venue is open all week with Lorne, Fantasy Life, and Hamlet.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens The Christophers< Lorne, and Fantasy Life, keeping The Drama, The AI Doc, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Project Hail Mary. Documentary Bending the Arc: The Journey Continues plays Friday with post-film discussion, while another doc, Age Group Winner, plays Saturday evening with director Alexandra Helgerson and father/subject Jay on-hand for a post-film panel (the latter at least in two to run the Marathon on Monday). The Belmont World Film presentation on Monday is French/Armenian film In the Land of Arto, with an introduction by Harvard Professor Diana Hayrapetyan.
  
  The Dedham Community Theatre has The Christophers and Mirrors No. 3 (the latter marked "one week only!").
  
  Cinema Salem plays The Mummy, Project Hail Mary, The Drama, Super Mario, and Forbidden Fruits from Friday to Monday. Spooky Picture Show hosts the original Witchboard on Saturday and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is the Wednesday Classic, with Weirdo Wednesday next door.

Pretty rigidly packed week, with A Foggy Tale on Friday, the Korean movies on Saturday, a Red Sox game on Tuesday, and IFFBoston after that. Maybe Panda Plan 2, Mile End Kicks, and The Christophers wind up in there, which doesn't leave much room for anything else. Follow along on my Letterboxd page!