Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 8 May 2026 - 14 May 2026

Not a bad weekend coming up!

• The Sheep Detectives seems to have a delightfully goofy high concept - when a shepherd who reads mysteries to his flock every night is murdered, the sheep decide to solve the crime - and the script must have been good enough that every big name they sought to be on-screen or a voice said yes, from Hugh Jackman to Emma Thompson to Julia Louis-Dreyfuss to Patrick Stewart. It opens at the Capitol, Fresh Pond, West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards (including CWX).
  
  Is it weird that the trailers for Mortal Kombat II make it look more like another reboot than a sequel as it re-introduces the idea to new arrival Johnny Cage (Karl Urban)? Maybe that's wise, as its predecessor came out during the pandemic and folks might have missed it, but it's kind of odd. That's at Fresh Pond, Jordan's Furniture (Imax Friday-Sunday), CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay (including Imax Xenon & Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Imax Xenon & Dolby Cinema), and Arsenal Yards.
  
  James Cameron co-directs concert movie Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft with the singer, and it's mostly playing in 3D, so it's expected to be very immersive. It plays Fresh Pond (digital 3D), Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema 3D & RealD 3D), Causeway Street (including RealD 3D), the Seaport (RealD 3D), South Bay (including Dolby Cinema 3D & RealD 3D), and Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema 3D & RealD 3D). Concert film Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition encores at Boston Common and the Seaport Saturday. K-Pop concert ENHYPEN: Immersion plays Boston Common Wednesday (though, oddly for something initially released in VR, in 2D rather than 3D).
  
  Neglected, a thriller with Josh Duhamel as a cop who must catch a serial killer to rescue his son, opens at Boston Common.
  
  AAPI Heritage Month screenings this week feature >Crazy Rich Asians at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay (mostly 4pm). There are anniversary screenings of Fried Green Tomatoes at Boston Common Sunday & Wednesday. Top Gun & Top Gun Maverick start a one-week premium-screen rerelease on Wednesday at Boston Common (Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), South Bay (Imax Xenon & Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (Imax Laser & Dolby CInema). Top Gun also plays in Imax at Jordan's on Wednesday.
  
  There are secret previews on Monday at Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kenmore Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row. There are also non-secret Dolby Cinema previews of Obsession Wednesday at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
• IFFBoston selection Blue Heron opens at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, West Newton, Dedham Community Theatre, and Boston Common, following a newly-relocated family through the eyes of the eight-year-old daughter, with her older brother perhaps not handling things well.
  
  Sam Raimi midnights this weekend are Darkman on Friday and Army of Darkness on Saturday, both on 35mm film; the monthly 35mm "I saw Eraserhead" midnight screening is also on Friday. There's a Sunday "Take Two!" movies-about-movies double feature of Singin' in the Rain & Sullivan's Travels; a Monday show of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (which takes its name from Sullivan's Travels) with speakers from The Huntington Theatre, a second Take Two presentation, American Movie, on 35mm with Jake Mulligan leading a pre-show seminar, and a third on Wednesday as part of the regular class (Hollywood Shuffle on 35mm). Tuesday also includes Open Screen, and Thursday has The Passion of Joan of Arc as the Big Screen Classic.
• Apple Fresh Pond has a new slate of films from East Asia: Hindi-language mythological romance Krishnavataram - Part 1: The Heart, Hindi-language comedy Daadi Ki Shaadi, Nepali-language drama Paral Ko Aago (through Sunday), and Malayalam-language thriller Patriot (through Sunday).
  
  Cold War 1994, which has the characters from the mid-2010s Hong Kong hits revisiting a case from before the handover (with an utterly stacked cast), plays matinees at Boston Common.
  
  Anime thriller Labyrinth plays Boston Common Sunday and Monday. The restored Kiki's Delivery Service continues at the Coolidge; and another anime, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea, continues at Boston Common.
• Landmark Kendall Square opens dark comedy Our Hero, Balthazar, although it's one of those "once a day at 4pm" bookings. The rep series shows are Men in Black Saturday & Tuesday for "Aliens Among Us"; John Houston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Sunday & Wednesday.
• The Capitol Theatre opens Steal This Story, Please! on Friday and has a live concert with Genevieve Stokes on Thursday.
  
  The Somerville Theatre plays WBCN And the American Revolution on Sunday, with director Bill Lichtenstein and a bunch of BCN alums on hand for a post-film Q&A. Monday and Wednesday they host the Boston creations from this year's 48 Hour Film Project, and the Thirsty Thursday show is Barfly on 35mm film. Thursday also has the first of two screenings of documentary Make Me Famous with director Brian Vincent and producer Heather Spore on-hand for Q&As.
• The Brattle Theatre continues their Mother's Day series with Little Women '94 (35mm Friday film matinee), Mermaids (35mm) & Lady Bird (Friday/Saturday), Petite Maman & The Babadook (Saturday), Psycho (35mm Sunday), Everything Everywhere All at Once (Sunday), Us (Sunday), Hairspray '88 (Monday), The Others (Tuesday), Mamma Mia! (Wednesday), and Aliens (Thursday). There's also a 35mm craft-along show of Dirty Dancing on Monday.
• The Seaport Alamo picks up Erupcja in its second week, with shows Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday. They also have Mamma Mia! Friday & Sunday, Holy Motors Saturday, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II for Terror Tuesday, and an Obsession movie party preview show on Thursday.
• The Harvard Film Archive ends the semester with a program of Czechoslovakian films from 1969 & 1970 fittingly titled "The Spring is Over", playing Fruit of Paradise and Squandered Sunday (35mm) on Friday, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (35mm) on Saturday, and Murdering The Devil on Monday. They also have the term's last Student Cinematheque on Saturday, pairing Toshio Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses (35mm) & Werner Herzog's Land of Silence and Darkness on Saturday, as well as an encore of their new print of Little Fugitive alongside "The Red Balloon" and a 1962 commercial for Oreos. After that, the theater will be dark until at least August as the Carpenter Center has another round of renovations.
• The Museum of Fine Arts has the first films in the Uniqlo Festival of Films from Japan with She Taught Me Serendipity from Tremble All You Want director Akiko Oku on Friday evening and kabuki epic Kokuho Saturday afternoon. There's also an Art on Film presentation of Painting the Modern Garden: From Monet to Matisse Sunday morning, with a Mother's Day show of Parallel Mothers for Global Cinema Now a bit later on Sunday.
• Joe's Free Films lists a Cambridge Street Theory "Shaolin Jazz" presentation of KIll Bill Volume 1 and a Boston Landing presentation of Empire Records on Friday night (RSVP required for both), Everything You Have Is Yours at Sinai Brookline on Monday, and The Grocery List Show at Newton Free Library on Thursday.
• The Lexington Venue is open all week (although not all day all week) and appears to be the only place to see Fatih Akin's new one, Amrum, which follows German children on an isolated island during the end of World War II. Held over are The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Palestine '36 (Friday/Saturday/Wednesday). There's a free screening of "The Afterglow: A Tribute to Robert Frost" Saturday morning, documentary Georgia O'Keeffe: The Brightness of Life Sunday morning, and a free screening of documentary Shuffle Monday evening.
  
  The Embassy Cinema has Michael every day but Monday.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens Blue Heron and The Sheep Detectives, holding over The Devil Wears Prada 2, Michael, The Christophers, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Project Hail Mary. I Swear is no longer playing regular showtimes, but has a Behind the Screen show on Wednesday, and Ty Burr's Movie Club selection for Thursday is Vertigo. The Belmont World Film presentation on Monday is France's Six Days in Spring, with BU PhD candidate Haleigh Burgon speaking.
  
  Omaha had a fair number of trailers at the multiplexes, but the drama with John Magaro hiding the reason for a cross-country road trip from his kids only appears to be playing The Dedham Community Theatre, which also opens Blue Heron.
  
  Cinema Salem plays The Devil Wears Prada 2, Project Hail Mary, Mortal Kombat II, and The Sheep Detectives from Friday to Monday. Friday's Night Light show is The Legend of Billy Jean and the Wednesday Classic is Tennessee Johnson, with Weirdo Wednesday down the hall.
  
  The Showcase in Woburn has Takeover, an action movie starring rapper Quavo and Billy Zane. The Friday night horror movie at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers is The Cabin in the Woods.

Not liking this "just 4pm" trend for movies with appeal beyond students and retirees! Bummed that I've got Red Sox tickets during the only screening of She Taught Me Serendipity, but I'm looking forward to The Sheep Detectives, Cold War 1994, Labyrinth, and Blue Heron, plus catching up with One Spoon of Chocolate, as will be seen on my Letterboxd page.

Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 1 May 2026 - 7 May 2026

Kind of scrounging because I haven't seen the predecessor to the big sequel that's squeezing everything I couldn't get to during IFFBoston into a few scattered showtimes, how 'bout you?

• That sequel is The Devil Wears Prada 2, reuniting Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci from the 2006 original, with Hathaway's character now a seasoned veteran outside of fashion brought in Streep's legend starting to decline. It's at the Somerville, the Coolidge, Fresh Pond, West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema & XL), Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport (including Dolby Atmos), South Bay (including Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill.
  
  Also opening wide-ish is IFFBoston selection Hokum, with Adam Scott as a writer visiting the Irish hotel where his parents honeymooned, and with Oddity director Damian McCarthy behind the camera, it's going to get weird. That plays the Coolidge, Boston Common, Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  An animated take on Animal Farm opens at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row. It's directed by Andy Serkis and features an all-star voice cast, but also adds a segment at the end so it's more upbeat, which doesn't seem like Animal Farm.
  
  Renny Harlin is amusingly being cited as the director of Die Hard 2 and Deep Blue Sea on the posters for Deep Water, which fits, because it's a plane crashing in shark-infested waters. Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley play the pilots, and it plays Boston Common. Hip-hop legend and action aficionado RZA steps back behind the camera for One Spoon of Chocolate where an ex-military ex-con tries to start over in a small town and some hood make the very bad decision to mess with him. It's also at Boston Common.
  
  The week's other just-Boston Common opening is Indie romance Erupcja; interestingly, director Pete Ohs shares writing credits with stars Charli XCX, Lena Gora, Will Madden, and Jeremy O. Harris.
  
  Modern western Casa Grande gets what looks like a minimal four-wall booking at Fresh Pond, playing one of the small theaters at 4pm all week (slightly more showtimes at the Liberty Tree Mall). Everything Everywhere All At Once plays more or less the same schedule at Boston Common, Causeway Street, and South Bay; Past Lives plays Boston Common, Causeway Street, and South Bay on Sunday & Monday.
  
  There's a secret family-friendly screening at Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, South Bay, and Assembly Row Sunday afternoon; a different (R-rated) movie screens secretly on Monday at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
  
  Power to the People: John & Yoko Live in NYC has encores at the Kendall and Boston Common on Sunday. Concert film Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition plays Boston Common and the Seaport Thursday.
• In addition to the wide releases, The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens Steal This Story, a documentary on reporter Amy Goodman, for matinee in the Goldscreen after its panorama shows on Thursday. They also anchor a May Ghibliotheque series with a new 4K restoration of Kiki's Delivery Service, supplementing it with screenings of Pom Poko (Friday), Ponyo (Saturday), My Neighbor Totoro (Sunday), Howl's Moving Castle (Monday), Princess Mononoke (Tuesday), and Spirited Away (Wednesday).
  
  The May midnights are (almost) all about Sam Raimi, kicking off as you might expect with The Evil Dead on 35mm Friday night and arguably-even-more iconic Evil Dead 2 projected from VHS on Saturday. There's also Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt with Wellesley's Vernon Shetley leading a pre-film seminar Monday, and the "Take Two: Filmmaking in the Movies" class begins Wednesday with Living in Oblivion (feel free to watch the movies without the class). There's also a Cinema Jukebox presentation of the 4K restoration of Tommy on Thursday.
• Apple Fresh Pond turns their South Asian offerings over for a new slate of seven: Telugu-language mid-air action-comedy Jetlee, Hindi-language romantic fantasy Ek Din, Marathi-language historical epic Raja Shivaji (with late shows in Hindi), Tamil-language action thriller Kara, Malayalam-language thriller Patriot, Telugu-language satire Gaaya Padda Simham (through Monday), and Gujarti-language drama Dhabkaaro (through Sunday).
  
  Anime That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: The Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea opens at Boston Common. Japanese horror film Exit 8 and the reissue of Whisper of the Heart continue at Boston Common.
• The Brattle Theatre has new restorations of Barbara Kopple's Harland County USA and American Dream on Friday & Saturday/
  
  They also feature three noteworthy Chinese filmmakers, starting with the annual "pineapple expiration day" showings of Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express from Friday to Sunday. They also have the three features of Bi Gan, with Kaili Blues & Long Day's Journey into Night (presumably all-2D) Saturday & Monday and Resurrection Sunday & Tuesday. In between, they team with STArt Film Studio to screen Jiang Wen's Let the Bullets Fly, which was a massive hit in China.
  
  After that, there's two GRRL Haus Cinema programs on Wednesday and the first of their Mother's Day series, Everything Everywhere All at Once, on Thursday.
• The Capitol Theatre has a 4th wall concert with Circus Trees, Vivid Bloom, and Decla on Friday.
  
  The Somerville Theatre has documentary The Chaplin & the Doctor on Monday and Crushing Wheelchairs, a film about the homeless in San Francisco made by its subjects, on Tuesday. They also kick off their summer "Thirsty Thursdays" series with a 35mm print of Cocktail.
• The Seaport Alamo has Jacques Tati's Playtime on Saturday afternoon; www.RachelOrmont.com on Saturday & Tuesday; Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters on Sunday; period Māori thriller Mārama Tuesday afternoon; and a preview of Obsession with livestreamed Q&A Wednesday.
• Landmark Kendall Square has John They Live Saturday & Tuesday for the "Aliens Among Us"; John Houston's The Maltese Falcon plays there Sunday & Wednesday.
• The Harvard Film Archive has just one program this week, debuting their new print of Little Fugitive by pairing it with "The Red Balloon" and a 1962 commercial for Oreos.
• The Museum of Fine Arts has Sirāt Thursday evening as part of "Global Cinema Now"
• Joe's Free Films shows the Somerville Cine-Club screening four Chaplin shorts from 1915 on Friday night, all accompanied by different local musicians and screening on film ("The Bank" and "Shangaied" on 8mm, "A Jitney Elopement" on 16mm, and "The Tramp" on Super 8).
• The Movies at MIT page has Empire of Light playing in room 26-100 on Friday.
• The Lexington Venue is open all week but Tueesday with The Devil Wears Prada 2, I Swear, and Palestine '36 (no show Thursday). Indie comedy The Hay Man plays in (presumably anaglyph) 3D Saturday morning.
  
  The Embassy Cinema continues Michael, apparently running a full slate every day but Tuesdays until the 21st.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens The Devil Wears Prada 2, continuing Michael, I Swear, The Christophers, Fantasy Life, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Project Hail Mary. Documentary feature Join or Die plays Saturday afternoon with a local club fair in the lobby afterward, while documentary short "Healing Between Two Worlds" plays Sunday afternoon with panel discussion, and there's a Behind the Screen show of In the Whale with filmmaker David Abel in person Thursday. The Belmont World Film presentation on Monday is Cyprus's Hold on to Me, which features both a pre-recorded conversation with director Myrsini Aristidou and an in-person discussion.
  
  The Dedham Community Theatre has The Christophers and I Swear.
  
  Cinema Salem plays The Devil Wears Prada 2, Project Hail Mary, Michael, and Super Mario from Friday to Monday. The Wednesday Classic is War of the Worlds, with no Weirdo Wednesday listed, and Thursday they present the locally-shot pilot for Witch City. (They are not, surprisingly, one of the venues for the Salem Horror Fest, which has many horror-film-oriented events around town through Sunday.)
  
  The AMC at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers has Spanish high-school drama Boulevard, and also seems to be doing a Friday-night frightfest series with the director's cut of Cabin Fever this week.

Might have to see where The Devil Wears Prada is streaming, for a little catch-up, although its sequel is making it tricky to figure out how to catch up on Mother Mary, Over Your Dead Body and maybe Desert Warrior while looking forward to Hokum, Deep Water, and One Spoon of Chocolate, with Kaili Blues and Let the Bullets Fly at the Brattle and maybe the Chaplin program. Something, I fear, is getting left off my Letterboxd page!