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.