Brian TruittUSA TODAY
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Now that "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" have proven box-office gold, a Disney theme-park movie and Nicolas Cage arrive to further liven up your movie choices.
This weekend, Tiffany Haddish, Jamie Lee Curtis and Owen Wilson are among the all-stars rounded up for a supernatural comedy take on Disneyland's Haunted Mansion ride. Cage inhabits an unhinged antagonist opposite Joel Kinnaman in a new psychological thriller, the Australian horror film that scared Sundance Film Festival silly is unleashed on the masses, and Zach Galifianakis and Elizabeth Banks star in an Apple TV+ true-life comedy about the Beanie Babies craze.
Here's a guide to new movies that willsatisfy every cinematic taste, plus some noteworthy theatrical films making their streaming and on-demand debuts this weekend:
If you need a not-so-scary movie: 'Haunted Mansion'
The intermittently spooky supernatural comedy does well making up for the 2003 Eddie Murphy film based on the classic Disney ride. Rosario Dawson plays a single mom who moves into a creaky New Orleans manor with her son, though a bunch of phantom squatters were not mentioned in the Zillow ad. Cue a bunch of paranormal experts – played by Wilson, Haddish, Danny DeVito and a standout LaKeith Stanfield – in a gateway horror movie for ghost-curious youngsters.
Where to watch: In theaters
'Haunted Mansion' review: Don't expect a ton of chills in Disney's safe ghost ride
If you want to be haunted into the near future: 'Talk to Me'
Teenage Mia (Sophie Wilde) needs an escape on the anniversary of her mom's death and parties with a crowd that uses a weird embalmed hand to bring spirits intobodies, then records the encountersfor online viral videos. But when Mia bendsthe "rules" of the game and is confronted by a familiar face, she and her friends' lives take a ghastly turn in an unforgettable chiller that skillfully blends old-school frights with fears forthe TikTok generation.
Where to watch: In theaters
'Talk to Me': Why Gen Z horror (and its embalmed hand) is the scariest movie of the summer
If you love it when Nicolas Cage goes wild: 'Sympathy for the Devil'
Add another to Cage's list of bonkers roles. He mixes nervous energy and fearsome charm as an armed enigmatic guy who gets in the car of an expectant father (Joel Kinnaman) in a Las Vegas hospital garage and takes the driver hostage at gunpoint for a road trip that slowly reveals truths about each man. Even strapped to a middling thriller, a gonzo Cage does wonders here, making the sweetening of coffee an exercise in madness.
Where to watch: In theaters and on Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon
If you aren't ashamed of your Beanie Babies collection: 'The Beanie Bubble'
In a genius bit of casting, Galifianakis plays Ty Warner, the mercurial toy man behind the stuffed-animal bonanza of the late 1990s and early 2000s, in this biopic of sorts. However, just as important in the comedy are the three women key to his success: Banks plays the ex who founded a toy company with the oddball; Geraldine Viswanathan is the online marketing guru; and Sarah Snook is the single mom/love interest whose creative kids become part of Beanie history.
Where to watch: Apple TV+
If you're looking for a twisty detective tale: 'Susie Searches'
Susie (Kiersey Clemons) is a shy college student with a flailing true-crime podcast that could use a serious signal boost. When a social-influencer classmate(Alex Wolff) goes missing, she investigates and finds him, giving Susie the hero worship she desires but sparking a series of dicey obstacles thrown her way. Clemons shines in all aspects of the complex Susie, from adorable awkwardness to gut-wrenching paranoia, in the darkly comic whodunit.
Where to watch: In theaters and on Apple TV, Vudu
If you dig an unconventional road-trip flick: 'The Unknown Country'
Before Lily Gladstone has her Hollywood breakthrough opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in fall's "Killers of the Flower Moon," catch her in an intriguing role in this drama with shades of "Nomadland." After her grandmother dies, Tana (Gladstone) travels from Minnesota to South Dakota to reconnect with her Oglala Lakota family and then detours toward Texas for a meaningful stop in a film with sprawling cinematography and thoughtful character studies of real people amid a fictional narrative.
Where to watch: In theaters
If you've been missing the cast of 'Yellowstone' and/or 'The Office': 'Happiness for Beginners'
Ellie Kemper (of "The Office" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" fame) stars in this lackluster rom-com as divorced schoolteacher Helen, who signs up for a wilderness survival course as part of a life reset and, of course, runs into her brother's ruggedly handsome best friend Jake ("Yellowstone" regular Luke Grimes). Forest mishaps, personality clashes and a peculiar melancholy ensue, though at least Ben Cook (as the group's tightly wound instructor) keeps it watchable.
Where to watch: Netflix
Also on streaming:
- Disney's live-action version of "The Little Mermaid," starring Halle Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as sea witch Ursula, is now available to buy on Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon and Google Play.
- The raucous road-trip comedy "Joy Ride," with Ashley Park as a lawyer who finds misadventures with her friends while seeking her birth mom in China, premieres for purchase on Apple TV and other on-demand platforms Friday.
- "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," the latest installment in the movie franchise with alien transforming robots, is now streaming on Paramount+.
