Coronavirus has brought the world screeching to a halt.
Flights are grounded, international borders are closed and, in an effort to mitigate the loss of ticket sales, major Hollywood studios are fast-tracking new projects so that their theatrical release and VOD premiere are effectively one and the same.
Earlier this week, for instance, Universal announced plans to bring The Invisible Man and The Hunt to VOD platforms – this Friday, in fact – whereas Sony just confirmed that the Vin Diesel actioner Bloodshot will release via digital and mobile on March 24th. That’s next week.
Yes, COVID-19 has completely upended the very concept of ‘normal life’ for so many people. And with the World Health Organization urging folks to stay indoors and self-isolate, there is one thing that can help ease the angst of quarantine: Netflix.
And sure enough, the streaming giant has just compiled a list of new releases headed to the platform in April. Keep in mind that these are preliminary release dates, and it doesn’t necessarily cover everything that’s due to hit Netflix next month.
April 1st
- Community (6 Seasons) – All six seasons of the NBC/Sony sitcom arrive on Netflix on April 1st.
- How to Fix a Drug Scandal (Limited Series) N – Docuseries looking at a drug scandal that gripped the US.
- Man Like Mobeen (Season 3) – British comedy series.
- Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon (Season 3) – More adventures with Ash and Pikachu in the Pokemon’s Sun & Moon series.
- Sunderland ‘Til I Die (Season 2) N – Docuseries covering a new season at the British soccer team.
- Tad the Lost Explorer and the Secret of King Midas – Animated kids movie about an aspiring explorer striving to rescue the love of his life and unravel the golden secrets behind the Midas Papyrus.
- The Little Vampire (2017) – Animated kids adventure about a young vampire trying to stay alive with a vampire hunter in town.
The obvious scene-stealer is all six seasons (and a movie?) of Community, which has always been a cult favorite on the interwebs. In terms of original content, the big one this time around is the Chris Hemsworth-starring Extraction, in which the MCU mainstay stars as Tyler Rake, a black-market mercenary hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an international crime lord. Look for that one to debut on April 24th.
And continued:
April 3rd
- Coffee & Kareem (2020) N – Ed Helms, Betty Gilpin, King Bach, and David Alan Grier star in this comedy about a Detroit cop who teams up with his girlfriend’s young son to tackle a conspiracy together.
- Money Heist (Part 4) N – The Spanish phenomenon returns for its fourth part.
April 9th
- The Circle France (Season 1) N – First regional variant of The Circle.
April 10th
- Brews Brothers (Season 1) N – New comedy series starring Alan Aisenberg, Mike Castle and Carmen Flood about two brothers brewing beer together.
- The Main Event (2020) N – First WWE movie about an aspiring young wrestler looking to become the next big superstar.
- Tigertail (2020) N – Alan Yang writes and directs this insightful drama that tells a multi-generational tale of a family from the 1950s to the present day.
April 15th
- The Innocence Files (Limited Series) N – True crime docu-series.
April 17th
- Rising High (2020) N – German satire movie
- Of Earth and Blood / La Terre Et Le Sang (2020) N – French crime drama
- Sergio (2020) N – Wagner Moura stars in this biopic of the United Nations biopic of Sérgio Vieira de Mello.
April 20th
- Cooked with Cannabis (Season 1) N – New cooking series that includes weed as the ingredient. Not to be confused with the now-defunct Cooking on High that arrived in 2018.
- The Midnight Gospel (Season 1) N – New animated (and trippy) series from the creator of Adventure Time for adults.
And finally:
April 22nd
- Circus of Books (2020) N – Documentary on a gay porn store that’s been produced by Ryan Murphy.
- The Willoughbys (2020) N – Netflix’s first big animated picture of the year featuring the voices of Ricky Gervais, Maya Rudolph, Terry Crews, Will Forte and Martin Short.
April 23rd
- The House of Flowers (Season 4) N – The final season of the Spanish series.
April 24th
- After Life (Season 2) N – Ricky Gervais’s comedy returns for another down-to-earth season where he’s promised the dog won’t die.
- Extraction (2020) N – New action movie featuring Chris Hemsworth.
April 29th
- Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story (2020) N – True-crime documentary
- Summertime (Season 1) N – Italian coming-of-age teen drama series
April 30th
- Biohackers (Season 1) N – German thriller series
- The Victim’s Game (Season 1) N – Mandarin thriller series