Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #294 :: March 12•18

With Spring on the horizon, some notable films made their debuts to draw movie-goers out of their winter doldrums. A 1926 film saw its leading lady go to extreme lengths to portray her death scene, a controversial storyline for a 1936 film had to be altered, Rita Hayworth set the screen ablaze in 1946, a popular British TV comedian made his film debut in 1956, a 1966 film had a profound impact on its stars, and won an Oscar for Best Original Song, David Bowie brought his otherworldly persona to the screen in 1976, the musical legend of Robert Johnson was told in 1986, a groundbreaking 1996 documentary shed some light on hidden aspects of Hollywood, a 2006 film has become eerily prescient, and a 2016 flop ended its franchise prematurely. Scroll down to see the movies that premiered this week across the decades, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.

1926  •  1936  •  1946  •  1956  •  1966  •  1976  •  1986  •  1996  •  2006  •  2016

1926

March 12 – Madame Mystery (USA, short, Hal Roach Studios)

• Cast: Theda Bara, Tyler Brooke, James Finlayson, Oliver Hardy, Fred Malatesta
• Directors: Richard Wallce, Stan Laurel
• Trivia: Footage from this film was reused in the Hal Roach two-reeler 45 Minutes From Hollywood. A complete print of the short exists, one of the few Theda Bara extant films.

March 13 – La Bohème (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

• Cast: Lillian Gish, John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, George Hassell, Roy D’Arcy, Edward Everett Horton
• Director: King Vidor
• Trivia: Gish, MGM’s highest paid actress, used her power to exert artistic control over the film, although the studio had the final say. Gish refrained from eating or drinking for three days to prepare for her character’s death scene. The director feared it may be Gish’s death scene as well. The film does exist, and was screened in 2020 at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.

March 13 – The Gilded Highway (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)

• Cast: Dorothy Devore, John Harron, Macklyn Arbuckle, Myrna Loy, Florence Turner, Sheldon Lewis
• Director: J. Stuart Blackton
• Trivia: The film is considered lost. The Kansas Board of Review required the shortening of the comedic dance scene, where the girl falls into the man’s arms, before the film could be exhibited in the state.

March 14 – Chip of the Flying U (USA, Universal Jewel)

• Cast: Hoot Gibson, Virginia Brown Faire, Philo McCullough, Nora Cecil, DeWitt Jennings, Harry Todd, Pee Wee Holmes
• Director: Lynn Reynolds
• Trivia: A print of the film is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

March 14 – Hell’s Four Hundred (USA, Fox Film Corporation)

• Cast: Margaret Livingston, Harrison Ford, Henry Kolker, Marceline Day, Wallace MacDonald
• Director: John Griffith Wray
• Trivia: An allegorical dream sequence towards the end of the film was shot using two-strip Technicolor. The film is considered lost.

March 14 – High Steppers (USA, Edwin Carewe Productions)

• Cast: Lloyd Hughes, Mary Astor, Dolores del Rio, Rita Carewe, John T. Murray, Edwards Davis
• Director: Edwin Carewe
• Trivia: The film is considered lost.

March 14 – Home Cured (USA, short, Goodwill Productions)

• Cast: Johnny Arthur, Virginia Vance, Chick Collins, George Davis, Glen Cavender
• Director: William Goodrich
• Trivia: William Goodrich was a pseudonym used by Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle following his acquittal for the death of Virginia Rappe, as he could not get work in Hollywood under his own name. An incomplete 16 mm copy of the film is held by George Eastman House.

March 14 – Red Dice (USA, DeMille Pictures Corporation)

• Cast: Rod La Rocque, Marguerite De La Motte, Ray Hallor, Gustav von Seyffertitz, George Cooper
• Director: William K. Howard
• Trivia: The film is considered lost, but a 48 second trailer exists.

March 14 – The Night Patrol (USA, Richard Talmadge Productions)

• Cast: Richard Talmadge, Rose Blossom, Mary Carr, Gardner James, Josef Swickard, Grace Darmond
• Director: Noel M. Smith
• Trivia: The film’s survival status is unknown.

March 15 – Brooding Eyes (USA, Banner Productions)

• Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Ruth Clifford, Robert Ellis, Montagu Love, William V. Mong
• Director: Edward LeSaint
• Trivia: The film’s survival status is unknown.

March 15 – Sydney’s Darlings (AUS, Beacon Light Productions)

• Cast: Doris Harrison, Jim McCoy, Will Kay, Charles Chapman, John Walker, Thomas Marinato
• Director: Thomas Marinato
• Trivia: The film has no known US theatrical release date, and it is considered lost.

March 15 – The New Klondike (USA, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)

• Cast: Thomas Meighan, Lila Lee, Paul Kelly, Tefft Johnson
• Director: Lewis Milestone
• Trivia: Considered to be the first film for writer Ben Hecht. A print of the film, with one reel missing, is held in the Library of Congress.

March 17 – Fascinating Youth (USA, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)

• Cast: Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, Ivy Harris, Jack Luden, Walter Goss, Thelma Todd
• Director: Sam Wood
• Trivia: Feature debut of Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers. Clara Bow makes a cameo appearance. Richard Dix, Adolphe Menjou, Chester Conklin, Lila Lee and Lewis Milestone are among the stars who appear as themselves. While the trailer survives, the film is considered lost.

March 17 – Other Women’s Husbands (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)

• Cast: Monte Blue, Marie Prevost, Huntley Gordon, Phyllis Haver
• Director: Erle C. Kenton
• Trivia: The film is considered lost.

March 17 – Somebody’s Mother (USA, Harry Garson Productions)

• Cast: Mary Carr, Rex Lease, Mickey McBan, Kathryn McGuire, Sidney Franklin, Edward Martindel
• Director: Oscar Apfel
• Trivia: The film’s survival status is unknown.

1936

March 12 – Fame (UK, Herbert Wilcox Productions)

• Cast: Sydney Howard, Muriel Aked, Miki Hood, Brian Lawrance, Guy Middleton
• Director: Leslie S. Hiscott
• Trivia: The film has no known US theatrical release date.

March 12 – Hitch Hike to Heaven (USA, Invincible Pictures Corp.)

• Cast: Henrietta Crosman, Herbert Rawlinson, Russell Gleason, Polly Ann Young, Al Shean, Anita Page
• Director: Frank R. Strayer
• Trivia: Also known as Footlights and Shadows.

March 12 – The Country Doctor (USA, 20th Century Fox)

• Cast: The Dionne Quintuplets, Jean Hersholt, June Lang, Slim Summerville, Michael Whalen, Jane Darwell, Montagu Love
• Director: Henry King
• Trivia: While the real quintuplets were born in rural Ontario, the film is set in Quebec.

March 12 – Faithful (London, Warner Brothers-First National Productions)

• Cast: Jean Muir, Hans Söhnker, Chili Bouchier, Gene Gerrard, Margaret Yarde
• Director: Paul L. Stein
• Trivia: The film entered general UK release on August 17, 1936. It was later known as Viennese Love Song. It has no known US theatrical release date. The film is classified as lost by the British Film Institute, which holds a collection of still from the film.

March 13 – Every Saturday Night (USA, 20th Century Fox)

• Cast: June Lang, Thomas Beck, Jed Prouty, Spring Byington, Florence Roberts, Kenneth Howell, George Ernest, June Carlson, Bill Mahan
• Director: James Tinling
• Trivia: The first of 17 films made about the Evers Family, renamed Jones with the second film.

March 13 – Once in a Million (London, British International Pictures)

• Cast: Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, Mary Brian, W.H. Berry, Haver and Lee, Norah Gale, Billy Milton, Charles Carson
• Director: Arthur B. Woods
• Trivia: Opened in general UK release on August 3, 1936, and has no known US theatrical release date.

March 13 – The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (USA, Walter Wanger Productions)

• Cast: Fred MacMurray, Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Fred Stone, Nigel Bruce, Beulah Bondi, George ‘Spanky’ McFarland
• Director: Henry Hathaway
• Trivia: Second feature film shot in three-strip Technicolor, and the first in color to be filmed outdoors, with the approval of the Technicolor Corporation. Fonda carved ‘HF LUVS SS’ on a tree during location shooting, and director Hathaway found the tree when shooting Woman Obsessed in 1959. The song ‘A Melody from the Sky’ was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Song.

March 13 – Yellow Dust (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)

• Cast: Richard Dix, Leila Hyams, Moroni Olsen, Jessie Ralph, Andy Clyde, Onslow Stevens
• Director: Wallace Fox
• Trivia: The film’s working title was Mother Lode, the same as the play upon which the film was based.

March 14 – The Lucky Corner (USA, short, Hal Roach Studios)

• Cast: Scotty Beckett, George McFarland, Carl Switzer, Billie Thomas, Harold Switzer, Pete the Pup
• Director: Gus Meins
• Trivia: 143rd Our Gang short. Sequel to 1934’s For Pete’s Sake.

March 14 – The Millionaire Kid (USA, Reliable Pictures Corporation)

• Cast: Betty Compson, Bryant Washburn, Charles Delaney, Lois Wilde
• Director: Bernard R. Bay

March 15 – Song of the Trail (USA, Conn Productions)

• Cast: Kermit Maynard, Evelyn Brent, Fuzzy Knight, Andrea Leeds, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes
• Director: Russell Hopton

March 17 – Robin Hood of El Dorado (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

• Cast: Warner Baxter, Ann Loring, Bruce Cabot, Margo, J. Carrol Naish
• Director: William A. Wellman
• Trivia: Art director David Townsend was killed in a car accident while scouting locations for the film.

March 17 – Wolf’s Clothing (London, Richard Wainwright Productions)

• Cast: Claude Hulbert, Gordon Harker, Lilli Palmer, George Graves, Peter Gawthorne, Helen Haye
• Director: Andrew Marton
• Trivia: Entered wide UK release on July 20, 1936, and has no known US theatrical release.

March 18 – These Three (USA, Samuel Goldwyn Productions)

• Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea, Catharine Doucet, Alma Kruger, Bonita Granville, Margaret Hamilton, Walter Brennan
• Director: William Wyler
• Trivia: Wyler directed a remake in 1961 titled The Children’s Hour, which was released as The Loudest Whisper in the UK. Due to restrictions from the Hays Code, the film’s subject matter in which two female teachers were falsely accused of having a sexual relationship was changed to one of the women sleeping with the other’s fiancé. Bonita Granville was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, the first year the category was presented.

1946

March 12 – To Each His Own (USA, Paramount Pictures)

• Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Mary Anderson, Roland Culver, Phillip Terry, Bill Goodwin, Virginia Welles
• Director: Mitchell Leisen
• Trivia: The film was Oscar-nominated for Original Screenplay, and de Havilland won the Oscar for Best Actress.

March 14 – Gilda (New York City, Columbia Pictures)

• Cast: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready, Joseph Calleia, Steven Geray
• Director: Charles Vidor
• Trivia: The film opened nationwide in the US on April 25, 1946. Anita Ellis provided the singing voice for Hayworth. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2013.

March 14 – Throw a Saddle on a Star (USA, Columbia Pictures)

• Cast: Ken Curtis, Jeff Donnell, Adele Roberts, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Andy Clyde, Frank Sully, The Dinning Sisters, Foy Willing
• Director: Ray Nazarro

March 15 – God’s Country (USA, Action Pictures)

• Cast: Robert Lowery, Helen Gilbert, William Farnum, Buster Keaton
• Director: Robert Emmett Tansey

March 16 – Baby Bottleneck (USA, short, Warner Bros. Pictures)

• Director: Bob Clampett
• Trivia: The short features Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Tweety makes a cameo. Mel Blanc and Sara Berner are uncredited voice actors.

March 16 – Strange Impersonation (USA, W. Lee Wilder Productions)

• Cast: Brenda Marshall, William Gargan, Hillary Brooke, George Chandler, Ruth Ford, H.B. Warner, Lyle Talbot
• Director: Anthony Mann

March 16 – Swing Parade of 1946 (USA, Monogram Pictures)

• Cast: Gale Storm, Phil Regan, The Three Stooges, Edward Brophy, Mary Treen, Russell Hicks
• Director: Phil Karlson
• Trivia: Curly Howard, in his appearance with The Three Stooges, is billed as Jerome Howard for the first time in several years.

March 17 – A Defeated People (UK, documentary, Crown Film Unit)

• Narrator: William Hartnell
• Director: Humphrey Jennings
• Trivia: The film was one of the first to show the effects of World War II on ordinary German citizens.

March 18 – Deadline at Dawn (Sweden, RKO Radio Pictures)

• Cast: Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Bill Williams, Joseph Calleia, Osa Massen, Marvin Miller
• Director: Harold Clurman
• Trivia: Opened in the US on March 21, 1946. Only film directed by Clurman, who was a stage director. A significant portion of the film is alleged to have been directed by William Cameron Menzies, who refused credit as he didn’t like Clurman and did not want his name to be associated with Clurman’s in any way.

1956

March 13 – The Price of Fear (USA, Universal Pictures)

• Cast: Merle Oberon, Lex Barker, Charles Drake, Gia Scala, Warren Stevens
• Director: Abner Biberman

March 14 – The Kettles in the Ozarks (New York City, Universal-International Pictures)

• Cast: Marjorie Main, Arthur Hunnicutt, Una Merkel, Ted de Corsia, Olive Sturgess, Richard Eyer, Richard Deacon
• Director: Charles Lamont
• Trivia: Ninth film in the Ma and Pa Kettle series, with Arthur Hunnicutt replacing Percy Kilbride’s Pa as Pa’s brother Sedgewick.

March 15 – The Man Who Never Was (UK, Sumar Film Productions)

• Cast: Clifton Webb, Gloria Grahame, Robert Flemyng, Josephine Griffin, Stephen Boyd, Cyril Cusack, Michael Hordern
• Director: Ronald Neame
• Trivia: First opened in the US on February 14, 1956. The film’s screenplay won a BAFTA.

March 15 – When Gangland Strikes (USA, Republic Pictures)

• Cast: Raymond Greenleaf, Marjie Millar, John Hudson, Anthony Caruso, Slim Pickens, Richard Deacon
• Director: R.G. Springsteen

March 18 – Who Done It? (London, Ealing Studios-Michael Balcon Productions)

• Cast: Benny Hill, Belinda Lee, David Kossoff, Garry Marsh, George Margo, Ernest Thesiger
• Director: Basil Dearden
• Trivia: Entered general UK release on March 30, 1956, but has no known US theatrical release date. One of the last comedies from Ealing, and Benny Hill’s film debut. Hill was cast in an attempt to match the popularity of Norman Wisdom.

1966

March 12 – Clippety Clobbered (USA, short, DePatie–Freleng Enterprises)

• Director: Rudy Larriva
• Trivia: The short features Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.

March 16 – To the Shores of Hell (USA, Robert Patrick Productions)

• Cast: Marshall Thompson, Richard Arlen, Robert Dornan, Dick O’Neill
• Director: Will Zens
• Trivia: The film’s technical advisor, Marine veteran Master Sergeant William V. Bierd, also acted as the technical advisor on TV series Gomer Pyle USMC.

March 18 – Born Free (UK, Shepperton Studios)

• Cast: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Geoffrey Keen
• Director: James Hill
• Trivia: Released in the US on June 22, 1966. McKenna and Travers were a real-life couple portraying real-life couple Joy and George Adamson. McKenna and Travers became animal rights activists after making the film, helping to create the Born Free Foundation. John Barry’s score won an Oscar and was nominated for a Grammy, the song ‘Born Free’ won the Original Song Oscar and was Golden Globe nominated, and the film and McKenna also received Golden Globe nominations.

1976

March 15 – Albino (West Germany, Lord Film Produktion/Eichberg-Film)

• Cast: James Faulkner, Christopher Lee, Horst Frank, Sybil Danning, Sascha Hehn, Trevor Howard, Erik Schumann
• Director: Jürgen Goslar
• Trivia: Released in the US in February 1978 as Whispering Death. Also known as The Night of Askari and Death in the Sun.

March 18 – The Man Who Fell to Earth (UK, British Lion Film Corporation)

• Cast: David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Buck Henry, Bernie Casey
• Director: Nicolas Roeg
• Trivia: Opened in the US on May 28, 1976. David Bowie’s first starring role in a feature film. Astronaut Jim Lovell appears as himself in the film.

1986

March 14 – Cool Change (USA, Delatite Productions)

• Cast: Jon Blake, Lisa Armytage, Deborra-Lee Furness, David Bradshaw
• Director: George T. Miller

March 14 – Crossroads (USA, Columbia Pictures)

• Cast: Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz, Robert Judd, Joe Morton, Steve Vai, Dennis Lipscomb, Harry Carey Jr., John Hancock, Allan Arbus
• Director: Walter Hill
• Trivia: The original script had Joe Seneca’s character dying at the end on a Greyhound bus. Director Hill’s father had died shortly before production started, and he found it difficult to shoot the scene so he also filmed one with a happier ending. Both endings were tested with audiences, and the happier ending prevailed. This was Robert Judd’s final film. He died from stomach cancer two months before the film was released.

March 14 – Gung Ho (USA, Paramount Pictures)

• Cast: Michael Keaton, Gedde Watanabe, George Wendt, John Turturro, Mimi Rogers, So Yamamura, Sab Shimono, Rick Overton, Clint Howard, Michelle Johnson, Rance Howard, Patti Yasutake
• Director: Ron Howard
• Trivia: Released in Australia and New Zealand as Working Class Man. The Sevel Fiat manufacturing plant in Argentina doubled as the Assan Motors plant in the film. Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy turned down the lead role which went to Michael Keaton.

1996

March 15 – Ed (USA, Longview Entertainment)

• Cast: Matt LeBlanc, Jay Caputo, Denise Cheshire, Jayne Brook, Doren Fein, Jack Warden, Bill Cobbs, Jim O’Heir
• Director: Bill Couturié
• Trivia: The film was announced as You Should See Them Play, and was one of three monkey/ape films in development at the time. Matthew Perry was in competition with LeBlanc for the lead role. Gymnasts Caputo and Cheshire played Ed in full make-up when more fluid actions were needed that the animatronic could not provide.

March 15 – Executive Decision (USA/India, Silver Pictures)

• Cast: Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, David Suchet, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, BD Wong, Len Cariou, Whip Hubley, Andreas Katsulas, Mary Ellen Trainor, J. T. Walsh, Nicholas Pryor
• Director: Stuart Baird
• Trivia: Baird’s directorial debut. David Suchet learned Arabic for his role. Seagal took satisfaction in knowing that his character’s unexpected fate would shock audiences, so he had no regrets in taking the role. His salary amounted to about a million dollars a day. Seagal still earned a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor, but lost to Marlon Brando for The Island of Dr. Moreau.

March 15 – The Celluloid Closet (USA, documentary, ZDF/Arte-Telling Pictures)

• Narrator: Lily Tomlin
• Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
• Trivia: Author Vito Russo wanted his book to be adapted into a documentary, and helped on the project until his death in 1990. Russo wanted the film to be entertaining, so it is more upbeat and less political than the book. Funding was difficult, and Lily Tomlin organized a direct mail fundraising campaign in Russo’s honor. She also headlined a benefit at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre, with Robin Williams, Harvey Fierstein and drag performer Lypsinka. Steve Tisch, James Hormel and Hugh Hefner also offered ‘significant support’, and producers also received funding from the Paul Robeson Fund. European television also offered a boost, and Tomlin contacted the chairman of HBO on behalf of the project, and after a meeting in New York the cable company committed to fund the remainder of the budget. The film received four Emmy nominations, and won a Peabody Award.

March 15 – Two Much (USA, Fernando Trueba Producciones Cinematográficas)

• Cast: Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah, Danny Aiello, Joan Cusack, Eli Wallach, Austin Pendleton, Vincent Schiavelli
• Director: Fernando Trueba
• Trivia: Remake of 1984 French comedy Le Jumeau. Griffith and Hannah received Razzie nominations for Worst Actress and Supporting Actress. Griffith lost to Demi Moore (The Juror and Striptease) while Hannah lost to Griffith (Mulholland Falls).

2006

March 15 – V for Vendetta (Philippines, Silver Pictures)

• Cast: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Rupert Graves, Sinéad Cusack, Eddie Marsan
• Director: James McTeigue
• Trivia: Released in the US, Canada and the UK on March 17, 2006. McTeigue’s directorial debut. James Purefoy was originally cast as V, but left the film six weeks into production. Weaving replaced him on set and re-recorded the dialogue. All of Weaving’s dialogue had to be re-recorded due to the mask muffling his voice. It was originally reported that Purefoy had problems with the V mask, but he later stated his departure was due to creative differences on how V should be portrayed. Alan Moore, who wrote the comic upon which the film is based, was not happy with changes made to the story and asked to not be credited or receive royalties. This was the final film for cinematographer Adrian Biddle, who died of a heart attack in December 2005. To film the final scene, the area from Trafalger Square and Whitehall to Parliament and Big Ben was closed for three nights from midnight to 5:00 AM, the first time the security-sensitive area had ever been closed to accommodate filming. The filmmakers stated it took nine months of negotiations with 14 different government departments and agencies to secure the permits to film in the area.

March 17 – The Big Question (USA, documentary, THINKFilm)

• Cast: The cast and crew of The Passion of the Christ
• Directors: Francesco Cabras, Alberto Molinari

March 17 – She’s the Man (USA/Canada, Donners’ Company)

• Cast: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Vinnie Jones, Julie Hagerty, David Cross
• Director: Andy Fickman
• Trivia: Inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Channing Tatum was still virtually unknown at the time, but Amanda Bynes saw him in a TV commercial and urged producers to cast him despite being him older than most of the other actors. Bynes and Tatum had to practice playing soccer for hours a day to prepare for their roles. Bynes also researched how to play a male character by observing men at a mall. She enjoyed the experience making the film, but seeing herself onscreen as a boy took a toll on her mental health as she did not like the way she looked.

March 17 – Thank You for Smoking (USA, limited, Room 9 Entertainment)

• Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J. K. Simmons, Robert Duvall
• Director: Jason Reitman
• Trivia: Reitman’s feature directorial debut. Reitman got most of his cast to join the film by writing each one a personal letter. Every one of his first choices accepted and thanked him for the letter. Eckhart, Holmes, Macy and Lowe worked for minimum pay. The film received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Eckhart.

2016

March 16 – Miracles from Heaven (USA/Canada, Affirm Films)

• Cast: Kylie Rogers, Jennifer Garner, Martin Henderson, Eugenio Derbez, Queen Latifah, John Carroll Lynch
• Director: Patricia Riggen

March 17 – Sing Street (Ireland, Cosmo Films)

• Cast: Lucy Boynton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Aidan Gillen, Jack Reynor
• Director: John Carney
• Trivia: Golden Globe nominated for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy.

March 18 – The Bronze (USA, Duplass Brothers Productions)

• Cast: Melissa Rauch, Ellery Sprayberry, Haley Lu Richardson, Katherine Grable, Gary Cole, Cecily Strong, Thomas Middleditch, Sebastian Stan
• Director: Bryan Buckley

March 18 – The Divergent Series: Allegiant (USA/Canada, Mandeville Films)

• Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Zoë Kravitz, Maggie Q, Ray Stevenson, Bill Skarsgård, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts
• Director: Robert Schwentke
• Trivia: First opened in Thailand on March 8, 2016. Third and final film in the Divergent series, which was originally to be two parts, but Allegiant – Part 2 was retitled Ascendant. Following the film’s box office failure, plans to theatrically release Ascendant were dropped, and it was to be reconfigured as a TV movie for Starz followed by a spin-off series, but both projects were cancelled. Woodley and Watts were both Razzie-nominated for Worst Actress.

March 18 – High-Rise (UK, HanWay Films)

• Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, James Purefoy, Keeley Hawes
• Director: Ben Wheatley
• Trivia: The film received a digital debut in the US on April 28, 2016, followed by a limited theatrical release on May 13. Producer Jeremy Thomas had been trying to get a film adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s novel made since the 1970s, with Nicolas Roeg directing.

March 18 – Midnight Special (USA, limited, RatPac-Dune Entertainment)

• Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Jaeden Martell, Sam Shepard
• Director: Jeff Nichols
• Trivia: First opened in Germany on February 18, 2016.

March 18 – Take Me to the River (USA, Film Movement)

• Cast: Logan Miller, Robin Weigert, Josh Hamilton, Richard Schiff, Ursula Parker, Elizabeth Franz, Azura Skye, Ashley Gerasimovich
• Director: Matt Sobel