Ayo Edebiri appears in “Opus” by Mark Anthony Green, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by A24
By Lucy Spicer
Springtime is in sight — can you feel it? As we move into March (remember to set your clocks forward this weekend!), we’re greeting the changing season with a crop of new releases coming to the big screen. Of the five diverse titles arriving in theaters in March, two premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, and the remaining three first intrigued audiences at the Festival back in 2023.
New releases this month include a documentary about a Japanese cult, a lyrical reflection on illness and agency, an intense tale following an aspiring bodybuilder, and two very different stories about musicians and fandom — one a stylish pop-horror feature, and the other a charmingly nostalgic comedy.
Opus — Fresh off its premiere in the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s Midnight section comes Opus, writer-director Mark Anthony Green’s pop-horror feature debut that takes the bizarre behaviors and consequences of fandom and magnifies them to dangerous effect. Young journalist Ariel (Ayo Edebiri) accepts what she hopes will be a career-boosting assignment when she’s invited to the mysterious compound of Moretti (John Malkovich), an iconic pop star preparing to release a new album after disappearing for decades. But the longer Ariel stays at this compound among Moretti’s adoring acolytes, the closer she gets to the center of a sinister plot. Coming to theaters March 14.
AUM: The Cult at the End of the World — Through revealing archival footage and interviews with journalists, lawyers, and individuals with knowledge of Aum Shinrikyo — from both inside and outside the organization — directors Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto trace the rise and fall of the infamous Japanese doomsday cult led by Shoko Asahara. Anchored by Aum’s 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system, Braun and Yanagimoto’s documentary examines how the media’s perception of the group and its leader’s connections with police and the military allowed the cult to operate so visibly. Based on the book The Cult at the End of the World: The Terrifying Story of the Aum Doomsday Cult, from the Subways of Tokyo to the Nuclear Arsenals of Russia by David E. Kaplan and Andrew Marshall, the documentary premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Coming to select theaters March 19.
The Fishbowl — It’s 2017, and Noelia (Isel Rodríguez) learns that her colorectal cancer has metastasized. Tired of treatments that make her feel sicker and a hovering boyfriend monitoring her health, Noelia decides to return to her home island of Vieques in Puerto Rico. Once there, she reconnects with family and friends, rediscovering her agency even as her health declines and Hurricane Irma approaches. The Fishbowl premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and is writer-director Glorimar Marrero Sánchez’s debut feature. Coming to theaters March 21.
Magazine Dreams — Writer-director Elijah Bynum explores the rigorous stakes of bodybuilding in his sophomore film starring Jonathan Majors as Killian, an aspiring bodybuilder who goes to extremes to fulfill his dreams of appearing on a magazine cover. As Killian pushes his body to its limits — against the advice of doctors — in his quest to embody an unrealistic, hypermasculine ideal, he must also contend with his emotional volatility, which is hindering him in his earnest desire for human connection. Magazine Dreams premiered at the 2023 Sundance Festival, where the film’s creative team won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Creative Vision. Coming to theaters March 21.
The Ballad of Wallis Island — What would you splurge on if you won the lottery? For Charles (Tim Key), the answer is orchestrating a reunion for his favorite musicians, McGwyer Mortimer (Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan), so that they can play a private show for him at his home on Wallis Island. As superfan Charles eagerly welcomes the pair, McGwyer and Mortimer find themselves revisiting their musical — and romantic — past. Directed by James Griffiths and written by Key and Basden, this British comedy, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, is an expansion of the short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, which the trio made together in 2007. Coming to select theaters March 28.
