Highlights of the rest of the spring movie season
Blockbuster franchises
“Furious 7” — A dead man’s brother seeks revenge on the Toretto gang. It will be interesting to see what new director/horror-genre innovator James Wan (“Saw”) will bring to the mix. (April 3)
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” — The superheroes return when some sort of world peace thing goes awry. Tony Stark is probably to blame. (May 1)
Comedies
“Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” — From the “Did they wait too long for a sequel?” department comes goofball security guard Paul Blart (Kevin James) returning, this time heading to Las Vegas with his teenage daughter. (April 17)
“Get Hard” — Will Ferrell stars as a millionaire who – thinking all black men have been to jail – asks a black businessman (Kevin Hart) to prep him for prison. Word is, this made waves at the SXSW Film Festival – and not the good kind. (Friday)
“Hot Pursuit” — An inept police officer (Reese Witherspoon) must protect the widow (Sofia Vergara) of a drug dealer from being killed. (May 8)
“Pitch Perfect 2” — Anna Kendrick and her collegiate a cappella pals return with a lot more singing. (May 15)
Drama
“Child 44” — A disgraced member of military police investigates child murders during the Stalin-era Soviet Union. Tom Hardy and Joel Kinnaman star. (April 17)
“The Water Diviner” — Russell Crowe’s narrative feature directing debut is about a man who travels to Turkey after the Battle of Gallipoli to try to locate his three missing sons. (April 24)
For the kids
“Home” — From DreamWorks animation comes this tale of an alien race that invades Earth and makes it their new home after relocating pesky humans. (Friday)
“Monkey Kingdom” — A nature documentary that follows a newborn monkey and its mother as they struggle to survive in the jungles of South Asia. (April 17)
Sci-fi/thriller
“Mad Max: Fury Road” — Original director George Miller reboots his franchise with Max (Tom Hardy) wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland alone until he joins a fugitive (Charlize Theron) and her band who are trying to escape a savage warlord. It’s always something. (May 15)
“Tomorrowland” — Bound by a shared destiny, a teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor (George Clooney, naturally) embark on a mission to unlock the secrets of a place that exists only in their collective memory. (May 22)
This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Highlights of the rest of the spring movie season."