The March streaming lineup sees a huge month internationally — as the headline has already partly conveyed. Justice League Snyder Cut finally makes its bow after a lengthy fan campaign on March 18. A week later, also from Warner Bros., comes one of the year’s most expensive movies in Godzilla vs. Kong, available March 26 in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. And oh, there’s more DC stuff with The Flash season 7 premiering March 2. Beyond DC and the MonsterVerse, we’ve a new Marvel series in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which starts March 19 globally.
From India — among the things we already know about — we have a lesbian romance in The Married Woman, coming to ALTBalaji and Zee5 on March 8, International Women’s Day. Netflix is also using the IWD opportunity to unveil two women-led titles: Bombay Begums from the director of Lipstick Under My Burkha, and the its first animated film Bombay Rose from director Gitanjali Rao. Sanya Malhotra-led Pagglait will close out the month for Netflix India on March 26. Amidst all that, Disney+ Hotstar has the Tamil-language action film Teddy on March 12.
There’s a lot beyond that too, including titles featuring or from the likes of Tom Holland, Amy Poehler, Mark Hamill, J.K. Simmons, Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, Mahershala Ali, Jon Hamm, Demi Lovato, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Garner, a new Sherlock Holmes, the creator of Money Heist, and the directors of Avengers: Endgame. With that, here’s our March 2021 guide to Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, YouTube, Disney+, Colors Infinity, ALTBalaji, and Zee5.
The Flash
When: March 2 (USA), March 3 (India)
Where: The CW (USA), Colors Infinity (India)
The seventh season of the Arrowverse series finds itself in a unique situation, thanks to COVID-19. The pandemic cut the sixth season short, which means The Flash season 7 will first have to wrap up the ongoing storylines — showrunner Eric Wallace said they design seasons as a three-act movie, and season 6 was essentially cut off at the end of act two — before they can introduce a new adventure.
As such, Mirror Mistress / Eva McCulloch (Efrat Dor) continues to haunt our title character (Grant Gustin) having escaped the Mirrorverse. And it’s not like The Flash doesn’t already have more problems. He has to save his wife Iris West-Allen (Candice Patton) from the Mirrorverse, and figure out how to reverse his disappearing superspeed.
The Flash has been renewed for an eighth season, so you don’t have to worry about an abrupt end. New episodes of The Flash season 7 air weekly.
Watch the First Trailer for The Flash Season 7
Moxie
When: March 3
Where: Netflix
Amy Poehler’s second movie as a director — her first, Wine Country, was also a Netflix original — follows a shy teenager (Hadley Robinson) who is inspired by her mother’s (Poehler) rebellious past in finally tackling the culture of sexual harassment and discrimination prevalent at her high school.
Pacific Rim: The Black
When: March 4
Where: Netflix
Set in a post-apocalyptic virtually-empty Australia that has been overrun by the alien Kaiju, two teenage siblings set out to find their missing parents after they encounter a beaten-up, long-abandoned Jaeger, teaching themselves how to take on the monsters along the way. Pacific Rim: The Black is set after the events of Guillermo del Toro‘s original 2013 film, and the 2018 sequel.
All episodes on release date. A second season of Pacific Rim: The Black has already been announced.
Coming 2 America
When: March 5
Where: Amazon Prime Video
Over three decades since the rom-com original became a surprise box office hit, Eddie Murphy’s now-King Akeem Joffer of the fictional African nation of Zamunda sets out to the United State of America once again — this time to find and connect with the son he never knew he had, a street-savvy native of Queens, New York called Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler).
Arsenio Hall, John Amos, Shari Headley, and James Earl Jones also return from the first film. They are joined by Wesley Snipes, Leslie Jones, and the aforementioned Fowler. Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Dolemite Is My Name) directs, off a script co-written by Kenya Barris (black-ish).
Amazon reportedly paid Paramount Pictures $125 million (about Rs. 906 crores) for the rights.
Raya and the Last Dragon
When: March 5
Where: Cinemas (India), Disney+ Premier Access (overseas)
Disney Animation’s first original movie in five years — the last one was Moana — is inspired by the cultures of Southeast Asia and follows the titular fierce warrior (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, from Star Wars: The Last Jedi) as she sets out to find the last dragon (Awkwafina, from Ocean’s Eight) and reunite various factions, to take on a group of monsters known as the Druun.
Gemma Chan (Captain Marvel), Daniel Dae Kim (Hawaii Five-0), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), and Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange) also lend their voice talents. Raya and the Last Dragon has been directed by Don Hall (Big Hero 6) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting), off a script by playwright Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians).
Watch the New Trailer for Raya and the Last Dragon
Bombay Begums
When: March 8
Where: Netflix
Pooja Bhatt, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash, Aadhya Anand, and Plabita Borthakur lead this generational tale of five women who “wrestle with desire, ethics, personal crises, and vulnerabilities to own their ambition, in contemporary urban India. As glass ceilings are shattered, and hearts are broken, difficult choices have to be made. And as each woman strives to find her own truth, they find in each other an unexpected understanding and the sliver of a bond.”
Alankrita Shrivastava (Lipstick Under My Burkha) is the showrunner and co-director. All Bombay Begums episodes on release date.
Bombay Rose
When: March 8
Where: Netflix
Delayed three months to an alleged “technical delay”, the first animated effort to come from Netflix India — it premièred at the 2019 Venice Film Festival — has been made using pain-staking traditional animation techniques. Director Gitanjali Rao’s debut feature Bombay Rose is an ode to both Bollywood and the city of Bombay, through the lens of a former club dancer looking after a kid, a Kashmiri orphan scrapping a living on the streets, and an elderly woman lost in the memories of a lost love.
Anurag Kashyap is among the producers, and also lends his voice in a supporting role.
The Married Woman
When: March 8
Where: ALTBalaji, and Zee5
Set against the backdrop of Hindu-Muslim tensions in 1992, this Ekta Kapoor-produced series is based on Manju Kapur’s 2003 book “A Married Woman” that follows a middle-class Hindu wife and mother of two (Ridhi Dogra) who finds herself falling for the Muslim widow (Monica Dogra) of a protestor killed in the Ayodhya violence. The two battle social conventions, their homophobic families, and a divided country as they find comfort in each other’s arms.
Cherry
When: March 12
Where: Apple TV+
The next movie from Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo is very unlike their previous one. Spider-Man star Tom Holland is still around, but he’s playing a college dropout and Iraq War veteran medic who suffers from PTSD and an opioid addiction after returning to the US. To help pay for the medication, he turns to robbing banks. Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, Jeff Wahlberg, Forrest Goodluck, and Michael Gandolfini also star.
Teddy
When: March 12
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
A talking teddy bear — no this is not a Ted remake, not that we know of — is among the stars of this Tamil-language action film that involves human beings such as husband-wife duo Arya (Naan Kadavul) and Sayyeshaa (Shivaay). The Teddy trailer doesn’t really tell us what the film is about — except hinting at human trafficking. Arya mentioned “medical mysteries” in his tweets, and the trailer talks about an “out of body experience”, so who really knows what’s going on with this bonkers film. Shakti Soundar Rajan (Miruthan, Tik Tik Tik) writes and directs.
Yes Day
When: March 12
Where: Netflix
Jennifer Garner and Edgar Ramírez play parents to three in this adaptation of Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s children’s book of the same name, who tired of saying no to their kids, agree to say “yes” to all of their ideas for 24 hours. As you can tell and watch for yourself in the trailer, that’s a very, very bad idea.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
When: March 18
Where: HBO Max (USA), TBA (India)
It’s almost here. Over three years after it failed critically and commercially, Zack Snyder is restoring Justice League to his original vision: a four-hour director’s cut made up of footage that he shot back in 2016 though much of it was never used in the theatrical version. Warner Bros. and HBO Max have spent $70 million — the film cost $300 million in the first place — to finish post-production on all that unused footage. Snyder also shot a few minutes of new footage last October, which will give us a new take on Jared Leto’s Joker and a surprise “hero cameo”.
Will it be any good — and worth the hype generated by DC fans? At least it has a low bar to clear.
Watch the Final Trailer for Justice League Snyder Cut
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
When: March 19
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
The Marvel Cinematic Universe train continues on TV, this one following the titular co-leads, Sam Wilson/ Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/ Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), in the wake of Steve Rogers/ Captain America (Chris Evans) passing his iconic shield to the former guy in Avengers: Endgame.
They are going up — again — against Captain America: Civil War villain Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl), though they will have the help of returning Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), introduced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There’s a secondary track to the story that involves John F. Walker (Wyatt Russell), a militaristic successor to Captain America, and an anarchist anti-patriotic outfit called Flag-Smashers.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will air new episodes weekly.
Watch the Official Trailer for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Sky Rojo
When: March 19
Where: Netflix
Money Heist creator Álex Pina delivers a half-hour action crime drama that tells the story of three sex workers (Verónica Sánchez, Yany Prado, and Lali Espósito) on the run from their pimp (Asier Etxeandia) and his henchmen (Miguel Ángel Silvestre and Enric Auquer), which pushes them closer together and into a live-like-it’s-your-last-day philosophy. All Sky Rojo episodes drop on release date.
Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil
When: March 23
Where: YouTube
In mid-2018, the American singer-songwriter was at the peak of her career, on a global tour with a best-selling album that had broken her previous records. But in July that year, she dropped to a personal low: a drug overdose, two weeks of hospitalisation, and then rehab. The full extent of those days is revealed in the trailer for her new four-part docuseries, where Lovato says she suffered three strokes and a heart attack, and had “5 to 10 minutes” left when doctors intervened.
Named after an upcoming song of hers, Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil will explore her struggles with substance abuse, and explore other traumas she has never spoken about. You can watch the full thing without ads if you’ve YouTube Premium. Two episodes on release date, and then one per week.
DOTA: Dragon’s Blood
When: March 25
Where: Netflix
The fantastical universe of DOTA 2 expands with this anime series that follows Davion the Dragon Knight (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) and the noble Princess Mirana (Lara Pulver) — playable characters in the online game. It’s been written by Ashley Edward Miller, a co-writer on X-Men: First Class and Thor, and produced by the animation studio behind The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender. All eight episodes on release date.
Godzilla vs. Kong
When: March 26 (India), March 31 (USA)
Where: Cinemas (India), HBO Max (USA)
The two titular beasts go head-to-head in this $200-million monster mash-up that Legendary Pictures has been building to ever since that 2014 Godzilla reboot. But it may not be all that straightforward, with the trailers and the synopses hinting that a bigger giant — possibly Mechagodzilla — involved in the mix. Godzilla and Kong might end up as buddies taking on a common enemy by the end, if Internet sleuths are to be believed.
Of course, there are some humans around as well (in Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Kyle Chandler, and Rebecca Hall) to make Captain-Obvious remarks and prod you to react to the seismic action taking place on screen — in case the VFX department fails to do its job.
Watch the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu
The Irregulars
When: March 26
Where: Netflix
Here’s the pitch: what if Sherlock Holmes, who relied on street kids to gather intel, was actually just a drug addict and delinquent who took credit for cases that were actually solved by the kids? Meet the Baker Street Irregulars, who first appeared in the works of Sir Athur Conan Doyle. On the Netflix series set in the 19th century, they help Dr. Watson save London from supernatural troubles.
All episodes of The Irregulars will be available on release date.
Invincible
When: March 26
Where: Amazon Prime Video
The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman brings another one of his comic books to life — this time as an animated series for adults. Invincible is about the titular teenage superhero (voiced by Steven Yeun) who grows up in the shadow of his father (J.K. Simmons), the world’s most powerful superhero. But as he begins to fight crime, Invincible discovers a startling secret about his omnipotent dad.
Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, Seth Rogen, Gillian Jacobs, Zazie Beetz, Jason Mantzoukas, Andrew Rannells, Walton Goggins, Zachary Quinto, Mahershala Ali, Nicole Byer, Jon Hamm, Jonathan Groff, Djimon Hounsou, and Mae Whitman are also part of the voice cast. Three episodes on release date, followed by one every week.
Pagglait
When: March 26
Where: Netflix
Sanya Malhotra (Dangal) plays a young widow named Sandhya who reacts to her new husband’s untimely death in a manner most unexpected. As she points out in the teaser trailer, her lack of grief is completely at odds with how she felt when she lost her cat as a child. The description for the Netflix movie says “a slew of revelations will force Sandhya to re-examine her priorities and make some hard decisions, as she learns how to free her crazy, face the family and find herself.”
Ashutosh Rana, Sheeba Chaddha, Raghubir Yadav, Natasha Rastogi, Rajesh Tailang, Shruti Sharma, Jameel Khan, Meghna Malik, Ananya Khare, Yamini Singh, Bhupesh Pandya, Chetan Sharma, Aasif Khan, Nakul Roshan Sahdev, Ashlesha Thakur, Sachin Chaudhary, and Saroj Singh are also part of the Pagglait cast. Sayani Gupta and Sharib Hashmi have cameos. Ekta Kapoor is among the producers.
