As the first quarter of the new year comes rapidly to a close, we turn our attention, as ever, towards the many new TV shows and movies headed to all our favorite streaming services in the coming days. HBO Now’s April slate has plenty to get excited about, so let’s dive into all the platform’s incoming (and outgoing) programming.
Our most-anticipated April TV addition on HBO Now is easily the return trip to Westworld. The pay-cable channel’s most-watched new series ever comes back for its long-awaited, ten-episode second season next month, premiering on April 22. The Emmy-winning prestige sci-fi thriller series, created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, and based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 film of the same name, received its return date in a Super Bowl spot, HBO’s first in two decades. Westworld’s rookie season concluded in December of 2016, so we’ve been waiting quite a while to return to the show’s violent and cerebral world. Other TV items coming to HBO Now in April include: the season six premiere of VICE, in which Michael Kenneth Williams endeavors to expose the juvenile justice system as the root of America’s mass incarceration crisis (April 6); the debut of Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas, in which the award-winning comedian and writer explores America’s most pressing issues (April 13); and the season one finale of Six Feet Under and True Blood creator Alan Ball’s family drama Here and Now (April 15).
Where feature films are concerned, HBO Now gains a number of noteworthy titles in April, including the theatrical premiere of 2017 sci-fi drama War for the Planet of the Apes, the acclaimed finale of the 2010s Apes reboot trilogy that began with Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011. Matt Reeves’ Oscar-nominated War landed among Paste’s top movies of 2017, with our Tim Grierson describing the film as “an absorbing, intelligent finale: an ending that, although not particularly surprising, feels appropriate—even inevitable—considering all that’s come before.” That film starts streaming on April 21, followed a week later by middling action-comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard, starring Ryan Reynolds as an elite bodyguard who’s tasked with protecting his mortal enemy: a notorious assassin played by Samuel L. Jackson. Other notable films inbound on April 1 are Michael Bay’s action-comedy sequel Bad Boys II, Steve Carell-starring 2010 comedy Dinner for Schmucks, family flick Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, iconic early-2000s horror thriller Final Destination, F. Gary Gray’s 2003 The Italian Job remake, Richard Donner’s Oscar-winning ‘60s horror classic The Omen (and the entire franchise it spawned), star-studded crime-actioner S.W.A.T. and Jim Carrey-starring rom-com Yes Man.
Not to be forgotten, either, are HBO’s original film additions, including King in the Wilderness, premiering April 2, a provocative documentary that “chronicles the final chapter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life, revealing a conflicted leader who faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum,” per HBO. That’s followed by the April 7 premiere of Joe Paterno biopic Paterno, starring Al Pacino as the embattled Penn State football coach whose legendary reputation was irrevocably tarnished by the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, and the April 14 premiere of two-part Elvis Presley documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher, which HBO describes as “a comprehensive creative journey of the musical artist from his childhood through the final 1976 Jungle Room recording sessions.”
Lastly, we turn to what’s departing HBO Now next month: a disappointingly good crop of titles, it brings us no joy to report. April 30 is your last day to catch quite a few high-profile films, including Michael Fassbender-led videogame adaptation Assassin’s Creed, Will Smith-starring tearjerker Collateral Beauty, eye-roll-inspiring erotic drama Fifty Shades Darker, the Oscar-nominated and women of color-led Hidden Figures, Oscar-winning L.A.-set musical La La Land, wildly underrated maritime adventure epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, music industry-skewering Lonely Island comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Wes Anderson masterpiece The Royal Tenenbaums (which we recently ranked as the beloved writer-director’s very best film), ‘80s sci-fi/action classic The Terminator, Redbox-favorite romantic comedy Why Him? and 2001 Ben Stiller-starring modeling comedy Zoolander. Adjust your viewing queues as needed, friendos.
See HBO Now’s full list of incoming and outgoing programming for April below.
Season Premieres:
Vice, Season 6 Premiere (4/6)
Destino: Rusia, Series Premiere (4/11)
Wyatt Cenac: Problem Areas, Series Premiere (4/13)
Westworld, Season 2 Premiere (4/22)
Season Finales:
Here and Now, Season 1 Finale (4/15)
Original Programming:
King in the Wilderness (4/2)
Paterno (4/7)
Elvis Presley: The Searcher Part 1 and Part 2 (4/14)
I Am Evidence (4/16)
Theatrical Premieres:
War for the Planet of the Apes, 2017 (4/21)
The Hitman’s Bodyguard, 2017 (4/28)
Estrenos:
The Least Worst Man, 2016 (4/1)
Dear Renzo, 2016 (4/1)
Carpinteros (AKA Woodpecker), 2017 (4/6)
Sol de medianoche (AKA Midnight Sun), 2017 (4/13)
Zona Hostil (AKA Rescue Under Fire), 2017 (4/20)
Sports:
Andre the Giant (4/10)
24/7 Canelo/ Golovkin 2 (4/22)
Starting April 1:
Absolute Power, 1997
Bad Boys II, 2003
Damien Omen II, 1978
Dinner for Schmucks, 2010
Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, 2003
The Final Conflict, 1981
Final Destination, 2000
The Final Destination, 2009
From Hell, 2001
The Italian Job, 2003
Laurel Canyon, 2003
Nine to Five, 1980
The Omen, 1973
Omen IV: The Awakening, 1991
Orphan, 2009
Runaway Jury, 2003
S.W.A.T., 2003
The Tale of Despereaux, 2008
Waitress, 2007
Yes Man, 2008
Ending April 30:
A Monster Calls, 2016
Along Came a Spider, 2001
Assassin’s Creed, 2016
Collateral Beauty, 2016
Constantine, 2005
The Darkness, 2016
The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2008
Eraser, 1996
The Express, 2008
Fifty Shades Darker, 2017
Girl with a Pearl Earring, 2003
Hidden Figures, 2016
La La Land, 2016
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, 2003
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, 2016
Pride and Glory, 2008
Renaissance Man, 1994
The Rescue, 1988
The Rookie, 2002
The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001
Scream 2, 2006
Stuck on You, 2003
The Sum of All Fears, 2002
Terminator Salvation, 2009
The Terminator, 1984
The Vigilante Diaries, 2016
Why Him?, 2016
Zoolander, 2001