A team of giant robots, a band of claymation dogs, a wave of kick-ass women and Steven Spielberg going all Tron: March has pretty much something for everyone. But which of the somethings on offer are people most pumped for? We here at Rotten Tomatoes can measure that. Before a movie opens and you can rate them to generate an Audience Score, our users get to register a Want to See vote, and below we’ve crunched the numbers to see which March releases are the most hotly anticipated. We also polled our social fans and—three cheers for true democracy—a write-in vote took the crown there. Tune back in when the month is done to see which flicks are the buzziest coming into April.
(Photo by © Universal Pictures)
26k Want-to-See Votes
#2 Pick By Our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook fans
Released Friday March 23
The marketing campaign for this long-in-development sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim makes one thing clear: Any GDT weirdness no longer has a place in the battle between Jaegers and Kaiju (neither, apparently, do original stars Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba). Instead, Uprising looks to be the movie equivalent of your kid brother throwing around his Voltron toys in the living room and yelling “smash” and “boom” and breaking every vase in sight. Which is apparently what the fans want: Uprising is by far our readers’ most anticipated move this month. It also doesn’t hurt that super-popular John Boyega will be suiting up alongside perennial next-big-thing Scott Eastwood. Boys + toys = massive anticipation levels.
(Photo by Jaap Buitendijk /© Warner Bros.)
6,666 Want-to-See Votes
#3 Pick By Our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook fans
Released Thursday March 29
If the first trailer was a head-scratcher, the second was a jaw-dropper: Reveling in the cunningly placed easter eggs and Willy Wonka feels it gave off, once-nervous fans of Ernest Cline’s book were suddenly pumped to enter director Steven Spielberg’s interpretation of the OASIS. The film is of course custom-made for geeks and nostalgia lovers, centering around a hunt for easter eggs found in a video game-like world defined by mostly ’80s pop-culture references. And the marketers have leaned into that vibe hard, with posters and movie art that would feel right at home on the cover of one of those squeaky plastic VHS covers you once found at your local video library.
(Photo by Murray Close. TM and © Copyright Twentieth Century Fox)
2,397 Want-to-See Votes
Released Friday March 2
Director Frances Lawrence made the last three Hunger Games movies with star Jennifer Lawrence, so the pair have a track record when it comes to big box office numbers. But without that IP and fanbase, their new collaboration has had to work to get the buzz happening. An effective trailer selling J-Law in our favorite J-Law mode (kicking a ton of butt), and decent reviews (the movie has been oscillating between 50% and Fresh on the Tomatometer) are helping.
(Photo by Graham Bartholomew /© Warner Bros.)
2,238 Want-to-See Votes
Released Friday March 16
Will Alicia Vikander’s outing as Lara Croft prove better than Angelina Jolie’s early 2000s efforts? With the latter’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and its awkwardly titled sequel Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life earning just 20% and 24% on the Tomatometer, we’re hoping so. Here, Vikander is a Croft in search of her long-lost father, presumed dead and last seen at a mysterious tomb on a faraway and treacherous island. Trailers for the film have inspired mixed reactions, but with Norwegian director Roar Uthaug at the helm — he made Certified Fresh disaster flick The Wave (82%) — this could be that rarest of things: A video game adaptation that takes things to the next level.
(Photo by © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
1,894 Want-to-See Votes
Released Friday March 9
Buzz has been slightly muted for Ava Duvernay’s adaptation of this beloved children’s classic, but then it might just be getting drowned out by the roar of Disney’s other box office-consuming smash. Still, on social media and on Rotten Tomatoes, fans of Duvernay and the book — not to mention movie-goers delighted by the prospect of seeing Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling share serious screentime — are making their voices heard, and Duvernay has one of the best track records on the Tomatometer, with Selma Certified Fresh at 98%.
(Photo by © TM & copyright Fox Searchlight)
1,562 Want-to-See Votes
#1 Pick By Our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook fans
Released Friday March 23
The social world loves Wes Anderson. And dogs. And your friend’s Instagram story from their spring trip to Japan. So anticipation for this movie from our Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook followers makes a lot of sense. Anderson also has serious form in the animation game, with Fantastic Mr. Fox Certified Fresh at 93%. Isle of Dogs, which premiered in Berlin earlier this year and boasts a huge cast of Anderson’s usual suspects, currently has a Tomatometer score of 97%.
