All the must-see movies, TV shows from Sundance 2022 you can see soon
Way back in the 1990s, audiences would have to wait for months to see buzzy Sundance Film Festival hits like "Clerks" and "Reservoir Dogs." In 2022, some of the Sundance premieres are right around the corner.
Because content is king in the world of streaming services and video-on-demand platforms, indie movies are still being gobbled up by studios and companies but often skipping theaters for digital play. For example, Hulu and Neon bought Andy Samberg's time-loop comedy "Palm Springs" for a then-record $17.5 million at the 2020 fest, streaming it online in the early months of COVID-19, and Apple paid $25 million a year ago for "CODA" to run on Apple TV+.
Many also use Sundance as a means to gin up interest before projects get released to the public: Case in point, Oscar-nominated "Judas and the Black Messiah" bowing at Sundance 2021 just 11 days before arriving on HBO Max.
Ranked: All the best movies we saw at Sundance Film Festival (including Dakota Johnson's 'Am I OK?')
With this year's virtual festival running through Sunday, here are the premiering movies and series that already have debut dates coming soon. (More films will be added as they're purchased during Sundance.)
'We Need to Talk About Cosby' (Sunday)
W. Kamau Bell directs this four-part docu-series examining Bill Cosby's life and work, his fall from "America's Dad" to former convicted sex offender, and how society comes to grips with this formerly beloved Black icon amid modern culture and the #MeToo movement.
Where to watch: Showtime
'jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy' (Feb. 16)
Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah's three-part documentary "event" follows Ye's musical life from his early formative days to being an international artist and brand.
Where to watch: Netflix (and in select theaters Feb.10)
'Downfall: The Case Against Boeing' (Feb. 18)
Director Rory Kennedy's documentary looks at the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max planes within five months of each other that cost nearly 400 lives and the work of journalists and family members to bring the company's cover-up and negligence to light.
Where to watch: Netflix
'Fresh' (March 4)
Modern dating meets the horror genre in the thriller starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as a woman who starts seeing an attractive dude (Sebastian Stan) after meeting him in the grocery store until a romantic weekend getaway reveals his strange appetites.
Where to watch: Hulu
'Lucy and Desi' (March 4)
Amy Poehler directs this documentary about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz following their early years, their run as 1950s TV icons with "I Love Lucy" and ultimately how their professional life together outlasted their marriage.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
'Alice' (March 18)
In a drama inspired by true events, Keke Palmer plays an enslaved woman in Georgia living on what she believes is a 19th-century plantation. After she escapes her brutal captor, she comes to the realization that it's actually 1973.
Where to watch: In theaters
'Master' (March 18)
In the social horror film, Regina Hall stars as the new dean of students at an elite New England university built on the site of a Salem-era gallows hill and is one of three women forced to deal with the school's haunted history.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
'After Yang' (March)
Colin Farrell plays a father who seeks a way to fix Yang, his young daughter's beloved android companion and, more importantly during the process, reconnects with her and his wife (Jodie Turner-Smith).
Where to watch: In theaters
'You Won't Be Alone' (April 1)
Noomi Rapace stars in the tale of a 19th-century Macedonian girl who is kidnapped, transformed into a witch and then takes the form of a peasant she accidentally kills on a journey toward understanding what it means to be human.
Where to watch: In theaters
'Hatching' (April 29)
The horror satire centers on a 12-year-old Finnish gymnast (Siiri Solalinna) who brings home a bird egg from the woods to care for it. The egg soon grows humongous, hatching a creature that the girl grows close to while keeping it secret from her demanding mom.
Where to watch: In theaters and on demand
'Happening' (May 6)
Based on Annie Ernaux’s semi-autobiographical novel, a French college student becomes pregnant in 1963 and, seeing her future slipping away, weighs the personal, social and criminal risks of having an abortion.
Where to watch: In theaters
'Emergency' (May 20)
RJ Cyler and Donald Elise Watkins star in the comedy as Black college seniors and roommates preparing for a legendary night of partying. When they find a random white girl passed out and in a bad way on their floor, they weigh the pros and cons of calling 911.
Where to watch: In theaters (and on Amazon Prime May 27)
'Cha Cha Real Smooth' (2022)
Writer/director Cooper Raiff stars as a 22-year-old working as a bar mitzvah party-starter in a transitional period in his life who finds himself charmed by a mother (Dakota Johnson) and her teenage daughter (Vanessa Burghardt).
Where to watch: Apple TV+
'Good Luck to You, Leo Grande' (2022)
Emma Thompson plays a retired schoolteacher who's been sexually unsatisfied for most of her life who hires a charming and attractive sex worker (Daryl McCormack) for a secretive hotel-room rendezvous.
Where to watch: Hulu
'Living' (2022)
Bill Nighy stars in the 1950s-set drama as a British civil servant in London living a lonely workaday existence. But a cancer diagnosis sparks the man to make the most of the rest of his days.
Where to watch: In theaters
'The Princess' (2022)
Using exclusively archival footage, the documentary examines the obsessive fascination with Princess Diana's private and public lives, her cultural impact and an evolving view of the British monarchy.
Where to watch: HBO
'Resurrection' (2022)
The psychological thriller stars Rebecca Hall as a successful businessman readying her teenage daughter to go off to college when a mysterious man (Tim Roth) reappears from the woman's horrifying past.
Where to watch: In theaters (with VOD window on Shudder)
'Summering' (2022)
James Ponsoldt ("The Spectacular Now") co-writes and directs the coming-of-age adventure, which centers on four best friends about to start middle school who happen upon a mystery to solve on their last weekend of summer.
Where to watch: In theaters
'When You Finish Saving the World' (2022)
Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, the drama stars Julianne Moore as a woman who runs a shelter for abused women and has a difficult time connecting with her musical teenage son (Finn Wolfhard).
Where to watch: In theaters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sundance 2022: Most anticipated TV shows, movies you can watch soon
