Crackle Plus, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment company, has announced the Crackle April 2022 movies and TV titles. Crackle’s mix of blockbusters, indies, classic TV, and exclusive and original content is free to stream.
The three primary Crackle Plus networks — Crackle, Popcornflix, and Chicken Soup for the Soul — are rolling out new distribution touch points on up to 41 platforms on an ongoing basis as either AVOD or FAST channels.
The Crackle Plus networks are currently distributed through 70 touch points in the U.S. on platforms including Amazon Fire TV, Roku TV, Apple TV, Smart TVs (Samsung, LG, Vizio), gaming consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One), Plex, iOS and Android mobile devices and on desktops at Crackle.com.
The Crackle April 2022 lineup will also be available in approximately 500,000 hotel rooms in the Marriott Bonvoy chain.
CRACKLE APRIL 2022 EXCLUSIVES & ORIGINALS
Les Norton – Crackle Original Series
Les Norton is a ten-episode limited series starring Rebel Wilson and based on the best-selling book series by Robert G. Barrett. Set in 1985, the series follows the exploits of Les Norton (Alexander Bertrand), a country bloke from outback Queensland.
On the run from a troubled past, he blows into Sydney, where he lands a job as a bouncer at a notorious illegal casino in Kings Cross and tangles with Rebel’s brothel owner, Doreen. A classic fish out of water who is desperate to get home, he soon finds himself seduced by the city’s illicit charms and dragged into a web of underground criminality.
Sherlock – Crackle AVOD Exclusive Series
The highly successful, new adaptation of Sherlock Holmes — starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson — comes to Crackle. Sherlock Holmes, an analytical deduction fanatic, is helping on police investigations for fun when he runs into potential flatmate Dr. John Watson, fresh from serving in the war in Afghanistan and sporting a limp.
In spite of Watson’s initial skepticism, Holmes’ brilliant mind and dangerous lifestyle offer the stimulation he craves, and the two quickly forge an alliance. Sherlock provides the inspired leaps of intellect, while Watson keeps his friend’s flights of fancy grounded – creating the perfect pairing for a legendary partnership.
We Are CVNT5 – Crackle AVOD Exclusive Series
This is a mockumentary chronicling the antics of electronic music supergroup CVNT5 (Gareth Emery, Paul Holowaty). The EDM giants reach soaring highs and crushing lows of superstardom.
Fairwood (premiering April 14th) – Crackle AVOD Exclusive Series
Fairwood follows the exploits of Rusty and Clark Fairwood, colorfully quirky small-town entertainers with an infectiously upbeat, family-oriented “positivistic” philosophy. Thrust unexpectedly into the limelight as hosts of their own talk show in their rustic hometown of East Plains, Rusty, and Clark unite their neighbors against the all-powerful Pentalode Corporation while looking for love and making plans to “extend the Fairwood family line.”
NEW BBC TITLES
The Musketeers – Television Series
On the streets of 17th century Paris, law and order is more a fledgling idea than reality, and the Musketeers are far more than merely royal bodyguards for King Louis XIII.
Silent Witness – Television Series
Everybody tells a story. A crack team of forensic pathologists reveals the truth behind murders and accidental deaths.
Ripper Street – Television Series
After Jack the Ripper’s killings, London is emerging into peace, hopeful that this killer has finished. Nowhere is this truer than the H Division; its men hunted this maniac and didn’t find him.
Happy Valley – Television Series
Sarah Lancashire stars as Catherine Cawood, a police sergeant in a small town. Her world is turned upside down when the man she thinks is responsible for her daughter’s death is released from prison.
The Coroner – Television Series
A high-flying lawyer returns, after a messy divorce, to the small town she escaped as a teenager to take up the post of Coroner.
She finds herself thrown together with her old flame who broke her heart twenty years ago – now the local policeman – and they are forced to work together.
NEW CRACKLE CHANNELS
The Crackle April 2022 lineup includes the following channels:
Workplace Comedies
For all workaholics who can’t seem to leave the office behind, hit the break room and tune into shows like Dilbert (Chris Elliot, Larry Miller), Dr.Ken (Ken Jeong, Suzy Nakamaura), NewsRadio (Dave Foley, Phil Hartman, Joe Rogan), and Just Shoot Me! (Wendie Malick, David Spade).
True Crime
Put on your detective hat and wrap your mind around suspenseful mysteries like After the Murder of Albert Lima (Aengus James), The Family Who Vanished, The Suspect, and Unsolved Mysteries (Dennis Farina).
Sci-Fi
Blast off with the Crackle crew and discover a universe of imaginative fantasy with titles like Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (Megumi Odaka), Quark (Cyb Barnstable, Richard Benjamin) created by Hollywood legend Buck Henry, Starman (Robert Hays, Christopher Daniel Barnes), and Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Foundation (Colleen Porch, Kelly Carlson).
Crime Novel Adaptations
Of all the streaming platforms in the market, these titles walked into Crackle. Get your noir on with hard-boiled novels that come to life on screen.
Included are Mary Higgins Clark: Around the Town (Kim Schraner, Nastassja Kinski), Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer (Lindsay Bloom, Kent Williams), A Kind of Murder (Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel), and Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (Tom Selleck, Viola Davis).
In Deep Water
Lash yourself to the deck as the SS Crackle navigates into choppy waters with the Wolfgang Petersen 1981 classic Das Boot (Jürgen Prochnow, Klaus Wennemann), Lake Placid 2 (John Schneider, Sarah Lafleur), The Mercy (Colin Firth, Rachel Weisz), and Sea Wolf (Neve Campbell, Tim Roth).
CRACKLE SPOTLIGHT TITLES
Starman – Feature Film
Director John Carpenter presents a romantic science fiction odyssey starring Jeff Bridges as an innocent alien from a distant planet who learns what it means to be a man in love. When his spacecraft is shot down over Wisconsin, Starman (Bridges) arrives at the remote cabin of a distraught young widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), and clones the form of her dead husband.
The alien convinces Jenny to drive him to Arizona, explaining that if he isn’t picked up by his mothership in three days, he’ll die. Hot on their trail are government agents, intent on capturing the alien, dead or alive. En route, Starman demonstrates the power of universal love while Jenny rediscovers her human feelings for passion.
Battle: Los Angeles – Feature Film
Witness the end of civilization unfold as hostile alien invaders attack the planet. As people everywhere watch the world’s great cities fall, Los Angeles becomes the last stand for mankind in a battle no one expected. Now it’s up to a Marine staff sergeant (Aaron Eckhart) and his platoon to draw a line in the sand as they take on an enemy unlike any they’ve ever encountered in this epic sci-fi action film.
Starsky & Hutch – Television Series
Forever redefining the television police drama, Starsky & Hutch is just as daring and dynamic as it was when it first debuted in 1975. Whether it be chasing down the baddies in their souped-up Grand Torino or getting an inside tip from streetwise ally “Huggy Bear”, Detectives Starsky and Hutch always solve their case with plenty of panache…and only a few broken windows!
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling – Feature Film
After severely burning himself, a comedian has a near-death experience and looks back on his life. Directed and starring comedy legend Richard Pryor, the film also stars Debbie Allen and Art Evans.
Bible Collection – Feature Film
This film starring Gary Oldman, Debra Messing, Jacqueline Bisset, and Jeremy Sisto (as Jesus) looks at the life of Jesus from His humble beginnings as a carpenter through His extraordinary life and the mission of His spiritual destiny.
The Flying Nun – Television Series
The misadventures of a nun who can fly (Sally Field) and her convent and neighbors.
Bye Bye Birdie – Feature Film
Starring Ann-Margret, Dick Van Dyke, and Janet Leigh, this movie tells the story of a rock singer who travels to a small Ohio town to make his “farewell” television performance and kiss his biggest fan before he is drafted.
First Kill – Feature Film
A Wall Street broker (Colin Farrell) is forced to evade a police chief (Bruce Willis) investigating a bank robbery as he attempts to recover the stolen money in exchange for his son’s life.
Bent – Feature Film
In this searing crime thriller starring Andy Garcia and Sofia Vergara, a discredited cop (Karl Urban) hunting for his partner’s killer accidentally uncovers a deadly government conspiracy tied to a woman’s car-bomb murder.
Dark Tide – Feature Film
A traumatized shark expert (Halle Berry) must battle her own fears to lead a thrill-seeking businessman on a dive into a dangerous section of water known as “Shark Alley.”
ADDITIONAL NEW MOVIES IN APRIL
1941
Alien Hunter
Anacondas: Trail of Blood
Angel Of Death
Animal
Apache Territory
Assassination Games
Bat 21
Bite the Bullet
Blonde and Blonder
Blue Thunder
Broken
Casualties of War
Compliance
Control
Countdown to War
Crossroads
Deadfall
Drunken Master
Flight Of Fury
Frankenfish
Fun With Dick and Jane
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla
Half Past Dead 2
Hanover Street
Hunt For Eagle One
Hunt For Eagle One: Crash Point
Ike: Countdown To D-Day
Jagged Edge
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling
Kill ‘Em All
Lake Placid 2
Maniac Cop 2 (Broadcast Edit)
My Friend Dahmer
Neighbors
One False Move
Out For a Kill
Places In the Heart
Punchline
Red Water
Roger Corman’s Operation Rogue
Run
Runaway
Seems Like Old Times
Shackles
Silent Rage
Sniper 2
Sniper 3
Sniper: Ultimate Kill
Federation
Suspect
The Amateurs
The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy
The Contract
The Foreigner
The Hard Corps
The Lazarus Project
The Nines
The Shadow Riders
Toy Soldiers
Wake of Death
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills in 2018 to cover the latest news on streaming, movies, TV, and video games.