19 most anticipated films by women in 2019

Little (April 12)

The Plot: Little tells the story of Jordan Sanders (Regina Hall), who ends up being transformed into her younger self (Marsai Martin) and has to navigate adolescence all over again.

Little’s conceit is well-known to anyone who’s seen Big and 13 Going on 30, but it’s a genre completely invisible in films starring people of color (a fact actually referenced in Little’s trailer as a “white people thing”). Little looks to be a fantastic hodgepodge of age reduction tropes, from the adult (in a child’s body) being interested in her teacher, here played by This is Us heartthrob Justin Hartley, to having to navigate an entire school social system they’re no longer familiar with.

Director Tina Gordon Chism is better known as the writer of the Nick Cannon film Drumline, but made her directorial debut in 2013 with the family comedy Peeples. She’s assembled a perfect cast, particularly Marsai Martin of Black-ish fame. Her role as young Jordan looks incredibly fun and she’s complemented by Issa Rae and Regina Hall, who starred together in 2018’s The Hate U Give. There are never enough family comedies about little girls of color, so this should be a fun comedy that will appeal to all ages.