It has been a while since we’ve had a leading Hollywood star take on the challenge of starring alone in a blockbuster outer space movie … and adapting all their acting skills inside zero-gravity studio sets.

We had Tom Hanks leading an all-star cast – including Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise – in the 1995 Ron Howard movie Apollo 13.

There was the brilliant “was this actually filmed in outer space?” 2013 movie, Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, where she leap-frogs alone between International Space Stations to climb into a capsule to make it back to Earth.

Let’s not forget Matt Damon in The Martian in 2015 – where he gets left behind on Mars and has to fend for himself for months surviving on potatoes.

Matthew McConaughey played ex-NASA astronaut in Interstellar in 2014 and Brad Pitt had a crack at the complicated job in Ad Astra in 2019.

Now it’s the 57-year-old comedic actor Adam Sandler’s turn.

After being in the acting business for decades, Sandler –  better known for The Water Boy, The Wedding Singer, the totally whacky Happy Gilmore and Don’t Mess with the Zohan – is playing an astronaut in a straight-to-Netflix movie, Spaceman.

Starring alongside Carey Mulligan (hot off playing Leonard Bernstein’s wife in Maestro), Sandler told Total Film why the director of his new sci-fi wanted his character to have “zero Adam Sandler” in it.

Playing against type.

“I understood it would be nice to just be this person that you haven’t seen before, and try to fall away from stuff you’ve seen me do in other movies. And I was 100 per cent in.

Spaceman follows astronaut Jakub Procházka (Sandler) as he’s sent to the far reaches of the solar system to collect ancient dust. As his marriage on earth to Mulligan’s Lenka begins to fall apart, he finds solace in a spider-like alien lurking in the shadows of his ship.

He says he was never 100 per cent comfortable conveying zero-gravity scenes – attached to wires and rigs for several hours a day: “I definitely was in positions that my body was not meant for.”

Spaceman is one of several films coming straight from cinema and released onto streaming platforms throughout March, alongside premiere TV shows and season returns of our favourites.

A Gentleman in Moscow: Paramount+

An adaptation of Amor Towles’ internationally best-selling novel starring Emmy Award-winning actor Ewan McGregor, the series follows Count Alexander Rostov, who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history.

Little Wing: Paramount+

An original, heartwarming coming-of-age story inspired by The New Yorker article by Susan Orlean. The story follows a 13-year-old girl who is dragged into the world of pigeon racing as she deals with her parents’ divorce and the impending loss of her home.

Beyond Paradise – Series 2: Binge

Growing a healthy fanbase amongst international audiences after the success of season one, the Death in Paradise spin-off returns.

Grey’s Anatomy: Disney+

Television’s longest-running medical drama’s new season starts streaming on March 28 with a milestone season 20 premiere.

Jessica Capshaw will return as a guest star to reprise her role as the beloved Dr Arizona Robbins and Alex Landi will return as Dr Nico Kim.

The Bloody Hundredth: Apple TV+

A new documentary celebrates the real-life heroes featured in hit series, Masters of the Air. Narrated by Tom Hanks, the doco features rarely seen archival footage and exclusive interviews with the 100th Bomb Group airmen.

Oscar viewing and more

If you’re keen to watch one of the following cinema titles [The Holdovers and The Colour Purple both received Oscar nominations], you don’t need an account subscription, just buy or rent at home and watch ad-free on the Apple TV App, Foxtel Store, Fetch, Google TV, Prime Video, Telstra TV Box Office and via YouTube Movies.

The Holdovers

The Holdovers is a 2023 American comedy-drama set in the winter of 1970-71, and stars Paul Giamatti as a strict classics teacher at a New England boarding school who is forced to chaperone a handful of students with nowhere to go on Christmas break. Photo: Focus Features

One Life

Starring Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins, One Life tells the true story of Sir Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton, a young London broker who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued 669 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

Next Goal Wins

Directed by Taika Waititi, Next Goal Wins tells the heartwarming story of the infamously terrible American Samoa soccer team, known for a shocking 2001 FIFA match they lost 31-0. Photo: Searchlight Pictures

Mean Girls

Avantika plays Karen Shetty, Angourie Rice plays Cady Heron, Renee Rapp plays Regina George and Bebe Wood plays Gretchen Wieners in a remake of the classic Mean Girls. Photo: Paramount Pictures

Under the Boardwalk

Voiced by Keke Palmer, Michael Cera and Bobby Cannavale, this animated feature film tells the story of a land crab townie who falls in love with a sea crab tourist, but tensions between their friends and families rise. When a storm casts the duo far from home, their love will lead them on an adventure. Photo: Atlantic

The Color Purple

US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 adaptation of The Colour Purple, has come full circle, producing a 2023 musical remake. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures