Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Wicked, the critically acclaimed fantasy musical starring Cynthia Erivo (The Outsider) and singer-actress Ariana Grande-Butera (Don’t Look Up), lands on Peacock after defying gravity since its theatrical debut late last year. If musicals aren’t your thing, that’s all right; there’s plenty of other exciting releases to enjoy on VOD and streaming this weekend! Den of Thieves 2: Pantera comes to Netflix this week alongside Revelations, the new psychological horror thriller from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho.
We’ve got the Oscar-winning drama Anora on Hulu and the woefully underrated Sing Sing on Max, not to mention Last Breath, Cleaner, and Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League on VOD alongside reduced pricing on recent releases like The Brutalist, Nosferatu, and The Room Next Door!
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Heist thriller
Run time: 2h 24m
Director: Christian Gudegast
Cast: Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad
“Dirtbag Heat” is back on the menu. Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. reprise their roles as scumbag Sheriff “Big Nick” O’Brien and career criminal Donnie Wilson, this time teaming up to pull off a massive heist of the world’s largest diamond exchange in Nice, France. Polygon spoke to director Christian Gudegast about the making of the film, including pulling off the world’s first electric-car chase and his future plans.
Unfortunately, this isn’t one of those recommendations where I can tell you to skip straight to the second movie because it’s clearly the direction the franchise is moving in. The good news is Den of Thieves is still pretty great, and watching the series find a totally new action-comedy gear to shift to in the sequel is part of Pantera’s charm. In other words, if you’ve already seen Den of Thieves, then you should jump to Pantera immediately now that it’s on Netflix, and if you haven’t seen either, I have the perfect crew of dirtbags and degenerates for you to spend the next couple of days with.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 58m
Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Nabil Elouahabi
Saoirse Ronan stars as a young woman, fresh out of rehab for alcoholism, who returns home to the distant Orkney Islands in Scotland as she figures out what to do with her life and struggles to connect with others. Eventually, she takes a job with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and finds comfort in biology and birdwatching. The Outrun was originally a memoir of the same name by one of the movie’s screenwriters, Amy Liptrot, and premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Psychological thriller
Run time: 2h 2m
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Cast: Shin Min-jae, Ryu Jun-yeol, Shin Hyun-been
Director Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan, Hellbound) has returned with an all-new psychological crime thriller! Revelations centers on a detective and a pastor who are driven to punish the person guilty in a missing-persons case. The former, Lee Yeon-hui (Shin Hyun-been), is haunted by what she believes are visions of her dead sister, while the latter, Sung Min-chan (Ryu Jun-yeol), believes he must carry out justice on God’s behalf.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Romantic drama
Run time: 2h 19m
Director: Sean Baker
Cast: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov
Sean Baker’s Oscar-winning comedy-drama stars Mikey Madison (2022’s Scream) as Anora, a sex worker from Brooklyn who unexpectedly meets and marries Ivan “Vanya” Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. As Toros (Karren Karagulian), Vanya’s godfather, goes on a mission to have the marriage annulled, Anora is pushed to new extremes.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Fantasy musical
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Geremy Jasper
Cast: Sadie Sink, Murray Bartlett, Regina Hall
In this funky post-apocalyptic musical adventure, a farm girl uses the power of music to stand up to an oppressive regime and save her true love. There’s a lot of neon lights in the crumby futuristic city, with a lot of flashy performances. But O’Dessa holds her own, crooning with her banjo in hand, as she fights for her true love’s soul and sticks it to the man. The movie premiered at this year’s South by Southwest and features 16 brand-new original songs.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 57m
Director: Titus Kaphar
Cast: André Holland, John Earl Jelks, Andra Day
André Holland (Moonlight) stars in painter-filmmaker Titus Kaphar’s directorial debut as Tarrell, an accomplished painter whose career is rising. After an unexpected visit from his estranged father, La’Ron (John Earl Jelks), Tarrell must learn to balance the conflicting emotions between his desire for reconciliation and his resentment toward his absent parent.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Max
Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 47m
Director: Greg Kwedar
Cast: Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin, Sean San José
Colman Domingo (Zola) stars in this prison drama as John “Divine G” Whitfield, a man recently imprisoned at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility for a crime he didn’t commit. Acting in a theater group designed to bring incarcerated men in touch with their own feelings, John finds solace and purpose in connecting with his fellow inmates through the transformative power of art.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Genre: Drama/mystery
Run time: 1h 49m
Director: Tyler Perry
Cast: Kat Graham, Meagan Tandy, Tyler Lepley
Tyler Perry’s newest movie follows a high-powered attorney who investigates her best friend’s husband’s murder. He’s seemingly been killed by police officers, but as she dives deeper into the case, she realizes that his death is only one piece of a twisted puzzle. Lies are rampant and the police force might be covering up something even more sinister than just one unjust murder.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Genre: Fantasy musical
Run time: 2h 40m
Director: Jon M. Chu
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jeff Goldblum
Adapted from Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s 2003 stage musical of the same name, Wicked follows the story of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the future Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and her friendship with Galinda (Ariana Grande-Butera), who later becomes Glinda the Good. Upon being invited to the Emerald City at the behest of the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), Elphaba and Galinda’s friendship is put to the test.
For the most part, Chu uses the new medium to add meaningful additions to the story. Not all of them land. The movie’s last big scene, in particular, suffers from this strange sort of start-stop integrated with some superfluous big set pieces that undermine the emotional catharsis of the Big Moment. Such is the nature of extending a nearly three-hour musical into two movies, even with a natural intermission. And overall, adding breathing room to songs and scenes worked for the most part. It’ll take more than some extra fluff to bring the movie down.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Thriller
Run time: 1h 33m
Director: Alex Parkinson
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole
Director Alex Parkinson returns with a survival thriller remake of his 2019 documentary Last Breath. Based on a true story, the film centers on a crew of seasoned deep-sea divers as they race against time to save their teammate after his umbilical cable is severed, leaving him stranded 330 feet below sea level with no light, no heat, and a dwindling amount of oxygen.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Crime comedy
Run time: 1h 43m
Director: Dito Montiel
Cast: Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Bill Murray
Ex-criminal Vincent (Ed Harris) just wants to live a peaceful life with his new wife. But he’s pulled into a chaotic family reunion when his son, Rocco, and ex-wife show up with Rocco’s pregnant girlfriend in tow. As it turns out, Rocco pissed off an old gangster, who’s now after his entire family. Whoops! The black comedy features an ensemble cast of Harris, Bill Murray, Pete Davidson, Jennifer Coolidge, and Gabrielle Union.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Superhero action
Run time: 1h 29m
Directors: Junpei Mizusaki, Shinji Takagi
Cast: Koichi Yamadera, Daisuke Ono, Rie Kugimiya
Junpei Mizusaki and Shinji Takagi return with a sequel to 2018’s Batman Ninja! Set immediately following the events of the prior film, Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League centers on Batman and his cohort of allies returning to present-day Gotham, albeit radically different than when they first left.
The island of Japan no longer exists, with yakuza-style criminals running rampant throughout the city. Once more, it turns out that these new adversaries are being led by an evil alternate version of the Justice League who don’t take kindly to Batman infringing on their turf.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Action thriller
Run time: 1h 37m
Director: Martin Campbell
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar, Clive Owen
Daisy Ridley leads this action thriller as Joey, a dishonorably discharged ex-soldier who currently works as a window cleaner. When a fancy gala is infiltrated by radical activists, who threaten to blow up the building if the police intervene, Joey attempts to save the hostages — especially since one of the hostages is her older brother. Joey must prove herself to the whole team of officers working to deescalate the situation. Ridley does some pretty sick stunts for Cleaner.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Comedy drama
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes
Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris
Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery, The Walking Dead) stars in this affecting comedy drama about a U.S. veteran struggling with PTSD in her civilian life. After returning home from Afghanistan, Merit (Martin-Green) is haunted by the presence of Zoe (Natalie Morales), her best friend who died in combat. When her estranged grandfather (Ed Harris) is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Merit will have to find a way to mend their relationship and reconcile her grief over the past with the help of her VA counselor (Morgan Freeman).
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Biopic thriller
Run time: 1h 30m
Director: Mike Ott
Cast: Alfie Allen, Brett Gelman, Ashley Benson
Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) stars in this biopic on Timothy McVeigh, the infamous domestic terrorist responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, which remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Brett Gelman (Stranger Things) co-stars as Terry Nichols, McVeigh’s co-conspirator, alongside Ashley Benson as Cindy, a young waitress who McVeigh becomes infatuated with.
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