Every week on Polygon, we spherical up essentially the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the most important and finest new motion pictures so that you can watch at dwelling.
This week, Mufasa: The Lion King, the Barry Jenkins-directed animated prequel to 2019’s The Lion King, involves streaming on Disney Plus following its theatrical run final yr and subsequent arrival on VOD. There’s loads of different thrilling new releases on streaming to select from this week, just like the Taiwanese horror comedy Lifeless Skills Society on Netflix, the fraternal school drama The Line starring Alex Wolff, the Nicole Kidman-starring thriller thriller Holland on Prime Video, and rather more.
Right here’s every part new that’s accessible to observe this weekend!
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Netflix
Style: Horror comedy
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: John Hsu
Forged: Bolin Chen, Sandrine Pinna, Gingle Wang
This Taiwanese horror comedy follows a just lately deceased teenager (Gingle Wang) who should learn to scare the residing or danger vanishing endlessly. Taken below the wings of an opportunistic “ghost” expertise agent (Bolin Chen) and a once-famous phantom diva (Sandrine Pinna) determined to rekindle her popularity, the trio units out on a quest to scare the residing daylights out of the residing. So, suppose Beetlejuice meets Monsters, Inc.
There are messages at work right here about how so many individuals as of late are hungry to be seen, however can solely get consideration on-line by chasing tendencies and using gimmicks, leaving any recognition and applause they get feeling a bit hole and lonely. However the film by no means hits these notes arduous sufficient to make them maudlin, any greater than Beetlejuice looks like a critical exploration of loneliness and loss for gothy teenager Lydia. Rookie’s emotions of frustration and concern are genuine sufficient to present the film a bit sympathetic heat.
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Netflix
Photograph: Nicole Rivelli/Netflix
Style: Rom-com
Run time: 2h 3m
Director: Adam Brooks
Forged: Sofia Carson, Kyle Allen, Connie Britton
After the demise of her mom, a younger girl embarks on a quest to satisfy a bucket record that she wrote when she was 13. Each time she fulfills one of many gadgets on the record, she will get a brand new DVD with some life knowledge from her mother. She discovers extra secrets and techniques about her household, and ultimately turns into smitten with a number of completely different guys — together with her mother’s property lawyer. Based mostly on the e book of the identical title.
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Hulu
Picture: Searchlight Footage
Style: Docudrama
Run time: 2h 21m
Director: James Mangold
Forged: Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning
Timothée Chalamet stars as Bob Dylan on this closely Oscar-nominated docudrama from director James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari). After arriving in New York Metropolis, the 19-year-old people music prodigy navigates the pitfalls of fame as his meteoric rise to stardom coincides with the political and social upheaval of the Nineteen Sixties.
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Hulu
Style: Drama
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: Ethan Berger
Forged: Alex Wolff, Lewis Pullman, Halle Bailey
Alex Wolff (Midsommar) stars on this coming-of-age drama as Tom, a scholarship scholar determined to interrupt free from his working-class background to realize success. After pledging to KNA, a prestigious fraternity touting guarantees of excessive social standing and influential alumni connections, Tom finds himself torn between his devotion to the frat life and his emotions for Annabelle (Halle Bailey), a classmate with whom he strikes up a relationship. Will their love be capable to face up to the barrage of hazing rituals Tom is pressured to endure, or will he succumb to his darkest impulses to be able to safe his so-called future?
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Max
Picture: A24/Everett Assortment
Style: Interval romantic drama
Run time: 2h 16m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Forged: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman
Based mostly on William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novella, Queer stars Daniel Craig as American expatriate William Lee — a pen title for Burroughs — residing in Mexico Metropolis. After assembly Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a GI turned expatriate, William turns into infatuated together with his new acquaintance, sparking a relationship that proves exhilarating, lovely, and in the end damaging.
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Disney Plus
Picture: Disney
Style: Household journey
Run time: 1h 58m
Director: Barry Jenkins
Forged: Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone
Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins dives into the surprisingly sophisticated origin story of Mufasa, Simba’s father in The Lion King. Seems, as an alternative of inheriting the lion-throne, Mufasa was an orphan who floated down a river earlier than being found by a younger prince and his mom, à la Moses. There’s an excellent, toothy thread on this film about Scar and Mufasa’s relationship — when you can dig it out from beneath the photorealistic lions, Lin-Manuel Miranda soundtrack, and super-duper simplified plot.
There’s a glimmer of one thing fantastic in Mufasa. Jenkins and Nathanson put a twist on Mufasa and Taka’s relationship that might’ve given a fantastically tragic edge to the confrontation we all know is coming in The Lion King. However whereas their ill-fated brotherhood may’ve added much more heartbreak to the unique film, it was additionally the thread that was doomed to by no means be explored completely on this prequel. There’s simply an excessive amount of working towards it, from the flat animation and subpar songs to the preordained destiny that awaits each characters. Sanding the nuance off that relationship would possibly’ve labored for a DTV prequel, however on a giant display screen, it feels jarringly abrupt.
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Prime Video
Style: Thriller thriller
Run time: 1h 48m
Director: Mimi Cave
Forged: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Macfadyen, Jude Hill
Holland, Michigan, is a small, idyllic Midwestern city the place the residents take the city’s namesake very significantly. Within the midst of planning for numerous Dutch-themed festivities, one instructor begins to suspect that her husband is hiding one thing. She investigates his secret double life with a co-worker, however quickly realizes that the key he’s hiding could also be much more harmful than she initially realized.
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Paramount Plus
Picture: Amazon MGM Studios
Style: Biographical sports activities
Run time: 1h 49m
Director: Rachel Morrison
Forged: Ryan Future, Brian Tyree Henry, Oluniké Adeliyi
Written by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, this biographical sports activities drama stars Ryan Future (Grown-ish) as Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, an aspiring boxer coaching to change into the primary girl in U.S. historical past to win an Olympic gold medal within the sport. Collectively along with her coach, Jason (Brian Tyree Henry), Claressa should overcome the institutional hurdles of the game if she’s to have any probability of attaining her dream.
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Mubi US
Style: Psychological thriller
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Chris Andrews
Forged: Christopher Abbott, Barry Keoghan, Colm Meaney
Christopher Abbott (Possessor) and Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) star as Jack and Michael, two bitter archenemies residing in rural west Eire whose animosity stems from a lingering feud between their fathers and a horrible accident that scared their households for all times. Convey Them Down chronicles their feud through the years, ultimately escalating into a series of occasions that can depart nothing unscathed.
The place to observe: Obtainable to stream on Shudder
Picture: Gentle within the Darkish Productions/Blueskin Movies
Style: Horror thriller
Run time: 1h 44m
Director: James Ashcroft
Forged: John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, George Henare
Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) stars on this new horror thriller as Stefan, a former decide who’s dedicated to an assisted residing facility after struggling a stroke. When a fellow affected person (John Lithgow) with a fixation for a child doll hand puppet begins to show indicators of psychopathic habits, Stefan should battle to cease them from abusing the house’s different residents earlier than one thing horrible occurs.
The place to observe: Obtainable to hire on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Style: Horror
Run time: 1h 35m
Director: Hyun Moon-sub
Forged: Park Shin-yang, Lee Min-ki, Lee Re
This new Korean horror movie facilities on a coronary heart surgeon grieving the lack of his daughter following a failed exorcism that claimed her life. Regardless of rulings from health workers, the surgeon nonetheless believes his daughter is one way or the other alive after listening to her still-beating coronary heart. Because the funeral rites begin, unusual occurrences start to manifest, forcing everybody to query whether or not or not the malevolent spirit that occupied the kid’s physique one way or the other stays trapped inside.
The place to observe: Obtainable to hire on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Style: Horror drama
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Kongkiat Komesiri
Forged: Awat Ratanapintha, Chanon Santinatornkul, Supicha Sangkhachinda
Set throughout Thailand’s involvement in WWII, Operation Undead follows a troupe of inexperienced troopers who witness a rising undead menace left within the wake of a Japan-engineered chemical weapon that grants superhuman energy at the price of the topic’s humanity.
Operation Undead is a stellar new entry within the zombie-movie canon that takes some actual large swings: It respects the style’s roots and want for thrills whereas offering a robust emotional spine. It’s one of many standout horror motion pictures of 2025 thus far, and a must-watch for anybody keen on new twists on a tried-and-true style method.
The place to observe: Obtainable to hire on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Picture: New Slate Ventures
Style: Drama
Run time: 1h 51m
Administrators: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz
Forged: Héctor Medina, Eros de la Puente, Adria Arjona
Based mostly on true occasions, Los Frikis follows a gaggle of younger adults in a punk rock band in Cuba in 1991. Going through financial insecurity, they determine to purposely infect themselves with HIV. This permits them to dwell in an remoted sanatorium, the place they expertise a degree of group and freedom that they wouldn’t have in any other case.