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, Mufasa: The Lion King, the Barry Jenkins-directed animated prequel to 2019’s The Lion King, comes to streaming on Disney Plus following its theatrical run last year and subsequent arrival on VOD. There’s plenty of other exciting new releases on streaming to choose from this week, like the Taiwanese horror comedy Dead Talents Society on Netflix, the fraternal college drama The Line starring Alex Wolff, the Nicole Kidman-starring mystery thriller Holland on Prime Video, and much more.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Genre: Horror comedy
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: John Hsu
Cast: Bolin Chen, Sandrine Pinna, Gingle Wang
This Taiwanese horror comedy follows a recently deceased teenager (Gingle Wang) who must learn how to scare the living or risk vanishing forever. Taken under the wings of an opportunistic “ghost” talent agent (Bolin Chen) and a once-famous phantom diva (Sandrine Pinna) desperate to rekindle her reputation, the trio sets out on a quest to scare the living daylights out of the living. So, think Beetlejuice meets Monsters, Inc.
There are messages at work here about how so many people these days are hungry to be seen, but can only get attention online by chasing trends and employing gimmicks, leaving any recognition and applause they get feeling a little hollow and lonely. But the movie never hits those notes hard enough to make them maudlin, any more than Beetlejuice feels like a serious exploration of loneliness and loss for gothy teenager Lydia. Rookie’s feelings of frustration and fear are authentic enough to give the movie a little sympathetic warmth.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Photo: Nicole Rivelli/Netflix
Genre: Rom-com
Run time: 2h 3m
Director: Adam Brooks
Cast: Sofia Carson, Kyle Allen, Connie Britton
After the death of her mother, a young woman embarks on a quest to fulfill a bucket list that she wrote when she was 13. Every time she fulfills one of the items on the list, she gets a new DVD with some life wisdom from her mom. She discovers more secrets about her family, and eventually becomes smitten with a few different guys — including her mom’s estate lawyer. Based on the book of the same name.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Image: Searchlight Pictures
Genre: Docudrama
Run time: 2h 21m
Director: James Mangold
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning
Timothée Chalamet stars as Bob Dylan in this heavily Oscar-nominated docudrama from director James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari). After arriving in New York City, the 19-year-old folk music prodigy navigates the pitfalls of fame as his meteoric rise to stardom coincides with the political and social upheaval of the 1960s.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: Ethan Berger
Cast: Alex Wolff, Lewis Pullman, Halle Bailey
Alex Wolff (Midsommar) stars in this coming-of-age drama as Tom, a scholarship student desperate to break free from his working-class background to achieve success. After pledging to KNA, a prestigious fraternity touting promises of high social status and influential alumni connections, Tom finds himself torn between his devotion to the frat life and his feelings for Annabelle (Halle Bailey), a classmate with whom he strikes up a relationship. Will their love be able to withstand the barrage of hazing rituals Tom is forced to undergo, or will he succumb to his darkest impulses in order to secure his so-called future?
Where to watch: Available to stream on Max
Image: A24/Everett Collection
Genre: Period romantic drama
Run time: 2h 16m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman
Based on William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novella, Queer stars Daniel Craig as American expatriate William Lee — a pen name for Burroughs — living in Mexico City. After meeting Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a GI turned expatriate, William becomes infatuated with his new acquaintance, sparking a relationship that proves exhilarating, beautiful, and ultimately destructive.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Disney Plus
Image: Disney
Genre: Family adventure
Run time: 1h 58m
Director: Barry Jenkins
Cast: Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone
Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins dives into the surprisingly complicated origin story of Mufasa, Simba’s father in The Lion King. Turns out, instead of inheriting the lion-throne, Mufasa was an orphan who floated down a river before being discovered by a young prince and his mother, à la Moses. There’s a good, toothy thread in this movie about Scar and Mufasa’s relationship — if you can dig it out from beneath the photorealistic lions, Lin-Manuel Miranda soundtrack, and super-duper simplified plot.
There is a glimmer of something wonderful in Mufasa. Jenkins and Nathanson put a twist on Mufasa and Taka’s relationship that could’ve given a beautifully tragic edge to the confrontation we know is coming in The Lion King. But while their ill-fated brotherhood could’ve added even more heartbreak to the original movie, it was also the thread that was doomed to never be explored thoroughly in this prequel. There’s just too much working against it, from the flat animation and subpar songs to the preordained fate that awaits both characters. Sanding the nuance off that relationship might’ve worked for a DTV prequel, but on a big screen, it feels jarringly abrupt.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Genre: Mystery thriller
Run time: 1h 48m
Director: Mimi Cave
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Macfadyen, Jude Hill
Holland, Michigan, is a small, idyllic Midwestern town where the residents take the town’s namesake very seriously. In the midst of planning for various Dutch-themed festivities, one teacher begins to suspect that her husband is hiding something. She investigates his secret double life with a co-worker, but soon realizes that the secret he’s hiding may be even more dangerous than she initially realized.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Paramount Plus
Image: Amazon MGM Studios
Genre: Biographical sports
Run time: 1h 49m
Director: Rachel Morrison
Cast: Ryan Destiny, Brian Tyree Henry, Oluniké Adeliyi
Written by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, this biographical sports drama stars Ryan Destiny (Grown-ish) as Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, an aspiring boxer training to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport. Together with her coach, Jason (Brian Tyree Henry), Claressa must overcome the institutional hurdles of the sport if she’s to have any chance of achieving her dream.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi US
Genre: Psychological thriller
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Chris Andrews
Cast: Christopher Abbott, Barry Keoghan, Colm Meaney
Christopher Abbott (Possessor) and Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) star as Jack and Michael, two bitter archenemies living in rural west Ireland whose animosity stems from a lingering feud between their fathers and a terrible accident that scared their families for life. Bring Them Down chronicles their feud over the years, eventually escalating into a chain of events that will leave nothing unscathed.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
Image: Light in the Dark Productions/Blueskin Films
Genre: Horror thriller
Run time: 1h 44m
Director: James Ashcroft
Cast: John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, George Henare
Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) stars in this new horror thriller as Stefan, a former judge who is committed to an assisted living facility after suffering a stroke. When a fellow patient (John Lithgow) with a fixation for a baby doll hand puppet begins to display signs of psychopathic behavior, Stefan must fight to stop them from abusing the home’s other residents before something terrible happens.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Horror
Run time: 1h 35m
Director: Hyun Moon-sub
Cast: Park Shin-yang, Lee Min-ki, Lee Re
This new Korean horror film centers on a heart surgeon grieving the loss of his daughter following a failed exorcism that claimed her life. Despite rulings from medical examiners, the surgeon still believes his daughter is somehow alive after hearing her still-beating heart. As the funeral rites commence, strange occurrences begin to manifest, forcing everyone to question whether or not the malevolent spirit that occupied the child’s body somehow remains trapped inside.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Genre: Horror drama
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Kongkiat Komesiri
Cast: Awat Ratanapintha, Chanon Santinatornkul, Supicha Sangkhachinda
Set during Thailand’s involvement in WWII, Operation Undead follows a troupe of inexperienced soldiers who witness a growing undead threat left in the wake of a Japan-engineered chemical weapon that grants superhuman strength at the cost of the subject’s humanity.
Operation Undead is a stellar new entry in the zombie-movie canon that takes some real big swings: It respects the genre’s roots and need for thrills while providing a strong emotional backbone. It’s one of the standout horror movies of 2025 so far, and a must-watch for anyone interested in new twists on a tried-and-true genre formula.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: New Slate Ventures
Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 51m
Directors: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz
Cast: Héctor Medina, Eros de la Puente, Adria Arjona
Based on true events, Los Frikis follows a group of young adults in a punk rock band in Cuba in 1991. Facing economic insecurity, they decide to purposely infect themselves with HIV. This allows them to live in an isolated sanatorium, where they experience a level of community and freedom that they wouldn’t have otherwise.
