The best new movies to watch on streaming this week include some of the biggest blockbuster movies of the year, the latest originals from the top streamers, and some smaller movies audiences might have missed in theaters. As the fall season kicks off, many of the summer’s biggest blockbusters and the best movies from early in 2024 are now available to stream on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Max, Peacock, and Paramount+ – including many that have only recently left theaters. There are also some streaming releases gaining award-season buzz.
Some of the most talked about movies of the year can now be enjoyed at home, like Civil War, along with the biggest streaming originals, like Netflix’s new thriller Rebel Ridge. There are even some family-friendly choices for audiences of all ages. The streamers have plenty of big-name talent for viewers, with movies featuring Chris Pratt, Zendaya, Ryan Gosling, and more. The streaming world is open with options, but these are the best new movies to check out right now.
10 The Garfield Movie (2024) – Netflix
Chris Pratt Brings The Lasagna-Loving Cat Back To Movies
An ideal family-friendly streaming option that is fun for all ages is The Garfield Movie. The lovable comic strip character has been around for decades and remains a pop culture icon with his distaste of Mondays and his love of lasagna. While the live-action Garfield movies with Bill Murray voicing the famous feline were met with mostly negative reviews from critics and audiences, Garfield now returns to the movies again in this new animated adventure that serves as a reminder of the character’s charm.
Following his voice work as Mario, Chris Pratt takes on the role of Garfield in the story of his reuniting with his stray cat father, Vic (Samuel L. Jackson) and being forced to leave his pampered life behind to join him on a dangerous mission. While the movie doesn’t reach the heights of some of the modern animation masterpieces, it is still a funny, light, and charming film that the entire family can enjoy together.
9 His Three Daughters (2024) – Netflix
Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, And Carrie Coon As Sisters
Following its strong reception out of the Toronto International Film Festival, His Three Daughters has become a must-watch movie for many this fall. The drama-comedy features an incredible trio of actors with Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, and Carrie Coon playing three estranged sisters who reunite in adulthood to prepare for the passing of their ill father. Together, they attempt to live together again while also addressing some of the issues that tore them apart.
Obviously, the ensemble is the most exciting aspect of the movie and the chemistry between Lyonne, Olsen, and Coon makes the movie worth a watch on its own. They are funny and complex, sharing moments of tension and moments of laughter together. This highlights the tricky tone the movie manages to strike as it takes a look at relationships and family struggles in an honest way with the comedy of real life mixing with the drama nicely.
8 Challengers (2024) – Prime Video
Zendaya Leads A Sexy And Intriguing Tennis Story
Challengers made a splash in theaters earlier this year and is still being talked about as one of the best films of 2024. With a mix of sports drama and a love triangle, Challengers strikes an intriguing balance which is handled brilliantly by director Luca Guadagnino. Zendaya gives a tour de force performance as a star tennis player whose injury takes her out of the sport and leads her to become the coach for her husband Art (Mike Faist). However, as Art squares off with his former best friend Patrick (Josh O’Connor), flashbacks reveal the trio’s complicated history.
The movie is a sexy, funny, and intense ride that hooks the audience right up until Challengers’ satisfying ending. While Zendaya shows new levels of her talents in the lead role, Faist and O’Connor are also excellent as the two men battling over her throughout the years. While Challengers was available earlier on streaming, Prime Video users now have the chance to check it out as well.
7 Civil War (2024) – Max
A Pulse-Pounding Looks At Wartime Journalists
One of the most intense and controversial movies of the year is now available to check out on streaming. Alex Garland’s Civil War is a hard-hitting story that imagines a reality in which the United States of America has fractured to the point of another Civil War erupting as rebel states seek to take down the corrupt President. The film is told from the perspective of a group of wartime journalists covering the battles in towns across the country, all leading to the final showdown in Washington DC.
Civil War earned controversy, with some feeling that a story of the divisions in America resulting in war is poor taste. However, the war of the movie is not the point. Instead, it is a story of these characters, played by the likes of Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny, as they juggle their responsibility to capture the reality of the situation with the detachment from humanity that causes them. It is an intense ride from beginning to end with some thought-provoking ideas.
6 In A Violent Nature (2024) – AMC+, Shudder
A Brutal Low-Budget Horror Movie
As the fall season gets more people in the mood for horror movies, there will be a lot of fans of the genre checking out the much-talked-about In a Violent Nature. This Canadian horror movie features a fairly standard premise for a project of this kind, as it centers around a group of young people vacationing out in a secluded forest when they become targeted by a masked killer. However, In a Violent Nature manages to set itself apart by telling the story from the perspective of the killer.
The movie premiered early in the year at the Sundance Film Festival, where it created quite a stir for its unique approach to this horror story and its brutal kills. It offers plenty for the horror-loving crowd who enjoys the brutality, low-budget, and grimy films of the genre even if it doesn’t offer much else. In a Violent Nature seems poised to become a new horror cult classic while also establishing Johnny as one of the latest memorable masked killers in horror movies.
5 Arthur The King (2024) – Starz
Mark Wahlberg Leads The Sports Movie Mixed With A Dog Movie
Arthur the King tells a true story that makes for a unique and crowd-pleasing sports movie worth checking out. The film is set in the world of adventure racing and follows Mark Wahlberg as a determined athlete in the sport who is attempting a comeback after a highly publicized failure in the past. He assembles a team to take part in a race in the Dominican Republic, and during their grueling adventure out in the jungle, they come across a stray dog who becomes their companion on the journey.
Arthur the King is the perfect movie for dog lovers with the lovable canine having his own story before meeting up with Wahlberg and the other characters. The sweet bond that he develops with the team makes for a beautiful story even if some of the facts from the true story are changed. Adventure racing is also a sport that is not often depicted in movies and adds an exciting element to the story.
4 Rebel Ridge (2024) – Netflix
Jeremy Saulnier’s Latest Hard-Hitting Thriller
Jeremy Saulnier was an exciting new filmmaker who burst onto the screen with a pair of brutal and stylish thrillers in Blue Ruin and Green Room. While his follow-up film Hold the Dark was not met with quite the same enthusiasm as his other movies, there was still a lot of excitement about what his next project would be. After a long wait, Saulnier returns with the new Netflix thriller Rebel Ridge, which continues to solidify him as a voice in modern cinema worth paying attention to.
The movie serves as a bit of an updated reimagining of the John Rambo story First Blood. Aaron Pierre stars as a former Marine who is traveling through a small American town when he is harassed by corrupt police officers. When his attempts to bring justice to the offenders fall on deaf ears, he decides to take matters into his own hands, waging war on them and making them realize they picked the wrong man to mess with.
Pierre delivers a star-making turn as the determined and relentless complex hero. There is an intimidating intensity, but Pierre never loses touch of the character’s humanity. Don Johnson also gets a standout role as the sheriff of the police department who refuses to hold his men accountable but finds that they are now outmatched. Saulnier clearly has a love for hard-hitting and brutal stories and any fans of his past movies should make Rebel Ridge a must-see.
3 The Boy And The Heron (2023)
The Latest From The Animated Masters At Studio Ghibli
The most recent winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature is available to stream for American audiences after a long wait. The Boy and the Heron is the latest movie by acclaimed Japanese animator Studio Ghibli, as well as iconic filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The fantastical and emotional story follows a young boy named Mahito who moves to the countryside following the death of his mother. However, he gets the opportunity to reconnect with her when a talking heron invites him into a mystical world.
Like many of Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki’s works, the film mixes magical and supernatural elements with profound human stories in a brilliant way. The movie touches on themes of death and acceptance while taking the audience on a surreal ride through an engrossing world. With the movie now available on Max, viewers have the option of watching it with the subtitles or dubbed in English with a voice cast that includes Robert Pattinson, Florence Pugh, and Mark Hamill.
2 A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) – Paramount+
The Prequel To The A Quiet Place Franchise
The A Quiet Place franchise expanded into its first spinoff movie with A Quiet Place: Day One, taking the audience back to the initial invasion. These aliens who hunt based on sound add to the tension and terror of these movies and that is only elevated in this new approach to the story. Instead of once again following the Abbott family in their rural fight for survival, the movie stars Lupita Nyong’o as a woman on her own mission when New York City is thrown into chaos.
The big-city setting of the movie immediately puts the audience on edge as they know to fear even the slightest sound in these movies. The movie adds to the mythology of the franchise with some more revelations about the aliens, but wisely still makes it about the grounded characters. Nyong’o gives a powerful performance and Joseph Quinn is excellent as a fellow survivor who she meets along the way.
1 The Fall Guy (2024) – Peacock
Ryan Gosling Leads An Action-Packed Rom-Com
One of the most entertaining movies of the summer is now available for streaming. The Fall Guy is a popcorn movie update to the classic action series of the 1980s that starred Lee Majors. Ryan Gosling steps into the lead role of Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stuntman who gets out of the business after an accident. However, when his former girlfriend (Emily Blunt) finds her directorial debut in trouble, Colt returns to help track down a missing movie star.
From stuntman-turned-director David Leitch, The Fall Guy is a wonderful love letter to the stunt community in filmmaking. However, while the movie is a fun action-comedy with some fantastic set pieces, it is also a charming rom-com with Gosling and Blunt sharing terrific chemistry together. All the various tones blend together in a thoroughly enjoyable ride from beginning to end.
