Mufasa, Queer, Useless Abilities Society, and each film new to streaming

Every week on Polygon, we spherical up essentially the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the most important and greatest new films so that you can watch at house.

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 12 months 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 Useless Abilities Society on Netflix, the fraternal faculty drama The Line starring Alex Wolff, the Nicole Kidman-starring thriller thriller Holland on Prime Video, and far more.

Right here’s every part new that’s out there to look at this weekend!

The place to look at: Accessible 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 lately deceased teenager (Gingle Wang) who should discover ways to scare the dwelling or threat vanishing ceaselessly. Taken beneath the wings of an opportunistic “ghost” expertise agent (Bolin Chen) and a once-famous phantom diva (Sandrine Pinna) determined to rekindle her repute, the trio units out on a quest to scare the dwelling daylights out of the dwelling. So, assume 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 developments and using gimmicks, leaving any recognition and applause they get feeling a bit of hole and lonely. However the film by no means hits these notes arduous sufficient to make them maudlin, any greater than Beetlejuice seems like a severe 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 of sympathetic heat.

The place to look at: Accessible to stream on 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 listing that she wrote when she was 13. Each time she fulfills one of many objects on the listing, she will get a brand new DVD with some life knowledge from her mother. She discovers extra secrets and techniques about her household, and finally turns into smitten with a couple of completely different guys — together with her mother’s property lawyer. Primarily based on the ebook of the identical identify.

The place to look at: Accessible to stream on Hulu

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 Sixties.

The place to look at: Accessible 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 attain 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 stand up to the barrage of hazing rituals Tom is compelled to endure, or will he succumb to his darkest impulses to be able to safe his so-called future?

The place to look at: Accessible to stream on Max

Style: Interval romantic drama
Run time: 2h 16m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Forged: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman

Primarily based on William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novella, Queer stars Daniel Craig as American expatriate William Lee — a pen identify for Burroughs — dwelling 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 harmful.

The place to look at: Accessible to stream on Disney Plus

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 — for those who 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 great in Mufasa. Jenkins and Nathanson put a twist on Mufasa and Taka’s relationship that would’ve given a superbly 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 an enormous display screen, it feels jarringly abrupt.

The place to look at: Accessible 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 severely. Within the midst of planning for varied Dutch-themed festivities, one trainer 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 look at: Accessible to stream on Paramount Plus

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 turn out to be 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 likelihood of reaching her dream.

The place to look at: Accessible 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 dwelling 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, finally escalating into a sequence of occasions that can go away nothing unscathed.

The place to look at: Accessible to stream on Shudder

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 choose who’s dedicated to an assisted dwelling 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 struggle to cease them from abusing the house’s different residents earlier than one thing horrible occurs.

The place to look at: Accessible 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 in some way 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 in some way stays trapped inside.

The place to look at: Accessible 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 massive swings: It respects the style’s roots and want for thrills whereas offering a robust emotional spine. It’s one of many standout horror films of 2025 thus far, and a must-watch for anybody curious about new twists on a tried-and-true style system.

The place to look at: Accessible to hire on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu

Style: Drama
Run time: 1h 51m
Administrators: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz
Forged: Héctor Medina, Eros de la Puente, Adria Arjona

Primarily based on true occasions, Los Frikis follows a gaggle of younger adults in a punk rock band in Cuba in 1991. Dealing with financial insecurity, they determine to purposely infect themselves with HIV. This permits them to reside in an remoted sanatorium, the place they expertise a degree of neighborhood and freedom that they wouldn’t have in any other case.