The 7 best new movies and shows to stream this weekend (2024)

As another week draws to a close, we're back with some new streaming recommendations to see you through the weekend. It's a good week for TV, too, with several new and returning shows gracing our screens. Star Wars is back on the small screen with The Acolyte on Disney Plus, while fantasy series Sweet Tooth is back for a third and final season on Netflix and Jeremy Renner-led thriller Mayor of Kingstown returns to Paramount Plus.

As for movies, Glen Powell and Godzilla both have new offerings on Netflix: the former stars in Hit Man, a new action rom-com from Boyhood director Richard Linklater, while the latter is in last year's hit kaiju movie Godzilla Minus One. Meanwhile, US audiences can catch Wim Wenders' poignant new drama Perfect Days on Hulu and Knives Out director Rian Johnson's debut feature Brick on Prime Video.

The Acolyte

Available: Worldwide
Watch now: Disney Plus

Ready to return to the galaxy far, far away? New Star Wars show The Acolyte is now streaming on Disney Plus, taking us into a world of shadows and crime in the High Republic. Set 100 years before The Phantom Menace, the show centers around a former Padawan (The Hunger Games' Amandla Stenberg) as she reunites with her Jedi Master (Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae) and tries to come to terms with her past. The cast also includes The Matrix's Carrie-Anne Moss, The Good Place's Manny Jacinto, and His Dark Materials' Dafne Keen.

Hit Man

Available: Worldwide
Watch now: Netflix

Richard Linklater's latest movie, Hit Man, is now streaming on Netflix after a brief theatrical window. Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell stars as Gary, a college professor who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Department – he goes undercover with the aim of arresting those who try to hire him. However, things get a little complicated when he becomes romantically entangled with a would-be client (Adria Arjona)... Powell also co-wrote the movie with Linklater.

Read our interview with Linklater about the new movie here.

Godzilla Minus One

Available: Worldwide
Watch now: Netflix

Last year's best monster movie has come crashing onto Netflix. Set in post-war Japan, Godzilla Minus One follows former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who, plagued by survivor's guilt, ends up fighting against Godzilla with the crew of the mine removal ship where he makes his living. As well as being a hit with critics and at the box office (both in Japan and internationally), the movie won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects at this year's ceremony, the first movie not in the English language to take home the award.

Mayor of Kingstown season 3

Available: Worldwide
Watch now: Paramount Plus

Jeremy Renner is back for another season of Mayor of Kingstown. Set in a fictional company town where everything revolves around the local prison, Renner plays Mike McLusky, a former inmate and the head of the family in charge. In season 3, the town is rocked by a series of explosions and a drug war, and the pressure is on Mike to keep the peace, but his life gets decidedly trickier when a figure from his past reappears.

Sweet Tooth season 3

Available: Worldwide
Watch now: Netflix

Sweet Tooth returns for a third and final season. The show, executive produced by Robert Downey Jr., takes place in a version of the future where a virus has wiped out most of humanity and hybrid babies are born with animal body parts. Gus (Cocaine Bear's Christian Convery), a part-deer hybrid, is still on the hunt for his mother with his pals in tow, but a new threat emerges that threatens to derail their plans. Star Wars' Kelly Marie Tran joins the cast for season 3.

Perfect Days

Available: US
Watch now: Hulu

The latest movie from Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire director Wim Wenders sees the German filmmaker set his sights on Japan. Perfect Days follows Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho), a reclusive public toilet cleaner in Tokyo whose peaceful but solitary life of routine is disrupted by a series of unexpected encounters. Yakusho won the Best Actor award at Cannes Film Festival for his subtle, heartbreaking performance and the film was nominated for Best Internation Feature at the Oscars.

Brick

Available: US
Watch now: Prime Video

While we wait for Rian Johnson's next Knives Out movie to hit our screens next year, take a trip down memory lane with his debut feature Brick. Released in 2005, the mystery thriller stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as teenager Brendan Frye, who's investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend Emily (Lost's Emilie de Ravin) in the California suburbs. His search takes him into the underworld of a high school crime ring, paying homage to hard-boiled detective story tropes and dialogue.

If there's nothing here that tickles your fancy, then you might have to start looking into each streaming service's back catalogue, which can be a daunting task given how many titles they each host. Fear not, though... if you're a TV fan, then we've got you covered with our lists of the best Netflix shows, best Disney Plus shows, and the best Amazon Prime Video shows.

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