The Best New Movies on Streaming This Weekend

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Lots of new movies are available to stream at home this weekend, and the team at ScreenCrush has put together a guide to help you find the best ones to watch as you unwind.

Weekends are perfect for movie time! If you don’t feel like going to the cinema, you can easily enjoy a film at home with popcorn and cozy pajamas.

New Movies Streaming This Week and Weekend

This week offers a variety of entertainment, including the new SpongeBob SquarePants movie, a fascinating documentary about a notorious kidnapping, and a recently released independent horror film available to stream.

Want even more options? Check out other recent new movie streaming releases here.

Here are five new movies you can enjoy at home this weekend – you can rent or stream them, and some are even available for free!

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants

In The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, SpongeBob proves his courage when he and his friend Patrick journey from Bikini Bottom into the Underworld, chasing the Flying Dutchman’s ghost ship. Their mission? To break a curse.

The animated adventure begins streaming via VOD on January 20.

You can stream The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home.

Vincent Must Die

In the movie Vincent Must Die, Vincent, an average guy, finds himself on the run when people start randomly trying to kill him. Everyday interactions become dangerous, until he meets a woman who seems immune to the sudden, widespread violence.

The French horror-thriller begins streaming via VOD on January 20.

Where to watch Vincent Must Die: Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home.

Merrily We Roll Along

Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy, Merrily We Roll Along, tells the story of three close friends whose relationship suffers as they pursue success in the entertainment world over twenty years. This recording was made during a live performance of the musical’s 2024 Broadway revival.

The beloved musical film, featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Gross, and Lindsay Mendez, will be available to stream on demand starting January 20th.

Where to watch Merrily We Roll Along: Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home..

Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart

This new documentary tells the story of Elizabeth Smart’s 2002 kidnapping and nine months held captive, as told by Elizabeth herself. Combining old news footage with recent interviews featuring Elizabeth, her family, and the investigators involved, Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart offers a fresh look at the shocking case that captivated the nation over twenty years ago.

The harrowing crime documentary begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on January 21.

Where to watch Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart: Netflix.

Dooba Dooba

The new horror film, Dooba Dooba, follows a babysitter who takes a job watching a troubled 16-year-old girl. Filmed in a found-footage style using home security cameras, the movie shows increasingly frightening events that lead the babysitter to realize she’s in a dangerous and inescapable situation.

The indie horror movie begins streaming via VOD on January 23.

Where to watch Dooba Dooba: Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home.

10 Movies Made in the Wrong Genre

Passengers Should Have Been a Psychological Thriller

The movie Passengers presents a deeply unsettling idea: a woman traveling alone in cryosleep to start a new life on a distant planet is woken up 90 years early by a man who was lonely and attracted to her. A malfunction prevents her from going back to sleep, leaving her stranded on a spaceship for the rest of her life with the man who essentially ruined her plans. While marketed as a romantic adventure in 2016, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, the story would have been far more compelling as a suspenseful psychological thriller, gradually revealing the man’s selfish act instead of presenting it as a romance.

Cats Should Have Been an Animated Movie

Tom Hooper’s 2019 film Cats, based on the popular Broadway show, is famously… unusual. Many find it a disturbing mix of realistic and computer-generated cats, a confusing plot, and strange visuals – a spectacle that’s memorable for all the wrong reasons. While the quirky story of Cats doesn’t easily translate to film, an animated version with a simpler storyline might have been more successful. In fact, Steven Spielberg tried to make an animated Cats movie with his Amblimation studio in the 1990s, but the project was canceled because they couldn’t find a way to make the plot work on the big screen. It’s a challenging story to adapt, regardless of the animation style.

The Happening Should Have Been a Comedy

M. Night Shyamalan’s 2008 film, The Happening, is often remembered as one of the worst movies of the 2000s. Despite being marketed as a serious thriller about a global catastrophe, it’s become unintentionally funny. The film’s ridiculous plot – plants taking revenge on humanity – combined with awkward dialogue and strange casting (Mark Wahlberg’s delivery and the lack of chemistry between him and Zooey Deschanel are particularly noticeable) has turned it into a comedic highlight. But what if the film was intended to be a campy, over-the-top disaster movie parody? Seen through that lens, the film’s strange tone, acting, and plot actually make sense. We’d be laughing with the movie, not at it, but either way, The Happening is surprisingly hilarious.

Lisa Frankenstein Should Have Been a Musical

I really wanted to enjoy Lisa Frankenstein, the new horror-comedy from Zelda Williams and Diablo Cody about a lonely teenager in the 80s who falls for a reanimated corpse. However, despite its bright, colorful look and enthusiastic cast, the movie feels surprisingly incomplete. It doesn’t quite succeed as either a horror film or a comedy, and it doesn’t seem to have a clear goal beyond being visually appealing and tapping into 80s nostalgia. It would have worked much better as a campy, satirical musical like Earth Girls Are Easy; then, its silliness would feel intentional instead of like a sign of an underdeveloped story.

The Mummy Should Have Been a Horror Movie

The 2017 attempt to reboot The Mummy as a big-budget action movie, similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was a clear misstep. While trying to follow in the footsteps of the popular 1999 film starring Brendan Fraser, the new version lacked the original’s sense of adventure. It didn’t succeed as a scary horror movie either, and ended up being surprisingly boring. The film flopped so badly that it derailed Universal’s plans for a shared “Dark Universe.” It makes you wonder if Tom Cruise’s Mummy could have done better by embracing a darker, more genuinely frightening take on ancient Egyptian horror. Perhaps we’ll see a glimpse of what could have been with the upcoming The Mummy directed by Lee Cronin, scheduled for 2026.

End of Days Should Have Been a Mystery Thriller

Released in late 1999, when many people were anxious about the new millennium, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action movie End of Days had the potential to be a major cultural event. It did get attention, but not for the right reasons. The film centers on a former detective who must protect a woman destined to bear the Antichrist and bring about a grim future. However, the movie reveals too much too soon, ruining any sense of suspense. Schwarzenegger and Gabriel Byrne’s performances feel mismatched, turning what could have been a dark and serious story into something unintentionally comical. It would have been better as a slow-paced, mysterious thriller like The Ninth Gate, which came out the same year.

Y2K Should Have Been a Rom-Com

The idea for the 2024 horror-comedy Y2K – set during the Y2K scare of 1999 – seemed promising, but the movie itself is a bigger failure than the disaster it portrays. It doesn’t quite capture the cult comedy vibe of films like Idle Hands, nor is it scary or funny enough to stand out like This Is the End. Instead, Y2K squanders its actors’ talents with a confusing plot, weak special effects, shallow nostalgia, and an inconsistent tone. The film might have worked better as a lighthearted, apocalyptic romance set in the 90s – something like Zombieland or Warm Bodies, but with technology as the central threat instead of zombies.

What About Bob? Should Have Been a Psychological Thriller

The 1991 comedy What About Bob?, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Bill Murray, centers around a meticulous psychiatrist whose life unravels when his clingy patient follows him and his family on vacation. Though the setup sounds like a horror film, it’s surprisingly hilarious, and the movie has gained a devoted following thanks to the fantastic chemistry between Dreyfuss and Murray, even during the most absurd scenes. It makes you wonder, though, how chilling Bill Murray’s portrayal of a disturbed character could be if he played a similar role in a truly dark thriller like Cape Fear or Unlawful Entry.

Face/Off Should Have Been an Action Comedy

John Travolta and Nicolas Cage deliver wildly over-the-top performances in Face/Off, one of the most delightfully absurd action movies of the 1990s. The 1997 thriller centers on an FBI agent and a terrorist who undergo a radical, experimental surgery to swap faces. The already outlandish plot is amplified by the actors’ dramatic and exaggerated performances. It’s a hugely entertaining film that might have been even better as a full-on parody of action movies, like The Naked Gun or Tropic Thunder.

The Mask Should Have Been a Body Horror

I know it’s a popular movie, but I never really enjoyed the cartoonish violence in 1994’s The Mask, even with Jim Carrey starring. The film, based on a comic book, is about a mild-mannered man who discovers a mask that turns him into a wildly chaotic, rubbery, green creature reminiscent of old Tex Avery cartoons. While it’s become a ’90s cult classic and influenced pop culture, the central transformation feels too violent and disturbing – almost like something from a body horror film. It’s interesting to note that the movie actually started as a horror project, which makes that darker interpretation feel even more fitting.

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2026-01-21 22:58