Deadpool 3, Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, and every new movie on streaming

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, Deadpool & Wolverinethe 34th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, arrives on Disney Plus following its VOD premiere early in October. There’s plenty of other new releases to enjoy this week, like Twisters on Peacock, Transformers One on Paramount Plus, the “geri-action” revenge comedy Thelma on Hulu, and the scintillating crime-drama musical Emilia Perez starring Zoe Saldaña (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) on Netflix. Not to mention a bunch of new movies arrive on VOD, like Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis starring Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and Make a pie starring Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Last Jedi).

Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: Page 114/Why Not Productions/Pathé Films/France 2 Cinéma

Genre: Crime musical
Run time: 2h 12m
Director: Jacques Audiard
Cast: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez

Cannes Jury Prize winner Emilia Perez is a crime film, a comedy, and a musical. Based on an opera libretto of the same name, Emilia Perez follows a cartel leader who wants to complete her gender transition. She hires a lawyer to help her find a surgeon, fake her own death, and hide her family away for their safety. But Emilia can’t quite run from her life of crime, and when she tries to reunite with her family, that shady past comes back to haunt her.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Image: Kindred Spirit/UTA Independent Film Group

Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: Dominic Savage
Cast: Elliot Page, Hillary Baack, Peter Outerbridge

Elliot Page stars as a man named Sam who travels to his hometown for the first time in four years to celebrate his father’s birthday. In the face of familial tension, a lot involving his family struggling to accept his gender transition, Sam reconnects with an old flame. Close to You premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, with critics praising Page’s naturalistic performance.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

A woman in a black dress and hat standing next to a basket of grapes in front of a field of corn in Widow Clicquot.

Image: Vertical Entertainment

Genre: Drama
Run time: 1h 30m
Director: Thomas Napper
Cast: Haley Bennett, Tom Sturridge, Natasha O’Keeffe

This period drama stars Haley Bennett (Swallow) as Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, the widow of an 18th-century vigneron who becomes the head of their fledgling vineyard after his untimely passing. Weathering financial difficulty and political turmoil, Barbe-Nicole must struggle to make a name for herself and nurture the company to fruition.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

A man and a woman dancing in Hot Frosty.

Hot Frosty. (L-R) Dustin Milligan as Jack Snowman and Lacey Chabert as Kathy Barrett in Hot Frosty. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix

Image: Netflix

Genre: Fantasy rom-com
Run time: 1h 30m
Director: Jerry Ciccoritti
Cast: Lacey Chabert, Dustin Milligan, Katy Mixon

This questionably titled romantic comedy follows Kathy (Lacey Chabert), a recently widowed woman who finds herself alone for the holidays. After accidentally bringing a handsome snowman named Jack (Dustin Milligan) to life, Kathy quickly finds herself head over heels for our sexy new beau. As their relationship heats up, can both of them keep their cool?

Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu

June Squibb and Richard Round Tree as Thelma and Ben, look to their right as they motor down the sidewalk on a two-seater mobility scooter in Thelma.

Image: Magnolia Pictures

Genre: Action comedy
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Josh Margolin
Cast: June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree

Thelma is a revenge flick about one woman journeying across Los Angeles to reclaim what’s been taken from her… and also she happens to be 93 years old, so a lot of that trekking is done on a senior mobility scooter.

Thelma watches a Mission: Impossible film during the movie, and her Tom Cruise inspiration is not just there in spirit, but in the text itself. After she gets scammed, it’s seeing Cruise’s face on a magazine that inspires Thelma to take justice into her own hands. But that kind of sincerity wouldn’t work without Thelma’s terrific and committed performances, particularly from Squibb and Roundtree. Both actors are terrifically funny, and Roundtree’s charm gives the movie a tremendous amount of heart. For her part, Margolin says Squibb was adamant about owning the Tom Cruise mantle and doing as many stunts as she could herself.
It’s rare that a summer action movie also happens to be one of the funniest and sweetest movies of the year, but Thelma manages to pull it off. So if you’re feeling the lack of Tom Cruise at movie theaters this year, just remember that Thelma and June Squibb are there, carrying the torch in his honor.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Max

Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).

Image: 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios

Genre: Superhero action
Run time: 2h 8m
Director: Shawn Levy
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin

Ryan Reynolds reprises his role as Deadpool, the so-called Merc with a Mouth, in his first-ever appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After being abducted by the Time Variance Authority, Deadpool embarks on a quest to recruit an alternate universe version of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to help prevent his own universe from being destroyed. Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) plays Mr. Paradox, a rogue member of the TVA, and Emma Corrin (A Murder at the End of the World) portrays Cassandra Nova, Professor X’s evil twin sister from an alternate universe.

Deadpool & Wolverine has made its hero the worst kind of comic book character: one who doesn’t stand for anything. It’s a terrible irony. Fans worried that Disney’s corporate control and the MCU’s rigid narrative oversight would leech away Deadpool’s edge: the swearing and the jocular violence. Turns out, that part was fine. Instead, the MCU just took his fuckin’ heart.

Where to watch: Streaming on Paramount Plus

B-127, D-16, Orion Pax, and Elita-1 contemplate a map of Cybertron in a still from Transformers One

Image: Paramount Pictures

Genre: Sci-fi adventure
Run time: 1h 17m
Director: Josh Cooley
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson

This animated prequel to the Transformers franchise chronicles the origins of Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) — years before they would later become known as Optimus Prime and Megatron. Set on the planet of Cybertron, Transformers One centers on Orion and D-16’s friendship before a quirk of fate set them on the path to becoming bitter enemies.

Director Josh Cooley’s semi-reboot of the Transformers cinematic universe — whether it has any association with the Transformers Bay-verse is somehow unclear — is better than its prequel premise (and trailers) suggests. Transformers One is funny, sometimes sweet, occasionally heartbreaking, and utterly convincing in telling an origin story for friends turned foes Optimus Prime and Megatron. Thanks to its strong cast and a solid story buttressed by a classic hero’s journey, Transformers One has a spark that we’ve rarely seen in a Transformers flick outside of 2018’s Bumblebee.

Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock

Image: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Genre: Disaster thriller
Run time: 2h 2m
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos

Director Lee Isaac Chung follows up his 2020 breakthrough to the pain with a stand-alone sequel to the 1996 film Twister. Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, Twisters follows a dueling group of storm chasers as they attempt to navigate and survive a outbreak of tornadoes wreaking havoc through Oklahoma.