Netflix New Releases This Week: Top 10 Films and Series for MLK Weekend 2025

For Americans, a long weekend awaits on the occasion of Martin Luther King Day on January 20. If you’re planning to spend some time on Netflix, you’re probably looking for new releases or movie recommendations to watch. We are here to help you! Here’s everything new and trending on Netflix for the week ending January 17, 2025.

There is still much to discover as we pass the midpoint of January. We recently updated our January 2025 releases guide with new films and announced series, including Ballot, Here et Saturday Night.

If you’re looking for something to watch before it leaves Netflix in the coming weeks, we recommend two documentaries leaving the platform on Monday: The Pez Outlaw et Studio 54. Next week we will also see two films from ARRAY’s Ava DuVernay, Definition Please et Donkeyheadas well as the very good prison film with Vince Vaughn, Brawl in Cell Block 99.

Watch on Netflix this weekend

Back in Action (2025)

Classification : PG-13
Language : English
Genre : Action, Comedy
Director: Seth Gordon
Distribution : Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, McKenna Roberts
Screenwriters: Seth Gordon, Brendan O’Brien
Duration : 114 min / 1h 54m

Originally scheduled for release in mid-2024, Back in Action is finally available on Netflix today and marks the service’s first major cinematic release of 2025. Based on several reviews, including our own, it’s a solid film. As the film’s title suggests, Cameron Diaz returns to our screens after a ten-year absence and joins Jamie Foxx in an action comedy about two former spies drawn into their old lives in the CIA.

We gave the film 3 stars, concluding: “While it may not be the breakout performance we were hoping for in this big comeback, Back in Action has enough entertainment value to guarantee a pleasant January evening at home. »

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

Classification : R
Language : English
Genre : Action, Comedy, Crime
Director: Tom Gormican
Distribution : Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish
Screenwriters: Tom Gormican, Kevin Etten
Duration : 107 min / 1h 47m

On paper, this movie didn’t seem destined to work. It is a mixture of Being John Malkovich and a low-budget action thriller, but the end result really works and is thoroughly entertaining, although it’s best to turn your brain off at times.

Nicolas Cage plays himself and receives an invitation to a big birthday party for an astronomical sum of money. Everything is fine ? No. The superfan paying him is an internationally renowned criminal, and Cage quickly finds himself involved in a kidnapping.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (Saison 1)

Number of episodes: 6
Classification : TV-MA
Language : English
Genre : Drama, Horror, Thriller
Distribution : Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira, Pollyanna McIntosh
Screenwriters: Scott M. Gimple, Danai Gurira, Andrew Lincoln

The Walking Dead has gone in many directions since the main series aired on AMC. For some, the franchise is at its best, while others feel it’s exploited to the core. Anyway, if you’ve watched all eleven seasons of the main series, you probably owe this miniseries to your curiosity, which follows Rick Grimes and Michonne Hawthorne, brilliantly played by Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira.

With the addition of The One Who Lives (well that Dead City was also supposed to be released this week, but seems to have been delayed), you can treat yourself to a big binge-watching session of The Walking Dead. We invite you to consult our viewing guide on this subject.

Complete list of new releases on Netflix this week

As a reminder, you can find an extended version of this list on our home page What’s new on Netflix. There, every movie and series has expanded boxes with previews, trailers, plot information, casting, and more.

6 new films added this week

• Ari Shaffir: America’s Sweetheart (2025) Netflix Original – TV-MA – English
• Back in Action (2025) Netflix Original – PG-13 – English
• Hereditary (2018) – R – English
• Kingdom: Return of The Great General (2024) – TV-MA – Japanese
• Rifle Club (2024) – TV-MA – Malayalam
• The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) – R – English

16 new TV series added this week

• Babanba Banban Vampire (Season 1 – New episodes every week) – TV-MA – Japanese
• Captain Tsubasa (Saison 2) – TV-PG – Japanese
• Chef & My Fridge (Saison 1 – 2024) – TV-PG – Korean
• Galileo (Saison 1 ) – TV-14 – Japanese
• Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! (Saison 3 – Rising!) – TV-MA – Japanese
• Hell for You (Season 1 – New episodes every week) – TV-14 – Japanese
• Krapopolis (Season 1) – TV-14 – English
• Lovers Anonymous (Saison 1) Netflix Original – TV-MA – Turkish
• Public Disorder (Saison 1) Netflix Original – TV-MA – Italy
• SAKAMOTO DAYS (Season 1 – New episodes every week) Netflix Original – TV-MA – Japanese
• Single’s Inferno (Season 4) Netflix Original – TV-PG – Korean
• The Roshans (Saison 1) Netflix Original – TV-14 – No
• The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (Saison 1) – TV-MA – English
• Tokyo Love Story (Saison 1) – TV-PG – Japanese
• XO, Kitty (Season 2) Netflix Original – TV-14 – English
• Young, Famous & African (Saison 3) Netflix Original – TV-MA – English

1 new game added this week

• Netflix Stories: Sex Education (iOS and Android on the Netflix Stories app)

Most popular movies on Netflix US this week (January 10 – 17)

The supremacy of Despicable Me! Since their return on January 1, Illumination’s two titles have consistently topped the US charts, which is hardly surprising given their global performance on Netflix. If your child has been considering a rewatch, now is the time, as both films will leave the platform on February 1st.

1. Despicable Me 2 (74 points)
2. For Life (68 points)
3. Despicable Me (66 points)
4. Rush Hour (56 points)
5. Hotel Transylvania 2 (39 points)
6. Rush Hour 2 (30 points)
7. Due Date (29 points)
8. The Age of Adaline (19 points)
9. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (15 points)
10. Rush Hour 3 (10 points)
11. The Secret Life of Pets (10 points)
12. Hereditary (8 points)
13. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (7 points)
14. In the Heart of the Sea (4 points)
15. The Watchers (3 points)
16. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2 points)

Most popular series on Netflix US this week (January 10 – 17)

1. American Primeval (78 points)
2. Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action (63 points)
3. Squid Game (61 points)
4. Gabriel Iglesias: Legend of Fluffy (42 points)
5. Missing You (35 points)
6. Younger (32 points)
7. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (32 points)
8. The Breakthrough (28 points)
9. I Am a Killer (20 points)
10. The Upshaws (13 points)
11. XO, Kitty (10 points)
12. Castlevania: Nocturne (4 points)
13. Virgin River (3 points)
14. The Night Agent (1 point)

The most popular figures are provided by FlixPatrol which awards points to each film and series appearing in Netflix’s daily top 10 in the United States.

And you, what are you going to watch on Netflix this weekend? Let us know in the comments below.