5 best new movies to watch this weekend on Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu and more (July 19-20)
Leading the pack are two premium video-on-demand offerings: DreamWorks' live-action remake of "How to Train Your Dragon" and the AI horror turned action heroine "M3GAN 2.0." On Netflix, you'll find the psychological thriller "Wall to Wall," a twist-filled slow burn with an ending you'll never see coming. Hulu just got "The Amateur," Rami Malek's divisive action thriller. And HBO Max just got a nightmarish twist on the typical romcom formula with "I Love You Forever."
So without further ado, let's dive into the best new movies to watch this week on streaming.
DreamWorks hopped on the live-action remake train with "How to Train Your Dragon," and it seems to be a resounding success for the studio so far, pulling in over $450 million at the box office worldwide. It may not capture all of the same charm in live-action, but the story will undoubtedly be familiar and endearing to fans of the original.
In a fantastical world where Vikings and dragons are sworn enemies, everything changes after Hiccup (Mason Thames), the awkward son of the village chief, encounters an injured Night Fury and learns that dragons might not be the terrifying monsters his people believe them to be.
As he nurses the dragon Toothless back to health, an unlikely friendship forms. Together, they confront a looming danger threatening both humans and dragons, and Hiccup sets out to prove that both can coexist peacefully after all.
Streaming now with purchase on Amazon or Apple
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Netflix has another riveting new thriller on its hands, and it's shaping up to be the streamer's next hit. After office worker Woo-sung (Kang Ha-neul) takes on a hefty debt to buy his first apartment in a crowded South Korean city, the thrill of homeownership quickly gives way to anxiety when relentless, unexplained noises keep the entire building from getting a wink of sleep.
In his search for answers (and a bit of peace), he joins forces with his upstairs neighbor, Jin-ho (Seo Hyun-woo), while Eun-hwa (Yeom Hye-ran), the building's no-nonsense apartment rep, struggles to maintain order among the increasingly agitated residents. And the suffocating summer heat isn't helping anyone keep their cool.
As the strange noises get worse, dread creeps in, inch by inch, until you start questioning every sound and thinking twice about living so close to strangers.
Watch it now on Netflix
"M3GAN 2.0" failed to tap into the same viral success that the first movie enjoyed back in 2022, but as someone who had a blast watching it in theaters, I encourage you to ignore the haters and check it out for yourself. It's just the thing if you're in the mood for a popcorn movie with "Terminator" vibes.
The first "M3GAN" introduced us to the eerily lifelike android (played by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis), a creation of roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams) as a high-tech companion for her orphaned niece, Cady (Violet McGraw). But when M3GAN became self-aware and dangerously overprotective, Gemma and Cady were forced to shut her down (or so they thought).
The sequel picks up two years later after a new android, AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), leaves a trail of bodies in her wake. To stop her, Gemma and Caddy have no choice but to team up with a resurrected M3GAN to keep her rogue successor from unleashing untold AI horrors upon the world.
Buy or rent now on Amazon or Apple
Based on Robert Littell's novel, "The Amateur" opens like a classic espionage thriller: CIA codebreaker Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) is living an idyllic life with his wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), until everything shatters when she's killed in a terrorist attack while visiting London.
To get revenge, Charlie taps into his intelligence training to track down the culprits, only to be blocked by the very agency he works for. When the CIA refuses to act, he takes matters into his own hands, blackmailing his way into a crash course in field operations to secure the green light to hunt down the killers himself.
With zero field experience, he's way over his head and no match in a shootout, but his intellect and ingenuity may just give him the upper hand to finish the job the CIA won't.
Watch it now on Hulu
"I Love You Forever" has a pitch that definitely has me intrigued. It's a self-proclaimed "subversive" twist on the classic romcom formula of girl meets boy. At its center is Mackenzie (Sofia Black-D'Elia), a 25-year-old law student whose dating life is a blur of nameless hookups and zero attachment. That changes when she meets Finn (Ray Nicholson), a charming journalist who seems to offer something more substantial.
But as the initial spark fades and cracks begin to show, Mackenzie is forced to reckon with Finn's darker side as well. Red flags pile up as their relationship shifts from love bombing to controlling behavior, eventually spiraling into emotional abuse.
As she scrambles to trust herself and figure out how her dream relationship became such a nightmare, she questions her own ideas about love and the stories we tell ourselves about happily ever after.
Watch it now on HBO Max
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