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New movies streaming this weekend: Best Picture winner ‘Anora’ now on Hulu, 'Wicked' arrives on Peacock
It’s hard to keep track of when new movies hit streaming services, but we’ve got you covered!
It’s a stacked weekend for new streaming releases. If you were waiting for your chance to see Oscar-nominated films, there’s no better time. Best Picture winner Anora, Wicked and the critically acclaimed Sing Sing are available on services you’re likely already paying for. Also available for your viewing pleasure are the somber post-apocalyptic Halle Berry vehicle Never Let Go, and Den of Thieves: Pantera, the long-awaited sequel to 2018's Den of Thieves.
Here’s what to know about the movies newly available to stream this week, and where you can find them.
Click on the links below to jump straight to a specific movie:
Anora
Anora didn’t just win Best Picture, it earned breakout star Mikey Madison, 25, a Best Actress Oscar in an unexpected win over Demi Moore for her performance in The Substance. Think of the movie as a more modern and honest take on Pretty Woman or even a classic fairy tale like Cinderella. Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch, but just as soon as the whirlwind romance starts, it’s over as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
The movie cycles through many tones, turning into a screwball comedy halfway through, and is at its best when it’s a bunch of goons trying to wrangle Anora, who’s an uncontrollable force. It’s a movie equal parts tragic, sweet and laugh-out-loud funny, and its hard-R rating makes it feel like an edgy choice for Best Picture, showing that the Academy is able to keep up with the times.
How to watch: Anora is now streaming on Hulu.
Wicked
If you’ve held off on seeing Wicked until now, your patience has been rewarded, as both the original film and the sing-along version are currently streaming on Peacock. The film, which is based on the iconic Broadway production (itself based on a book) was a box-office smash hit as well as an awards season darling, catapulting its stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to stratospheric levels of fame.
When ostracized and misunderstood green-skinned Elphaba is forced to share a room with the popular aristocrat Galinda, the pair’s unlikely friendship is tested as they begin to fulfill their respective destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West. As Conan O'Brien joked at the Oscars, “It’s the perfect movie for anybody who’s ever finished watching The Wizard of Oz and thought, ‘Sure, but where did all the minor characters go to college?’”
How to watch: Wicked is now streaming on Peacock.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera
Gerard Butler returns as fan-favorite dirtbag Big Nick in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, which arrives seven years after the original heist movie became a cult hit due to its devotion and emulation of another beloved heist movie from 1995: Michael Mann’s Heat.
In the sequel, Big Nick is still on the hunt for Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) after his escape at the end of the original film, and we see that it’s upended his life — the movie opens with him clutching divorce papers. It’s not long before Big Nick heads abroad to Nice and, hilariously, teams up with Donnie to carry out a diamond heist. Can Nick’s heel-turn be trusted?
With a third film recently announced, star O'Shea Jackson Jr. says he’s eager to keep the franchise going. "I keep telling Gerard, I'm a big fan of Fast and Furious, I'm gonna use you until you're 90, bro," he told Yahoo Entertainment. "We're gonna do this forever."
This series may just be diet Heat, but a lesser version of one of the best movies ever made still sounds great, and Jackson and Butler’s chemistry takes it to a whole other joyous level. Bring on the sequels!
How to watch: Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is now streaming on Netflix.
Sing Sing
Sing Sing has to be one of the most overlooked movies of last year; it earned three Oscar nominations and yet still feels like an under-appreciated gem due to it not being available to stream for free — until now. The film is based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program that has been in operation since 1996 at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison roughly 30 miles north of New York City.
In the film, Colman Domingo plays John “Divine G” Whitfield, a real person who was an actor and playwright in the RTA program while wrongfully incarcerated for many years. A majority of the actors who portray his fellow RTA members are also alums, including Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin, who plays a version of himself. It’s an extraordinarily moving film, full of fresh and exciting performances, but it’s also an important one, showing the enormous impact that the arts can have on people.
How to watch: Sing Sing is now streaming on Max.
Never Let Go
Fans of the horror genre are likely familiar with director Alexandre Aja, also responsible for the 2003 French crossover hit High Tension, the popular 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes and 2019’s Crawl, in which Kaya Scoledario tries to outmaneuver an alligator for 90 minutes.
He’s back with Never Let Go, which follows in the grand tradition of the recent spat of “metaphor horror” movies. The entire premise from the ground-up here is allegory. As an evil takes over the world beyond a family’s front doorstep, the only protection for a mother and her twin sons is their house and their family’s protective bond.
It may look a lot like M. Night Shyamlan’s Knock at the Cabin at first glance, but as the movie progresses, it reveals itself to be more about mental health than any actual apocalypse, and the fears of passing that down to your children. Halle Berry is very good and committed to her part, as are the two young boys cast as her children. It’s not a fun watch, so to speak, but it’s somber and affecting, and few genre filmmakers are as good as Aja at creating a scary atmosphere.
How to watch: Never Let Go is now streaming on Starz.