The premiere of Marvel’s critically acclaimed Wonder Man series, the VOD debut of Best Picture Oscar nominee Bugonia, and the local streaming debut of Jurassic World: Rebirth lead this week’s list of streaming releases.
SERIES
Wonder Man S1
28 January 2026 – Disney+
2026 is arguably the most pivotal year for Marvel Studios since it launched the MCU with 2008’s Iron Man. Facing even more pressure than the release of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the studio is looking reestablish its franchise at the top in Hollywood, while also revitalizing it for years to come with the gargantuan Avengers: Doomsday. It’s ironic then that Marvel is kicking off its 2026 slate with one of its smallest and most intimate projects in Wonder Man. Much like the post-Endgame WandaVision, Wonder Man is a creatively unexpected and almost meta spin on the beloved classic comic book character of the same name. In the original stories, Wonder Man aka Simon Williams was a wealthy reformed-supervillain-turned-Avenger whose body was made of ionic energy (fun fact: his brain patterns were the ones used to create the synthezoid Vision). In this eight-episode series though, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Simon Williams is a struggling actor who is desperately get his big break by landing the leading role in a modern remake of the classic in-universe Wonder Man superhero film being directed by Von Kovak (Zlatko Burić), a legendary but reclusive director who is coming out of retirement to make this film. Needing help, Simon turns to Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley), the British actor who infamously played the fake Mandarin and actually has experience with real superheroes and pretending to be powerful. But here’s the thing though: Is Simon just pretending to be powerful or is he harbouring a devastating secret?! Early reviews for Wonder Man are GLOWING, with many declaring it every bit as creative and fresh as WandaVision was, with its standalone story surprising with its depth and character.
Shrinking S3
28 January 2026 – Apple TV
One of the best shows on Apple TV is returning for a third season. For the uninitiated, Shrinking stars Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird, a therapist who experiences his own tragedy and in his grief-stricken state decides to break all professional rules and tell his patients exactly what he thinks, leading to unexpected breakthroughs in both his and their lives. Of course, the scene stealer in the show is Harrison Ford as Dr. Paul Rhoades, a colleague of Jimmy’s who gets caught up in this new direct approach to therapy.
Bridgerton S4
29 January 2026 – Netflix
Despite its massive following and all the pop culture references to it, I am yet to watch a single minute of Bridgerton. As such, I am completely the wrong person to comment on the Regency Era romantic drama series’ upcoming fourth season return… and thus I won’t. I will just let the official synopsis do the talking on this one: “Bridgerton returns for a fairy-tale inspired fourth season. Bohemian second son Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) refuses to settle down, despite pleas to the contrary from matriarch Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell). Until — at Violet’s masquerade ball, Benedict is awestruck by a masked, mysterious Lady in Silver. With the reluctant help of his sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie), Benedict sets out in society to uncover the young lady’s identity. But in fact, his heart’s desire is not in society at all — she is a resourceful maid called Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), working for the formidable Lady of the house, Araminta Gun (Katie Leung). When fate brings Benedict and Sophie back together, Benedict wrestles between the reality of his affection for this intriguing maid and the fantasy of the Lady in Silver — unaware that they are the same person. Will Benedict’s inability to see these women as one in the same derail the undeniable spark between him and Sophie? And can love truly conquer anything — even a cross-class connection forbidden by society?”. In increasingly typical Netflix fashion, the fourth season Bridgerton is being split into two parts, with Part 1 dropping next Thursday, and Part 2 out on 26 February.
MOVIES
Jurassic World: Rebirth
23 January 2026 – Showmax
Just one day after receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, Jurassic World: Rebirth is making its long-awaited local streaming debut. Officially the sixth-highest grossing film of 2025, Rebirth was definitely a commercial success even if it had a mixed critical reception. The latest chapter in the Jurassic franchise, Rebirth is set a number of years after the dramatic events of Jurassic World: Dominion (which was truly a terrible movie) that saw dinosaurs and humans eventually adapt a peaceful co-habitation of the Earth. Unfortunately for the returned reptiles, most of modern Earth’s climate has since proven to be unsuitable for them, killing off many and forcing the survivors to live only in “exclusion zones” in equatorial regions. When it’s discovered though that the DNA of certain de-extincted prehistoric creatures may hold the key to a medical breakthrough that could make billions (and save lives, of course), former covert operative turned mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) is recruited by a large pharmaceutical company to put together a team to infiltrate one of these wild exclusion zone to retrieve samples from the biggest dinos around. Yes, we’re going back to a deadly island AGAIN! On the team is paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), Zora’s fellow merc Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), and skeevy pharmaceutical rep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend). When the team encounters a shipwrecked family on the way to the island, it sets off a chain of events that throw them right into non-stop danger.
The Big Fake
23 January 2026 – Netflix
They say you fake it till you make it. But what if faking it is exactly how you make it? Set in Rome in the 1970s, The Big Fake is a new Italian thriller inspired by true events and follows Pietro Castellitto (son of veteran Italian actor Sergio Castellitto) as Toni Chichiarelli, an aspiring artist who inadvertently found himself becoming a master forger for numerous criminal gangs. As Toni gets more and more involved in the criminal underbelly of the Eternal City, his influence grows beyond just forged artworks as he inadvertently becomes part of Italy’s hidden history.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
23 January 2026 – Netflix
I Know What You Did Last Summer was one of the big franchises in the late 90s/early 2000s heyday of Hollywood slashers, so it felt appropriate that we got a revival in the same year as peer Final Destination made a big splashy return. But while Final Destination: Bloodlines was hogging headlines and breaking box office records in early 2025, there was almost no real promo hype build-up for the new I Know What You Did Last Summer. It kind of just released out of nowhere, and while profitable at the box office, it was barely a blip on the social zeitgeist radar. All of which is to say that chances are, if you’re reading this, you didn’t see it in cinema. Well, now you can fix that at home as the film hits makes its local streaming debut on Netflix. Essentially a rebooquel, the new movie introduces a brand-new young cast (with appearances by OGs Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt) but basically follows the plot of the original: When five friends inadvertently cause a deadly car accident, they cover up their involvement and make a pact to keep it a secret rather than face the consequences. A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they’re forced to confront a horrifying truth: someone knows what they did last summer… and is hell-bent on revenge.
RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
Bugonia
Purchase: Apple TV – R150
Rental: Apple TV – R45
In the same week that it landed itself Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score, Bugonia makes its local VOD debut. Eclectic filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest picture – his fourth collaboration with Stone – is arguably his most straightforward vehicle, but that doesn’t mean it’s not captivating! This is mostly due to the performances from Stone and co-star Jesse Plemons who absolutely turn in some of the best work of their career in this trippy black comedy. Stone plays Michelle Fuller, the uber wealthy CEO of a big pharmaceutical conglomerate who finds herself kidnapped by Plemons’ Teddy Gatz and his young autistic cousin. While most in Teddy’s small town view him as an odd but harmless man who experienced a tragedy when his mother, participating in a clinical trial, was rendered permanently comatose by the drug being tested on her. But Teddy is actually an unhinged conspiracy theorist who believes various tech billionaires are actually aliens who are conducting experiments on humans. And he’s about to kickstart the human resistance by getting Michelle to confess that she’s one of these extraterrestrial invaders!