The VOD debut of Lilo & Stitch, Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2, and acclaimed doccie Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story headline this week’s streaming releases, but there’s plenty of other noteworthy additions, including Dexter: Original Sin, and the streaming debut of video game adaptation Until Dawn.
SERIES
WWE: Unreal S1
29 July 2025 – Netflix
As many fans (mostly Darryn) will tell you, professional wrestling isn’t fake, it’s just prearranged. That’s a fancy way of saying that while the knocks and bumps are real, it’s all scripted out storylines. But how are those storylines crafted and by who? Well, for the first time ever, you can now “step into the WWE writer’s room and outside the ring with your favorite WWE Superstars, where the drama is just as intense offstage as it is under the spotlight”. WWE: Unreal is a new five-episode documentary series narrated by none other than Paul Levesque aka Triple H, a 14-time WWE World Champion and the promotion’s current Chief Content Office. Featuring superstars such as Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Rhea Ripley, CM Punk, Jey Uso, Bianca Belair, Chelsea Green, Charlotte Flair, and Xavier Woods, the series will show you a side of sports entertainment you never get to see.
Dexter: Original Sin S1
30 July 2025 – Showmax
Dexter is a back! Again. Kind of. Following the original eight-season run of everybody’s favourite forensic technician/vigilante serial killer which ended in his death, Dexter has somehow returned for two additional series in Dexter: Resurrection (death was just a mild inconvenience) and Dexter: New Blood. Now we have Dexter: Original Sin, but unlike all the other series featuring Michael C. Hall in the titular lead, this is a prequel set in Miami in 1991, 15 years before the events of the original show, introducing Patrick Gibson as a twenty-year-old forensic intern on the cusp of becoming the killer we would eventually know him to be. Becoming Showtime’s most viewed premiere ever upon its release in the US, Dexter: Original Sin has already been renewed for a second season.
Marked S1
31 July 2025 – Netflix
If you prefer your crime dramas closer to home though, then check out Marked. A new six-episode miniseries set in the streets of Jozi, the show follows Babalwa (Lerato Mvelase), a former cop turned cash-in-transit guard who lives a life of professional discipline and religious devotion to become the best at her job. But what would an honourable, devout mother do when her daughter’s health takes a lethal turn for the worst and there’s nobody to help her. Out of options and faced with an unthinkable reality, a desperate Babalwa bends her own rules for a small deal with a local criminal, only to see that single act spiral out into a mess of crime and drama around her.
MOVIES
Until Dawn
24 July 2025 – Netflix
Video game adaptations used to be an instant miss for many fans, but as of late it actually appears that Hollywood has cracked the code. Until Dawn is definitely not going to be held up alongside some of the greats of the genre like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 or Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, but with the seasoned horror direction of David F. Sandberg (Annabele: Creation, Lights Out, Shazam!) this is a solidly made supernatural thriller. If you’re familiar with the game… well, actually just forget about the game as Sandberg and screenwriters Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler put their own unique spin on things, unrelated its source material (well, kinda… but I’m not spoiling things). This time around, the story follows a group of friends, whose search for one girl’s missing sister leads them to a secluded house in the middle of nowhere filled with all sorts of mysteries. And monstrous killers. Escape from grisly fates seems impossible, especially due to the fact that everyday time loops back around again, throwing them back into the horrors.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
25 July 2025 – Showmax
Superman was recently reinvented on the big screen to critical acclaim by actor David Corenswet. And just like every other actor who wore the red cape before him, he was inevitable compared to the gold standard of the role: Christopher Reeve. The very first and arguably greatest big screen Superman, Reeve’s impact as the Man of Steel was historic. Which is why it was such a shock when he was cut low by a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralysed from the neck down. But becoming a quadriplegic couldn’t stop this real-life superhero. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is the critically-acclaimed award-winning feature documentary that details the incredible story of how Christopher Reeve shot to superstardom and then kept on flying even when faced with a debilitating injury as he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care. By all accounts, keep the tissues handy for when you’re watching this one.
Happy Gilmore 2
25 July 2025 – Netflix
It’s been 29 years since Adama Sandler’s Happy Gilmore first swung his way into fans’ hearts, and now the loud-mouthed hockey-player-turned-golfer is back. Once the most unconventional golfing tour champion ever, Gilmore seemingly fallen on tough times since his retirement from the sport. His wife doesn’t see him as the man she once fell in love with, and he has no way of paying for the very expensive ballet academy his daughter wants to attend. There’s only one thing to do: Get back on the green and start swinging a stick! Original Happy Gilmore co-stars Julie Bowen, Ben Stiller, and Christopher McDonald return, while the new cast is rounded out by Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (aka Bad Bunny), Sandler’s own daughters Sadie and Sunny Sandler, and Blake Clark.
Rob Peace
31 July 2025 – Showmax
Not many would know this, but Chiwetel Ejiofor is not only an insanely talented actor, but also a filmmaker in his own right. His latest directorial effort – which he also wrote and co-stars in – is Rob Peace, a new based-on-a-true-story biopic adapted from 2014 biography The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs (who was Peace’s real-life friend and Yale roommate). The film stars Jay Will as the eponymous brilliant young man, who seemed destined for greatness at Yale University. Rob had been raised by his devoted mother alone since the age of seven, when his father was arrested and convicted for an alleged murder. Years later, Rob still believed his father was innocent, and while at Yale, in the prime of his life, he risked everything he had worked for to free his imprisoned father. Even if that meant turning to a life of crime himself. Ejiofor stars as Rob’s father with Mary J. Blige playing his mother, while the cast is rounded out by Camila Cabello, and Michael Kelly.
RENTALS/PURCHASES
The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:
Lilo & Stitch
Purchase: Apple TV – R200
Rental: Apple TV – R170
I keep hearing people loudly lambasting Disney for doing all these live-action remakes of their own animated movies, and yet these movies keep making money. A lot of money, in fact. In the case of the live-action Lilo & Stitch, it’s made a whopping $1 billion since it hit cinemas just two months ago. And it would appear that Disney are really eager to make even more, because despite the fact that Lilo & Stitch is still playing in many cinemas worldwide, the blockbuster hit is now already available for VOD rental and purchase. For the three of you who have somehow not seen this movie or its original yet, the film follows orphaned Hawaiian girl Lilo Pelekai, who is raised by her struggling older sister, Nani, after their parents’ deaths, and Stitch, an aggressive and near-indestructible alien genetic experiment which escaped its captivity and crash landed on Earth in a spaceship. Pretending to be some kind of dog, Stitch ends up in an animal shelter where he encounters Lilo, who Nani has brought to get a friend in a desperate attempt to help the struggling young girl cope with her life. As Lilo adopts the chaotic Stitch – who has a pair of disguised alien trackers out to get him back – it kicks off a wild adventure all about the power of family, self-love, and identity.