It’s the height of summer programming, which means the tentpoles are hitting theaters, but TV programming tends to be a little lighter. Not to worry, there is still a fine roster of debuts this week, including Netflix’s update on an Americana classic, a new HBO docuseries about Burning Man and a period crime drama starring JK Simmons and Titus Welliver, and bingeable new beach read adaptation with a cast full of familiar faces.
If you’re a film lover, this week’s new digital releases are slight, but they include the action movie everyone’s been buzzing about this year, as well as two acclaimed 2025 gems finding their way to streaming services. Check out the full list of the new movies and shows to watch this weekend below, from “The Furious” to “Big Brother.“
The Furious
If you’re an action fan, you’ve probably already got your eye on “The Furious.” Veteran fight coordinator Kenji Tanigaki directs, with action director Kensuke Sonomura orchestrating some of the most jaw-dropping action choreography in recent memory. Assembling a team of martial arts pros that includes Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian and Joey Iwanaga, the film is a full buffet of fighting styles, exquisitely orchestrated combat scenes, and tight, kinetic editing that pulls all the fury together.
The plot, if you require such a thing to enjoy your martial arts mayhem, is pretty straightforward and familiar: A man goes on a bloody, bone-busting mission to save his daughter after she gets kidnapped by criminals. But this movie is not about the set-up; it’s about the execution, which is a dazzling, dizzying display of athletic-meets-cinematic craftsmanship. As TheWrap critic William Bibbiani put it, good luck finding a better action movie this year.
The Long Walk
Last year’s “The Long Walk” has been heralded as an all-time great Stephen King adaptation since its very first screenings, and if you missed it in theaters, you can now catch it streaming on HBO Max. And based on the box office, way too many of you missed it in theaters!
Directed by “Constantine” and “The Hunger Games” franchise helmer (he’s directed every film since the second installment), Francis Lawrence, “The Long Walk” has a simple but wrenchingly effective set-up: fifty teenage boys compete in a walking competition and only one person walks out alive – you either keep pace, or you get shot, until only one victor remains. Or as the poster succinctly put it: walk or die. It has always sounded kind of goofy and underwhelming, but I assure you, it is not, especially with David Jonsson (“Alien: Romulus”) and Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”) delivering pretty much universally acclaimed performances that will, indeed, rip your heart out.
Little House on the Prairie
More than 50 years after the original series hit NBC, Netflix revives the beloved pastoral drama “Little House on the Prairie” with a new adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic semiautobiographical books about life on the American Frontier. The new adaptation drops all episodes of the first season on Thursday and comes from “The Housmaid” writer and “The Boys” EP Rebecca Sonnenshine, who brings her vision and self-professed lifetime of obsession with the source material as showrunner and executive producer on the new series.
Based on the third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s series, the first season follows the Ingalls (Alice Halsey as Laura, Luke Brace as Charles, Crosby Fitzgerald as Caroline, and Skywalker Hughes as Mary) as they build their future in the grasslands of Kansas, outside the burgeoning town of Independence.
Hamnet
Netflix subscribers can now witness Jessie Buckley’s astounding, Oscar-winning performance in Chloe Zhao’s 2025 historical drama “Hamnet.” Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling book of the same name, the story is basically told in two halves: There’s a love story between William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and a woman named Agnes (Buckley), who would eventually be his wife. Then there’s a grief story after one of their children dies tragically, which — according to “Hamnet” at least — inspires Shakespeare to write his ghost story “Hamlet.”
Zhao brings her signature naturalistic flair to the film and Buckley gives a truly remarkable turn, but be warned: You will be crying, perhaps very heavily. The film dropped on Netflix on Monday, so you can at least do that crying from the comfort of your own home.
The Five Star Weekend
If it’s been too long since you sank your teeth into a star-studded beach-read adaptation, Peacock has your weekend binge covered with the arrival of “The Five Star Weekend.” Based on the book of the same name by “The Perfect Couple” author Elin Hilderbrand, the series stars Jennifer Garner as Hollis’, a recent widow who spontaneously decides to invite friends from all periods of her life — her bestie, mom friend, college buddy, and even an online friend she’s never met in person before. They all come carrying their own baggage, and not just their suitcases, leading to a wild weekend of soapy drama and cathartic confessions.
Garner is surrounded by one heck of an ensemble that sparks up quick chemistry, with Regina Hall, Chloë Sevigny, D’Arcy Carden, Jennifer Garner and Gemma Chan making up the core group of friends, and Judy Greer and Timothy Olyphant in supporting turns.
The Man Will Burn
Documentary lovers and desert-dwelling eccentrics alike, take heed: HBO has a new four-part docuseries all about Burning Man. “The Man Will Burn” debuted Thursday and will roll out new episodes weekly. Given wide-ranging, years-long access to the festival and the project that coordinates it every year, directors Jehane Noujaim and Vikram Gandhi offer a behind-the-scenes immersion in the week-long celebration of creative community that fills Nevada’s Black Rock Desert every year.
Picking up in 2021 amid the pandemic era and filmed in the years since, “The Man Will Burn” offers a look at the community behind the event often reduced to a cultural punchline, as well as the bureaucracy that makes it all happen and the challenges of keeping its spirit alive in the modern era. Everything about Burning Man – the desert setting and the patina of coordinated, costumed chaos that takes it over – always makes for striking imagery, and is fabulously well suited to a visually engrossing doc.
Big Brother Season 28
“Big Brother” returns for Season 28 on Thursday night, promising a summer full of ‘Time Trip’-themed twists. The house has been outfitted to celebrate different eras throughout history with specially designed rooms, all while welcoming 14 brand-new hamsters through its doors. Plus, CBS has even teased the inclusion of “additional surprise houseguests” to be revealed once the show has premiered.
As always, Julie Chen Moonves will be back to host live evictions every Thursday, in addition to new episodes on Sundays and Wednesdays — as well as the live feeds. That’s not even to mention that Jerry O’Connell is joining former winners Taylor Hale and Derrick Levasseur to present companion series “Big Brother: Unlocked” every other Friday night. Longtime fans have been blessed with two stand-out seasons in a row, so only time will tell if “BB” can pull off a modern trifecta in 2026.
The Westies
This week’s TV premieres have brought us the latest upmarket lit adaptation for your summer binge, the return of a reality TV titan and a classic TV revival, but maybe crime drama is more your speed. In that case, this week’s watch is “The Westies,” which debuts Sunday on MGM+ with a two-episode premiere.
Set in the 1980s, the series follows the title Irish gang at a critical inflection point; with the Jatvis Center construction underway on their Hell’s Kitchen home turf, generational conflict undermining the rules of operation and an FBI investigation into the Five Families of the Italian Mafia threatening to sweep them up too. The series comes from “Narcos” and “Godfather of Harlem” co-creator Chris Brancato and Michel Panes, with a great ensemble that includes J.K. Simmons, Titus Welliver, Tom Brittney, Stanley Morgan and Sarah Bolger.
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