This week’s streaming premieres were kicked off by a pair of wildly different but equally exciting video-on-demand debuts.
Elsewhere, Apple TV has one of the best new shows of 2026 premiering this week, while Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video both have ambitious new book adaptations arriving on their respective platforms. Additionally, Netflix has an animated film debuting on Friday that promises to offer some much-needed entertainment for the whole family this weekend.
Here are the best new movies and shows you can stream this week.
“Exit 8” (2026)
“Exit 8,” one of the most unique horror movies of the year, hit the video-on-demand market this week. Directed by Genki Kawamura and based on the 2023 video game of the same name, this liminal-space horror experience follows an unnamed man (Kazunari Ninomiya) who ends up trapped in a looping subway corridor and is forced to find anomalies in the loop in order to escape it.
The film received largely positive reviews from critics and, following its theatrical release earlier this month, is now available for you to check out from the comfort of your own home.
“Hoppers” (2026)
“Exit 8” is not the only new VOD arrival this week. Disney and Pixar’s animated sci-fi comedy “Hoppers” is also now available to buy and rent at home. Directed by Daniel Chong, this quirky, antic comedy follows an animal-loving college student (voiced by Piper Curda) who transfers her mind into the body of a lifelike robotic beaver so that she can communicate with a local group of animals and help them save their habitat from impending human destruction.
In doing so, she accidentally triggers a beaver uprising. “Hoppers,” in other words, has all the visual animated beauty and screwball humor it needs to give families 100 minutes of pure fun at home this week.
“Widow’s Bay” Season 1 (Apple TV)
“Widow’s Bay” is the biggest new TV show of the week. Created by “The Heat” writer Katie Dippold and directed in part by “Atlanta” and “Station Eleven” director Hiro Murai, “Widow’s Bay” is a horror comedy about the skeptical mayor (“The Americans” star Matthew Rhys) of a lonely, fictional New England island town as he attempts to turn it into a Martha’s Vineyard-esque tourist hot spot, despite local superstitions and mysterious specters suggesting that the entire island may actually be cursed.
The first two installments of the series’ 10-episode debut season premiered Wednesday on Apple TV, and you should check them out. Why? Because “Widow’s Bay” is already shaping up to be one of the best shows of the year.
“The House of the Spirits” (Prime Video)
“The House of the Spirits” is one of this week’s most intriguing new shows. An ambitious adaptation of author Isabel Allende’s 1982 novel of the same name, this Prime Video original series follows the passions, struggles and secrets of the proud Trueba family over the course of a century’s worth of violent social change. The family’s struggles culminate in a crisis that ends up pitting its tyrannical patriarch against his beloved granddaughter.
“The House of the Spirits,” consequently, has all the makings of being your next sprawling, lush historical drama addiction. Its first three episodes all premiered Tuesday on Prime Video, and its remaining five installments are set to arrive in batches over the next two two weeks.
“Man on Fire” Season 1 (Netflix)
“Man on Fire,” one of the most unexpected book adaptations of the year, premieres its first season Thursday on Netflix. Showrun by Kyle Killen and based on the 1980 novel of the same name by author A.J. Quinnell, “Man on Fire” stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as John Creasy, a former Special Forces mercenary whose attempt to escape the lingering PTSD from his past and start over fresh is violently interrupted by a sudden, undying need for revenge.
Denzel Washington previously played Creasy in Tony Scott’s underrated “Man on Fire” film. It seems unlikely that the Netflix series will be able to replicate the cinematic pleasures of that movie, but it may still succeed at delivering the same pulpy, action-movie-type thrills.
“Should I Marry A Murderer?” (Netflix)
“Should I Marry a Murderer?” is one of the wildest true-crime docuseries of the year so far. The new Netflix original tells the true story of how forensic pathologist Caroline Muirhead met and fell in love with a man who later became her fiancé. Their seemingly perfect future together was disrupted, however, when her partner confided a secret to her involving a murder and a body that was never found.
“Should I Marry a Murderer?” not only explores the crime at the center of its story, but also how Muirhead was forced to choose between the man she loved and justice for those who had been hurt by his crime. All three episodes of the doc premiered Wednesday on Netflix.
“Conbody vs Everybody” (Criterion Channel)
Filmed over the course of eight years, “Conbody vs Everybody” centers on Conbody, a New York City gym that was founded by a former drug dealer with the intention of employing only formerly incarcerated people in order to address recidivism. The five-part doc follows Conbody founder Coss Marte as his gym wages an uphill battle against both the stigma of incarceration and the endless wave of gentrification rolling over New York City.
Promising to be both an inspiring portrait of Marte’s mission and an uncompromising exploration of a social system that refuses to offer people second chances even after they have been punished, “Conbody vs Everybody” comes from “Winter’s Bone” and “Leave No Trace” filmmaker Debra Granik, and that alone makes it worth including on your watchlist this week.
“Swapped” (Netflix)
“Hoppers” is not the only family-friendly, animal-centric animated film arriving on streaming this week. Netflix also has “Swapped” coming to its platform on Friday. A Skydance Animation original directed by Nathan Greno, the film follows two natural enemies, a small woodland mammal and a majestic bird, who magically swap bodies and set off on an unlikely adventure together.
The movie’s voice cast includes recent Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan, “Ted Lasso” star Juno Temple, Tracy Morgan, Cedric the Entertainer, Justina Machado and others. If you want something new to watch with the whole family this weekend, you may not want to look any further than “Swapped.”
The Top 21 New Movies Streaming Now