The 7 best new movies and shows to stream this weekend

As another weekend rolls around, we’re back with some more fresh streaming recommendations. First up, grab your axes and head over to Netflix for Vikings: Valhalla season 3, the final installment in the action-packed Vikings sequel series. Over on Apple TV Plus, Rashida Jones stars in new comedy thriller Sunny, while a new batch of episodes from sitcom Abbott Elementary’s third season has now arrived in the UK via Disney Plus.

As for movies, IF, directed by John Krasinski, is now streaming on Paramount Plus in the US, while apocalyptic action-packed horror Arcadian, starring Nicolas Cage, is out now on Shudder for Stateside subscribers. Across the pond, UK Netflix subscribers can tune into horror flick Smile or George Clooney and Julia Roberts-led rom-com Ticket to Paradise.

Vikings: Valhalla season 3

(Image credit: Netflix)

Available: Worldwide
Watch now: Netflix

Vikings: Valhalla returns for a third and final season on Netflix. Set seven years after the events of the season 2 finale, the new installment sees Freydis (Frida Gustavsson) now the undisputed leader of Jomsborg, while Leif (Sam Corlett) and Harald (Leo Suter) have made their mark in Constantinople, but even greater challenges lie ahead… All eight episodes are available to stream now.

Sunny

(Image credit: Apple TV+)

Available: Worldwide
Watch now: Apple TV Plus

Parks and Recreation’s Rashida Jones stars in Sunny, a new dark comedy series on Apple TV Plus. Based on the novel The Dark Manual by Colin O’Sullivan, the show follows Suzie (Jones), an American woman living in Japan whose roboticist husband and their son disappear in a mysterious plane crash. Alone in Kyoto, Susie’s husband’s company gifts her Sunny, a newly developed domestic robot, to keep her company. As an unexpected friendship forms between the two, they start to uncover the truth about what really happened to Suzie’s family.

Abbott Elementary season 3 part 2

(Image credit: ABC)

Available: UK
Watch now: Disney Plus

The next batch of new episodes from Abbott Elementary season 3 is now on Disney Plus in the UK, after streaming on Hulu across the pond earlier this year. The remaining seven episodes are now available to watch, all the way through to the season finale, as we pick back up with optimistic second-grade teacher Janine (Quinta Brunson) and her faculty colleagues who work in an underfunded Philadelphia elementary school.

IF

(Image credit: Paramount)

Available: US
Watch now: Paramount Plus

The latest movie from A Quiet Place director John Krasinski is a much lighter affair – his new family film, in which he also stars, is concerned with imaginary friends rather than noise-sensitive aliens. When 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) has to move in with her grandmother while her father is in the hospital, she starts to see imaginary companions (voiced by a cast that includes Steve Carrell and Phoebe Waller-Bridge) left behind as their real-life children grow up. A UK Paramount Plus release will follow, but the date hasn’t been announced yet.

Arcadian

(Image credit: RLJE Movies)

Available: US
Watch now: Shudder

If you missed Arcadian’s brief theatrical window last month, you can now get stuck into the new post-apocalyptic horror movie at home thanks to Shudder. Nicolas Cage stars as Paul, a single father trying to raise his two teenage sons (Knives Out’s Jaeden Martell and Reacher’s Maxwell Jenkins) on a remote farm while aliens prowl the countryside every night when the sun goes down and a pandemic wipes out most of the population.

Smile

(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

Available: UK
Watch now: Netflix

Smile stars Sosie Bacon as Rose, a therapist who witnesses the suicide of one of her patients and is subsequently haunted by a string of eerily smiling people. The horror movie, directed by Parker Finn in his feature debut, made a killing (no pun intended) at the box office, and a sequel is on the way starring Naomi Scott and Rosemarie DeWitt. Smile 2 hits cinemas this October, so now’s the perfect time to get up to date on the series. 

Ticket to Paradise

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Available: UK
Watch now: Netflix

2022 rom-com Ticket to Paradise is now streaming on Netflix in the UK. Julia Roberts and George Clooney star as Georgia and David, divorced parents who put their differences aside to team up for a common cause: sabotaging their daughter Lily’s (Kaitlyn Dever) upcoming wedding. When she gets engaged after a whirlwind vacation romance in Bali, the ex-spouses believe she’s rushing into marriage and making the same mistake they did. The movie was directed by Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again helmer Ol Parker.

If there’s nothing here that tickles your fancy, then you might have to start looking into each streaming service’s back catalogue, which can be a daunting task given how many titles they each host. Fear not, though… if you’re a TV fan, then we’ve got you covered with our lists of the best Netflix shows, best Disney Plus shows, and the best Amazon Prime Video shows.