Trailer Round-Up: How to Make a Killing, Dead Man’s Wire, GOAT, Kraken, Y: Marshals & More!
🎥 📺 It's your weekly dose of Trailer Round-Up!
Okay, it’s that time again where we take a look at the past week’s new trailer releases. Now, coming off a Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. (and we hope you had a safe, relaxing break), last week has been slow with its overall output. But as we head straight into the start of the Christmas season, we suspect plenty of new trailers will start dropping fast as studios gear up for the end-of-year rush. But in case you missed anything or overlooked anything last week, we’ve got you covered. Here’s our wrap-up of all the buzziest movie and TV trailers that got people talking.
As always, we’d like to take a moment to thank all our Substack subscribers, as your continued support is the thing that keeps us going. And to all of you who joined our newsletter list this past week, we’d like to say welcome! And know that we’ve made it our mission to keep our readers informed with what’s coming out on both the big screen and the small.
🎥 NEW MOVIE TRAILERS:
Every family tree needs a little pruning!
🎥 How to Make a Killing — Trailer
(in theaters Feb 20th)
Is Hollywood overselling Glen Powell? Maybe. But before we write him off post–Running Man slump, here comes How to Make a Killing, a pitch-black revenge romp that might be his sharpest pivot yet.
Here, Powell plays Becket Redfellow, a blue-collar outcast disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family. Now grown and nursing a grudge the size of their trust fund, he’s ready to prune the family tree (forever!) to get his billionaire-dollar payback. Margaret Qualley co-stars as his lethally seductive partner in crime, backed by a stacked ensemble: Ed Harris, Jessica Henwick, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, and Topher Grace.
While the Alec Guinness–starring 1949 dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets is the inspirational template, writer-director John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal) takes the knives out for this inherited-wealth dark satire, blending savage social commentary with off-kilter comic flair. If Ford turned Aubrey Plaza steely and revelatory, can he do the same for Powell’s golden-boy charisma?
This hits theaters February 20, 2026.
How far can one man go before he goes too far?
🎥 Dead Man’s Wire — Trailer
(in theaters Jan 9th, expands wide Jan 16th)
Legendary two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Milk) is back after seven years with Dead Man’s Wire, a true-crime hostage thriller starring Bill Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis, a desperate Indianapolis man who kidnapped a mortgage broker in 1977, rigging a shotgun to his neck with a dead man’s switch. His demand? A simple apology.
Facing foreclosure and stonewalled by lenders, Kiritsis took Richard O. Hall ( Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery) hostage, turning a personal grievance into a multi-day media spectacle. Sing Sing’s Colman Domingo co-stars as the detective managing the standoff, while Oscar-winner Al Pacino portrays the mortgage company president who refused to apologize — even with his own son at gunpoint.
Austin Kolodney’s debut screenplay taps into anxieties that still sting: economic exploitation, media frenzy, and public sympathy for the wrong kind of hero. With Cary Elwes, Myha’la, and Kelly Lynch rounding out the cast, this one’s primed to spark uncomfortable conversations. Are we a society that wants to root for a violent antihero? Or perhaps we always have been.
Hitting theaters January 9th in limited release, followed by nationwide January 16th.
You don’t have to be big to be the greatest.
🎥 GOAT — Trailer
(in theaters Feb 13th)
Move over, Space Jam! ’Cuz there’s a new animated sports underdog in town, and this one’s got hooves. Sony Pictures Animation (the studio behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) and the creators of Netflix’s anime musical phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters serve up GOAT, a high-octane animal sports comedy that takes “greatest of all time” delightfully literally.
Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin voices Will, a scrappy young goat with NBA-sized dreams who gets recruited to play roarball — a full-contact, co-ed sport dominated by predators who see him less as a teammate and more as a halftime protein snack. Cue the skeptical side-eye and “smalls can’t ball” doubters. But Will’s got game, and what he lacks in height, he more than makes up for in heart and competitive drive.
Directed by Emmy-winner Tyree Dillihay (Bob’s Burgers) and co-directed by Adam Rosette, with NBA superstar Stephen Curry exec-producing (and cameoing), the stacked voice cast includes Gabrielle Union, Nicola Coughlan, Nick Kroll, David Harbour, and Jenifer Lewis.
It’s Rudy meets Zootopia with a crossover — proof that even the smallest hooper can rise to GOAT status! In theaters February 13th, 2026.
The ocean has a temper... and it’s rising!
🎥 Kraken — Trailer
(Coming Soon 2026)
When eco-arrogance meets ancient mythology, you get Kraken. It’s Norway’s latest aquatic terror from The Tunnel director Pål Øie. The setup? A “superior salmon” sonic program gone sideways, waking something colossal and supremely pissed off from the depths of Norway’s fjord — a creature locals have feared for generations.
Sara Khorami leads as a marine biologist who quickly realizes those ancient sea-monster folktales weren’t just bedtime stories when teenagers turn up dead and the water starts behaving... unnaturally. Cue malfunctioning equipment, shifting currents, and one very angry mythological sea beast with a vendetta against human hubris.
With 70% of Earth’s oceans still unexplored, Kraken taps into that primal “what if?” fear — because if you mess with the deep, the deep will definitely mess back. Surfacing in U.S. theaters in 2026, this tentacled revenge saga proves folklore and environmental horror make one hell of a monster mash.
The nightmare is far from over.
🎥 The Strangers: Chapter 3 — Teaser
(in theaters Feb 6th)
What began as a home invasion became a town-wide conspiracy. Now, it’s the grand finale... and Madelaine Petsch’s Maya has nowhere left to run, nowhere to hide and no one left to trust. So it’s time for her to finally face what’s been hunting her from the start.
Veteran genre director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea) closes out his reimagined Strangers trilogy with the brutal final showdown fans have been bracing for since 2022. Petsch returns as the lone survivor trapped in a small town where everyone seems to be in on the nightmare. Gabriel Basso is back as the unmasked slasher Gregory, Ema Horvath reprises sadistic waitress Shelly, and genre vet Richard Brake returns as the corrupted Sheriff Rotter, whose grin hides something far darker.
Written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland (based on Bryan Bertino’s original characters), this closer promises axe-swinging mayhem and a blood-soaked reckoning. All three films were shot back-to-back, so now the masks — metaphorically, at least — finally come off.
Hitting theaters February 6th.
🎥 additional movie trailers:
🎥 “Safe” 30th Anniversary Trailer: Todd Haynes’ Chilling Environmental Paranoia Drama Celebrates 30 Years With a Stunning 4K Restoration, Featuring Julianne Moore’s Quietly Devastating Breakthrough Performance — Opening December 5th at IFC Center
Todd Haynes’ quietly radical 1995 drama gets a 4K restoration just in time to rattle a new generation. Julianne Moore delivers one of her most haunting performances as a L.A. housewife convinced her pristine world is poisoning her—allergies spiraling into full-body terror despite zero proof. Fleeing to a New Mexico retreat only pushes her deeper inward, unearthing questions about identity, control, and modern life’s slow unraveling. Three decades later, this overlooked ‘90s masterpiece feels eerily prophetic in an age of pandemic-conspiracy and mounting paranoia.
🎥 “Serious People” Trailer: A Music Video Director Hires a Lookalike to Salvage His Career in Pasqual Gutierrez and Ben Mullinkosson’s Indie Meta Comedy — Opening December 12th in NY and LA with VOD Release on Dec 16th
Music-video director Pasqual Gutierrez stars in his own chaotic comedy about hiring a doppelgänger to cover his gigs while his wife goes into labor. Predictably, coaching his clone becomes another job, his creative partner implodes, and a high-stakes shoot combusts. Sharp, self-aware, and set in L.A.’s ego-fueled hustle, it’s a biting look at ambition, replaceability, and the absurd lengths we go to keep all the plates spinning.
🎥 “Tapawingo” Trailer: Jon Heder Becomes an Unlikely Bodyguard in This Offbeat Small-Town Comedy About Bullies, Bingo, and Big Dreams — Arriving on VOD/Digital December 2nd
Jon Heder and Jay Pichardo play two delusional losers who split their time between bingo nights and elaborate hero fantasies—until one stumbles into bodyguard duty for a local outcast teen. When marked for payback, these self-appointed warriors finally get their “mission,” just not remotely how they pictured it. With Gina Gershon and Billy Zane rounding out the weirdness, it’s proof that glory doesn’t always look heroic.
🎥 “Visions” Trailer: Diane Kruger Stars as an Airline Captain Pulled Into a Torrid Love Affair in Yann Gozlan’s French Psychological Drama — In Select Theaters & On VOD/Digital December 12th
Diane Kruger stars as a high-flying airline captain whose flawless life with husband (Mathieu Kassovitz) spirals when she falls hard for another woman, played by Marta Nieto. Director Yann Gozlan delivers a taut French psychological drama about desire derailing duty, watching Estelle’s control disintegrate as passion takes the wheel.
🎥 “Hazel’s Heart” Trailer: Madelyn Dundon & Stelio Savante Star in a True Frontier Blizzard Survival Story From Writer-Director Daniel Bielinski — On VOD/Digital December 23rd
A sudden North Dakota blizzard traps three kids in the frozen wild, turning their school walk into a fight for survival. Based on a true story, Madelyn Dundon leads as young Hazel Miner, holding her siblings together as cold and darkness overpower their homestead in writer-director Daniel Bielinski’s harrowing frontier survival drama.
🎥 “Carol and Joy” Trailer: Carol Kane Shares a Tender Afternoon With Her 98-Year-Old Mother in This Intimate Documentary Short — Debuting Mon, December 1st on Criterion Channel
Actress Carol Kane invites cameras into her Upper West Side apartment for an intimate portrait of an afternoon with her 98-year-old mother Joy—a former dancer, lifelong music teacher, and Francophile still radiating charm. It’s a warm, tender, unhurried look at their daughter-mother bond, full of laughter, stories, and the quiet grace of time well-spent.
🎥 “The Voice of Hind Rajab” Trailer: Filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania Reconstructs a Child’s Final Hours in a Devastating Gaza Docudrama — Opening December 17th at NY’s Film Forum
Filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania reconstructs the agonizing final hours of six-year-old Hind Rajab through real phone calls between a terrified child trapped in Gaza and the Red Crescent volunteers desperately trying to reach her. This Arabic docudrama, Tunisia’s official Oscar entry, turns crisis into unbearable intimacy—capturing the chaos, the heroism, and the heartbreak of lives caught in crossfire.
🎥 For more trailers, check out our latest ☰ “Trailer Blitz” post, covering a range of new indie and foreign movies coming out soon, click the link below:
📺 NEW TELEVISION TRAILERS:
A Dutton with a badge is a dangerous thing.
📺 Y: Marshals — Teaser Trailer
(on CBS Mar 1st)
The Dutton saga isn’t over... it’s just getting a federal badge. Luke Grimes returns as Kayce Dutton in Y: Marshals, a Yellowstone spinoff that ditches ranch drama for high-stakes law enforcement with a military edge.
Set after Kayce sells off the iconic family ranch, the series follows the former Navy SEAL as he joins an elite U.S. Marshals unit protecting Montana. Mixing cowboy grit with tactical precision and plenty of moral ambiguity, it’s a natural evolution for Kayce, who spent Yellowstone’s final seasons straddling violence and duty as a livestock officer. Now he’s enforcing the law for the entire state, whether he’s running from his past or straight into it.
Gil Birmingham, Mo Brings Plenty, and Brecken Merrill return as Thomas Rainwater, Mo, and Kayce’s teenage son Tate Dutton. Kelsey Asbille’s Monica is, however, notably absent, fueling fan speculation that her character’s fate may have driven Kayce to join the Marshals. Meanwhile, Logan Marshall-Green, Arielle Kebbel, and Tatanka Means round out the cast as hard-nosed agents.
Showrunner Spencer Hudnut (SEAL Team) brings Taylor Sheridan’s universe to CBS, serving as the network’s first Dutton spinoff. So expect some of the hard edge to be sanded off for broadcast practices and standards. Also expect the series to bring a whole lot of heat when it premieres Sunday, March 1st, 2026, on CBS; streams next day on Paramount+.
One man’s masterpiece is another man’s curse.
📺 Amadeus — U.K. Trailer
(on Sky TV, UK Dec 21st)
Forty years after Miloš Forman’s Oscar-winning Amadeus turned 18th-century rivalry into high drama, Sky TV is revisiting Peter Shaffer’s iconic play with kinetic modern energy and full rock-star treatment.
Will Sharpe (The White Lotus) dons the powdered wig as Mozart — dazzling, arrogant, volatile — storming into Vienna at 25, no longer a child prodigy but a grown genius with a temper moving faster than anyone can follow. Paul Bettany (WandaVision) plays the eternally tormented Salieri, whose faith and ego shatter the instant he hears Mozart play. What begins as creative competition becomes a 30-year psychological cage match fueled by envy, obsession, and the unbearable truth that genius doesn’t always choose the deserving.
Gabrielle Creevy co-stars as Mozart’s fiercely loyal wife Constanze, alongside Rory Kinnear, Lucy Cohu, Jonathan Aris, Ényì Okoronkwo, and Jessica Alexander. Written by Joe Barton (Black Doves) and directed by Julian Farino (Giri/Haji), this five-episode miniseries proves talent isn’t always rewarded... and envy remains the most dangerous instrument of them all.
Premieres Sunday, December 21st on Sky TV in the U.K.; U.S. date TBA.
Paging Dr. Dorian ... again!
📺 Scrubs: Season 10 — Teaser
(on ABC Feb 25th)
Fifteen years since it last aired, the long-running medical sitcom Scrubs will be wheeling back into Sacred Heart. And yes, J.D. and his fellow compatriots will once again be scrubbed up and ready to turn the hospital upside down.
The long-rumored revival finally has a pulse, reuniting Zach Braff, Donald Faison, and Sarah Chalke as Doctors J.D. Dorian, Christopher Turk, and Elliot Reid, all called back into action — this time as attending physicians tasked with training a new crop of clueless interns. Time may have changed medicine, but it can’t touch the J.D.–Turk bromance or Elliot’s brilliant ability to outshine with her own brand of earnest overachievement.
This hybrid revival–reboot catches up with the originals — older, wiser-ish, still themselves — while recapturing the show’s early chaos with wet-behind-the-ears newbies who think they’ve got it all figured out. Spoiler: they don’t.
John C. McGinley and Judy Reyes return as Dr. Cox and head nurse Carla Espinosa, joined by fresh faces including Vanessa Bayer and Joel Kim Booster. Meanwhile, series creator Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso) is back as exec-producer, working alongside original writers (and now showrunners) Tim Hobert and Aseem Batra. Braff, meanwhile, directs the pilot.
Tough love meets first-day panic when Scrubs: Season 10 (aka Scrubs Reboot) returns February 25th, 2026, on ABC; streams next day on Hulu.
📺 additional TV trailers:
📺 “Industry” Season 4 Teaser: Myha’la and Marisa Abela Navigate Tech Disruption and Fractured Loyalties in New Season of HBO’s Razor-Sharp Financial Drama — Premieres Sun, January 11th on HBO MAX
HBO’s cutthroat finance thriller is back with higher stakes and messier entanglements. Harper and Yasmin navigate Pierpoint’s toxic power plays while a cocky tech bro and a shadowy exec shake up their already precarious worlds. With fresh blood like Kal Penn, Charlie Heaton, and Kiernan Shipka entering the fray, every handshake could be a setup and every alliance a short sell waiting to collapse.
📺 “Wonder Man” New Promo: Sir Ben Kingsley Returns as Trevor Slattery to Teach the ‘Slattery Method’ in Marvel’s Showbiz-Skewering Superhero Miniseries — Premieres Tues, January 27th on Disney+
Marvel’s latest miniseries stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a struggling L.A. actor who lands a superhero role that starts bleeding into reality. Ben Kingsley reprises his fan-favorite Trevor Slattery, trading his fake Mandarin gig for teaching drama—because nothing says method acting like surviving years of captivity. When the cape fits a little too well, things get weird fast.
📺 “Star Search” Teaser: Netflix Brings Back the Legendary Talent Show with Anthony Anderson and Real-Time Global Voting — Streaming Tues, January 13th on Netflix Live
Anthony Anderson takes the helm as the iconic talent competition roars back with fresh faces and fiercer stakes. Singers, dancers, comics, magicians, and junior acts battle weekly for breakthrough fame in a revamped format with live voting and real eliminations. For a new generation of stars just waiting for their first break.
📺 “Simon Cowell: The Next Act” Trailer: Netflix Follows the Music Mogul’s Quest to Build the Next Global Boyband Phenomenon — Premieres Wed, December 10th on Netflix
Simon Cowell’s back in the talent-making trenches, and Netflix is capturing every second. This docu-series tracks the music mogul as he assembles a new boyband from scratch—open calls, drama, breakdowns, and all. From first auditions to debut single drop, it’s an unfiltered ride through the chaos of manufacturing the next big thing.
