This Month’s Watchlist: Movies and TV Shows Coming Out This January
🎥📺 January brings a packed slate of new movies and TV shows. Here’s what’s worth lining up on your watchlist as the new year gets underway.
It’s January, the start of a new year that’s already shaping up to deliver a crowded slate of new movies and shows. For some years, January was considered a dumping station for Academy Award contenders rolling out to wide release after a limited December run, or for studio leftovers quietly pushed out with little fanfare. But something has changed recently in the way studios lay out their schedules, and now January feels less like an afterthought and more like a launchpad for notable new releases looking to shake up the box office or our TV screens.
So, let’s take a moment to look ahead at the month of January and see what might be worth viewers’ attention—and what might be worth keeping on our radar throughout this month.
🎥 Movies in January
🎥 We Bury the Dead
(In theaters Jan 2nd)
Daisy Ridley is still carving out her post–Star Wars path, and this time she’s heading straight into zombie territory. She kicks off the new year with this Aussie horror-thriller, playing a desperate woman searching for her husband amid a full-blown undead outbreak. The dead have risen as a result of a top-secret military bombing experiment gone nightmarishly wrong, forcing Ridley’s character to navigate a ravaged landscape where survival means outrunning both the infected and the fallout of a catastrophic government screw-up. How will she fare without the use of lightsabers, relying solely on her wits and sheer determination? Well, the Force is still strong with this one.
🎥 Greenland 2: Migration
(In theaters Jan 9th)
There’s a certain type of Gerard Butler fan who loves to see the Scottish-born actor put through the ringer in some of the most punishing scenarios imaginable. Case in point: a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth. Butler returns as John Garrity, the heroic family man who once pulled off the near-impossible task of escorting his wife and son (Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd) to safety during the events of the hit disaster movie Greenland. But after five years of living in underground bunkers, John is about to be tested all over again. As the Greenland shelter becomes increasingly unstable, he and his family are forced back into the open, embarking on a perilous journey across a devastated Europe after rumors surface of a possible safe zone in France. For fans who love to see Butler pushed to his absolute limits, this looks like another endurance run you won’t want to miss.
🎥 Primate
(In theaters Jan 9th)
There’s something about a movie centered on a pet chimp turning on its human owners that sounds both ridiculously silly and awesomely cheeseball. And dare we say, we can’t seem to resist it. The first official trailer for Primate became a viral sensation when it dropped two months ago, racking up over 15 million views on YouTube. Perhaps that’s a sign moviegoers are more than ready to embrace a throwback-style creature feature that leans hard into pulpy thrills with pure midnight-movie energy. From Johannes Roberts, the director of the killer shark thriller 47 Meters Down, and starring Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, and Oscar-winner Troy Kotsur, this just might be the crazy chimp horror movie we didn’t know we needed but one we’re absolutely going bananas for.
🎥 Dead Man’s Wire
(In theaters Jan 9th; expands wide Jan 16th)
Two-time Oscar-nominated director Gus Van Sant returns with this nail-biting true-crime thriller that taps into themes that feel tremendously timely. Inspired by a real-life hostage standoff in 1977, Bill Skarsgård stars as Tony Kiritsis, a desperate Indianapolis man who, while facing the repossession of his family home, resorts to holding a mortgage bank officer at gunpoint with a sawed-off shotgun and a rigged dead man’s wire designed to detonate the moment he loosens his grip. The result is a multi-day hostage crisis that spirals into a nationwide media firestorm, exposing America’s systemic economic struggles, financial exploitation, and a public eager to turn someone like Tony into either a monster or a martyr. Featuring a stacked supporting cast that includes Colman Domingo, Dacre Montgomery, Cary Elwes, Myha’la, and Oscar-winner Al Pacino, this aims to have viewers squirming in their seats while wrestling with uncomfortable questions about whether they, too, could resort to something similar if the system seemed stacked against them.
🎥 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
(In theaters Jan 16th)
This was one signifier that studios might be seeing the month of January more as a strategic proving ground for genre-heavy franchises than merely a space for the theatrical expansion of awards contenders. Not to say that the second installment of Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s new zombie trilogy isn’t considered prestigious—but its January placement certainly signals studio confidence that horror releases can thrive right out of the gate in the new year. Here, filmmaker Nia DaCosta (2021’s Candyman, Hedda) takes over the directing reins from Boyle as she calls the shots for this next, nerve-raveling chapter, with Ralph Fiennes’s Dr. Ian Kelson emerging as the story’s unsettling center. While clinging to ritual and memory, Kelson begins to suspect the infected may be evolving beyond anything humanity is prepared to confront. Meanwhile, Sinners breakout Jack O’Connell enters the fray as the psychopathic leader of a doomsday cult of platinum-blond, tracksuit-wearing sycophants—proving that in this world, the most dangerous monsters are still human.
🎥 Night Patrol
(In theaters Jan 16th)
Now here’s one way to put a fresh spin on the cop genre: make them vampires! Sure, they’re here to protect and serve, but only after dark. Justin Long stars as an L.A. patrol officer who dreams of joining the elite LAPD night patrol unit. The problem is, once you get in, you don’t just earn a badge... you inherit a whole new set of fangs and a thirst for blood. Jermaine Fowler co-stars as Long’s rookie partner, who soon finds himself teaming up with local street gang members after a routine neighborhood police raid spirals into something far more sinister once night falls. So if you’re looking for a vampire story with a police procedural twist (and some serious bite), this one just might be worth staking out.
🎥 The Rip
(on Netflix Jan 16th)
It’s been almost 29 years since best friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won Oscars for writing their breakout hit Good Will Hunting, a film that also helped push forward their respective acting careers. Since then, they’ve become two of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men. Now they’re sharing the screen once again, playing a pair of Miami police officers whose friendship and partnership are put to the test after a drug house raid leads to the discovery of millions in unmarked cartel cash. Directed by action maestro Joe Carnahan (Narc, Smokin’ Aces, The Grey), this gritty crime pressure cooker asks a simple but dangerous question: what would you do if that kind of money suddenly fell into your hands? And better yet, who will you be rooting for—Damon or Affleck—if these two “friends” finally fall on opposite sides of the law?
🎥 A Private Life (Vie Privée)
(In select theaters Jan 16th)
Jodie Foster, in a French film, speaking entirely in French? Well, well, well… consider our interest officially piqued. The Oscar winner stars in this darkly comedic thriller as an American-born, Paris-based psychiatrist who learns that her longtime patient has died by suicide. Instead of stepping back to process the loss, she pushes her professionalism aside and launches her own investigation, convinced there’s more to the story... and that foul play may somehow be involved. The result is an ill-advised amateur sleuthing quest that spirals beyond the bounds of ethics and professional restraint, dragging her into a mystery that’s as unsettling as it is darkly absurd.
🎥 Mercy
(In theaters Jan 23rd)
If the thought of A.I. is already keeping you up at night, just wait until it takes over our judicial system. That’s the not-so-far-fetched premise of Chris Pratt’s new action thriller, set in a near future where human judges are replaced by artificial intelligence tasked with deciding guilt, innocence, and punishment… all within the span of 90 minutes. Yep, this real-time sci-fi thriller, from Wanted helmer Timur Bekmambetov, quite literally puts Pratt in the hot seat, playing a once-respected L.A. detective accused of murdering his wife. He says he’s innocent, though the probability of him telling the truth doesn’t exactly work in his favor. Now strapped to a chair and racing against the clock, he has just an hour and a half to convince an A.I. judge (Rebecca Ferguson) by reconstructing his wife’s final moments using an avalanche of security footage, police records, and drone surveillance, all while the machine calmly decides his fate. It seems Lady Justice just got automated… and she’s not programmed for mercy.
🎥 Return to Silent Hill
(In theaters Jan 23rd)
French director Christophe Gans, who helmed the original 2006 Silent Hill film, returns to the franchise nearly 20 years later with a fresh vision of the iconic horror video game, once again plunging audiences back into a fog-choked town where nightmares aren’t just rampant… they’re manifested. Jeremy Irvine takes the lead as James Sunderland, a grief-stricken man who, after receiving a mysterious letter from his deceased wife, returns to Silent Hill—a once-familiar town now warped into a twisted labyrinth of thick mist, buried guilt, and shifting realities that edge ever closer to pure psychological terror. Fans of Silent Hill should feel right at home as Gans pushes the visuals even closer to the game’s nightmarish roots—going so far as to enlist original video game composer Akira Yamaoka to return and handle the film’s score. So expect a fully immersive experience that hits all the senses.
🎥 Send Help
(In theaters Jan 30th)
Legendary filmmaker Sam Raimi, of The Evil Dead and Spider-Man films, returns with something that feels like a homecoming of sorts. It’s a film that leans hard into Raimi’s brand of dark comedy and gnarly horror, tapping into the same twisted fun that made his early work so unforgettable. Here, Rachel McAdams stars as Linda Liddle, an overworked company executive who’s cruelly passed over for a promotion—only to watch her boss’s arrogant, entitled son, Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), swoop in and claim the position she’s been grinding toward. But fate has other plans, as Linda and Bradley miraculously survive a plane crash during a work trip over tropical islands. With Bradley badly injured, Linda is forced into an uneasy caretaker role. Slowly, the balance of power begins to tilt between them, as Linda starts to enjoy her newfound control and realizes just how much leverage she suddenly has. For a woman like Linda, who’s spent years being ignored and mistreated, being stranded on a deserted island might just be the opportunity she’s been waiting for. And for Bradley, it just might be the beginning of his worst nightmare. And for Raimi fans who’ve been waiting for him to fully lean back into his wickedly twisted instincts, this looks like a very welcome return to form.
🎥 Shelter
(In theaters Jan 30th)
Are you ready for another Jason Statham action fest where the more assassins he faces, the angrier (and more unstoppable) he gets? Then get ready for this month to deliver another Statham-fueled beatdown that plays exactly to his bruising, bone-breaking strengths. Teaming up with prolific action director Ric Roman Waugh (yes, the same helmer behind this month’s Greenland 2: Migration) and co-starring Naomi Ackie and Bill Nighy, Statham plays an ex–government assassin who just wants to spend his remaining days in quiet isolation at a remote lighthouse off the coast of nowhere-ville. Naturally, those retirement plans don’t last long once his violent past comes knocking. A kill squad is sent to eliminate him, zeroing in on his location—but when a young innocent girl (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) gets caught in the crossfire, Statham has no choice but to unleash absolute hell on anyone foolish enough to stand in his way. Because once Jason Statham is pushed too far, there’s really no stopping the damage.
🎥 The Moment
(In theaters Jan 30th)
Are you tired of the hype over “Brat Summer”? Well, British pop star Charli XCX is too. She takes a sharp, self-aware swipe at her own fame by playing a heightened version of herself in this semi-mockumentary satire that skewers not only the music industry, but her status as the next endlessly dissected pop phenomenon. Featuring a lineup of notable guest stars—including Alexander Skarsgård as a ridiculously pretentious music video director hired to oversee the visuals for Charli’s upcoming world tour—this twisted comedy leans hard into absurdity, self-promotion, and the surreal madness of pop stardom spiraling out of control. Because sometimes even the brattiest summer has an expiration date.
🎥 Iron Lung
(In theaters Jan 30th, via AMC Theatres)
The new wave of filmmakers might not be coming out of film school, but straight off YouTube. Case in point: Mark Fischbach (better known as Markiplier) is the latest digital creator making the leap into feature filmmaking. Known for his comedy sketches and video game–inspired videos, Fischbach makes his feature debut by starring in, directing, producing, and adapting David Szymanski’s horror video game Iron Lung. Here, Fischbach plays an unlucky convict forced to pilot a barely functional miniature submarine into an ocean of blood beneath a desolate moon. Complete the mission and earn his freedom. Fail, and whatever’s waiting in the dark takes over. Consider this just one of many online creators already bypassing the traditional pipeline and reshaping what the next generation of filmmakers looks like.
📺 TV Shows in January
📺 The Pitt: Season 2
(On HBO MAX — Thurs, Jan 8th)
E.R., who? The first season of this now Emmy Award–winning medical series arrived last year saddled with the unfair label of being an E.R. knockoff. A pending lawsuit with the Michael Crichton estate didn’t exactly help matters, either. But what a difference a year can make, as The Pitt is now widely regarded as one of the most accurate medical shows ever made—if not the best. Producer, writer, and Emmy-winning star Noah Wyle sets the tone, returning as worn-down senior physician Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, who’s preparing to train his replacement before taking a long-overdue sabbatical. With just one more shift to get through—on the Fourth of July, no less—Dr. Robby and his staff at their Pittsburgh trauma center are bracing for another long, punishing work day where chaos doesn’t wait for fireworks.
📺 The Night Manager: Season 2
(On Prime Video — Thurs, Jan 8th)
Ten years after the premiere of the award-winning miniseries based on John le Carré’s spy novel, Tom Hiddleston returns as undercover operative Jonathan Pine, whose polished charm and carefully constructed persona once again become his most dangerous weapons. After his identity has been burned, Pine finds himself grappling with the fallout of a life spent in espionage. Now operating under a new alias, he’s tasked with another perilous assignment: infiltrating the inner circle of Colombian power broker Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), a charismatic figure with deep ties to an international smuggling ring. But as Pine sinks deeper into Teddy’s world—including an intimate connection with his wife (Camila Morrone)—the line between cover and identity begins to blur. With Olivia Colman returning as steely spymaster Angela Burr, this next chapter pushes Pine to confront the most dangerous question of all: how much of himself can he erase before there’s nothing left to come back to?
📺 His & Hers
(On Netflix — Thurs, Jan 8th)
Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal lead this murder mystery miniseries with a clever hook: the story is told from both of their perspectives, offering two competing versions of the same crime. Thompson plays a former rising news anchor who returns to her small hometown in Georgia to investigate an unsolved local murder, hoping it will be the story that puts her back on the map. Bernthal, meanwhile, plays the lead detective on the case—who also happens to be Thompson’s ex-husband. As the narrative splinters into his version and hers, old wounds reopen and motives blur, especially when it’s revealed the murdered woman is someone from both of their shared past. The truth has two sides... but only one of them can be right.
📺 Industry: Season 4
(On HBO MAX Sun, Jan 11th)
It’s rare for a show to be given the time to steadily build an audience over several seasons, but this critically beloved financial drama has done exactly that. It certainly helps that the series has also become a launching pad for a new wave of rising talent, notably Myha’la, Marisa Abela, and David Jonsson. Set in the cutthroat world of London’s financial sector, the drama follows a motley group of young investors at Pierpoint & Co. as they claw their way up the ladder, chasing power, profit, and survival at any cost. Featuring a roster of recurring guest stars that includes Max Minghella, Kit Harington, Charlie Heaton, Kiernan Shipka, and Kal Penn, this Mickey Down and Konrad Kay–created series offers an unflinching look at unbridled ambition where the numbers always come first. And if you ask us, the real secret weapon of the show is Ken Leung, unleashed as financial shark Eric Tao whose only real religion is winning, and whose sermons are delivered at maximum volume.
📺 Hijack: Season 2
(On Apple TV — Wed, Jan 14th)
Idris Elba might be the only guy with worse luck than John McClane, as he has a habit of finding himself in pressure-cooker situations where he’s in the middle of the absolute worst possible day imaginable. Season 2 of Apple’s ticking-clock thriller finds Elba back as master negotiator Sam Nelson. This time, he’s at the center of an elaborate hijacking aboard a Berlin subway train, with hundreds of commuters taken hostage and authorities questioning whether Sam is the solution... or possibly part of the problem. With his quiet intensity and smooth authority, Elba once again sells the mounting paranoia and moral ambiguity, anchoring a white-knuckle scenario where every decision feels like it could make things much, much worse.
📺 Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
(On Paramount+ — Thurs, Jan 15th)
The new year also brings a brand-new Star Trek series! This one set in the 32nd century, roughly eight to nine hundred years after the legacies of Captains Kirk, Picard, and Janeway. Centered on the legendary Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, the show follows a new generation of cadets searching for purpose, identity, and their place in a galaxy still shaped by Starfleet’s long history. Oscar-winner Holly Hunter leads the series as Captain Nahla Ake, the Academy’s chancellor and commanding officer of the USS Athena, while Paul Giamatti steps in as the main villain, Nus Braka—a volatile Klingon–Tellarite hybrid with a complicated shared past with Ake. Rounding out the ensemble are Tig Notaro returning as sharp-tongued engineer Jett Reno, Robert Picardo reprising Voyager’s beloved hologram-turned-instructor The Doctor, and Stephen Colbert lending his voice to the Digital Dean of Students. Class is officially in session.
📺 Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials
(On Netflix — Thurs, Jan 15th)
Netflix is back in the whodunit game, this time turning to the queen of the genre, Agatha Christie, as the source material for a new three-part miniseries that leans hard into classic intrigue, suspects with secrets, and a lavish 1920s England setting. Starring Mia McKenna-Bruce alongside Helena Bonham Carter, Martin Freeman, and Nabhaan Rizwan, the series follows a sharp-witted socialite who uncovers a dangerous web of secrets and secret societies after a seemingly harmless country-house prank turns deadly. So for those who love this kind of old-school British-style mystery, this one looks tailor-made for a cozy night in. Just don’t forget to bring your magnifying glass, as the clues will be aplenty.
📺 Ponies
(on Peacock — Thurs, Jan 15th)
Sometimes all TV viewers require is a little solid chemistry between its two leads. Well, try this on for size: Game of Thrones alum Emilia Clarke and The White Lotus breakout Haley Lu Richardson make a crackling pair as two “PONI(E)S” — Persons of No Interest. Seemingly harmless American women living in 1977 Moscow, they work at the U.S. embassy as ordinary secretaries. But surprise: they’re actually operating undercover, trying to help the CIA uncover how their husbands were murdered under suspicious circumstances. The only problem? They’re not trained CIA agents and barely know their way around an office. But what they lack in experience, they make up for in nerve, moxie, and an increasingly dangerous determination to get some real answers. And the fact that the Russians don’t see them as a threat might be their greatest advantage. Looking for a Cold War spy thriller with a little Laverne & Shirley energy? This might be exactly the offbeat, chemistry-driven ride you’re after.
📺 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
(On HBO — Sun, Jan 18th)
HBO is chasing after that Game of Thrones heat. Well, this might remind viewers why Westeros once had everyone glued to their screens in the first place. But here’s the thing: if you were expecting all sex, dragons, war, and blood, you might want to recalibrate, because this one leans far more toward a lighter, more playful take on the Seven Kingdoms... though we imagine it still has plenty of ruthless political intrigue that makes Game of Thrones so endlessly watchable. Inspired by George R. R. Martin’s beloved “Tales of Dunk and Egg” coming-of-age adventures, this new six-episode prequel is set a century before the events of the original show and follows an abnormally tall hedge knight (Irish actor Peter Claffey) who fumbles his way through the brutal politics, shifting alliances, and quiet absurdities of Westeros alongside his sharp-minded, bald-headed young squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). It’s the first GoT series told through the eyes of a noble knight who just might be the only truly decent and honorable man in all the Kingdoms— that is, if he doesn’t let his sense of honor get in the way of surviving a world built to punish it.
📺 Memory of a Killer
(On FOX — Sun, Jan 25th)
Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey makes his return to network television with this stylish thriller, playing a professional hitman whose well-kept double life begins to unravel when a devastating diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s threatens to expose everything he’s spent years hiding. Now grappling with an increasing decline in memory, this contract killer doesn’t just have to worry about his health, but whether he can trust his own instincts long enough to survive the job. Gina Torres also stars as the FBI detective hot on his trail, alongside Odeya Rush as Dempsey’s innocent daughter, who is just beginning to realize her dad isn’t exactly the man she thought he was. The Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli rounds out the cast as Dempsey’s oldest friend and handler, whose mob-connected restaurant doubles as a criminal front. So if he can’t handle any more assignments... well, let’s just say that in this line of work, retirement isn’t just an option — it means a bullet with your name on it.
📺 Wonder Man
(On Disney+ — Tues, Jan 27th)
Marvel offers a nice change of pace as it skewers the Hollywood machinery behind making a big-budget superhero movie, where IP is king and creative compromise is practically baked into the process. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II takes the lead of this eight-episode MCU series, playing Simon Williams, a struggling L.A. actor who has just landed the role of a lifetime. Signed to star as the fictional superhero Wonder Man for an upcoming movie reboot, Simon soon finds his dream gig spiraling into full-blown Hollywood buffoonery as he’s forced to constantly prove himself to studio executives, producers, and a franchise machine far more interested in branding than artistry. Ben Kingsley returns as Trevor Slattery, the failed actor who once served as the hired face of the terrorist leader known as the Mandarin. But like all great Hollywood comeback stories, Trevor is somehow back on his feet, reinvented as Simon’s unlikely mentor and acting coach, guiding him through the chaos of blockbuster stardom. The only problem? Simon isn’t exactly playing a character that’s all that far from who he really is. And in this version of Hollywood, an actor with real superpowers is more frowned upon than celebrated.
📺 Shrinking: Season 3
(On Apple TV — Wed, Jan 28th)
Two words: Harrison freakin’ Ford! Seven words: Harrison Ford having fun and doing comedy. That might be reason enough to dive into this Apple series, which stars Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird, a bumbling therapist who can’t help but let his own personal mess bleed into his professional life. Harrison Ford — not typically known for his comedic chops, but clearly having them — plays one of Jimmy’s colleagues, a gruff, seasoned therapist who serves as his reluctant mentor. He’s equal parts wise, blunt, and absolutely hilarious, especially when paired with the always excellent Jessica Williams, whose sharp timing and dry delivery make the dynamic even funnier. The series, co-created by Segel alongside Ted Lasso honcho Bill Lawrence and British actor-comedian Brett Goldstein, has quietly become a throwback ensemble comedy, harking back to those character-driven sitcoms of the late ’90s and early 2000s where friends, neighbors, and coworkers are actually trying to help one another, even when they’re barely holding themselves together. This new season also brings in a couple of familiar faces as recurring guest stars, namely TV icon Michael J. Fox and fellow How I Met Your Mother alum Cobie Smulders as Jimmy’s possible new love interest. Plus, if there are any longtime Ted McGinley fans out there, this show finally lets him shine, delivering some of its sneakiest laughs and most endearing moments.
📺 Bridgerton: Season 4
(On Netflix — Thurs, Jan 29th)
This month ends with a little romance that only Bridgerton can deliver. It’s all corsets, whispered glances, and scandal simmering just beneath the surface. This time, it’s Benedict Bridgerton — the family’s artistic, free-spirited second son, played by Luke Thompson — whose heart is suddenly up for grabs, sending him headfirst into a love story that might finally force him to choose between his passion, family duty, and the life he’s been quietly avoiding. Like something straight out of a Cinderella fairy tale, Benedict finds his mysterious “Lady in Silver” at a masquerade ball, setting off a romantic quest to uncover her true identity. But surprise: his dream girl turns out to be a lowly housemaid (Yerin Ha), quietly working among the household staff. Meanwhile, she’s terrified that if he ever learns the truth, the fantasy will ultimately shatter... along with her chance at happiness. In other words, it’s a classic Bridgerton romance designed to keep fans’ hearts racing well past the final episode.