It only feels like August has just begun, but we’re already halfway through the eighth month of 2025. If you’re worried that time is going too fast, you might want to console yourself with one of the many new movies and shows that have debuted on the best streaming services this week.
There’s plenty for fans of all genres to enjoy, too. Indeed, from sci-fi horrors and crime thrillers, to a pair of animated offerings – one’s family-friendly, the other definitely isn’t – you’ll find something worth watching with our experts’ help. – Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter
Alien: Earth (Hulu/Disney+)
It’s high time someone created a TV show set in the Alien universe. Step forward Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion), who’s finally delivered on that front for Hulu (US) and Disney+ (internationally).
Set two years before the 1979 original film, Alien: Earth brings the sci-fi horror series’ iconic Xenomorphs and a bunch of other nasty creatures to our home world. It’s up to Wendy (Sydney Chandler), a Hybrid – an android with the consciousness of a child – to lead the charge in combatting the threat posed by said terrifying organisms.
Episodes 1 and 2 are out now, with new chapters dropping every Tuesday or Wednesday depending on where you live. Before you stream it, read my Alien: Earth guide for a full lowdown on the show and my Alien: Earth review to see what I thought of its first six entries.
Fixed (Netflix)
If you’re a fan of the crass and explicit humor of The Ren and Stimpy Show, and have been craving more over-the-top 2D animations, one of this month’s new Netflix movies Fixed is just the ticket. It’s a raunchy tale about a bull dog that’s about to neutered after getting a bit too frisky with his owners, but not before one last hurrah with his pals.
Created by Genndy Tartakovsky, who’s behind hit animations like Dexter’s Laboratory, Primal, and Samurai Jack, the film draws on his high-school friends for inspiration, but hasn’t gone down well with critics and audiences alike. Maybe it’ll fare better with you? – Amelia Schwanke, senior entertainment editor
Butterfly (Prime Video)
Prime Video’s new spy thriller Butterfly is a six-part series that’s based on the graphic novel series by Arash Amel, and focuses on a former intelligence operative who finds himself pursued by a sociopathic agent due to past decisions he’s made.
The series stars Squid Game’s Park Hae-soo, Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim, and Kim Tae-hee, who starred in the Netflix K-Drama Hi Bye, Mama. If you’re in the mood for thrills and familial drama, this could be your new favorite Amazon TV Original. – Lucy Buglass, senior entertainment writer
Limitless: Live Better Now (Hulu/Disney+)
It’s the unexpected Avengers: Doomsday tide over you didn’t know you needed. Thor star Chris Hemsworth is back for another round of gruelling physical punishment that takes him all over the globe. This time, though it’s all in the name of learning how to live healthier for longer.
Limitless: Live Better Now bridges the gap between mental and physical health, and it’s clear Hemsworth has picked up some new habits for life along the way. Beginning with Hemsworth learning the drums to play for Ed Sheeran’s sold-out stadium tour in episode 1, he deftly learns to scale a 600ft artificial climbing wall in Switzerland in episode 2. For the explosive finale, he’s entered into one of the strictest SAS training regimes in the world, resulting in him being maced at point-blank range by a South Korean officer. Rather him than me… – Jasmine Valentine, entertainment writer
The Legend of Ochi (HBO Max)
The Legend of Ochi is fun for all the family this weekend. One of August’s new HBO Max movies follows a farm girl named Yuri who’s been is taught to not go outside after dark, because of fearsome reclusive creatures called the Ochi. However, when she finds a lost and injured baby Ochi, she embarks on a journey to reunite it with its family.
The directorial debut for Isaiah Saxon, this A24 offering on HBO Max has a starry cast including Finn Wolfhard, Emily Watson, and Willem Dafoe. Relative newcomer Helena Zengel plays the role of Yuri, following her international film debut in News of the World. – LB
Night Always Comes (Netflix)
Toto, we’re not in The Fantastic Four: First Steps anymore. In one of August’s new Netflix movies Night Always Comes, Marvel star Vanessa Kirby plays Lynette, an almost-broke former sex worker who’s working at a bread factory to try and keep a leaking roof over her family’s heads. When her mom decides to spontaneously blow their $25,000 house down payment on a new car, Lynette’s at risk of losing their house altogether. In a complete state of panic, she takes off into the night to try and raise the same amount of money by any means necessary.
Lynette really means any, too. We’re seeing Kirby in some situations we’ve never seen her in before, from clobbering strange men to death over a stolen safe to selling illegal drugs in the back room of a shady pawn shop. From that angle alone it might be one of the craziest Netflix original movies of the year, and I really didn’t guess what was coming until its closing moments. Shoutout to my favorite performance of the bunch in Julia Fox… with so much personally branded cultural capital, I forget she’s actually a dang good actress. – JV
Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical (Apple TV+)
Looking for an animation that’s more suited to the whole family? I suggest heading over to Apple TV+ this weekend to stream Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the gang in Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical.
This musical special, which is one of the five new Apple TV+ shows in August 2025, sees the gang break out into original songs by Jeff Morrow, Ben Folds, Alan Zachary, and Michael Weiner as they stumble upon a treasure trove of instruments.
The Apple Original is set to delight fans of the Peanuts comics as it’s been more than three decades since the first Peanuts musical was released. I don’t doubt it’ll fill your weekend with a heavy dose of nostalgia. – AS
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
