New Streaming Ideas for Holiday Season Entertainment

A spate of new titles are being added to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and more

Because of COVID-19, 2020 will go down in history as one of the most unique years for movies. With theaters closed, blockbusters delayed, and dozens of highly anticipated films getting siphoned off to streaming services, there hasn’t been any major box office highs or prestigious content for the big screen. Given the state of the world, this reality will likely continue through December, robbing the holiday season of its traditional major releases. 

Thank goodness we have a variety of streaming platforms and many new releases for the month of December and beyond for some much needed holiday entertainment.

Nevertheless, a handful of pictures are still pushing for late 2020 premieres. Not all hope is lost for a Christmas-time movie watching experience. Here are a few anticipated films that plan on coming out before the end of the year…

Happiest Season

Today, a new Christmas romantic comedy has dropped, “Happiness Season” just in time for the long 4 day Thanksgiving holiday.  This film is a little unique in that the focus centers around two lesbian women.  Kristen Stewart (in real life openly gay) plays Abby and Mackenzie Davis plays Harper, a happy couple, whose relationship is put to the test.

Diego Maradona

A look at the career of celebrated football player Diego Armando Maradona. On 5th July 1984, Diego Maradona arrived in Naples for a world-record fee. The world’s most celebrated football icon and the most passionate but dangerous city in Europe were a perfect match for each other. A documentary “Diego Maradona,” which was directed by Filmmaker Asif Kapadia and released in 2019, tweeted his disbelief that the larger-than-life figure had passed away

Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions

Taylor Swift delighted fans everywhere with a seemingly out of the blue announcement of her latest project. The concert film will be available exclusively on Disney+ streaming platform. The intimate “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions” will premiere on Disney+ on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at midnight. The film was shot in September 2020 at the upstate New York studio, ‘The Long Pond’ alongside Swift’s co-producers Aaron Dessner (The National) and Jack Antonoff (Bleachers).

Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy, the movie based on the 2016 book, a memoir written by J.D. Vance that tells his story of the difficulties growing up with his drug-addicted mother in the small working-class town in the Appalachians. As rings true in the book, Vance’s character preserves through hardwork to ultimately take on a better path that leads to his acceptance into Yale. 

Wonder Woman: 1984

Patty Jenkins’ sequel to 2017’s “Wonder Woman” was originally slated for a June release, but got perpetually pushed back because of the virus. Now, it is holding onto a Christmas Day theatrical debut. Gal Gadot returns as the titular heroin alongside Chris Pine and Kristen Wiig in this ninth installment to the DC Extended Universe.

Coming 2 America

After returning to host “Saturday Night Live” and starring in Netflix’s “Dolemite Is My Name,” legendary comedian Eddie Murphy effectively reentered the zeitgeist in 2019. Therefore, hopes were high for his late sequel to the 1988 classic, “Coming To America.” Although made for the theaters, this 2020 film will now be available exclusively on Amazon Prime starting December 18^th. 

Mank

A film historian’s film if there ever was one, the David Fincher-directed “Mank” stars Gary Oldman as real-life screenwriter, Herman J. Mankiewicz. Shot in black-and-white, the biopic focuses on Mankiewicz’s alcoholism and tumultuous experience writing “Citizen Kane” during Hollywood’s Golden Age. This Oscar-bait movie has already started its limited theatrical run, but will find a home on Netflix come December 4^th.

Soul

Pixar’s last theatrical release was terribly timed. The critically acclaimed, but commercially underwhelming “Onward” hit theaters the same weekend that the pandemic heated up in America and moviegoers were urged to stay at home. This next Disney-Pixar outing will thus go directly to streaming via Disney+. Available on Christmas Day, “Soul” is the first Pixar feature not to have a big-screen premiere. 

Midnight Sky

Netflix went all in for this George Clooney-directed science fiction adaptation. It’s a story about a man (played by Clooney) living on post-apocalyptic Earth and communicating with astronauts as they make their way back to the shambled planet. The film will stream on December 23^rd and in this unique case, 2020 might actually add some timely relevance to the plot.

Free Guy

Riding on the coattails of “Deadpool” and “Detective Pikachu,” Disney’s “Free Guy” is the latest action-comedy to star Ryan Reynolds as a happy-go-lucky protagonist. With a plot involving virtual reality, the movie puts an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances for some hilarious thrills. Carried over from 20^th Century Fox and not based on any pre-existing IP, “Free Guy” is a bit of a gamble. We’ll find out if it pays off on when it hits theaters on the eleventh. 

Monster Hunter

Another prospective theatrical release for December, Sony’s “Monster Hunter” plans to premiere on the 30^th. Based off of the popular video game series of the same title, “Monster Hunter” promises a hybrid of war, science fiction, and fantasy delights. Director Paul W.S. Anderson has missed the mark with his video game adaptations before, but we cannot deny that huge spectacles projected on the big screen are something we’ve been deprived of this year, and therefore deeply crave.

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