By Chad W. Shreeves

This week in Entertainment is looking to be a big week for multiple fandoms. Here’s the big events you should check out:

New In Theaters

There are only two major new releases coming this week in theaters.

The first is Hayao Miyazaki’s newest film, The Boy and The Heron. Fans of the Studio Ghibli auteur will no doubt rush to this film as it’s being titled another masterpiece in Miyazaki’s collection. Currently holding a 97% critic score and an 82% audience score, this will be a film for all fans to celebrate.

The second big film is Yorgos Lanthimos’ newest entry, Poor Things. Emma Stone is already garnering plenty of Oscar buzz and many call it one of the quirky director’s best works. It holds a 93% critics rating mostly and has been the buzz of many festivals for months now.

Other smaller releases also are happening. James Cameron’s classic underwater sci-fi The Abyss is getting a 4K remastered version in limited theaters this week. And the holiday favorite Love Actually is also getting a temporary run in theaters.

New To Streaming

Several new titles are making their way to various services that are sure to catch audience’s eyes.

Tony Shalhoub is returning as his titular character for one final time in Mr. Monk’s Last Case. Streaming on Peacock this Friday. The follow up to the highly successful USA crime drama will see Shalhoub solving his final mystery that specifically targets his family.

Hulu is debuting it’s new assassination/action thriller Culprits this Friday. This highly stylized action series featuring Gemma Arterton and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett features a story about warring assassin factions after a heist goes horribly wrong. The series is already off to a strong start, gaining an 88% critic rating.

Another movie garnering Oscar buzz is Netflix’s May December. While it’s currently playing in select theaters, it goes worldwide on Netflix this week. Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore lead the film that’s been described as “Disturbing, but important,” and currently holds a 92% critic rating.

For a fun for the whole family event, Amazon Prime video is debuting its Batman film, Merry Little Batman. In this animated holiday themed adventure, Batman takes a young Damian Wayne out into Gotham to celebrate the holidays, only for a slew of classic villains to try and stop the classic duo. No reviews are out yet, but Prime will be debuting this on Friday.

New Games

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

James Cameron’s divisive space epic comes to the gaming sphere this Thursday. Made in collaboration with Ubisoft, it appears they’ve utilized many of the trademarks that make their open world games so successful and threw a Na’vi colored paint over it. From the trailers, it definitely feels like a Far Cry adaptation but with the Banshee flying and space creatures we come to expect from this world. Reviews are not out yet at time of publication, but should be available shortly.

That’s the only major release coming, there are some indie gems as well including the narrative 2D platformer A Highland Song, and the 3D rail shooter Battle Stations Blockade.

Special Events

This week should be exciting for multiple fandoms.

First off, this Thursday we have the annual event The Game Awards (see our predictions here) which promises not only a celebration of gaming this year but also some huge announcements for what we can expect for 2024 in the year of gaming.

For musical theater fans, the Broadway adaptation of Waitress is coming to theaters for one week only beginning this Thursday. The Tony winning musical starring Sara Bareilles recorded directly from Broadway is a huge risk for distributer Bleeker Street, as many previous filmed stage productions have opted for a direct to streaming approach. The film is a Fathom Event, which means your subscription plans (like AMC A-List or Fandango Unlimited) will be ineligible.

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