
With the arrival of summer blockbusters “Jurassic World Rebirth” and “How to Train Your Dragon” on Peacock, plus comedy hit “The Naked Gun” on Paramount+, October is set to be a huge month for streaming platforms. These films join “Lilo & Stitch” on Disney+ and “Superman” on HBO Max, which had their streaming debuts in September — meaning nearly all of the biggest movies of the summer blockbuster season are now available to watch from home.
For subscribers in the mood for more serious fare, October is also kicking off Oscar season on streaming in a major way as Netflix begins rolling out a handful of its biggest awards contenders for the 2025-2026 season, such as Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite” and Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague.” A24’s Sundance darling “Sorry Baby” arrives on HBO Max and is also hoping to keep its awards buzz alive, while Sundance docs “The Perfect Neighbor” (Netflix) and “The Alabama Solution” (HBO Max) debut on streaming amid critical acclaim.
Of course it wouldn’t be October without some Halloween scares, and many of the streaming platforms are offering up original thrills this month. Hulu has its remake of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” starring scream queen Maika Monroe, while Paramount+ has “Vicious,” the latest horror original from “The Strangers” director Bryan Bertino.
Check out a full rundown below of the biggest movies new to streaming in October.
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Jurassic World Rebirth (Oct. 30 on Peacock)
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection Universal’s “Jurassic” franchise roared back to life on the big screen over the summer when the Scarlett Johansson-led “Jurassic World Rebirth” earned a mighty $867 million at the worldwide box office. Now the dinosaur adventure arrives on Peacock and hopes to be a fall streaming smash. Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey also star in the tentpole, which follows a dangerous mission to retrieve the DNA from three dinosaurs that could lead to a medical breakthrough.
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The Naked Gun (Paramount+)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson’s “The Naked Gun” reboot brought old-school comedy back to movie theaters this summer to critical acclaim and $102 million at the worldwide box office. Now, fans can laugh from home because the Akiva Schaffer-directed film is available on Paramount+. From Variety’s review: “The film is an engaging goofball grab bag, well-stocked with vintage terrible puns, nicely detonated movie conventions (in the opening heist sequence, the villain’s henchman steals a remote control marked with the words ‘P.L.O.T. Device’), and serviceable running gags (Drebin keeps getting handed oversize cups of take-out coffee).”
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How to Train Your Dragon (Oct. 10 on Peacock)
Image Credit: ©DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection Universal’s live-action “How to Train Your Dragon” remake was a summer blockbuster with $634 million at the worldwide box office. A sequel is already in the works, and now the first movie joins its animated predecessors on Peacock. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge gave the film a positive review, saying that director Dean DeBlois’ “vision serves to bring the whole fantastical story one step closer to reality,” as well as praising Mason Thames and Nico Parker’s performances as Hiccup and Astrid.
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Bring Her Back (Oct. 3 on HBO Max)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection “Talk to Me” directors Danny and Michael Philippou reunited with A24 this summer for the new horror movie “Bring Her Back,” which Variety named one of the best movies of 2025 so far: “The rare horror movie unnerving enough to disturb your sleep. Its creep factor begins with Sally Hawkins’ impishly disturbing performance as a foster mother from hell, who takes a couple of orphaned siblings — 17-year-old Andy (Billy Barratt) and his legally blind sister, Piper (Sora Wong) — under her broken wing… the movie finds terrifying ways to get under your skin, pushing everything to the brink of transgression, using domestic trauma to create a symphonic projection of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, all sealed by Hawkins’ gargoyle grin of evil.”
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Sorry Baby (Oct. 30 on HBO Max)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Eva Victor’s Sundance darling “Sorry Baby” arrives on streaming this month via A24’s continued partnership with HBO Max. The film was named by Variety as one of the best of 2025 so far: “Writer-director Victor plays a promising young grad student named Agnes whose academic career is all but derailed when her thesis adviser crosses the line. The incident occurs off-camera but redefines how Agnes perceives the world — from the judgmental classmate who sees no big deal in sleeping with her professor to the supportive best friend (Naomi Ackie) who offers unconditional understanding.”
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A House of Dynamite (Oct. 24 on Netflix)
Image Credit: ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection Kathryn Bigelow’s unnerving nuclear war thriller “A House of Dynamite” arrives on Netflix this month after earning acclaim at the Venice Film Festival and New York Film Festival. It’s one of the streaming giant’s surefire Oscar contenders this season. Starring an ensemble cast that includes Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Anthony Ramos, Greta Lee and Jason Clarke, the film showcases different perspectives in the half hour leading up to a nuclear attack on the United States. The film received an 11-minute standing ovation at Venice.
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Ballad of a Small Player (Oct. 29 on Netflix)
Image Credit: ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection Colin Farrell teams up with “Conclave” director Edward Berger for Netflix’s gambling thriller “Ballad of a Small Player.” In the film, Farrell plays Lord Doyle, a man who spends all day and night on the casino floors of Macau. As he struggles to keep up with his debts, Fala Chen’s Dao Ming, a casino employee, surfaces to save him. Meanwhile, Tilda Swinton plays a private investigator named Cynthia Blithe who is hot on his trail and ready to confront him about his past.
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Steve (Oct. 3 on Netflix)
Image Credit: ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection Cillian Murphy plays a troubled teacher in Netflix’s “Steve,” which Variety praised as the year’s “best Netflix movie” last month: “Reteaming with ‘Small Things Like These’ director Tim Mielants, the ‘Oppenheimer’ star plays a desperate reform school teacher opposite a rowdy ensemble of totally convincing young actors… A profoundly moving and superbly acted diamond in the rough, ‘Steve’ is better than anything the streamer has pushed for best picture to date. Netflix famously uses the fall festivals to launch its awards contenders, but the company is playing this one close to the vest.”
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The Woman in Cabin 10 (Oct. 10 on Netflix)
Image Credit: ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection While Netflix is launching several Oscar contenders this month, the streamer might attract the most eyeballs with its film adaptation of Ruth Ware’s bestselling novel “The Woman in Cabin 10.” The psychological thriller follows a journalist named Lo (Keira Knightley) who boards a yacht for a travel assignment and finds herself tangled in a web of conspiracies and mysteries. After she sees a passenger thrown overboard one night, her wealthy fellow travelers try telling her that it didn’t happen, so she takes investigative matters into her own hands. The supporting cast includes Guy Pearce, Hannah Waddingham, David Ajala, Art Malik, Kaya Scodelario, David Morrissey, Daniel Ings and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
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The Twits (Oct. 17 on Netflix)
Image Credit: Netflix Netflix’s partnership with the Roald Dahl estate continues this month with Phil Johnston’s animated film adaptation of “The Twits,” Dahl’s 1980 children’s novel about a spiteful couple who play tricks on each other. In Netflix’s reimagining, the title characters own an amusement park and have used it to gain power over their town. The voice cast includes Margo Martindale and Johnny Vegas as the Twits, plus Natalie Portman, Emilia Clarke, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Ryan Lopez, Jason Mantzoukas, Timothy Simons, Alan Tudyk and Nicole Byer.
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The Perfect Neighbor (Oct. 17 on Netflix)
Image Credit: Netflix Netflix picked up the acclaimed documentary “The Perfect Neighbor” out of Sundance earlier this year in a deal worth nearly $5 million. The movie examines Florida’s Stand Your Ground laws and gun regulations and uses police bodycam footage to tell the story of how a neighborhood dispute slowly escalated into a shocking act of violence. It follows a tragedy that captivated national attention, one in which a woman named Ajike “AJ” Shantrell Owens was shot and killed by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz, after Lorincz kept complaining about children playing near her apartment.
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The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (Oct. 22 on Hulu)
Image Credit: ©Hulu/Courtesy Everett Collection Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Maika Monroe headline Hulu’s horror movie “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” a remake of the 1992 thriller of the same name. Winstead plays Caitlin Morales, a suburban mom whose life is upended after she hires a new nanny, Polly (Monroe), and discovers she is not the person she claims to be. The supporting cast includes Raúl Castillo, Martin Starr, Mileiah Vega, Riki Lindhome and Shannon Cochran.
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The Lost Bus (Oct. 3 on Apple TV+)
Image Credit: ©Apple TV/Courtesy Everett Collection Matthew McConaughey teams up with Paul Greengrass for the well-reviewed thriller “The Lost Bus,” based on the book “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire” by Lizzie Johnson. The movie is based on the true story of a school bus driver (McConaughey) and a teacher (America Ferrera) during the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California’s Butte County as they battle to bring 22 children to safety. The real-life event remains the deadliest wildfire in California history.
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Play Dirty (Oct. 1 on Prime Video)
Image Credit: ©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection Shane Black directs Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield in the Prime Video original “Play Dirty,” also starring Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff, Thomas Jane and Tony Shalhoub. The synopsis reads: “An expert thief rolls out the biggest heist of his life in ‘Play Dirty,’ an action-packed thriller from director Shane Black. Parker (Wahlberg), along with Grofield (Stanfield), Zen (Salazar) and a skilled crew, stumble onto a score that pits them against the New York mob in this gritty, clever caper.”
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Hedda (Oct. 29 on Prime Video)
Image Credit: ©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection “Candyman” and “The Marvels” director Nia DaCosta returns before next year’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” with a sizzling and seductive reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler.” Simply titled “Hedda,” the film stars Tessa Thompson as the eponymous woman who navigates a house she does not want, a marriage she feels trapped in and an ex-lover who has reappeared in her life. Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock and Nina Hoss co-star.
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Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost (Oct. 24 on Apple TV+)
Image Credit: Apple TV+ Ben Stiller helms this documentary about his parents, the famous comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, “exploring their impact both on popular culture and at home, where the lines between creativity, family, life and art often blurred. In the process, Stiller turns the camera on himself and his family to examine Jerry and Anne’s enormous influence on their lives, and the generational lessons we all can learn from those we love.”
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Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape From Now (Oct. 7 on Paramount+)
Image Credit: Paramount+ The two-hour Ozzy Osbourne documentary “No Escape From Now” arrives on Paramount+ this month following the death of the heavy metal icon over the summer. The movie chronicles Osbourne’s health struggles and journey to return to the stage over the past six years. Directed by BAFTA winner Tania Alexander, the doc was produced in collaboration with the Osbourne family and includes intimate interviews with Ozzy himself, his wife Sharon Osbourne and children Aimee, Kelly and Jack Osbourne. The family discusses at length the fall Ozzy suffered in February 2019 that led to him canceling his two-year farewell tour.
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John Candy: I Like Me (Oct. 10 on Prime Video)
Image Credit: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection “John Candy: I Like Me,” a documentary from director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds, opened the Toronto International Film Festival last month. The movie is a deep dive into the personal and professional life of John Candy, the Toronto-born comedian who rose to fame on “SCTV” and went on to star in films such as “Spaceballs,” “Uncle Buck,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “National Lampoon’s Vacation” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” He unexpectedly died of a heart attack at age 43 in 1994.
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Honey Don’t (Oct. 3 on Peacock)
Image Credit: ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection After a splashy Cannes premiere and summer theatrical release, Ethan Coen’s “Honey Don’t” arrives on streaming this month via Peacock. Margaret Qualley headlines the crime comedy as the small-town private detective Honey O’Donahue, who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church. Chris Evans gives an oversized comedic performance as the church’s charming but evil minister. Aubrey Plaza plays a cop who Qualley has a passionate love affair with until things turn sour when her niece disappears. Charlie Day and Billy Eichner round out the supporting cast.
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V/H/S Halloween (Oct. 3 on Shudder)
Image Credit: ©AMC/courtesy Everett Collection The “V/H/S” horror franchise returns this Halloween season with a new anthology feature that finds directors Anna Zlokovic, Paco Plaza, Casper Kelly, Alex Ross Perry, Micheline Pitt-Norman & R.H. Norman and Bryan M. Ferguson delivering new twisted tales. The synopsis from Shudder reads: “A collection of Halloween-themed videotapes unleashes a series of twisted, blood-soaked tales, turning trick-or-treat into a struggle for survival.”
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Fight or Flight (Paramount+)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Josh Hartnett’s summer action movie “Fight or Flight” is now available to stream on Paramount+. The synopsis reads: “Exiled American agent Lucas Reyes (Hartnett) is given one last chance to redeem himself – the assignment is to track down and identify a mysterious, international high-value asset known only as The Ghost on a flight from Bangkok to San Francisco. Complicating matters, the plane is filled with assassins from around the world who are assigned to kill them both. The pair must work together in a fight for their lives. At 37,000 feet, the stakes have never been higher.”
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Vicious (Oct. 10 on Paramount+)
Image Credit: ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection Dakota Fanning brings the Halloween thrills to Paramount+ this month with the original horror movie “Vicious,” which hails from “The Strangers” director Bryan Bertino. The official synopsis reads: “When Polly (Fanning) receives a mysterious box from an unexpected late-night visitor, it comes with one rule: place inside something you need, something you hate, and something you love. When she opens it, she’s pulled into a surreal and shifting nightmare where every choice she makes leads to terrifying consequences.”
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Maintenance Required (Oct. 8 on Prime Video)
Image Credit: ©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection Prime Video is providing some Halloween counter-programming this month with the streaming debut of the original romantic-comedy “Maintenance Required,” starring Madelaine Petsch and Jacob Scipio. The official synopsis reads: “Charlie, the fiercely independent owner of an all-female mechanic shop, is forced to reevaluate her future when a flashy corporate competitor moves in across the street. Seeking comfort, she turns to an anonymous online confidant – unaware she’s confiding in Beau, the very rival threatening her business.”
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The Alabama Solution (Oct. 10 on HBO Max)
“The Jinx” filmmaker Andrew Jarecki returns with a new documentary, “The Alabama Solution,” which debuted to acclaim at Sundance earlier this year. The synopsis reads: “In 2019, filmmakers visit an Alabama prison to film a revival meeting. Off camera, incarcerated men whisper a message: terrible things are going on here and being kept secret. This sparks an immersive six-year investigation to discover ther eality behind the walls of one of the nation’s deadliest prison systems.”
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The Substance (Oct. 10 on HBO Max)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Demi Moore’s beloved body horror Hollywood satire “The Substance” begins streaming on HBO Max this month — just in time for Halloween — after making its streaming debut earlier this year on Mubi. Moore plays actress and fitness guru Elisabeth Sparkle, who is forced out of the industry due to her age. Elisabeth’s frustration leads her to take the eponymous serum, which creates a younger and more beautiful version of herself (Margaret Qualley). Everything goes bonkers as the two halves try to live their own lives. From Variety’s review: “Filmmaker Coralie Fargeat works with the flair of a grindhouse Kubrick in a weirdly fun, cathartically grotesque fusion of ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ and ‘Showgirls.’”
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Eden (Oct. 24 on Prime Video)
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Ron Howard‘s star-studded “Eden” features go-for-broke performances from Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney and Daniel Brühl in a stranger-than-fiction true survival thriller about European settlers who seek new life on a previously uninhabited island in the Galápagos. As the official logline explains, “They believe they’ve found paradise — only to discover that hell is other people.”