5 best new movies to stream this weekend on Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV, and more (Oct. 17-18)

Spooky season is moving along at a steady clip, and the best streaming services are rolling out plenty of great new movies to keep us cooped up cozy inside this weekend. Whether you're in the mood for a healthy dollop of nostalgic magic or an edge-of-your-seat survival story, there's plenty of fresh additions that deserve a spot on your watchlist.

Leading the pack is "Practical Magic 2," reuniting Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, now on paid video-on-demand platforms. If you're looking to swoon this weekend, Prime Video's latest sweeping romantic drama "Love of Your Life" is the ticket, led by Margaret Qualley (my celebrity crush since "Drive-Away Dolls"). Or, and hear me out: "R.I.P.D.," the supernatural comedy caper led by Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges at his most unhinged, is a good dumb watch, and it's also on Prime Video too.

Meanwhile, Apple TV just got a breathtaking new biographical drama about the first two men to climb Mount Everest, "Tenzing." Over on Netflix, you can catch Chris Evans as a washed-up movie star and Anya Taylor-Joy as a Doomsday cult leader in the dark comedy "Sacrifice." So without further ado, here are the five best new movies to stream this weekend.

'Practical Magic 2' (PVOD)

I didn't have the 1998 cult-favorite and seminal work of queer cinema "Practical Magic" getting a sequel on my bingo card for 2026, but here we are. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman's sister witches are back along with their on-screen aunties played by Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing and a few new faces like Joey King and Maisie Williams thrown in for even more charm.

Set 28 years after the original, the sequel sees Sally's daughter Kylie (King) up against the same curse that has plagued generations of Owens women whenever they fall in love. After her first love dies, Sally (Bullock) finally reveals to her the truth about their magic. Kylie enlists the help of her sister Antonia (Williams) and the rest of the family to (hopefully) break the curse once and for all.

Buy or rent "Practical Magic 2" on Amazon or Apple now

'Love of Your Life' (Prime Video)

For a romance with a little more substance, check out "Love of Your Life," Prime Video’s latest romantic drama from Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison. When fiercely independent nurse Maya (Margaret Qualley) meets Charlie (Gabriel Basso), an adorably extroverted nerd, at 26, neither could have predicted the life they’d go on to build together.

But just as their future seems to be falling into place, tragedy turns Maya’s world upside down. In the years that follow, she must learn to navigate new relationships, make difficult life decisions and rediscover herself as she figures out what comes next. The supporting cast includes Aaron Pierre, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Catherine Keener.

Watch "Love of Your Life" on Prime Video now

‘Tenzing’ (Apple TV)

There was a time when Mount Everest, one of the most difficult mountains to climb in the world, wasn't summited by thousands of people every year. Back in 1953, Tenzing Norgay (Genden Phuntsok) and Sir Edmund Hillary (Tom Hiddleston) made history as the first to reach a new height for humanity, and Apple TV's "Tenzing" is a touching dramatization of that climb.

Shot on location in Nepal and the Everest region, it uses these breathtaking views to elevate its otherwise formulaic emotional beats. Director Jenifer Peedom previously helmed several documentaries about Everest and Nepal and India's Sherpa people, and her expertise shines throughout this cross between a nature documentary and sports biopic.

Watch "Tenzing" on Apple TV now

‘Sacrifice’ (Netflix)

"Sacrifice" is a dark comedy thriller with some serious star power behind it. Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Vincent Cassel, John Malkovich and Salma Hayek helm this pointed look at celebrity culture against a backdrop of doomsday cult shenanigans. We meet movie star Mike Tyler (Evans) in the middle of staging a comeback following a public meltdown the year before. He attends a climate charity event for the positive press, only to get in over his head when a cult-like group of radicals, led by Joan (Taylor-Joy), takes everyone hostage at gunpoint.

Complicating things further is the fact that she's devastatingly his type, even after she tells him he's got to throw himself into an active volcano to save the world. It takes a half-hearted "eat the rich" bent, with more cerebral and genuinely funny moments than I expected. John Malkovich also delivers yet another standout performance as Joan's father, underutilized as it is.

Watch "Sacrifice" on Netflix now

'R.I.P.D.' (Prime Video)

Hear me out: "R.I.P.D." is more fun than it has any right to be. I took a (well-deserved) beating from critics when it bombed at the box office back in 2013, but this ridiculous train wreck is still on regular rotation in my household. For Jeff Bridges' commitment to the bit, if nothing else. His Roycephus "Roy" Pulsipher is a mash-up of The Dude and Rooster Cogburn with a penchant for women's ankles in this campy science fiction hootenanny.

Ryan Reynolds is equally entertaining as Nick, a straight-laced Boston police officer who gets killed in the line of duty and recruited into the Rest In Peace Department, a supernatural agency tasked with tracking down spirits who refuse to move on to the afterlife. (To be fair, the less you think about the premise, the better.) Roy isn't thrilled to babysit his rookie partner, but when the pair stumble upon a conspiracy connected to Nick's death, they find themselves tangled up in exactly the kind of case Roy has been itching to crack. Between its hilariously grotesque special effects and unapologetically absurd antics, "R.I.P.D." is great popcorn fodder to kill a weekend afternoon.

Watch "R.I.P.D. — Rest in Peace Department" on Prime Video now