Everything That’s Streaming in December 2024

Streaming companies are shoehorning a holiday heap of entertainment onto their platforms as the year comes to a close, with the release of anticipated sequels, final seasons of beloved series, seasonal specials, and brand-new projects. A new season of Squid Game appears on Netflix, along with the debut of real estate comedy No Good Deed and opera biopic Maria. Ilana Glazer hits Hulu’s standup stage for a brand-new comedy special, and Book and Film Globe editor Neal Pollack makes an appearance on the premiere season of Pop Culture Jeopardy! on Amazon Prime. Clint Eastwood’s courtroom drama Juror #2 hits Max, while Dexter: Original Sin gives the serial vigilante the prequel treatment on Paramount+. Unwrap all the outrageous documentaries, star-packed comedies, and can’t-miss dramas we’ve curated for you in the month of December.

Netflix

Black Doves Season 1 (Dec 5) – Kiera Knightley leads this taut spy thriller that finds her battling crime lords across a moody, Christmasbound London. Helen is a politician’s wife who has been passing her husband’s government secrets to a private espionage company called the Black Doves for years. But when her secret lover is assassinated, she plunges into the city’s underworld in a quest for revenge, and with the help of an old friend (Ben Whitshaw) uncovers a breathtaking conspiracy that stretches all the way to China–and reveals a mystery that’s already earned a second chapter, with Netflix greenlighting Season 2.

Maria (Dec 11) – Famed opera singer Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie) retreats to Paris in the 1970s after a glamorous but turbulent public career, where she reimagines her life story as her singing voice declines. “Her relationship to her voice and her body, her ability to sing, her presence on stage and her communication with the audience, it was her life,” Jolie says. “It was the key to her as well.” Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín partners with his El Conde cinematographer Edward Lachman and writer Stephen Knight (Peaky Blinders) to frame a psychological portrait of Callas’ with a bold chiaroscuro classicism in tribute to her timeless, culture-defining artistry.

No Good Deed (Dec 12) – The insularly weird world of Los Angeles real estate is the setting for a new star-packed black comedy from Dead to Me creator Liz Feldman. Three very different families race to buy the same charming Spanish villa in Los Feliz, believing it’s the answer to their problems – but the empty nesters selling the place (Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow) aren’t sure if it’s a dream home, a nightmare, or a little of both. Feldman once again creates an authentically oddball galaxy of Angelenos whose interests revolve around the villa – out of work soap stars, toothy property agents, ex-cons and struggling writers – each with their own secrets and motives. Dead to Me fans will see Linda Cardinelli stray from her role as the disarmingly sweet Judy to portray a social-climbing house flipper. The large ensemble cast also features Denis Leary, Abbi Jacobson, Poppi Liu, Luke Wilson, Teyonah Parris and O-T Fagbenle.

Squid Game Season 2 (Dec 26) – The long-awaited second act of the record-smashing South Korean show finds first season winner Gi-hun back in the games – and determined to end the competition once and for all. Also on his revenge list: the sadistic Recruiter (Gong Yoo, Train to Busan) who lured broke, desperate people into the games. Meanwhile cop Jun-ho tries to bring his peers to the rescue, and faces down his corrupt brother who helped run the brutal tournament. The Front Man, anticipating a threat to his gaming empire as his psyche frays, masterminds new and deadlier games with even higher stakes to foil Gi-hun. Alliances shift as familiar characters mingle with new faces, and survival becomes harder as each sinister challenge pits the group against itself.

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Dec 11) – Seven generations of the Buendía family shape the destiny of the town of Macondo, perched on the Colombian Caribbean coast. The new treatment of Gabriel García Márquez’s 1967 novel reveals the family’s fateful arc as Macondo evolves through revolution, economic exploitation and natural disasters. Márquez weaves magical realism throughout the family lore as fate, memory, and the past collide in cycles. With the production company behind Narcos and Falco, Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth production designer Eugenio Caballero, and co-directed by Alex García López (The Witcher), expect period-precise realism alongside subtle CG magic that undergirds but doesn’t overwhelm the story.

Also playing:

Carry-On (Dec 13)

The Six Triple Eight (Dec 20)

Kneecap (Dec 22)

Visit Netflix for a full list of releases.

Hulu

Sugarcane (Dec 10)–In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian boarding school run by the Catholic Church in Canada, unearthing, after years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many Native children experienced. This ignited a reckoning in the lives of survivors and descendants and sparked a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities. Lily Gladstone is among a slate of executive producers on the Sundance-winning documentary that follows the groundbreaking investigation, and highlights the Sugarcane community’s resilience in breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma.

Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme (Dec 3) – How far would you go to get a chance to star on the big screen? One charismatic, self-deluded hack engineered a Ponzi scheme that duped industry veterans and metastasized into one of Hollywood’s biggest scams. The documentary follows D-list actor Zach Horwitz, who raised $650 million on fake film productions and spent investor funds on private jets and a multi-million-dollar home to boost his social score and finagle movie roles. Horwitz is serving a 20-year prison sentence and doesn’t appear in Bad Actor beyond his mediocre acting clips, but interviews with friends and former classmates, FBI agents, psychologists, and former investors reveal the heart of the story–the lure of fame and fortune to pull off a very big crime.

Ilana Glazer: Human Magic (Dec 20) – The Broad City and Babes actress hits the standup stage in Toronto for her second comedy special since 2020’s The Planet Is Burning, shooting the breeze from those painfully awkward high school years to parenting as a “stoner mom.” Glazer is the fourth comedian tapped for Hulu’s new Hularious comedy brand, releasing one special a month starting in November with Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny. Bill Burr and Roy Wood Jr. are also set to tape upcoming specials for the streamer.

Also playing:

Hot Ones: new episodes (Dec 5)

Cuckoo (Dec 17)

Visit Hulu for a full list of releases.

Amazon Prime

Pop Culture Jeopardy! (Dec 4) – Book & Film Globe’s very own editor Neal Pollack takes on a brand-new trivia challenge, with a game show spinoff of Jeopardy! hosted by SNL star Colin Jost. The tournament-style quiz show features 81 teams of three testing their knowledge of popular music, film, TV, stage and sports for a grand prize of $300,000. Pollack is among several returning Jeopardy! contestants, with sharp-eyed fans spotting Mackenzie Jones, Elise Nussbaum, and Jessica Babbitt in the trailer. With Jost’s wry comic energy, a vibrant set, the contestants’ matching outfits, and lighthearted trivia material, Jeopardy!’s fun younger cousin may succeed in drawing a new generation of viewers to the franchise.

Glitter and Greed: The Lisa Frank Story (Dec 5) – The executive producers of Quiet on Set expose the dark underbelly of another revered adolescent franchise: Lisa Frank, whose rainbows-and-unicorns brand image defined 90s girlhood. But the colorful dream it sold was a world away from its reality: a corporate hell plagued by legal battles, mismanagement and avarice that eventually pushed its products off store shelves forever. Glitter and Greed features interviews with insiders, journalists and Lisa Frank enthusiasts in a nostalgic look at the company’s psychedelic art and the hidden toxic culture that destroyed its legacy.

The Sticky (Dec 6) – Veteran actress Margo Martindale (August: Osage County) leads this comedy-drama series about Ruth Landry, a maple syrup farmer who teams up with a Boston mobster (Chris Diamantopoulos, Martindale’s Mrs. Davis costar) and a French-Canadian security guard in the heist of the century: robbing Quebec’s multi-million-dollar syrup surplus. Martindale’s ability to carry complex characters with gruff vulnerability and humor (Sneaky Pete, The Americans, Your Honor) delivers a Coenesque dusting to the cold-weather caper.

Beast Games (Dec 19) – Hosted by top YouTube influencer MrBeast, Beast Games follows 1,000 contestants–the biggest cast ever for a game show–as they compete for $5 million, the largest cash prize in reality television history. Contestants use their strength and wits to outlast the other players as they battle through physical challenges, social tests and strategic gameplay. A legal challenge overshadows the event’s publicity: several Beast Games contestants who allege Lord of the Flies-style alliances, unsafe working conditions, unpaid wages, and a lack of food, breaks and medical treatment are currently suing MrBeast and Amazon. The New York Times also reported the injury of more than a dozen people when the contestants swarmed the sports arena during the first round.

Also playing:

Secret Level (Dec 10)

Visit Amazon Prime for a full list of releases.

Max

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Dec 7) – Keep your sobbin’ tissues close for this Critics Choice Award-winning documentary that follows Christopher Reeve from comic superhero to disability activist bringing hope and inspiration to the world. Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four genre-defining Superman films, but a devastating horse-riding accident in 1995 left him a quadriplegic. The competitive, fitness-focused athlete redefined himself as a lifelong activist for spinal cord injury treatments and disability rights – and his work resulted in medical miracles that made him a real-life hero. As one participant puts it, “People are literally walking because of him.” The doc focuses on Reeve’s close bond with Robin Williams and features interviews with Reeve’s children and friends Susan Sarandon and Glenn Close.

Juror #2 (Dec 20) – Clint Eastwood’s lean courtroom drama presents one dilly of a moral pickle for one juror serving on a high profile murder trial: a woman found dead in a ditch after arguing with her lover. Family man Justin (Nicholas Hoult, Mad Max: Fury Road) is doing his civic duty when the facts of the case begin to feel sickeningly familiar – and he realizes that he may be responsible for the victim’s death. His awful secret could influence the verdict and potentially convict, or free, the accused killer. But will Justin choose to give up his future over one mistake? The thriller also stars Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch and Cedric Yarbrough.

Bookie Season 2 (Dec 12) – Veteran Los Angeles bookie Danny (Sebastian Maniscalco) fights to keep his business afloat against the potential legalization of sports gambling in California. Season 2 finds Danny along with best friend Ray (Omar J. Dorsey) and reformed drug dealer Hector (Lost’s Jorge Garcia) trying to settle debts with his unstable clients – all while making his own risky bets to expand his business and charm his way to the top. Bookie features a stacked celebrity roster including the return of Charlie Sheen and Rob Corddry, Vanessa Ferlito, Zach Braff, Ray Romano and Brad Garrett.

Also playing:

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Dec 6)

Nature of the Crime (Dec 10)

Visit Max for a full list of releases.

Disney+

Inside the Enchanted Forests (Dec 2) – Another majestic National Geographic documentary series explores the planet’s most diverse and magical woodlands, from the tropics to the poles. Get to know the incredible array of life within these enchanted ecosystems and how the forests sustain countless unique species in intricate ecological relationships. NatGeo’s cutting-edge visual technology captures wildlife navigating seasonal changes, surviving in amphibious and high-altitude environments, and thriving in the world’s coldest and driest woodlands.

Blink (Dec 17) – After three of their four children are diagnosed with a progressive and incurable eye disease, one Montreal family embarks on a trip around the globe to fill their visual memories with beautiful moments and breathtaking vistas before their sight fades completely. Oscar winning documentarian Daniel Roher and Edmund Stenson chronicle their thrilling adventures as they check off bucket-list items like riding horses in Mongolia, drinking juice atop a camel, and making friends in other countries. Blink gives a profound lesson on the resilience of children, the strength of family bonds and cherishing the wonders of the world.

Elton John: Never Too Late (Dec 13) – Elton John looks back on his life and the astonishing early days of his 50-year career before his final North American concert at Dodger Stadium. The pop star recounts his struggles with adversity, abuse, and addiction during his meteoric rise to fame, and how he overcame them to become the beloved icon he is today. Never Too Late integrates historic performance footage, animated sequences, previously unseen personal clips, and excerpts from Elton’s private journals to trace the emotionally charged, full-circle artistic journey of a once-in-a-generation talent. John’s husband David Furnish co-directs the project with RJ Cutler (Martha).

Also Playing:

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Dec 3)

Doctor Who: Joy to the World (Dec 25)

Visit Disney+ for a full list of releases.

Apple TV+

The Secret Lives of Animals (Dec 18) – A new 10-part docuseries narrated by Hugh Bonneville(Paddington, Downton Abbey) highlights dozens of unique species around the world, revealing stunning, never-before-seen footage of animal behaviors and showcasing the remarkable intelligence and adaptability of the natural world. Highlights include an orb-weaving spider constructing a puppet to deter predators; a wood mouse that creates its own signposts; a young colobus monkey looking for charcoal to help digest mangoes; and a surprising symbiotic relationship between a humming frog and a burrowing tarantula.

Also playing:

A Charlie Brown Christmas – (stream for free Dec 14 and 15)

Ted Lasso: The Missing Christmas Mustache (Dec 15)

Visit Apple TV+ for a full list of releases.

Paramount+

Dear Santa (Nov 25) – When a dyslexic sixth grader’s spelling error sends his Christmas wish list to Satan instead of Santa, a devilish Jack Black arrives to wreak havoc on the holidays and take a piece of the kid’s soul. The Farrelly Brothers comedy also stars Robert Timothy Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Brianne Howey, Hayes MacArthur, and features cameos from Post Malone and Black’s Tropic Thunder costar Ben Stiller.

Dexter: Original Sin (Dec 13) – Set in 1991 Miami, the prequel series explores Dexter’s (Patrick Gibson) early years as he transforms from student to vigilante serial killer, and begins to hone his skills through an internship at the police department. As Dexter struggles to control his bloodthirst, he must learn to channel his inner darkness with the guidance of his father Harry’s (Christian Slater) code and protect his half-sister Deb from his growing darkness. The show synopsis references Dexter’s first kill: nurse Mary, an angel of death who kills her patients and forces his hand when she sets her sights on an invalid Harry. Michael C. Hall returns to narrate, and Patrick Dempsey and Sarah Michelle Gellar join the cast as seasoned cops alongside younger versions of Angel Batista (James Martinez), Maria LaGuerta (Christina Milian), and Vince Masuka (Interior Chinatown’s Alex Shimizu).

The Honey Trap: A True Story of Love, Lies and the FBI (Dec 2) – Director Chris Moukarbel (Gaga Five Foot Two) tells a dramatic tale of espionage, propaganda, and romance, following the infamous Berlin rapper Denis Cuspert/Deso Dogg and his journey from artist to MMA fighter to ISIS recruiter. The film explores the relationship between Cuspert and the FBI translator assigned to investigate him, and how their affair reveals the powers that shape the world. The film also examines the relationship between Hollywood studios and the U.S. military, and the role of entertainment culture in recruitment.

Also playing:

The Naked Gun trilogy (Dec 1)

Visit Paramount+ for a full list of releases.

Peacock

Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story (Dec 8) – Sleazebro Girls Gone Wild creator and fugitive Joe Francis gives a first-ever interview from exile in Mexico after his $100 million spring break empire was toppled by convictions for tax evasion, bribery, child abuse and prostitution. His softcore girl-next-door franchise impacted millennial college life before online pornography was ubiquitous, becoming “a virtual ground zero for bro culture” and drawing accusations of sexual coercion and exploitation. The new Peacock exclusive also includes exclusive access to Francis’ former employees, enemies and survivors in a wide-ranging account of the seedy video phenomenon’s founder.

Speak No Evil (Dec 6) – Peacock is hosting the streaming premiere of Blumhouse’s most successful film this year, the U.S. remake of Danish horror film Speak No Evil. The story follows two families on an increasingly sinister vacation in the countryside, and plays on a modern anxiety: being trapped in a social situation with weird strangers. As the weekend unravels in a string of unsettling events, one family looks for an escape while stretching a thin veneer of politeness over their mounting discomfort. James McAvoy gives a chaotic run as host Paddy, whose violent impulses turn a dream vacation into a psychological nightmare.

Paris and Nicole: The Encore (Dec 12) – More than 20 years since reality pioneers Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie first took the world by storm, the friends reunite in a new special to bring fans up to speed on their life and friendship. The self-awareness of age has retooled their inch-deep personas into what feels like an ongoing social experiment from the early aughts as the duo attempts to write, produce and star in a one-word opera based on their self-coined phrase “Sanasa.” They revisit their origins in Arkansas – the site of The Simple Life’s first season – for some musical inspiration, before meeting with members of the fine-arts community to learn just how hard it will be to tackle their opus. The bff’s go to work at Sonic and hijack a Hollywood Celebrity tour to recruit an audience in an effort to pull off their massive creative project – but if we can’t tell that the real creative project is the show itself, then the joke is on us.

Visit Peacock for a full list of releases.

AMC+

Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point (Dec 6) – On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home as one of the teenagers (Matilda Fleming) sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own. The 90s-style trailer features a narrative voiceover, twinkling lights, sugary snowfall and fuzzy callbacks to the warm familial chaos of Christmas classics like Home Alone. Director Tyler Taormina says he wanted to explore teen ennui and suburban surrealism through the heart-squeezing nostalgia of holding our loved ones in fleeting time. “The inspiration [for the film] was my emotional inability to watch home movies,” he tells The Film Stage. “I just couldn’t do it. And still can’t. There’s something too painful about them. Only by making the film was I finally able to conquer this burn of time passing.” Starring Michael Cera (Superbad), Gregg Turkington, Sawyer Spielberg (Masters of the Air), and Francesca Scorsese (We Are Who We Are). 

Monkey on a Stick: Murder, Madness and the Hare Krishnas (Dec 17) – Jason Lapayre directs a stomach-churning expose of the criminal activity that took place in the Hare Krishna movement in America in the 1970s and 80s. Adapted from the New York Times bestselling book, this documentary tells the story of idealistic devotees who join the movement only to discover corruption, criminality and abuse of power within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Smuggling drugs, stockpiling weapons, exploiting female devotees, widespread child sexual abuse and murder, all happened under the systemic, long-term coverup of its spiritual leaders via control, isolation and threats. “The place was run like the Mafia,” says one participant.

The Newsreader Season 3 (Dec 6) – The third and final act of the 1980s newsroom drama finds veteran journalist Helen Norville (Mindhunter’s remarkable Anna Torv) and ambitious junior reporter Dale Jennings (Sam Reid, Interview with the Vampire) battling for ratings as their media stars continue to rise amidst cutthroat studio politics. Dale is winning awards as the ‘King of News’ while Helen’s fearless international reporting might earn her own current affairs show. But a cynical network move puts the former lovers in direct competition, testing their relationship like never before. Over the course of 1989, Helen and Dale will race to cover a cascade of historical events, from the Exxon Valdez oil spill to the Tiananmen Square massacre, the boycotts of South Africa’s Apartheid and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Also playing:

Horror’s Greatest Season 2 (Dec 31)

The Last Drive-In: Joe Bob’s Christmas Carnage (Dec 15)

Visit AMC+ for a full list of releases.

Cover graphic by Rachel Llewellyn.