I think it’s safe to say that we’re all looking forward to 2016 dancing itself right off the stage of history and ushering in a new year where hopefully everything isn’t the most terrible thing ever. But despite the promise and potential that a new year brings, it’s also worth keeping an eye on what new movies and TV shows you might want to watch — because no matter what’s going on in the world, sometimes you just want to keep your head down and glued to your TV / laptop / smartphone screen, where nothing can get in the way.
Thankfully, Netflix agrees, and is kicking off 2017 by adding a ton of new films and TV shows to its roster. Boogie Nights and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial will be targeting two very different audiences when they land on the service on January 1st, and on the 13th Neil Patrick Harris will take command in the service’s TV series adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. And if real-world events aren’t terrifying enough, don’t worry: the phenomenal It Follows will start stalking you that same day. You’ll also be able to watch the entire non-Zack Snyder run of live-action Superman films, which are generally pretty fantastic, except for the third one where Richard Pryor helps build a giant computer that builds a Superman-killing robot. (OkAY I lied; the fourth one is pretty awful, too.)
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Amazon Prime Video will be playing things a little more low-key, releasing the first seasons of its new shows Sneaky Pete and Z: The Beginning of Everything, while building up its film library with a combination of the disturbing (American History X), questionable (Maid in Manhattan), and charmingly eccentric (Swiss Army Man).
But just because the first season of Westworld is over doesn’t mean HBO Now should be ignored, either. In January the network will begin its new season of Sesame Street, the new Jude Law series The Young Pope, and Beware the Slenderman. That not enough? HBO Now will also be adding a flurry of films, including The Big Lebowski, Evil Dead 2, Mad Max: Fury Road, and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit. (HBO will also be adding The Happening, otherwise known as That Movie Where Mark Wahlberg Has To Battle Homicidal Plants, but what’re you gonna do.)