From Beasts of No Nation and Death Note to Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Netflix is absolutely nailing it when it comes to original movies right now. And with the streaming service currently ramping up its celluloid output, the following are the best Netflix films heading to a TV screen near you soon.
First They Killed My Father
Launching: September 15, 2017
Based on the bestselling memoir by Loung Ung, First They Killed My Father is set in Cambodia in 1975, and revolves around the author’s horrific early years, when she was taken from her family and trained as a child soldier during the deadly reign of the Khmer Rouge. Angelina Jolie produces and directs, while she has also co-written the script with Ung.
Wheelman
Launching: October 20, 2017
In this high-octane action-thriller, Frank Grillo (Captain America: Civil War, The Purge movies) plays a talented getaway driver forced on the run when a bank robbery goes wrong. With his family in danger, Grillo must figure out who double-crossed him with the help of his 14-year-old daughter. Writer-director Jeremy Rush makes his feature debut with Wheelman, while Joe Carnahan – whop previously worked with Grillo on The Grey – produces.
A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Launching: Sometime in 2017
Based on the bestselling biography by Josh Karp, A Futile and Stupid Gesture explores the troubled life of comedy writer Doug Kenney, who co-founded National Lampoon and wrote Caddyshack and Animal House. Will Forte plays Kenney, while the talented cast includes Domhnall Gleeson, Joel McHale, Matt Lucas, Seth Green and Emmy Rossum.
Io
Launching: sometime in 2017
An unspecified disaster has hit the earth in this sci-fi drama, and teenager Sam Walden (The Nice Guys and Death Note star Margaret Qualley) is searching for a cure for the poisoned planet before the last shuttle departs for a far-off space colony. Anthony Mackie plays a mysterious stranger who believes that the earth is beyond repair, while Danny Huston also co-stars.
Bright
Launching: December 2017
Written by Max Landis (Chronicle) and directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad), Bright is set in an alternate present-day where humans and mystical creatures live side-by-side in relative harmony. Will Smith plays an LA cop, while Joel Edgerton is his orc partner, the pair charged with the task of protecting a young elf and an ancient relic that has the potential to destroy the world.
Mute
Launching: Sometime in 2017
Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code, Warcraft) writes and directs this futuristic story that concerns Berlin bartender Leo (Alexander Skarsgård) who has lost the ability to speak due to a childhood accident. When his girlfriend goes missing, Leo’s search thrusts him into the city’s seedy underworld, where he meets two shady surgeons – played by Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux. A sci-fi neo-noir, Jones calls it his homage to Blade Runner, while the likes of Hardcore, Point Blank, The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca have also been cited as influences.
Gerald’s Game
Launching: Sometime in 2017
Saw a rough cut of Mike Flanagan’s GERALD’S GAME yesterday. Horrifying, hypnotic, terrific. It’s gonna freak you out.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 11, 2017
Gerald’s Game is a 1992 Stephen King story about a kinky game that goes horribly wrong. It’s been called unfilmable, but Mike Flanagan (Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil) has nevertheless been giving it a go, co-writing and directing an adaptation. Carla Gugino plays the woman whose husband dies during their bedroom shenanigans, leaving her handcuffed to a headboard in their remote summer home. And if King’s above Tweet is to believed, the movie version will be as messed up as the book.
Hold the Dark
Launching: TBA
Blue Ruin and Green Room collaborators Jeremy Saulnier and Macon Blair re-team for this thriller about a rogue wolf terrorising an Alaskan village. Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by William Giraldi, the film is currently shooting in Alberta, Canada, with the cast featuring Alexander Skarsgård, Jeffrey Wright, James Badge Dale and Riley Keough.
The Irishman
Launching: TBA
This long-gestating adaptation of Charles Brandt’s ‘I Heard You Paint Houses’ will star Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran, the mob enforcer who claimed to have killed Jimmy Hoffa. Martin Scorsese will direct, while Al Pacino and Joe Pesci may co-star. Though troubles behind-the-scenes mean we may be seeing this one later rather than sooner.