Weekend Watchlist: The Biggest Movies Hitting Streaming and Theaters (Oct. 3–5)

First weekend of October, and the menu is stacked. Big theatrical swings, a couple of prestige dramas, some gnarly genre stuff, and yes, a very specific Taylor Swift thing. If you’re watching between October 3 and 5, here’s what actually matters and where to find it.

The Smashing Machine

Release: October 3, 2025 • Where: Theaters

Dwayne Johnson drops the eyebrow and goes full bruiser in Benny Safdie’s biopic of late 90s MMA force Mark Kerr. It’s the highs-and-horrors version of combat sports: dominance in the ring, opioid addiction and a messy personal life outside it. Emily Blunt plays Kerr’s girlfriend, Dawn, reuniting with Johnson after Jungle Cruise, and the whole thing looks like the most serious work he’s done in years. Expect sweat, pain, and a real gut punch.

Steve

Release: September 19, 2025 • Where: Netflix

Cillian Murphy trades the bomb for a quiet crisis. Tim Mielants directs this mid-90s, one-day drama adapted from Max Porter’s book 'Shy.' Murphy plays the head teacher of a reform school fighting to keep it alive. It’s tender, tense, and very human — more about compassion, failure, and hope than fireworks. Murphy, unsurprisingly, is a knockout.

The Lost Bus

Release: September 5, 2025 • Where: Apple TV+

Paul Greengrass (yes, the Bourne guy who shoots tension like an extreme sport) tackles a true-life survival story set during the 2018 Camp Fire. Matthew McConaughey plays a school bus driver trying to steer a bus full of kids and their teacher through hell. Co-written by 'Mare of Easttown' creator Brad Ingelsby, it’s a lean thriller with a big heart and some real-world sting.

The Official Release Party of a Showgirl

Release: October 3, 2025 • Where: Theaters

Taylor Swift’s new album 'The Life of a Showgirl' gets a 1-hour-30 theatrical companion: the music video for 'The Fate of Ophelia,' lyric videos, and Swift talking through songs and process. It’s not The Eras Tour-sized, but if you live for behind-the-scenes sparkle, it’s a warm, fans-first victory lap.

Play Dirty

Release: October 1, 2025 • Where: Theaters

Shane Black returns to crime capers with Mark Wahlberg as a thief eyeing the mother of all scores. Inspired by Donald E. Westlake’s Parker novels (inside baseball alert), the movie blends old-school heist mechanics with Black’s rat-a-tat wit. Crew assembling, double-crosses mounting — you know the dance. If you missed The Nice Guys vibe, this scratches that itch.

Good Boy

Release: October 3, 2025 • Where: Theaters • Rating: PG-13 (terror, bloody images, some strong language)

A haunted-house story told from the dog’s point of view. No, really. Ben Leonberg’s supernatural chiller follows Todd, who moves into his grandfather’s rural place, where something nasty lurks — and his dog Indy becomes the MVP. Starts cute, gets unsettling fast. This one’s an oddball in the best way.

Bone Lake

Release: October 3, 2025 • Where: Theaters

A romantic getaway at a secluded lakeside estate goes sideways when couple Diego and Sage end up sharing the mansion with a mysteriously alluring duo. Cue sex, lies, manipulation, and the kind of secrets that turn a weekend into a survival story. If you like your thrillers intimate and poisonous, this is your jam.

Coyotes

Release: October 3, 2025 • Where: Select theaters

Wildfire outside, savage coyotes circling, a family trapped in their Hollywood Hills home. Colin Minihan keeps it raw and grounded, with Justin Long and Kate Bosworth as parents trying to hold the line for their daughter, Mila. It’s sweaty-palmed, claustrophobic survival drama — a simple premise that plays mean.

Caught Stealing

Release: August 29, 2025 • Where: Prime Video (digital purchase)

Austin Butler stars as Hank Thompson, an ex-ballplayer who stumbles into a criminal pinball machine: gangsters, stolen cash, and a lot of violence with a darkly funny edge. Matt Smith co-stars as Russ. The tone is black-comedy chaos — loud, fast, and intentionally deranged.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

Release: September 12, 2025 • Where: Prime Video

Final curtain for the Crawleys. Set in 1930, the family faces modernization and big existential questions about what Downton is supposed to be in a changing world. Expect elegant send-offs, luscious costumes, and the full 'one last time' feeling. If you’ve been in since day one, this is your goodbye hug.

The Toxic Avenger

Release: August 29, 2025 • Where: Plex

Peter Dinklage headlines a gleefully filthy reboot of the cult superhero splatterfest. A lonely janitor has a very bad day, mutates, and decides to clean up crime rather than hide. Macon Blair keeps the Troma spirit — anarchic, gross, and kind of sweet under the sludge. It’s weird in all the right ways.

Killing Faith

Release: October 3, 2025 • Where: Theaters

Supernatural western/thriller from writer-director Ned Crowley with Guy Pearce, DeWanda Wise, and Bill Pullman. In 1849, a widowed physician escorts a freed slave and her daughter across the American West in search of a distant faith healer. The mother believes the girl is cursed; the doctor suspects disease. Key complication: everything the girl touches dies. Grim, eerie frontier stuff.

The Threesome

Release: September 5, 2025 • Where: Prime Video

Chad Hartigan directs a bittersweet rom-com from writer Ethan Ogilby starring Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, and Ruby Cruz. A long-running crush snowballs into an unexpected threesome, and then the fallout hits: both women get pregnant, forcing three people to actually grow up. The tone wobbles sometimes, but the charm and performances carry it. Opened September 5 and streaming on Prime Video.

Anemone

Release: October 3, 2025 • Where: Theaters

Daniel Day-Lewis returns to acting, directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis. That’s already a story, and the film itself is a hushed psychological drama about a man trying to stitch himself back together. Sean Bean co-stars. It’s quiet, opaque, and beautifully shot — the kind of comeback that reminds you why DDL vanishing-and-returning is a whole event.