Welcome to When To Stream’s Weekly Preview! Every week, we take a closer look at the major film streaming releases scheduled to launch in the next 7 days. As always, release dates are subject to change.
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Here are this week’s highlights:
Tuesday, February 17th, 2026
28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE – $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry
Synopsis: In a continuation of the epic story, Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) finds himself in a shocking new relationship – with consequences that could change the world as they know it – and Spike’s (Alfie Williams) encounter with Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) becomes a nightmare he can’t escape. In the world of The Bone Temple, the infected are no longer the greatest threat to survival – the inhumanity of the survivors can be stranger and more terrifying.
What we like:
- This quick follow up to Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later was a hit with critics, currently sitting at 92% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences loved it too, giving it an A- Cinemascore.
- Director Nia DaCosta said she deliberately avoided imitating Danny Boyle’s visual style, explaining that her goal was to create a film that was “bonkers, idiosyncratic, and artistically personal”, while still fitting within the franchise’s tone.
- DaCosta gets her Alfred Hitchcock moment. During the train flashback scene, she can be seen seated on the left side of the train.
What we don’t like:
- Despite positive reviews and good word-of-mouth, there just wasn’t an appetite for another 28 Years Later film 7 months after the last one. The film is only at $25M domestically and about $57M worldwide. It’s unclear if the hoped-for last installment in the 28 Years trilogy will be made, which is a shame.
THE CHORAL – $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Roger Allam, Mark Addy, Alun Armstrong, Robert Emms, and Simon Russell Beale
Synopsis: Yorkshire, 1916. A choral society’s male members enlist in World War I, leaving the demanding Dr. Guthrie to recruit teenagers. Together, they experience the joy of singing while the young boys grapple with their impending conscription into the army.
What we like:
- Celebrated screenwriter Alan Bennett returns with his first original screenplay in a decade, and he reunites with his The Madness of King George director Nicholas Hytner on this WWI drama.
- The story draws loose inspiration from actual wartime choral groups such as the Huddersfield Choral Society, which performed major works during World War I.
- The second major streaming release of the week starring Ralph Fiennes, though this would make a strange double feature with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
What we don’t like:
- This is the sort of meat-and-potatoes arthouse release that would have made $5M-$10M for Sony Pictures Classics ten or fifteen years ago. Those days are over, and the older arthouse crowd now mostly stays home. This one stalled out at $858K domestically, but should do better on PVOD. We’re excited to catch up with it.
KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR – $19.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Cast: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Gordon Liu, Michael Parks, and David Carradine as “Bill”
Synopsis: Quentin Tarantino’s complete cut combining Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 follows The Bride, a former assassin who awakens from a four-year coma after being shot by her mentor and lover, Bill. She embarks on a vengeful quest to eliminate Bill and the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who betrayed her.
What we like:
- Director Quentin Tarantino originally conceived Kill Bill as a single epic, but the studio split it into two films in 2003 and 2004 because of its massive runtime. The 2025 release restores that vision by stitching both volumes into one continuous story.
- The release adds a never-before-seen animated sequence and restores deleted material. One extended flashback about assassin O-Ren Ishii is roughly 10 minutes longer than before.
- The House of Blue Leaves battle now plays fully in color. The original switched to black-and-white to avoid an NC-17 rating.
What we don’t like:
- The Whole Bloody Affair is quite the time commitment! The combined cut runs about 4.5 hours (roughly 275 minutes), making it Tarantino’s longest movie. But who are we kidding…we can’t wait to dig in to this masterpiece again.
MERCY – $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental
Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Annabelle Wallis, Kali Reis, Rafi Gavron, Chris Sullivan, Kenneth Choi, Kylie Rogers
Synopsis: In the near future, a detective stands on trial accused of murdering his wife. He has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to the advanced A.I. Judge he once championed, before it determines his fate.
What we like:
- Director Timur Bekmambetov uses his signature digital style to create an immersive, real-time experience focused on screens and technology (aren’t you excited??!!).
- Rebecca Ferguson co-stars, and we wish better things for her. She’s such a talented actress and appealing screen presence.
- Kali Reis, best known from the Jodie Foster season of True Detective, has a supporting role in the film. She’s always interesting to watch.
What we don’t like:
- A classic January dump, this one has so many elements that just don’t generate any excitement. A humorless, strapped to his chair Chris Pratt? An AI-centered storyline? We’re swiping left on this one.
NO OTHER CHOICE – $19.99 Sale / TBD Rental
Cast: Lee Byung Hun, Son Yejin, Park Hee Soon, Lee Sung Min, Yeom Hye Ran, Cha Seung Won, Choi So Yul, Kim Woo Seung, Kim Hyeongmook, Oh Dal Soo, Lee Suk Hyeong
Synopsis: Devoted family man and veteran paper mill manager You Man-su spirals after being laid off and discarded by a ruthless job market. Humiliated by failed interviews and mocked by corporate gatekeepers, he resolves to claw back dignity by any means necessary — a decision that sends him down a path of violence where there’s no turning back.
What we like:
- Master filmmaker Park Chan-wook adapts the 1997 novel The Ax by Donald E. Westlake, which has already inspired one film, Costa Gravas’ 2005 film The Axe.
- The film stars Lee Byung-hun (who was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor – Drama), internationally recognized for appearances in projects ranging from I Saw the Devil to the global Netflix hit Squid Game.
- The film has become an absolute arthouse blockbuster for NEON, currently earning $9.5M at the US box-office, and still going strong. It has significantly outgrossed the distributor’s other Oscar-nominated 2025 releases, with It Was Just An Accident, Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, and Sirât (which is just hitting theaters) all trailing. Speaking of Oscars…
What we don’t like:
- What will it take for Park Chan-wook to get some love from the Academy?? This felt like the perfect chance to at least get him a nomination. The Academy tastes always lean extremely European, but this snub hurt. Maybe next time.
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS – Paramount+
Cast: Tom Kenney, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Mark Hamill, Regina Hall, Sherry Cola, Arturo Castro, George Lopez, and Ice Spice.
Synopsis: SpongeBob travels to the depths of the ocean and faces off against the ghost of the Flying Dutchman.
What we like:
- Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton) all reprise their iconic voices.
- Mark Hamill joins as the Flying Dutchman. Yes, Luke Skywalker’s voice is behind the spooky pirate ghost.
- Ice Spice appears both in the voice cast (as a ticket taker) and on the soundtrack with an original song that quickly sparked memes online (“SpongeBob big guy pants OK”).
What we don’t like:
- The last two SpongeBob movies, 2024’s Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie and 2025’s Plankton: The Movie, both went straight to Netflix. The one before that, 2021’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run went straight to Paramount+ and PVOD (for COVID reasons). But 2015’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water earned $350M worldwide, while Search for SquarePants has grossed less than half that total. Did the streak of streaming releases kill SpongeBob as a theatrical event?
URCHIN – Hulu
Cast: Frank Dillane, Megan Northam and Amr Waked
Synopsis: Mike, a rough sleeper in London, trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around.
What we like:
- The feature-length directorial debut for actor Harris Dickinson, who also wrote the screenplay for the film. Not just a pretty face!
- The film world premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Dickinson won the FIPRESCI Prize and Frank Dillane won the section’s Best Actor award. A very big deal for a first film.
- Urchin received six nominations at the 2025 British Independent Film Awards, including for best British independent film, and lead performance for Dillane, and best directorial debut for Dickinson.
What we don’t like:
- The film was picked up for US distribution by upstart distributor 1-2 Special after its Cannes premiere. The company struggled to attract an audience and Urchin only earned $200k domestically. Still, we’re rooting for 1-2 Special. They have an encouraging lineup set for 2026, and have great taste. If you’re able, support indie film in theaters or on digital. We want these companies to thrive.
Wednesday, February 18th, 2026
RENTAL FAMILY – Hulu
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Mari Yamamoto, Takehiro Hira and Akira Emoto
Synopsis: A lonely, down and out American actor living in Tokyo starts working for a Japanese “rental family” company to play various stand-in roles in other people’s lives. Along the way, he discovers unexpected joys within his built-in family.
What we like:
- Brendan Fraser’s first lead feature role since winning the Best Actor Oscar for 2022’s The Whale. We love Fraser, but that win has aged like milk in the sun.
- Critics were kinda mixed on it, but audiences loved it, giving it an ‘A’ CinemaScore.
- The National Board of Review named it one of the Top 10 Films of 2025.
What we don’t like:
- Searchlight Pictures gave this feel-good comedy-drama the full festival tour, starting with Toronto in September and then hitting Chicago, Middleburg, Seattle, Savannah, and Virginia. Awards hopes were likely high, but the film’s pretty much blanked with all the precursors. It did pick up one nomination: Best Intergenerational Film at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards. Unsurprisingly, it received no Oscar nominations.
Thursday, February 19th, 2026
EAST OF WALL – Netflix
Cast: Tabatha Zimiga, Porshia Zimiga, Scoot McNairy, Jennifer Ehle
Synopsis: After the death of her husband, Tabatha — a young, tattooed, rebellious horse trainer — wrestles with financial insecurity and unresolved grief while providing refuge for a group of wayward teenagers on her broken-down ranch in the Badlands.
What we like:
- The feature film directorial debut of Kate Beecroft, who wrote and directed the film after embedding herself with the South Dakota community and the Zimiga family, on whose story the film is based.
- The film had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award in the NEXT program.
- The film received two nominations at the 41st Independent Spirit Awards: Best Breakthrough Performance for Tabatha Zimiga and Best First Feature for Beecroft.
What we don’t like:
- While members of the Zimiga family play themselves in the film, Beecroft cast the remaining roles by spending months scouring nearby towns, rodeos, grocery stores, local basketball games, trying to find the perfect people. The process, unfortunately, was not without excruciating heartbreak. They lost multiple cast members to drug addiction and arrests, and one of their cast members was murdered on Pine Ridge Reservation a few weeks before filming.
Friday, February 20th, 2026
THE ASTRONAUT – Hulu
Cast: Kate Mara, Gabriel Luna, Macy Gray and Laurence Fishburne
Synopsis: After returning from her first space mission, astronaut Sam Walker is placed under NASA’s care at a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.
What we like:
- The Astronaut marks the solo feature writing and directing debut of Jess Varley.
- Kate Mara is always an appealing performer, and it’s great to see her lead a twisty sci-fi thriller. She replaced originally cast Emma Roberts.
- National treasure Laurence Fishburne has a supporting role in the film, and we’re always happy to spend time with him. How about an honorary Oscar for him please??
What we don’t like:
- Vertical Entertainment went straight to VOD with this one, which doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. The poster is goofy and boring at the same time. Still…we read the Wikipedia summary of the plot, and it’s bonkers enough to pique our interest.
DEAD OF WINTER – HBO Max
Cast: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca
Synopsis: A grief-stricken loner (Emma Thompson) caught in a brutal Minnesotan blizzard discovers a young woman imprisoned by a desperate armed couple, forcing this unlikely hero into a dangerous fight for her and the victim’s survival.
What we like:
- Emma Thompson stretches her action muscles in this thriller, which world premiered at the 2025 Locarno Film Festival before it was snapped up by Vertical Entertainment.
- Thompson’s real-life daughter Gaia Wise portrays the younger version of her character in the film. Wise’s father is Greg Wise, who married Thompson after they co-starred together in 1995’s Sense and Sensibility.
- The film’s score was composed by Volker Bertelmann, an Oscar winner a few years ago for his work on the Netflix film All Quiet on the Western Front.
What we don’t like:
- Despite a production budget of roughly $20M, the film earned only $3.3M worldwide. We’ll watch Emma Thompson in anything, so we’re definitely catching up with this when it hits Hulu this week.
THE DREADFUL – TBD Sale / TBD Rental
Cast: Sophie Turner, Kit Harington, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurence O’Fuarain
Synopsis: Set in medieval England, Anne and her domineering mother-in-law Morwen struggle to survive on the outskirts of society. But when a man from Anne’s past returns from war, a curse begins to take shape through a mysterious knight and threatens to destroy them all.
What we like:
- Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, once TV siblings on Game of Thrones, play romantic leads in this gothic horror chiller.
- The movie was written and directed by Natasha Kermani and draws inspiration from an ancient Buddhist folktale. Kermani previously directed the 2025 adaptation of the Joe Hill story Abraham’s Boys.
What we don’t like:
- In an interview with EW, Sophie Turner said that kissing co-star Kit Harington was “vile” and “the worst” when making the film. Harington even called being cast as lovers “F**cking weird.” Turner added, “Then we get on set, it’s the first kissing scene, and we are both retching. Like, really, it is vile. It was the worst. Another really bad moment in my career.” She then said that scene was actually worse than when she was covered in real life rats and roaches for her 2025 film Trust.
Happy Streaming Everyone!
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