It’s a new year, and while streamer Showmax is delivering new series, movies, documentaries and comedy specials to home viewers, the emphasis this month is on returning favourites. And there’s nothing wrong with that, as the returnees include the likes of Yellowstone (Friday, 17 January), Adulting (from Saturday, 25 January), SAS Rogue Heroes (Friday, 31 January), Law & Order (Monday, 6 January), and Gqeberha: The Empire (Tuesday, 14 January).
You can find the complete Showmax January calendar here, while below are our recommendations from the fresh additions.
Series
The biggest new series drawcard for January is 10-part espionage thriller The Day of the Jackal, a modern-day reimagining of Frederick Forsyth’s 1972 novel, which has already had the movie adaptation treatment. Eddie Redmayne plays the title character, an elusive and ruthless assassin who carries out hits for the highest fee. Lashana Lynch plays Bianca, the British intelligence officer intent on capturing the killer, triggering a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe.
Watch The Day of the Jackal Mondays from 13 January at 8:30pm.
For something breezy and offbeat, there’s romantic comedy meets murder mystery Laid. Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Stephanie Hsu stars as Ruby, a woman who discovers her former lovers are dying in unusual ways. To figure out why and stop it from happening again, she goes back through her sex timeline with the help of her best friend (The Flight Attendant’s Zosia Mamet). Laid is based on the Australian series of the same name.
Binge all eight episodes of Laid from Friday, 17 January.
Film
On the movie front, Showmax sneakily slid some high-profile releases into the tail-end of December, so make sure to check out Bad Boys: Ride or Die, CGI-animated The Garfield Movie, and Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black.
Apart for those hits, in January arguably the best blockbuster of 2024 makes its local small screen debut via Showmax. We’re talking about Dune: Part Two, of course. Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve continues the sci-fi epic based on Frank Herbert’s novel series, with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) leading the Fremen people of desert planet Arrakis against House Harkonnen, which destroyed his family and brutally oppresses the local population. The all-star cast includes Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and Christopher Walken.
Watch Dune: Part Two, as well as Part One, from Wednesday, 1 January. Don’t forget that Showmax is also the local home of ongoing prequel series Dune: Prophecy.
We’re mid Hollywood awards season, so if you’re in the mood for something emotionally meaty and prestigious, biographical drama One Life should be on your radar. Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn play London broker Nicholas Winton, a real-life figure who, on the brink of World War II, helped rescue as many Jewish children as possible from the Nazis in Mainland Europe before borders closed. Decades later, though, Winton is haunted by those he wasn’t able to save. The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Lena Olin and Jonathan Pryce.
Stream One Life from Monday, 6 January.
On the flipside, if you crave some trashy escapism (of the grim kind anyway), there’s dystopian survival thriller Breathe. In the near future, oxygen levels have plummeted, and humans have been forced underground. A mother, Maya (Jennifer Hudson), and daughter, Zora (Quvenzhané Wallis), make short trips to the surface thanks to a state-of-the-art oxygen suit made by Maya’s missing husband, Darius (Common). Then a mysterious couple (Milla Jovovivch and Sam Worthington) arrive, claiming to know Darius and demanding to be let into the family bunker.
Watch Breathe from Monday, 13 January.