You have a date with the devil! The long-awaited return of Marvel’s Daredevil headlines this week’s streaming release schedule, alongside Blake Lively’s controversial romantic drama It Ends with Us, the VOD debut of Sony’s Kraven the Hunter, and more!

SERIES

Tuiskoms S1

28 February 2025 – Netflix

We recently had to say farewell to local screen legend Michelle Botes, who tragically passed away this past December after a battle with cancer. Her legacy lives on through her many iconic roles, the very last of which is in Tuiskoms. Only the second original Afrikaans production on Netflix, the romantic drama series stars Amalia Uys (7de Laan) as widowed chef Fleur, who, after a series of misfortunes, decides to move back to her hometown with her young daughter. Botes play’s Fleur’s mother, Abigail, with whom she moves in again, and in whose flower shop she starts working again as she attempts to put her life back together, including finding new love.

Daredevil: Born Again S1

5 March 2025 – Disney+

The Devil of Hell’s kitchen is back! While Charlie Cox already made his version of Daredevil – originally born on the Marvel-Netflix shows back in the day – canon in the MCU with his appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk, Daredevil: Born Again is the true moment of the character’s revival that fans have been waiting for. After dancing around the canon legitimacy of those ill-fated Netflix shows for years, Marvel eventually (and wisely) decided to go all in on Born Again, as it picks right up where things were left off before. And based on the phenomenal trailer above as well as glowing early reviews, things haven’t missed a beat. Especially when it comes to the tense rivalry between Cox’s Matt Murdock and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk aka The Kingpin, as well as the bar-setting action that pulls no punches for the squeamish. The new show also sees the return of the original supporting cast, which includes, much to fan’s excitement, Jon Bernthal’s Frank Castle aka the Punisher (who, as we learned this week, is getting his own one-shot special on Disney+ in the near future).

Note: Daredevil: Born Again will have a peculiar release schedule. Episodes one and two release together next Wednesday, followed by episode three the following week, and episode four the week after that. However, episodes five and six then release together in one week as well, before the show goes back to a weekly release for the remaining three episodes. Also, by the time you read this, season two of Daredevil: Born Again will already be going into production.

Deli Boys S1

6 March 2025 – Disney+

We go from devils to delis now with upcoming crime comedy series Deli Boys. The show stars Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh as a pair of pampered Pakistani American brothers, the sons of a wealthy convenience store magnate who use their family wealth to live carefree lives of luxury. When their father dies rather unexpectedly though, the boys are thrust into the truth of how their family really earned all that money: drugs. Now, hopelessly out of their depths, the hapless siblings have to take up the reins of the business, complete with all the absurdities and very real dangers that come with it.

A Very Royal Scandal

6 March 2025 – Prime Video

And now for something completely different. In November 2019, Prince Andrew of the British Royal Family gave an interview on Newsnight with journalist Emily Maitlis about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier and convicted sex offender. It would send shockwaves around the world. A Very Royal Scandal is a three-part miniseries that tells the story of how that historic interview came together, documenting the days leading up to the explosive encounter, the fallout from the interview, and its lasting impact on the monarchy. And bringing it all to life is a pair of incredible British talents as Michael Sheen (The Queen) stars as Prince Andrew, and Ruth Wilson (Luther) stars as Emily Maitlis. The show is written by BAFTA Award-winning The Last King of Scotland scribe Jeremy Brock.

MOVIES

It Ends with Us

1 March 2025 – Netflix/Showmax

Chances are that you’ve heard of It Ends with Us, the recent feature film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel about a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston as she chases her lifelong dream, only to get involved in an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, what you probably heard was not good. Not in terms of critical or commercial success though as the romantic drama drew solid reviews and was a gigantic box office success, earning over $351 million on a $25 million budget. All of that got eclipsed though by the messy behind-the-scenes drama between star Blake Lively and co-star/director-producer Justin Baldoni, which has resulted in several lawsuits on both sides amidst allegations of sexual harassment, intimidation, and the reported staging of a vicious social media smear campaign. You can read up on the details HERE ahead of the upcoming trial.

Note: It Ends with Us is actually getting a local streaming release on both Netflix and Showmax on the same day.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

3 March 2025 – Showmax

I would definitely consider my cinematic palette to be rather refined. That doesn’t mean I don’t also enjoy the equivalent of movie junk food. And it doesn’t get more junk food-y than Legendary’s Monsterverse movies! Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is every bit is big and dumb as you would expect from a movie that’s not embarrassed to have such a stupidly clunky title. But it’s also a whole lot of fun. As I mentioned in my 7.5/10 review though, the latest franchise entry is definitely not as good as 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong, which saw returning director Adam Wingard staging much more iconic giant monster action beats, with a far less annoying human cast tagging along. This time around, the film focuses heavily on exploring the Hollow Earth civilization first introduced in the previous movie, with Kong’s yearning for finding more of his kind driving the narrative. Not that narrative is really going to be the primary reason you press play on this one.

Picture This

6 March 2025 – Prime Video

If you like your love stories fare less dramatic than the aforementioned It Ends with Us, then try Picture This on for size. In this heartfelt romcom, struggling photographer Pia (Simone Ashley) receives a prediction: true love and career success await her in the next five dates she goes on. With her sister’s wedding looming and family playing matchmaker, her ex (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) reappears, throwing both her love and professional life into chaos.

VOD RENTALS/PURCHASES

The following movies have recently become available for digital purchase/rental:

Kraven: The Hunter

Purchase: Apple TV – R170 / Google Play Movies – R173

Rental: Apple TV – R40 / Google Play Movies – R45

R.I.P. to the SPUMC! Yes, nobody has said it officially yet, but for all intents and purposes the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters i.e. all these Spider-Man-less Spider-Man spinoff movies is seemingly dead as the studio has cancelled all future productions after a string of commercial and critical failures. The proverbial final nail in the coffin was Kraven the Hunter, which released in cinemas last December and couldn’t even make back half of its reported $130 million budget (a budget figure which you can probably double once you take advertising costs into account as well) while drawing pretty terrible reviews. As I was one of the few people that actually saw this movie, I can tell you that it’s not as bad as some of those scathing critics would have you believe. That doesn’t mean it’s good either, especially not when it has dialogue zingers like “My grandmother died on that trip, and I never saw her again” delivered in the most perplexingly wooden fashion by Oscar winner Ariana DeBose. But the film is now available for VOD rental starting at a mere R40, which I feel is a cheap enough price to at least get to ogle star Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s insane abs during a couple of admittedly solid action beats. And as a bonus, you will even get to see what is undoubtedly the most bizarre, unintentionally funny scene in any movie released last year.