Netflix is kicking 2025 off in decidedly low-key fashion. By its standards, the streamer's lineup of film originals in January is surprisingly slight. There are still a few Netflix-exclusive movies worth recommending this month,

Back in Action has been trashed – but there's a key factor that explains which films are unexpected streaming hits.

The top shows and movies new on Netflix this week are once again headlined by the return of a surprise hit from 2023.

The last month or so has been big for surprise additions to Netflix’s streaming roster. A few weeks ago, the streaming service added a bunch of big Warner Bros. releases to the lineup without announcing them in the monthly newsletters.

The latest data from the British Film Institute (BFI) shows that in 2019, every $1.31 (£1) of reimbursement handed to studios generated $10.88 (£8.30) of additional Gross Value Added (GVA) benefit for the U.K. economy. It led to a total of $10.1 billion (£7.7 billion) in GVA being generated by the fiscal incentives for film in 2019.

This month’s selection of movies includes an underseen rock opera, one of the best movies of the 2000s, a paranoid thriller about American misdeeds abroad, and a nice pre-Oscars catch-up on one of Timothée Chalamet’s best performances.