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Netflix is giving audiences exactly what we want in 2026: true crime, A-list celebs, anime and romantic comedies. The streamer really has us all figured out. This January, several new films are dropping, including the highly anticipated cop thriller The Rip (arriving Jan. 16), written and directed by Joe Carnahan, whose previous films include The A-Team and Copshop. The film co-stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Teyana Taylor and Kyle Chandler. Not a bad police lineup.
Also on the schedule this month is the movie adaptation of Emily Henry's bestseller People We Meet on Vacation, along with a gripping documentary about the abduction of Elizabeth Smart featuring Smart herself, speaking out about the traumatic kidnapping and her healing journey in the decades since. Also scheduled is One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5, a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of one of Netflix's biggest shows.
These films and more are new to Netflix this January. Here's a look at the titles we can't wait to watch.
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Back in the 1970s, Philippe Petit performed a dangerous tightrope act between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, a feat chronicled in the great 2008 documentary Man on Wire. In 2018, Free Solo offered a look at another type of daredevil, Alex Honnold, a world-renowned rock climber famous for free soloing, the act of climbing without any ropes or harnesses. The film follows Honnold on his quest to free solo El Capitan, a sheer 3,000 foot cliff at Yosemite National Park, and the toll it took on his body and mind. Free Solo arrived on Netflix Jan. 1, so you can stream it before watching Skyscraper Live on Jan. 23, a Netflix special event where Honnold will attempt to scale one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, the 1,667-foot-high Taipei 101, with no ropes, live on camera.
People We Meet on Vacation (Jan. 9)
Tom Blyth and Emily Bader star as Alex and Poppy in the Netflix original film adaptation of Emily Henry's romantic novel People We Meet on Vacation. Poppy and Alex are total opposites, unlikely best friends for a decade who live in different cities but spend every summer vacation together. Eventually though, they start to wonder if they share more than just passport stamps. The ensemble cast includes White Lotus star Sarah Catherine Hook, plus Jameela Jamil, Lucien Laviscount and Lukas Gage.
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 (Jan. 12)
The final season of Stranger Things was an epic production, and One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5 captured what it was like to make the show's final episodes. This documentary offers a behind-the-scenes look at the cast, creators and crew as they make the show that made many of them famous. The documentary landed on Netflix on Jan. 12.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, reunited once again. It's hard to explain why it's such a thrill to see these two Boston bros together onscreen, but I was here for it with Good Will Hunting, I loved it in Dogma, and heck, I even enjoyed it in The Last Duel -- even though the wigs in that movie were wild. Damon and Affleck are back again for one of Netflix's biggest releases this month in The Rip. A rip is a term used to describe when cops seize illegal weapons, drugs or cash. The actors star, along with Teyana Taylor, Steven Yeun, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Kyle Chandler, as Miami cops who discover a massive stash of cash and start to wonder where the loyalties in their team lie. The thriller drops on Jan. 16.
Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart (Jan. 21)
14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City in the middle of the night on June 5, 2002. Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart is a new documentary featuring interviews with Smart herself and others close to the case to provide an intimate look at the investigation into her disappearance, and how she was found nine months later at the home of husband and wife Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. The documentary premieres on Jan. 21.
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (Jan. 22)
Animation creator Shingo Yamashita, known for directing the opening sequences of acclaimed titles such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man and Urusei Yatsura, makes his full-length directorial debut with Cosmic Princess Kaguya! on Netflix. The film is an adaptation of the Japanese folk tale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, about a baby named Kaguya-hime sent from the Moon to live on Earth, who is discovered inside the stalk of a bamboo plant. Here, a telephone pole is swapped in for a bamboo stalk, and instead of a princess, Kaguya is a musician and internet celebrity. This modernized adaptation featuring original new music, 3D camera work and Yamashita's bold and brilliant signature visuals arrives Jan. 22.
The Big Fake (Il Falsario in Italian) is based on the real-life story of Antonio Chichiarelli, an artist who turned to a life of crime, becoming one of Italy's most notorious criminals and master forgers. After being rejected by the traditional art establishment, Chichiarelli realizes his ability to replicate the works of old masters might be his meal ticket. But as he gets deeper into forging, he finds himself working with some of Italy's most powerful gangs, and masterminds one of Italy's biggest heists, the Brinks robbery in Rome in 1984.
Miracle: The Boys of '80 (Jan. 30)
Miracle: The Boys of '80 arrives just in time to get you psyched for the Winter Games in Milan. This new documentary, arriving in Jan. 30, provides a closer look at the 1980 US Hockey Team, who beat the USSR in the Olympic semi-finals despite being considered the underdogs in the Winter Games that year. The team would go on to win a gold medal at the Lake Placid Olympics. The so-called "Miracle on Ice" game has been the subject of several other films, including the 2004 Kurt Russell film, Miracle.
