The 12 movies you don’t want to miss in January

Traditionally, January is a strange month in the movie world. There’s usually a mixture of movies you don’t want to miss from the upcoming awards season, as well as a series of strange films that don’t really fit anywhere else. This month, for example, there’s a contemplative drama about Shakespeare in Hamnet and Primate — a movie about a rabid killer chimpanzee.

However, we’ve decided to help you out by reviewing everything that’s coming to British multiplexes, as well as the major streaming platforms, to select the most exciting gems from the list.

So grab your notebook and jot down the dates for the movies you’re keen to watch.

Song Sung Blue | 1 January (cinemas)

It’s impossible not to be excited about a musical starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. Inspired by the true story of a Neil Diamond tribute duo, it follows those two musical heavyweights as a husband and wife singing team who experience enormous ups and downs in their lives.

This could well be a major player in awards season, with Hudson already nominated for Best Actress by the Golden Globes.

Giant | 9 January (cinemas)

Boxing movies have, of course, been a successful genre throughout the history of cinema. The canon of American classics is full of movies like Rocky, Raging Bull, and more recently Creed. But the Brits don’t often have their time in the ring. That’s set to change with Giant, in which actor Amir El-Masry — so brilliant in the 2020 movie Limbo — portrays dominant 90s fighter Prince Naseem Hamed. Pierce Brosnan, meanwhile, plays his trainer.

This looks like a hard-hitting drama with some visceral fight sequences and with the small matter of Sylvester Stallone’s name among the producers, it has real pedigree. After Paddy Considine’s excellent Journeyman a few years ago, this could be another great addition to the growing field of British boxing stories.

Hamnet | 9 January (cinemas)

We’ve reached the time of year where Oscar contenders start to land in UK cinemas. They don’t come much bigger than Hamnet, which is currently beaten only by Paul Thomas Anderson epic One Battle After Another in the bookies’ odds for Best Picture. The film dramatises the marriage between Anne Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) and William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal), as well as how the tragic death of their son Hamnet inspired his father’s very similarly named play.

Read more: Paul Mescal reveals ‘people will get break from him’ after Hamnet awards campaign (Cover Media, 2 min read)

The woman behind the camera for this one is none other than Chloe Zhao, who became just the second woman to win the Best Director Oscar with Nomadland. She then made one of Marvel’s strangest movies with Eternals, but seems to be more in her wheelhouse here with a quieter drama.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple | 14 January (cinemas)

Danny Boyle’s long-awaited zombie sequel, 28 Years Later, was one of the most impressive horror films of 2025, but he has handed the baton to Candyman filmmaker Nia DaCosta for this follow-up. The previous movie ended with the reveal of Jack O’Connell as the leader of a strange cult seemingly inspired by Jimmy Savile, which was quite the teaser for the story to come. It appears that this sequel will see O’Connell’s cult come face to face with Ralph Fiennes’ reclusive former doctor.

Read more: 28 Years Later is terrifying to watch, and was just as scary to make (Yahoo Entertainment, 7 min read)

The early response to The Bone Temple from preview screenings has been so strong that Boyle has been given the green light to move forward with his planned third film in this trilogy, which will see the return of Cillian Murphy from the original 28 Days Later. This has quickly become one of cinema’s most intriguing horror franchises.

The Rip | 16 January (Netflix)

Any collaboration between Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will always be worthy of note. They’re joining forces with action movie specialist Joe Carnahan for this Netflix thriller about a group of cops who discover a hefty amount of cash. When there are tens of millions of dollars floating around, it’s no surprise that trust is difficult to come by. The cops are pondering nabbing the money, and the criminals are circling too.

This is quite the cast, with Affleck and Damon joined by other heavyweights like Steven Yeun, Kyle Chandler, and Teyana Taylor. Carnahan knows his way around a high-octane set piece, and the chemistry between Affleck and Damon is undeniable, so this should be a winner.

Rental Family | 16 January (cinemas)

Japanese filmmaker Hikari is best known for her work as the director of three episodes of the hit Netflix series Beef. This movie stars Brendan Fraser as an American actor living in Japan, who works for an agency specialising in, as the title suggests, “rental” family members. Fraser’s character stands in for family members at social events.

Read more: Brendan Fraser learnt Japanese for Rental Family (BANG Showbiz, 2 min read)

This is a nice comedy-drama, anchored by Fraser’s status as one of the most likeable actors in Hollywood. He will be hoping to make the Best Actor shortlist at the Oscars again, having won the award for The Whale in 2023.

The History of Sound | 23 January (cinemas)

There aren’t many actors having as strong a purple patch at the moment as Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal, so it would take quite the movie to unite them. Oliver Hermanus, director of the impressive movies Moffie and Living, has managed to do so with The History of Sound. It’s a romantic drama set around the time of the First World War, with two young musicians forming a romance before the conflict and then reconnecting after the war ends.

O’Connor actually learned to play piano for the role, which is very music-focused, and his performance has received acclaim ever since the movie premiered at Cannes in 2025. Hermanus was nominated for the Palme d’Or.

Saipan | 23 January (cinemas)

In 2002, Irish football captain Roy Keane stormed out of the country’s training camp on the island of Saipan just days before the World Cup following a bust-up with manager Mick McCarthy. It’s one of the most notorious incidents in international football history, and now the subject of a film, in which Steve Coogan plays McCarthy and rising star Éanna Hardwicke portrays Keane.

Read more: Saipan filmmaker told he was going to ‘open old wounds’ (PA Media, 3 min read)

This is a must-watch for football fans, but it will also have plenty to enjoy for people who just appreciate scary Irish men swearing. That should be enough to get anyone into the cinema.

No Other Choice | 23 January (cinemas)

No Other Choice is, without doubt, the oddest film on this list. Directed and co-written by Korean genius Park Chan-wook, it follows a veteran paper industry worker who, following a redundancy, decides the only way to get the job he wants is to murder those who will be his competition. It’s the South Korean entry for the Best International Feature award at the upcoming Oscars.

The film is strangely funny and packed with chaotic moments. Anyone familiar with Park’s back catalogue, which includes such modern classics as Oldboy and The Handmaiden, will not be surprised to know that No Other Choice is a unique tonal balancing act. It’s not for everybody, but it will fascinate those who vibe with its anarchy.

The Wrecking Crew | 28 January (Prime Video)

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Puerto Rican director Ángel Manuel Soto was last seen at the helm of the surprisingly decent DC superhero movie Blue Beetle. His follow-up is a buddy cop movie, with Dave Bautista playing a straight-laced Navy SEAL alongside Jason Momoa’s maverick policeman. They’re half-brothers who join forces in order to investigate their father’s murder.

We pretty much know what to expect from a film like this. There will be some awkwardness between the two men, and eventually, they’ll realise that both of their disparate approaches have a role to play. But given that this is streaming on Prime Video, it might be just the sort of watchable material you need for a rainy winter weekend.

Is This Thing On? | 30 January (cinemas)

This is a Hollywood biopic of the Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop. If that sounds weird, it’s because it is. But it’s not quite as straightforward as that, with the movie only loosely based on Bishop’s life and relocated to the States. Will Arnett plays the Bishop analogue, who signs up for a comedy open mic night after the collapse of his marriage.

Read more: Why is Bradley Cooper making a movie about John Bishop? (Yahoo Entertainment, 5 min read)

It’s a more dramatic performance than we have been led to expect from Arnett and there has been a lot of praise for Cooper as a director, delivering quieter work than some of his recent efforts. It’s an outside shot for a showing at the Oscars. It would be worth it, if only to see John Bishop being interviewed by an excitable American reporter on the red carpet.

Primate | 30 January (cinemas)

The 1983 Stephen King adaptation Cujo is a great movie, but wouldn’t it have been more entertaining with a chimpanzee? That’s essentially the premise of Primate, which is the new movie from Johannes Roberts — previously best known for the surprisingly potent shark horror 47 Meters Down. In this story, chimpanzee Ben has been adopted by a human family. But everything goes very wrong when he is bitten by a rabid animal during a trip to Hawaii.

This looks like exactly the sort of chaotic, enjoyable shlock that can provide a real balm amid all of the hyper-serious awards season fare on January’s cinema schedule. Sometimes, there’s something to be said for the purity of a film about a deadly animal on the rampage.

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