A packed week of entertainment is bringing something for almost every mood. Major television favourites are returning, new films are heading to streaming, several high-profile albums are arriving, and gamers finally get their hands on one of PlayStation’s most anticipated releases.
From the 35th season of Dancing with the Stars to Carly Rae Jepsen’s ambitious double album and Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Wolverine, these are the releases worth knowing about between September 14 and 20.
New Films To Watch
Several late-summer films are moving from cinemas to premium video-on-demand this week.
Tony, directed by Matt Johnson, stars Dominic Sessa as a young Anthony Bourdain in a coming-of-age story set during a 1970s summer on Cape Cod. Rather than focusing on the later celebrity chef, the film looks at an earlier stage of his life and the experiences that helped shape him.
For something much stranger, It Ends follows a group of friends whose late-night search for food turns into a nightmare when they become trapped on an apparently endless highway.
David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street takes another direction entirely, mixing suburban family drama with dinosaurs and the adventurous spirit of classic Amblin films.
Netflix adds Stop That Train on September 20. RuPaul plays the American president in a deliberately chaotic comedy set aboard the Glamazonian Express, with Drag Race favourites Ginger Minj and Jujubee among the cast.
Film lovers can also discover a restored classic. Satyajit Ray’s 1970 drama Days and Nights in the Forest is now streaming on the Criterion Channel after receiving a new restoration earlier this year.
Big Music Releases Arrive Friday
Country star Luke Bryan releases his ninth studio album, Signs, on September 18. The 12-track record stays close to the upbeat, accessible country sound that has defined much of his career.
Metal fans, meanwhile, have waited a decade for a new Anthrax album. Cursum Perficio is the band’s first full-length release since 2016’s For All Kings, promising aggressive riffs and a return to the thrash-metal energy that made the group one of the genre’s “Big Four.”
Carly Rae Jepsen also returns Friday with Day & Night, a double album that deliberately explores two different sides of her music. The first half experiments with psychedelic and 1970s-inspired influences, while the second moves closer to the energetic synth-pop for which she is best known.
Television Brings Major Returns
Dancing with the Stars begins its 35th season with a two-night premiere on ABC and Disney+ starting Tuesday, with episodes available on Hulu the following day.
The new cast mixes performers with very different dance backgrounds. Jenna Dewan and Julia Stiles arrive with experience from dance-focused films, while Maura Higgins, Tatyana Ali and Ciara Miller enter the competition from reality television and acting.
Prime Video expands the Reacher universe on the same day with Neagley. Maria Sten leads the Chicago-set spin-off as private investigator Frances Neagley, a character whose approach to danger is more deliberate than Jack Reacher’s.
Paramount+ also releases all 10 episodes of an adults animated adaptation of Sega’s Golden Axe, while Netflix premieres the latest season of Monster on September 17, with Ella Beatty playing Lizzie Borden.
Marvel’s Wolverine Finally Arrives
The week’s biggest gaming release is Marvel’s Wolverine, launching Tuesday exclusively on PlayStation 5.
Developed by Insomniac Games, the studio behind PlayStation’s acclaimed Spider-Man series, the game sends Logan back into action after Team X recruits him to confront a corporation targeting mutants.
Combat reflects Wolverine’s famously aggressive personality through a rage system that makes him increasingly dangerous as his anger rises. The story travels from Canada to Japan and features familiar Marvel characters including Mystique, Sabretooth and Jean Grey.
Nintendo players also have a major release ahead. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave arrives on September 17 for Switch 2, following four fighters competing in the Heroic Games before their individual stories expand across the Dagdan Empire.
With prestige television, ambitious music releases, unusual films and two major games landing within days of each other, this is one of those weeks when the hardest entertainment decision may simply be deciding what to start first.
