New on HBO Now: All the Movies and TV Coming in January
Image courtesy of Lionsgate
2020 is very nearly upon us, and if HBO has anything to say about it, we’ll all be kicking off the new year by hunkering down on our couches and watching a whole lot. Here are all the January film and television additions worth noting in these waning days of 2019.
We’ll begin in movies, where HBO’s best incoming title happens to have its most unwieldy title: John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (Jan. 11, 2020), the latest entry in the acclaimed action franchise, starring the one and only Keanu Reeves as its eponymous master assassin. We ranked Parabellum as 2019’s best movie to that point in June, praising it as “as much a blast of blood and guts as it is an immersive menagerie of pain, a litigation of the ways in which we imbibe and absorb and demand violence, in which we hyperstylize death”—in other words, the squeamish need not apply, but Parabellum is a must-see for action junkies. Other theatrical premieres on the way include star-studded creature feature Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Jan. 18, 2020), Nicholas Hoult-led literary biopic Tolkien (Jan. 5, 2020), art heist crime drama American Animals (Jan. 1, 2020), Lenny Abrahamson’s (Room) Domhnall Gleeson-starring horror mystery The Little Stranger (Jan. 7, 2020) and The Conjuring Universe’s The Curse of La Llorona (Jan. 25, 2020). And Jan. 1, 2020, brings us a number of noteworthy older titles, including Martin Scorsese’s 2010 psychological thriller Shutter Island, Clint Eastwood/Jeff Bridges heist picture Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Tom Hooper’s Oscar-winning 2012 take on Les Miserables, the third Madagascar and Scary Movie films, James L. Brooks’ Adam Sandler-starring Spanglish, and the extended version of Fast & Furious franchise entry Fast Five.
HBO is putting plenty on the small screen to kick off 2020, as well, including both the premieres of two new series and the returns of two fan favorites. Making their debuts in January are The Outsider (Jan. 12, 2020) and Avenue 5 (Jan. 19, 2020)—the former is a 10-episode supernatural drama adapting Stephen King’s 2018 bestseller of the same name, starring Ben Mendelsohn and Jason Bateman (who also directs a handful of episodes), while the former is the new space tourism comedy from Veep’s Armando Iannucci, starring Emmy nominee Hugh Laurie as the captain of an interstellar pleasure cruiser. The returning favorites, meanwhile, are The New Pope (Jan. 13, 2020), a new-look follow-up to 2017’s Jude Law-led The Young Pope that adds Oscar nominee John Malkovich, and the 10th season of long-running comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm (Jan. 19, 2020), in which the inimitable Larry David plays everyone’s favorite socially singular curmudgeon, this time opposite Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.
That’s the good news. The bad news is plenty of worthwhile films will disappear from HBO in January, including Amelie, The Hate U Give, The Old Man and The Gun, Red Sparrow, Signs, Thoroughbreds and, most importantly of all, the immaculate gift to humankind that is Paddington 2. All of those titles exit on Jan. 31, 2020, so resolve to see them if you haven’t already … especially Paddington 2. It’s like a warm blanket for your soul.
Find HBO’s January sizzle reel and slate below.