If you’re a Netflix subscriber and find yourself with time on your hands over the next week or so, good news — the streaming giant has decided to close out the first quarter with a veritable flood of new content, much of which will start to roll out over the next seven days. We’re talking new releases ranging from live events to splashy new K-dramas, plus brand new feature films starring A-list actors, and much more.
Among the biggest and best Netflix new releases to enjoy to over the first week of March are two major feature film releases starring Adam Sandler and Millie Bobby Brown (titled Spaceman and Damsel, respectively). We’ll take a closer look at both of those below, as well as offer a rundown of some of the other major releases we think are worth adding to your watchlist. And if you need more ideas for what to watch next, don’t forget to also check out our weekly snapshot of the streamer’s global Top 10 TV show list, as well as our regularly updated guide walking through what’s new on the streamer over the entirety of each month.
Here are the week’s new titles we’ll be spotlighting in this post:
Two high-profile Netflix film releases
These first two releases on our list are particularly welcome to me, as I’m a movie buff who wishes Netflix would put the brakes on all the largesse and stop flooding subscribers with loads of garbage movies. Now that the company has just tapped a new film boss to replace Scott Stuber, the executive who was largely responsible for Netflix’s mess of a film division, hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later.
Not that the streamer is just going to pause everything and wait for the new guy to get sorted, of course. The two big new film releases we mentioned above, for example, include Sandler’s Spaceman, which is already out now — having hit the streamer on Friday.
The warning sign, for me, about this one was that I tried to read the book that it’s based on (Spaceman of Bohemia) and quit after just feeling too bored by it. It’s worth listing here, however, largely for the presence of Sandler, who (say what you want about him) continues to produce hit after hit for Netflix (like the Murder Mystery movies, as well as his more recent You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah).
The character of Jakub that Sandler plays in Spaceman was orphaned as a boy and raised in the Czech countryside by his loving grandparents. Buoyed by his love of science, he grows up to be the country’s first astronaut — and, even better, he gets the chance to embark on a dangerous mission to another planet that represents a chance at the heroism he’s always dreamed of.
I’ll be very curious to see how the response to this from critics and viewers changes in the coming days. Right now, it’s looking for meh (on Rotten Tomatoes, a 51% score from critics and a 62% from viewers). But, again, it’s Sandler, so I’m still expecting Spaceman to do well.
As for the other big movie, Brown’s Damsel, this one finds the Stranger Things starlet entering a different kind of Upside Down. Here, she plays a damsel in distress — albeit one who’ll save herself, thank you very much.
Basically, her character agrees to marry a handsome prince and a fairy tale wedding is in the works. An old story, right? The twist is here is the damsel learning that it was all a sham, that the only reason she’s been accepted into this royal family is so they can sacrifice her to pay an ancient debt. She’s thrown into a cave with a fire-breathing dragon and must rely on nothing but her will and her wits to survive.
“What I really loved in the script from Dan Mazeau was embracing the idea of a fantasy adventure and a princess and dragon story, but taking it into a place (where) it’s completely upside down,” director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo said in a Netflix promotional interview. “It was a very intense journey that I was so excited to design and to develop. At the core, this is such a beautiful story about a young woman becoming a strong, independent, and empowered adult. Elodie doesn’t have any kind of support. It’s a real survival experience.”
The best of the rest
That’s the week’s big Netflix movies out of the way, so let’s now turn to look at what the rest of the week’s big releases entail.
My Name is Loh Kiwan: This is one of two major Netflix K-dramas to put on your watchlist this week. Starring Korean superstar Song Joong-ki, this film tells the story of a North Korean defector trying to start his life over in Brussels. Desperate to survive, he encounters a former pro athlete who’s lost her will to live. Now streaming.
The Netflix Slam: This is the newest live sports event, and it’s being headlined by 22-time Grand Slam men’s singles title champion Rafael Nadal. He’s facing off against World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in a one-night tennis exhibition match, hosted at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. Release date: 12:30 pm ET on March 3.
Supersex: This seven-episode series is essentially the life story of legendary porn star Rocco Siffredi. According to Alessandro Borghi, who stars as Siffredi, the show is jam-packed with “boundary-pushing” sex scenes. Release date: March 6.
The Gentlemen: In this eight-episode gangster romp from writer, director, and showrunner Guy Ritchie, Theo James plays a man who stands to, per Netflix, “unexpectedly inherit his father’s sizeable country estate — only to discover it’s part of a cannabis empire. Moreover, a host of unsavoury characters from Britain’s criminal underworld want a piece of the operation. Determined to extricate his family from their clutches, Eddie tries to play the gangsters at their own game.” Release date: March 7.
Queen of Tears: The other K-drama we alluded to above, this romantic comedy pairs up the “queen of department stores” with the “prince of supermarkets.” There’s a marriage, a marital crisis, and then love blooming all over again. And K-drama fans are going to swoon over the cast, which includes Kim Soo-hyun (from It’s Okay to Not Be Okay) and Kim Ji-won (from My Liberation Notes). Release date: March 9.