The Emma Thompson-led thriller “Dead of Winter” and Hilary Duff’s first full-length album in 11 years are a number of the new tv, movies, music and video games headed to a tool close to you.

Also among the many streaming choices value your time this week, as chosen by The Associated Press’ leisure journalists: A brand new season of “The Night Agent” lands on Netflix, Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia star within the new collection “56 Days” for Prime Video and Harris Dickinson’s good directorial debut, “Urchin,” lands on Hulu.

— Harris Dickinson may be greatest identified for his appearing in movies like “Babygirl,” however final yr he proved himself to be a filmmaker to look at as nicely. His good directorial debut, “Urchin,” streaming on Hulu on Tuesday, follows within the social realist custom of Ken Loach in chronicling the ups and downs of an unhoused addict (Frank Dillane) in London.

— HBO Max has the Emma Thompson-led thriller “Dead of Winter” arriving on Friday, Feb. 20. Thompson performs a grieving loner who will get misplaced close to a Minnesota lake throughout a blizzard and stumbles on a cabin the place a younger lady is being held by an armed couple.

— And if Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” leaves you wanting extra (or moor) Cathy and Heathcliff, there are many different variations streaming on varied platforms. There is in fact William Wyler’s lush however a lot condensed 1939 movie, with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (on HBO Max and Criterion Channel). The 1992 model (free on Kanopy) starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche is among the most devoted to Brontë’s textual content for really together with the second era of Lintons and Earnshaws. Andrea Arnold’s underseen movie, launched in 2011, (free on Tubi) notably incorporates a multiracial actor, James Howson, as Heathcliff, reverse Kaya Scodelario’s Catherine. There’s additionally the British tv miniseries from 2009 with Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy that’s obtainable on BritBox.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

— The millennial queen hath returned. Hilary Duff will launch her first full-length since 2015’s “Breathe In. Breathe Out.” on Friday, Feb. 20. Titled “luck… or something,” the album is a 11-track assortment of nostalgic pop, the best listening expertise for these nonetheless devastated by the tabled, grownup “Lizzie McGuire” reboot. Of course, this time round, Duff has received out, and the themes are, as one track title places it, “Mature.”

— It is just not too late to hop aboard the Megan Moroney prepare, however the remainder of us are pulling out of the station — and following her to greener pastures. The nation singer-songwriter emerged as a fully-realized expertise with the discharge of her platinum-selling single “Tennessee Orange” just a few years again; her 2024 sophomore album “Am I Okay?” solely strengthened her charms. Now she’s getting ready to launch “Cloud 9,” out Friday, Feb. 20, to win over much more hearts. There’s a purpose “6 Months Later” has been inescapable on nation music. Isn’t it time you discovered why?

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

— Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia star in a brand new collection “56 Days” for Prime Video as Ciara and Oliver who meet by probability at a grocery retailer and embark on a whirlwind, passionate romance. Fifty-six days later, murder detectives discover a decomposed physique in a bath which could possibly be Ciara or Oliver leaving the query, who killed who? It’s based mostly on a best-seller by Catherine Ryan Howard. Cameron and Jogia, who began out on Disney and Nickelodeon respectively, present they don’t seem to be youngsters anymore on this horny thriller. It premieres Wednesday.

— A brand new season of Netflix’s “The Night Agent” arrives Thursday. It stars Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland, a secret operative working in counter-intelligence for the FBI. In Season 3, he is on a mission to discover a treasury secretary who has fled to Istanbul after committing homicide, that results in the invention of a darkish cash community. Information could also be energy, nevertheless it will also be lethal and Peter’s in bother.

— Jennifer Garner’s “The Last Thing He Told Me” returns Friday, Feb. 20 on Apple TV. It’s based mostly on novels by Laura Dave. Garner performs Hannah Hall, a brand new spouse and stepmom whose world is rocked in Season 1 when her new husband, Owen, (performed by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) disappears, leaving a notice to guard his teen daughter, Bailee (performed by Angourie Rice). Season 2 picks up 5 years later when (spoiler alert nevertheless it’s within the trailer) Owen exhibits again up. Now, the three are at risk. Garner, who mastered battle scenes for her breakout position within the TV present “Alias” and as Marvel murderer Elektra, will get to indicate her kicks and punches.

— Alicia Rancilio

— Stealth video games like Thief, Dishonored and Splinter Cell have seen higher days, however a minimum of one developer — France’s Cyanide — is making an attempt to hold the style ahead. In Styx: Blades of Greed, you’re a goblin who isn’t significantly well-equipped to battle toe-to-toe in opposition to orcs and different bullies. But when you take the sneaky strategy you may fill your pockets with quartz, probably the most precious and risky substance on this fantasy world. Magic powers like invisibility and thoughts management make it somewhat simpler to keep away from brawling, but when issues get out of hand you may whip out a glider and fly away. The heist begins Thursday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten

© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.

Emerald Fennell’s daring reimagining of “Wuthering Heights” introduced crowds of girls to film theaters this weekend. The Warner Bros. launch topped the field workplace charts and nabbed the title for the yr’s largest opening with $34.8 million in ticket gross sales in its first three days in North American theaters, in accordance with studio estimates Sunday. According to PostTrak polling, an estimated 76% of these ticket consumers have been ladies. By the tip of Monday’s Presidents Day vacation, the full might rise to $40 million from its 3,682 areas.

The romantic drama starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi because the star-crossed Catherine and Heathcliff, gained out over the weekend’s different newcomers, together with the animated “GOAT” and the heist thriller “Crime 101.” Its largest day was Saturday’s Valentine’s Day vacation, the place it earned $14 million. “Wuthering Heights” can be performing even higher internationally, the place it’s anticipating to rake in an extra $42 million from 76 territories.

The Warner Bros./MRC manufacturing value a reported $80 million to supply, not accounting for the tens of millions spent on advertising and marketing and promotion. If the four-day totals match the estimates, that makes for a robust $82 million international debut. And the movie nonetheless has a number of large openings on the horizon, in Japan and Vietnam on Feb. 27, and in China on March 13.

The success comes whereas the way forward for Warner Bros. hangs within the steadiness, as Paramount continues to sweeten its hostile takeover bid in hopes of profitable out over Netflix. “Wuthering Heights” is the studio’s ninth No. 1 opening in a row.

Fennell’s model of “Wuthering Heights,” which takes many liberties with Emily Brontë’s novel, largely divided critics. It’s at the moment sitting at a combined 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. While that didn’t dissuade audiences from shopping for tickets, solely 51% of the opening weekend viewers stated that they’d “definitely recommend” the movie to pals. Moviegoers additionally gave it a less-than-stellar B CinemaScore.

The mid-February weekend has hosted large superhero motion pictures every now and then, together with “Black Panther” and “Deadpool,” however a extra related comparability is “Fifty Shades of Grey” and its two sequels. The first film opened to over $85 million, the third to $38.6 million.

“This was a solid if not record-breaking Presidents Day/Valentines weekend,” stated Paul Dergarabedian, who heads market tendencies for Comscore. “But that was to be expected without an MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) film.”

“GOAT,” an animated Sony launch produced by basketball star Stephen Curry, landed in second place with an estimated $26 million from 3,863 areas. It’s projected to usher in one other $6 million on Monday, which might convey its 4 day complete to $32 million — the largest animated debut since “Elemental” in 2023. It additionally pulled in $15.6 million internationally, bringing its international complete to $47.6 million.

The family-friendly movie was the one new opener of the weekend to get an A CinemaScore. Sony Pictures Animation was additionally behind “KPop Demon Hunters.”

In third place, “Crime 101” made an estimated $15.1 million in its first three days. Amazon MGM Studios opened the Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo led Los Angeles-set thriller in 3,161 theaters. It’s anticipated to drag in about $17.8 million by the tip of Monday, however the film has an extended technique to go to even hit its manufacturing funds, which reportedly exceeded $90 million. Audiences, who have been 56% males, additionally gave “Crime 101” a B CinemaScore.

“Send Help” and “Solo Mio” rounded out the highest 5 with $9 million and $6.4 million, respectively. Further down the charts, at No. 7, was Briarcliff Entertainment’s sci-fi comedy “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” starring Sam Rockwell and Haley Lu Richardson. It made an estimated $3.6 million from 1,610 areas.

The Walt Disney Studios additionally celebrated a milestone this weekend, changing into the primary studio to cross $1 billion on the international field workplace in 2026, pushed nearly totally by “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” but additionally helped by the continued success of “Zootopia 2,” which stays within the high 10 after twelve weekends in theaters.

The weekend is down considerably from the identical weekend final yr, when “Captain America: Brave New World” opened, however the tempo is beginning to choose up and theaters have “Scream 7” and “Project Hail Mary” on the horizon.

“It’s been a rather slow first quarter,” Dergarabedian stated. “But this could ignite a spark at the box office.”

With ultimate home figures being launched Tuesday, this checklist components within the estimated ticket gross sales for Friday by Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, in accordance with Comscore:

1. “Wuthering Heights,” $34.8 million.

2. “GOAT,” $26 million.

3. “Crime 101,” $15.1 million.

4. “Send Help,” $9 million.

5. “Solo Mio,” $6.4 million.

6. “Zootopia 2,” $3.8 million.

7. “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” $3.6 million.

8. “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” $3.3 million.

9. “Iron Lung,” $3.1 million.

10. “Dracula,” $3 million.

© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.

For Oscar winner Juliette Binoche, the top of final yr’s jury on the Cannes movie pageant, it is not arduous to know why the films that succeeded on the Croisette go on to win accolades in Hollywood.

And it is not due to reforms made to make the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences extra numerous.

“The strength of these films leads to their success,” Binoche informed AFP in an interview in Los Angeles.

It definitely looks like the Cannes jury made some prophetic decisions: the crop of movies that premiered on the pageant earned a complete of 19 Oscar nominations.

Norwegian household drama “Sentimental Value” — which received the second prize, Grand Prix — and Brazilian thriller “The Secret Agent” are each within the operating for greatest image.

Cannes’ prime Palme d’Or winner “It Was Just An Accident” and rave-themed street journey film “Sirat,” which took a particular jury prize, will compete with these two titles for greatest worldwide movie honors.

“It’s because these films are so beautiful, so unique and so strong that they sometimes go against the grain,” mentioned Binoche.

“It’s not hard to recognize films with their own strength,” mentioned the 61-year-old actress who, moreover her Academy Award for “The English Patient,” has received prizes on the Venice, Berlin and Cannes festivals.

The Academy Awards and the Cannes movie pageant haven’t all the time honored the identical movies, with the celebrated occasion in France typically leaning in the direction of works by auteur administrators, a few of them extraordinarily political.

But a couple of decade in the past, when extra worldwide voters had been invited to hitch the Academy within the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite scandal, the prizewinners from the 2 galas have typically converged, and Cannes has embraced its position as an Oscars bellwether.

Over the final 5 years, two movies have received each the Palme d’Or and the very best image Oscar: South Korean class satire “Parasite” and final yr’s “Anora” from Sean Baker, a darling of US indie cinema.

That has solely occurred 4 instances in 80 years, and can’t occur this yr, with Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just An Accident” not in greatest image rivalry.

So was Panahi’s work — which spotlights the dilemmas of a gaggle of strange Iranians as they confront a person they consider to have tortured them in jail — not given its due?

For Binoche, “there is no such thing as fair value, because a film just belongs to itself.”

“One could criticize the film by saying that it’s not totally well acted, but it’s just not actors we are used to seeing on screen because he used non-professionals,” she defined.

But she added that Panahi, “who wrote this script in prison in Iran, who went on hunger strike,” has highlighted “space… for reconciliation with his executioner.”

The French movie legend says that crucial factor for her a couple of movie “is that it changes lives, changes people’s consciences.”

Binoche is at the moment selling her first directorial effort, which tells the story of an expertise that profoundly affected her.

“In-I in Motion” gives a candid have a look at her preparations for the dance efficiency she created with British choreographer Akram Khan, which premiered in London in 2008.

The actress says these 120 reveals taught her to face her fears.

“Each time, I thought I was going to die,” she recalled.

The movie options footage of rehearsals, which she edited, and invitations the viewer to get a chook’s eye view of the bizarre artistic collaboration between the actress and the dancer.

Binoche says making the documentary has taught her that directing is just not so completely different from appearing.

In each instances, “you have to be in sync with your own intuition… you have to believe in what you feel,” she mentioned.

After performing in dozens of movies, Binoche is raring to get behind the digital camera once more.

But when requested what her subsequent topic may be, she mentioned with a smile, “I can’t say any more about it.”

© 2026 AFP