Jennifer Lopez in “Atlas.”
Atlas—Jennifer Lopez’s latest movie—is among the new and previously released films debuting on the streaming service this week.
A Netflix original movie, Atlas stars Lopez as Agent Atlas Shepherd, a data analyst who has zero trust in artificial intelligence. Atlas is forced to embrace AI, though, when she needs to utilize the technology to catch Harlan (Simi Liu)—a rogue robot who was created to advance humanity that is now threatening to destroy it after failing in a previous attempt.
Atlas is directed by Brad Peyton, who previously directed Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the action-adventure hits Rampage and San Andreas.
Also starring Sterling K. Brown, Lana Parilla and Mark Strong, Atlas premieres on Netflix on Friday.
‘A Simple Favor’ (2018)
Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively star in A Simple Favor, a crime comedy mystery movie by Bridesmaids and Spy director Paul Feig.
Kendrick plays Stephanie, a widowed mother and vlogger who befriends a high-society PR agent, Emily (Lively) when their sons become friends in school. After Emily goes missing, Stephanie investigates her new friend’s disappearance and gets caught up in some complicated relationship issues along the way.
According to box office tracker The Numbers, A Simple Favor was a hit at the worldwide box office earning $97.6 million against a $20 million budget.
The film was also embraced by Rotten Tomatoes critics, earning an 84% “fresh” rating based on 257 reviews and a 73% positive Audience Score based on verified ratings from 5,000-plus registered users of the site.
Also starring Henry Golding, A Simple Favor debuts Sunday on Netflix.
Illusions for Sale: The Rise and Fall of Generation Zoe (2024)
Also new on the streamer this week is the Netflix original documentary Illusions for Sale: The Rise and Fall of Generation Zoe.
The logline from Netflix reads, “In a world where the pandemic has wreaked havoc, a world steeped in frustration and uncertainty, a man comes along to shake up the markets—and people’s consciousness—with an initiative that encompasses education, the financial sphere, and spiritual development.
“Illusions for Sale: The Rise and Fall of Generation Zoe depicts the genesis, the growth, and the collapse of Latin America’s most bizarre and ambitious financial platform, itself an accurate portrait of its eccentric creator, Leonardo Cositorto.”
Illusions for Sale: The Rise and Fall of Generation Zoe, premieres on Netflix on Thursday.
‘Butterfly In The Sky: The Story of Reading Rainbow’ (2022)
Produced in 2022, the documentary was originally titled Butterfly in the Sky when it debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023 and has been retitled Butterfly in the Sky: The Story of Reading Rainbow for its debut on Netflix.
The film chronicles the incredible story of the classic PBS educational program hosted by LeVar Burton, which featured 155 episodes in its initial run from 1983 to 2006.
Burton is naturally featured in the documentary, which recalls the run of the beloved children’s series that taught kids about the joy of reading. In addition to Burton, the documentary features insights from actors Whoopi Goldberg, Alisa Reyes and Kenny Blank, as well as director Dean Parisot and key creatives involved in the Reading Rainbow series.
Butterfly in the Sky: The Story of Reading Rainbow premieres on Netflix on Friday.
