Want to know what’s coming soon to digital and what to watch right now on Vudu? Here is your weekly guide to the latest releases:
What are the latest new releases to watch right now?
This week’s big release is Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, an action-horror movie based on the hit Resident Evil video game franchise. It’s a reboot adaptation, unrelated to the many films starring Milla Jovovich. This more faithful incarnation stars Kaya Scodelario (The Maze Runner) as Claire Redfield and Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and The Wasp) as Jill Valentine, both of whom are part of a group of survivors of a zombie outbreak caused by the pharmaceutical giant The Umbrella Corporation.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City has already been available on Vudu as a Home Premiere rental following its theatrical release over Thanksgiving. Now it’s out on 4K UHD for purchase only and exclusively to digital. Watch the trailer below.
Can you recommend some whole franchises to buy on Vudu?
While we’re talking about Resident Evil movies, I should point out that Vudu currently has a sale on all the other Resident Evil features, including the six adaptations starring Milla Jovovich. You can grab them individually or, better yet, purchase them all together in the complete collection bundle. Another great franchise entirely on sale this week is Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth. All of his Lord of the Rings trilogy and all of his Hobbit trilogy are discounted individually and bundled. Just go for all six movies.
Also, this month, Vudu has a huge sale on bundles, including everything from franchise collections to essential double-feature and themed pairings. Among the best deals and substantially discounted sets are the Mission: Impossible 6-movie collection, featuring all existing installments of the Tom Cruise-led action film series for just $34.99. Also, there’s a Star Trek set collecting the first 10 features, from 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture through the final TNG movie, 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis, for just $29.99!
There are more than 100 sets among the biggest bundles, which mostly include whole franchises and complete TV series. The best bang for your buck, considering consistent quality of film series, include the Indiana Jones 4-movie collection, the Hunger Games 4-movie collection, and the John Hughes 5-movie collection (yes, I’m calling John Hughes movies a franchise). I also recommend these trilogy collections: The Godfather, The Maze Runner, Kung Fu Panda and the Planet of the Apes reboot.
What are some of this year's Golden Tomato winners to rent or buy?
Every year, Rotten Tomatoes honors the best-reviewed movies of the past year with the Golden Tomato Awards. I’d like to highlight some of the winners that are available on Vudu now or are coming soon to digital. Movies recognized include the Nicolas Cage drama Pig, which was named the Best Limited Release of 2021, the James Bond installment No Time to Die, which was the Best Action & Adventure Movie of 2021, and Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, which was the Best Animated Movie of 2021.
The big winner for movies, however, was Spider-Man: No Way Home, which took three Golden Tomato Awards, including the top award for the best-reviewed movie overall of 2021. You can pre-order the superhero sequel now for when it comes out on Vudu. For the time being, pick up Shiva Baby, In the Heights, A Quiet Place Part II, The Truffle Hunters, Two of Us and The Green Knight, which took the comedy, musical, horror, foreign-language, romance and sci-fi/fantasy categories, respectively.
What are some classic Sundance movies to buy this week?
The 2022 Sundance Film Festival kicks off virtually this weekend, and Vudu has a deal on some of the best titles from past events. Among them are such essentials as Kevin Smith’s Clerks and Tom McCarthy’s The Station Agent, starring Peter Dinklage. You can also pick up Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count On Me, Drake Doremus’ Like Crazy, Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals and the cinematic feast that is Big Night. And if you’re down to buy all of those at once, they’re available bundled together!
Another Film Fest Favorites bundle is included in the mix, this one featuring Paul Greengrass’s Bloody Sunday, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, Boaz Yakin’s Fresh, Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow, Clea DuVall’s The Intervention and Leslie Harris’s Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. All of those are also available a la carte, as are the documentaries American Teen, Waiting for Superman and Unzipped.
Are we celebrating any big movie and TV anniversaries this week?
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Sundance premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s breakout feature Reservoir Dogs. Also, the Tupac Shakur movie Juice and the sci-fi thriller Freejack were released 30 years ago. Plus, the horror flick The Stepfather turns 35, the Diane Keaton divorce drama Shoot the Moon turns 40 and the original Roots miniseries and the Arnold Schwarzenegger weight-lifting documentary Pumping Iron both turn 45.
More recent titles with anniversaries include Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy, which premiered at Sundance 25 years ago this week. Also, the romantic drama A Walk to Remember was released 20 years ago while The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys and The Kid Stays in the Picture were at Sundance at the same time. And Teeth, The Savages, Waitress, Smiley Face, Once and Son of Rambow all premiered at Sundance 15 years ago.
Plus, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Compliance, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, the Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man and hit docs The Queen of Versailles, The Imposter, Shut Up and Play the Hits and West of Memphis all debuted at Sundance 10 years ago, while Get Out, Call Me By Your Name, The Big Sick, A Ghost Story, Thoroughbreds and Wind River all premiered at the festival 5 years ago.
Can you recommend some more great movie deals on Vudu?
This month, Vudu also has a deal on horror movies called New Year, New Fear. There are more than 200 titles on sale, including the first three Scream movies, for those of you needing to catch up or re-visit ahead of seeing the new sequel. You can also find the first three Scary Movie installments parodying the Scream franchise. Other well-represented franchises include Friday the 13th, Final Destination and Paranormal Activity.
Classics in the bunch include Rosemary’s Baby, Cujo, Psycho, The Exorcist, April Fool’s Day, The Lost Boys, 1951’s The Curse of the Werewolf and the more kid-friendly movies Beetlejuice, Arachnophobia and The Monster Squad. Newer essentials include Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Saint Maud, Darren Aronofsky’s mother!, Overlord, Under the Skin, Lamb, Midsommar, Happy Death Day and A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II.
There’s also a sale on Wes Anderson movies on Vudu this week, including the filmmaker’s latest award-winning feature, The French Dispatch. This deal includes everything from the hilarious breakout film Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums to what many consider to be his best yet, The Grand Budapest Hotel. You can also find his stop-motion animated features, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs, either individually or bundled together.
And if you’re in the mood for more laughs, Vudu’s current Comedy Sale has plenty of movies to put a huge smile on your face. My picks from this bunch include the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Are Thou?, the Tom Hanks vehicle Big, the workplace classic Office Space, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and the spoof Hot Shots! and its sequel, Hot Shots! Part Deux.
What must-see movie is coming soon to Vudu?
The biggest movie at the box office over the weekend was the latest installment of the Scream franchise. The sequel — or “requel” — is exclusively in theaters and will be for a while, but you can now pre-order this new release on Vudu (also available to pre-order as a bundle with the 1996 original), and then you’ll have it when it becomes available on digital. You’re already picking up Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3 as recommended as part of the New Year, New Fear sale above anyway, right?
Also just simply titled Scream, the fifth part of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s meta-horror creation brings back original cast members Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette and pairs them with newcomers including Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega and scene-stealer Jasmin Savoy Brown. Which one of them — or the other cast members — is under the Ghostface mask this time? Don’t wait to find out… go see it on the big screen first.
What are the 10 most popular movies on Vudu?
New releases to the Vudu best sellers list this week include Marvel’s Eternals and Denzel Washington’s A Journal for Jordan, which landed at #3 and #5, respectively. In between them, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune returned to the chart. But the sequels Sing 2 and Ghostbusters: Afterlife held onto the two top spots this week, in reverse order. While Scream dominated the box office over the weekend, horror rounded out the digital top 10 with Antlers and the extended cut of Halloween Kills.
See the full top 10 list below.
1. Sing 2
2. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
3. Eternals
4. Dune
5. A Journal for Jordan
6. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
7. Clifford the Big Red Dog
8. No Time to Die
9. Halloween Kills — Extended Cut
10. Antlers
