what to watch on Netflix this week is part of a 40-title rollout across Netflix, HBO Max, Cines and Streaming. Catherine Lagaʻaia leads one of the clearest drawcards in Vaiana, while Prime Video, Crunchyroll and theaters add their own new releases.
40 weekly premieres is the headline number, and it splits across films and series rather than one single platform. For viewers, that means the practical job is not hunting for a single must-see title, but sorting which release sits on which service before pressing play.
Vaiana and Catherine Lagaʻaia
8 de julio brings Vaiana into theaters as a live-action version of the animated classic. Thomas Kail directs, Catherine Lagaʻaia plays the new heroine of the Pacific, and Dwayne Johnson returns as Maui in Vaiana.
That mix turns the film into the week’s clearest crossover release: it is built to reach the audience already tracking Disney material, but it also tests whether a live-action remake can justify itself when the original still has a strong memory attached to it. Nostalgia helps the pitch; it also raises the bar.
Prime Video and The Ghost in the Shell
Prime Video is releasing The Ghost in the Shell, a new series from Science SARU based on the manga original by Masamune Shirow. Jun Esaka and Eiichiro Oda are also part of the wider weekly conversation around new anime and franchise-driven releases.
That matters because this is not just another title drop. A property tied to Masamune Shirow arrives with built-in expectations about world-building and adaptation, while Science SARU gives the series a clear production identity for viewers deciding where to spend time this week.
Crunchyroll, Black Torch and Skeleton Knight in Another World
Black Torch arrived on Crunchyroll on The 4th. It follows Jiro Azuma, a shinobi who can talk to animals, and a cat that is a legendary creature called the Estrella Negra de la Perdición.
Skeleton Knight in Another World has returned after a break of several years. Its premise stays unusually direct: a protagonist wakes up inside one of his video games converted into a skeleton, which gives the series a built-in hook for anyone scanning this week’s anime slate.
Northmen in 9th-century Scotland
Northmen: Los vikingos is set in 9th-century Scotland after a shipwreck in enemy territory. Claudio Fäh directs Tom Hopper, Ed Skrein and Ryan Kwanten, giving the week’s non-anime side a harder, survival-first option.
The useful reader move is simple: start with the platform you already pay for, then sort by format. If you want live-action spectacle, Vaiana is the obvious theater play; if you want anime, Prime Video and Crunchyroll carry the most explicit signals this week; and if you want a straight historical survival setup, Northmen: Los vikingos is the one that most clearly stands apart.
