Blockbuster movies, Emmy-winning stand-up & Grammy-nominated docs to stream this February
February is packed with must-watch movies and shows, offering something for everyone—from heartwarming family-friendly adventures to gripping thrillers, insightful documentaries, and laugh-out-loud comedies.
Whether you’re looking for a cozy watch with the kids, a nostalgic deep dive into pop culture icons, or a chilling horror flick that will keep you on edge, Showmax has you covered.
This month’s lineup features the highly anticipated Despicable Me 4, the Emmy-winning comedy special Alex Edelman: Just For Us, the inspiring documentary Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, and the raw, unfiltered Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.
3-9 February
TIDDLER | Stream from Monday, 3 February
Best for watching with the pre-schoolers
Adapted from the bestselling picture book by Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler, Tiddler tells the story of a little fish with a big imagination who gets lost in the deep, wide ocean – until he’s saved by his own storytelling.
From the BBC and multi-Oscar-nominated producers Magic Light Pictures, Tiddler is co-directed by South African Alex Bain and narrated by Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso’s Rebecca Welton).
Tiddler was the 9th most watched title on BBC on Christmas Day, attracting more than three million live viewers and earning five-star reviews from the likes of Daily Telegraph, who hailed it as “a prize catch … precision-tooled to enchant children.”
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aJkvoiacf8
NIGHT SWIM | Stream from Thursday, 6 February
Best for horror fans who aren’t planning to swim this summer
Night Swim follows Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness. Ray moves into a new home with his concerned wife, Eve, and two children, unaware that a dark secret from the house’s past will unleash an evil force in the backyard pool.
Teen Choice nominee Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Oscar nominee Kerry Condon (Better Call Saul and The Banshees of Inisherin) co-star as Ray and Eve.
The #1 US box office hit is produced by horror legends James Wan (Saw) and Jason Blum (Get Out). As Los Angeles Times says, “[Bryce] McGuire, who executed a trial run of this concept with a 2014 short film, knows exactly what he’s doing, scene after scene, especially when it comes to the deliciously sadistic grammar of suspense.”
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhlLO3Nb3sY
DIDDY: THE MAKING OF A BAD BOY | First On Showmax | Stream from Friday, 7 February 2025
Best for true-crime and hip hop fans
Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy is a raw, exclusive look at Sean Combs long before he was known as Puff or Diddy.
Featuring never-before-seen footage and stories from those who know him best, Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy sheds light on his childhood, rise to fame, and recent criminal allegations, challenging viewers to rethink everything they thought they knew about the mogul behind the music – and the mugshot.
Combs’ trial is scheduled for May 2025.
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv0A5zqv0SE
10-16 February
HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON | First on Showmax | Stream from Tuesday, 11 February
Best for watching with children over eight
Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off his book’s pages and into the physical world, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life – and that his trusty purple crayon may set off more hilarious hijinks than he thought possible.
The first feature film adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s children’s classic, Harold and the Purple Crayon stars Critics Choice nominee and Teen Choice winner Zachary Levi (aka Shazam and Chuck, and the voice of Flynn Rider in Tangled).
MTV Movie Award winner Lil Rel Howery (Get Out) co-stars alongside Emmy nominees Zooey Deschanel (New Girl, and the voice of Bridget in the Trolls movies), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man’s Doc Ock and the voice of Agnarr in Frozen II), and Jemaine Clement (who voiced Moana’s Tamatoa).
Oscar-nominated Ice Age director Carlos Saldanha makes his live-action feature debut.
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WojIv-PVYm8
17-23 February
DESPICABLE ME 4 | Stream from Thursday, 20 February
Best for watching with kids over six
The fourth biggest box office hit of 2024, Despicable Me 4 sees Gru, Lucy and the girls welcome a new member to the family: Gru Jr, who is intent on tormenting his dad. The family is forced to go on the run when Gru faces a new nemesis: Maxime Le Mal and his femme fatale girlfriend, Valentina.
The all-star voice cast includes Oscar nominee Steve Carrell and Kristen Wiig as Gru and Lucy, with Emmy winner Will Ferrell as Maxime Le Mal and Emmy nominee Sofia Vergara as Valentina.
Fun fact: the screenplay is co-written by Mike White, Emmy-winning creator of Showmax favourite, The White Lotus – which is definitely not for children.
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQlr9-rF32A
ALEX EDELMAN: JUST FOR US | First on Showmax | Stream from Wednesday, 19 February 2025
Best for when you need a laugh
Winner of the 2024 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special, the Alex Edelman: Just For Us is taken from the comedian’s Tony Award-winning solo Broadway show.
The HBO comedy special centres on a bizarre experience: in the wake of anti-Semitic threats online, Edelman covertly attends a meeting of white nationalists and comes face to face with the people behind the keyboards. What happens next forms the backbone of the shockingly relevant and utterly hilarious stories that comprise Just for Us.
The Washington Post calls Just for Us “a joyous 90-minute excursion through Edelman’s insights and autobiography … perfection” from “one of the funniest minds of his generation. Or maybe any generation.”
Watch the trailer:
SHE CAME TO ME | Stream from Monday, 17 February
Best for extending that Valentine’s Day feeling
A composer with an unfinished opera, a conflicted psychiatrist and a free-spirited tugboat captain collide on a voyage into uncharted waters in the enchanting romcom She Came to Me.
Written and directed by Sundance winner Rebecca Miller, She Came To Me stars four-time Emmy winner Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones) and Oscar winners Anne Hathaway and Marisa Tomei.
Bruce Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa’s song “Addicted to Romance” was nominated for a 2024 Golden Globe for Best Original Song, Motion Picture, while Bryce Dessner, Grammy-winning composer and guitarist of The National, was up for a Hollywood Music In Media Award for Best Original Score – Independent Film.
AwardsWatch hails She Came To Me as “brilliant”, adding, “There hasn’t been a romantic comedy this inventive in a long time.”
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdfEv2ZwrFs
24-28 February
STEVIE VAN ZANDT: DISCIPLE | First on Showmax | Stream from Wednesday, 26 February
Best for fans of Bruce Springstreen and The Sopranos
Up for this year’s Grammy Award for Best Music Film, Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple follows the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who played with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, opened for U2’s Joshua Tree tour, toured with Bon Jovi, and worked with Nancy Sinatra before swerving into acting, most famously as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos.
Van Zandt also formed Artists United Against Apartheid, whose album Sun City raised more than $1 million in support of a cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa, and performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium.
Featuring exclusive interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Paul McCartney, and Bono, the HBO documentary feature illuminates the influential and enduring legacy Van Zandt continues to have as a fervent champion of rock ‘n’ roll and social justice.
Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple holds a 90% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In their 4/5-star review, The Guardian says, “Seeing Springsteen’s sidekick take on apartheid is an air-punch moment,” calling this “sprawling biography of one of rock’s most likeable veterans… a document of several lives, all well lived by the same man.”
Watch the trailer:
BEING MARY TYLER MOORE | First on Showmax | Stream from Wednesday, 26 February
Best for when you’re feeling nostalgic
Being Mary Tyler Moore chronicles the groundbreaking life of a screen icon whose storied career spanned 60 years, earning her seven Emmys, three Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination.
Being Mary Tyler Moore was nominated for the 2023 Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, and won Best Archival Documentary at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.
The gorgeous archive footage features a who’s-who of the era, including Audrey Hepburn, Betty White, Carol Burnett, Dustin Hoffman, Elvis Presley, Gloria Steinem, Goldie Hawn, Julie Andrews, Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek.
Being Mary Tyler Moore has a 97% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with New York Times calling it, “an emotional experience, conjuring nostalgia of two distinct types: the gentle sort involved in remembering a beloved star of the past, and a more painful nostalgia provoked by recalling a time when womanhood seemed to beckon with new, liberating possibilities, and feminism seemed on a steady path forward …”
Watch the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU5p79a7IgU
MARMALADE | Stream from Monday, 24 February
Best for Stranger Things fans
Hoping his cunning cellmate will help him escape prison, Baron tells Otis the colourful tale of Marmalade, the alluring love of his life with whom he committed a bank heist.
Teen Choice nominee Joe Keery (Steve in Stranger Things) stars as Baron, with Black Reel nominee Aldis Hodge (One Night in Miami) as Otis and Emmy nominee Camila Morrone (Daisy Jones & The Six) as Marmalade.
Marmalade is the feature directorial debut from actor Keir O’Donnell (Fargo S2, Wedding Crashers). Collider says the film “deserves to be discovered, to be recommended to friends, and to develop a cult following that lingers on. It’s just too much fun to settle for less.”
Billing it as “A Bonnie & Clyde crime romance that is as stylish as it is surprising,” ScreenRant says it “defies expectations, even when you might guess where things are going…O’Donnell swerves and turns Marmalade into a twisty cat-and-mouse chase” with “excellent performances.”
Watch the trailer:
CLASSICS ON THE COUCH
Showmax keeps bringing back the classics. In February, this includes:
- The Joker, which earned Joachim Phoenix the Best Actor Oscar, as well as DC favourites like Suicide Squad, Superman Returnsand Wonder Woman (all from 13 February)
- #1 box office horrors like The Nunand Friday the 13th (both from 10 February) and #1 action films like F9: The Fast Saga, starring Vin Diesel (from 27 February)
- David Fincher’s triple Oscar winner The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (from 5 February)
- A Star Is Born (from 3 February), which earned Lady Gaga an Oscar for her song “Shallow” and a nomination for her performance
- Tim Burton’s Oscar-winning cult classic Beetlejuice, starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis and Michael Keaton (from 5 February)
- Oscar-nominated classics like The Color Purple, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey and The Bodyguard, starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston (both from 3 February), as well as Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo di Caprio (from 17 February)
Dune: Part Two is Rotten Tomatoes’ Best Movie of 2024 – and up for five Oscars
At Rotten Tomatoes’ recent Golden Tomato Awards for the best-reviewed films of the year, Dune: Part Two was named Best Movie, Best Wide-Release Movie & Best Sci-Fi of 2024
Dune: Part Two is also up for five Oscars, including Motion Picture of the Year.
Dev Patel’s Monkey Man also took home the Golden Tomato for Best Action & Adventure Movie.
Both Dune: Part Two and Monkey Man are currently streaming on Showmax.
See all the winners here, with special mentions to Showmax titles A Quiet Place: Day One, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Civil War, and The Fall Guy, as well as upcoming March movies Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Heretic.
