Spider-Man Goes Digital Tuesday, Spielberg Hits Peacock Friday, and A24's Hit and Flop Land a Week Apart. Here Are the Summer Movies Coming Home in October.

The summer box office has handed down its verdicts. October is the recount, and an unusually interesting one. The biggest movie of 2026 becomes available to rent. Steven Spielberg's UFO thriller, which opened big and then split its audience, gets a second hearing on Peacock. And two A24 movies that went in opposite directions in theaters, one a $50 million surprise and one of the summer's worst flops, arrive on HBO Max a week apart.

Here it is in the order it arrives, plus one new Netflix thriller the box office never got to judge.

October 6: Spider-Man: Brand New Day (rent or buy)

On digital to buy or rent from Tuesday, October 6. Destin Daniel Cretton's Brand New Day opened to $360.1 million the weekend of July 31, the biggest opening ever, then passed The Force Awakens to become the highest-grossing movie in North American history. It sits at nearly $2.5 billion worldwide, third all time behind Avatar and Avengers: Endgame. We tracked the domestic record chase in September.

One catch: this is a purchase or rental through storefronts such as Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play, not a subscription stream. Sony's films go to Netflix first under its pay-one deal, and no Netflix date has been announced. Then see where Tom Holland's fourth solo outing lands in our Spider-Man movies ranked list.

Make your tier list right here

Five Spider-Man films, head-to-head. Tap the one you prefer and we will build your order, then label it S through D.

Which do you prefer?

Spider-Man 22004

VS

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse2018

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October 9: Spielberg lands on Peacock, and Affleck goes to Netflix

Disclosure Day (Peacock)

Streaming exclusively on Peacock from Friday, October 9. Emily Blunt plays a TV meteorologist and Josh O'Connor a whistleblower trying to tell the world about extraterrestrial contact, while a government contractor played by Colin Firth works to stop them. David Koepp (Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds) wrote the script from Spielberg's story.

The numbers tell a split story. Its $44.5 million opening in June was the biggest ever for an original Spielberg film, and it finished at about $241 million worldwide on a reported $115 million budget. Critics were mostly on board, at roughly 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Opening-night audiences were cooler: its B CinemaScore ties Always and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for the second-lowest grade of Spielberg's career. That gap is exactly what a second look at home can settle.

Animals (Netflix)

On Netflix and in select theaters from Friday, October 9. The only new movie on this list. Ben Affleck directs for the first time since Air in 2023, co-writes, and stars as Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped. With most of their money sunk into the campaign, he and his wife (Kerry Washington) have hours to raise a ransom, and the secrets start coming out. Gillian Anderson plays a fixer, Steven Yeun co-stars, and it runs a tight 106 minutes.

October 10: Hokum (Hulu)

Streaming on Hulu from Saturday, October 10. If you add one horror movie to your October queue, make it this one. Damian McCarthy (Caveat, Oddity) sends Adam Scott to a remote Irish hotel, where his character, a novelist, has come to scatter his parents' ashes in the place they honeymooned. The staff swear a witch haunts the honeymoon suite.

Neon opened it on May 1 for $6.4 million from 1,885 screens, and it kept going to about $25 million worldwide on a $5 million budget. It is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, where critics singled out its atmosphere. If it puts you in a haunted-house mood, our Conjuring movies ranked list is next.

October 16: The Death of Robin Hood (HBO Max)

Streaming on HBO Max from Friday, October 16. This was A24's big summer swing, and it missed. Michael Sarnoski, who made Pig and A Quiet Place: Day One, recasts the legend as a grim, violent reckoning. Hugh Jackman plays an aging Robin Hood, wounded and haunted by his outlaw years, who ends up in the care of Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer). Bill Skarsgård is Little John.

It opened to $2.6 million from 1,762 theaters on June 19, Jackman's lowest wide opening since Reminiscence in 2021, and finished under $10 million worldwide against a reported $20 million budget. Critics split, landing in the high 60s on Rotten Tomatoes. Streaming is where films like this get a second hearing.

October 23: The Invite (HBO Max)

Streaming on HBO Max from Friday, October 23. A week after A24's flop, A24's hit. Olivia Wilde directs, her first film since Don't Worry Darling, and stars opposite Seth Rogen as Angela and Joe, a couple whose marriage is on thin ice. They invite their upstairs neighbors (Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) to dinner, and the neighbors arrive with a proposal. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack wrote the script, remaking Cesc Gay's 2020 Spanish comedy Sentimental.

It premiered at Sundance, opened small on June 26, and grew into one of the summer's genuine surprises: more than $50 million worldwide, over three times its reported budget, for a talky four-hander about grown-ups. Critics adored it, at 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It is the easiest recommendation here.

October 28: Minions & Monsters (Peacock)

Streaming on Peacock from Wednesday, October 28. Right on time for Halloween week. Pierre Coffin, the voice of the Minions, directs this one, set in 1927 Hollywood, where the Minions try to make a monster movie of their own and unleash real monsters. Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, and Zoey Deutch lead the voice cast.

It opened to a franchise-low $61 million over five days around July 4, as we reported that week, then kept climbing past $500 million worldwide on an $85 million budget. A franchise low for the Minions is still a hit by anyone else's standards.

Already here: two for this weekend

• Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (MUBI, streaming since October 2): Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow) premiered it at Cannes. Hannah Einbinder plays a filmmaker rebooting a slasher franchise who becomes obsessed with the reclusive actress who played its original final girl (Gillian Anderson, a week ahead of her turn in Animals).
• Coyote vs. Acme (rent or buy since September 29): the Looney Tunes movie Warner Bros. shelved for a tax write-off, finally released in August. Here is our case for it.

How to plan the month

If you watch three, make them The Invite, Hokum, and Disclosure Day: a 96 percent comedy, a horror movie that made five times its budget, and the Spielberg everyone argued about. Save Halloween week for the Minions if you have kids. And if you somehow missed Brand New Day in theaters, Tuesday fixes that.

Going out instead? Here is our October theatrical preview. Either way, our movie tier list guide shows how to keep score.

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