Stream Team Weekly: Critic’s Picks for What to Watch (and Skip) Across Every Major Platform

Peacock’s horror hit Obsession just became the highest-grossing film ever made for under one million dollars. Last week, our stream team picks focused on the big new releases, but a breakout like this is something else entirely—it’s the kind of success story that reshuffles the whole deck. It tells you where the real energy in streaming is right now. So here's the quick rundown of what else is hitting your screens. Netflix just dropped three new thrillers, including a very tense biopic about a 21st-century whistleblower that’s worth a look if you're in the mood for paranoia. They also released 72 Hours, a pretty standard Kevin Hart comedy vehicle—you know exactly what you’re getting.

And for the legions of fans, the feature-length finale, Heartstopper Forever, is finally out. On Prime Video, the big ticket is still Project Hail Mary. Ryan Gosling, Andy Weir's source material… it’s a solid sci-fi watch that delivers on its promise. Over on Disney+, a new Korean drama called Merry Berry Love just landed, which is a surprisingly charming romance built around a foodie theme. It's light, it's sweet, it's a definite watch if you need a comfort show. And Hulu has a high-concept thriller, Redux Redux, about a mother hunting her child’s killer across parallel universes. It's ambitious, maybe a little niche, but I’d say give it a shot. Finally, for you sports fans, Paramount Plus is loading up for August with a slate of live UFC events, including UFC 330.

Just know you’ll need that Premium subscription. Now, let’s go back to Obsession. This is the story of the week. Because it represents one of two paths a movie can take to dominate your attention, and it’s the one we keep forgetting about. You have the A-list, nine-figure blockbuster. Think Project Hail Mary or Christopher Nolan’s epic, The Odyssey, which is trending everywhere. It's huge, it’s visually stunning, and it’s good… but not perfect. It’s a movie willed into existence by sheer force of budget and marketing. It’s DESIGNED to be an event. And then you have Obsession. This is the opposite. A tiny horror film, made for pocket change in Hollywood terms, that became a phenomenon. So where have we seen this before?

Oh, everywhere. This is the Blair Witch Project playbook from 1999, updated for the streaming era. You take a high concept, a shoestring budget, and you create something that feels more like found evidence than a movie. Paranormal Activity did it in 2007. Now, Obsession is doing it in 2026. The analogy holds in the economics—a tiny investment yielding an insane return. It holds in the genre, because horror has always been the place where this kind of alchemy is possible. But here’s where the analogy breaks. Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity needed a theatrical run to build that word-of-mouth momentum. Obsession did it almost entirely on social buzz and its debut on Peacock. It proves the playbook now works without the multiplex.

It’s a direct-to-consumer phenomenon. So what does it all add up to? You have these two models running in parallel. The hundred-million-dollar sure thing, and the one-million-dollar lottery ticket. One is a predictable, enjoyable product. The other is a cultural MOMENT. This week, my advice is to seek out the moment. Watch Project Hail Mary on a Tuesday. It’s a good movie. But spend your Friday night with Obsession. It’s the one you’ll still be thinking about on Monday. Because it’s a reminder that the most powerful stories don’t always come from the biggest budgets. Sometimes they come from a handful of people with a clever idea and a camera. And that’s what this week’s streaming slate really sets up: a choice between the manufactured event and the genuine surprise.

The real value is almost always in the surprise.