What To Watch This Thanksgiving Weekend: 'Zootopia 2,' 'Hamnet,' 'Knives Out 3,' 'Eternity,' And More

HOLLYWOOD, CA — This Thanksgiving weekend brings a slate of high‑profile releases and festival favorites. From Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearean drama “Hamnet” to Disney’s animated sequel “Zootopia 2,” audiences can choose between prestige storytelling, franchise mysteries, romantic fantasies, and political thrillers, offering a snapshot of the season’s most anticipated films — all streaming now or debuting in select theaters.

“Hamnet” mourns and remembers. Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley star in Chloé Zhao’s elegiac adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, where the death of Shakespeare’s son reverberates into the creation of “Hamlet.” Zhao’s camera lingers on silence and landscape, turning nature into a backdrop for human sorrow. The result is a film both raw and profoundly beautiful, insisting on the dignity of grief and the necessity of art.

“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” sharpens its knives in sacred halls. Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc investigates a murder within a church community, as Rian Johnson’s ensemble thriller probes faith, guilt, and deception. The cast — including Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, and Kerry Washington — embodies a congregation where devotion and duplicity collide. Johnson’s wit remains intact, but the darker tone makes this mystery feel both playful and profound.

“Eternity” offers romance beyond the grave. Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller navigate an afterlife where love must be chosen anew, in David Freyne’s whimsical yet poignant fantasy. Olsen anchors the film with luminous vulnerability, while Callum Turner embodies longing suspended in time. It is a romantic comedy that dares to ask whether love is measured in years or in forever.

“Zootopia 2” returns to the metropolis of mammals. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde face fresh mysteries in Disney’s animated sequel, expanding the city’s geography and its allegories of trust and diversity. Ke Huy Quan joins the cast as Gary De’Snake, a character whose arrival unsettles the balance of Zootopia’s communities. With Michael Giacchino’s score and dazzling new districts, the sequel promises both familiar charm and fresh invention.

“Anniversary” closes the list with dystopian urgency. Diane Lane and Kyle Chandler star in Jan Komasa’s domestic political thriller, where family fractures mirror a nation in upheaval. Lane delivers weary resilience, while Chandler embodies quiet desperation as ideology seeps into their home. Komasa’s allegory is potent, reminding us that the collapse of family echoes louder than politics itself.

Ready to dive in? Scroll down for the full lineup — and step into the shimmering world of storytelling, where every frame is an escape, with deeper explorations of each film below that unpack performances, themes and craft in greater detail.

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What To Watch This Thanksgiving Weekend

“Hamnet”

Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley; directed by Chloé Zhao

Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” is a lament more than a period drama, a meditation on how grief shapes art. Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, the film follows William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) as they endure the loss of their son Hamnet — a wound that reverberates into the creation of “Hamlet.”

Zhao’s camera lingers on silence and landscape, turning landscape into a backdrop for human sorrow. Buckley delivers a performance of feral tenderness, embodying Agnes as healer, mystic and mother undone by loss. Mescal’s Shakespeare is restless and guilt‑ridden, a man who seeks immortality through words yet cannot shield his child from death. Their chemistry is electric in early scenes, tender and alive, before grief fractures it into silence.

The cinematography, drenched in natural light, recalls Zhao’s “Nomadland,” while Alexandre Desplat’s score pulses quietly beneath the narrative. Zhao avoids spectacle, crafting intimacy through restraint. Zhao’s meditative style, while beautiful, often lingers too long, risking detachment for viewers who crave narrative momentum.

Still, “Hamnet” is raw, unflinching and profoundly beautiful — a film that insists on the dignity of sorrow and the necessity of art.

“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery”

Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor; directed by Rian Johnson

Rian Johnson’s third Benoit Blanc mystery, “Wake Up Dead Man,” shifts the whodunnit formula into darker terrain. Daniel Craig returns as the debonair detective, summoned to a church community shaken by the murder of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Among the suspects is young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), whose troubled past collides with Blanc’s relentless pursuit of truth.

Johnson stages the mystery with his trademark wit, but here the humor is tempered by themes of faith, guilt and moral ambiguity. The ensemble — including Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, and Kerry Washington — embodies a congregation where devotion and deception intertwine. Craig’s Blanc remains the film’s anchor, his drawl and precision cutting through layers of secrecy.

Steve Yedlin’s cinematography bathes the church in shadows, while Nathan Johnson’s score underscores the tension with solemn chords. Yet the sheer size of the ensemble occasionally dilutes focus, scattering attention across too many suspects and softening the impact of Blanc’s deductions.

Even so, “Wake Up Dead Man” emerges as a mystery both playful and profound — a tale of sin and suspicion where faith collides with logic, and Benoit Blanc proves once again that truth is the most elusive suspect of all.

“Eternity”

Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner; directed by David Freyne

David Freyne’s “Eternity” blends fantasy and romance into a meditation on love’s endurance beyond death. Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) enters an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity. Her impossible choice lies between the man she shared her life with (Miles Teller) and her first love (Callum Turner), who died young and has waited decades for her arrival.

Freyne stages the dilemma with warmth and wit, balancing screwball comedy rhythms against the gravity of eternal consequence. Olsen anchors the film with luminous vulnerability, her performance capturing both the ache of memory and the thrill of rediscovery. Teller brings grounded steadiness, while Turner embodies longing suspended in time. Their triangle becomes less about rivalry than about the weight of devotion.

Ruairí O’Brien’s cinematography bathes the afterlife in soft light, while David Fleming’s score swells with bittersweet resonance. Yet the tonal balance sometimes falters: moments of broad comedy undercut the emotional weight, leaving the film caught between whimsy and poignancy.

And in the end, “Eternity” charms with its blend of romance and reflection, daring to ask whether love is measured in years or in forever — and whether eternity is a gift or a burden.

“Zootopia 2”

Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan; directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard

Nearly a decade after Disney’s Oscar‑winning “Zootopia,” the metropolis of mammals opens its doors once more. “Zootopia 2,” reunites Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) as partners in the ZPD, now tasked with unraveling a mystery that threatens the city’s fragile harmony. Their investigation leads them into new districts and deeper moral terrain, where the line between predator and prey blurs further.

Joining the cast is Ke Huy Quan as Gary De’Snake, a character whose arrival unsettles the balance of Zootopia’s communities. Cameos abound — from celebrity voices to playful nods at Disney’s animated legacy — promising a sequel that is both familiar and freshly inventive.

Visually, the film expands the city’s geography, with directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard once again collaborating with producer Yvett Merino. Michael Giacchino returns to score, ensuring the sequel’s pulse carries both whimsy and suspense.

If the first film was a parable of prejudice and possibility, the sequel seems poised to deepen those themes, exploring trust, diversity, and civic responsibility. And in the end, “Zootopia 2” may remind audiences that the most complex mysteries are not solved in courtrooms or precincts, but in the fragile bonds of community itself.

“Anniversary”

Diane Lane, Kyle Chandler; directed by Jan Komasa

Jan Komasa’s “Anniversary” is a dystopian political thriller that feels alarmingly close to home. Set against the rise of a movement known as “The Change,” the film follows Ellen and Paul Taylor (Diane Lane and Kyle Chandler), whose family fractures as ideology seeps into their living room. When Ellen’s former student Liz (Phoebe Dynevor) begins dating their son (Dylan O’Brien), loyalties splinter and private tensions mirror a nation in turmoil.

Komasa stages the drama with unnerving intimacy, turning domestic spaces into battlegrounds. Lane delivers a performance of weary resilience, her Ellen torn between maternal instinct and civic dread. Chandler embodies quiet desperation, a father watching his authority erode. Dynevor’s Liz is both catalyst and cipher, embodying the seduction of radical change.

Piotr Sobociński Jr.’s cinematography cloaks the family home in shadows, while Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans’ score pulses with unease. Yet the film’s message occasionally falters, leaning too heavily on allegory at the expense of character depth. The symbolism is potent, but at times Komasa’s hand feels too insistent.

Ultimately, “Anniversary” resonates as a cautionary tale — a reminder that the most fragile institution is not government but family, and its collapse echoes louder than politics itself.