5 Movies Coming to HBO Max This Week That Your Watchlist Is Begging For

October Starts Early — And HBO Max Is Throwing a Party

If your streaming queue looks like a "pick something, any suggestion" meme at this point, take notes. Starting September 21, HBO Max is rolling out what might honestly be one of its most interesting weekly lineups in months. Not everything is a blockbuster, but several of these picks are exactly the kind of title that makes you cancel another subscription.

The Big One: A24's "Backrooms" Arrives Friday

Backrooms is easily the headline act. Directed by Kane Parsons — who actually co-scored the film too, which is wild for someone who made his name uploading found-footage horror shorts to YouTube back in 2022 — this psychological horror took Hollywood by storm earlier this year and became A24's highest-grossing film ever. That alone should tell you something.

The movie follows Clark (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a furniture store owner whose life flips sideways when he discovers an endless, liminal-space dimension hidden behind a mysterious door in his shop basement. Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell round out the cast. Reviews were seriously positive — critics called it unsettling, atmospheric, and genuinely scary without relying on cheap jump scares. It finished as the second-highest-grossing horror film of 2026, and now it's hitting HBO Max for anyone who missed the theatrical run (or just wants to watch it again because, hello, it's A24).

Backrooms drops on HBO Max: Friday, September 25.

The Meg Brings Some Fun Prehistoric Action Wednesday

Not every night needs to be existential dread. Enter The Meg, the 2018 shark flick directed by Jon Turteltaub and starring Jason Statham as the impossibly tough diver Jonas Taylor. Loosely based on Steve Allen's 1997 novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, the story sends an underwater research team up against a prehistoric giant — the Megalodon — and naturally, they need Taylor to save their skins.

The reviews were pretty mixed when it came out, but audiences loved it enough to push it past $529 million worldwide at the box office. Think of it as a solid, entertaining popcorn-movie ride: big shark, questionable science, Statham being unstoppable. Perfect Sunday-night viewing before the real horror content drops on Friday.

The Meg arrives on HBO Max: Wednesday, September 23.

HBO Originals Stealing the Spotlight

This week isn't just about movies. Three HBO originals also landed, and at least two of them deserve serious attention:

• Siren: The Voices of Shelley Beattie kicks things off Tuesday (September 22) as an HBO Original series.
• Paolo (Friday, September 25) rounds out the HBO lineup as a new original series.
• 4 Blocks Zero hits Friday too — an HBO Original limited series expanding the gritty crime drama universe originally created by Dan Gilroy.

The Verdict?

This week's HBO Max slate is a smart mix: Backrooms brings the prestige horror cred, The Meg handles the casual entertainment slot, and three HBO Originals give variety seekers plenty to dig into. Grab some snacks, clear your schedule starting September 22 — you might not come up for air until Monday.