Why Showmax says: Watch us for the biggest blockbusters

Going into the holiday season, Showmax is banking on audience appetites for bright, colourful treats like Ryan Gosling’s stuntman action film The Fall Guy and Dev Patel’s martial arts actioner, Monkey Man. There’s more on the way in the sleigh with family friendly fare like Wonka. And for Christmas week, make way for the big bang disaster movie A Quiet Place: Day One.

Putting audiences first saw Showmax beat all global challengers to win Best Television/Streaming Network at The National Film and TV Awards South Africa. The relaunch on Comcast’s Peacock platform has delivered a stable streaming service, capable of handling all the on-screen action, with a user-friendly interface that won Showmax Entertainment App of the Year at the 2024 Stuff App Awards.

But viewers don’t have to trust the judges. After these top four Blockbusters, we’ve listed some of the best-loved Hollywood movie franchises to explore on Showmax right now.

The Fall Guy

Watch the trailer below.

Ryan Gosling (Barbie) plays Colt Seaver, the stunt double for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Colt has to use his stunt skills for real when he’s pulled into a conspiracy after Tom goes missing while working on Metalstorm, a film helmed by Colt’s ex-girlfriend Jody (Emily Blunt).

Director David Leitch (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) started his career on the other side of the camera – as Brad Pitt’s stunt double on Fight Club. He brings all his insider knowledge to this larger than life action-comedy-romance inspired by the ’80s series of the same name, which centred on a stuntman-turned-bounty hunter. For the curious and obsessed, Showmax also has the documentary series Action, which reveals how The Fall Guy team created their spectacular stunts.

Monkey Man

Watch the trailer below.

Bollywood meets Bruce Lee in actor-director Dev Patel’s (Chappie and The Newsroom S1-3) martial arts action film. A man named Kid (Dev) works as a masked wrestler under the thumb of shady fight promoter Tiger (Sharlto Copley, District 9,  Chappie, Ted K). But he has a second job as a waiter at Kings, a brothel and drug den disguised as a social club, where he’s on a secret mission to take down corrupt police official Rana (Sikandar Kher). 

Dev compares the social layers that Kid has to navigate in Kings to both India’s caste system, and the classic East Asian martial arts movies he grew up with – like Bruce Lee’s Game of Death. “He has to work his way up the pagoda to fight Kareem Abdul Jabbar. And that amazing sequence at the end where the bosses get tougher and bigger and badder,” Dev hints.

Coming Soon

Wonka

Watch the trailer below.

Family-friendly musical comedy Inspired by Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Directed and co-written by Paul King (Paddington), with Keegan-Michael Key,  Olivia Colman (House of the Dragon S1-2), and Hugh Grant (Two Weeks Notice) as an Oompa Loompa. 

Get ready for the untold story as the young Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet, who returns to Showmax in Dune Part 1 and Part 2 from Wednesday,1 January) sets out to revolutionise London’s stuffy confectionery establishment with the help of a plucky foster kid named Noodle (Calah Lane), and his madly creative inventions like Hoverchocs, Hair Repair Éclairs and Giraffe-milk Macarons. 

First on Showmax. Stream Wonka from Thursday, 6 December. 

A Quiet Place: Day One

Watch the trailer below.

Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), a terminally ill cancer patient, gets trapped in Manhattan with her cat, Frodo, and fellow survivors like Henri (Djimon Hounsou), during the early stages of an alien invasion. While the aliens are blind, they attack anything that alerts their keen sense of hearing. 

Aside from Kenyan Lupita, there’s a host of African talent to look out for, including Benin’s Djimon (from A Quiet Place Part II), Zimbabwean child actor Takunda Khumalo, and Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire. 

First on Showmax. Stream A Quiet Place: Day One from Friday, 20 December. 

Blockbuster franchise titles

Aside from bringing these great movies home, popcorn movie lovers can look to Showmax for fan-favourite action franchises like Jurassic Park, Fast & Furious, The Mummy, Bourne, and Mission Impossible, along with Marvel superheroes from Aquaman to Shazam and Superman. While there are cult modern horror classics including the Final Destination and Crow films, families can watch together thanks to the vast Dreamworks animation library, with everything from Shrek to Kung Fu Panda. And just between us, there’s 50 Shades of Grey, too.