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Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reunite for The Rip, plus The People We Meet on Vacation and more big films arrive this month.

Liz Kocan

Liz Kocan has spent the last 20 years covering TV, entertainment and working behind the scenes in digital production. While at VH1.com, she won a Webby Award and was nominated for a Shorty Award as a producer. She has also contributed her writing to USA Today, Decider, Vulture, and many other publications, and has seen every episode of 30 Rock more times than her mind grapes can remember.

3 min read

Netflix is giving audiences exactly what we want in 2026: true crime, A-list celebs, anime and romantic comedies. The streamer really has us all figured out. This January, it'll will drop several new films, including the highly anticipated cop thriller The Rip (arriving Jan. 16), written and directed by Joe Carnahan, whose previous films include The A-Team and Copshop. The film co-stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Teyana Taylor and Kyle Chandler. Not a bad police lineup.

Also on the schedule this month is the movie adaptation of Emily Henry's bestseller People We Meet on Vacation, along with a gripping documentary about the abduction of Elizabeth Smart featuring Smart herself, speaking out about the traumatic kidnapping and her healing journey in the decades since.

These films and more are arriving in January on Netflix. Here's a look at the titles we can't wait to watch.

National Geographic/Greenwich Entertainment

Free Solo (Jan. 1)

Back in the 1970s, Philippe Petit performed a dangerous tightrope act between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, a feat chronicled in the great 2008 documentary Man on Wire. In 2018, Free Solo offered a look at another type of daredevil, Alex Honnold, a world-renowned rock climber famous for free soloing, the act of climbing without any ropes or harnesses. The film follows Honnold on his quest to free solo El Capitan, a sheer 3,000 foot cliff at Yosemite National Park, and the toll it took on his body and mind. Free Solo arrives to Netflix Jan. 1, so you can stream it before you tune in to Skyscraper Live on Jan. 23, a Netflix special event where Honnold will attempt to scale one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, the 1,667 foot hight Taipei 101, with no ropes, live on camera.

Netflix

People We Meet on Vacation (Jan. 9)

Tom Blyth and Emily Bader star as Alex and Poppy in the Netflix original film adaptation of Emily Henry's romantic novel People We Meet on Vacation. Poppy and Alex are total opposites, unlikely best friends for a decade who live in different cities but spend every summer vacation together. Eventually though, they start to wonder if they share more than just passport stamps. The ensemble cast includes White Lotus star Sarah Catherine Hook, plus Jameela Jamil, Lucien Laviscount and Lukas Gage. The film arrives to Netflix Jan. 9. 

Netflix

The Rip (Jan. 16)

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, reunited once again. It's hard to explain why it's such a thrill to see these two Boston bros together onscreen, but I was here for it with Good Will Hunting, I loved it in Dogma, and heck, I even enjoyed it in The Last Duel -- even though the wigs in that movie were wild. Damon and Affleck are back again for one of Netflix's biggest releases this month in The Rip. A rip is a term used to describe when cops seize illegal weapons, drugs or cash. The actors star, along with Teyana Taylor, Steven Yeun, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Kyle Chandler, as Miami cops who discover a massive stash of cash and start to wonder where the loyalties in their team lie. The thriller drops on Jan. 16.

Netflix

Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart (Jan. 21)

14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City in the middle of the night on June 5, 2002. Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart is a new documentary featuring interviews with Smart herself and others close to the case to provide an intimate look at the investigation into her disappearance, and how she was found nine months later at the home of husband and wife Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. The documentary premieres on Jan. 21.

Netflix

Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (Jan. 22)

Animation creator Shingo Yamashita, known for directing the opening sequences of acclaimed titles such as Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man and Urusei Yatsura, makes his full-length directorial debut with Cosmic Princess Kaguya! on Netflix. The film is an adaptation of the Japanese folk tale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, about a baby named Kaguya-hime sent from the Moon to live on Earth, who is discovered inside the stalk of a bamboo plant. Here, a telephone pole is swapped in for a bamboo stalk, and instead of a princess, Kaguya is a musician and internet celebrity. This modernized adaptation featuring original new music, 3D camera work and Yamashita's bold and brilliant signature visuals arrives Jan. 22.

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