3 Best Movies To Watch On Disney+ This Weekend (August 29-30)

Published Aug 28, 2026, 4:06 PM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." Sign in to your ScreenRant account Disney+ subscribers will find a list full of movies with fantastical worlds to get lost in this weekend on the streaming service. On last weekend's Disney+ movie recommendations, I included two new arrivals — Disney Worldbuilders and The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn — and what is one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. At the time of writing, none of those three movies are trending on Disney+ in the United States. We can then fully turn over a new leaf, as the streaming service holds quite a few interesting picks for subscribers to choose from this weekend. This time around, I kept last weekend's focus on franchises, delivering plenty of wondrous adventures. With many Marvel movies arriving on Disney+ in September, I thought it would be fun to set the stage for that in the final weekend of August. Helping that is the fact that a Spider-Man spinoff movie was just released on Disney+ nationwide this week. As such, get ready to get weird with this funny superhero movie led by a major star. From Steamboat Willie to Encanto · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Disney Movies? “When you wish upon a star…” 🐭Steamboat EraBlack-and-white Mickey 👑The PrincessesSnow White onward 🦁90s RenaissanceLion King & Aladdin 💡Pixar LampToy Story onward ❄️Modern EraFrozen & beyond UNLOCK THE VAULT → 01 On November 18, 1928, Walt Disney premiered a seven-minute black-and-white short at the Colony Theatre in New York — the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released to the public, and one of the earliest sound cartoons ever made. Whistling Mickey at the helm of a riverboat became the studio’s first iconic image. Name the short. APlane Crazy BSteamboat Willie CThe Karnival Kid DThe Gallopin’ Gaucho ✓ Correct! Steamboat Willie. Mickey actually finished production first on the silent short Plane Crazy earlier that year, but Walt and his brother Roy bet the studio’s entire future on retooling Steamboat Willie with synchronised sound — a brand-new technology that had only just appeared with The Jazz Singer (1927). The gamble worked: Steamboat Willie’s November 1928 release made Mickey an instant national icon and put Disney on the map. The short entered the public domain in January 2024, exactly 95 years after release. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Steamboat Willie. Plane Crazy was actually animated first (May 1928, silent) but didn’t find a distributor. The Gallopin’ Gaucho was the second Mickey short, also originally silent. The Karnival Kid (1929) is where Mickey first speaks. The breakthrough — the first publicly released, sound-synchronised Mickey short — is Steamboat Willie. NEXT → 02 Walt Disney sank the studio’s entire balance sheet, plus a heavy mortgage on his home, into a project Hollywood derisively called “Disney’s Folly” — the first full-length cel-animated feature film ever made in English. It premiered December 21, 1937 at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles to a standing ovation. Name the film. APinocchio BBambi CSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs DFantasia ✓ Correct! Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The 83-minute film cost $1.49 million — an enormous gamble at the height of the Depression — and grossed $8 million on its initial release, the highest-grossing sound film made up to that point. Walt won an honorary Oscar (one large statuette and seven small ones, presented by Shirley Temple). The film’s success funded the construction of Disney’s Burbank studio and effectively created the feature-animation industry. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Pinocchio (1940) is the second Disney feature. Fantasia (1940) is the third. Bambi (1942) is the fifth. Snow White was the bet-the-studio first — ridiculed in production as “Disney’s Folly” before becoming the highest-grossing sound film ever made up to 1937. NEXT → 03 Walt Disney’s vision of a film-quality theme park opened to a chaotic, oversold “Black Sunday” debut — counterfeit tickets, a gas leak, and asphalt soft enough to swallow women’s heels. The Anaheim park was built on 160 acres of orange groves in just 12 months. In which year did Disneyland open? A1948 B1955 C1962 D1971 ✓ Correct! July 17, 1955 — press preview day, dubbed “Black Sunday” in Disney company lore. ABC broadcast a live two-hour TV special featuring Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings and Art Linkletter (collectively winging the script as things went wrong). Disneyland was built on Anaheim orange groves Walt mortgaged his home to fund. Walt Disney World opened in 1971 in Orlando, six years after Walt’s death — that’s the date many people confuse with Disneyland’s opening. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 1955 — specifically July 17. 1948 is when Walt first sketched the concept. 1962 doesn’t mark a major Disney park milestone. 1971 is when Walt Disney World opened in Florida (six years after Walt’s death) — that’s the date most often confused with Disneyland’s. The original Anaheim park opened in 1955. NEXT → 04 The Lion King (1994) was pitched internally as “Bambi meets…” a particular Shakespeare play — and the parallels are unmissable: a young prince’s father is murdered by his uncle, who usurps the throne; the prince later returns to avenge him. Which Shakespeare tragedy provided the bones of the story? AMacbeth BOthello CHamlet DKing Lear ✓ Correct! Hamlet. The internal pitch was famously “Bambi meets Hamlet” (or, in some retellings, “Hamlet with lions”): Mufasa is the murdered king-father (Hamlet Sr.), Scar is the usurping uncle (Claudius), Simba is the exiled prince (Hamlet), and even the ghost-on-a-cliff appearance plays out beat-for-beat. The Lion King grossed $968 million worldwide and remained the highest-grossing animated film for 16 years until Toy Story 3 broke the record in 2010. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Hamlet. Macbeth is the “ambitious wife pushes husband to murder the king” story (the closer Disney parallel there is the Frollo/Esmeralda dynamic in Hunchback). Othello is the jealousy tragedy. King Lear is the divided-kingdom tragedy. The Lion King’s bones are unambiguously Hamlet’s — ghost, uncle-murderer, exiled-prince and all. NEXT → 05 Frozen (2013) became the highest-grossing animated film at the time and won two Oscars including Best Animated Feature. Its standout song — performed by Idina Menzel as Elsa, written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez — won the Oscar for Best Original Song and dominated radio playlists for an entire year. Name the song. ALet It Go BDo You Want to Build a Snowman? CFor the First Time in Forever DLove Is an Open Door ✓ Correct! “Let It Go” — the Oscar-winning power ballad that fundamentally rewrote the film’s plot in production: Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez wrote the song so persuasively that the directors threw out the existing script and rewrote Elsa from villain to misunderstood protagonist. The song spent over 30 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, was translated into 41 languages for international releases, and its Idina Menzel single sold 10.9 million copies. Frozen grossed $1.28 billion and held the highest-grossing-animated-film record until its own 2019 sequel. ✗ Wrong. The answer is “Let It Go.” The other three options are also Frozen songs by the same Lopez/Anderson-Lopez writing team. “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” is the early childhood-montage number. “For the First Time in Forever” is Anna’s coronation-day song. “Love Is an Open Door” is the Hans/Anna duet. The Oscar-winning monster hit is “Let It Go.” NEXT → 06 In November 1995, Pixar — then a small Disney distribution partner founded by Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and Steve Jobs — released the world’s first fully computer-animated feature film. It became the highest-grossing film of 1995 in North America and won a Special Achievement Oscar for John Lasseter. Name the movie. AA Bug’s Life BToy Story CMonsters, Inc. DFinding Nemo ✓ Correct! Toy Story (November 22, 1995). Made for $30 million, it grossed $373 million worldwide and immediately rewrote what was possible in animation. Steve Jobs — who’d bought Pixar from Lucasfilm in 1986 for $5 million — took the company public a week after the film’s release at $22 a share, instantly making him a billionaire. Disney bought Pixar outright in 2006 for $7.4 billion in stock, making Jobs Disney’s largest individual shareholder. A Bug’s Life (1998) was the second Pixar feature; Monsters, Inc. (2001) the fourth. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Toy Story (1995). A Bug’s Life (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Finding Nemo (2003) are all later Pixar features. Toy Story was the studio’s first — and the first fully computer-animated theatrical feature in cinema history. Its release a week before Steve Jobs took Pixar public effectively turned him from struggling NeXT-era founder into a billionaire. NEXT → 07 In a roughly seven-year span, Disney made a sequence of franchise acquisitions that transformed it from an animation studio into a global IP empire. Pixar (2006, $7.4B), Lucasfilm (2012, $4.05B) and 21st Century Fox (2019, $71.3B) bracket the era. The remaining major brand — bought in 2009 for $4 billion — brought Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Avengers under Disney’s roof. Name it. ADC Entertainment BImage Comics CMarvel Entertainment DDark Horse Comics ✓ Correct! Marvel Entertainment, acquired August 2009 for $4 billion. The deal followed Marvel Studios’ first independent production (Iron Man, 2008) and gave Disney rights to over 5,000 characters — though crucially not Spider-Man (still under a Sony deal) or the X-Men/Fantastic Four (under Fox until the 2019 acquisition reunited them). Disney’s combined Marvel-Lucasfilm-Pixar-Fox portfolio is now the largest IP holding in entertainment history. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Marvel Entertainment. DC Entertainment is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (since the 1969 Kinney/National acquisition). Image Comics and Dark Horse remain independent. Disney bought Marvel in August 2009 for $4 billion, two years after Marvel Studios’ first self-financed film (Iron Man, 2008). NEXT → 08 Disney Animation’s Moana (2016) features Hawaiian newcomer Auli’i Cravalho as the title role and Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui. Its musical numbers — including “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome” — were co-written by a Pulitzer- and Tony-winning Broadway composer who’d become a household name with Hamilton the previous year. Name him. AStephen Sondheim BAndrew Lloyd Webber CLin-Manuel Miranda DAlan Menken ✓ Correct! Lin-Manuel Miranda — co-writing with Te Vaka frontman Opetaia Foa’i and composer Mark Mancina. Miranda’s Hamilton had opened on Broadway the year before (August 2015) and turned him into the rare Disney songwriter with crossover Broadway-rap credibility. Miranda has since become a Disney mainstay, returning for Encanto (2021), where his songs “Surface Pressure” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” topped the Billboard Hot 100. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Lin-Manuel Miranda. Stephen Sondheim wrote Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods and West Side Story’s lyrics — but never a Disney animated feature. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote Cats, Phantom and Evita — also never a Disney film. Alan Menken is the great Disney Renaissance composer (Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) but didn’t write Moana’s songs. Moana is Miranda’s, with Foa’i and Mancina. REVEAL MY RATING → The Castle Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Magic Kingdom Standing 👑 / 8 True Disney royalty — or just a tourist with churros? ⤴ ANOTHER WISH Joining that movie based on a Marvel character on our Disney+ recommendations for the final weekend of August are two entries from major fantasy franchises. Both of them started their own franchises, while also having in common the fact that they are timely options for subscribers for different reasons. These are our Disney+ movie recommendations: 3 Venom: The Last Dance (2024) First up on the list is the only superhero movie, Tom Hardy's Venom: The Last Dance, which swung onto Disney+ this Tuesday, August 25. Venom: The Last Dance marked the end of Sony's Spider-Man Universe, offering a poignant finale to the friendship between Eddie Brock and Venom. Hardy is utterly hilarious in the film, and it serves as a nice follow-up to Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Additionally, while small, there is still a chance that Hardy could appear in Marvel Studios' Avengers: Doomsday this December or in 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars as Venom. After all, with Marvel bringing in Fox's original X-Men cast, there is a chance that many other stars from non-MCU live-action Marvel movies might show up. As such, by watching Venom: The Last Dance on Disney+, viewers will be ready if that happens. 2 Tangled (2010) Tangled has become one of Disney's most popular animated movies. This vibrant take on Rapunzel's story oozes with charm, and those who have not yet watched it will instantly fall in love with the Disney princess and her love interest, the hilarious Flynn Rider. The timing is perfect for a Tangled rewatch on Disney+ or to finally give the fantasy movie a chance. The reason for that is how Disney's live-action Tangled remake is taking shape ahead of its March 31, 2028, release. Recently, set photos and videos from the live-action Tangled movie started to pop up online. Fans of the Disney franchise are excited to see Teagan Croft's Rapunzel and Milo Manheim's Flynn Rider, and watching the animated movie to help in the wait is the perfect call. 1 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) Ending our Disney+ movie recommendations is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The high fantasy movie was the first of a trilogy of Narnia releases that showed all the wonders that this franchise contains. The first entry in the franchise remains its most charming and magical. There was something special about being transported into the world of Narnia for the first time, and if you have not had that experience, then this fantasy movie filled with emotional sequences, powerful performances, incredible worldbuilding, and more is uniquely suited for this weekend on Disney+. Additionally, Greta Gerwig's Narnia reboot movie was recently reported to have a substantive $280 million budget, and I believe seeing how the previous iteration of the franchise holds up might be interesting for those looking forward to the upcoming film. Venom: The Last Dance 7/10 Release Date October 25, 2024 Runtime 110 Minutes Venom: The Last Dance follows Eddie Brock and his symbiotic partner Venom as they become fugitives hunted by forces from both Earth and the alien homeworld of the symbiotes. With a powerful new enemy closing in and their options running out, Eddie and Venom are forced into one final journey that tests their unlikely partnership and the sacrifices they're willing to make for each other. Cast Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu, Clark Backo, Alanna Ubach, Cristo Fernández, Jared Abrahamson, Hala Finley, Dash McCloud, Andy Serkis, Reid Scott, Jack Brady, Ivo Nandi, Jake Allyn, Otis Winston, Jacob Tomuri, Brooke Carter, Fflyn Edwards, Elijah Cook, Norma Butikofer, Elizabeth Cook, Angie Hsu, Martin McDougall Director Kelly Marcel Tangled 8/10 Release Date November 24, 2010 Runtime 100 minutes An adaptation of the fairytale of Rapunzel, Disney's Tangled follows the long-haired princess as she journeys to discover her real identity. Kidnapped as a child by the evil Mother Gothel in order to exploit the healing properties of her magical hair, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) has lived her whole life isolated in a tower. A chance encounter with a smooth-talking fugitive called Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi) sees Rapunzel venture out into the dangerous world to find the kingdom of Corona and unlock the secrets of her past. Cast Donna Murphy, Ron Perlman, Mandy Moore, Brad Garrett, Jeffrey Tambor, Zachary Levi Director Byron Howard, Nathan Greno Cast William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Liam Neeson Director Andrew Adamson