3 Best Movies To Watch On Prime Video This Weekend (October 3-4)

Published Oct 2, 2026, 10:00 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 Prime Video subscribers have three of the best selections available on streaming this weekend to have fun with, and one of them is easily among the very best movies ever made. On last weekend's Prime Video movie recommendations. I went over why subscribers should check out The Love Hypothesis, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, and the 2013 version of Carrie. Carrie was an easy choice, as it is one of the movies adapted from Stephen King's novels and the Mike Flanagan Carrie series will be released on Prime Video on October 7. That said, the other two movies are the ones currently trending on the streaming service nationwide. At the time of writing, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is Prime Video's 3rd most-watched movie in the United States. Like Carrie, that connects to an upcoming release, as Brad Pitt is set to return in David Fincher's The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, which releases on Netflix on December 23. Right now, The Love Hypothesis is the most popular movie on Prime Video in the US. It also represents Prime Video's library of original movies, of which I didn't include one in the new recommendations. Draft 1 · Bangor, Maine How Well Do You Know Stephen King? “They all float down here.” 🎈ITYou'll float too 🪓ShiningAll work and no play 🔨MiseryI'm your number one fan 🏰Dark TowerThe gunslinger followed ⛓ShawshankGet busy living OPEN THE BOOK → 01 King was a high school English teacher in Hampden, Maine, living in a trailer with no phone, when Doubleday paid him a $2,500 advance for his first hardcover novel in 1973. He'd thrown the opening pages in the trash; his wife Tabitha fished them out and told him to keep going. What was the book? AThe Shining B'Salem's Lot CCarrie DThe Stand ✓ Correct! Carrie. Doubleday paid a $2,500 hardcover advance in 1973, and the paperback rights sold to Signet for $400,000 — King's half ($200,000) let him quit teaching. He always credits Tabitha with saving the manuscript from the trash. Brian De Palma's 1976 film adaptation with Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie earned two Oscar nominations and cemented King as a screen-adaptation goldmine from day one. ✗ Wrong page. The answer is Carrie, published April 5, 1974. 'Salem's Lot came next in 1975, The Shining in 1977, The Stand in 1978. Tabitha King rescued the Carrie opening from the trash, insisted he finish it, and the $400,000 Signet paperback deal that followed — split 50/50 with Doubleday — is what finally let him leave teaching. NEXT → 02 In the late 1970s, publishers believed no author could release more than one book a year without saturating the market. So King invented a pseudonym and published five novels under it — including The Long Walk, The Running Man, and Thinner — before a Washington bookstore clerk outed him in 1985. What was the pen name? AJohn Swithen BRichard Bachman CGordon Lachance DPeter Straub ✓ Correct! Richard Bachman. King took the first name from Richard Stark (Donald Westlake's pseudonym) and the last from Bachman-Turner Overdrive playing on the car stereo. Steve Brown, a Washington D.C. bookstore clerk, cross-checked copyright filings at the Library of Congress and phoned King. Rather than deny it, King wrote a mock obituary declaring Bachman had died of “cancer of the pseudonym.” ✗ Wrong byline. The answer is Richard Bachman — a pseudonym King used for Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man and Thinner between 1977 and 1985. Peter Straub is a real author and King's co-writer on The Talisman and Black House. John Swithen was a one-off alias for a 1972 short story. Gordon Lachance is the narrator character in The Body (filmed as Stand By Me). NEXT → 03 King wrote The Shining (1977) after a one-night stay at the then-closing Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, in the fall of 1974. He and Tabitha were the only guests, and a dream about his son being chased down a corridor gave him the entire novel. The fictional haunted hotel is called... AThe Overlook BThe Bates CThe Dolphin DThe Stanley ✓ Correct! The Overlook Hotel. The Kings checked into room 217 on the last night of the Stanley's 1974 season; Tabitha fell asleep and Stephen dreamed about his three-year-old son Joe being pursued by a fire hose. He woke up with most of the novel in his head. The Stanley has been milking the connection ever since — and in 1997 King adapted his own novel for a TV miniseries filmed there, as a partial corrective to Kubrick's film. ✗ Wrong floor. The answer is The Overlook. The real-world Stanley Hotel in Estes Park inspired it — King stayed in room 217 on the last night of the 1974 season and had the fire-hose nightmare that became the book. The Dolphin is a later King hotel (1408). The Bates Motel is Psycho. The Stanley itself is the real place, not the fictional one, though it's leaned into the association ever since. NEXT → 04 In IT (1986), the shape-shifting entity the Losers' Club calls Pennywise the Dancing Clown emerges from the sewers every 27 years to feed on children. The novel — and Andy Muschietti's 2017/2019 films — are set in a fictional Maine town that also shows up in Insomnia, Dreamcatcher, and 11/22/63. Name it. ACastle Rock BJerusalem's Lot CDerry DChester's Mill ✓ Correct! Derry. Loosely modeled on Bangor, Maine, where King lives. Derry recurs across IT, Insomnia, Dreamcatcher, 11/22/63 and parts of the Dark Tower series. Castle Rock is King's other signature Maine town (The Dead Zone, Cujo, Needful Things). Jerusalem's Lot is from 'Salem's Lot. Chester's Mill is the setting of Under the Dome. ✗ Wrong sewer. The answer is Derry — King's Bangor-coded fictional town, the setting of IT (1986), Insomnia (1994), Dreamcatcher (2001) and 11/22/63 (2011). Castle Rock is a different King town (Cujo, The Dead Zone, Needful Things) and Jerusalem's Lot is where the vampires show up. But Pennywise's home is always Derry. NEXT → 05 The 1990 film of Misery, adapted by William Goldman and directed by Rob Reiner, won its lead actress the Best Actress Oscar for playing obsessed “number one fan” Annie Wilkes — still the only acting Oscar ever won for a Stephen King adaptation. Who was it? AKathy Bates BSissy Spacek CJessica Lange DPiper Laurie ✓ Correct! Kathy Bates — winning Best Actress at the March 1991 Oscars for Misery. Bates later came back for King adaptations Dolores Claiborne (1995) and The Stand (1994 miniseries). It remains the only Academy Award for acting in any screen adaptation of a Stephen King book; Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie both got nominations for Carrie, but neither won. ✗ Wrong fan. The answer is Kathy Bates, who won Best Actress at the 1991 Academy Awards for Misery. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie were both nominated for Carrie in 1977 but lost. Jessica Lange has been nominated and won for other films, but not for any King adaptation. Bates's hobbling scene with the sledgehammer is still routinely voted one of the most terrifying moments in horror cinema. NEXT → 06 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) — regularly voted the greatest film of all time on IMDb — is adapted from a King novella called “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.” The same 1982 collection also contains the novellas that became Stand By Me and Apt Pupil. What is the collection called? ASkeleton Crew BDifferent Seasons CNight Shift DFour Past Midnight ✓ Correct! Different Seasons (1982) — four novellas, three of them adapted into major films: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption became The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Body became Stand By Me (1986), and Apt Pupil became the 1998 Bryan Singer film. The fourth, The Breathing Method, is the only one never filmed. Different Seasons is the most-adapted single King book in Hollywood history. ✗ Wrong shelf. The answer is Different Seasons (1982). Night Shift (1978) is an earlier horror-story collection. Skeleton Crew (1985) contains The Mist and The Jaunt. Four Past Midnight (1990) has The Langoliers and Secret Window. But three of the four novellas in Different Seasons — Shawshank, Stand By Me, Apt Pupil — all became celebrated films, making it arguably the single most cinematically influential King book. NEXT → 07 King started writing his sprawling magnum opus in 1970 as a college student and finally published the eighth and final volume in 2012. The first line — “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed” — introduces a hero inspired by Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name. What's the gunslinger's name? AFlagg BRoland Deschain CJake Chambers DTed Brautigan ✓ Correct! Roland Deschain of Gilead, last of his line. The Dark Tower series — eight novels plus The Wind Through the Keyhole — is King's spine work, connecting dozens of his other books (The Stand, Salem's Lot, Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis, IT) into one multiverse. Randall Flagg is the series' recurring villain, Jake Chambers is the boy Roland meets, and Ted Brautigan is a Low Men minor character. ✗ Wrong ka-tet. The answer is Roland Deschain. Randall Flagg is the recurring King villain who crosses from The Stand into the Dark Tower (he's the “man in black” fleeing across the desert in the famous opening). Jake Chambers is the young boy Roland picks up in The Gunslinger. Ted Brautigan is a minor Breaker in Hearts in Atlantis. Roland alone is the king of Gilead's son. NEXT → 08 King has three children. His daughter Naomi is a Unitarian minister. His younger son Owen is a novelist. His older son is a bestselling horror writer in his own right — author of Heart-Shaped Box, Horns, NOS4A2, and The Fireman — and spent his early career using a pseudonym to hide the family connection. What name does he publish under? AJoe Hill BPaul Tremblay CJosh Malerman DGrady Hendrix ✓ Correct! Joe Hill — a shortening of his real name, Joseph Hillström King. He used the pseudonym for a decade so his work would be judged on its own merits and not marketed as “son-of.” His 2004 short-story collection 20th Century Ghosts and 2007 debut novel Heart-Shaped Box made his reputation before the family connection became public. He and his father have also co-written a handful of novellas including In the Tall Grass. ✗ Wrong branch. The answer is Joe Hill — pen name of Joseph Hillström King. Paul Tremblay (A Head Full of Ghosts, The Cabin at the End of the World) is a separate contemporary horror novelist. Josh Malerman wrote Bird Box. Grady Hendrix wrote Horrorstor and My Best Friend's Exorcism. Joe Hill hid the King connection for about a decade so his career would stand on its own. REVEAL MY SCORE → Final Draft · Put Down the Pen Your Constant Reader Status ✍ / 8 Constant Reader — or still stuck in Derry? ⤴ START OVER The reason for that is simple. As part of the many movies that have arrived on Prime Video in October, there are simply way too many exciting licensed films for subscribers not to watch them on the first weekend of October. Here are the best movies to watch on Prime Video: 3 Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025) Now You See Me: Now You Don't continues the exciting heist franchise that puts magic at the forefront. No, not Harry Potter-like magic, but practical tricks or fantastical magic numbers that ultimately are grounded in reality in some form, even if they seem way too far out there. The Now You See Me franchise is one of the most fresh and overall exciting in cinemas since the original was released in 2013. Now You See Me: Now You Don't brings back the franchise's star-studded cast, including Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Morgan Freeman, and Mark Ruffalo. The new heist introduced a younger generation of magicians, and it is a lot of fun seeing how the two groups interact throughout the film. 2 Wuthering Heights (2026) Over the years, there have been several adaptations of Wuthering Heights, the iconic 1847 novel by Emily Brontë. The latest high-profile release was this 2026 version starring Margot Robbie as Cathy Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. Directed by Emerald Fennell, the new take on Wuthering Heights is sexy, intense, surprising, and utterly haunting. This is a tragic romance drama with some interesting performances and two major stars at the forefront of the story. As it was just released on Prime Video on Friday, October 2, I have no doubt that Wuthering Heights will enter the streamer's US chart over the weekend. As such, you might want to get started early on this spicy retelling of a classic. 1 The Godfather (1972) The last entry on our Prime Video movie recommendations is the best gangster movie and overall crime thriller of all time. While there is some debate regarding its first sequel, The Godfather is the movie that started one of the most revered franchises in cinematic history. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the movie features a vast ocean of stars, with names like Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and many more. The Godfather stands at a near-perfect 97% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and an even better 98% audience score. The gangster movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, taking home three Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Brando. The Godfather is a masterpiece that starts the story of the Corleone family with a powerful first step. It should end the weekend on Prime Video with thunderous applause. Now You See Me: Now You Don't 4/10 Release Date November 12, 2025 Runtime 112 minutes Now You See Me: Now You Don't sees the original Four Horsemen uniting with a new group of illusionists to confront diamond heiress Veronika Vanderberg and her criminal empire. Cast Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, Rosamund Pike, Morgan Freeman, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Radcliffe, Mark Ruffalo, Thabang Kamogelo Molaba, Sebastian Eugene Hansen, Dominic Allburn, Andrew Santino Director Ruben Fleischer Main Genre Crime Wuthering Heights Release Date February 13, 2026 Runtime 136 Minutes Another film adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel, delving into the passionate and tumultuous relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, set against the evocative backdrop of the Yorkshire moors. Cast Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Alison Oliver, Shazad Latif, Owen Cooper, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell, Charlotte Mellington, Robert Cawsey, Vy Nguyen, Andrew Charles Davis Director Emerald Fennell Main Genre Drama The Godfather 9/10 Release Date March 24, 1972 Runtime 175 minutes The Godfather chronicles the Italian-American Corleone crime family from 1945 to 1955. Following an assassination attempt on family patriarch Vito Corleone, his youngest son Michael emerges to orchestrate a brutal campaign of retribution, cementing his role in the family’s illicit empire. Cast Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Richard S. Castellano, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Gianni Russo, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Abe Vigoda, Rudy Bond, Al Martino, Morgana King, Lenny Montana, John Martino, Salvatore Corsitto, Richard Bright, Alex Rocco, Tony Giorgio, Vito Scotti, Tere Livrano Director Francis Ford Coppola Main Genre Drama