Best new movies and TV series on Disney+ New Zealand: December 2023

Each month, new films and TV shows are added to Disney+’s New Zealand library. Here’s Eliza Janssen’s recommendations for the titles most worth watching. Scroll down for the full list of everything arriving on the platform.

Top picks

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (December 1)

The first film in the beloved Indy franchise to not be directed by the master Steven Spielberg, this fifth sequel earned some pretty mixed reviews when it screened in cinemas earlier this year. Comparing Dial of Destiny to other legacy sequels, critic Rory Doherty wrote that this somewhat befuddled entry has something those other flops don’t: “Harrison Ford. And he’s not going to hang up the hat on anyone’s terms but his own. Ford is tremendous fun in the part, keen to give as much gravitas as an Indiana Jones will structurally allow.” Is it our final goodbye to Doctor Jones? You might have to watch it yourself and see.

Theater Camp (December 6)

Is it “theatre” or “theater”? Either way, the improvised comedy of this doco-style send-up is a total riot. Back when the film was in cinemas, our critic Amelia Berry even claimed that Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s theatre-kid delight gives Broadway star Ben Platt “the big-screen redemption he’s after”, since starring in a few total flop musicals. “Theater Camp is surprisingly good. Shockingly good, even”, Berry went on: “In a world of wistful dramedies and dark conceptual indie fare, it feels like a throwback to an older style of low-budget comedy cinema.” If you ever stomped the boards of a school play as a youngster yourself, you owe it to yourself to watch for a laugh.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (December 20)

Certain kinds of nerdy kids will forever be obsessed with Greek mythology (*meekly raises my own hand*), and they’ll totally welcome another adaptation of Rick Riordan’s beloved YA adventure novels. While the characters in the 2010s film franchise were aged up from the books in order to appear more as steely, grown-up badasses, this fresh Disney series has cast young-looking tweens as unsuspecting hero Percy and his mythologically talented mates. It’ll make the Olympian peril they face feel even more risky.

All new titles arriving on Disney+ New Zealand in December

December 1

Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
The Mill
Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House
The Shepherd