The couch has been good to me lately, and this week Disney+ is giving me one more reason to stay planted on it. The big title among the new releases for August 24 through August 30 is Venom: The Last Dance, the third and final entry in the Tom Hardy symbiote trilogy, which made about $478 million worldwide back in 2024. Hardy and his gooey alter ego are obviously the draw. You can get the full rundown over at Yahoo's breakdown of the week's Disney+ additions.

I have a soft spot for these Venom movies. They're messy, they're weird, and Hardy commits to the bit like he's doing Shakespeare, which is exactly the energy a movie about a man and his alien slime boyfriend requires. The Last Dance leans all the way into that dynamic, and if you never caught it in theaters, this is the easiest watch of the week. It's a popcorn movie that knows it's a popcorn movie. We need more of those, not fewer.

That said, this week is lighter than the last couple Disney+ drops, which were absolutely loaded. After a stretch where the service was stacking premieres like a Thanksgiving plate, we're in more of a snacking phase. A few library additions and catalog titles trickle in alongside Venom, plus the usual weekly episodes of whatever's mid-season. If you've been meaning to catch up on something currently airing, this quiet week is your window. I used one of these slow weeks to finally finish a show I'd abandoned in episode four back in the spring. No regrets.

The bigger picture, at least the way I read it, is that Disney+ has settled into a rhythm where the marquee theatrical titles show up months after their box office runs and everything else fills in around them. Venom: The Last Dance fits that mold. How a Sony Marvel title ends up on the Disney side, I couldn't tell you for certain. My guess is the streaming rights simply cycled through their usual stops, but streaming rights stopped making intuitive sense years ago so who knows. Jess Wingo and I were talking about this the other day, how you basically need a flowchart to remember which Marvel-adjacent movie lives on which service in any given month. She gave up and just searches everything now. Smart woman.

So what's worth your time this week? If you want big, dumb, affectionate spectacle, Venom: The Last Dance is the pick. Watch it knowing the trilogy's whole charm is that it never fully takes itself seriously. If you missed it the first time around, you're getting a perfectly serviceable Friday night out of it, minus the theater money. If symbiotes aren't your thing, treat this week as a catch-up week and clear something off your queue before September shows up with its usual avalanche of premieres. September is coming, and it does not respect your free time.

That's the week, friends. Nothing earth-shattering, but a $478 million sci-fi oddity landing in your living room for the price of a subscription you already pay for is never a bad thing. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a couch and some alien slime.