Mickey Mouse, Will Ferrell/Ryan Reynolds Movie, Jordan Peele’ ‘No’

New entertainment releases this week include a documentary on how Mickey Mouse became beloved by children and adults and a slot machine for Disney’s growing entertainment empire, and Chris Hemsworth puts himself and his body on trial in National Geographic’s “Limitless.” One of Netflix’s biggest forays into family filmmaking is “Slumberland,” a $90 million fantasy adventure from “Hunger Games” director Francis Lawrence. And Fox Nation’s four-part series marking Yellowstone National Park’s 150-year history has the fitting host in “Yellowstone” star Kevin Costner.

Here’s a collection of what’s coming to TV and streaming services.

He was born Steamboat Willie in a 1928 animated short, but like many older stars he changed his name to a catchier one. It’s finally getting the documentary treatment with “Mickey: A Mouse’s Story,” which debuts Friday on, natch, Disney+. A fruit of Walt Disney’s fertile imagination, Mickey has become the beloved of children and adults alike and a mouse to Disney’s growing entertainment empire. The Mickey chipper has also proven to be an adaptable icon, as detailed in the film by director Jeff Malmberg and producer Morgan Neville (who both worked on the Fred Rogers documentary, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” ).

In “Nope,” Jordan Peele once again achieved a Hollywood rarity: an entirely original film that was also a box office success. In his third film as writer-director, following ‘Get Out’ and ‘Us’, Peele expands his dark and unsettling work into science fiction. The film, which arrives Friday on Peacock after hitting theaters this summer, is about a mysterious alien force that hovers in the clouds above a California ranch. The film reunites Peele with “Get Out” star Daniel Kaluuya, whose character runs a family business of horse wrangling with his sister (Keke Palmer). In her review, AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr said that “No” “offers a lot to chew on, which is more than most major summer shows can promise”.

Family movies have been rare in theaters lately, but they’re proliferating on streaming services. One of Netflix’s biggest forays into the realm is “Slumberland,” a $90 million fantasy adventure from “Hunger Games” director Francis Lawrence. The film, which debuts Friday on Netflix, is about a young girl (Marlow Barkley) who enters the dream world of Slumberland, where a thug named Flip (Jason Momoa) helps her try to find her late father. It is loosely based on Winsor McCay’s early 20th century comic book stream, “Little Nemo in Slumberland”.

Holiday movies are also happily making their way onto home screens. “Spirited,” a riff on “A Christmas Carol” starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, debuts Friday on Apple TV+. A sumptuous song-and-dance musical that transfers the Charles Dickens classic to the modern world and reimagines it from the perspective of ghosts. (Ferrell plays “Present”.) In his more measured review than humbug, Bahr said that “Spirited” “is short as a musical”, but “is still quite enjoyable”.

Chris Hemsworth, aka “Thor,” puts himself through his paces in National Geographic’s “Limitless,” as part of an effort to discover the durability of the human body and the best way to cope with aging. Accompanied by presumably nervous friends and family, Hemsworth undertakes challenges including swimming in a near-frozen Arctic fjord, climbing a 100-foot rope suspended over a canyon, and living with a simulation of what could look like his body at almost 90 years old. . Created by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, the six-part series debuts Wednesday on Disney+.

Fox Nation’s four-part series marking the 150-year history of beautiful Yellowstone National Park has the fitting host in Kevin Costner, star of the Paramount+ drama “Yellowstone.” In “Yellowstone: One-Fifty,” which premieres Sunday, Costner follows the path of an 1870s geological expedition to the western region that later became America’s first national park; visit Yellowstone during an inhospitable winter with temperatures of minus 40 degrees and explore the park’s thousands of years of human history.