New this week: Kaepernick, Sheeran and 'Star Trek' spin-off

This week’s new entertainment releases include new albums from Ed Sheeran and The War on Drugs as well as “Army of Thieves,” a prequel to Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead,” which invites viewers to join a Europe-trotting heist

The Stream

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

MOVIES

— “Army of Thieves,” coming to Netflix on Friday, Oct. 29, is set in a world where there are zombies but it’s (asterisk)not(asterisk) a zombie movie. This prequel to Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” invites viewers to join a new Europe-trotting heist. The safecracker Dieter (played by Matthias Schweighöfer, who also directed) is just a small-time bank teller who is recruited by “Game of Thrones” alum Nathalie Emmanuel to pull off a series of robberies across the continent.

— If you missed Lin-Manuel Miranda’s joyous musical “In the Heights” in theaters earlier this summer (most people did) or during its limited time on HBO Max, worry not because the Jon M. Chu-directed adaptation is coming back to the streaming service on Thursday, Oct. 28. AP’s Jocelyn Noveck wrote in her review at the time that, "What shines are the inventive and joyous musical numbers — like ‘96,000,’ in that swimming pool, in which everyone imagines how they’d spend lottery winnings. Or ‘Carnaval del Barrio,’ in which Daniela urges friends to celebrate amid a blackout.” And star Anthony Ramos, Noveck wrote, “eases into leading-man duties with warmth, humor and charm.”

— A new documentary tells the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Ut, the man who captured the horrors of the Vietnam War with a single black-and-white photo of a 9-year-old girl in 1972. Ut was only 21 at the time he took the “Napalm Girl” photo and after the fall of Saigon was transferred to the Los Angeles bureau of The Associated Press, where he would take many thousands of photographs — covering everything from the riots to celebrity trials — before his retirement in 2017 (after 51 years). Ut gets the chance to tell his own story in “From Hell to Hollywood,” available on VOD starting Oct. 26.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

MUSIC

— Ed Sheeran always equals something interesting. The fourth full-length album from the singer-songwriter — titled “=” (and pronounced Equals) — is due Friday, Oct. 29 and he has a lot to cover, including his marriage, fatherhood and loss. “I see it as my coming-of-age record,” he said in a statement. The 14-track album includes the hits “Bad Habits” and “Shivers.” In a kind gesture, Sheeran recently took to Instagram to ask his fans to buy or stream Elton John's new album and help the Rocket Man displace him atop the charts. "Who doesn’t wanna be knocked off by Elton?” he asked.

— The War on Drugs are back this Friday, Oct. 29, after four years with the 10-track “I Don’t Live Here Anymore.” The title song is a shimmering, ‘80s-influenced grand affair: “Is life just dying in slow motion/Or getting stronger every day?” sings the band’s frontman and guitarist, Adam Granduciel. But there’s versatility, too: The first single, “Living Proof,” finds the band vulnerable and restrained. The album is described as “an uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes — resilience in the face of despair.”

— The weather's getting colder and the holidays are right around the corner. That can mean only one thing: Pentatonix with a new Christmas album. It's only sort of true this time. “Evergreen,” the Grammy-winning a cappella group's sixth holiday album, out Friday, Oct. 29, is timed for winter but the two songs revealed so far aren't especially Christmas-y: Jule Styne's “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” and Stevie Wonder's “I Just Called To Say I Love You.” Perhaps they've run out of traditional songs, but they're sure to add their vocal magic to anything Christmas-adjacent.

— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

TELEVISION

— It’s a wild ride for the young alien outcasts who swipe a starship in the Paramount+ animated series “Star Trek: Prodigy,” debuting Thursday with a hour-long episode on the streaming service. The novice adventurers are off to a rocky start with the vessel they’ve commandeered and their impromptu journey, but an introduction to Starfleet and its ideals is in their future. There’s adult supervision in the form of a holographic Kathryn Janeway (voiced by — who else? — Kate Mulgrew), who tells the ragtag bunch: “I’ve seen my share of wayward crews and I can tell you this: You’ve got potential.” The cast includes Brett Gray, Ella Purnell and Rylee Alazraqui.

— Colin Kaepernick and TV and moviemaker Ava DuVernay are the co-creators of Netflix’s “Colin in Black and White,” a six-episode, half-hour series inspired by the Black activist and former NFL quarterback’s teen years. Jaden Michael plays Kaepernick, adopted by white parents in a white community. Mary-Louise Parker and Nick Offerman co-star, with Kaepernick serving as the present-day narrator. In a statement, he said he hopes to inspire youth facing racism and other burdens to overcome them and see that they too could say, “‘I’ve worked through them, and I was able to be successful and come out the other end, keeping my dignity and my identity intact.’” The series debuts Friday, Oct. 29.

— How about classic chills with a modern vibe for Halloween? BYUtv is offering a contemporary version of “The Canterville Ghost,” Oscar Wilde’s short, comedy-laced tale. The four-part series stars Anthony Head (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Ted Lasso”) as Sir Simon de Canterville — or, more accurately, as Sir Simon’s ghost, who’s long rattled around his former English country estate. But there’s an annoying new intruder: a U.S. tech billionaire who’s bought the place. James Lance (“Ted Lasso”) plays the tech baron, with Carolyn Catz (“Doc Martin”) as his wife. The series debuts 9 p.m. EDT Sunday, Oct. 31, on the channel and on BYUtv’s free streaming service.

— AP Television Writer Lynn Elber

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