Outer Banks Season 5, Magic Faraway Tree, Khalifa: This week's UAE watchlist — OTT and cinemas

So, if you're winding down after a long week or planning a weekend binge, there's plenty landing on screens across the UAE right now. Netflix says goodbye to one of its biggest teen dramas as the Pogues embark on their final treasure hunt, cinemas welcome a whimsical family adventure rooted in a beloved childhood classic, and Malayalam cinema delivers one of its most anticipated Onam blockbusters, led by a stacked ensemble cast. Add in a gritty Jason Statham thriller, a fresh chapter in the Insidious universe, and a college basketball dynasty getting the documentary treatment, and this week's lineup has something for pretty much every mood, action, nostalgia, horror, or a good old-fashioned family adventure. Here's everything worth watching, whether you're settling in on the couch or heading out to the cinema.

Shane Gillis's raunchy workplace comedy is back for a third round of chaos at Valley Forge Automotive. The series follows Will (Steve Gerben), who manages a struggling location of his family's auto-repair chain, while his obnoxious cousin and employee Shane (Gillis) constantly harasses and undermines him. This season ups the stakes: Shane and Will have become co-owners of the shop, and their friendship reaches a breaking point as they try to keep the business alive, forcing them to confront their past.

Season 3 has 12 episodes, twice the size of the show's six-episode first season and matching Season 2's run. Returning cast includes Chris O'Connor, Kilah Fox, Stavros Halkias, and Thomas Haden Church, joined by newcomers Rachel Blanchard, Garret Dillahunt, Anjelica Bette Fellini, and Matt Walsh.

This three-part docuseries spans 40 years of UConn women's basketball's historic run under Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma, from his 1985 arrival through the program's first national championship in 1995 and the 11 titles that followed. Directed and executive produced by Emmy winner Matthew Hamachek and Emmy nominee Erica Sashin, the series is a Skydance Sports production charting how a single college program became the most dominant dynasty in basketball history.

What makes this one special is timing: filmmakers began following the team in early 2025, when the Huskies had already dropped two games and fallen out of the top five, ending up with what looked like it would be a story about the program's first 11 championships alone. Instead, UConn caught fire, blowing out their semifinal opponent by 34 points and winning the final by 23 to claim title No. 12 — handing the crew an unplanned, fairytale ending.

The Pogues ride out one last time. Season 5 picks up with the crew at their absolute breaking point following the tragic loss of JJ in Morocco, stranded far from home and mourning the heart of their group after losing the Blue Crown. The season four finale revealed that Chandler Groff killed his own son JJ in front of Kiara, and she isn't about to let him get away with it — the Pogues are out for revenge.

With Groff still on the run, the Corsairs closing in, and the Kooks making sure there's no home to return to, John B, Sarah, Kiara, Pope, and Cleo will have to lean on their instincts, plus an uneasy alliance with Rafe, just to hold it together. Adding a softer note to all the chaos: Sarah and John B are also navigating upcoming parenthood.

Unlike the split-season format of Season 4, all 10 episodes drop at once, so it's a full binge from day one. Across its run, Outer Banks has racked up nearly 200 million views and landed on Netflix's Top 10 English TV list 25 times — making this farewell season one of the platform's biggest send-offs of the year

Jason Statham is back in familiar territory: wrongly accused, hunted, and out for answers. Statham plays Cole Reed, a former Special Forces operative and ex-London Metropolitan police officer now working in private security, who's framed for murdering his Thai billionaire friend, Tibu, and stumbles into an international conspiracy while hunting for the real killer. The action kicks off when Cole boards a cargo ship on a one-man crusade to avenge his boss's death, only to uncover a much bigger plot.

Directed by Jean-François Richet, known for Plane and Blood Father, the film also stars Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, Ramon Tikaram, Arnas Fedaravičius, Jason Wong, and Adrian Lester. It hands Statham another physically demanding lead role, leaning into the wrongly-accused-hero formula that's become a genre staple for him.

The sixth installment in the Insidious franchise, directed and written by Jacob Chase (Come Play), takes the series back to its central mythology: The Further, the purgatorial realm of lost souls that's haunted the franchise since its start.

Amelia Eve stars as Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, who discovers she can travel into The Further. But this installment flips the usual formula: Gemma doesn't just enter The Further — she can bring what lives there back into the real world. Once the demons realize what she's capable of, our world becomes their playground.

Lin Shaye returns as fan-favorite Elise Rainier, alongside newcomers Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea, and Maisie Richardson-Sellers. Composer Joseph Bishara, who scored the first five films, returns to give the sequel its signature dread-soaked sound.

The film serves as a sequel to 2023's Insidious: The Red Door. With the franchise having earned over $740 million globally, expectations are high for this one to deliver fresh scares while staying true to the series' unsettling astral-plane roots. If jump scares and supernatural dread are your weekend mood, this is the pick.

Based on Enid Blyton's beloved 1943 novel, this fantasy-adventure film is directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Wonka, Paddington 2). The story follows Polly (Claire Foy) and Tim (Andrew Garfield) and their three children, a modern family forced to relocate to the remote English countryside. Once there, the kids discover the Enchanted Wood on their new doorstep and, deeper in, the Faraway Tree itself, kicking off a series of magical adventures.

As the family settles in, the children meet the tree's extraordinary, eccentric residents, including Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Silky (Nicola Coughlan), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns). The film also brings in Rebecca Ferguson as a villain in the magical realm, adding a touch of peril to an otherwise warm story about pulling a fractured family back together. A reviewer described the film as a splashy, cozy, cutesy plea for imagination and connection in an age of isolating technology, with richly detailed production design and costuming standing out as the film hops between fantastical worlds each day the tree delivers its magic

Prithviraj Sukumaran teams up with director Vysakh for a big-scale action entertainer, reuniting after their earlier hit Pokkiri Raja, in one of the season's most anticipated Onam releases. Prithviraj plays Mambarakkal Aamir Ali, a man pulled into a dangerous world of gold smuggling, revenge, and power. The trailer's ending has stirred plenty of speculation, hinting at a connection between Aamir Ali and Mohanlal's character, Mambarakkal Ahmed Ali, a mystery the film seems to be saving for the big screen.

Mohanlal appears in a special role as Mambarakkal Ahmed Ali, while Malvika Sharma plays the female lead. The ensemble also includes Tovino Thomas, Krithi Shetty, and Neil Nitin Mukesh — marking his Malayalam debut.