The Best Netflix Original Movies to Stream Now

With buzzy new titles and forgotten favorites, Netflix has enough content to keep you streaming for hours — including plenty of must-see original movies.

The streamer has something for every type of film lover, whether you’re into high school comedies like Do Revenge and Metal Lords or critically acclaimed flicks like May December and The Killer.

Keep scrolling for the best original movies on Netflix to watch now.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie

Giddyup, folks — everyone’s favorite underwater squirrel is saddling up for her own movie! In this 2024 hybrid animated/live-action adventure, Bikini Bottom and all its critters are plucked straight out of the ocean. Now, it’s up to Sandy Cheeks (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence) and her pal SpongeBob SquarePants ( Tom Kenny) to mosey on down to her home state of Texas, where they’ll have to wrangle the town back from the hands of a cruel CEO ( Wanda Sykes), who wants to turn its citizens into a toy line.

Watch Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie on Netflix

The Union

Mike ( Mark Wahlberg) is perfectly content with his mundane life in New Jersey until his high-school sweetheart, Roxanne ( Halle Berry), reappears 25 years later. Before he knows it, he’s drugged and whisked away to Europe, where Roxanne enlists him for a high-stakes mission: retrieving a stolen list of every spy’s identity. As they enter the covert world together, they find their old flame rekindling amid car chases, knife fights and more.

Watch The Union on Netflix on Aug. 16

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

In the fourth chapter of the fan-favorite action-comedy series, Eddie Murphy is back as Det. Axel Foley, 40 years after the first film premiered. When his daughter’s ( Taylour Paige) life is on the line, she and Axel team up with a new sidekick ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and some old friends, Billy Rosewood ( Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart ( John Ashton), to crack the case.

Watch Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F on Netflix

A Family Affair

Zara ( Joey King) has had enough of catering to the narcissistic, womanizing movie star Chris Cole ( Zac Efron). After finally quitting her job as his assistant, the last thing she expects is to come home to see her widowed mother ( Nicole Kidman) having an affair with her former boss (who may or may not turn out to be her future stepfather).

Watch A Family Affair on Netflix

Hit Man

Based on an outrageous true story, Richard Linklater’s 2024 action rom-com sees Glen Powell slipping into the many disguises of Gary Johnson, a New Orleans Police Department contractor who poses as a hitman to arrest those trying to hire him. But things get complicated when he meets his latest “client” (Adria Arjona) — who wants him to get rid of her abusive husband — and his attraction toward her interferes with the job.

Watch Hit Man on Netflix

Scoop

Inspired by Prince Andrew‘s jaw-dropping 2019 BBC Newsnight interview — and adapted from the revealing book by former Newsnight editor Sam McAlister — Scoop presents the saga of the women behind the scenes who brokered with Buckingham Palace amidst revelations of his connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The film stars Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew, Gillian Anderson as news anchor Emily Maitlis and Billie Piper as McAlister. 

Watch Scoop on Netflix

Damsel

In Juan Carlos Fresnadillo‘s dark fantasy, Millie Bobby Brown trades the Upside Down for another nightmarish realm. Here, she portrays a young noblewoman tossed into a cave by her newlywed husband ( Nick Robinson) and is left to her own devices with a ravening dragon. A story about perseverance and survival, Damsel also features performances from Angela Bassett, Ray Winstone, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Robin Wright.

Watch Damsel on Netflix

Shirley

Producing with her sister Reina, Regina King leads the pack in a biopic of Shirley Chisholm, the first-ever Black congresswoman. With standout performances from the late Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Terrence Howard and more, Shirley depicts Chisholm’s remarkable career, including her historic presidential campaign of 1972.

Watch Shirley on Netflix

The Greatest Night in Pop

In a single night, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson aimed for the stars in their recording of “We Are the World” — a charity single to support famine relief in Africa — by rallying music legends like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and more to lend their vocals. The Netflix documentary unveils the behind-the-scenes story of what would become one of the greatest hits of all time.

Watch The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix

Orion and the Dark

Based on Emma Yarlett’s eponymous children’s book, this DreamWorks Animation fantasy adventure introduces audiences to Orion (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), an anxious elementary schoolkid who harbors a plethora of irrational fears, from bees to cell phone waves. However, when he comes face to face with the embodiment of his greatest fear, the Dark ( Paul Walter Hauser), Orion shifts his perspective regarding the night and learns to embrace the unknown.

Watch Orion and the Dark on Netflix

Good Grief

While you probably know Dan Levy for his role as Schitt’s Creek‘s hilariously sassy David Rose, get ready to witness a more poignant side of him in this 2024 dramedy that he also wrote and directed. Here, he portrays a grieving man who — mourning the loss of his writer husband ( Luke Evans) — takes a trip to the City of Lights with his two closest friends ( Ruth Negga, Himesh Patel), where they unpack traumas and aid him in his healing.

Watch Good Grief on Netflix

Society of the Snow

Based on the remarkable true story of the 1972 Uruguayan flight disaster involving a rugby team and their supporters, this survival thriller focuses on the 16 passengers who lived through a plane crash in the snow-covered Andes Mountains. Marooned in one of the world’s most unforgiving landscapes, these survivors must resort to drastic means to stay alive and find their way back home.

Watch Society of the Snow on Netflix

May December

At 36, Gracie Atherton ( Julianne Moore) became the center of a tabloid scandal due to her infamous affair with seventh grader Joe Yoo. Two decades later, Gracie is now married to Joe ( Charles Melton) with three children. However, their past comes back to haunt them when renowned actress Elizabeth Berry ( Natalie Portman) — set to portray Gracie in a film — visits them for research.

Watch May December on Netflix

Maestro

In this 2023 biographical drama, director and co-writer Bradley Cooper stars as Leonard Bernstein, an iconic conductor, composer and pianist who balanced his illustrious career, a 26-year marriage with actress Felicia Montealegre ( Carey Mulligan) and his affairs with men. Nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, Maestro also features supporting performances from Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman and Michael Urie, among others

Watch Maestro on Netflix

Nyad

Academy Award-nominated Annette Bening dives into the role of Diana Nyad, an accomplished 60-year-old athlete who decides to revisit the 110-mile open-ocean swimming marathon she left behind three decades ago. Steadfast in finishing the swim without help from a shark cage, Diana embarks on a four-year journey alongside her best friend/coach ( Jodie Foster) and a supportive sailing crew. 

Watch Nyad on Netflix

The Killer

In this 2023 crime thriller, Michael Fassbender steps into the shoes of an isolated and methodical assassin, feeling his composure eroding with each moment spent hidden in the shadows, waiting for his next victim. Directed by lauded filmmaker David Fincher — who reunites with his Se7en (1995) co-writer Andrew Kevin Walker — The Killer also stars Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte and Tilda Swinton.

Watch The Killer on Netflix

Rustin

From the director of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) comes a long-overdue exploration of a story that has been all but erased from the civil rights movement. Colman Domingo stars as Bayard Rustin, the advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen) and an out gay Black man who dedicated his life to the fight for racial equality and played a pivotal role in orchestrating the historic March on Washington in 1963.

Watch Rustin on Netflix

El Conde

Winning the best screenplay award at the Venice Film Festival, this 2023 horror satire reimagines Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) — the Chilean dictator who led the military party in overthrowing President Salvador Allende’s socialist government in 1973 — as a 250-year-old vampire. Confronting the shame and family turmoil spawned by his tyranny, the immortal chooses to die once and for all.

Watch El Conde on Netflix

Fair Play

Entangled in a secret love affair, newly engaged couple Emily ( Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke ( Alden Ehrenreich) must tread carefully within the treacherous terrain of their shared workplace, a fiercely competitive hedge fund company. When Emily lands the coveted promotion that Luke had been vying for, their relationship takes an unexpected turn, ushering in a new complex power dynamic both inside and outside the office.

Watch Fair Play on Netflix

Love at First Sight

Whether you find yourself on the hopeless romantic or cynical side of the love at first sight phenomenon, it’s a timeless rom-com trope that’s a perfect escape from today’s digital dating scene. Seated next to each other on an international flight, strangers Hadley ( Haley Lu Richardson) and Oliver (Ben Hardy) instantly fall for each other and, despite all odds, try to find each other again long after they’ve landed. 

Watch Love at First Sight on Netflix

Wham!

This musical documentary chronicles the magnificent journey of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley from adolescent friends to global superstars. With access to never-before-seen footage, Wham! captures Michael and Ridgely’s meteoric rise in the music industry while also immersing viewers in the nostalgic spirit of the ’70s and ’80s.

Watch Wham! on Netflix

The Deepest Breath

Watch Italian champion free-diver Alessia Zecchini push to set a world record with the support of safety diver Stephen Keenan. Directed by Laura McGann, this breathtaking A24-produced documentary follows the pair as they develop a bond while pushing their bodies to extreme lengths and exploring the mesmerizing depths of the ocean.

Watch The Deepest Breath on Netflix

They Cloned Tyrone

Directed by Juel Taylor, this sci-fi mystery comedy follows three neighbors — played by Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris and John Boyega — who witness a kidnapping, leading them to a confidential lab where they discover something sinister: They’re cloning town citizens. Now mindful of the government conspiracy, the trio seeks out more answers in an attempt to put an end to these unethical experiments.

Watch They Cloned Tyrone on Netflix

The Pale Blue Eye

Based on Louis Bayard’s eponymous novel, this 2022 mystery thriller set in the 19th century stars Christian Bale as a veteran detective who investigates multiple murders at West Point military academy alongside a young trainee: Edgar Allan Poe ( Harry Melling). The Pale Blue Eye also features Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton and Robert Duvall, among others.

Watch The Pale Blue Eye on Netflix

All Quiet on the Western Front

Adapting Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel of the same name, Edward Berger’s 2022 anti-war film follows a young German soldier whose quixotic ideas of World War II are destroyed when having to survive its violent realities. All Quiet on the Western Front is a visually graphic portrayal of the horrors of war, earning four Academy Awards in 2023 — including Best International Feature Film.

Watch All Quiet on the Western Front on Netflix

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Guillermo del Toro reimagined the classic story of Pinnochio through a modernized lens, combined with his signature directing style. This 2022 stop-motion musical fantasy stars Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett and more.

Watch Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio on Netflix

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical

Roald Dahl‘s beloved 1988 novel about a young girl named Matilda with telekinetic powers has gotten its fair share of adaptations over the years. In this 2022 adaptation of the Tony Award-winning stage musical, Alisha Weir takes on the titular character, supported by an ensemble cast featuring Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch and myriad talented ” revolting children.”

Watch Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical on Netflix

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

In Rian Johnson‘s standalone sequel to 2019’s Knives Out, detective Benoit Blanc ( Daniel Craig) returns and takes his sleuthing skills to a tech billionaire’s private Greek island, where he meets a group of money-grubbing personalities. Glass Onion features a star-studded ensemble cast (and surprise cameos from Hollywood A-listers), including Janelle Monáe, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Bautista and Madelyne Cline.

Watch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery on Netflix

White Noise

Noah Baumbach’s 2022 satirical drama stars Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig ( Baumbach’s partner and the director of 2023’s Barbie) play a married couple in the 1980s. When a train collision leaks poisonous chemicals within reach, the spouses are forced to flee from their comfortable suburban life in Ohio for their family’s safety.

Watch White Noise on Netflix

Enola Holmes 2

In the follow-up to 2020’s Enola Holmes, Millie Bobby Brown returns as the titular detective-for-hire and younger sister of Sherlock Holmes ( Henry Cavill). The 2022 sequel sees Enola taking on her first case to find a missing girl, and it’s just as exciting and thrilling as the first film.

Watch Enola Holmes 2 on Netflix

Luckiest Girl Alive

In the 2022 movie adaptation of Jessica Knoll‘s acclaimed novel of the same name, Mila Kunis plays Ani, a woman who appears to have it all — a wealthy fiancé ( Finn Wittrock) and the job of her dreams as a writer in New York City. But when she’s reminded of her dark past, her seemingly perfect life begins to show its imperfections.

Watch Luckiest Girl Alive on Netflix

A Jazzman’s Blues

Tyler Perry wrote the screenplay for A Jazzman’s Blues in 1995, but he didn’t bring the Netflix original to fruition until 2022. The film centers on Bayou ( Joshua Boone) and Leanne ( Solea Pfeiffer) as they unravel decades of secrets and fall for each other — despite their families’ best efforts to keep them apart.

Watch A Jazzman’s Blues on Netflix

The Good Nurse

Based on a true story, The Good Nurse chronicles the terrifying crimes of nurse Charles Cullen ( Eddie Redmayne). When fellow nurse Amy Loughren ( Jessica Chastain) discovers that her new friend is responsible for dozens of lives lost, she works to put an end to his abuse of power.

Watch The Good Nurse on Netflix

Do Revenge

Drea Torres ( Camila Mendes) is the high school “it” girl who has it all, until someone leaks an intimate video meant for her boyfriend ( Austin Abrams). Drea teams up with outsider and unlikely friend Eleanor ( Maya Hawke, the daughter of actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman) to retaliate against their bullies in 2022’s witty and heartfelt Do Revenge.

Watch Do Revenge on Netflix

Look Both Ways

On the eve of her college graduation, Natalie ( Lili Reinhart) takes a pregnancy test after having no-strings-attached sex with her friend Gabe ( Danny Ramirez) weeks earlier. Natalie’s life splits into two parallel realities — one where her test is positive and the other negative — in this 2022 romantic comedy.

Watch Look Both Ways on Netflix

Hustle

In this 2022 drama, Adam Sandler plays Stanley Sugerman, an international scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who dreams of becoming a coach. Stanley’s search for basketball stars and his life of traveling prove to be a challenge for his family and wife Teresa ( Queen Latifah), so he changes direction and works as an assistant coach for the team — until a change in management forces him back on the road and on the hunt for fresh talent.

Watch Hustle on Netflix

Metal Lords

High school outcasts and best friends Kevin and Hunter ( Jaeden Martell and Adrian Greensmith) form a metal band with cellist Emily (Isis Hainsworth) to compete in their school’s Battle of the Bands. But things are pretty hard for the only two metalheads at the school in this teen comedy.

Watch Metal Lords on Netflix

The Adam Project

13 Going on 30 costars Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo reunite in Shawn Levy‘s 2022 fantasy thriller The Adam Project. Ryan Reynolds also stars as a pilot traveling back in time, forced to team up with his younger self ( Walker Scobell) to save the world.

Watch The Adam Project on Netflix

Wendell & Wild

Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele team up for their first performance together since Toy Story 4 in this 2022 stop-motion animation film. Two scheming demon brothers enlist the help of Kat Elliot (This Is Us actress Lyric Ross) — an angsty teen carrying guilt from the loss of her parents — to summon them to the world of the living.

Watch Wendell & Wild on Netflix