In 2017, Hulu made television history by becoming the first streaming network to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, thanks to the phenomenon that was The Handmaid’s Tale.
While Netflix has largely cornered the streaming market on original movies—and even managed to persuade A-listers like Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Martin Scorsese to come aboard—Hulu is starting to find its footing in features too, securing the exclusive rights to a large number of Oscar-nominated movies like A Real Pain and Anora. Below are some of our top picks for the best movies (original and otherwise) streaming on Hulu right now.
Still looking for more great titles to add to your queue? Check out WIRED’s guides to the best TV shows on Hulu, best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Disney+, and the best movies on Amazon Prime. Don't like our picks, or want to offer suggestions of your own? Head to the comments below.
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Sovereign
Nick Offerman absolutely shines in this timely and terrifying crime thriller as Jerry Kane, a father who pushes his extreme antiestablishment beliefs on his teenage son Joe (Jacob Tremblay). Just when Joe begins to question his dad’s pro-violence rhetoric, and understand that there might be a better path for him in the world, a string of cataclysmic events change the Kanes’ world—and that of the police chief who has taken an interest in the duo (Dennis Quaid)—forever. The film is loosely based on real events that transpired in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 2010.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
It’s been 50 years since The Rocky Horror Picture Show first entered the pop culture conversation—and it’s still going strong. Even if you've seen it dozens of times, perhaps at a midnight showing where you dutifully threw toast, it remains worth a revisit. When uptight newlyweds Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) get a flat tire in the midst of a storm, they seek help at the only house they can find: the mansion of mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry at his cheeky best). What they encounter inside those walls is like nothing they ever expected, and nothing any filmmaker has ever come close to replicating since, for better or worse.
Poor Things
Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is a young woman with the brain of an infant who is brought back to life by the lovably mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter, aka God (Willem Dafoe). But Bella is a fast learner and is intrigued by the many adventures the world has to offer her—regardless of what polite society dictates. Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, and Christopher Abbott are among the men who are entranced by Bella’s frankness (“I must go punch that baby”) in what is undoubtedly the most over-the-top title in Yorgos Lanthimos’ filmography—which is saying a lot. One caveat: Those who are easily offended by nudity or graphic sex might want to give this a skip.
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