Netflix has made a name for itself in the cinematic world, releasing original films that have dominated industry awards shows including the Oscars and the Golden Globes. The streaming giant received 18 Oscar nominations in 2025, for films like Emilia Pérez, which nabbed 13 Oscar nominations, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which got an Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature, and Pablo Larraín's Maria Callas biopic Maria, a contender for Best Cinematography. The streamer's deal with Sony also brings theatrical releases like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Godzilla Minus One to the platform.
Here are 20 of the best movies you can watch on Netflix right now. If you'd rather go with a series, check out our picks for the best TV shows to watch on Netflix.
Read more: Where to Watch All the 2024 Oscar Winners
Netflix Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is the latest film from Aardman animation studio, starring the beloved dog and his hapless, cheese-loving master. The Netflix original film about a robotic garden gnome that wreaks havoc on the man and his best friend arrived to the platform just last month and received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Netflix Maria (2024) Angelina Jolie spent seven months preparing and learning to sing in order to play opera legend Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's Maria. The film, which first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year and received a nomination for Best Cinematography at the 97th Academy Awards, is available now on Netflix.
Netflix His Three Daughters (2024) In His Three Daughters, Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen star as three estranged sisters who come together in their dying father's small New York apartment to care for him in his last days. Writer-director Azazel Jacobs coaxes some incredible performances out of each actress for this intimate, emotional, and often funny study of family dynamics.
Netflix Maestro (2023) This biographical film nabbed seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Picture. Maestro tells the story of conductor Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) and his relationship with actor Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). In addition to starring in the romance drama, Cooper also directed and co-wrote the film, and produced it alongside Hollywood legends Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.
Toho Godzilla Minus One (2023) Godzilla Minus One is an Academy Award-winning Japanese-language movie written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki. Set in 1945, the story centers Kōichi Shikishima, a young pilot dealing with PTSD in a post-World War II era. After surviving an encounter with Godzilla, he and others realize the kaiju is gearing up to attack Tokyo. The Sony film is available to stream on Netflix now.
Netflix The Lost Daughter (2021) Based on the novel by Elena Ferrante, The Lost Daughter stars Olivia Colman as a woman traveling alone to a seaside resort where she observes a mother and daughter. They send her into a bit of a spiral, recalling her own experiences as a young mother. The screenplay was adapted and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal in her directorial debut.
Netflix Society of the Snow (2023) The award-winning film, Society of the Snow, is based on true events and adapted from the book of the same name. In 1972, a rugby team from Uruguay boarded a plane to Chile for a game. The plane crashed in the Andes mountains, leaving survivors to contend with injuries, illness, cold temperatures and death. Not everyone makes it, and those facing death make agonizing choices to live.
Netflix The Greatest Night In Pop (2024) If you weren't around at the time, it's hard to explain just how huge We Are the World was. Recorded by a supergroup of popular musicians -- assembled on the fly on the night of the 1985 American Music Awards -- the charity single benefiting Ethiopian famine victims sold over 20 million copies and featured the likes of Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Diana Ross. (It feels impossible to imagine so many mega-stars assembling in one room for something like this today.) Luckily for us, there were cameras rolling the entire time as dozens of the world's most famous musicians pulled the epic all-night recording session. The recently departed Quincy Jones proves to be the night's true star, wrangling a studio full of nerves, egos, and a little too much wine to produce something genuinely special.
Netflix Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) A standalone sequel to 2019's hit film Knives Out, Glass Onion follows detective Benoit Blanc's (Daniel Craig) mission to uncover a mysterious death, after tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invites friends to his private Greek island. The film features fun plot twists, and is broken up by lighthearted humor and aloof characters played by an all-star cast.
Netflix Leave the World Behind (2023) An absorbingly unsettling psychological thriller, Leave the World Behind chronicles the strange events that arise during a family's getaway at an opulent rental home. A blackout renders their phones, TVs and other electronics useless, and two strangers show up at the door. TikTok has been flooded with clips and analyses of this apocalypse movie, with people reflecting on potential "hidden messages" and real-life parallels. Check it out and see what you make of it.
Netflix Emilia Pérez (2024) Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón star in Emilia Pérez, a film that earned a whopping 10 Golden Globe nominations this year and picked up four awards, including Best Picture Musical or Comedy and the Best Supporting Actress trophy for Saldaña. In the film, Gascón stars as Mexican cartel leader Emilia who hires a lawyer (Saldaña) to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. The crime-comedy-musical that defies all labels was also named one of the 10 best films of 2024 by the American Film Institute.
Netflix Nimona (2023) This animated drama, based on the graphic novel of the same name, is set in a futuristic medieval world, in which a knight (Riz Ahmed) is framed for a crime. A shapeshifting teenager named Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) -- whom he's been trained to destroy -- may be his only hope for proving his innocence.
Netflix The Swimmers (2022) This biographical film tells the story of two sisters, Yusra (Nathalie Issa) and Sarah Mardini (Manal Issa), who escape war-torn Syria. Amid all the strife and upheaval, Yusra works toward her dream of swimming in the Olympics. It's a touching narrative of hope and survival.
Netflix All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) A World War I drama based on the classic novel of the same name, this epic depicts the horrors of war through the eyes of 17-year-old German soldier Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer). At first enthused about joining the army, in spite of his parents' wishes, Bäumer gets a violent wake-up call. All Quiet on the Western Front was a dominating force at the 95th Annual Academy Awards, as it was nominated for nine Oscars and ultimately walked away with four, including Best International Feature Film.
Netflix Nyad (2023) Annette Bening and Jodie Foster both scored Oscar nominations (for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress) for their roles in Nyad, the Netflix original film about marathon swimmer Diana Nyad and her devoted coach Bonnie Stoll. The remarkable true story is not a full biopic but a chapter of Nyad's accomplished life when, at the age of 60, Nyad became obsessed with completing the arduous, near-impossible 110 mile swim from Cuba to Florida. Determined to become the first person to finish the swim without a shark cage, the film is a story of Nyad's determination, ushered along by the support of those closest to her.
New Line Cinema Horizon: An American Saga -- Chapter One Horizon: An American Saga -- Chapter One is the first of four planned films that Kevin Costner has been developing since the late 1980s. After a brief theatrical release, the film arrived to Netflix in late December. A 3-hour epic, Chapter One stars Kevin Costner (who also co-wrote and directed) alongside Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Giovanni Ribisi as settlers in Horizon, a town in the newly established Arizona Territory. The second chapter in the series has already been filmed and is awaiting theatrical release, supposedly later this year, while chapters three and four are still in production.
Sony Pictures Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was not just one of the best animated movies of 2023, it was one of the best films of the year, period. The animated superhero movie brings together various versions of Peter Parker/Spider-Man from across time and space, using a portal to connect their worlds as they battle the supervillain known as The Spot. Jam-packed with dozens of famous voices, from Shameik Moore to Jason Schwartzman and Hailee Steinfeld, the film is the first half of an epic saga that'll conclude with Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, which may not arrive until 2027.
Netflix Back In Action (2025) The Netflix original Back in Action has topped the Netflix Top Ten since it first arrived in January, so catch it now while everyone's buzzing about it. The film reunites Cameron Diaz, who has spent the last few years away from the spotlight, with Jamie Foxx for their third film. The duo star as former CIA agents who have attempted to get out of the spy business and raise a family, only to get pulled back into their old jobs.
Photo by Carlos Somonte Roma (2018) Alfonso Cuarón's Roma nabbed him the best director Oscar in 2018 (the film earned two other Oscars that year, too), a first for a foreign-language film. It's inclusion in the award show marked the first time a film distributed by a streaming platform was eligible for major awards. The film, set in the early 1970s, stars Yalitza Aparicio as the live-in housekeeper for a wealthy Mexico City family as she deals with her own pregnancy, the troubles within the family she works for and the escalating political turmoil in the city around her.