The 11 Best Netflix Movies of 2026 (So Far)

It’s an interesting time for Netflix. Revenue is up, per its recent 2026 U.S. upfront, but one glance at its offerings and it’s hard to make out what Netflix even is anymore.

Once the best way to watch stuff like Lost or The Office on your computer—or, if you’re a real one, your Xbox 360—Netflix is now a streaming juggernaut that chases after awards prestige and big audience draws at the same time. As a TV platform, the post–Stranger Things identity of Netflix is fractured; cerebral thrillers like Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen and glossy adaptations of books like Lord of the Flies stream right next to fluffy reality shows and sports.

Then there are Netflix movies. Earlier this year at the Oscars, the streaming giant was up for awards with pictures like Frankenstein and Train Dreams, only to ride on the wave of Kpop Demon Hunters—one of the biggest sleeper hits Netflix has seen to date. While Netflix operates under the philosophy of “something for everyone,” the reality is that it often feels like we’re back channel surfing on cable: absent-mindedly sifting through options without knowing what we actually want to watch.

Still, there are some good Netflix originals to check out in 2026. The year kicked off with The Rip, a whole new Ben Affleck/Matt Damon flick that set a high bar for the months to come. We’ll see how the rest of the year fares in the aftermath of the failed Warner Bros. merger. But for now, these are the best original Netflix films of 2026 so far.

Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton play a most deadly game of cat and mouse in the Australian wilds in Apex, a middleweight thriller from director Baltasar Kormákur. It’s a simple story pulled off remarkably well, with Theron putting her action-heroine chops on full display as she goes full-blown Tomb Raider (the 2013 reboot version) on Egerton.

The 2022 best seller by Shelby Van Pelt makes its way to Netflix as an affecting comedy drama from Olivia Newman. Sally Field stars as a widowed senior still reeling from the loss of her husband and son. When a drifter (Lewis Pullman) temporarily fills in for her position as an aquarium janitor, an unlikely friendship blossoms—one shared with an elderly Pacific octopus (voiced by Alfred Molina). Remarkably Bright Creatures is a warm movie that will fill you up with good fe

To cope with the death of her sister Isabelle, single Jill (Zoey Deutch) leaves voicemails in Isabelle’s in-box chronicling her adventures in the wretched San Francisco dating scene. Unbeknownst to Jill, the number has been reassigned to a swoon-worthy real estate agent (Nick Robinson), who begins falling for Jill. Essentially a modern You’ve Got Mail rooted in grief, Voicemails for Isabelle shines thanks to a radiant Zoey Deutch.

Imagine John Cena as your big brother. That’s exactly what Eric André does in Little Brother, a wacky comedy that makes the most of its dialed-to-11 men as opposite leads. In Little Brother, John Cena plays a successful real estate agent on the cusp of reality-TV fame when he takes in Marcus (André), a disjointed (and often inappropriate) screwup whom Cena’s protagonist mentored eons ago for a high school “Big Brother” program. While Little Brother is far from a game-changer, it’s a chuckle-worthy distraction that allows Cena and André to flex their funny bones.

Manga legend Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight gets the flashy Netflix adaptation it deserves in The Ribbon Hero, a new animated film from Yuuki Igarashi in his directing debut. The story follows a princess named Sapphire who fights to save her new home from falling to ruin by the same menace that destroyed her previous kingdom. Time will tell if The Ribbon Hero will be an anime classic or just a fun adventure movie, but either way it’s a hell of an escape.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon team up once again for a crime thriller about corruption in the Miami-Dade Police Department. The duo play members of the special Tactical Narcotics Team, who—alongside characters played by Teyana Taylor and Steven Yeun—begin to question one another when a large sum of cash from a drug bust goes missing. Of course, Affleck and Damon’s friendship on and off the screen is hard to rip apart, even when their characters are tested throughout a tense, action-packed shakedown with over $20 million in seized drug money at stake.

Tommy Shelby’s (Cillian Murphy) legacy lives on in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, which is essentially an extended final episode of the hit British TV drama. The Immortal Man bridges the original series with its upcoming reboot, complete with a dramatic end for Murphy’s celebrated gangster. Barry Keoghan plays Duke Shelby, Tommy’s eldest son and the new leader of the Peaky Blinders. It’s a tale of old-school gang warfare vs. the new, brash upstarts—all set during the turbulent World War II–era politics of the early 1940s. And if you’re looking forward to more Peaky Blinders to come, it’s a must-watch hand-off before Jamie Bell and Charlie Heaton take over in the sequel series.

Before John Frusciante and Chad Smith joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers to form the California rock band that we know today, lead singer Anthony Kiedis and Flea shared the stage with the late guitarist Hillel Slovak. He was a major influence on the Chili Peppers’ early sound, according to the band, before he died of a heroin overdose in 1988. In The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel, Kiedis and Flea recall their memories of Hillel nearly 40 years after his death. It’s a touching documentary about Slovak’s lasting impact on the band that also features interviews with Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons and funk legend George Clinton.

BTS’s comeback is one of this year’s biggest stories not just in K-pop but in music. The boy band’s members went into hiatus for nearly six years to complete their time in South Korea’s mandatory military service, and now they’re finally reuniting for their fifth album, Arirang. The new behind-the-scenes documentary walks fans through the group’s recording sessions for the album as they contemplate how to make their grand return in a genre that’s already changed drastically since they left in 2022.

It’s humans vs. machines (well, one machine, really) in Alan Ritchson’s new sci-fi action film, War Machine. The Reacher star plays a staff sergeant in the Army Rangers who investigates a fallen asteroid and is then attacked by a robot from space. Whatever the machine wants with Earth is unknown, but it certainly means business. Thankfully, even a rote plot that replaces the Predator with the killer robot from Robocop is enough to entertain for a simple Netflix action thriller.

Still missing Stranger Things? Feeling miffed by the way the sci-fi series ended? Well, you can reminisce with the cast and/or vent your frustrations in One Last Adventure, a documentary that details the pressures of filming the final season of such a beloved TV show. Series creators Matt and Ross Duffer also provide insight into the decision-making process for season 5’s finale—including everything from how they wrote Vecna’s demise to why they ended the series back where it all began.

This story originally appeared on Esquire.com.

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