20 of the Best Movies to Stream on Hulu Right Now

If you’re looking to check out a good movie, look no further than Hulu. The streaming service has a terrific selection of new and classic films available, from ’90s comedies to arthouse gems, and everything in between. Whether you’re putting a holiday weekend binge-list together or just want to revisit some classics, check out our picks for what you should add to your watchlist.

The First Omen (2024)

Amid civic unrest in ’70s-era Italy, an American nun befriends a bullied orphan girl even though everyone warns her that dark things follow the girl around. Billed as a prequel to 1976’s The Omen, this sixth film in the Satanic franchise builds the horror slowly but steadily. Despite being so many sequels removed from when Gregory Peck and Lee Remick first dealt with their devil child, The First Omen has been heralded as a return to form that’s gorgeous and genuinely terrifying.

Poor Things (2023)

In Victorian London, an eccentric surgeon brings a woman back to life by replacing her dead brain with her fetus’s, creating a full-grown woman with the mind of a child. Then, she starts maturing. This shocking, boundary-destroying film by experimenter Yorgos Lanthimos stars Emma Stone as the Frankenstein-like baby-adult and Mark Ruffalo as the man she runs off with to explore the world.

Independence Day (1996)

Welcome to Earth! Roland Emmerich’s bombastic action film is a blast of 1990s nostalgia that imagines a hostile group of highly advanced aliens ringing humanity’s doorbell by destroying its major cities. Naturally, a rag-tag group including a Marine (Will Smith), an eccentric scientist (Jeff Goldblum), an alcoholic crop duster (Randy Quaid), and the president of the United States of America (Bill Pullman) have to figure out how to defeat these aggressive space squids before the planet is reduced to rubble.

The Fifth Element (1997)

Deep into a strange future, a huge evil ball of space goo is headed unstoppably for Earth. Unfortunately, shooting nukes at it only makes it stronger, but humans have a secret weapon: a bioengineered woman named Leeloo (Milla Jovovich). They also have Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a gruff taxicab driver who agrees to save the universe against his own better judgment. Luc Besson’s sci-fi classic is brimming with quotable lines, weirdo action, and wild visuals, and features some stunning costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Obviously, the film’s twist has become a cultural icon all its own, but there’s more to this sci-fi epic than its final gut punch. Starring Charlton Heston as an astronaut whose ship goes wildly off course, he and his shipmates land on a planet run by apes where human beings are mute, kept as science experiments, and attacked during raids. As he can talk, the astronaut becomes both a curiosity and a massive threat to the banana-loving powers that be, and he’s soon on the run to save his life (and possibly upend society).

True Lies (1994)

James Cameron produced this long-in-coming sci-fi fable about a cyborg (Rosa Salazar) who rebels against her programming. Cameron has recently said he might revisit the property as a streaming series.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

Arnold Schwarzenegger reteamed with his Terminator director James Cameron for this action-thriller about spy Harry Tasker, who tries to keep his eventful life a secret from his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis). But Helen has secrets of her own. It’s actually a remake of a 1991 French film, La Totale. The villains in that film were intent on blowing up a French stadium, not downtown Miami.

Perfect Days (2023)

Another winner from slow cinema champion Wim Wenders, this Cannes-celebrated film focuses on a toilet cleaner in a posh Tokyo neighborhood who lives a quiet existence of routine, weaving in time for his love of music, books, and taking pictures of trees. Through a series of surprising encounters, the janitor’s past is revealed, new connections are made, and a gorgeous tapestry of human emotion is unveiled alongside secret tic-tac-toe games and old Patti Smith tunes.

Pig (2021)

Nicolas Cage stars in this thoughtful drama about a hermitic truffle hunter whose beloved pet pig goes missing, leading him back to the urban restaurant scene he thought he had left behind. Cage trained with professional chef Gabriel Rucker so he could cook convincingly on camera.

Boston Strangler (2023)

Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon co-star as the real-life Boston journalists who helped break news of the brutal murders that held the city spellbound in the 1960s. To prepare for the film, director Matt Ruskin pored over archival material, including taped interviews with Loretta McLaughlin, who is portrayed by Knightley in the movie. A previous film about the case—The Boston Strangler (1968), starring Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, and George Kennedy—is also on the service.

Spencer (2021)

Kristen Stewart drew critical accolades for her portrayal of the late Diana Spencer in the time leading up to her divorce from Prince Charles (now King Charles III). At the end of each shooting day, director Pablo Larraín had Stewart dance to different songs. Once he compiled the footage together, he used the resulting montage near the end of the film.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) is a gentlewoman unhappily set to be married, and who refuses to sit for a portrait to signal her betrothal. Her mother hires an artist, Marianne (Noémie Merlant), to come to a remote island to pose as Héloïse’s servant while surreptitiously painting her. Despite the deception, the two grow closer, eventually exploring a wild, beautiful romance over the heartbreakingly brief time they have together.

Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)

When Romy White (Mira Sorvino) and Michele Weinberger (Lisa Kudrow) realize that their ho-hum lives won’t impress anyone at their 10-year high school reunion—especially the girls who bullied them back in the day—they decide to fake a lavish, wealthy lifestyle for the weekend. This 1997 comedy is an all-timer with colorful characters, absurd lies, and the inherent comedy of needing to feel grown-up when you’re still young.

High Fidelity (2000)

After record store owner Rob Gordon’s (John Cusack) longtime girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) breaks up with him, he re-examines his top five breakups in order to figure out what’s wrong with him. Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, the journey takes Rob all the way back to high school, into college, and deep into an adulthood marked mostly by immaturity, all while talking directly to the camera and goofing off with his music-obsessed employees.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

Based very loosely on The Odyssey, the Coen Brothers’ adventure through Depression-era Mississippi features three chain gang members (George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson) bumbling their way through the countryside to stop a wedding before the electric company floods the entire valley. It’s a hilarious film that feels like a throwback to the Golden era of Hollywood, and its impact was strong enough to have all of us briefly jamming out to bluegrass in the early 2000s.

Sweet Virginia (2017)

Jon Bernthal plays a physically weathered former rodeo rider who crosses paths with a killer (Christopher Abbott) in a small town in this effective crime tale. Though it’s steeped in American sensibilities, the script was written by Benjamin and Paul China, two brothers who hail from England but currently live in Australia.

Boss Level (2021)

Action star Frank Grillo takes a more violent approach to Groundhog Day, trying to slowly figure out who’s marked him for death before he dies—again. Director Joe Carnahan and Grillo have a bit of a Scorsese/De Niro partnership: They’ve made several films together, including The Grey, Wheelman, and Copshop.

Prey (2022)

Amber Midthunder headlines a new take on the Predator franchise. As an 18th-century Comanche warrior, Midthunder finds herself pitted against an alien visitor who wants to hunt. The film is the first to be released entirely in the Comanche language, which you can hear as an alternate dub.

Underwater (2020)

Kristen Stewart leads the cast of this chiller about underwater workers who encounter a monster in the ocean depths. Stewart said that a fear of large water bodies led to her becoming interested in the role.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Tom Cruise stars in this critical and commercial hit about a military commander who has to keep reentering the same time loop over and over to prevent a full-scale alien invasion. The original title, All You Need Is Kill, was taken from the novel it’s based on by Hiroshi Sakurazaka; it was later scrapped.

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This story was originally published in 2020; it has been updated for 2024.