We're six months in, but where are we at? Join Mashable as we look back at all the viral moments, movies, memes, dating trends, hyped up tech, scientific discoveries, and more that have delighted and amazed us so far in 2024.
What are the best new movies on Netflix? With the streaming service offering a wide array of comedies, action movies, thrillers, and more, it can be difficult to choose what to watch. Sure, Netflix aims to promote their latest releases to grab your attention. But just because it's new doesn't mean it's worth your time.
Fret not. We've done the hard part for you. Below, you'll find the very best Netflix original films of 2024, now streaming. Whether you want something heartwarming, mind-bending, pulse-racing, funny-bone-tickling, or gut-wrenching, we've got you covered with the top tier of Netflix's new dramas, docs, true crime, animated movies, action-adventures, and more.
Charlie Kaufman, the brilliant but twisted mind behind movies like Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I'm Thinking of Ending Things, tried his hand at family-friendly in 2024 with Orion and the Dark.
When Adam Sandler teams up with Netflix, the results are often willfully stupid comedies like Hubie Halloween, The Do-Over, and the infamously repugnant Western The Ridiculous 6. But the Sandman's been on a roll recently, with the sweet coming-of-age comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, which starred his real-life daughters; the charming animated musical Leo; and this bizarre and bittersweet sci-fi drama about a sad astronaut and a giant space spider voiced by Paul Dano.
She's a damsel. She's in distress. She can handle this. Have a nice day. Millie Bobby Brown gives one of her strongest performances to date in Damsel, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's film about a princess named Elodie, who's yeeted into a dragon's lair by her extremely fresh prince husband (Nick Robinson) on their wedding day. But what seems like quite a flippant premise actually ends up being a kick-ass survival film.
Netflix's true crime section is so vast that it can be difficult to pluck the treasures from the trash. For every Amanda Knox, there's a bunch of unsavory options. Thankfully, Amanda Knox producer Stephen Robert Morse teamed with Class Action Park director Seth Porges for this curious bank robber bio-doc, How to Rob a Bank.
Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya's film The Kitchen is more than a sci-fi drama set in near-future London; it's a sharp commentary on privatization and oppression, police brutality, and the power of community resistance. It's also Kaluuya's directorial debut, and a hell of a watch.
Kristy Puchko is the Film Editor at Mashable. Based in New York City, she's an established film critic and entertainment reporter, who has traveled the world on assignment, covered a variety of film festivals, co-hosted movie-focused podcasts, interviewed a wide array of performers and filmmakers, and had her work published on RogerEbert.com, Vanity Fair, and The Guardian. A member of the Critics Choice Association and GALECA as well as a Top Critic on Rotten Tomatoes, Kristy's primary focus is movies. However, she's also been known to gush over television, podcasts, and board games. You can follow her on Twitter.
Unlike the previous sequel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the original Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), and Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), get to play larger roles alongside the current generation of Ghostbusters in Frozen Empire. Under the guidance of Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) and Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), Phoebe Spengler (Mckenna Grace) and her brother, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), have come to New York to develop new technology for busting ghosts.
Second chances are all too rare in life, and John (Harry Connick Jr.) really needs one in the rom-com Find Me Falling. Unfortunately for John, his choice location for a respite from his failing music career is a place where some of the locals choose to commit suicide.
Rather than abandoning the victims to their fate, Hunt, John Brooder (Matthew Fox), and others form a rescue party to bring them back home. But as they venture deeper into dangerous territory, the posse finds themselves facing threats on all sides, which may make a safe return impossible.
Meanwhile, Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) attempts to rally the people of Azeroth in defense of their world. But amid an overwhelming threat against orcs and humans alike, Lothar may have to come to terms with Durotan so they can stand against their mutual enemies.
For a movie that is based on a video game franchise, Pokmon: Detective Pikachu is surprisingly friendly to first-time viewers who know nothing about the small Pokmon monsters that are pitted in battles against each other for the amusement of humans. In Ryme City, humans and Pokmon live together and enslaving the creatures is against the law.
Shia LaBeouf found some cinematic redemption in The Peanut Butter Falcon, a dramatic comedy that cast him as a fisherman named Tyler who has worn out his welcome at work. While fleeing from his former associates, Tyler meets and befriends Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a young man with Down syndrome who wants to see his idol, The Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church), to learn how to become a professional wrestler.
The names and faces may be different, but the story remains largely unchanged from the original. An oil fire is out of control, and the only way to put it out and save lives is with controlled explosions using nitroglycerin. Franck Gastambide, Alban Lenoir, Ana Girardot, and Sofiane Zermani play a group of disparate and desperate individuals who agree to transport the nitroglycerin across hundreds of miles of dangerous terrain. At the end of their journey is a payday that could change their lives forever, assuming they live long enough to get paid.
Sixteen years after creating a fake Thanksgiving trailer for Grindhouse, Eli Roth turned it into a real movie with all the elements of the holiday. It might be the best Thanksgiving horror film ever made, largely by default, since the rest are pretty bad. The story begins with a Black Friday rampage that goes horribly wrong and leaves several people dead.
One year later, someone is going around town dressed as one of the original Pilgrims, John Carver, and carving up people who were there on that fateful Black Friday. Whoever is under that mask is apparently out to kill as many people as possible, and even the cops seem powerless to stop the murders.
Denzel Washington spends so much time sitting down and sipping lattes in The Equalizer 3 that you may start to wonder if the actor himself is injured, and not just his character, Robert McCall. After nearly getting himself killed while recovering stolen funds, McCall slowly recovers in a small town on the coast of Italy. McCall also becomes close to the doctor who saved him, Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone), as well as the police officer who brought him to safety, Gio Bonucci (Eugenio Mastrandrea).
When Leo makes his bid for freedom, he accidentally reveals his ability to speak to Summer (Sunny Sandler), one of the students in his classroom. Through Summer and the other students in the class, Leo discovers a new purpose in life while contending with mean substitute teacher Mrs. Malkin (Cecily Strong).
The three primary Minions, Kevin, Stuart, and Bob (all three of whom are voiced by Pierre Coffin), are genuinely eager to please Scarlet and help her seize the throne of England. However, their incompetence and honest mistakes accidentally make Scarlet their nemesis even when they really want her to succeed.
Not even fleeing the country is enough for the assassin to evade an international manhunt, as well as two rival assassins, The Expert (Tilda Swinton) and The Brute (Sala Baker), who have been hired to take him out.
During the 1990s, George Foreman shocked the boxing world by becoming the oldest world champion nearly two decades after he had lost the title. Big George Foreman finally gives the legendary boxer his due with a biopic that chronicles his life story, from living in poverty to Olympic gold and an unmatched career in the ring.
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek Monthly, SYFY Wire, Superhero Hype, Collider, DC Universe, and the official sites for Star Trek and Marvel. He also lends his pop culture expertise to Digital Trends on a variety of TV, movie, and streaming features.
Michael Bizzaco has been writing about and working with consumer tech for well over a decade, writing about everything from A/V components and smart home devices to encryption software, cloud backup platforms, search engine tools, and more. He has written for Digital Trends for over three years, covering entertainment content, A/V, and smart home devices.
Try not to act too shocked when Deadpool & Wolverine sets a new record for an R-rated film's opening weekend. That's been evident for a while now, and it's no mystery as to why. Getting Hugh Jackman on board to co-headline the sequel with Ryan Reynolds was a coup in of itself, but far from the only thing that's going to give this film great repeat business. It's too soon to say that this will snap Marvel out of its recent slump since Deadpool and Wolverine came with two established superstars. The real test of Marvel's resurgence won't be until its next movie, Captain America: Brave New World, hits theaters in February 2025.
In the meantime, expect Marvel's latest film to suck all of the air out of the box office this weekend, even though Twisters, Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4, and Bad Boys: Ride or Die have established themselves as hits. Maybe the problems with this summer's grosses really were Furious and The Fall Guy all along. Regardless, there are still a lot of films coming this year, and our roundup of the best new movies coming to theaters in 2024 is your guide to staying on top of them.
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