It has become increasingly clear that Netflix is not necessarily the best place to be for fantasy or sci-fi movies. Outside of the Netflix original films, there just isn’t much selection for either category. Additionally, two of Netflix’s latest fantasy films, Conan the Barbarian and The Scorpion King, are 46 and 21 years old, respectively. So Netflix isn’t exactly keeping its finger on the pulse of the genre. Fantasy just isn’t getting a lot of attention from Netflix at the moment.
New movies are coming to Netflix later this year that might help fill out the fantasy selection. But until then, fans will just have to rely on us to keep on top of the best fantasy movies on Netflix. Just keep in mind that fantasy films from outside studios tend to only have a short stay on Netflix, so make your movie night plans now.
We’ve also rounded up the best fantasy movies on Amazon Prime and the best fantasy movies on Hulu if Netflix doesn’t have what you’re looking for.
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Conan the Barbarian1982
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The Scorpion King2002
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Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) new
You may have heard that Disney has plans for a live-action Snow White reboot. However, Snow White and the Huntsman already did it 11 years ago. It starts out as you might expect, with the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) realizing that her stepdaughter, Snow White (Kristen Stewart), is a threat to her hold on power. Thus, Snow White has to die.
The problem is that the queen trusted her huntsman, Eric (Chris Hemsworth), to do the killing for her. Instead, Eric aligns with Snow and helps train her to become a warrior. And together with some new allies, they may even be able to reclaim the kingdom from Ravenna’s control.
Conan the Barbarian (1982) new
Conan the Destroyer has left Netflix, but the first film, Conan the Barbarian, is a big upgrade. Pre-Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger is at his most physically imposing when portraying Robert E. Howard’s iconic pulp hero, and reworks his origin to give him a closer link to one of his primary enemies, Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones).
After decades as a slave, Conan becomes a mighty warrior. He even meets a woman, Valeria (Sandahl Bergman), who might be his equal in battle. But Conan’s desire for revenge on Thulsa Doom may place his newfound lover in harm’s way.
The Scorpion King (2002) new
It’s impossible not to see the parallels between Arnold Schwarzenegger’s starring turn in Conan the Barbarian and Dwayne Johnson’s first-ever leading role in a film, The Scorpion King. This movie was basically created to capitalize on Johnson’s popularity as a wrestler and his natural charisma that not even the poor CGI of The Mummy Returns could hide.
In this prequel story, the Scorpion King isn’t a ruler yet. He’s simply Mathayus of Akkad, a ferocious fighter who has his sights set on overthrowing a tyrant named Memnon (Steven Brand). Mathayus is also openly attracted to Memnon’s sorceress, Cassandra (Kelly Hu), but her ability to predict upcoming events reveals that Mathayus may not have much of a future of his own.
47 Ronin (2013)
The legend of the 47 Ronin is reborn as a fantasy story in this 2013 film which has recently found its audience on Netflix. Keanu Reeves headlines 47 Ronin as Kai, a half-English, half-Japanese orphan who serves in the house of Lord Asano (Min Tanaka). Although Kai is an outcast, he wins the heart of Lord Asano’s daughter, Mika (Ko Shibasaki).
When Lord Asano is forced to commit suicide, Kai and the rest of Asano’s now masterless samurai plot to avenge their lord and regain their honor by confronting Lord Yoshinaka Kira (Tadanobu Asano), and the evil witch who serves him, Mizuki (Rinko Kikuchi).
Monster Run (2020)
Monsters are all too real in Monster Run, and that’s something that a young woman named Ji Mo (Jessie Li) has tried to deny for most of her life. After learning that she can see monsters, Ji Mo is only able to escape being imprisoned in an asylum by pretending that she can not. Instead, she simply tries to live an ordinary life until she runs into a monster hunter, Meng (Shawn Yue).
Once Ji Mo and Meng come together, she can no longer deny that monsters are real. Ji Mo also learns that she has a destiny to fulfill, if she can live long enough to make it happen.
Troll (2022)
Troll is a Norwegian fantasy that depicts an unusual emergence of a mythical creature in the modern world. As a young girl, Professor Nora Tidemann (Ine Marie Wilmann) was told by her father, Tobias Tidemann (Gard B. Eidsvold), that trolls may be real. Unfortunately, Tobias’ academic career was ended over these beliefs. But in the present, Tobias is vindicated when a gigantic troll is discovered in Norway before it goes on a rampage.
Since nothing the Norwegian army can throw at the troll manages to slow it down, it falls to Nora, Tobias, and their colleague, Andreas Isaksen (Kim Falck) to either find a way to communicate with the troll or to permanently end the threat that it represents.
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical (2022)
Wendell & Wild (2022)
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
The School for Good and Evil (2022) new
Slumberland (2022) new
Nightbooks (2021)
Don’t fancy yourself a storyteller? Well, as the saying goes, necessity can very well be the mother of invention as the young Alex (Winslow Fegley) learns in Netflix’s new dark fantasy film Nightbooks. Based on the 2018 novel by J.A. White, Nightbooks stars Krysten Ritter as a terrifying witch who imprisons Alex. In order to escape certain death at her hands, Alex must tell her a scary story every night to entertain her. Knowing his death is inevitable otherwise, Alex befriends the witch’s servant, Yazmin (Lidya Jewett), and together they try to outwit the evil sorceress to escape her mystical home. Scheduled to start streaming in the middle of September, Nightbooks promises to be both scary and family-friendly while giving Ritter a wonderful chance to play against type./dt_media]
Some of the best fantasy stories are the oldest. Case in point — Errementari: The Black Smith and the Devil, based on a Basque reimagining of the fairy tale The Smith and the Devil. In 19th-century Spain, the supposed government investigator Alfredo Ortiz (Ramón Agirre) arrives in a small village looking for lost treasure. His search leads him to a forge in the nearby woods where the blacksmith Paxti (Kandido Uranga) lives in solitude. When Ortiz hires men to help him raid the forge, a young girl named Usue (Uma Bracaglia) sneaks in to recover a lost doll — and makes a terrifying discovery. Errementari is a wonderful fusion of fantasy and bone-chilling horror that still captures the sense of fascination children have for fairy tales and folklore.
Super Me (2019)
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)
A Monster Calls (2016)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
I Lost My Body (2019)
Bright (2017)
Fullmetal Alchemist (2017)
Okja (2017)
From Oscar-winning writer-director Bong Joon Ho, Okja is a brilliant mesh of animal rights versus big business, both operating in the body of a beautifully crazy film. The story follows Mija (Seo-hyun Ahn), a South Korean farm girl and owner of a genetically modified super-pig named Okja. Developed by the multinational Mirando Corporation, several prototypes of these genetically modified pigs were sent out into the world. After 10 years of growing to maturity, the company announces that Okja has been awarded the honor of “best super-pig.”
It’s all a ruse, though, and the company wants to move Okja from Mija’s farm to New York for (unbeknownst to the world) experimentation and eventual slaughter. Mirando’s CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) arranges for Mija to travel to New York to be with Okja. However, the plot thickens when the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) kidnaps Okja to expose Mirando, sending the film down a path of much greater moral weight.
A Whisker Away (2020)
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