It may be fall, but there’s been another spring cleaning on the list of the best movies on Peacock right now. Unlike many of the other streamers, Peacock appears to operate with short-term deals for its movie library. Films come in, and then they’re gone as quickly as 30 days later. It would be enough to drive movie lovers mad if there wasn’t a steady supply of new flicks every month.
For October, horror fans should love Last Night in Soho and Halloween. Meanwhile, families have a lot of strong options, starting with The Super Mario Bros. Movie as well as all of the Harry Potter films. You can find these flicks and more in our complete roundup of the best movies on Peacock below. Remember: some films are only available to Peacock subscribers on the two premium tiers.
Can’t find anything you like on Peacock? Lucky for you, we’ve also curated guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, and the best movies on Amazon Prime Video.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
It took a few decades, but Nintendo finally got a film that recaptured the spirit of the games that inspired it. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a massive success, both in theaters and on Netflix. Now that it’s back on Peacock, it’s bound to remain a perennial hit. The story mashes up several of the Nintendo games while introducing Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), a pair of ordinary plumbers from Brooklyn who find themselves transported to the Mushroom Kingdom.
Luigi is quickly captured by Bowser (Jack Black), a villain who wants to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom and marry its ruler, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). But Peach isn’t feeling that romantic pairing, so she teams up with Mario and her subject, Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), to find new allies and rescue Luigi.
Rotten Tomatoes: 59%
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy
Stars: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key
Director: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic
Rating: PG
Runtime: 92 minutes
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2005)
The Harry Potter movies are back on Peacock, and the third film, The Prisoner of Azkaban, is widely recognized as the best in the series. It’s the third year in Hogwarts for Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and this trio are growing up fast even as the danger around them grows more intense.
Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) is the titular prisoner who has escaped from Azkaban. Word among the wizards is Sirius betrayed Harry’s late parents and he intends to finish the job by killing Harry. Young Harry thinks he’s ready for a fight with Black, but he’s unaware that someone has been pulling the strings the entire time.
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Genre: Fantasy
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Rating: PG
Runtime: 131 minutes
Last Night in Soho (2021)
Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho is an unusual ghost story, as a young fashion student, Eloise “Ellie” Turner (Thomasin McKenzie), somehow finds her dreaming hours to be filled with vivid visions of a woman named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), who wanted to be a singer in the ’60s. Ellie is so enthralled by Sandie that she models herself after her and takes inspiration from her fashions.
However, Ellie’s visions take a darker turn when she sees Sandie’s lover, Jack (Matt Smith), apparently murder her in the past. Ellie becomes obsessed with finding Jack and avenging Sandie, even as reality breaks down around her. There’s more than one ghost, which may drive Ellie completely out of her mind.
Rotten Tomatoes: 75%
Genre: Horror
Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao
Director: Edgar Wright
Rating: R
Runtime: 116 minutes
Halloween (2018)
You can ignore almost all of the Halloween movies that came before this one because aside from John Carpenter’s 1978 original, that’s exactly what 2018’s Halloween does. That might have been why Jamie Lee Curtis agreed to reprise her role the role that made her famous: Laurie Strode. Four decades have passed since Laurie survived the rampage of Michael Myers (James Jude Courtney), a masked serial killer who is now wasting away at an asylum.
Laurie is convinced that Michael will return someday, which alienates her from her daughter, Karen Nelson (Judy Greer). Karen’s daughter, Allyson Nelson (Andi Matichak), is more sympathetic toward her grandmother, especially when Laurie’s prediction comes true. Michael has escaped, and he’s coming to finish off Laurie and the rest of the Strode women.
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
Genre: Horror
Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Virginia Gardner
Director: David Gordon Green
Rating: R
Runtime: 105 minutes
The Fall Guy (2024)
Coming off of his Oscar-nominated turn in Barbie, Ryan Gosling headlines The Fall Guy as Colt Seavers, a worn-down Hollywood stuntman who is ready to leave showbiz behind after suffering a severe injury. But he gets one last shot when his ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), needs his help on her directorial debut.
Jody doesn’t really want Colt around on her set, and more pressingly, her leading man, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), has gone missing. If Colt can’t track down Tom, Jody’s career as a director will be over before it begins. Yet there’s more to Tom’s disappearance than either Colt or Jody suspects. And it’s going to be a wild ride to get him back.
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Genre: Action, Comedy
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer
Director: David Leitch
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 126 minutes
Get Out (2017)
Jordan Peele reinvented himself as one of the top filmmakers in horror with his directorial debut, Get Out. Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is a Black man whose new girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Allison Williams), is a white woman from a very affluent family. When Chris meets Rose’s parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford) and Missy Armitage (Catherine Keener), they and their rich friends welcome him into their midst. Because they’re being too over-the-top with their tolerance, Chris senses something is wrong.
Too bad for Chris that he didn’t listen to a warning to leave while he still had the chance. There is indeed something sinister happening around Chris, and it’s not anything he could have possibly predicted beforehand.
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Genre: Horror
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root
Director: Jordan Peele
Rating: R
Runtime: 104 minutes
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Football isn’t just a way of life in Friday Night Lights — it’s everything, especially to the people of Odessa, a small town in Texas. Permian High School coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) is under intense pressure to bring home a state championship with his football team behind talented running back James “Boobie” Miles (Derek Luke) and quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas Black).
The pressure that Gaines faces pales in comparison to what his players go through, as they have to live up to the sky-high expectations from both their parents and their town. As the season starts, an injury threatens to end James’ future in football before it even begins, and the rest of the team struggles to win without one of their best players.
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Genre: Drama
Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund
Director: Peter Berg
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 118 minutes
The Bikeriders (2024)
The Bikeriders raced through theaters like the law was on the trail of the titular motorcycle gang. That may not have been what Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy) intended when he formed The Vandals as a motorcycle club in the ’60s. Johnny assembles like-minded bikers including Benny (Austin Butler), who soon courts and marries Kathy (Jodie Comer).
Through the eyes of Kathy and photographer Danny Lyon (Mike Faist), we see the rise and fall of The Vandals. At times, Johnny’s creation threatens to spiral out of his control. And it’s going to take more than just words for Johnny to hold on to his authority over the gang.
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Genre: Drama
Stars: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Norman Reedus
Director: Jeff Nichols
Rating: R
Runtime: 116 minutes
Marry Me (2023)
Marry Me is based on an independent comic by Bobby Crosby that features Jennifer Lopez playing a very J.Lo-like pop star, Katalina “Kat” Valdez. With three failed marriages under her belt, Kat is ready to tie the knot again at one of her concerts to the latest love of her life, Bastian (Maluma). But when Kat discovers that Bastian was unfaithful before the ceremony on stage, she makes an impromptu decision to wed a man in the crowd who was holding a “Marry Me” sign.
The man in question is Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson), an unassuming teacher whose life is turned upside down when he accepts Kat’s offer to marry him. Rather than breaking off things quickly, they agree to stay together for a while. And without the glare of the media on them, Kat and Charlie start developing real feelings for each other, even if no one expects them to last.
Rotten Tomatoes: 61%
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma, John Bradley, Chloe Coleman
Director: Kat Coiro
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 112 minutes
Cocaine Bear (2023)
While it’s true that there was a real “Cocaine Bear,” director Elizabeth Banks and her collaborators took some creative license with the movie of the same name. The title character of Cocaine Bear is basically Jaws with legs in the woods, and he’ll kill anyone who gets in the way of his next cocaine hit.
Sari (Keri Russell) is a single mom who gets caught up in this mess when her daughter, Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince). To complicate things even further, a fixer named Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) has been sent by his boss to retrieve the missing cocaine from the woods. And even Daveed isn’t prepared to face an increasingly aggressive bear hopped up on cocaine.
Rotten Tomatoes: 66%
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Stars: Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Brooklynn Prince
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Rating: R
Runtime: 95 minutes
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
What if there was a reason for every single horror movie cliche that you’ve ever seen? The Cabin in the Woods offers up an explanation, as five friends find themselves embodying the character archetypes from those stories. Dana Polk (Kristen Connolly), Curt Vaughan (Furiosa‘s Chris Hemsworth), Jules Louden (Anna Hutchison), Marty Mikalski (Fran Kranz), and Holden McCrea (Jesse Williams) don’t realize something’s wrong until it’s too late to run away.
As the friends start dropping one-by-one, the survivors inadvertently discover why they’ve been subjected to such evil. And why they may have to lay down their lives for the greater good.
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Stars: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams
Director: Drew Goddard
Rating: R
Runtime: 95 minutes
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled private detective, Philip Marlowe, isn’t exactly in vogue anymore. But the classics never truly go out of style. In the 1975 adaptation of Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, Robert Mitchum steps into the role of Philip as he finds himself in the midst of two difficult cases that may be related.
In the first, a bank robber named Moose Malloy (Jack O’Halloran) hires Phillip to find his missing girlfriend, Velma (Charlotte Rampling). In the second case, Phillip is helpless to prevent the murder of his client, Lindsay Marriott (John O’Leary). Not even police intimidation can keep Phillip from finding answers and solving the mystery.
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Stars: Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles, Anthony Zerbe
Director: Dick Richards
Rating: R
Runtime: 95 minutes
