For the last couple of months, Hulu only lost a handful of movies, which was very good news for subscribers. Unfortunately, the good times are over at the end of December. There are a lot of great movies leaving Hulu when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. The good news is that the extended holiday season is your perfect chance to catch these flicks before they depart.
Our picks for the five movies leaving Hulu in December that you have to watch include an all-time great sci-fi/horror film, a fun modern sequel, a terrific comedy-drama, a fantastic Western, and a zombie flick that’s finally getting a sequel in 2025.
Need more recommendations? We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
Alien (1979)
Ideally, Alien and the other 20th Century Studios films would permanently be on Hulu. But since this fan-favorite franchise starter is on the way out for now, there’s no better time to scream in space than the present. Sigourney Weaver made a name for herself with her riveting performance as Ellen Ripley, one of the crew of the spaceship Nostromo under the command of Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt).
When one of the crew, Kane (John Hurt), has an encounter with an alien facehugger, the Nostromo’s team discovers the hard way that the resulting creature is a lethal xenomorph that can hunt them down one by one. And as Ripley soon discovers, that’s exactly what someone on the ship wants.
Watch Alien on Hulu.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Modern kids scoff at the Jumanji board game in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which is why it transforms into a video game for the sequel. In the present, Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff), Anthony “Fridge” Johnson (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman), and Martha Kaply (Morgan Turner) are lured in by the new incarnation of the game, which then traps them in its fantasy world.
Spencer’s avatar in the game is a hulking hero, Xander Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), while Fridge is stuck with Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Kevin Hart), Martha becomes Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan), and Bethany is in an entirely unsuitable role as Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon (Jack Black). To escape from Jumanji’s grasp, the group has to find a fifth player who was trapped decades earlier and finish the game he started before they run out of extra lives.
Watch Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle on Hulu.
Juno (2007)
Meet Juno MacGuff (Elliot Page), a normal American teenage girl who just happened to get pregnant after sleeping with her friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Juno was a star-making role for Page, who portrays a young woman who isn’t entirely sure what to do about her child. She’s even less sure that she wants a romance with Paulie.
With the support of her parents, Mac (J.K. Simmons) and Bren MacGuff (Allison Janney), Juno finds a young couple, Mark (Carry-On‘s Jason Bateman) and Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner), who seem like they’d be great parents for her child. However, Juno eventually discovers that her first impression wasn’t entirely accurate, and she’ll have some big choices to make about her own future as well.
Watch Juno on Hulu.
Tombstone (1993)
The era of Western movies was long over by the time that Tombstone hit theaters three decades ago. But this film has since established itself as one of the best in the genre. It’s also based on the real-life feud between the Wyatt brothers and the Cowboys gang led by “Curly Bill” Brocius (Powers Boothe) and Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn).
Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his brothers, Virgil (Sam Elliott) and Morgan (Bill Paxton), weren’t looking for trouble when they rolled into Tombstone and met up with Wyatt’s ailing friend, Doc (Val Kilmer), But when the Cowboys’ reign of terror goes too far, the Earps and Holiday take the law into their own hands to bring down the gang in one of the most famous gunfights in history.
Watch Tombstone on Hulu.
28 Weeks Later (2007)
This franchise skipped a chance to have a film called 28 Months Later, so we’ll have to settle for 28 Years Later in 2025. The second film, 28 Weeks Later, gets overlooked because the first installment was so good. But this movie has a truly impressive cast including Idris Elba, Jeremy Renner, Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, and Harold Perrineau.
During the rage virus outbreak seen in 28 Days Later, Don (Carlyle) abandons his wife, Alice (Catherine McCormack), to ensure his own survival. Months later, their children, Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and Tammy (Imogen Poots), are brought home to England, where Don lies about the death of their mother. However, Alice isn’t dead, and the secrets running through her veins are destined to throw the country back into another deadly outbreak.
Watch 28 Weeks Later on Hulu.
