In the media world, YouTube remains one of the fastest-growing media companies. In 2024, YouTube generated $54.2 billion in revenue, the second-most for a media company besides Disney. That number will only grow as Gen Z favors content creators over streaming television shows.
Speaking of streaming, YouTube has a section dedicated to free movies. These programs are not C-level movies or direct-to-video projects. Some of these movies are critically acclaimed Oscar winners and box office juggernauts. Keep scrolling to see some of our selections for this month.
Looking for more stuff you can watch for free? Check out our guides to the best free shows on YouTube and the best sites for watching free movies online. If you’re willing to pay, read these guides on the best new movies to stream and the best movies on Netflix.
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Coach Carter2005
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Dead Poets Society1989
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
60%
7.7/10Harry recruits Eggsy to train with a new batch of recruits looking to become secret agents. While Eggsy tries to survive basic training, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) is implementing a master plan to murder most of humanity to prevent global warming. With the world at stake, Eggsy is thrown into the field in a life-or-death mission. But first, he’ll need a new suit.
Coach Carter (2005)
57%
7.3/10Samuel L. Jackson plays a basketball coach who instills discipline into his players in Coach Carter. Ken Carter (Jackson) becomes the head coach of his alma mater, Richmond High School. Coach Carter immediately shakes things up by forcing the players to sign contracts that state they must keep their grades up.
With hard-fought practices and tiresome conditioning, Coach Carter becomes enemy No. 1 at Richmond. However, the players eventually recognize the method to Carter’s madness and win basketball games. However, Carter knows winning in the classroom is more important than in the gymnasium, and his academic standards threaten to derail the season.
Dead Poets Society (1989)
79%
8.1/10“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” That’s one of the many life lessons shared in Dead Poets Society, Peter Weir’s brilliant coming-of-age drama about the power a teacher can have over shaping students’ lives. John Keating (Robin Williams) becomes the new English teacher at a Vermont all-boys prep school.
Keating’s methods are unorthodox: he encourages the class to rip pages out of his textbook, asks the boys to stand on desks to look at the world differently, and shows them the power of poetry. The boys, including Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) and Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), respond well to Keating’s methods and thrive. Dead Poets Society is a genuinely moving drama with a sensational performance from Williams.
The First Time (2012)
55%
6.8/10Jon Kasdan tackles young love in The First Time. One night outside a party, high school senior Dave (Dylan O’Brien) strikes up a conversation with a junior named Aubrey (Britt Robertson). Dave loves his best friend Jane (Victoria Justice), while Aubrey dates meathead Ronny (James Frecheville)
After the cops crash the party, Dave and Aubrey escape and spend the rest of the night talking. The duo forms a genuine connection, but because of their existing relationships, they’re unsure whether to act on it. Eventually, Dave and Aubrey will realize that love isn’t perfect, so they don’t have to be.
La La Land (2016)
94%
8/10Here’s to the ones who dream. Damien Chazelle’s love letter to Los Angeles is La La Land. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is an aspiring jazz musician who dreams of opening his own club. Mia (Emma Stone) pursues a career in acting. Sebastian plays piano at a restaurant, and Mia works as a barista to make ends meet.
The two dreamers fall in love in the city of angels. As the two embark on a passionate affair, the real world tries to tear them apart. Sebastian and Mia can’t lose sight of their goals, even if that means their relationship must take a hit. Backed by dazzling choreography and beautiful songs, La La Land is a joyful celebration of cinema and a reminder that it’s never too late to dream.
Point Break (1991)
59%
7.3/10Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze square off in Kathryn Bigelow’s excellent action thriller, Point Break. Former college quarterback Johnny Utah (Reeves) is a hot-shot FBI agent who teams with veteran agent Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey) to catch a group of bank robbers known as the “Ex-Presidents.” The duo hypothesizes that the robbers are surfers, so Utah goes undercover within the beach community, searching for more information.
While posing as a surfer, Utah meets Bodhi (Swayze), the eccentric leader of a group of surfers. As Utah spends more time with the surfers, he develops a genuine bond with the free-spirited Bodhi. However, this complicates Utah’s mission, blurring the lines between his new friends and his job.
I Kill Giants (2018)
74%
6.1/10My Friend Dahmer (2017)
68%
6.2/10Someone at YouTube has very deftly picked up on the renewed interest in Jeffrey Dahmer by getting the rights to stream My Friend Dahmer. This serial killer movie is based upon the true story of John “Derf” Backderf (Alex Wolff), a cartoonist who was the closest friend that Jeffrey Dahmer (Ross Lynch) had in high school. In this adaptation of Backderf’s graphic novel, he and his fellow outcasts befriend Dahmer, but they aren’t blind to his bizarre behavior.
However, they couldn’t have predicted that the awkward young man that they knew would go on to become one of the most infamous serial killers of the last century. It’s also a tragic tale, as no one notices how monstrous Dahmer has become until it’s far too late to stop him.
The Illusionist (2006)
68%
7.6/10The Illusionist beat the similarly themed film, The Prestige, to theaters by about two months, but Christopher Nolan’s movie is the superior of the two. Regardless, The Illusionist has its charms, largely in the core trio of Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, and Paul Giamatti. When they were young, Eduard Abramovich (Norton) and Duchess Sophie Von Teschen (Biel) had a passion for each other that her parents forbade.
Upon adulthood, Edward reinvented himself as Eisenheim The Illusionist and reunited with Sophie before she could be married to the malevolent Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). When Sophie is murdered, Chief Inspector Walter Uhl (Giamatti) is unnerved when Eisenheim appears to be able to summon Sophie’s spirit at will.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
89%
7.9/10A seminal entry for American horror cinema, George A. Romero’s classic horror movie follows seven people who find themselves trapped in Pennsylvania as the terrifying walking dead surround them. They have to try to survive without understanding the terror that lurks outside.
The movie has been noted as the first zombie film, and its influences can be seen in everything from 28 Days Later to Shaun of the Dead. Romero’s debut — he wrote, directed, edited, and acted in the film — made him into a superstar, quickly revolutionizing the genre on a budget of a mere $114,000.
