The greatest Netflix films of 2024 now streaming

What are the greatest new films on Netflix? With the streaming service offering a wide array of comedies, action films, 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 greatest 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 films, action-adventures, and more.

The Imaginary

Rudger and Amanda fly high in “The Imaginary.”
Credit: Netflix

Director Yoshiyuki Momose, who had a hand in such Studio Ghibli classics as Spirited Away and Porco Rosso, offers a fresh tale of adventure with this animated darling.

The Imaginary centers on Rudger, a blonde boy who is the devoted imaginary friend to a mischievous little girl named Amanda. Together, they can get up to all kinds of extraordinary adventures. But when a strange man begins poking around, seeking to steal Rudger away, the boy will have to rely on his newfound community of “imaginaries” to get back to Amanda and save her from emotions so big they could swallow her whole. Featuring voice work from Louie Rudge-Buchanan, Evie Kiszel, Hayley Atwell, Sky Katz, Jeremy Swift, Kal Penn, LeVar Burton, Jane Singer, Ruby Barnhill, Roger Craig Smith, Courtenay Taylor, and Miles Nibbe, this Netflix original is as full of charm as it is astounding visuals. — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor

How to watch: The Imaginary is now streaming on Netflix.

The Greatest Night in Pop

Musicians of every kind got together for “We Are the World.”
Credit: Netflix

Travel back to 1985, when some of the biggest names in music — Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, and more — came together for a charity single in hopes of making a better world.

Centering on interviews of the artists and technicians who made the charity single “We Are the World” together, this delightful doc is full of flashy anecdotes, zinging one-liners, and even some heartache. (You deserved better, Sheila E!) While plenty of interviewees offer fun and insights, Lionel Richie, who also produced the doc, proves the MVP, providing not only plenty of context, but also some stellar impressions of Michael Jackson and his exotic pets.* — K.P.

How to watch: The Greatest Night in Pop is now streaming on Netflix.

Orion and the Dark

Orion learns to find the good in the dark.
Credit: Netflix

Charlie Kaufman, the brilliant but twisted mind behind films 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.

Centering on a fearful 11-year-old boy (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), this adaptation of Emma Yarlett’s children’s book follows Orion on an adventure way past bedtime, when the Dark he feared comes out of hiding to introduce himself. Together, they travel the world with the creatures of night and learn what wonders can come from confronting what scares you. An animated adventure about the anxieties of children and their grown-ups, Orion and the Dark is a winsome and weird wonder for all ages. But maybe don’t watch it right before bed. It’s not nightmare fuel, but it’s so surreal it could toy with your dreams! — K.P.

How to watch: Orion and the Dark is now streaming on Netflix.

Power

“Power” examines the history of policing in America.
Credit: Netflix

This brand-new doc from Oscar-nominated writer/director Yance Ford (Strong Island) examines the history of policing in the United States, from its roots in frontier militias, slave patrols, and strike-breaking to the symbiotic relationship of modern policing and the military, the murder of George Floyd, and Biden’s “fund the police” speech. Ford’s deft directorial hand, extensive archival footage, and voiceover asking viewers to be curious — if not downright skeptical about who the police serve and protect — makes this vital viewing. The scholarly interviews are grounded by time spent with Minneapolis Police Inspector Charlie Adams, who comes across as thoughtful and deeply empathetic. 

While it’s not a particularly easy watch, Ford is especially considered about how this may affect viewers. (Watching footage of a person being murdered is, despite what social media may have you think, not your responsibility, and it is traumatizing.) As he told Netflix, “We chose to obscure the George Floyd murder in a way that completely blots out Mr. Floyd on the ground, but also as a result, highlights the officer and the two people who were demanding that he check Mr. Floyd’s pulse. In that way, one of the things that we achieved was this focus on who was complicit in Mr. Floyd’s murder and who had power to intervene but chose not to.” It’s this sort of brilliance in filmmaking and editing (kudos to co-writer/editor Ian Olds) that makes Power unmissable. — Jenni Miller, Contributing Writer

How to watch: Power is now streaming on Netflix.

Spaceman

Adam Sandler and a giant spider voiced by Paul Dano star in “Spaceman.”
Credit: Netflix

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.

Directed by Johan Renck and written by Jaroslav Kalfar and Colby Day, Spaceman stars Sandler as Czech astronaut Jakub Prochazka, who is six months deep on a solo mission, while his pregnant wife (Maestro‘s Carey Mulligan) is back on Earth seriously considering dumping his oft-space-trekking butt. Enter Hanus, a giant, talking space spider who loves the hum of a toilet, the taste of Nutella, and giving life advice to his “skinny human” friend. Spaceman is as unexpected as it is surreal and strangely enchanting. — K.P.

How to watch: Spaceman is now streaming on Netflix.

Damsel

Millie Bobby Brown is trapped in “Damsel.”
Credit: John Wilson / Netflix

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.

There are plenty of surprises as Elodie scrambles to escape the cave using only her dress for equipment — and solve the mystery of why the hell she’s been thrown in there in the first place. Robin Wright and Angela Bassett are impeccable as the cold Queen Isabelle and Elodie’s loving stepmother, Lady Bayford, respectively. As Belen Edwards wrote in her review, “Yes, Damsel isn’t like most other fairy tales. But with its blend of dark fantasy and themes of self-empowerment, it makes for a gripping story that’s great fun to experience.” — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor

How to watch: Damsel is now streaming on Netflix.

How to Rob a Bank

Hollywood reimagined in animation in “How to Rob a Bank.”
Credit: Netflix

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.

This doc, brought to life with animated reenactments, news footage, home films, and a slew of interviews, unfurls the stranger-than-fiction story of a bank robber known to the police as “Hollywood.” This was because he had a penchant for modeling his crimes after films (Point Break chief among them) and used prosthetic makeup to successfully disguise his face. But who was the man behind the mystique? Talking with the cops who tracked him and the family and friends who loved him, How to Rob a Bank explores that complicated question with unsettling results. — K.P.

How to watch: How to Rob a Bank is now streaming on Netflix.

Hit Man

Adria Arjona and Glen Powell in “Hit Man.”
Credit: Netflix

Richard Linklater and Glen Powell reunite for Hit Man, a rom-com that is killer in all senses of the word.

Powell plays Gary Johnson, a college professor whose side gig as an undercover hit man leads to an unexpected meet-cute with would-be client Madison (Andor‘s Adria Arjona). The pair’s connection (and electrifying chemistry) sparks a delightful game of false identities, reinvention, and twisted love that toggles between hilarious, thrilling, and sexy at a moment’s notice. Oh, who am I kidding, sometimes it’s all three at once!* — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: Hit Man is now streaming on Netflix.

The Kitchen

“The Kitchen” is a must-watch sci-fi drama.
Credit: Netflix

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.

Protagonists Izi (Top Boy star Kane Robinson) and Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) live within the titular neighborhood known as The Kitchen, the last remaining bastion of independent housing in London. Plagued by brutal police raids and skint resources, the community is constantly under threat. It’s a brilliantly shot, superbly acted, and all-too-real cautionary tale. — S.C.

How to watch: The Kitchen is now streaming on Netflix.