Almost all of the big streamers released as least one excellent original movie this year. Some of them played in theaters before hitting TV screens at home, others went straight to said TV screens. It was an especially strong year for Netflix, but Hulu, Prime Video, and Apple TV were no slouches either. And here we’ve picked the 12 best and ranked them. Just missing the cut were G20 and Another Simple Favor on Prime Video, The Parenting on HBO Max, Eenie Meanie on Hulu, F1, All of You and The Gorge on Apple TV, Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado on Paramount+, as well as Havoc, Steve, The Thursday Murder Club, and A House of Dynamite on Netflix.
Documentaries were not subject to inclusion, but animated films were. Did your favorite for-streaming movie take the first-place spot?
12) Jay Kelly on Netflix
Jay Kelly isn’t all that different from any other movie where a father has prioritized his career over devoting time to his family, but at least its buoyed by strong work from George Clooney, Adam Sandler, and a very strong supporting cast. Perhaps most importantly, though, is the fact it continues to show director Noah Baumbach’s chemistry with Sandler, and the end result is something that’s nearly as organically heartfelt as The Meyerowitz Stories.
However, Jay Kelly doesn’t rank any higher because it ultimately doesn’t really go many interesting places. It’s not the type of drama that sticks in the viewers’ memories for years and years, like Baumbach’s phenomenal Marriage Story.
11) Play Dirty on Prime Video
It may not be the best Shane Black movie, but his crime caper Play Dirty is a fun, well-written actioner that won’t be remembered as a classic but will be remembered as perfectly in line with the remainder of its director’s filmography. Even still, it would have likely been better had Robert Downey Jr. played the role of Parker instead of Mark Wahlberg, which was the plan initially.
The real standouts here are LaKeith Stanfield and Rosa Salazar, whose career should have blown up much more than it did after her heartfelt work in Alita: Battle Angel. Parker has been the lead character in seven different films, each time played by a different actor. And, while it isn’t on part with Point Blank starring Lee Marvin or the director’s cut of Payback, with Mel Gibson, it’s on par with Parker, starring Jason Statham.
10) Highest 2 Lowest on Apple TV
There aren’t many director-actor pairings as consistently solid as Spike Lee and Denzel Washington, and their newest, Highest 2 Lowest, is a solid addition to their shared filmography. A remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, it’s a compelling mystery thriller that brings to mind the Ron Howard movie Ransom. Though, here, the kidnapper’s identity is held off for a while.
Admittedly, Highest 2 Lowest is a divisive film, probably the most divisive on this list. But, for those who love Inside Man and have been waiting for something even remotely similar from Lee and Washington, this is a worthy evening watch.
9) Summer of 69 on Hulu
Chloe Fineman has been the obvious breakout star of SNL for quite some time now. It seemed like an inevitability that, like many before her, she would transition to major roles in feature films. And now, thanks to Hulu and director Jillian Bell, we have her first leading lady vehicle.
Summer of 69 does a great job of feeling like retro ’80s sex comedies without actually going as far as they went (in other words, it’s not uncomfortable to watch in the 2020s). Instead, it’s a heartfelt little coming of age story with standout work by Sam Morelos, who plays the socially awkward teen who enlists the help of Fineman’s exotic dancer, Santa Monica, to learn how to open up sexually so she can be with the more adventurous and newly single Max, one of the more popular boys at her school.
8) Heads of State on Prime Video
A fun addition to the buddy cop comedy subgenre, Heads of State isn’t high art, but it’s not supposed to be. It had two goals: be exciting and feature believable chemistry between its leads. It succeeds on both fronts.
There aren’t many movies featuring the U.S. president as a heroic feature these days, but Heads of State goes there, and it even has a sliver of political commentary in that sense by having John Cena’s Will Derringer be a former only slightly talented action movie star. Derringer is paired with Idris Elba’s more buttoned up Sam Clarke, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who, by films end, loosens up just a shred.
7) Frankenstein on Netflix
With excellent performances by Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a modern gothic horror passion project that was worth the long effort to bring it to life. It was a smart move to stick to the spirit and text of Mary Shelley’s novel but without being a too-reliant slog like Kenneth Branagh’s take from the ’90s.
But there are two main reasons del Toro’s version is one of the very best adaptations of the iconic novel. First is Elordi’s layered work and, second, there’s the fact the movie goes out of its way to show things from the monster’s perspective. Even the 1931 version didn’t really dive into that approach.
6) Eternity on Apple TV
While Eternity‘s theatrical run was handled by A24, it was financed by Apple and will soon air on Apple TV and Apple TV alone. And while it did relatively well on the big screen, it’s undoubtedly going to find a much bigger audience on streaming.
Like the next movie on our list, it’s just a nice fun time. And, here, we get a very high concept that is pulled off without a hitch. Watching a love triangle in the afterlife plays very well because the audience is well aware that the ultimate choice is going to be a permanent one, which raises the stakes of the average rom-com. There’s an argument to be made that this is the best of the 18 movies that fell under the A24 banner this year.
5) Deep Cover on Prime Video
One of 2025’s highest rated comedy films, Deep Cover is one of those movies that puts a smile on your face. It has a narrative riddled with interesting twists and turns, an overall light tone, and phenomenal chemistry between its three leads.
The key to Deep Cover‘s success is that it makes its three lead characters so relatable, regardless of whether the viewer has ever attempted improv comedy. They’re just three people who want some more adventure in their lives, then swiftly find themselves in over their heads. Bryce Dallas Howard and Nick Mohammed are both very game, but the prize goes to Orlando Bloom for his against-confident-movie-star-type performance.
4) Hedda on Prime Video
A strong collaboration between MCU vets Nia DaCosta and Tessa Thompson, Hedda is a daring updated adaptation of the late 1800s play Hedda Gabler. We still follow a woman who feels trapped by her life (and the debt she and her husband are in), but there are a few alterations. Most notably is the fact that Gabler is now a lesbian, which helps to really make her struggle with societal judgement in the ’50s feel all the more real.
If there’s a movie on this list that has an Oscar-worthy performance, it’s Thompson’s in Hedda. It’s the best work of her career, in which she often conveys a range of emotions without uttering a syllable.
3) Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery on Netflix
Arguably the best of the Knives Out movies, Wake Up Dead Man is another example of Rian Johnson’s mastery over the mystery genre. It will be interesting to see if it ages as well as the original film, but one thing is for sure, it’s a better-written and more engrossing film than Glass Onion.
Some have complained that Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc is sidelined in the third Knives movie, but that’s not really the case. He still has plenty to do in the narrative, it’s just that the true heart of the movie is Josh O’Connor’s Jud Duplenticy, and he’s phenomenal in the role. Other standouts include Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, and Cailee Spaeny, who delivers another performance that further cements her as one of the most talented performers of Gen Z.
2) Predator: Killer of Killers on Hulu
Even if Predator: Badlands hadn’t been the critical and commercial success it was, Predator: Killer of Killers would have cemented 2025 as one of the most important years in the Yautja franchise’s history. Killer of Killers was essentially the year’s surprise movie, announced not long before its release not unlike director Dan Trachtenberg’s earlier film 10 Cloverfield Lane.
Told in vignettes, Killer of Killers is an impeccably structured film that crafts engrossing stories for all of its protagonists before ultimately pairing them up for one final slam-bang segment. The film hints at some interesting new places for the animated wing of this franchise to lead and here’s hoping those hints come to fruition.
1) KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix
A film that has smashed record after record, Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters is a genuine pop culture sensation. And it makes sense how that came to be, because it’s such a fun movie that even those who don’t typically care about K-pop will find themselves cheering.
From the vocal performances (both in terms of providers of dialogue and providers of singing voices) to the glossy animation, KPop Demon Hunters is a winner. But it’s hard to imagine that being the case if there weren’t a few songs that are all-timers. In comes “Golden” and “How It’s Done.”
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