The 70 Best Movies on Disney+, WIRED’s Picks (January 2026)
SOURCE:Wired|BY:Jennifer M. Wood, WIRED Staff
Tron: Ares, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour—The Final Show are just a few of the movies you should be watching on Disney+ this month.
In the game known as the streaming wars, Disney+ came out swinging, bringing with it a massive library of movies and TV shows—with new ones being added all the time. Watched everything on Netflix? Disney+ has a seemingly endless selection of Marvel movies and plenty of Star Wars and Pixar fare too. Problem is, there’s so much stuff that it’s hard to know where to begin. WIRED is here to help. Below are our picks for the best films on Disney+ right now.
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Tron: Ares
When the original Tron arrived in theaters in 1982, 8-bit video games still seemed futuristic. In this latest entry in the sci-fi series, the world is forced to come face to face with a sophisticated new form of AI, which happens to look a lot like Jared Leto. Ares (yes, Leto) is the embodiment of a game-changing AI program that has been sent into the real world under the guidance of creating a new kind of peace. In truth, Ares has been sent by a villainous tech CEO (played by Evan Peters) to steal the “Permanence Code” created by original Tron character Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), so that digital beings can infiltrate reality permanently. While it’s full of action and impressive CGI, it glances over a lot of the real concerns around AI’s infiltration into everyday life.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour—The Final Show
Over the course of 21 months—with a tour featuring 149 shows in 51 cities across five continents—an estimated 10 million people got to witness Taylor Swift’s iconic Eras Tour in person. But on December 8, 2024, only 60,000 people got to see her very last performance at Vancouver’s BC Place stadium, where Swift pulled out all the stops and even added a whole new set from that year’s The Tortured Poets Department album. Now, Swifties around the world can witness it, too, with this nearly three-and-a-half-hour rockumentary that puts you in the center of it all.
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones is back! After the original four films in the swashbuckling movie series left the streamer in October when their license expired, all those boring legalities have been settled and fans can once again binge all of Harrison Ford’s archaeological adventures. We suggest kicking it off with the the movie that started it all (and for our money is still the best). Set in 1936, sees our whip-wielding hero (Ford) traveling the world and going to death-defying lengths to ensure that he recovers the storied Ark of the Covenant—a long-lost relic that has the power to make an army invincible—before fellow archaeologist René Belloq (Paul Freeman) does so on behalf of Nazi German forces.
OK, we’re not going to sugarcoat it: As far as MCU movies go, Madame Web is one of the series’ worst (it currently holds an 10 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes). It’s impossible to deny that some of the creative decisions made were very bad ones—so much so that even star Dakota Johnson has publicly voiced her disappointment in the project. But the movie has also got a handful of things going for it: namely, the always-captivating Johnson in the title role. (Plus Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott.) While the execution is far from perfect, it does offer a fresh take on a superhero origin story. In this case, New York City paramedic Cassandra Webb’s (Johnson) newfound ability to see the future—and change it.
Love+War
At a time when the business of news is changing, and journalists are coming under fire from high-ranking political figures, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario is a testament to the importance of a free press. For more than 20 years, Addario has been traveling the world to capture the realities of war and humanitarian crises for outlets like The New York Times and National Geographic. It’s a difficult job, and a dangerous one (she’s been kidnapped twice). But back home, Addario is a wife and mother of two who struggles daily with the sacrifices it takes to juggle the personal and the professional. In an industry dominated by men, Addario has made her mark—and this Nat Geo documentary offers a powerful look at exactly how she has accomplished it all.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Is the third time really the charm? In the case of the Fantastic Four, the answer is a resounding yes. Following two previous, and largely disastrous, attempts to bring the superhero quartet to the big screen—first when Tim Story did it in 2005, then when Josh Trank tried in 2015—Marvel seems to have figured out the formula for making their so-called “First Family” stick. The film stays true to the original comics with its period 1960s setting and finds astronauts Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) navigating the challenges of becoming both celebrities and superheroes after cosmic ray exposure gifted them with superhuman abilities. Just as the world starts finally feeling normal again, and Reed and Sue prepare to welcome their first child, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) descends and announces that Earth is set to be destroyed. It’s a typical comic book movie setup that is elevated by both the newness of these characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the likability of the actors playing them. A second film is already in development, but we’ll see the foursome pop up in December’s Avengers: Doomsday, too.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
When a traveling carnival comes to a small Midwestern town, two best friends—Will Halloway (Vidal Peterson) and Jim Nightshade (Shawn Carson)—suspect that something is not quite right. They soon discover that the carnival’s mysterious boss, Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce), has nefarious plans for the townspeople and enlist the help of Will’s dad (Jason Robards) to help them stop him. Rad Bradbury wrote the screenplay for Something Wicked This Way Comes, based on his own 1962 novel, and the film was a rare foray into dark themes for Disney at the time, but developed a rabid cult following over the years. It’s been incredibly difficult to find for decades, so its arrival on Disney+ has fans rejoicing.
Thunderbolts*
Though it failed to do Avengers numbers at the box office, leading many to label it a flop, ticket sales don’t always tell the full story—especially when it comes to the MCU. Florence Pugh reprises her role as Yelena Belova, a Black Widow–trained assassin who gets caught up in a sabotage plan concocted by corrupt CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). When Yelena and her fellow killers-for-hire realize they’ve been duped into killing each other to clean up de Fontaine’s mess, they instead band together—with the help of Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Yelena’s dad/super soldier Red Guardian (David Harbour) to seek revenge. At this point it’s not really a spoiler to note that the asterisk in the title was meant to denote the placeholder title, as the group is rechristened the “New Avengers.”
Sacramento
In Sacramento, cowriter-director Michael Angarano stars as Rickey, an emotionally stunted man-child who is not ready to grow up, even as those around him have moved on to find careers, get married, and start families. Glenn (Michael Cera) is one of those old pals, who finds himself unwittingly agreeing to take a road trip from Los Angeles to Sacramento so that Rickey can scatter his recently deceased dad’s ashes. What follows is the stage of male friendship that happens somewhere between Superbad and Sideways, with both men learning something about each other—and themselves—whether they want to or not. Though the film was a hit with critics when it screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, it sadly flew largely under the radar in its brief theatrical run.
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
As the original “summer blockbuster,” one might imagine that there are few behind-the-scenes stories fans have yet to hear from Steven Spielberg and Co. about the making of Jaws. But this Nat Geo documentary proves that even the movie’s most diehard fans might still have a thing or two to learn about the film that scared millions of beachgoers away from the water. In celebration of last year’s 50th anniversary of the film, this 90-minute doc features interviews with Spielberg—and many people who have been inspired by the movie over the years—to help you see it in a whole new light.
Music by John Williams
Speaking of the 50th anniversary of Jaws, now seems like the perfect time to show our appreciation for composer John Williams—without whom, that Steven Spielberg classic (and pretty much any Spielberg classic) would not feel the same. The second-most-nominated person in Oscar history (his 54 nominations are only bested by Walt Disney, who earned 59 nods), Williams has been producing memorable movie scores for nearly 70 years now and has quietly helped to turn movies into cinema. This original documentary gathers up some of the 93-year-old’s closest collaborators, including Spielberg and George Lucas—who swears that “Star Wars would basically not be Star Wars without Johnny Williams’ music.” It’s a touching, and perhaps long overdue, tribute to a true Hollywood titan.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
In 2018, when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse hit theaters, it changed perceptions of what Spider-Man movies, and animated films, could be. No longer led by Peter Parker, a kid from Queens who gets bit by a radioactive spider, it was fronted by Miles Morales, a kid from Brooklyn who met a similar fate in another part of the multiverse. Across the Spider-Verse continues Miles’ story and his quest to save the multiverse, and his timeline, from a terrible fate. Fun, heartbreaking, and a thrill to watch, it’s one of the best Spider-Man movies ever. The trilogy’s final film, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, is set to arrive in theaters on June 4, 2027.
The Abyss
In many ways, The Abyss is the ultimate James Cameron movie. The idea for it first came to the filmmaker as a teenager, and it features all the storytelling and visual hallmarks of Cameron’s more famous movies. In a way, it’s essentially an underwater version of Aliens: A US submarine has been ambushed and sunk to the bottom of the ocean in the Caribbean. A Navy SEAL (Michael Biehn) and two petroleum engineers with a sticky romantic past (Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are sent on a rescue mission, but are racing against the clock as a storm is gathering above the water and Soviet ships attempt to the reach the sunken sub before their American counterparts arrive. As one might expect in a Cameron flick, all is not as straightforward as it seems, and the rescuers encounter what is deemed “non-terrestrial intelligence.” Though originally released in 1989, this new 4K restoration gives new life to Cameron’s underwater sci-fi classic.
Elton John: Never Too Late
Slowly but surely, filmmaker R. J. Cutler is becoming America's foremost chronicler of celebrity. After covering Billie Eilish, Martha Stewart, and James Belushi, the documentarian has now trained his lens on Elton John. Following the hitmaker as he prepares for his final North American show at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium in 2022, which livestreamed on Disney+, Elton John: Never Too Late jumps back and forth in time, using archival interviews and previously unseen footage to unearth a full picture of the musician's decades-long career. If nothing else, think of it as a companion piece to the 2019 biopic Rocketman.
Deadpool & Wolverine
The Deadpool movies have always stood out for being proudly anti–superhero movie and boldly R-rated. Even though Deadpool & Wolverine is the first film in the series that’s officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (it only took several years of production delays and one massive studio acquisition to make that happen), it's just as raunchy as the installments that came before. Six years after Ryan Reynolds last graced screens as the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool has hit what might be his rock bottom. When he’s given the opportunity to regain the lives and loves he lost in another timeline, he must enlist the help of an extremely disinterested Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to make it happen. Reynolds and Jackman’s onscreen chemistry is electric, making this one (foul-mouthed) team-up you don’t want to miss.
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
Bruce Springsteen came out of the Covid-19 lockdowns revved up and ready to put on one hell of a show. For Road Diary, The Boss gave director Thom Zimny an all-access pass to the creation of the tour he and and the E Street Band have been on since 2024, including archival footage and interviews with the band and Springsteen himself. Zimny has been documenting the rocker’s life on the road for more than two decades now—and won two Emmy Awards for his efforts (for 2001’s Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Live in New York City and 2018’s Springsteen on Broadway)—making this documentary essential viewing for any fan.
Inside Out
Don’t cry. But also cry. A lot. Inside Out is the perfect realization of what every Pixar film strives to achieve. On the surface, it’s a comedic look at human emotion, the complexity of a child growing up, and the delicate balance of family life. But by literally getting inside the head of 11-year-old Riley, the film finds a way to bring emotion to life in a way that is at once comedic, profound, and often ingenious.
Inside Out 2
Though it arrived 10 years after the release of Pixar’s Oscar-winning Inside Out, this sequel picks up just two years after the original film's ending. Riley, now 13 years old, is officially a teenager—and not quite ready to contend with the various new emotions that come with that phase. Among them: Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). Fortunately for all of them, not to mention Riley’s parents, Joy (Amy Poehler) is still there to help balance these emotions out. Yet again, Pixar triumphs in making a movie with a message that is also fun for the whole family.
The Beach Boys
“There’s definitely been ups and downs,” says singer/songwriter Mike Love in The Beach Boys. “We’ve probably been counted out half a dozen times.” Yet more than 60 years after the band’s founding, these California Dreamers have managed to defy audience expectations just as many times—and redefine what pop music can be in the process. Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny codirect this insightful documentary, which features brand-new interviews with Love, the late Brian Wilson, and Al Jardine—not to mention the many artists they have inspired (Lindsey Buckingham, Janelle Monae, Don Was, and Ryan Tedder among them).
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson assembled an all-star cast and crew for this gorgeous stop-motion animation adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s novel. Mr. Fox (George Clooney) makes a promise to his wife (Meryl Streep) that he’ll stop his farm-raiding ways when she reveals that she is pregnant. Years later, the crafty canine is feeling angsty and tempted to return to his criminal pastimes when temptation comes knocking right next door. But Mrs. Fox starts to suspect something is amiss when a bounty of fresh food starts finding its way into their home. Even worse, the local farmers are none too happy about being raided by a pesky fox—and band together to do something about it. Noah Baumbach cowrote the script with Anderson, and the cast includes many of Anderson’s most frequent collaborators, including Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, and Owen Wilson.
Jim Henson: Idea Man
Watching the trailer for Jim Henson: Idea Man, it strikes you: How has there not been an exhaustive documentary about Jim Henson before now? Muppets, The Dark Crystal, Sesame Street—the puppeteer had a hand in all of them. In this documentary, Ron Howard looks at Henson's (tireless) work, his incredible impact, and the legacy he left behind.
Let It Be
If Peter Jackson’s recently re-edited The Beatles Anthology or three-part Get Back docuseries (which are both also on Disney+) left you wanting even more unfiltered access to the Beatles, we’ve got both good news and bad news: Let It Be is the 1970 documentary from which much of the footage seen within that series was taken. On the plus side, the original 16-mm print of the film—which has gone mostly unseen for the past 50 years—has undergone a painstaking restoration, courtesy of Jackson (yet again). While it lacks some of the emotional nuance of the series, as we see less of the sometimes-uncomfortable interactions of a band on the verge of their breaking point, it serves as a wonderful time capsule in which it was created. Feel free to pair the two together for one long binge (and throw in Abbey Road: If These Walls Could Sing for good measure).
Summer of Soul
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson made his directorial debut with this feature documentary, which recounts the groundbreaking Harlem Cultural Festival—a six-week-long celebration of Black culture, including music, history, fashion, and beyond. The film features rarely-seen clips of performers such as Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Sly & the Family Stone. Why have you never heard of the event? Possibly because it was overshadowed by Woodstock, which took place during the same time in the summer of 1969. Ironically, when the film won the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 2022 Academy Awards, it was overshadowed yet again: It’s the award that was being handed out when Will Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock on the stage. (Here’s your chance to rectify missing that acceptance speech.)
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version)
Were you one of the lucky ones who saw Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in person? Did you see Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in theaters? Well guess what? You can now also watch it on Disney+! Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) is kind of like the one that played at AMC cinemas, but it's also got four new acoustic songs: “You Are in Love,” “Death by a Thousand Cuts,” “I Can See You,” and “Maroon.” It also features the folklore track “Cardigan.” So, whether you saw the tour, the movie theater experience—or neither—there's now yet another way to take in Taylor. Are you ready for it?
X-Men
Any property as beloved as X-Men is bound to have more than a few detractors when it makes the leap from page to screen. But the first X-Men movie managed to impress skeptical comic book fans and newcomers to the mutant war with its compelling storyline and stellar cast, which included Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, and then-newcomer Hugh Jackman. The film kicked off the first in an ever-growing franchise of the battle between mutants and humans, which now totals 13 films and more than $6 billion in box office receipts. With X-Men now officially part of Marvel Studios, expect to see lots more of this expanded cast of characters (beginning with the aforementioned Deadpool & Wolverine and this year’s highly anticipated Avengers: Doomsday). Until then, though, go back and watch this 2000 classic, and prepare for the future.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
It may be impossible to reach the heights achieved by timeless classics like Temple of Doom or Raiders of the Lost Ark, but this latest installment in the Indiana. Jones franchise puts the whip back in Harrison Ford’s hands, letting him fight Nazis and finally get (maybe) some closure to his artifact-hunting life. The movie, directed by James Mangold, also gets some fantastic humor and verve from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who plays Helena, the daughter of an old ally of Indy’s who has perhaps less-than-pure interest in the Dial of Destiny, an ancient time-travel device that Dr. Jones, of course, thinks belongs in a museum.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Far From Home, which stars Tom Holland as the Spandex-wearing superhero, is notable for being the first film in Phase Four of the MCU—and the first time we see an Avenger attempting to pick up the pieces following the events of Avengers: Endgame. For Peter Parker, that means taking a boring old class trip to Europe, which turns into anything but when Earth is attacked by a villainous group of Elementals, which Spidey can only fight with the help of the mysterious—and appropriately named—Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Consider watching it to prep for Holland’s next web-slinging adventure, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which officially arrives on July 31.
Mrs. Doubtfire
Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is a lightly employed voice actor and devoted dad of three who has just been dumped by his wife and is only allowed to see his children one day per week. So he does what any rational person would do: asks his brother, who just happens to be a makeup artist, to dress him up as an older woman and applies to become a nanny working for his ex-wife Miranda (Sally Field). That Miranda doesn’t realize the person she has entrusted her children with is the man she was married to for more than a decade might speak more about her character. Ignore the ridiculous setup and instead enjoy more than two hours of Robin Williams going full Robin Williams. Bon appétit!
Big
Teenager Josh Baskin (David Moscow) wishes on a Zoltar machine that he could grow up overnight—and comes to find his older self (Tom Hanks) staring him back in the mirror the next morning. In an effort to hide his fast-forwarded body, Baskin hides out in New York City, where he falls backward into his dream job at a toy company and meets the woman of his dreams (Elizabeth Perkins). Big is the movie that made Tom Hanks, well, Tom Hanks (it also marked his first Oscar nomination). But it’s Robert De Niro who was originally set to star; when he was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, Hanks stepped in.
Finding Nemo
Nemo (Alexander Gould) is a young clown fish with an imperfect fin and a dad (Albert Brooks) who worries endlessly about his son’s safety. Which is forgivable, given that Nemo’s mom—and all his siblings—were victims of a barracuda shortly before their eggs hatched. So when Nemo is captured while the duo are swimming in the Great Barrier Reef, it’s up to Marlin to find and save his only son. With an all-star cast of voice actors—led by the always-perfect Brooks, and Ellen DeGeneres as a forgetful blue tang named Dory (who would go on to star in her own adventure)—Finding Nemo is part of the heyday of Pixar filmmaking where each film seemed to surpass the absolutely perfect one that preceded it.
The Princess Bride
The late Rob Reiner directed many fantastic films throughout his career, and this adventure-comedy-fairytale—written by William Goldman (the legendary screenwriter who once famously said of Hollywood that “nobody knows anything”) from his own novel—is one of his most beloved works. The ever-quotable tale tells the story of a young woman named Buttercup (Robin Wright) who is engaged to marry a prince (Chris Sarandon) but is really in love with former farmhand Westley (Carey Elwes), who she believes was killed in a pirate attack. When Buttercup is kidnapped just days ahead of her wedding, a chain of events proceed to possibly reunite the in-love couple, or spell death for one (or both) of them. Goldman was famously critical of his own work, but didn’t mind taking credit for two of his movies. The Princess Bride was one of them (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was the other).
The Little Mermaid
Does the live-action version of The Little Mermaid improve upon the beloved 1989 animated classic? Of course not. But Disney is on a tear when it comes to reimagining the movies you loved as a kid, and this is one of the Mouse House’s better efforts. Oscar nominee Rob Marshall (Chicago, Mary Poppins Returns, Into the Woods) is behind the camera for this tale of a young mermaid who longs to be (sing it with us) “part of your world.” Yet it’s Halle Bailey, delivering a powerhouse performance as Ariel, who truly makes The Little Mermaid worth watching.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Whether you think of Henry Selick’s imaginative stop-motion adventure as a Halloween film or a Christmas movie doesn’t really matter, as there’s never a bad time to add The Nightmare Before Christmas to your watch (or watch-again) list. When the mischief-makers in Halloweentown, including pumpkin king Jack Skellington, discover the magic of Christmas, they decide to kidnap Santa Claus and claim both holidays for themselves. Even in today’s CGI-soaked world, the artistry behind The Nightmare Before Christmas remains painfully impressive—and the macabre yet kid-friendly tone makes it a fun watch for the entire family. There’s also a sing-along version if you’re in the mood.
Cinderella
In case you don’t know the story: After Cinderella loses her beloved mother, her father marries a nasty woman with two equally nasty daughters. While they spend their days tormenting the kind-hearted Cinderella, Prince Charming, the most eligible bachelor in all the land, only has eyes for her. Seventy-five years after its original release, Cinderella remains a Disney classic for a reason. Now it’s back with an impressive 4K restoration that has been several years in the making.
The Incredible Hulk
To Marvel fans, Mark Ruffalo is the only Bruce Banner. But that’s only after Eric Bana tried on the supersized superhero’s tiny purple pants in 2003’s Hulk—and then passed them on to Edward Norton for this 2008 flick, which had the misfortune of hitting theaters just one month after Iron Man. The MCU has always had a messy timeline, but audiences shouldn’t be too quick to write this movie off, particularly those looking to kick back with a solid summer popcorn flick. Norton may lack Ruffalo’s effortless charm, but he’s got the Doc Green part of the character down.
Stan Lee
Easily the most recognizable name in comics, Stan Lee has had an impact on the medium—and on pop culture broadly—that simply can’t be overstated. Director David Gelb’s documentary about “The Man” delves into not only his legacy, but also his history. Tracing the comics maestro’s life from his early years in New York City to his work cocreating iconic characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther to his time as everyone’s favorite Marvel movie cameo, Stan Lee is essential viewing for any fan.
Spider-Man
While Sam Raimi’s Tobey Maguire-starring Spider-Man movies predate the official MCU, the famed director really set the stage for what that future universe would look like, with its mix of solid storytelling, genuine laughs, and impressive visuals. Maguire is perfectly cast as the awkwardly charming Peter Parker, who—having just discovered his superhero powers—is learning to harness them.
Venom
Venom may not have been a hit with critics, but WIRED senior editor Angela Watercutter nailed exactly what the movie was when she called it “a bad movie with great cult-movie potential.” While it rivals Doctor Strange for its stacked cast of serious talent—Tom Hardy in the lead, with Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed costarring, plus Zombieland’s Reuben Fleischer as director—the end result was, well, a bit of a jumbled mess. Nonetheless, it somehow manages to be compelling, even if you just turn it on to watch Hardy mumble, eat Tater Tots, and almost literally chew scenery for 112 minutes. If you want to watch either of its two sequels, you’ll have to rent or go to Starz for 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, while 2024’s Venom: The Last Dance is on Netflix.
The Original Star Wars Trilogy
Naturally, Star Wars is one of the big attractions on Disney+. And it goes without saying, or at least it should, that the films that comprise the original trilogy are the best of the bunch—and the only Star Wars movies you should watch if you’re opting not to binge all dozen or so features. The caveat for pickier fans is that these are the versions that have been messed with by George Lucas post-release. Some things, like the improved visuals in and around Cloud City, are thoughtful additions, but others are more controversial.
The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
More than 20 years after Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope (aka simply Star Wars) helped to define the Hollywood blockbuster, George Lucas returned to the space opera well with an all-new trilogy for an all-new generation of moviegoers. It went about as well as you’d expect. We won’t pretend that The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and/or Revenge of the Sith (2005) have even an ounce of the heart, humor, or heroism of the original films. But they’ve become essential pop culture viewing, and a rite of passage for sci-fi fans, if only to get what all the Jar Jar Binks hate is about.
The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
When Disney purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, it was essentially George Lucas handing over the keys to the Millennium Falcon. While fans were rightly skeptical about whether the Mouse House would be able—or even want—to recapture the slightly countercultural environment in which the series was originally created, one hopeful thought united them all: Whatever Disney concocted could not be worse than the Prequel Trilogy. And they were right. By giving the reins to J.J. Abrams (The Force Awakens), Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi), then Abrams once again (The Rise of Skywalker), the series became more of a love letter to the original films and the generations of filmmakers—and fans—they inspired. Happily, actors Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver proved worthy successors to the smugglers, scavengers, Jedi masters, and Sith Lords who preceded them.
Turning Red
Mei Lee is a 13-year-old with a problem: Whenever she’s overcome with any sort of overwhelming emotion, which is just about every emotion at that age, she transforms into a giant red panda. Eventually, Mei comes to learn that it’s an inherited family trait. And while there are people who would like to exploit her supernatural powers, she slowly learns that only she has the power to control them. Think of this as a spiritual sequel to 2015’s Inside Out, which explored the complex inner workings of an 11-year-old’s constantly changing emotions.
Abbey Road: If These Walls Could Sing
Abbey Road Studios is best known as the place where the Beatles recorded some of their most iconic albums, including 1969’s Abbey Road. But the hallowed halls of this legendary music studio have played a much bigger role in the music industry, as it has hosted the likes of everyone from Elton John, Pink Floyd, and Aretha Franklin to Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Radiohead, Adele, Oasis, Kate Bush, and Frank Ocean. This documentary, which arrived on the heels of Peter Jackson’s docuseries The Beatles: Get Back (which is also streaming on Disney+ and is highly recommended), is directed by Mary McCartney—daughter of Sir Paul—who practically grew up in the studio and, as such, is able to treat her subject with the reverence it deserves.
Avatar
James Cameron’s Avatar was all anyone could talk about when it was released in theaters in 2009 and promptly went on to make more than $1 billion, becoming the cinematic iceberg that sank another Cameron epic, 1997’s Titanic, from its place as the highest-grossing movie of all time. For a movie that made so much bank, however, it never occupied a huge space in the cultural conversation about movies. Like so many of Cameron’s works, much of its innovation came from the technology that essentially had to be invented to make it possible.
Avatar: The Way of Water
One week before Avatar hit theaters (for the first time) in late 2009, James Cameron announced his intention to turn the movie into a full-on franchise. But the director took his sweet time in following through. Avatar: The Way of Water—which checks in on blue lovebirds Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), now married with children—was released in late 2022, a full 13 years after the original made its debut. But Cameron smartly bought himself some time by setting the film 16 years after the events of Avatar. And while the critical reviews were mixed, it still ended up becoming the third-highest-grossing movie of all time, proving yet again that Cameron has some sort of Midas touch at the box office. Avatar: Fire and Ash, which arrived in theaters last December, has already surpassed $1 billion in ticket sales.
Iron Man
The MCU has released nearly three dozen films since 2008, yet the very first of them—Iron Man—remains one of the best. It’s almost impossible to believe how hard director Jon Favreau had to fight to get Robert Downey Jr. the leading role, as he’s arguably one of the MCU’s most beloved figures. Before there was a whole franchise plus a shared TV universe, Downey, as Tony Stark/Iron Man, was just allowed to do his thing. It was a gamble that paid off for all involved.
Lady and the Tramp
Sure, you can watch the live-action/CGI version that Disney+ released shortly after it launched, but why bother when the 1955 original is here too? Put aside the rather vulgar stereotypes that were common at the time (the movie now comes with a warning, though it was recently reworded) and Lady and the Tramp remains one of the most iconic Disney animations, and a love story for the ages. When a spoiled cocker spaniel named Lady finds herself competing with a new baby for the attention of her parents, she ends up getting loose and befriending a mangy but charming mutt named Tramp. Ultimately, Lady needs to choose between the pampered life she’s always known with Jim Dear and Darling, or a life of spaghetti dinner discards with the hopelessly romantic Tramp—unless there’s another way.
The Muppet Movie
Between The Muppet Show and The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson and the Muppets were everywhere in 1979. Their first big-screen outing serves as more of a prequel, as it follows Kermit the Frog’s journey from a swamp in Florida to Hollywood, where he’s headed to pursue his dreams of becoming a movie star. Along the way, we get to witness where and how he meets the fellow members of his felt-made crew, from Fozzie Bear to Miss Piggy. Hijinks ensue when a restaurateur named Doc Hopper doesn’t take too kindly to Kermit turning down his offer to serve as the official legs of his chain’s famous fried frog legs, and follows the frog in order to seek revenge.
Luca
Enrico Casarosa’s Luca earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature in 2022 for its sweet and soulful story about a young boy named Luca who is hiding a dark secret: He's a sea monster living in a town on the Italian Riviera that absolutely despises his kind. Ultimately, Luca is a moving coming-of-age film about friendship, family, and overcoming our own prejudices—and truly one of Pixar’s best features.
Captain Marvel
Marvel's biggest mistake in the entire MCU canon (so far) was not commissioning Captain Marvel sooner. The film, set in the past, sees the rise of Marvel (Brie Larson) as she discovers her origin story and develops her powers. The film, the first entry in the Marvel universe with a female lead, channels the spirit of the 1990s both in its setting and in style, with heaping spoonfuls of Samuel L. Jackson and all the plot and subtlety of a blockbuster action movie. Larson adds a healthy dose of sarcasm to undercut her character’s immense power, and Jackson is eerily brilliant, making for a super fun 123 minutes.
Ant-Man
Who doesn’t love a heist movie? Paul Rudd’s MCU debut acted as something of a palate cleanser after the heavy, literally Earth-shattering events of Age of Ultron. Rudd plays Scott Lang, a reformed criminal who teams up with Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter (Evangeline Lily) to keep Pym’s shrinking technology from falling into the wrong hands. The film’s depiction of quantum physics wouldn’t hold much water at CERN, but it’s terrific fun—thanks in part to Michael Peña’s star turn as Lang’s former cellmate Luis and, of course, Rudd’s legendary likability. If you want to make it a Rudd-athon, both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are streaming, too.
Avengers: Endgame
There's a moment in the event-movie-to-endgame-all-event-movies when you realize that writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus have gone full Harry Potter and the Cursed Child all over the MCU. Once you get past the rather glum beginning, you can settle in for what you have come to expect from any Avengers movie: Tony Stark cracking wise; Doctor Strange doing weird things with his hands; Professor Hulk explaining the science of what’s going on; and Black Widow and Captain Marvel kicking ass, both emotionally and physically. It's a messy but epic baton-pass in the form of an angsty portal-powered mega-battle. And we're not going to lie: We've watched those audience reaction videos, and they too are a thing of joy.
Hamilton
If you only know Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical from the obscenely high ticket prices and snippets of the soundtrack, here’s your chance to find out what all the fuss is about. A version of the production, recorded via a six-camera setup over two performances by the original Broadway cast, was put on Disney+ after plans to release it in cinemas were scrapped. Aside from a couple of censored swear words and the fact that it's directed (by Thomas Kail), it's essentially the same show—an energetic, empathetic, witty, quippy hip-hop musical about US founding father Alexander Hamilton.
Moana
One of the potential answers to “What, oh, what to put on after Frozen and Frozen 2?” Moana is in fact better than Frozen. By that we simply mean better soundtrack, better heroine, better visuals, and better side quests. There's also 100 percent more Dwayne Johnson as a tattooed demigod and Jemaine Clement as a giant crab doing a Bowie impression. Set thousands of years ago on the fictional, Polynesia-inspired island of Motunui, Moana's hero's journey is fairly classic, but the sumptuous animation and Lin-Manuel Miranda tunes are top-tier Disney. (Sure, we'd love to see Taika Waititi's original script, but we can live without it.) Moana 2, 2024’s less well-received sequel, is also streaming on Disney+ (as are sing-along versions for both films).
Free Solo
If your friend told you they'd decided to solo-climb up the sheer 3,000-foot granite El Capitan wall in Yosemite, California, with no rope, you’d think they had gone mad. But that’s exactly what Alex Honnold set out to do back in 2017. Honnold’s quest to climb the vertical wall was documented by his two director friends, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, as he took on the ascent to become the world’s first person to free-climb El Capitan. But it’s not just about the ascent, it’s also about Honnold’s complicated life, his emotional issues, and all the things that have driven him to pursue one of the most dangerous missions ever attempted by any free climber. The cinematography in Free Solo is also dizzyingly beautiful, and the entire thing will have you gripping the arm of your chair in terror.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) is an experimental inventor who creates an electromagnetic shrinking machine. Naturally, he accidentally shrinks his own children (if you didn’t already guess that from the title), plus the kids from next door, then unwittingly throws them in the trash. To have any chance of becoming their normal size again, the teeny tots must navigate their way across the family's (now seemingly gigantic) yard and back to the house. It's something fraught with peril when you're half the size of an aspirin.
Toy Story (All of Them)
While it initially might have seemed as if Pixar could never make anything as good as the original 1995 Toy Story, each of the three subsequent films add depth to the franchise's canon. All of the movies are critically acclaimed—and they're all available on Disney+. When combined, the four films tell a story about growing up and how everything in life, inevitably, changes. Woody (Tom Hanks) and the gang go from learning how to deal with new people to understanding loss. It's something that's also followed the cast: In Toy Story 4, the voice of Mr. Potato Head was created through archive recordings after Don Rickles, as the man behind the voice, died ahead of the film's release.
The Lion King
Remember the terrifying wildebeest stampede in the 1994 version of The Lion King? That was actually computer animated, because drawing them by hand would have taken a long, long time. Special attention was taken to blend it into the cel-shaded backgrounds, and this was all before Toy Story came out the following year. Which is all to say that not only is the '90s version a perfect movie that had absolutely zero need for a charm-deficient 2019 remake (which is also streaming on Disney+ in case you want to compare), it’s also the best Lion King to use CG animation.
10 Things I Hate About You
Heath Ledger singing “Can’t Take My Eyes off You” on the bleachers. That’s the iconic scene in this top-caliber high school romcom. The plot is taken from The Taming of the Shrew, the cast—including Ledger, Julia Stiles, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt—are all adorable, and the late '90s nostalgia is potent. Offering some much-needed variety from the sci-fi and animation that dominates the Disney+ launch catalog, 10 Things I Hate About You is as good as comfort-food movies get.
Tron & Tron: Legacy
Tron and its modern sequel, Tron: Legacy, aren't your typical Disney films. The original sees a programmer (Jeff Bridges) become trapped inside a computer system where he meets and befriends programs, including the eponymous hero Tron, who are resisting the power of a growing artificial intelligence, the Master Control Program. It became a sci-fi cult classic, leading to the creation of a modern sequel that continues the story and features an epic score cowritten by Daft Punk. Both are watchable distractions, even if the sequel feels a little thin in places.
Willow
Another nostalgia fest, this time for fans of '80s fantasy. Willow is a family-friendly, mythic quest that’s best seen as George Lucas and Ron Howard’s fun, $35 million Tolkien fan fiction. The story of a farmer tasked with protecting a magic baby from an evil queen is not exactly the most original story in the world, but that hasn’t stopped this from becoming a classic, with Warwick Davis as Willow Ufgood and Val Kilmer waving a sword around. Classic Sunday afternoon fare.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Winter Soldier is among the best Marvel movies. It makes time for quieter character moments, and the action, while still spectacular, feels a little more grounded and real than the CGI-fueled shock and awe of the mainline movies. In this outing, Captain America faces off against a rogue element of SHIELD led by Robert Redford's Alexander Pierce.
Thor: Ragnarok
The first two Thor films were among the worst in the whole series—Chris Hemsworth’s thunder god was dour and charmless. But here, director Taika Waititi injected some much-needed color into the proceedings, borrowing heavily from the Planet Hulk storyline from the comics. Thor finds himself stranded on a bizarre planet, ruled over by Jeff Goldblum (who is pretty much playing himself). There, he crosses paths with Bruce Banner’s Hulk, who has been missing since the events of Civil War. It’s hugely funny, and arguably the best film of the series.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
The newer Star Wars one-off films attract strong opinions, and Rogue One is no different. But while it has its issues, it fills an important hole in the universe and features some of the best action sequences in the entire saga. Its main black mark is the rather iffy CGI recreation of Peter Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin, but it's still a fun romp that lacks the narrative baggage of the new trilogy.
Black Panther
Black Panther had a huge cultural impact. It was refreshingly unusual to see a blockbuster superhero film with such a diverse cast—and the Afrofuturist setting was unlike anything Marvel had ever done before. Michael B. Jordan steals the show as Killmonger, who returns to his father’s home to claim the throne from T’Challa (the late Chadwick Boseman).
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
As WIRED senior writer Jason Parham wrote in his review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, this movie is haunted by the absence of Chadwick Boseman, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's original King T’Challa who died following a battle with colon cancer in 2020. To that end, writer-director Ryan Coogler had to make a much different kind of superhero film, one that addressed the loss of its main character while also pushing Marvel's cinematic storyline forward into its next phase. “It's rare for MCU films to channel the turbulence of grief with such unflinching focus,” Parham wrote. “Coogler has equipped his sequel with a changed vocabulary: It speaks equally from a place of loss as it does triumph. Grief is its mother tongue.” To that end, the director uses the death of T'Challa to usher in a new Black Panther as well as new heroes (Ironheart) and adversaries-turned-allies (Namor).
WALL·E
Released in 2008, a time when, for many, the climate crisis felt like a distant, abstract threat, WALL·E is classic Pixar. It’s a love story—sort of—that focuses on two robots. But it’s also a story about survival, believing in yourself, and dancing through the vacuum of space propelled by a fire extinguisher. The animation, especially on the desolate, barren Earth, is a sight to behold. The opening scenes of the film are also basically a silent film, with the score and robotic sound effects doing a fantastic job bringing out the emotion and drama of what’s happening.
Up
Pixar's Up can claim one of the most moving opening scenes of any movie. Despite being released more than a decade ago, in 2009, the animation hasn't aged or lost any of its charm. In a little over 90 minutes, director Pete Docter takes us on the journey of Carl, an old widower who is seeking out Paradise Falls. Carl's trip in his flying house is made in memory of his wife, Ellie, who had always wanted to visit the falls. The film won two Oscars—Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score—but was also nominated for three more. These included Best Picture, which at the time made it only the second animated film to have received the nomination (1991’s Beauty and the Beast—which is also streaming on Disney+, and most definitely worth a rewatch—was the first).
The Jungle Book
Whatever mood you're in, Disney+ has The Jungle Book to suit it. The streaming service has both the 1967 animated classic, with its catchy soundtrack and moments of humor, plus the live-action version released in 2016. The two films couldn't be more different. If you want to go for full family entertainment, pick the original, but if you're after something a little darker, the modern remake is where you should head. (Bonus fact: The entire live-action film was shot in a warehouse.)
Guardians of the Galaxy
The first volume of Guardians of the Galaxy didn't burst into the MCU until 2014, which is relatively late considering Phase One began with Iron Man in 2008. However, it's become a firm fan favorite, providing some of the Universe's most memorable (and important) characters. Quill, Rocket, Groot, Gamora, and Nebula are all distinctive and in many ways more likable than other key MCU characters. Guardians is worth returning to if you want to remember a slightly simpler time before Thanos' Snap.