This article is updated frequently as movies leave and enter Peacock. New titles are indicated with an asterisk.
Who’s ready for another streaming service? NBCUniversal jumped into the crowded pool in 2020 with the launch of Peacock, a destination for everything from classic monster movies to episodes of 30 Rock to original programming. But as with all of these services, it can all be a little overwhelming. The truth is that Peacock’s film catalogue is a little thin and a little strange (there’s an amazing number of B-movies like Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus), but it does have some of the weight of the Universal brand and all its history, including classic franchises and recent hits (and the service will likely have more when licensing deals expire with other streaming platforms). But until the selection expands, you can’t go wrong with any of the following films.
This Month’s Editor’s Pick
*John Wick
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Chad Stahelski
The one that started it all! Actually, all four of the main films in the series about the assassin who destroys worlds when his dog gets murdered are on Peacock, just waiting for you to prepare for Ballerina (which is pretty fun, btw). Have a marathon and admire the incredible stunt choreography and charismatic leading man work from Keanu Reeves. There’s not a bad film in this franchise.
The Act of Killing
Year: 2013
Runtime: 2h 39m
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
You’ve never seen a documentary quite like The Act of Killing. One of the best films of the 2010s, Joshua Oppenheimer’s film unpacks the Indonesian genocides of the 1960s and how the men who perpetrated them have never faced consequences. These men act out their crimes in reenactments, leading to what’s almost an exorcism for both the killer and the survivors. It’s breathtaking.
Apocalypto
Year: 2006
Runtime: 2h 17m
Director: Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson, king of the brutal historical blockbuster, took an honest risk when he helmed this story of the Yucatan in Mexico around 1502. Told entirely in the Mayan language, Apocalypto is the story of Jaguar Paw, a young hunter whose tribe is invaded by outsiders. The film made an absolute fortune at the box office and has a loyal following.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Year: 2009
Runtime: 2h 2m
Director: Werner Herzog
Director Werner Herzog was an unexpected choice for an unexpected sequel to Abel Ferrara’s 1992 film Bad Lieutenant, but this isn’t your normal sequel. In fact, it has nothing really to do with that first film other than it also centering a corrupt cop. Nicolas Cage gives one of his most unhinged and impressive performances here, and that’s really saying something.
Bernie
Year: 2011
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater directed this black comedy based on the true story of Bernie Tiede (Jack Black), a man who befriended an elderly Texas woman named Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine) and ended up murdering her. It’s a quirky little movie with one of Black’s best performances and a great supporting turn by Matthew McConaughey.
*The Big Lebowski
Year: 1998
Runtime: 1h 57m
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Well, that’s just like your opinion, man. Joel and Ethan Coen followed up the biggest hit of their careers, Fargo, with the story of Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski, unforgettably played by Jeff Bridges. In one of his most iconic roles, Bridges captures a kind of lazy L.A. style that turned this flick into a comedy classic, a movie that’s being quoted somewhere in the world on every minute of every day.
Black Bag
Year: 2025
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
One of the most acclaimed films of early 2025 is already exclusively on Peacock, mere weeks after it played in theaters. Sexy and stylish, Black Bag is the story of a spy (Michael Fassbender) who realizes that he may not be able to trust his wife (Cate Blanchett). Steven Soderbergh does no wrong, and this is one of the most acclaimed works of his illustrious career.
Burning
Year: 2018
Runtime: 2h 28m
Director: Lee Chang-dong
The best foreign language film of 2018 has finally landed on Peacock and should definitely be seen by anyone who fell in love with Steven Yeun’s Oscar-nominated work in Minari or his stellar acting on Netflix’s Beef. Lee Chang-dong adopts a novella by Haruki Murakami into a riveting dissection of class and gender in modern Korea. Yeun is mesmerizing as the mysterious Ben, someone who our protagonist starts to think might be a killer. Don’t miss this one.
Donnie Darko
Year: 2004
Runtime: 2h 13m
Director: Richard Kelly
It’s a mad world in Richard Kelly’s sci-fi hit starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, and Jena Malone. Darko made almost nothing in theaters but developed a loyal following on the home market, becoming one of the more acclaimed sci-fi films of the ‘00s. Join in the conversation that seems to constantly surround this film (and maybe Kelly will be encouraged to make another one soon — he hasn’t directed in over a decade). Note that the version on Peacock is the slightly inferior director’s cut, but still worth a look.
Fitzcarraldo
Year: 1982
Runtime: 2h 37m
Director: Werner Herzog
The production of this film (chronicled in the great doc Burden of Dreams) is almost more interesting than the movie as director Werner Herzog actually had a crew haul a 320-ton steamship up a hill and fought on the regular with the maniacal star Klaus Kinski. The cool thing about the movie is you can see the chaotic production right there on the screen, as Herzog captures the insanity of his subject matter in a way that required a little instability.
Get Out
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: Jordan Peele
Get Out is the one that really changed the current state of horror, reminding studios how acclaimed and popular it could be if treated with the right respect. It also won its creator an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, launching one of the most interesting careers of the current era. It’s held up remarkably well, and it’s hardly ever available on streaming services, so take this chance while you can to rewatch a movie whose influence is still shaking the industry.
Glengarry Glen Ross
Year: 1992
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: James Foley
David Mamet wrote the adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play and pulled off the rare trick of a nearly perfect version of a stage hit. It helps a great deal to have a cast of legends, and this one includes Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alex Baldwin, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, and Jonathan Pryce — every single one of them perfect in their part.
The Harry Potter movies
Year: Various
Runtime: Various
Director: Various
J.K. Rowling is horrible now, but the books and films that emerged from her work continue to maintain and even build an incredibly loyal audience. They have a habit of rolling on and off streaming sites, and they’re back on Peacock for now, waiting for the entire family to have a marathon of the story of the Boy Who Lived. Like any massive franchise, they’re a rollercoaster of quality, but Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire rule.
Ichi the Killer
Year: 2001
Runtime: 2h 9m
Director: Takashi Miike
Despite being one of Takashi Miike’s breakthrough films internationally, his action flick is still banned in several countries around the world. You may think you know what you’re in for, but Ichi is its own special category of crazy, as anyone who’s seen it can attest. When it was released, it was the kind of film that one had to special order from online companies, and now it can be streamed directly to your phone while you’re on the bus. Isn’t technology wonderful?
*Jurassic Park
Year: 1993
Runtime: 2h 6m
Director: Steven Spielberg
An instant classic when it was released, Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur blockbuster spawned a franchise that’s still humming over three decades later with the 2025 release of the surefire hit Rebirth. All five of the films in the series, including Spielberg’s sequel The Lost World and the 2010s reboot, are on Peacock right now.
The Master
Year: 2012
Runtime: 2h 17m
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
One of P.T. Anderson’s best films, and one of the best films of the 2010s by anybody, is this drama starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. Originally seen as a dissection of the creation of Scientology, The Master is a lot more than that, breaking down leader/follower relationships, trauma, and doubt in ways that only one of our best filmmakers could. It’s a masterpiece.
*The Matrix
Year: 1999
Runtime: 2h 16m
Director: The Wachowskis
Neo and the gang returned in late 2021 with The Matrix Resurrections, and the response was predictably divisive. You know what’s not divisive? The fact that the first movie still absolutely rules. The story of an average guy who learns that nothing is what it seems has influenced so much pop culture in the quarter century since this movie was released. You can see Neo everywhere. (And you can watch the entire original trilogy on Peacock now.)
Night of the Living Dead
Year: 1968
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director: Clive Barker
It’s really hard to overstate the impact that George A. Romero’s classic black-and-white masterpiece had on not just the zombie genre but DIY microbudget horror filmmaking. So many people have been chasing that game-changing impact of Night of the Living Dead in the half-century since it came out, but it’s the original that’s passed the test of time.
Nightbreed
Year: 1990
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director: Clive Barker
Clive Barker wrote and directed an adaptation of his Cabal and released it to a much more muted response than greeted his hit Hellraiser. Over the years, Nightbreed has developed a loyal following, in part due to the various versions of it now available. The one on Amazon is the theatrical, in which Craig Sheffer plays a man who becomes convinced his therapist is a serial killer, and his own investigation leads him to a tribe of monsters. Good times.
*Nope
Year: 2022
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Jordan Peele
The genius behind Get Out and Us delivered his most controversial film in Nope, a story that blends an alien invasion with a commentary on movie-watching and spectacle in general. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer are fantastic in this story of people beset upon by an alien species that likes to watch. Brilliantly structured and gorgeously shot, this is blockbuster horror filmmaking at its finest.
The Northman
Year: 2022
Runtime: 2h 17m
Director: Robert Eggers
This epic from the director of The Lighthouse stars Alexander Skarsgard as a Viking prince who returns to his homeland with vengeance on his mind. A retelling of the myth that inspired Hamlet, this visually striking tale also stars Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Bjork, and Willem Dafoe. It’s one of those films that history will likely be very kind to as the years pass.
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Year: 1979
Runtime: 2h 4m
Director: Werner Herzog
In 1979, Werner Herzog released his daring vision of the classic F.W. Murnau film Nosferatu. Klaus Kinski plays Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani is Lucy Harker, and Bruno Ganz is Jonathan Harker in this unforgettable mood piece, a movie that’s so unsettling that one wonders if Kinski might actually be a bloodsucker. It remains one of Herzog’s most popular films for a reason.
Oppenheimer
Year: 2023
Runtime: 3h
Director: Christopher Nolan
A Best Picture winner and one of the biggest blockbusters of its era is usually on Peacock when it comes to subscription streaming services. While Nolan’s masterful historical drama played best on the big screen, it sustains a lot of its power at home too, where one can appreciate all of the many detailed choices that went into this unforgettable production with each repeat viewing.
Paddington
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Paul King
One of the sweetest family films ever made adapts the classic talking bear to modern London when Paddington (Ben Whishaw) finds his way there from “Darkest Peru,” looking for a new home. He finds one with an average family led by Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins, but crosses paths with a nefarious taxidermist (a wonderful Nicole Kidman) who tries to take him down. This is such a gently funny and likable movie. You kind of have to be a jerk to hate it.
Passion Fish
Year: 1992
Runtime: 2h 15m
Director: John Sayles
The brilliant writer/director John Sayles delivered one of his most beloved films in the 1992 drama about a soap opera star (Mary McDonnell) who has been paralyzed after being hit by a cab. She returns to her family home, where she crosses paths with a nurse (Alfre Woodard) who refuses to give up on her. It’s moving in a way that feels genuine, never manipulative.
The Proposition
Year: 2005
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: John Hillcoat
There aren’t a lot of great Westerns on any streaming service, but this more modern one is worth your time. John Hillcoat directs a gritty, vicious script by Nick Cave (of The Bad Seeds fame) and draws excellent performances from a cast that includes Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, and a movie-stealing Danny Huston. With riveting cinematography by Benoit Delhomme, The Proposition is a Western that looks phenomenal, unfolding like a visualization of one of Cave’s albums.
Requiem for a Dream
Year: 2000
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky adapted Hubert Selby Jr.’s novel of the same name into one of the most harrowing films about addiction that has ever been made. Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn, Marlon Wayans, and Jennifer Connelly star in a film that looks at four different spirals into drug abuse and the horrors that can often come with it. The performances are unforgettable, but it’s the incredible visual confidence that Aronofsky displayed in only his second film that makes this such a riveting experience.
Short Term 12
Year: 2013
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Long before she would be Captain Marvel, Brie Larson played a worker at a group home for troubled teenagers in this powerful drama. Based on his own experience, Destin Daniel Cretton wrote and directed this critical darling that now looks like a launchpad for a generation of stars including Larson, Lakeith Stanfield, Rami Malek, Stephanie Beatriz, John Gallagher Jr., and Kaitlyn Dever.
Sign o’ the Times
Year: 1987
Runtime: 1h 25m
Director: Prince
One of the best concert films of all time is sitting on Peacock waiting for you to jam to it. Largely produced as a tie-in to the 1987 album of the same name, which wasn’t selling like they hoped, this film captures Prince at his most electric, and has really stood the test of time.
Sophie’s Choice
Year: 1982
Runtime: 2h 30m
Director: Alan Pakula
Meryl Streep gives one of the best performances of all time in this story of a writer (Peter MacNicol) living in Brooklyn who befriends an Auschwitz survivor (Streep) and her beau (Kevin Kline) shortly after the Holocaust. Through flashbacks, we see Sophie’s harrowing journey, including what the title heartbreakingly refers to — a phrase that has been co-opted in the four decades since to refer to any difficult decision.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Year: 1974
Runtime: 1h 23m
Director: Tobe Hooper
What’s so stunning about this horror masterpiece is what it doesn’t show. So many people remember this flick as a gore-filled nightmare, but Hooper actually lets your mind do most of the work, rarely showing as much as the film’s reputation. It’s still an unforgettable film, one that changed the indie horror landscape forever.
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