Paid subscription streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ might get all the attention thanks to their original content with big-name stars, but the less-heralded services like Vudu, IMDb TV, and Tubi have tons of great movies and TV shows in their libraries, too. More importantly, their offerings are available to watch for free, unlike all but a few Netflix titles. All these flicks will cost you are watching a few commercials. But you can handle some ads in order to get to free content! That’s how you used to watch TV when you were a kid and there were only a few channels on the one 500-pound television in the living room!
We combed the major free streaming services for the best movies available for free right now, including some that are family-friendly and some that are not family-friendly at all. Watch them soon, because free movies shuffle on and off these services very quickly.
If you’re not in the mood for a movie, TV Guide also has a list of the best TV shows to watch for free. And if you’re looking for something to watch right now, free or otherwise, check out our Watch This Now page.
Family-Friendly Films
The Hunger Games series (Tubi)
If I type out “1-2-3-4,” do you get what I mean? If not, do yourself a favor and watch the Hunger Games tetralogy right away. The adaptations of the dystopian young adult novels by Suzanne Collins star Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers as tribute to fight on behalf of her starving community in her society’s annual titular bloodsport. It’s not for younger kids, but older kids will love it.
Hook (IMDb TV)
Steven Spielberg famously doesn’t like his colorful 1991 fantasy film, but the millions of kids who grew up watching it would disagree. It stars Robin Williams as a grown-up Peter Pan who has forgotten who he is, but learns how to fight, fly, crown, an be a kid again when he goes back to Neverland to save his own children from the evil Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman). It’s available to stream for Smee.
Whale Rider (IMDb TV)
This moving New Zealand film tells the story of Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a 12-year-old Maori girl who wants to grow up to become the chief of her tribe, which women are not allowed to be. But she’s the true descendant of Paikea, the ancestral whale rider, and she not stop until she proves herself. Castle-Hughes was nominated for an Oscar, and was the youngest Best Actress nominee until Quvenzhané Wallis was nominated for Beasts of the Southern Wild at age 9. Director Niki Caro went on to direct the live-action Mulan, the most expensive movie ever directed by a female filmmaker.
Kung Fu Panda (IMDb TV)
Jack Black voices Po, a good-hearted but bumbling giant panda, who wants nothing more than to become a kung fu master, in this blockbuster family comedy. Kung Fu Panda 2 is also currently available on IMDb TV.
Ella Enchanted (Vudu)
Young Anne Hathaway stars in this fantastical romantic comedy that’s a loving spoof of Cinderella and other fairy tales. She plays Ella, a headstrong girl who is cursed to obey every command given to her. Over the course of the movie, she strives to overcome the enchantment while falling in love with Prince Char (Hugh Dancy), a teen idol heir to the throne.
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For After the Kids Go to Bed
King of New York (Tubi)
Director Abel Ferrara‘s stylish neo-noir thriller stars Christopher Walken as Frank White, a drug lord who consolidates power after getting out of prison. He tries to give back to the community as best he can, but the NYPD has it out for him. He also likes to dance. It’s a strange, moody, sort of surreal gangster picture that’s a must-watch for grimy New York movie fans.
Donnie Darko (IMDb TV)
I was just thinking about how this late-night classic came out in 2001 and was set in 1988, which means the gap between its nostalgic period-piece portrayal of the ’80s and when it came into the world was only as long as 2007 was to now. 2008, really, since it premiered in early 2001. This metaphysical movie is about time travel, and real-life time seems to be speeding up. Anyway, young Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the titular teen, who is having apocalyptic visions of a mysterious figure in a bunny costume named Frank. It’s still pretty weird and great. It’s time they let writer-director Richard Kelly make another movie.
Taxi Driver (IMDb TV)
Every now and then, a certified classic will show up on a free streaming site. Right now, it’s Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese‘s legendary psychological thriller about an alienated young man named Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) who tries to find a place where he belongs in grimy ’70s New York City.
Fruitvale Station (Tubi)
Director Ryan Coogler’s devastating film dramatizes the death of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old man who was killed by police early in the morning on New Year’s Day 2009 while in their custody at the titular train station in Oakland. It’s a powerful film that’s unfortunately as timely as ever.
Freeway (Tubi)
This deranged riff on Little Red Riding Hood stars a teenaged Reese Witherspoon as an impoverished girl with an explosive temper who, when her car breaks down on the road to her grandmother’s house, gets picked up by Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland), a serial killer. It’s a nasty little black comic thriller that helped Witherspoon evolve into the A+ lister she is today.
Coffy (Tubi)
Blaxploitation icon Pam Grier stars in this thrilling, sexy action movie as the titular nurse by day, vigilante by night who gets revenge on the drug dealers who got her sister hooked on heroin. Grier was the first Black woman to star in an action movie, and the success of Coffy led to even more iconic movies like Foxy Brown, Friday Foster, and, later, Jackie Brown.
Night of the Living Dead (Vudu)
One of cinema’s most influential horror movies — scratch that, most influential movies, full stop — is right there on Vudu for you to stream for free. George Romero‘s classic revolutionized both the zombie subgenre and independent film as a whole.
