Picture Credit: Netflix
We’re now midway through October, and while this year in particular it’s the month Netflix turns into a haunted house, if you’ve had your fill of slashers, possessions, and things that go bump in the night, there’s a seriously impressive lineup of non-scary movies arriving this month too. Here’s a belated guide to the licensed and Original movies we’re checking out this month.
October is traditionally the month Netflix turns into a haunted house, but if you’ve had your fill of slashers, possessions and things that go bump in the night, there’s a seriously impressive lineup of non-scary movies arriving this month too.
We’ve already rounded up the full Netflix Halloween 2026 horror lineup, so for this list, we’re leaving the scares at the door. Instead, we’re focusing on everything else: a star-studded political thriller from Ben Affleck, a wild eco-satire with Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy, one of the strangest music stories ever told, and a run of all-time classics from Michael Mann, Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan.
As always, we’ll split our article into two sections: First, we’ll cover the big new Netflix Originals, then dive deeper into some of the licensed titles on the way. Please note: this list is primarily for Netflix US – availability in other regions will vary.
For the complete list of everything new on Netflix for October, keep it locked here on What’s on Netflix.
Best New Netflix Original Movies in October
Animals
Director: Ben Affleck
Cast: Ben Affleck, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Ray Fisher
Genre: Crime, Thriller | Runtime: 105 Minutes
Now Playing
Ben Affleck is having a mammoth year on Netflix. Hot on the heels of The Rip, he’s back pulling triple duty as director, co-writer and star of this R-rated kidnapping thriller – a project that had quite the long and winding road to the screen, with Matt Damon originally attached to the lead before Affleck stepped in himself.
Affleck plays Mark Kimball, an independent candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles who’s in the final days of a razor-thin race when he gets the call every parent dreads: his son has been taken, and the clock is ticking on the ransom. With their savings sunk into the campaign, Mark and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) are forced into increasingly desperate choices – and long-buried secrets start spilling out.
Our own Andrew Morgan gave it a 3/5, describing it as Affleck at his tidiest rather than his most electric, but singling out a slick, scene-stealing Gillian Anderson as a political fixer as the film’s MVP. Subscribers clearly didn’t mind, either – Animals debuted at #1 on the English movie charts with 23.8 million views in its first few days.
Sacrifice
Director: Romain Gavras
Cast: Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Vincent Cassel, Salma Hayek Pinault, John Malkovich, Ambika Mod, Sam Richardson, Charli XCX
Genre: Comedy, Thriller | Runtime: 103 Minutes
Now Playing
If you loved the jaw-dropping, single-take chaos of Athena, director Romain Gavras is back on Netflix with something completely different – and arguably even more unhinged. Netflix picked up the US rights to his English-language debut following its Toronto premiere, and the cast alone makes it a must-click.
Chris Evans plays Mike Tyler, a vain, existentially lost action star who shows up to a glitzy environmental gala in Greece hoping a big climate speech will reboot his image. Instead, he’s taken hostage by Joan (Anya Taylor-Joy), the zealous leader of a doomsday eco-cult convinced that a nearby volcano will end the world unless three high-profile hostages are sacrificed to it. Gavras co-wrote the script with Succession writer Will Arbery, and it takes aim squarely at celebrity activism and billionaire hypocrisy.
Is it any good? That’s the big question. Critics were split right down the middle at TIFF – some loved the big swings and Gavras’ visual bravado, others felt it lost the plot in its back half. Either way, you’re not getting a more bonkers ensemble anywhere else this month.
The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable
Director: Joanna Natasegara
Featuring: Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzougarh, RZA
Genre: Documentary, Music | Runtime: 105 Minutes
Now Playing
This is one of the wildest stories in modern music, and if you only know the headlines (yes, the one-copy album that someone with a reputation brought), you’re in for a treat.
Premiering at Sundance earlier this year before Netflix snapped it up, The Disciple follows Tarik Azzougarh – a Dutch-Moroccan Wu-Tang superfan better known as Cilvaringz – who somehow talks his way into the Wu-Tang Clan’s inner circle, gets taken under RZA’s wing, and becomes the driving force behind Once Upon a Time in Shaolin: a 31-track album recorded in secret over six years, pressed as a single copy, sealed in an ornate silver box and auctioned off as a work of art.
It marks the feature directorial debut of Oscar winner Joanna Natasegara, who produced The White Helmets – the short that won Netflix its very first Academy Award. Expect a fascinating look at fandom, ambition, and what music is actually worth in the streaming era (a little ironic given where you’ll be watching it).
Best New Licensed Movies on Netflix US in October 2026
The Ice Age Collection
Directors: Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha, Steve Martino, Mike Thurmeier
Cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Simon Pegg
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family | Runtime: 81–94 Minutes each
Now Playing
Picture: Disney / 20th Century
Moving on to the licensed titles, and we’re kicking off with one of the bigger licensing surprises of the year. As part of a huge new Disney licensing deal, all five original 20th Century Ice Age movies – Ice Age, The Meltdown, Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Continental Drift and Collision Course – landed on Netflix globally on October 4th.
If you somehow skipped this one growing up, the original follows a mismatched herd – Manny the grumpy mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the motor-mouthed sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the sabre-toothed tiger with questionable motives (Denis Leary) – as they trek across a frozen world to return a human baby to its tribe. All the while, the franchise’s real MVP, Scrat, causes chaos in his never-ending pursuit of that one acorn. The sequels get progressively sillier (dinosaurs, pirates, an asteroid), but the first two remain genuinely great family movies.
Subscribers have clearly been reliving their childhoods, too – the franchise took up half of the English movie top 10 in its first week on the service. Just don’t hang about: this is a three-month promotional window ahead of Ice Age: Boiling Point hitting theaters in February 2027, so expect them to depart in early January.
Transformers One (2024)
Director: Josh Cooley
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne
Genre: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi | Runtime: 104 Minutes
Now Playing
Sticking with animation, we’re going with what is genuinely the best Transformers movie in decades – and it didn’t need a single human or a Michael Bay explosion to get there.
Set entirely on Cybertron, this animated prequel tells the origin story of Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry), two lowly miner bots and inseparable best friends who would go on to become Optimus Prime and Megatron. Directed by Toy Story 4‘s Josh Cooley, it’s funny, gorgeous to look at and far more emotional than it has any right to be. It massively underperformed at the box office, so here’s hoping it finds the audience it deserves on Netflix.
Save Yourselves! (2020)
Directors: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson
Cast: Sunita Mani, John Reynolds, Ben Sinclair, Amy Sedaris
Genre: Comedy, Sci-Fi | Runtime: 93 Minutes
Now Playing
Staying in sci-fi territory but going much, much smaller, this Sundance favorite from Bleecker Street is the kind of quirky little indie that’s perfect for discovering on a quiet weeknight and one we highlighted in our end-of-week post which got a lot of traction.
Sunita Mani (GLOW) and John Reynolds (Search Party) play Su and Jack, a painfully online Brooklyn couple who decide to ditch their phones for a week-long digital detox at a friend’s remote upstate cabin. Blissfully off the grid and busy working on their relationship, they completely miss the news that an alien invasion has begun – and when they finally notice, the invaders turn out to be something you’ll never be able to unsee. It’s a sharp, very funny satire of millennial anxiety and tech addiction, anchored by two wonderfully awkward lead performances, and it’s barely over 90 minutes.
Heat (1995)
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman
Genre: Crime, Thriller | Runtime: 170 Minutes
Now Playing
If you only add one movie to your list this month, make it this one. Michael Mann’s sprawling crime epic is one of the greatest movies ever made, full stop.
Al Pacino is Vincent Hanna, a relentless, coffee-and-adrenaline-fuelled LAPD detective. Robert De Niro is Neil McCauley, a meticulous professional thief who lives by one rule: never get attached to anything you can’t walk out on in 30 seconds flat. Across nearly three hours, the two men circle each other around Los Angeles, culminating in that diner scene (the first time the two legends ever properly shared the screen) and a downtown bank-heist shootout that filmmakers are still trying to top three decades later.
Yes, the runtime is hefty. No, you won’t notice and it serves as an opportune time to dive into this world given a sequel is on the way.
Gladiator (2000) & Gladiator II (2024)
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen / Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn
Genre: Action, Drama, History | Runtime: 155 Minutes / 148 Minutes
Coming to Netflix: October 21st
We’re cheating slightly here, but it would be criminal to split them up. Thanks to Netflix’s ongoing licensing relationship with Paramount, both of Ridley Scott’s Roman epics land on the same day, making for one almighty double bill.
The Best Picture-winning original remains a towering piece of blockbuster filmmaking, with Russell Crowe’s Oscar-winning turn as Maximus – the betrayed general turned slave turned arena legend – and a deliciously slimy Joaquin Phoenix as Emperor Commodus. Are you not entertained?
The 2024 sequel jumps forward to follow a grown-up Lucius (Paul Mescal), forced into the Colosseum after Rome conquers his home. It’s bigger, louder and sillier (sharks in the Colosseum, anyone?), but Denzel Washington is having the absolute time of his life as the scheming power broker Macrinus, and that alone is worth the price of admission.
Pawn Sacrifice (2014)
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Lily Rabe
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller | Runtime: 115 Minutes
Coming to Netflix: October 30th
If The Queen’s Gambit left you craving more chess drama, this underseen gem arriving at the very end of the month is well worth bookmarking.
Tobey Maguire gives arguably the best performance of his career as Bobby Fischer, the brilliant but deeply troubled American prodigy who took on Soviet world champion Boris Spassky (a superb Liev Schreiber) in the legendary 1972 World Chess Championship in Reykjavík. At the height of the Cold War, the match became a proxy battle between superpowers – all while Fischer’s paranoia threatened to derail everything before a single piece was moved. Directed by Edward Zwick (Glory, Blood Diamond), it plays far more like a tense psychological thriller than a stuffy sports biopic.
The Prestige (2006)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, Rebecca Hall, David Bowie
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Drama | Runtime: 130 Minutes
Rewinding back to the beginning of the month (and sticking with obsessive rivalries) rounding out our picks is what many Nolan fans will tell you is his most underrated movie (and they’d be right).
Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play rival stage magicians in Victorian London whose professional one-upmanship spirals into a dangerous, all-consuming obsession, with each willing to sacrifice absolutely everything to perform the ultimate trick. Add in Michael Caine as the wise old engineer and David Bowie (!) as Nikola Tesla, and you’ve got a twisty, endlessly rewatchable puzzle box that rewards your attention right up to the final reveal.
Honorable Mentions
October’s licensed lineup is so deep that plenty of great movies didn’t make the cut. Also worth adding to your list: Morgan Neville’s SNL documentary Lorne (US only), Barry Jenkins’ Best Picture winner Moonlight, Call Me by Your Name, the complete Bourne collection, George Clooney’s political thriller The Ides of March (a great companion piece to Animals), the feel-good wine comedy Bottle Shock, Woody Harrelson’s Champions, and Spanish Netflix thriller Collision Course, which arrives on October 30th.
What movies are you most looking forward to watching on Netflix this October? Let us know in the comments down below!