The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (2024)

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (1)

It's time to have a look at the best movies of 2024 so far, following recent releases like the anticipated sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and gems like I Saw The TV Glow.

We are on the ninth month of the year, which means there are already plenty of must-see films in our list. Some of them, like All of Us Strangers and Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest, are already available on streaming services like Disney+ and Prime Video. Make sure you keep up to date with all of them as we keep gathering the best movies of 2024, including titles like Furiosa, Challengers and Dune: Part Two.

From Paddington in Peru to the anticipated sequel to Beetlejuice, we are also including a list of 2024 movies we are most looking forward to watching this year. Check all titles and their official release dates by scrolling down in this article.

Not all movies are able to make it into the list, though, with titles like Borderlands and Trap becoming some of the most disappointing movies of the year.

It remains to be seen if this new year will live up to 2023's best movies, which included absolute box-office bangers like Barbie and Oppenheimer (will there be a new Barbenheimer in 2024?) and widely acclaimed movies like Celine Song's Past Lives and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. So far this year we've had some very incredible surprises, and there is still much left to enjoy.

Here are the best and most anticipated movies of 2024.

Best Movies of 2024

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (2)

So, what is the best movie of 2024? Zendaya's tennis drama Challengers, Dev Patel's amazing directorial debut Monkey Man, Oscar winner Poor Things, or perhaps it is yet to arrive in cinemas?

There are many months ahead to go over the candidates and come to a decision, so make sure you're all caught up with all new 2024 movie releases as soon as possible.

There are some notable mentions – good movies that didn't make it into the list, like Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt's action comedy The Fall Guy, the musical stage adaptation The Color Purple, Jodie Comer's survival drama The End We Start From, and Olivia Colman's charming comedy Wicked Little Letters.

Here are our picks for the best movies of 2024 so far.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (3)

Beetlejuice is back in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a fun and nostalgic sequel to Tim Burton's iconic 1988 film.

The movie makes sensible use of the fan-service card while introducing some exciting new elements and characters, as well as an expansion of its hilariously bureaucratic Neitherworld.

Set over three decades after the original movie, the story follows Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and her teenage daughter Astrid (played by Wednesday star Jenna Ortega) as they return to the little village of Winter River. When Astrid gets in trouble in the land of the dead, Lydia asks Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) for help.

Catherine O'Hara is also back as Delia Deetz, as the original cast is joined by Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Danny de Vito.

Read our review of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

!Watch now: Out in cinemas
Release date (UK): September 6, 2024

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I Saw the TV Glow

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (4)

Jane Schoenbrun's new movie I Saw the TV Glow is not only a must-see movie this year, but one that is bound to become a cult classic.

The story follows Owen (Justice Smith), a lonely teenager living in the suburbs who gets introduced to a mysterious late-night TV show called The Pink Opaque (which was inspired by '90s shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twin Peaks and The X-Files).

As he escapes his troubled home every Saturday night to watch the show with his moody classmate Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), Owen's reality starts changing. To say more than that about the story would be spoiling the mind-boggling experience it offers.

I Saw the TV Glow is a visually stunning journey that feels deliciously bizarre and totally exciting. You might want to watch it more than once!

Watch now: TBC
Release date (UK): July 26, 2024

Twisters

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (5)

Twisters is one of the best movies of 2024, and a perfect summer blockbuster.

Normal People's Daisy Edgar-Jones and Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell star this movie, which is not exactly a direct sequel of Twister but a brand-new story about fearless people chasing tornadoes.

The story follows Kate Cooper (Edgar-Jones), a former storm chaser that gets lured back into the fields of Tornado Alley by her friend Javi (In The Heights' Anthony Ramos). Their paths cross with Tyler Owens (Powell), a reckless "tornado wrangler".

Directed by Minari's Lee Isaac Chung, Twisters is a fun ride with spectacular set pieces and a compelling enemies-to-lovers storyline. Crazy tornadoes are back and we're here for it!

Read our review of Twisters.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date (UK): July 17, 2024

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Thelma

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (6)

One of the sweetest movies of the year, Thelma is an unexpected revenge comedy inspired by the likes of Mission: Impossible.

Academy Award nominee June Squibb, in her first-ever leading role at age 94, plays a woman who refuses to stay put after falling victim of a scam. While her family worries about her ability to still live by herself, she embarks on a journey to get her stolen money back.

The movie also stars Gladiator II and The White Lotus star Fred Hechinger as Thelma's grandson Danny, with his parents played by Parker Posey and Clark Gregg.

The late Richard Roundtree plays Thelma's friend Ben, who helps her track down the scam perpetrators and let her use his precious two-seat mobility scooter.

Read our review of Thelma.

Watch now: Out in cinemas
Release date (UK): July 19, 2024

Longlegs

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (7)

Nicolas Cage is absolutely terrifying in Longlegs, one of the best horror movies of the year.

A much darker version of The Silence of the Lambs, the follows a gifted FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), who is recruited by Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) to hunt a Satanic serial killer called Longlegs (Cage). He's been on a killing spree for decades, leaving a trail of notes filled with occult symbols nobody has been able to decipher.

This is not a jump scare kind of movie, but a deeply unsettling and chilling horror movie that will leave you shaking. Longlegs is a must-watch of 2024.

Read our review of Longlegs.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date (UK): July 12, 2024

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A Quiet Place: Day One

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (8)

While we wait for the Abbott family's return in A Quiet Place 3, fans can now find out where it all started.

A Quiet Place: Day One is a prequel film set against the original alien invasion, which gave way to the post-apocalyptic state we see in 2018's A Quiet Place and its 2020 sequel.

The movie introduces characters Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) and Eric (Joseph Quinn) as they're thrown together in New York City during the invasion.

Pig's Michael Sarnoski takes over from John Krasinski on directing duties, and the result is unexpectedly emotional and still terrifying.

Read our review of A Quiet Place: Day One.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date (UK): June 28, 2024

Kinds of Kindness

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (9)

Only a few months after winning her second Oscar, Emma Stone is back alongside Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos for a deranged new film.

Kinds of Kindness is a "triptych fable" with three independent stories (except for the mysterious RMF, who appears in all of them) starring Stone, Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, Willem Dafoe, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schafer.

You won't see a movie quite like this one this year — if you manage to stick with it through its lengthy runtime, you'll be rewarded with a bizarre experience that will have you wincing, laughing and thinking.

Read our review of Kinds of Kindness.

Watch now: Disney+ | Prime Video | Microsoft Store
Release date (UK): June 28, 2024

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The Bikeriders

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (10)

The Bikeriders is probably the coolest movie of 2024, and not just due to those to-die-for leather jackets.

Directed by Jeff Nichols and inspired by Danny Lyon's 1968 photobook of the same name, the movie follows a Midwestern motorcycle club known as The Vandals, which morphed into a sinister gang over time.

Jodie Comer is a charismatic narrator through a story about tough men, unchecked testosterone and loud motorbikes, with Austin Butler oozing bad-boy sensuality at every turn and Tom Hardy nailing his usual tortured-man routine.

The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus, Bullet Train's Mike Shannon, and Narcos actor Boyd Holbrook also star in this film, which earned a superb critical reception upon release.

Read our review of The Bikeriders.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store | Peacock (US)
Release date (UK): June 21, 2024

Inside Out 2

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (11)

Almost a decade after its release, Inside Out is back with an exciting sequel featuring more relatable emotions like Anxiety (voiced by Stranger Things star Maya Hawke).

With Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale replacing Bill Hader) and Disgust (Liza Lapira replacing Mindy Kaling) back to business, Inside Out 2 follows teenager Riley as she faces new challenges as a young woman.

Directed by Onward's Kelsey Mann, the movie follows its predecessor's success, already soaring at the box office as one of the biggest movies of 2024. The sequel will eventually have a Disney+ release.

Read our review of Inside Out 2.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date (UK): June 14, 2024

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Hit Man

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (12)

Netflix's Hit Man is out now on Netflix after a limited cinema release, which is great news for viewers eager to enjoy one of the best movies of 2024.

Top Gun: Maverick star Glen Powell plays Gary Johnson, an undercover cop posing as a hitman. As he becomes smitten with a "client", Maddy Masters (Good Omens star Adria Arjona), he finds his job becomes increasingly difficult.

The film is directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Powell, based on an article of the same name that appeared in 2001's Texas Monthly magazine.

Hit Man is a smart, playful, steamy romantic comedy that explores fascinating philosophical issues while still being utterly goofy.

Read our review of Hit Man.

Watch now: Netflix
Release date (UK)
: June 7, 2024

The Beast

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (13)

If you're looking for a challenging watch this year, let that be The Beast. Bertrand Bonello's new movie is outstanding, a bold, romantic sci-fi epic that defies categorisation.

Inspired by Henry James's 1903 novella The Beast in the Jungle, the movie follows fated lovers Gabrielle (an excellent Léa Seydoux) and Louis (1917's George MacKay) through diverse reincarnations in 1910, 2014 and 2044.

Their connection survives through these three distinct time periods, even if the memories of their past lives are forgotten. The movie explores how to love and find happiness in a world always on the verge of disaster.

Read our review of The Beast.

Watch now: MUBI | Prime Video | iTunes
Release date (UK): May 31, 2024

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (14)

Anya Taylor-Joy takes over from Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa for this critically acclaimed prequel, which strengthens the character's legend after her first appearance in Mad Max: Fury Road.

Directed by George Miller, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga starts when a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is snatched from her home in the Green Place of Many Mothers by a biker gang run by the Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Forced to survive at all costs, Furiosa grows up to be a lethal woman in search of vengeance, and a way back home.

It might not be as good as Fury Road (which, to be fair, is one of the best movies of this century), but Furiosa is a sensational action movie that expands Mad Max's mythology.

Read our review of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date (UK): May 24, 2024

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (15)

The Planet of the Apes franchise keeps growing with a new sequel following the events of Matt Reeves' 2017 movie War for the Planet of the Apes. Now, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set 300 years after Caesar's lifetime.

When a new tyrannical ape leader builds his own empire perverting Caesar's legacy, a young ape named Noa (Owen Teague) and a feral woman named Mae (The Witcher's Freya Allan) embark on a journey that will cause them to question everything they know.

Directed by The Maze Runner's Wes Ball, this new movie opens a promising new chapter (a reboot of sorts) for the franchise.

Read our review of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date (UK): May 9, 2024

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La Chimera

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (16)

Josh O'Connor is having such a sensational year that the excellent Challengers is not even his best movie of 2024 – La Chimera is a spellbinding masterpiece.

Alice Rohrwacher's new movie follows Arthur (O'Connor), an Englishman leading a band of grave robbers (or tombaroli) in 1980s Italy.

Arthur is able to sense the presence of underground burial chambers that have remained hidden for centuries, so he disturbs the land of the dead in order to steal their treasures while he obsesses over his disappeared girlfriend Beniamina.

La Chimera is about working-class chimeras and hopes of prosperity, as a troubled man chases ghosts in a dreamlike land.

Read our review of La Chimera.

Watch now: MUBI
Release date (UK)
: May 10, 2024

Love Lies Bleeding

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (17)

Kristen Stewart's new movie Love Lies Bleeding has received raving reviews, quickly becoming one of the best movies of 2024.

Directed by Rose Glass (Saint Maud), the movie follows a reclusive gym manager who falls hard for an ambitious bodybuilder named Jackie (the sensational Katy O'Brian, who's just been cast in the next Mission: Impossible).

The blossoming relationship between Stewart and O'Brian's characters ends up in a path of violence, which pulls them deep into the web of a criminal family.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date (UK): May 3, 2024

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Challengers

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (18)

Not long after Dune: Part Two, Zendaya comes back to the big screen with Challengers, also starring The Crown's Josh O'Connor and West Side Story's Mike Faist.

The story follows Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy who is forced to shift her career after a bad injury, ending up coaching her husband Art Donaldson (Faist). When she recommends he takes some time on the Challenger circuit to rebuild his confidence, they are reunited with Patrick Zweig (O'Connor), Art's former best friend and Tashi's ex.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino (known for Call Me by Your Name and Bones and All), Challengers brings a love/sex triangle to the tennis court with plenty of sexual tension. In the ending, it's not about who wins the match, but who gets to enjoy every minute.

Read our review of Challengers.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date: April 26, 2024

Civil War

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (19)

Alex Garland's new movie takes no prisoners.

Civil War imagines an internal armed conflict in the US, with an authoritarian President (Nick Offerman) clinging to power and two sides wreaking havoc in cities like New York and Washington.

The movie focuses on a group of journalists who are reporting on the conflict. Experienced photographer Lee (an excellent Kirsten Dunst), reporter Joel (Narcos' Wagner Moura), veteran political journalist Sammy (Dune's Stephen McKinley Henderson) and newcomer Jessie (Priscilla's Cailee Spaeny) team up as they embark on a road trip through a devastated America.

It's brutal, thought-provoking and evocative, with a terrifying scene with Jesse Plemons and an ending that will have viewers thinking way after the credits have rolled.

Read our review of Civil War.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date: April 12, 2024

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Monkey Man

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (20)

Dev Patel's directorial debut, Monkey Man, is a brutal revenge tale that deserves a place among the best movies of 2024.

Addressing class division, religious disputes, police brutality and political extremism, the story follows Kid, a young man who desperately wants to avenge his mother's death. His journey will see him become an unexpected superhero (inspired by Indian mythology icon Hanuman) seeking revenge for the powerless.

Honouring Bruce Lee's martial arts legacy and drawing inspiration from Korea's brutal action films, the movie breathes enthusiasm, passion and ambition. It's also deliciously violent and entertaining.

Read our review of Monkey Man, and get a deep dive into the movie's portrayal of Indian politics.

Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Release date: April 5, 2024

Evil Does Not Exist

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (21)

After delivering two of the best movies of 2021, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and the multi award-winning Drive My Car, Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi is back with the stunning Evil Does Not Exist.

Set in the small rural town of Mizubiki, not far from Tokyo, the story centres on a clash between mindless development and the need to preserve the natural world. The villagers oppose the building of a glamping site nearby, which could have a negative impact on their lives and particularly on their water supply.

This might sound like a straightforward story of rural resistance and environmental awareness, but in Hamaguchi's hands it becomes so much more than that — there is also room for mystery and surrealism, as well as an enigmatic ending that will leave viewers thinking well after the credits have rolled.

Watch now: Sky Cinema | iTunes
Release date (UK): April 5, 2024

The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (22)

Mireia Mullor

Deputy Movies Editor, Digital Spy
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over seven years, mostly for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas.

Her work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema in the UK.

She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world, and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London.
Now based in the UK, Mireia joined Digital Spy in June 2023 as Deputy Movies Editor.

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The 30 best movies of 2024 and where to watch them (2024)

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