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The best movies on Hulu to watch in October

Hulu is the place to watch movies across a wide array of genres

Person with Hulu on their computer
Tech Daily / Unsplash

There’s a lot of competition out there in the streaming world, and it can be hard to shuffle through the services to find the best movies to stream right now. Though there are plenty of great movies on Netflix and Amazon still has the platform beat in terms of overall quality, many of the movies on Hulu can’t be streamed anywhere else. The best movies on Hulu can be gritty, family-friendly, and even sci-fi oriented. So if you’re looking to expand your binge-watching horizons, we’ve found the best movies to watch on Hulu right now.

White Men Can't Jump (2023)

White Men Can't Jump
101m
Genre Comedy, Drama
Stars Jack Harlow, Sinqua Walls, Laura Harrier
Directed by Calmatic
There may be too many reboots in entertainment right now, but this iteration of the Woody Harrelson classic is a fun sports flick for those who are familiar with the original and newcomers alike. Jack Harlow and Sinqua Walls play the unlikely basketball hustlers at the movie’s center with a great sense of humor, and modernize the story to make it relevant to today’s streaming audience. Basketball fans should appreciate the references to street ball culture they’ve come to know and love.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
105m
Genre Thriller, Action, Drama, Science Fiction
Stars James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto
Directed by Rupert Wyatt
A reboot of the original Planet of the Apes franchise from the 1970s, Rise of the Planet of the Apes uses incredible CGI and solid acting from James Franco, John Lithgow, and Andy Serkis to bring this classic story back to life. Caesar is a chimpanzee who uses his human-like intelligence to revolt against oppression with the help of other captured apes. The movie makes audiences question themes such as animal abuse, chimpanzee intelligence, racism, and scientific intervention.

Palm Springs (2020)

Palm Springs
83 %
7.4/10
r 90m
Genre Comedy, Romance
Stars Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons
Directed by Max Barbakow
Hulu has often been a haven for good romantic comedies, and Palm Springs is near the top of that list. The story follows a seemingly carefree Nyles (Andy Samberg) and a maid of honor (Cristin Milioti) as they navigate her sister’s wedding. Unfortunately, both of them are caught in a time loop with seemingly no way of escape. This sci-fi twist only makes the movie’s love story more compelling, and it all comes to a perfect, fitting conclusion.

Nomadland (2021)

Nomadland
93 %
7.3/10
r 108m
Genre Drama
Stars Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May
Directed by Chloé Zhao
From celebrated rookie film genius Chloé Zhao comes Nomadland, a beautiful and wary tale of humanism and the American experience. When Fern (Frances McDormand) loses her home — and her husband not too long after — she takes to the road, living wherever she ends up at night and meeting some interesting people along the way. Nominated for six 2021 Academy Awards, the film took home Oscars for best actress, for Zhao’s directing, and as the year’s best picture.

Akira (1988)

Akira
67 %
8/10
r 124m
Genre Animation, Science Fiction, Action
Stars Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama
Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo
Arguably one of the best anime movies of all time, Akira is a crazy sci-fi adventure you’ll want to stream on Hulu. The story begins in Neo-Tokyo 31 years after being destroyed during World War III. Though the city has become a thriving metropolis, a secret military project has transformed a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who threatens to destroy Neo-Tokyo once more. That is unless two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop him.

Another Round (2020)

Another Round
79 %
7.7/10
117m
Genre Comedy, Drama
Stars Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lars Ranthe
Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
At turns hilarious, dark, and surprising, Another Round proves that Thomas Vinterberg is one of the world’s best directors. When four high school teachers decide to test a theory akin to Hemingway’s lifestyle: maintain a certain blood-alcohol level while you work, the results speak to the angst at the heart of every human being. Winner of the best international feature film award at the Oscars, this film is a cautionary tale that’s also a careful reminder that life is worth loving, even if it’s not always easy to do that.

Collective (2019)

Collective
95 %
8.2/10
109m
Genre Documentary, Crime
Stars Liviu Iolu, Razvan Lutac, Mirela Neag
Directed by Alexander Nanau
Nominated for best international feature film and best documentary feature, Collective investigates a tragic accident that reveals much more institutionally wrong. After a nightclub fire in Bucharest, Romania in 2015, journalists discovered healthcare fraud that led to excess deaths of surviving patients multiple weeks after the incident. Something that rings true to many countries where their authorities have abandoned them, the phrase “everything underneath is rotten” gets at the heart of what this bracing, brutal documentary uncovers.

Big Time Adolescence (2020)

Big Time Adolescence
64 %
6.9/10
r 91m
Genre Comedy
Stars Griffin Gluck, Pete Davidson, Jon Cryer
Directed by Jason Orley
A suburban teenager named Mo (Griffin Gluck) comes of age under the self-destructive guidance of his best friend — who just so happens to be a college dropout. As Mo tries to navigate high school, he receives rather unconventional lessons in drug dealing, partying, and dating. It may not be one of the best comedy movies of all time, but Pete Davidson’s supporting performance makes it well worth a watch.

Prey (2022)

Prey
100m
Genre Thriller, Action, Science Fiction
Stars Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Michelle Thrush
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg
Proof that there are great new movies on Hulu, Prey follows a young Comanche woman as she begins to suspect that something otherworldly is attacking her tribe. Thanks to a ferocious central performance from Amber Midthunder, and generally strong direction from Dan Trachtenberg, Prey has some of the best action in the entire franchise, and may also be the installment in this franchise that has the most to say about the world outside of its intricate lore. Prey didn’t get a theatrical release, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t one of the good movies on Hulu.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023)

How to Blow Up a Pipeline
104m
Genre Crime, Drama, Thriller
Stars Ariela Barer, Kristine Frøseth, Lukas Gage
Directed by Daniel Goldhaber
A genuinely great thriller with a solid political bent, How to Blow Up a Pipeline follows a group of strangers who come together with the sole mission of disrupting a pipeline that carries oil. The movie goes to great effort to explain how each member of the group got there and is remarkably frank about how devastating the impacts of the oil industry have already been. How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a pretty angry movie, but thanks to its strong cast of largely unknown actors, it’s also compelling from minute one.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Mad Max: Fury Road
121m
Genre Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
Stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult
Directed by George Miller
One of the best action movies ever made, Mad Max: Fury Road is technically a sequel to the other Mad Max films, but you don’t need to have seen any of them to understand how impressive this movie is. Telling the story of a group of women who try to escape an oppressive society, only to return and take it over, Fury Road is an action-packed flim from its first moment, and that action is some of the best that’s ever been put on screen. Charlize Theron delivers an incredible performance in the central role, but what really makes Fury Road sing is George Miller’s stunning direction.

What Hulu movies are leaving in October?

October 3

  • Escape From Planet Earth
  • Game Night

October 4

  • Area21 Live on Planet Earth

October 7

  • Black Bear
  • Standing UpFalling Down
  • Swift

October 8

  • The Exorcist III
  • The Infiltrator
  • Two for the Money
  • Wish Upon

October 11

  • After

October 12

  • The Bob’s Burgers Movie

October 14

  • A Kind Of Murder

October 15

  • 99 Homes
  • Glengarry Glen Ross
  • I Smile Back
  • Just Getting Started
  • Learning to Drive
  • Man of the Year

October 20

  • Officer Downe

October 26

  • Hell Baby
  • Malignant

October 27

  • Stars at Noon

October 30

  • Love, Gilda
  • Rio 2

October 31

  • Bad Reputation
  • Bewitched
  • Carnage
  • Center Stage: On Pointe
  • Chloe
  • Closer
  • Clive Barker’s The Plague
  • Cover Versions
  • Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
  • Eragon
  • Evil Dead
  • Frank
  • Hotel Transylvania
  • John Dies At The End
  • Killers
  • Labyrinth
  • Leprechaun II
  • Leprechaun Returns
  • Leprechaun 4: Lost In Space
  • Leprechaun
  • Leprechaun Origins
  • Leprechaun III
  • Leprechaun VI: Back 2 Tha Hood
  • Leap Year
  • Leprechaun V: In The Hood
  • Little Fockers
  • Mas Negro Que La Noche
  • Meet the Fockers
  • Meet the Parents
  • Monster House
  • Mom and Dad
  • Notting Hill
  • One For The Money
  • Only Lovers Left Alive
  • Our Idiot Brother
  • Pandorum
  • Practical Magic
  • Queen of the Damned
  • Shark Tale
  • Simply Irresistible
  • Stay
  • Stealing Harvard
  • The Craft
  • The Devil Wears Prada
  • The Grudge 2
  • The Haunting in Connecticut
  • The Hills Have Eyes
  • The Last Exorcism
  • The Lincoln Lawyer
  • The Ringer
  • Turistas
  • Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?
  • Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?
  • Unfaithful
  • Waking Ned Devine
  • Wedding Crashers
  • What’s Your Number?
  • Zoom
  • G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
  • In Time
  • The A-Team
  • G.I. Joe: Retaliation
  • Enemy of the State
  • The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
  • The Lego Movie
  • Seven

What movies are coming to Hulu in October?

October 1

  • 21 & Over
  • 50 First Dates
  • Abduction
  • An American Citizen
  • Beyond JFK
  • Bogus
  • Ceremony
  • Daybreakers
  • Dark Shadows
  • Dazed and Confused
  • Devil’s Due
  • Die Hard 2
  • Doctor Sleep
  • Don’t Say A Word
  • The Double
  • Driven
  • Easy A
  • The Empty Man
  • Exorcism Of Emily Rose
  • Exorcist: The Beginning
  • The Extra Man
  • Fat Albert
  • Fighting
  • Flight Of The Phoenix
  • Food, Inc.
  • Funny People
  • Godzilla 2000
  • Godzilla: Final Wars
  • Godzilla
  • Good Day To Be Black And Sexy
  • Hanna
  • Hollywood Homicide
  • The Hunter
  • Interview With the Vampire
  • It (Stephen King’s)
  • It Chapter Two
  • Leprechaun
  • Leprechaun II
  • Leprechaun III
  • Leprechaun 4: Lost In Space
  • Leprechaun V: In The Hood
  • Leprechaun VI: Back 2 Tha Hood
  • Leprechaun Origins
  • Leprechaun Returns
  • Little Miss Sunshine
  • Mona Lisa Smile
  • Murder on the Orient Express
  • The New Age
  • Nightmare Alley
  • Nobody Walks
  • Oblivion
  • The Omen
  • Ondine
  • Outrage: Way of the Yakuza
  • Perfect Stranger
  • Phone Booth
  • Pusher I
  • Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands
  • Pusher III: I’m The Angel Of Death
  • Q & A
  • Rudy
  • The Sacrament
  • Shaun Of The Dead
  • Sleepless in Seattle
  • Stoker
  • Sunchaser
  • Stripper
  • Synchronicity
  • That Night
  • Todo Cambia
  • Tower Heist
  • Turtle Beach
  • Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?
  • Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?
  • Underwater
  • Pain & Gain
  • Star Trek
  • Tropic Thunder

October 2

  • Appendage
  • American Ripper
  • Amish Witches

October 5

  • The Boogeyman

October 6

  • The Tank
  • Zombie Town

October 7

  • A Lot of Nothing

October 8

  • Standing Up Falling Down
  • Swift

October 9

  • The Mill

October 10

  • Finnick

October 12

  • Daliland

October 13

  • Nocebo

October 14

  • Empire of Light

October 15

  • Centurion
  • Filth
  • Hobo With A Shotgun
  • I’m Still Here
  • Ragnarok
  • Slotherhouse
  • Venus And Serena
  • Viva

October 16

  • Capricorn One
  • Perfect Strangers

October 17

  • Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

October 20

  • Cobweb

October 21

  • Life Upside Down
  • Totally Under Control

October 26

  • Master Gardener

October 27

  • Begin Again
  • Susie Searches

October 31

  • Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Editors' Recommendations

Movie images and data from:
Shawn Laib
Shawn Laib is a freelance writer with publications such as Den of Geek, Quote.com, Edge Media Network, diaTribe, SUPERJUMP…
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