Picture Credit: Netflix
From Kpop Demon Hunters to Carry-On, we’re counting down Netflix’s best movies of each year from 2016 to 2025.
A decade ago, in 2016, Netflix began to significantly increase its movie output with films like The Siege of Jadotville and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. Fast forward to 2026, and the streamer will release many dozens of original movies. There’s no confirmed figure, but it’ll be over 50.
Looking back at the last 10 years, Netflix has released a number of award-winning movies — and in some cases, Oscar-winning films. What are the best Netflix Original movies from each of the last 10 years? Here’s our rundown, taking into account subjective opinion, critical reception, viewership, and awards recognition.
Kpop Demon Hunters
Netflix released some of its biggest and most esteemed original movies throughout 2025. From star-studded pictures like Back in Action and Frankenstein, to critically acclaimed dramas like Steve and Jay Kelly. It’s hard to narrow it down to just one title, but overall, there’s one movie that stands out from the (very impressive) crowd, and it’s Kpop Demon Hunters.
Kpop Demon Hunters brings together one of the world’s biggest pop genres with phenomenal animation. The movie follows K-Pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey. When their illustrious career starts to stall, and they fail to sell out stadiums or top the Billboard charts, they instead go undercover to protect their fans from supernatural dangers. It is officially the most successful Netflix movie of all-time, drawing in an unprecedented 20.5 billion viewing minutes, which equates to over 200 million full watches.
The success of Kpop Demon Hunters culminated in the 2026 Academy Awards, where it secured the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. A sequel is already in development.
Carry-On
When we think of action movies set at Christmas-time, Die Hard always comes to mind. In 2024, Netflix attempted to channel a similar energy with Carry-On, a movie following a young airline security guard, Ethan Kopek (played by Taron Egerton), who gets promoted to man an X-ray monitor. However, while working a busy holiday shift, he’s handed an earpiece by a stranger, and blackmailed into allowing a explosive to pass through security. The movie is blends incredible tension with high-stakes thrills and excellent action. It’s also refreshing to see a movie like this take place predominantly in the airport rather than on the plane itself.
Carry-On boasts a stellar cast. Outside of its protagonist, played by Taron Egerton, it also stars Jason Bateman, Dean Norris, Sofia Carson, and Daniel Rossi. The movie was the most-viewed picture of 2024 at Netflix with 118.2M views, beating Millie Bobby Brown’s fantasy flick Damsel, which had 99.1M views.
Extraction 2
Netflix had three major big-screen hits in 2023: The Mother, Extraction 2, and Murder Mystery 2. All three of those movies could take the top spot, but Chris Hemsworth’s chaotic, high-octane sequel Extraction 2 takes top spot. It’s not often that a sequel manages to live up to the hype of its predecessor, but Extraction 2 delivers bigger and more ambitious action, most notably the huge 21-minute one-take. In terms of ratings, the sequel has a higher Rotten Tomatoes rating than the first movie (80% compared to 67%).
After Extraction 2 debuted, it entered the streamer’s all-time top 10 with 29.3 million views, but it has since dropped out.
Extraction 3 is currently in development at Netflix, but it’s unlikely that we’ll see it arrive until around 2027.
All Quiet on the Western Front
2022 will go down as one of the most esteemed years in Netflix history. The streamer delivered multiple award-winning movies, including some of the most coveted of recent years, not least Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which took home the award for Best Animated Feature at the 95th Oscars.
Of all the top tier Netflix projects of 2022, nothing quite reaches the immense heights of All Quiet on the Western Front. Directed by Edward Berger, the movie was nominated for nine Oscars, taking home four: Best International Feature Film, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design.
The adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel takes place during World War I, following an idealistic young German soldier on the frontline. His dreams and aspirations, and hopes of heroism, wither and fade as he deals with the intensity and distress of war. The film is a stunningly-filmed and striking piece of art, one that’s an absolute must-watch for any Netflix subscriber.
The Power of the Dog
Benedict Cumberbatch shines as cruel rancher Phil Burbank in his first-ever western movie The Power of the Dog. Directed by Jane Campion, the movie received nominations for myriad awards, including Best Picture at the Oscars.
The movie is based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel. It follows Phil Burbank, whose life is turned upside down when his brother George (Jesse Plemons) introduces his new wife Rose (Kirsten Dunst), as well as her son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee).
Outside of The Power of the Dog, other excellent Netflix movies from 2021 include Don’t Look Up (which was one of the streamer’s most successful films at the time), Tick, Tick… BOOM!, and Passing. It was a solid year for westerns too, with The Harder They Fall also taking headlines.
The Trial of the Chicago 7
In 2020, at a time when most of us were stuck at home thanks to lockdowns, Netflix kept everyone sane with some top tier films. The streamer debuted excellent dramas, like The Trial of the Chicago 7 and I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and also brought brilliant action with Extraction and comic book adaptation The Old Guard. Overall, TV series stole the show, especially limited series The Queen’s Gambit, which remains among Netflix’s most popular shows today.
For movies, it’s hard to look past The Trial of the Chicago 7 . Based on the infamous 1969 trial of anti-war protesters, the movie stars Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Jeremy Strong, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. It’s tense, politically-driven, and completely based on a true story. The movie was a standout success at Netflix, maintaining a steady position in the streamer’s top 10 charts. It also received 6 nominations at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It won Best Motion Picture (Drama) at the Golden Globes.
The Irishman
2019 has a clear and obvious winner: The Irishman. Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese assembled a God-tier cast to being his epic gangster movie vision to life, starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Stephen Graham. Clocking in at way over three hours, Scorsese delivers a flick on the level of some of his greatest, most coveted genre work, such as Goodfellas.
The movie follows truck driver Frank Sheeran (De Niro), who finds himself entangled with Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and his Pennsylvanian crime family. As the movie progresses, he climbs the ranks and becomes a top hit man, placing a target on his back in the process.
At the 92nd Academy Awards, The Irishman received 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor.
Roma
When 2018 rolled around, Netflix had fully established itself as a leading platform for original movies. Netflix debuted a large number of standouts from different genres. Some standout contenders include The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Bird Box. The latter was easily among the most talked-about viral pictures of the year, and the franchise continued with Bird Box: Barcelona in 2023.
All of that said, you cannot overlook Roma, a masterpiece of a movie from director Alfonso Cuarón. From its outstanding performances, to the gorgeous black-and-white imagery, and poignant story — it has everything. Set in Mexico during the early 1970s, Roma follows Cleo, an indigenous live-in maid who works for a middle-class family. She helps Antonio and Sofía look after their children. However, then Antonio runs away with his mistress and Cleo finds herself pregnant, and complications arise.
It garnered significant acclaim, being nominated for 10 Oscars and winning three, including Best Foreign Language Film.
Mudbound
Almost a decade after Mudbound premiered, it retains a near-perfect 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The directorial debut for Dee Rees, Mudbound made history, seeing her become the first Black woman to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars. The film expertly adapts Hillary Jordan’s novel of the same name, which tells the story of two World War II veterans, who return to a changed rural Mississippi after the war. There, they struggle with the memories of combat. Mudbound stars Carey Mulligan, Jason Mitchell, Jason Clarke, and Mary L. Blige.
Coming in a close second for 2017 movies is Okja, a super-emotional movie that follows a young girl named Mija (Seo-Hyeon Ahn) who lives in rural Korea with her best friend, a giant fantastical animal who’s something of a cross between a hippopotamus and an elephant. The movie was the helmed by Bong Joon Ho, who went on to create Parasite.
13th
In 2016, Netflix really honed in on its film division. Perhaps the biggest and most anticipated release was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, the long awaited-sequel to Ang Lee’s legendary movie. The streamer also laid an excellent foundation for years to come with movies Tallulah and The Siege of Jadotville. But the most poignant release was actually a docu-film, 13th, which set a gold standard and a precedent for an era of Netflix documentaries.
Directed by Ava DuVernay (When They See Us), 13th is a documentary film exploring the history of racial inequality within the United States. Its impact was so profound and important that Netflix has since made it available to stream for free on YouTube.
13th was a landslide success at awards ceremonies, cementing Netflix’s growing profile of delivering top tier content. It swept awards ceremonies, taking home both a BAFTA and Emmy for Best Documentary, and being nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards.
What will be the best Netflix movie of 2026?
Netflix has already released a few big-budget pictures so far in 2026, notably War Machine, The Rip, and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
There are plenty of other anticipated movies on the horizon too, including some big IP adaptations. Look no further than Greta Gerwig’s Narnia movie, which will usher in an all-new franchise.
What’s been your favourite Netflix movie of the last decade? Tell us in the comments down below!
