July is here, and with it comes the annual shuffling of streaming platforms. Rights that ended in June mean movies and shows disappearing, and entirely new movies and shows appearing on all of the best streaming services. It certainly means there’s plenty of entertainment to enjoy, and can also mean that finding what’s good among the massive avalanche of new stuff can be complicated.
If you have a Netflix subscription, you need to know what’s worth your time this week. Luckily, there’s so much good stuff this first week that it may take you the better part of the month to enjoy it all. A pair of top-notch movie trilogies, one of the most popular TV series ever, and a pair of Netflix-exclusive franchise expansions make July a great month on the streamer already.
New Movies On Netflix
Back to the Future Franchise - July 1
The Back to the Future series isn’t made up of three perfect movies, and yet it may be one of the greatest film trilogies of all time. It’s so iconic that nearly 35 years after it ended, nobody has ever really tried to reboot it or make a sequel decades later. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd are perfectly cast, a near miracle considering Fox nearly wasn’t cast at all. All three films arrive together, so fans can relive the near-perfect trilogy again. Great Scott, this is going to be fun.
Spider-Man 1-3 - July 1
Spider-Man fans with a Disney+ subscription have been able to enjoy the original Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy for some time, but the first three live-action Spider-Man films will be added to Netflix in July, giving even more people access to the films that arguably launched the superhero movie boom that we’re still in the middle of today. Considering that a lot of people want to see Maguire as Spider-Man again, catching up on these may not be a bad idea.
The Karate Kid - July 1
Is it weird that Cobra Kai has been an incredibly popular streaming service for years, and yet the original Karate Kid movies on which it was based haven’t been available on Netflix? I feel like that’s weird. With the final season of Cobra Kai set to debut later in the month, the original Karate Kid movie will finally be available, so fans can rewatch where the story all started.
Warcraft - July 1
While we’re seeing a lot more success today when it comes to movies based on video games, not every movie that came out before Detective Pikachu was actually bad. Warcraft by Duncan Jones brought the popular real-time strategy game series to life in an incredible way. Its use of CGI to create the Orc characters is criminally overlooked as one of the most successful uses of the technology in the era. Warcraft isn’t a secret classic, but it is a movie worth checking out if you’re a fan of the game series or high fantasy movies in general.
American Psycho - July 1
Christian Bale has gone on to huge things since American Psycho, but this was arguably the first movie where a lot of people saw him. While it’s certainly not a film for the faint of heart, it’s still an incredibly compelling story, and the American Psycho ending is something a lot of people are still talking about even years later. If you’ve never seen this one, it’s worth checking out, and if you have, it’s probably about time for a rewatch.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F - July 3
Beverly Hills Cop was one of the biggest movies of 1984, making a star of Eddie Murphy. Two sequels followed, but there have been attempts to make a fourth film in the franchise for decades. Alex Foley will finally return to Beverly Hills this week, and while Axel Foley is a bit older, it seems unlikely he’ll be any less hilarious. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Kevin Bacon join the Axel F cast alongside returning favorites. Here’s hoping the characters have aged as well as the theme song.
New Series On Netflix
Lost (Complete Series)
For the last several years, if you wanted to watch Lost, you needed a Hulu subscription. In July, the popular series from J.J. Abrams that made as many diehard fans as it made people irate at the Lost ending returns to Netflix, so if this is your main streaming service, you can finally watch it again. You might as well enjoy it from the beginning and see if it all makes any more sense this time around.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 - July 1
Usually to watch the newest Star Trek, you need a Paramount+ subscription. However, after the family-friendly Nickelodeon series Star Trek: Prodigy was canceled by the powers that be, Netflix, as it has done with numerous series, came in to save the day. Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 arrives July 1. Season 1 is already on Netflix if you need to catch up. As a series that may create many Star Trek fans, one hopes this one has a better time finding an audience with Netflix.
Suits (Season 9) - July 1
Last year, for reasons that are still only vaguely clear, Suits, a USA Network series that had been off the air for years and was never a broad hit, became the hottest thing on multiple streaming platforms. Maybe it had something to do with a cast member becoming a Duchess. Unfortunately, if you watched the show on Netflix, you weren’t able to finish it, as only the first eight seasons were available. Netflix subscribers will finally be able to finish the story with Season 9 arriving on the platform.
While these are some of the highlights this week, there’s a lot new on Netflix, so be sure to check out our full list of everything coming this week, and the weeks to come, so you know what’s on the way. You can also check out the list of what’s upcoming on Disney+, as well as what’s new on Hulu, so you don’t miss anything on your favorite streaming services.
