The best Paramount Plus movies have something for everyone. Looking for action? Then Top Gun: Maverick and Gladiator have got you covered. Sci-fi? Look no further than Star Trek, Arrival and Interstellar. Comedy? Try Mean Girls (both the original and the musical remake) and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. No wonder the streamer has styled itself as a "Mountain of Entertainment".
This guide to 28 of the best Paramount Plus movies shows why the platform is firmly established as one of the best streaming services, just three years after it debuted in the US. Alongside bona fide classics such as The Godfather trilogy, Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby, you'll find exciting new releases like Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Smile and TMNT: Mutant Mayhem. So before you click on the Paramount menu screen, take a look through this guide to see what's out there.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Release date: 2023
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
It might not have looked that promising on paper – especially to anyone who endured the 2000 Dungeons & Dragons movie – but Hollywood’s latest take on the perennially popular role-playing boardgame is well worth a roll of the dice.
The wonderfully self-aware Honor Among Thieves skilfully walks a fine line between comedy and spectacular epic fantasy, and delivers on both counts. As bard and nominal lead Edgin, Chris Pine revels in his most fun role since playing Captain Kirk in JJ Abrams’ first Star Trek. Meanwhile, other D&D character types are memorably represented by Fast & Furious regular Michelle Rodriguez (barbarian Holga Kilgore), IT’s Sophia Lillis (tiefling druid Doric) and Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page (paladin Xenk Yendar).
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
Release date: 2023
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Few iconic comic-book characters have survived as many reboots as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but this latest animated incarnation (produced by Preacher and Sausage Party overseers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldman) is up there with the heroes in a half-shell’s finest – as well as being one of the best Paramount Plus movies.
Using an eye-catching, painterly visual style heavily inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the latest take on Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo is a (pizza) feast for the eyes. It’s also action-packed and funny, while leaning much more into the adolescent part of the TMNT equation than many of its predecessors.
Top Gun
Release date: 1986
Rotten Tomatoes score: 57%
In 1986, Tom Cruise went stratospheric thanks to his role as Pete "Maverick", an ambitious young fighter pilot competing to be the best of the best at the US Navy’s Fighter Weapons School. But Maverick soon learns some tough lessons when he realizes there's more to life than beating fellow student Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer) to the Top Gun prize, as his recklessness makes him a danger to himself – and others.
With long-awaited follow-up Top Gun: Maverick also out on Paramount Plus (see below), it's a great time to revisit the original. You don't need to be familiar with this first movie to enjoy the (arguably superior) sequel, but if you are, it's even more likely to take your breath away.
Top Gun: Maverick
Release date: 2022
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Tom Cruise's 2022 box-office smash is a must-watch, delivering all the fun and supersonic action of the original without simply going over old territory. Cruise reprises his role as Maverick, now a test pilot whose constant rule-breaking and boundary-pushing has kept his career firmly grounded. But when he's given the job of training a new group of Top Gun graduates for a crucial new mission, he has to face up to his past and some of his very worst fears.
Should you stream it? Let's put it this way: the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is 99%, and the critic score isn't far behind at a whopping 96%. This is the best kind of blockbuster, an absolute treat from start to nail-biting finish.
In the UK? You'll have to jet over to Netflix to watch the movie.
Star Trek
Release date: 2009
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Paramount Plus isn't currently home to all the Star Trek movies in the US (the films featuring the Original Series and Next Generation casts are, instead, berthed on Max) but you can enjoy most of the Trek TV shows, as well as the three (existing) movies of J.J. Abrams' successful 21st century reboot.
Before he traveled to a galaxy far, far away for The Force Awakens, Abrams – then best known for Lost, Alias and Mission: Impossible III – injected Trek with a Star Wars-like spirit of adventure, as Kirk, Spock and the rest of the crew took on a vengeful Romulan from the future. The casting (particularly Chris Pine as Kirk) is inspired, and – by setting the story in a parallel timeline – the film functions as both an Enterprise origin story, and an opportunity to go where the franchise had never gone before.
Sadly, follow-ups Into Darkness and Beyond couldn't live up to this movie's early promise, but this first adventure is one of the long-running saga's best.
The Mission: Impossible series
Release date: 1996-2023
Rotten Tomatoes score: 66% (Mission: Impossible), 56% (Mission: Impossible II), 71% (Mission: Impossible III), 93% (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), 94% (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation), 97% (Mission: Impossible – Fallout), 96% (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One)
Good evening, Mr Cruise. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to turn a ’60s TV show into a successful series capable of ranking among the best Paramount Plus movies...
As both producer and star (he's played super-spy Ethan Hunt since the first 1996 adventure), Tom Cruise has made Mission: Impossible a genuine rival to James Bond. Indeed, while most franchises have run out of steam long before they reach their seventh instalment, the quality of the M:I series has arguably improved, particularly since Cruise brought Christopher McQuarrie on board to write and direct the brilliantly inventive and exciting Rogue Nation, Fallout and Dead Reckoning.
But the most memorable thing about Mission: Impossible is Cruise's headline-making, death-defying stunts – even in his 60s, this is one leading man who refuses to do anything by halves.
Past Lives
Release date: 2023
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Writer/director Celine Song’s brilliant, Oscar-nominated debut is based around a question many people will have asked themselves: what if you reconnected with your first childhood sweetheart as a grown-up? In Past Lives, Nora (The Morning Show’s Greta Lee) makes contact with Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) more than a decade after her family emigrated from South Korea to Canada. The result is a subtle, perfectly pitched exploration of roads that could have been – but weren’t – traveled in another life.
It’s something of a slow burn, carried by the performances of two leads who share undeniable screen chemistry. Special credit should also go to John Magaro, who ensures that Nora’s husband Arthur never feels like a third wheel.
Past Lives is available on Netflix in the UK.
Smile
Release date: 2022
Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%
Despite the title, this is not a film designed to make you happy. Instead, it’s a disturbing horror movie in which a therapist (Sosie Bacon) investigates a series of apparent suicides, linked by the unsettling smiles on the victims’ faces before they died – and subsequently finds herself targeted by a malevolent evil spirit.
Smile was originally planned as a direct-to-Paramount Plus release, but successful test screenings prompted the studio to give it a theatrical release – an extremely sensible move, seeing as it became the biggest horror movie at the box office in 2022. Expect scares and plenty of psychological terror as writer/director Parker Finn (who based the movie on his own short, “Laura Hasn’t Slept”) marks himself out as one to watch.
The Godfather trilogy
Release date: 1972-1990
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97% (The Godfather), 96% (The Godfather, Part II), 86% (The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone)
In 1972, director Francis Ford Coppola turned Mario Puzo's mafia novel The Godfather into a critical and box-office smash hit. The gripping story of a good man's descent into evil, it made a star of Al Pacino, and won itself an impressive haul of Academy Awards.
Follow-up The Godfather: Part II is arguably even better, using two distinct timelines to show how mob boss Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro, in a role originated by Marlon Brando) came to power, and his equally ruthless son, Michael (Pacino), went on to become one of the most powerful men in America. Along with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, it remains the only sequel to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
The Godfather: Part III proved rather less popular when it was released in 1990. The original theatrical cut isn't available on Paramount Plus but you can watch The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, Coppola's recut version of the movie. You can also check out The Offer, a TV drama about the making of the original film.
Gladiator
Release date: 2000
Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%
Russell Crowe delivers a performance that echoes in eternity in Ridley Scott's brilliant Roman epic. Crowe plays Maximus Decimus Meridius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and he absolutely will have his vengeance on the corrupt emperor (Joaquin Phoenix) responsible for their deaths – whether it's in this life or the next.
Along with The Martian, Gladiator is Scott's best movie of the 21st century, a propulsive blend of spectacular Colosseum action, shameless political scheming, and a powerful, revenge-focussed narrative. The veteran director was so enamored with the historical world he created that he's currently deep into post-production on Gladiator 2, starring Normal People's Paul Mescal and due in theaters later this year.
If you're in the UK, you'll have to head to Netflix to watch the film. How does Gladiator compare with Alien and Blade Runner? Check out our guide to Ridley Scott movies ranked.
Interstellar
Release date: 2014
Rotten Tomatoes score: 73%
Interstellar imagines a dystopian future where Earth is no longer habitable, and humanity's only hope for survival is finding a new home in outer space. Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway play astronauts on a one-way reconnaissance mission, and encounter time-dilating black holes and four-dimensional beings along the way.
Although Steven Spielberg was once attached to direct Interstellar, it's almost impossible to imagine anyone but Christopher Nolan making this cerebral sci-fi movie. Utilising his trademark mix of spectacular visuals and intelligent storytelling, it's a feast for both the eyes and the mind, and – thanks to the input of scientific advisor Professor Kip Thorne – deals with some sophisticated physics, too.
Interstellar is available on Now Cinema and Sky Go in the UK.
Scream
Release date: 2022
Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%
Not to be confused with the classic 1996 original, this 2022 sequel/reboot is technically Scream 5. A decade on from 2011’s Scream IV, an all-new Ghostface arrives in Woodsboro to make murderous nuisance calls to the town’s long-suffering residents. Before long, original stars/victims Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette are back on the case, as a new batch of potential victims – headed by Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega – find themselves on the wrong end of a knife.
It's the first Scream movie not to be directed by the late Wes Craven, but new helmers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have a decent stab at the jump scares and intricate, unbearably tense kill scenes. They also have lots of self-referential fun at the expense of Hollywood’s love of reboots, and bringing franchises back from the dead.
2023 follow-up Scream VI is also available on Paramount Plus.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Release date: 2004
Rotten Tomatoes score: 66%
Elf has cemented a place on the list of the best Christmas movies but Anchorman (released a year later) is the film that confirmed Saturday Night Live graduate Will Ferrell as a unique comedy talent. In cahoots with his regular collaborator, writer/director Adam McKay, Ferrell perfected the surreal, audience-pleasing humor that's turned him into a Hollywood star.
It's the story of news anchor Ron Burgundy, riding high in the San Diego ratings with his trusted Channel 4 team: reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner) and weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). When up-and-coming anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) arrives at the network, however, this quartet of alpha males have no idea how to respond...
Two decades on, Anchorman remains extremely quotable, with iconic characters, some memorable set-pieces (news fight!), and arguably the greatest jazz flute performance in movie history. Sadly, 2013 sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (also available on Paramount Plus) didn't stay quite so classy.
A Quiet Place
Release date: 2018
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
A Quiet Place sees The Office veteran John Krasinksi trading his desk at Dunder Mifflin for high-concept sci-fi horror. Hunting by sound, alien invaders have decimated the population of a small town in upstate New York, where staying alive depends on staying as quiet as possible.
As director, Jack Ryan star Krasinksi gives you an extremely tense 90 minutes, turning every noise into a clear and present danger – this is one movie where you might want to forego the crunchy snacks. But the film's real triumph is making you care about the family at the story's heart (brilliantly played by Krasinski, real-life wife Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe), as their survival depends on both their ingenuity and their fluency in American Sign Language.
Sequel A Quiet Place 2 picks up directly from the first movie, and is also available on Paramount Plus in the US.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Release date: 1986
Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%
Writer/director John Hughes was the king of ’80s teen movies (see also The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles), but this feelgood classic might just be the best of the bunch. It's certainly the most fun, as high school student Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) pulls a sickie, and drags girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and best friend Cameron (Succession's Alan Ruck) along for a ride in Cameron's dad's vintage Ferrari.
It's the ultimate story of teenage wish fulfillment, as the three kids live the high-life while staying one step ahead of suspicious school principal Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones). And while their Day Off loses its way slightly in the final act when Ferris's motives become uncharacteristically altruistic, it remains one of the greatest high-school movies of all time.
Mean Girls
Release date: 2004
Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%
Before she became the writer and star of classic sitcom 30 Rock, Tina Fey scripted this totally fetch teen movie. It's the story of Cady Heron (a career-best Lindsay Lohan), a kid who's been homeschooled in Africa, and quickly realizes she has a lot to learn about high school. Adopted by a pair of outsiders, she's drafted to spy on the "Plastics" who rule the corridors of North Shore High, but soon finds herself seduced by Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and her gang.
Smart, satirical and super-funny, Mean Girls is a perfectly pitched journey into the dog-eat-dog politics of high school. And even 20 years after its original release, it's still popular enough to spawn a new movie musical based on the stage musical based on the movie. The reboot is also available on Paramount Plus in the US.
Clueless
Release date: 1995
Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%
Thought smart, female-led high school movies began with Mean Girls? As if! Amy Heckerling’s mid-’90s classic relocates Jane Austen’s Emma from Georgian England to modern-day Beverly Hills, and the transition is seamless. Alicia Silverstone delivers a career-defining performance as Cher, the spoiled but kind teen who fixes everyone else’s love lives but forgets about her own.
From the “complaint rock” soundtrack to some outdated sexual politics, it’s undeniably a film of its era. But it’s also funny, heartwarming and extremely quotable – as well as featuring an early performance from future Ant-Man Paul Rudd.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Release date: 2008
Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%
Director David Fincher made his name with hard-edged movies such as Seven, Fight Club and Zodiac, but The Curious Case of Benjamin Button finds him exploring much gentler territory. Based on a short story by The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald, it's the story of a man who literally ages in reverse, being born as an old man and getting younger as the movie progresses.
Fincher regular Brad Pitt plays the eponymous Benjamin Button throughout his life, and Fincher uses an impressive range of make-up, camera trickery and state-of-the-art visual effects to age his star up and down. With a running time just shy of three hours, the storytelling sometimes lags, but the film's spectacular technical achievements are enough to earn it a place among the best Paramount Plus movies.
The Curse of Benjamin Button is not available to stream in the UK, but you can rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play or most of the usual services. See how it fares in our David Fincher movies: ranked feature.
Arrival
Release date: 2016
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Before he became Hollywood’s premier purveyor of big-budget sci-fi spectacle with Blade Runner: 2049 and two Dune adaptations, Denis Villeneuve announced his, well, arrival in the genre with this lower key tale of extra-terrestrial visitation. Adapted from Ted Chiang’s short story “The Story of Your Life”, it tells the tale of a bereaved mother and linguist (Amy Adams) assigned to make first contact with the bizarre seven-legged aliens who’ve come to Earth to say hello.
It's the very definition of smart science fiction, as a twisty timeline and the protagonist’s grief coalesce to create a surprising and emotionally satisfying finale.
In the mood for more great genre storytelling? Check out our guide to the best sci-fi movies.
Chinatown
Release date: 1974
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
This 1974 crime classic is one of the all-time great films noirs, as Jack Nicholson’s hard-bitten PI Jake Gittes uncovers a murky world of mystery, intrigue and secrets better left buried in 1930s Los Angeles. Massively influential on the similarly brilliant LA Confidential, screenwriter Robert Towne’s script reveals new layers with each viewing, as what starts out as a standard detective flick evolves into something considerably darker and more disturbing.
Much more restrained than in many of his signature roles, Nicholson delivers one of his best ever performances, alongside a similarly impressive Faye Dunaway and John Huston.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Release date: 2013
Rotten Tomatoes score: 80%
Yes, it’s essentially the plot of GoodFellas and Casino relocated to the cutthroat world of high finance, but there’s no need to get hung up about that when you’re watching one of the very best Martin Scorsese movies. In arguably the greatest of the legendary director’s six feature collaborations with Leonardo DiCaprio – and definitely the most all-out entertaining – the star plays Jordan Belfort, a real-life Wall Street banker whose fast-and-loose attitude to the rules brought him major highs (both financial and chemical) and even bigger lows.
Scorsese’s kinetic direction revels in the seedy glamor of its protagonist’s lavish lifestyle, as he tries to stay one step ahead of FBI agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler). Of course, Belfort’s mad world comes crashing down in the final act, but it’s a hell of a ride getting there.
Head to Netflix if you want to watch The Wolf of Wall Street in the UK.
Rosemary's Baby
Release date: 1968
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
It's another classic horror among the best Paramount Plus movies, but unlike The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby's scares are all in your head. Adapted from Ira Levin's novel of the same name, this psychological thriller sees the devil take Manhattan, as Mia Farrow's Rosemary Woodhouse is unwittingly chosen to bear the child of Satan.
It's a masterclass in slow-building tension, as Rosemary gradually realizes that her elderly neighbors' interest in her pregnancy isn't entirely altruistic. It's also one of the most iconic and stylish movies of the late-1960s, helping pave the way for one of the most creatively fertile eras in Hollywood history.
If you want to watch Rosemary's Baby in the UK, you'll have to rent or buy via Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play or another service.
SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
Release date: 2020
Rotten Tomatoes score: 67%
Nickelodeon's perennially popular sea-dwelling sponge goes fully CG in this Paramount Plus launch title, and he's tempted some big-name stars to follow him on his latest deep dive – Awkwafina, Tiffany Haddish, Snoop Dogg and Keanu Reeves all voice characters in Sponge on the Run.
It's a fun, lighthearted adventure in which SpongeBob teams up with his Bikini Bottom friends (including everyone’s favorite starfish, Patrick) to find his beloved pet snail, Gary, after he's kidnapped by the power-hungry Sheldon J. Plankton.
Sponge on the Run is available on Netflix in the UK.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Release date: 2020
Rotten Tomatoes score: 64%
Sonic the Hedgehog is famous for being fast, but his journey to the big screen was anything but. After the videogame character had spent decades languishing in development hell, Paramount picked up the movie rights from Sony and the live-action elements of the movie started shooting in 2018. But Sonic faced a further obstacle when the internet reacted unfavorably to his CG look, prompting a hasty (and pricey) redesign. Ultimately it was worth the wait, as Sonic broke box-office records when he raced into theaters in 2020.
Sonic (voiced by Parks and Recreation's Ben Schwartz) makes a likeable enough hero alongside James Marsden's friendly sheriff, but Jim Carrey steals the show as the evil Dr Robotnik. 2022 sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is also available on Paramount Plus in the US.
Saving Private Ryan
Release date: 1998
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) leads a band of American World War II soldiers behind enemy lines to find the titular missing private after Ryan's brothers are killed in action. Director Steven Spielberg ensures you stand to attention as soon as the action flashes back to D-Day, with a brutally visceral recreation of the Omaha beach landings. Then, as Miller's unit make their way through Nazi-occupied France, each soldier embarks on their own personal journey of discovery – though not all of them will make it home alive.
Saving Private Ryan is the first of many World War II collaborations between Hanks and Spielberg, who've gone on to executive produce Band of Brothers, The Pacific and Masters of the Air, one of the best Apple TV Plus shows. You can also see how it fits into the director's glittering filmography in our guide to Steven Spielberg movies ranked.
Saving Private Ryan isn't available on Paramount Plus in the UK, but you can rent or buy the movie on Amazon, Google Play, Apple TV and more.
Once Upon a Time in the West
Release date: 1968
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Sergio Leone reinvented the movie western in the 1960s, and this follow-up to his legendary Dollars trilogy is one of the director's best. Leone regular Clint Eastwood passed on the chance to play another anti-hero, leaving Charles Bronson's "Harmonica" to protect Claudia Cardinale's widow from an outlaw played by legendary Hollywood good guy Henry Fonda.
As you'd expect from Leone, it's stylish and spectacular, and features a typically iconic score from Ennio Morricone, the director's traditional composer of choice. Running at close to three hours, Once Upon a Time in the West is something of an endurance test, but this is one epic that's worth the effort.
To Catch a Thief
Release date: 1955
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
A dream team of Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly charm their way into our list of the best Paramount Plus movies with this classy 1955 mystery romance. Grant plays John Robie, a retired cat burglar trying to live a quiet life on the French riviera. When another thief copies his signature style, however, he has to prove his innocence. Kelly plays a wealthy tourist targeted by the copycat in this twisty and entertaining whodunnit.
You can catch To Catch A Thief on Now Cinema and Sky Go in the UK.
Teen Wolf: The Movie
Release date: 2023
Rotten Tomatoes score: 32%
Teen Wolf: The Movie picks up 15 years after the events of the popular TV show (itself based on a Michael J. Fox film from the ’80s), when the members of Scott McCall's (Tyler Posey) pack are in their 30s and living separate lives in Beacon Hills. Then a terrifying evil returns in the form of Scott's deadliest enemy – the Nogitsune (Aaron Hendry) who had possessed Scott's best friend and killed his first love.
Teen Wolf: The Movie became Paramount Plus's most-watched original film on its first day on the platform, but is it any good? Critics are unsure, bemoaning Teen Wolf: The Movie's inconsistent acting and lifeless feel. Fans of the show, however, have fallen in love with this heartfelt reunion of some beloved characters.
For more Paramount Plus coverage, read our guides on the best Paramount Plus shows and how much Paramount Plus costs.
