Netflix’s biggest film debut of 2024 — and it completely earned it. Taron Egerton plays a TSA agent at LAX on Christmas Eve who gets blackmailed by a mysterious traveler (a brilliantly sinister Jason Bateman) into letting a deadly package through security. If it goes through, 250 people on a flight die. If he refuses, his pregnant girlfriend dies instead. One location, two hours, zero boring moments.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop, The Commuter) is the master of contained thrillers and this might be his best work. The cat-and-mouse tension is relentless, Egerton is superb as an ordinary guy in an impossible situation, and Bateman has never been more unsettling. Think Die Hard at an airport — and yes, it absolutely counts as a Christmas movie.

Fresh off Netflix in April 2026, Apex is exactly what the platform needed: a genuinely great survival thriller that doesn’t rely on CGI spectacle to keep you hooked. Charlize Theron plays a grieving rock climber who goes on a solo hike in the Australian outback — and finds herself being hunted for sport by Taron Egerton’s terrifyingly calm psychopath.

Described as Free Solo meets Silence of the Lambs — which sounds insane and somehow works. Director Baltasar Kormákur (Everest, Adrift) shoots the Australian wilderness like it’s another villain, and Egerton’s turn as the hunter is his most unsettling performance to date. It’s lean, mean, and impossible to pause.

Daniel Craig’s final Bond film has finally landed on Netflix Canada — and it’s the one to watch. This isn’t just another spy adventure; it’s the culmination of five films’ worth of character development, and it goes places no Bond film ever has. Rami Malek is a genuinely unnerving villain, the action sequences are spectacular, and the ending is — well, you’ll feel something you didn’t expect from a James Bond movie.

At 163 minutes it’s a commitment, but it earns every minute. If you’ve watched the Craig-era Bond films, this is essential. If you haven’t, watch Casino Royale first — then come straight here.

Yorgos Lanthimos — the director behind The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness — is back with his most deranged comedy yet. Emma Stone plays a pharmaceutical executive kidnapped by a paranoid beekeeper (Jesse Plemons) who is absolutely convinced she is an alien sent to Earth to destroy humanity. He might not be entirely wrong.

Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actress (Stone), this is genuinely funny and genuinely unsettling in equal measure. It starts strange and keeps escalating. If you enjoyed Poor Things, this is even more unhinged — in the best possible way. One of those movies you keep thinking about afterward.

Jordan Peele’s third film is his most ambitious and arguably his best. Two siblings at a California horse ranch discover something terrifying in the clouds above their property. What starts as a slow-burn mystery about strange occurrences becomes something genuinely unlike anything else in modern sci-fi horror. The less you know going in, the better.

Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer are exceptional together. The film rewards rewatching — there are layers of meaning you’ll catch the second time that reframe the entire first hour. It starts slow, builds with incredible patience, and then delivers one of the most breathtaking sequences of the decade. Stick with it.

The 99% Rotten Tomatoes score says everything. This Japanese Godzilla film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects — the first non-English language film ever to do so — and it deserved every frame of that recognition. Set in postwar Japan, a traumatized former kamikaze pilot joins the desperate civilian effort to stop a nuclear-enhanced monster destroying their already shattered country.

What makes this extraordinary is that it’s genuinely, deeply emotional — the human story is as compelling as the monster sequences. You’ll care about these characters in a way you never expected from a kaiju film. The destruction sequences are terrifying and awe-inspiring in equal measure. Watch it in Japanese with subtitles — do not switch to dubbing.

Nimona was almost cancelled before it was made — Netflix acquired it after it was shut down — and the result is one of the most lovable, witty, and surprisingly touching animated films in years. A shapeshifting troublemaker teams up with a disgraced knight in a futuristic medieval world to expose a conspiracy. Sounds simple. Is anything but.

Chloë Grace Moretz voices Nimona and she is an absolute delight — the character is chaotic, hilarious, and genuinely moving. Riz Ahmed is excellent as the knight. The film carries real emotional depth beneath its zippy comedy exterior, and the third act hits harder than most live-action dramas. A 95% Tomatometer is not an accident.

A 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. Barely anyone is talking about this. That needs to change. The Perfect Neighbor documents a seemingly minor neighbourhood dispute in Florida that escalates into deadly violence — and then systematically dismantles every assumption you made about who the victim and perpetrator were. Police bodycam footage and investigative interviews expose something deeply disturbing about how systems fail ordinary people.

Critics called it “as gripping as it is deeply unsettling.” That’s not hyperbole. This is the kind of documentary that starts as one thing and ends up being something else entirely — and you can’t look away for a second. One of the most talked-about new Netflix additions among people who’ve actually seen it.

Set in 1980s Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War, a mother and daughter remain in their apartment building after most neighbours have fled. Then a missile strikes the building — unexploded — and a superstitious neighbour whispers that it might be carrying something far worse than explosives. What follows is the most atmospheric, culturally grounded horror film you’ll watch this year.

Also rated 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, Under the Shadow blends real wartime dread with supernatural horror so seamlessly that you can never tell where one ends and the other begins. It’s a short 84 minutes — but it uses every single one. This is the kind of hidden gem on Netflix Canada that gets watched once and recommended forever.

Freshly on Netflix as of May 2026, this adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s bestselling novel stars Sally Field as Tova, a widowed night janitor at a small aquarium who forms an unlikely friendship with both a clever giant Pacific octopus (voiced by Alfred Molina) and a wayward young drifter searching for family. Filmed partly in Vancouver, Canada — and it shows in the best possible way.

This is the definition of surprisingly emotional. It sneaks up on you. What sounds like a quirky drama about a woman and an octopus reveals itself to be a deeply moving story about grief, connection, and rediscovering a sense of wonder. Sally Field is magnificent. Bring tissues — but also know you’ll leave feeling genuinely good.

Carry-On

Relentless from minute one. You will not check your phone. You physically cannot.

Thriller · RT 85%

Apex

A hunter. The Australian wilderness. Charlize Theron. 95 minutes of pure survival dread.

Thriller · 2026

Nope

Build slowly, then absolutely detonate. Best watched in the dark, headphones in, totally alone.

Sci-Fi Horror · RT 83%

Bugonia

Strange and darkly funny at midnight. Emma Stone at her most unhinged. Oscar-nominated insanity.

Dark Comedy · RT 87%

Under the Shadow

War-era Tehran, an unexploded missile, and something supernatural creeping through the building. 99% RT. Terrifying.

Horror · RT 99%

The Perfect Neighbor

A documentary that starts as a neighbourhood dispute and becomes something genuinely chilling. You won’t believe it’s real.

Documentary · RT 99%

A 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not 98, not 99. One hundred. Wallace and Gromit are back in their first feature-length adventure in years, and Nick Park has somehow outdone himself. The beloved cheese-loving inventor and his long-suffering dog face a new villain — a smart garden gnome with suspicious artificial intelligence — in an adventure that’s simultaneously hilarious, gentle, and technically breathtaking.

This is the kind of family movie that makes adults genuinely laugh, not politely smile. The craftsmanship in the stop-motion animation is jaw-dropping, and the jokes land for every age group. It was Netflix’s #1 most-watched title worldwide the week it dropped. That’s what genuine quality looks like.

Steven Spielberg’s son Eli Sondheim made this passion project over 20 years — filming a few days each year as the same three friends aged in real time. Based on the Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along tells the story of three friends in the entertainment industry whose friendship slowly fractures over decades, told in reverse chronological order. It landed on Netflix in January 2026 and it’s a genuine slow-burn masterpiece.

Paul Mescal, Beanie Feldstein, and Daniel Radcliffe are exceptional. The reverse timeline structure means you watch people grow apart knowing exactly what they’re moving toward — and the emotional impact is devastating in the most beautiful way. One of those films that earns the word “profound” without flinching.

What are the best movies on Netflix Canada right now?

As of June 2026, the standout best movies on Netflix Canada are: Carry-On (the best pure thriller on the platform), Apex (the freshest 2026 survival thriller), Bugonia (Oscar-nominated dark comedy from Yorgos Lanthimos), Godzilla Minus One (99% RT and legitimately emotional), and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (100% RT and a joy for all ages). The full list above covers every mood and genre with honest, no-fluff recommendations.

What Netflix movie is everyone watching in 2026?

In 2026, Apex (the Charlize Theron survival thriller released April 2026) is one of Netflix’s biggest conversation-starters. Remarkably Bright Creatures (May 2026) has also been widely shared. For broader audiences, Carry-On from late 2024 remains one of the most-watched Netflix films in history with 97 million views in its first 9 days. And Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl hit #1 worldwide immediately on release.

What are the best thriller movies on Netflix Canada?

The best Netflix thrillers currently available in Canada include Carry-On (airport action thriller, RT 85%), Apex (2026 survival thriller, RT 86%), Bugonia (dark comedy thriller with Oscar nominations), Nope (Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror, RT 83%), and Under the Shadow (wartime supernatural horror, RT 99%). For variety across intensity levels and styles, this covers the full spectrum of the best Netflix thrillers Canada has to offer right now.

Which Netflix movies are worth watching with family?

The best family-friendly Netflix Canada movies for all ages right now are Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (100% RT — genuinely for everyone), Nimona (sharp and funny animated adventure, RT 95%), and Remarkably Bright Creatures (warm and moving drama suitable for teens and adults). All three will hold the room’s attention without anyone feeling bored or excluded.

What are some hidden gem movies on Netflix Canada?

The most criminally underrated hidden gems on Netflix Canada right now are The Perfect Neighbor (a 2025 documentary with 99% on RT that barely anyone is talking about), Under the Shadow (another 99% RT horror film most viewers skip because it’s in Farsi — their loss), and Godzilla Minus One (which many Canadians assume is a dumb blockbuster but is actually a deeply emotional Oscar-winning masterpiece). All three are exceptional finds.

Which Netflix movies are based on true stories?

Notable true-story and true-story-adjacent films on Netflix Canada include The Perfect Neighbor (a real Florida neighbourhood dispute documented in shocking detail), Merrily We Roll Along (based on real relationships in the entertainment world, filmed over 20 years), and Godzilla Minus One (set against the real historical backdrop of postwar Japan). As always — worth looking up the real stories after watching for maximum impact.