Netflix is kicking 2025 off in decidedly low-key fashion. By its standards, the streamer’s lineup of film originals in January is surprisingly slight. There are still a few Netflix-exclusive movies worth recommending this month, though, and the service is making up for its slim pickings of originals with a batch of exciting streaming acquisitions that is practically bursting at the seams with modern classics from the past 30 years.
In other words, there are still plenty of options for anyone out there looking to stream the first month of this new year away. For help choosing which movies to watch, here are TheWrap’s picks for the best new movies on Netflix in January.
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” (2025)
One of the only Netflix film originals worth recommending this month, “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” is a playful and kooky stop-motion comedy that’ll both please fans of its long-running British franchise and leave newbies positively delighted. Serving as a loose sequel to the Oscar-winning 1993 animated short film, “The Wrong Trousers,” “Vengeance Most Fowl” features the return of the villainous criminal penguin Feathers McGraw. McGraw uses Wallace’s (voiced by Ben Whitehead) latest invention, a helpful robotic garden gnome named Norbot, to enact some vengeance on the eccentric inventor and his dutiful dog Gromit. Directed by Merlin Crossingham and “Wallace & Gromit” creator Nick Park, “Vengeance Most Fowl” is a breezy, light-on-its-feet action comedy that earns every one of its 79 minutes.
“Number 24” (2024)
Based on the real life of a World War II resistance fighter, “Number 24” is an engaging, no-nonsense Norwegian period piece. Directed by John Andreas Andersen, the film was released in Norway in late 2024 before making its U.S. debut on Netflix this month. It’ll likely benefit from its larger platform, too, as “Number 24” is a straightforward yet thoughtful thriller that should appeal to fans of both war and espionage films. It follows its protagonist, Gunnar Sønsteby (Sjur Vatne Brean), in the late 1930s and early ’40s as he covertly tries to combat his nation’s Nazi occupiers. The film also switches perspective to decades later as he grapples with the weight of the moral concessions he made in the name of preserving the freedom of him and his fellow countrymen. If it’s not on your watchlist already, add it.
“Apollo 13” (1995)
Director Ron Howard’s acclaimed 1995 thriller, “Apollo 13,” is a dramatic retelling of its eponymous, aborted 1970 lunar mission. Featuring a star-studded ensemble cast led by Tom Hanks, the film follows a central crew of astronauts as they set off for the Moon only to be left floating in space after a technical malfunction alters their ship’s course and forces them to abandon their journey. In its remaining minutes, “Apollo 13” depicts the efforts of not only its endangered astronauts to save themselves, but also the Earth-based mission control personnel who are intent on helping them.
The film is a well-crafted, enthralling docudrama that doubles as a stirring portrait of people who are exceptionally good at their jobs, so much so that they are capable of rallying together and handling even the most unexpected and life-threatening of setbacks. For that reason alone, “Apollo 13” is still a must-watch piece of American filmmaking.
“Erin Brockovich” (2000)
Starring Julia Roberts in the role that earned her a Best Actress Oscar in 2001, “Erin Brockovich” tells the true story of the woman who brought a legal case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company over its role in contaminating the groundwater in the California town of Hinkley. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and anchored by Roberts’ fiery star performance, “Erin Brockovich” is a rousing and sensitive drama. Behind the camera, Soderbergh wrings as much entertainment value out of the film’s story as he can, while Susannah Grant’s Oscar-nominated screenplay hits the right notes of humor, tension, and inspirational power in her heroine’s quest for personal stability and social justice. The film is surprisingly engrossing; turn it on, and don’t be surprised when you find yourself quickly immersed in its real-life tale of dedication and perseverance
“Interstellar” (2014)
Coming off its well-received theatrical re-release last year, Christopher Nolan‘s “Interstellar” is streaming now on Netflix. The film stars Matthew McConaughey as an American pilot who is asked in the face of Earth’s increasing decay to lead a team of astronauts through a wormhole in search of a new home for all mankind. His journey tests his familial bonds — prompting questions of love, time, and humanity that “Interstellar” explores in grand, sometimes heart-wrenching fashion. The film was more critically divisive when it was originally released than is typical of Nolan’s movies, but the general love for it has grown exponentially over the past 11 years. It now ranks as one of the director’s most beloved pieces of work, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s an emotionally affecting, visually majestic sci-fi epic that, despite its clear debt to classics like “2001: A Space Odyssey,” emerges across its 169-minute runtime as one of the most personal and rewarding films Nolan has yet made.
“Notting Hill” (1999)
Netflix has added not just one but two Julia Roberts classics to its platform this month. In addition to “Erin Brockovich,” viewers can also now stream “Notting Hill,” the 1999 rom-com that stars Roberts as a famous Hollywood actress who falls in love with a mild-mannered English bookstore owner (Hugh Grant). Written by “Love, Actually” filmmaker Richard Curtis, “Notting Hill” is an effortlessly charming romance about love’s ability to transcend even the most drastic of social gaps. It finds screen magic in its pairing of Roberts and Grant, two stars who were at the height of their rom-com fame when they made “Notting Hill,” and mines infectious humor out of the cultural clash between its leads’ very different personal lives and worlds.
“Hereditary” (2018)
The cinematic nightmare that launched writer-director Ari Aster‘s Hollywood career, “Hereditary” is a dysfunctional family drama crossed with a terrifying cult horror film. The A24 hit stars Toni Collette as a matriarch whose grief over her mother’s recent death is compounded by subsequent tragedies that further upend her world and threaten to tear her already fragile psyche apart.
When it hit theaters in 2018, “Hereditary” was viewed as the announcement of a major new artist. Whether or not you believe Aster has since followed through on the promise of his feature debut is up to you, but “Hereditary” is no less impressive now than it was seven years ago. From its masterful first shot to its chilling last, the film traps you in a story in which neither you nor any of its protagonists have any control over what happens onscreen. The result is a haunting experience — one that is as viscerally upsetting as it is artistically impressive.
