The best movies on Peacock right now (March 2024)

The curse of Peacock has struck again. Aside from Oppenheimer, all of February’s most notable additions, including Dunkirk, Braveheart, and Fatal Attraction, are off to some other streaming services. The good news is that the new movies on Peacock in March include all of the Harry Potter and Hunger Games films, not counting their respective spinoff franchises. All of those films play to a very broad audience, and that should make for some happy homes among Peacock subscribers.

This month, we’re throwing the spotlight on Lost in Translation, Arrival, Back the Future, and Kill Bill Vol. 1. As always, watch these films while you can. They may be among the best movies on Peacock in March, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll be around in 30 days.

Can’t find anything you like on Peacock? Lucky for you, we’ve also curated guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, and the best movies on Amazon Prime Video.

Lost in Translation (2003)

Bill Murray sitting down, Scarlett Johansson beside him with her head on his shoulder in a scene from Lost in Translation. — Focus Features

There are so many ways that Lost in Translation could have gone off the rails if it was a traditional romantic dramady. Fortunately, director and screenwriter Sofia Coppola leaves the romance out almost entirely and focuses instead on the unlikely friendship between a former movie star, Bob Harris (Bill Murray), and a much younger woman named Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson).

Both Bob and Charlotte are married to other people, and she’s the third wheel when it comes to her celebrity photographer husband, John (Giovanni Ribisi), and his latest subject, Kelly (Anna Faris). That’s one of the reasons why Bob and Charlotte strike up a friendship at the luxurious Japanese hotel where they are staying. At first their bond is strong, but neither Bob nor Charlotte know if their connection can last once they go their separate ways.

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Genre: Drama
Stars: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Director: Sofia Coppola
Rating: R
Runtime: 101 minutes

Arrival (2016)

Amy Adams in Arrival. — Paramount Pictures

Thanks to the success of Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve has now been recognized as one of the top directors in Hollywood. But it wasn’t until Arrival in 2016 that Villeneuve seemingly devoted himself to delivering some of the best science fiction movies of the last two decades. When aliens arrive in 12 ships scattered across the globe, linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) are recruited by the U.S. to decipher the alien language.

This proves to be far more difficult than either Louise or Ian imagined, especially since the alien language is completely unlike any human language. As they struggle to find the meaning and intent of their alien visitors, the rest of the world gets anxious and paranoid. If Louise can’t find a solution in time, then it could prove to be disastrous for both the humans and aliens.

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Genre: Sci-fi, Drama
Stars: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 116 minutes

Back to the Future (1985)

Doc and Marty in a scene from Back to the Future. — Universal Pictures

Back to the Future has come back and forth to Peacock more often than Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) has been to 2015. But this is still an all-time great sci-fi comedy that has yet to be topped. In 1985, Marty has befriended Hill Valley’s resident mad scientist, Emmett “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd), and he soon witnesses Brown’s greatest creation: a DeLorean that can travel through time.

After witnessing Doc Brown’s murder, Marty uses the DeLorean to flee and finds himself trapped in 1955. Marty’s only hope of returning to the present is by recruiting the younger Doc Brown to help repair the DeLorean. Of course, it isn’t that simple, as Marty has also disrupted the first meeting of his parents, George McFly (Crispin Glover) and Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson). If Marty can’t fix that mistake, then he won’t have a future to go home to.

Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Genre: Sci-fi, Comedy
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Rating: PG
Runtime: 116 minutes

Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)

Uma Thurman wields a samurai sword in Kill Bill Vol. 1. — Miramax / Miramax

Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol 2. are both on Peacock, but we prefer the first part of Quentin Tarantino‘s bloody masterpiece. Uma Thurman stars as the Bride, an ex-assassin who was left for dead on her wedding day by her former teammates in the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Even the Bride’s husband and his family was killed in the attack. All of this happened at the command of the Bride’s former lover, Bill (David Carradine).

Years later, the Bride emerges from her coma and begins her quest for revenge. Bill is the ultimate target on the Bride’s hit list, but not the first name. Before the Bride can claim Bill’s life, she’ll have to get through the Deadly Vipers, including O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox). The Bride may be deadly, but her former team is just as lethal as she is.

Rotten Tomatoes: 85%
Genre: Action
Stars: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Rating: R
Runtime: 110 minutes

Oppenheimer (2023)

Two men talk in Oppenheimer. — Universal Pictures

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer may be the director’s best film to date, and it’s the leading contender to walk away with Best Picture at the Oscars. Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the film explores his life in non-chronological order. As a young man, Oppenheimer becomes a pioneer in the realm of quantum physics before the advent of World War II makes him realize that Germany will weaponize nuclear fusion unless America beats it to the punch.

Oppenheimer’s difficult relationships with his lover, Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), and his wife, Kitty Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt), are also explored before he leads the Manhattan Project in building the first Atomic Bomb. And in flash-forwards, former Navy Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss (Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr.) develops a vendetta against Oppenheimer as he does everything he can to discredit and tarnish his legacy.

Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Genre: Drama
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rating: R
Runtime: 160 minutes

The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

Two possessed children look up in "The Exorcist: Believer." — Universal Pictures / Universal Pictures

Critics really didn’t take it easy on The Exorcist: Believer, but it’s a textbook case of a sequel that tells a familiar story with links to the first film in the franchise. Leslie Odom Jr. stars as Victor Fielding, a father whose daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett), and her friend, Katherine West (Olivia O’Neill), go missing in the woods. When the girls return, both Angela and Katherine show signs of demonic possession.

Victor and Katherine’s parents, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony West (Norbert Leo Butz), are at a complete loss for how to help their children. That’s why Victor turns to Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), the mother of Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), who was possessed in The Exorcist. Chris has since become a best-selling author and an expert in exorcisms. But even Chris is overmatched by the twin possessions.

Rotten Tomatoes: 22%
Genre: Horror
Stars: Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, Olivia O’Neill, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Ellen Burstyn
Director: David Gordon Green
Rating: R
Runtime: 111 minutes

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in 3:10 To Yuma. — Lionsgate

3:10 to Yuma is the second adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s story, and director James Mangold was up to the task of updating this Western tale. In 1884, a rancher named Dan Evans (Christian Bale) has the misfortune of being robbed of his horses by Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). And although Ben spares Dan’s life, he’s left him desperate for money.

When Ben is arrested, Dan accepts a significant payment to join the posse who are supposed to deliver their prisoner to the train referenced in the title of this movie. However, a lot of people want Ben dead before he can get there, and he won’t stop trying to get away.

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Genre: Western
Stars: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, Ben Foster
Director: James Mangold
Rating: R
Runtime: 122 minutes

Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled private detective, Philip Marlowe, isn’t exactly in vogue anymore. But the classics never truly go out of style. In the 1975 adaptation of Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, Robert Mitchum steps into the role of Philip as he finds himself in the midst of two difficult cases that may be related.

In the first, a bank robber named Moose Malloy (Jack O’Halloran) hires Phillip to find his missing girlfriend, Velma (Charlotte Rampling). And in the second case, Phillip is helpless to prevent the murder of his client, Lindsay Marriott (John O’Leary). But not even police intimidation can keep Phillip from finding answers and solving the mystery.

Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Stars: Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles, Anthony Zerbe
Director: Dick Richards
Rating: R
Runtime: 95 minutes