Skip to main content

Is this free movie offer enough to make you sign up for Netflix?

Netflix is offering a free movie to folks in the U.S. in the hope of scoring some new subscribers.

Recommended Videos

The movie, a Netflix Original called To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, is a rom-com about a teen called Lara whose life takes a drastic turn when her unsent love letters unexpectedly end up in the hands of all of her crushes. It was recently recommended by Digital Trends as one of the best romance movies on the streaming service, and currently has a 7.2/10 rating on IMDb.

Anyone in the U.S. can stream the movie for free until March 9. Netflix hopes you’ll enjoy it so much that you’ll just have to sign up to its service to see the sequel, To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, which landed on the platform this week (top tip — if you don’t want to become a paying member, sign up for a month’s free trial, watch the sequel, watch everything else, then cancel).

This is the first time for Netflix to offer a free movie to non-members in the U.S., but not the first time that it has deployed the tactic globally. In the U.K. last year, for example, it offered a free stream of the opening episode of season three of The Crown. Other freebies have so far been offered to folks in India and South America.

So why has the streaming company suddenly decided to offer free content in its home country? Well, the data from previous efforts must show that the strategy produces positive results in the form of new subscribers.

And Netflix certainly needs to find ways to encourage more sign-ups to reverse slowing growth in the U.S., the result of a range of factors that include a price hike in 2019 and the launch of competing services such as Disney+ and Apple TV+. And with HBO Max incoming, the battle for new subscribers will only become more challenging.

For the final three months of 2019, Netflix missed its forecast for U.S. subscriber growth, adding 423,000 new members, down from 1.53 million a year earlier. Globally, however, it beat expectations, adding 8.3 million subscribers, 1.3 million more than forecast.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
5 great movies to watch after Halloween
Matthew McConaughey as Cooper in his astronaut suit looking to the distance in Interstellar.

And with that, Halloween is over. It's time to put away the costumes and extra candy until next year. It also means a break from horror movies, though true fans can watch genre films all year. With two months left on the calendar, the final movie releases of the year range from prestige plays and blockbusters to sequels and musicals.

Below are five great moves to watch after Halloween this year. There is a specific theme to these recommendations. Each of the five movies is connected to a theatrical release in November or December. For example, Gladiator is a relevant selection because Gladiator II, the sequel, opens on November 22. Read on for the rest of the selections.
The Lion King (2019)

Read more
10 best movies directed by actors, ranked
Clint Eastwood stands in the rain in Unforgiven.

The jump from acting to directing is one that countless actors have attempted over the years. Some have inevitably pulled that transition off better than others, while an even smaller number have ended up making films that are rightly seen by both cinephiles and general moviegoers alike as ranking among the greatest movies of all time. A few actors have even succeeded so profoundly as directors that they're now remembered more for their efforts behind the camera than those in front of it.

2024 alone has seen some noteworthy directorial debuts from longtime big-screen performers like Anna Kendrick and Zoë Kravitz. Whether their films, as well as any of the other more recent additions to this niche category of movies, end up being remembered as fondly as their multi-hyphenate directors would like remains to be seen. For now, here are the 10 best movies ever directed by actors, ranked.
10. Wanda (1970)

Read more
10 great horror movies to stream on Netflix this Halloween
Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman in "The Babadook."

Halloween has arrived once more, and people are looking to enjoy a scary movie or two to celebrate. As always, they can count on Netflix to provide a wide variety of horror films to binge-watch this season.

From thrilling slashers like Psycho and Scream to supernatural stories like The Babadook and Evil Dead Rise, there is virtually no shortage of exciting films for fans to scare themselves with this Halloween. Understandably, it may be hard to decide which films to watch, so here's a list of the best horror movies that audiences can stream on Netflix for the holiday.

Read more