New Year’s Eve is about more than just fireworks and champagne, although it’s a good bet that there will be plenty of both if you wind up at a party. But if you’re staying home this New Year’s Eve, then why not watch some great films to pass the time as we count down to 2025?
Our selections for the 10 best movies to watch on New Year’s Eve include films that are on several different streaming services. There are even a handful below that you can watch for free, if you’re so inclined. Not all of the following movies are directly related to New Year’s Eve, but there are good reasons why we chose them. And some of them won’t be sticking around in the new year, so start watching those early if you can.
Need more recommendations? We also have guides for the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Netflix, and the best movies on Disney+.
Juror #2 (2024)
In what may be his final film, director Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 throws his main character into a moral dilemma. Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) has been named to a jury that will decide whether James Michael Sythe (Gabriel Basso) murdered his girlfriend, Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood). The problem is that Kemp was there the night of the incident, and he may have been the one who accidentally killed Carter.
Kemp can’t let an innocent man go to prison, but he also doesn’t want to be imprisoned himself. That gives him the incentive to try to convince the rest of the jury to vote not guilty, even though there’s pushback and at least one member of the panel who is willing to perform his own investigation. Kemp’s future is relying on his ability to get his desired outcome, but it may not be possible to save both Sythe and himself.
Watch Juror #2 on Max.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
Wednesday‘s Jenna Ortega takes center stage in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel that only took 36 years to materialize. Ortega plays Astrid Deetz, the daughter of Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder). Astrid and her mom aren’t exactly on very good terms when they go back to Lydia’s childhood home to bury her father. It’s been decades since Lydia encountered Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), and she’d like to keep him in her rearview window.
But when Astrid gets in trouble on the other side of the afterlife, Lydia has no choice but to turn to Beetlejuice for help. He could use some help of his own because Beetlejuice’s vengeful ex-wife, Delores LaFerve (Monica Bellucci), has escaped her imprisonment. And she knows how to kill a ghost.
Watch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on Max.
Eurotrip (2004)
There aren’t lot of raunchy teen comedies like EuroTrip these days, and since this movie is leaving Netflix when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, this might be your last chance to watch it for a while. Scott Thomas (Scott Mechlowicz) finds out the hard way that his girlfriend, Fiona (Kristin Kreuk), has been cheating on him in a hilarious scene that sets the tone for the rest of the movie.
To heal his broken heart, Scott goes on an impromptu road trip across Europe with his friends, Cooper (Jacob Pitts), Jenny (Michelle Trachtenberg), and Jamie (Travis Wester). Along the way, they manage to get in some very funny situations, especially in the Vatican. And Scott may even get a chance for a rebound relationship if he can catch up with his pen pal, Mieke Schmidt (Jessica Boehrs).
Watch EuroTrip on Netflix.
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
When Harry Met Sally is an appropriate choice for New Year’s Eve since one of the most pivotal parts of the film takes place on that night. But it earns its place on this list because it’s an all-time great romantic comedy, with well-matched stars in Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.
Harry Burns (Crystal) and Sally Albright (Ryan) come into and out of each others’ lives, often while dating other people. And although their best friends, Marie (Carrie Fisher) and Jess (Bruno Kirby), fall for each other, Harry and Sally have trouble quantifying their own relationship. Harry suggests that men and women can’t be friends because of the sexual attraction between them, and his comments hang over his head for years as he and Sally sort out their feelings.
Watch When Harry Met Sally on Pluto TV.
Interstellar (2014)
This year marked the 10th anniversary of Interstellar, one of Christopher Nolan‘s most ambitious films. On January 1, Interstellar will be bowing on Netflix, but Paramount+ is the only place you can catch it on New Year’s Eve. It’s a tale of renewal in the face of humanity’s impending extinction. Joseph “Coop” Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is tasked with the most important mission of his life: venturing out into space to find a new home for Earth’s survivors.
If you want an example of Nolan’s eye for talent, Mackenzie Foy and Timothée Chalamet were cast as Coop’s children, Murph and Tom, before he has to leave them behind. As relative time bends for Coop and Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway) in space, an older Murph (Jessica Chastain) has to come up with a way to get all of humanity off of their dying world or else the mission will have been for nothing.
Watch Interstellar on Paramount+.
Memento (2001)
If we’re watching one Christopher Nolan movie on New Year’s Eve, then why not watch two? Memento is the film that put Nolan on the map with its twisty narrative and nonlinear storytelling. The Brutalist‘s Guy Pearce stars as Leonard Shelby, a man who is stuck in his own personal tale of revenge. Leonard has anterograde amnesia, which essentially resets his short-term memory every few minutes. All Leonard knows is that he’s looking for the man who murdered his wife and gave him the wound that led to his memory loss.
Once people learn about Leonard’s condition, they’re all too willing to mock him or use him for their own ends. Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Teddy Gammell (Joe Pantoliano) are both guilty of those crimes. But just because Leonard’s mind is fractured doesn’t mean he can’t get payback.
Watch Memento on Prime Video.
Wonka (2023)
Last year at this time, Wonka was the musical that cleaned up at the box office, much like Wicked is doing now. But unlike Wicked, you can watch Wonka for free on Tubi. In this prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) hasn’t yet become a trickster. Instead, he’s a poor man with a dream in his soul and a song in his heart.
Willy’s talent for making candy is apparent from the start, and there’s real magic in his confections. He’s too good, and that’s why Arthur Slugworth (Paterson Joseph) and his Chocolate Cartel are out to destroy him. Willy may be naïve, but he’s no pushover. Once Willy gets his bearings and makes a few friends, it will be time to turn the tables and build his own candy empire.
Watch Wonka on Tubi.
A Knight’s Tale (2001)
The late Heath Ledger’s star power was on full display in A Knight’s Tale, a very modern reworking of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Let’s just say that there were no pop songs in the original telling. Ledger plays William Thatcher, a squire to a knight who dies suddenly. Rather than miss the opportunity of a lifetime, William takes his late mentor’s armor and wins a tournament in his name.
Chaucer (Paul Bettany) becomes William’s hype man and helps him enter tournaments restricted to those of noble birth. William quickly proves that he belongs, and he even woos Lady Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon). He also makes an an enemy out of Count Adhemar of Anjou (Rufus Sewell), who wants Jocelyn for himself.
Watch A Knight’s Tale on YouTube.
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Midnight in Paris is leaving Prime Video when 2025 begins, but it’s another good choice for New Year’s Eve because it brings together nostalgia for the past with hope for the future. Owen Wilson plays Gil Pender, a struggling writer on vacation in Paris with his fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams), although their relationship is increasingly strained.
Inexplicably, Gil finds a way to travel back and forth from the present to 1920, where he gets to hang around with literary heavyweights like F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll). Gil is also quite taken with Adriana (Marion Cotillard), Picasso’s mistress. But a man can only live in one time, and Gil has to choose where he really belongs, and who he wants to be with.
Watch Midnight in Paris on Prime Video.
Four Rooms (1995)
Four Rooms is essentially four films in one, with Tim Roth’s bellhop Ted as the common element in each of them. On New Year’s Eve at a high-end hotel, Ted is called upon for some unusual requests. The best of the four segments is directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-stars as Chester Rush, a man who entices Ted to take part in a very violent bet with his friend, Norman (Paul Calderón).
Robert Rodriguez’s segment finds Ted roped into taking care of the unruly children of a husband (Antonio Banderas) and wife (Tamlyn Tomita), while Alexandre Rockwell’s story puts him in the middle of a strange fantasy situation between Siegfried (David Proval) and his wife, Angela (Jennifer Beals). The first segment with the witches was helmed by Allison Anders, and it’s probably best just to skip past that one.
Watch Four Rooms on Hoopla.
