Peacock doesn’t always have the top movie titles of any given year. But in 2023, Peacock has the biggest hit of the year: The Super Mario Bros. Movie. If you haven’t seen it in theaters dozens of times with your children, then be prepared for it to be on repeat for any child who ever loved Nintendo’s famous plumber.
Having that title certainly gives Peacock bragging rights for the month of August. Also this month, Animal House, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and more return to Peacock, and they’re terrific films. But keep in mind that some titles are only available to stream on the Peacock’s paid tiers.
To keep you up to date on your film options, we’ve updated our list of the best movies on Peacock right now.
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.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
After the massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the curse of the 1993 live-action adaptation has truly been broken. In this animated movie, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are struggling New York plumbers who stumble upon a warp zone that sends them to the Mushroom Kingdom.
While Luigi is held hostage by Bowser (Jack Black), Mario aligns himself with Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). But to get past Bowser’s army of Koopas, Mario and his friends will need to find an army of their own.
Rotten Tomatoes: 59%
Genre: Comedy, Adventure
Stars: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key
Directors: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic
Rating: PG
Runtime: 92 minutes
Animal House (1978)
National Lampoon’s Animal House turned 45 last month, and it remains one of the wildest college comedies ever made. The late John Belushi headlines the cast as John “Bluto” Blutarsky, one of the leaders of the Delta House fraternity in 1962. Delta House has earned the enmity of their rivals in Omega House and the ire of Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon), who will do anything to see the Deltas expelled.
However, the Delta House responds to adversity with excess drinking and chaos. And Omega House and the Dean will soon learn that they’ve made a grave mistake.
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Genre: Comedy
Stars: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce
Director: John Landis
Rating: R
Runtime: 108 minutes
How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
The original How To Train Your Dragon is the best of the trilogy, but the second movie is also quite good. And since How To Train Your Dragon 2 is the only film in the franchise currently on Peacock, it’s an easy pick for this list. Five years after the original movie, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) has ushered in an era of peace between humans and dragons on Berk.
Unfortunately for Hiccup and his tribe, the evil Drago Bludvist (Djimon Hounsou) has dragons of his own and the means to usurp control of Berk’s dragons as well. While trying to find a peaceful solution, Hiccup also discovers that his long-lost mother, Valka Haddock (Cate Blanchett), is still alive and opposing Drago’s conquest.
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Stars: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill
Director: Dean DeBlois
Rating: PG
Runtime: 101 minutes
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a comic book movie that plays like a video game movie. That’s by the design of both the author and artist of the original graphic novels, Bryan Lee O’Malley, and director Edgar Wright. Arrested Development’s Michael Cera stars as Scott Pilgrim, an unassuming slacker who falls hard for a girl named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) despite the fact that he already has a girlfriend.
But Ramona has baggage of her own in the form of her seven evil exes. And if Scott wants a relationship with Ramona, then he’ll have to defeat all of the exes in a series of epic battles.
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Action
Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick
Director: Edgar Wright
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 112 minutes
There’s Something About Mary (1998)
In There’s Something About Mary, Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller) had the prom date of his dreams with Mary Jensen (Cameron Diaz) fall apart before it started due to a grotesque zipper accident. Over a decade later, Ted hires private investigator Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to look in on Mary and see if she’s single.
Unfortunately for Ted, Pat becomes absolutely infatuated with Mary, and he’s far from alone. When Ted discovers that Pat lied to him about Mary, he races to reunite with her. But Ted’s notorious bad luck and Mary’s disgruntled suitors threaten to tear them apart.
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Genre: Comedy
Stars: Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Lee Evans, Chris Elliott
Directors: Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly
Rating: R
Runtime: 119 minutes
Renfield (2023)
Do you hate your boss? If so, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) can relate to you. Because not only is Renfield’s boss a bloodsucking overbearing narcissist, he’s freakin’ Dracula (Nicolas Cage). And after about a century of serving the Lord of the Vampires, Renfield needs a break.
In the present day, Renfield joins a support group, starts living his own life, and he even finds a potential friendship with a police officer named Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina). But Dracula can’t have that. He’ll get his manservant back in line no matter how many people he has to kill in this horror comedy.
Rotten Tomatoes: 58%
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Nicolas Cage
Director: Chris McKay
Rating: R
Runtime: 93 minutes
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021)
In this sequel to The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) returns to action far sooner than he wanted to when Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek), the wife of his frenemy, Darius Kincaid (Secret Invasion‘s Samuel L. Jackson), recruits him for a mission to save her husband’s life. Michael’s decision to help is complicated by the fact that he can’t use lethal weapons while awaiting the restoration of his bodyguard license.
However, Michael’s problems are only just beginning when he reunites with Darius, as they (and Sonia) are both roped into a plan to take on a terrorist, Aristotle Papadopoulos (Antonio Banderas), who is madly in love with Sonia. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard wasn’t a hit with critics, but it earned a 79% audience score. So there is definitely some fun to be had here.
Rotten Tomatoes: 29%
Genre: Action
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman
Director: Patrick Hughes
Rating: R
Runtime: 159 minutes
The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
Have you ever wondered what your pets get up to while you’re at work? The Secret Life of Pets offers its own answer by giving these companion animals personal lives when their owners are out. But the focus largely falls on Max (Louis C.K.), a Jack Russell Terrier who feels threatened when his owner, Katie (The Great American Baking Show‘s Ellie Kemper), adopts another dog named Duke (Eric Stonestreet).
The mutual enmity between Max and Duke leads both of them into being mistaken as stray animals. And while attempting to get home, Max and Duke accidentally make enemies out of a white rabbit, Snowball (Kevin Hart), and his human-hating Flushed Pets.
Rotten Tomatoes: 71%
Genre: Comedy, Animated
Stars: Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Kevin Hart
Director: Chris Renaud
Rating: PG
Runtime: 86 minutes
Cocaine Bear (2023)
In Cocaine Bear, Andrew C. Thornton II (The Americans‘ Matthew Rhys) drops a shipment of cocaine out of a plane. The cocaine winds up in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, where a bear eats the illegal substance and subsequently goes on a wild, drug-fueled bender. The bear is now attracted to cocaine and attacks anyone in its path. It’s up to a group of smugglers, children, tourists, and cops to stop the bear before the death toll increases.
Cocaine Bear is a fast-moving, 95-minute thrill ride that’s the perfect form of B-movie entertainment. The ensemble cast includes Keri Russell (The Americans), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), Margo Martindale (Mrs. Davis), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire), and Ray Liotta (Black Bird). It is directed by Elizabeth Banks (Charlie’s Angels) and written by Jimmy Warden (Borderline).
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%
Genre: Comedy
Stars: Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Rating: R
Runtime: 95 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
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