Before the Halloween season fully takes over your streaming schedule, there are plenty of new movies to enjoy on Hulu this September. The list includes films both new and old, filled with movies for all ages.
Here are the seven best new movies on Hulu this September.
“Call Me By Your Name”
“Call Me By Your Name” may not be the first movie starring Timothée Chalamet, but it certainly deserves credit for putting him on the map. Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 coming-of-age romance helped skyrocket the young actor in popularity, delivering him his first Oscar nomination and showing audiences what he can do as a leading man. This soulful, introspective, quiet turn from Chalamet arguably remains the actor’s strongest performance yet — when looking at the films he’s done in the eight years since, that’s saying something. Both Chalamet and Guadagnino find themselves once again in awards conversations this year — Chalamet for Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme,” and Guadagnino for his Julia Roberts/Ayo Edebiri/Andrew Garfield drama “After the Hunt.”
Guadagnino’s direction in the film is truly something to behold. He and cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom create a lush, textured depiction of Northern Italy, a vivid backdrop for the yearning at the center of this story. The film’s finale is one of the great ending images of the 2010s — if not this century so far.
“Dead Poets Society”
Peter Weir’s “Dead Poets Society” isn’t the first film of its mold, but it’s certainly one of the most iconic. In the movie, Robin Williams’ John Keating comes to the all-male Welton Academy as a new English teacher, ready to show his students what life and art have to offer beyond their textbooks. It’s an oft-replicated idea, one teased in “SNL” skits and mirrored in other films (including one later on this list). Yet Weir, Williams, screenwriter Tom Schulman and their central performers (including a young Ethan Hawke in one of his first feature roles) make their take on the atypical teacher a cut above most of the rest. It’s a movie that wears its heart on its sleeve, one filled with big emotions, and a perfect autumn watch.
“How to Train Your Dragon” (2010)
“How to Train Your Dragon” may have gotten a live-action remake this year, but it’s hard not to want to return to the original. Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois’ 2010 adventure film about a boy from a dragon-hating community that befriends a beast of his own is an irresistible animated modern classic. The film boasts strong vocal performances from the likes of Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera and Gerard Butler (so beloved in the role that he made the transition to live-action in 2025), as well as impeccable creature design in its central dragon, the adorably dangerous Toothless. Hulu will also add the 2014 follow-up “How to Train Your Dragon 2” to the service in September, a film equally deserving of praise.
“Mean Girls” (2004)
There are a lot of movies that show how high school is. In “Mean Girls,” Tina Fey and Mark Waters choose to depict how high school feels: a chaotic, loud, jungle-like jumble of cruelty and emotion. The teen comedy is filled to the brim with quotable lines and memorable performances, a film that at times feels as much like karaoke as it does a movie. Every generation gets its own handful of coming-of-age classics (the unimpeachable “Clueless” also joins Hulu this September), and “Mean Girls” is one that continues to stand the test of time.
“Never Let Me Go”
Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of the same name, “Never Let Me Go” is an achy, introspective bit of science-fiction storytelling that shows the dehumanizing callousness of innovation. Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley star as a trio of clones, raised from birth in a boarding school to die as organ donors once they’ve grown up. It’s an ingenious story, one that follows the traditional coming-of-age tropes with characters afraid to wish for more than they have. Just don’t go into this one looking for a happy ending.
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” isn’t celebrated as one of the Coen Brothers’ best. It’s not as quoted as “The Big Lebowski,” as tightly plotted as “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men” or as emotionally profound as “Inside Llewyn Davis.” What it is is a hilarious delight. “O Brother” sees George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson and John Turturro each turning in some of the funniest work of their respective careers, a masterclass in face-making and line-reading. This casual adaptation of “The Odyssey” hops from sequence to sequence with ease, ensuring you won’t have to wait long if any one bit isn’t landing for you. It’s a hilarious, breezy adventure — one with a killer soundtrack to boot.
“School of Rock”
Few people make coming-of-age films as effectively as Richard Linklater, a director who realizes these stories don’t stop once you’ve turned 18. In “School of Rock,” Linklater turns his attention to one of his most family-friendly stories yet with a screenplay written by future “The White Lotus” creator Mike White. It’s a film that shares a lot of DNA with “Dead Poets Society,” though Robin Williams’ tender and intellectual poetry-lover is replaced by Jack Black as a boisterous rock-a-holic looking to make a quick buck and stick it to his former band members. Black turns in a truly lights-out performance, using every tool in his arsenal as both a cartoon come to life and a surprising source of warmth. This isn’t “Dazed and Confused” or the “Before” trilogy, but it’s still a strong addition to Linklater’s catalogue (which will grow by two movies this fall).
