With an ownership model that means it’s largely owned by Disney, but also partly by Universal, Hulu often gets the best of both worlds when it comes to the movies it can host on its platform.
Disney Plus is the go-to destination for family entertainment for big blockbusters from Marvel and Star Wars, but Hulu’s range is much wider. The platform can draw movies and shows from huge broadcast players like ABC, NBC, and FX, plus it has original programming. In addition, at the tail end of 2021, Disney and WarnerMedia reached a deal to stream select 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures films on Disney Plus, Hulu and HBO Max. So not only is the selection wide, it’s also bang up to date.
However, with Universal having its own streamer, Peacock, which it owns outright, and that deal in place, it means movies don’t stick around forever and the selection will fluctuate for the foreseeable future.
That means every month a lot of great movies leave Hulu. The full list of everything leaving Hulu is here, and it’s a lot at the end of June, so we’ve cherry-picked five (well, nine technically) movies that you need to make sure you see before they fly away from Hulu…
Alien Quadrilogy
If you’re in the mood for a movie marathon, you could do a lot worse than working your way through the four Alien movies, which are all about to drop out of Hulu’s catalog.
If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s pretty simple: the crew of the spaceship Nostromo come across a mysterious derelict spaceship on an undiscovered moon and quickly discover a rather unpleasant stowaway has come on board.
These four movies vary in quality, but the first two in the series are some of the finest in cinema history. If you’ve not seen them, change that at the first opportunity.
When is it leaving?
June 30
Notes on a Scandal
Zoë Heller's big-selling novel was taken to the big screen with Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett in starring roles, and they deliver a very compelling drama.
Dench plays Barbara, a lonely and cynical high school teacher counting down the days until her retirement. Suddenly she’s given a new lease of life when Blanchett's Sheba, a new teacher at the school, introduces herself and the two strike up a friendship.
After discovering that Sheba is having an affair with a student, Barbara uses the information to demand that Sheba spend more and more time with her. When the pair fall out, Barbara quickly plots revenge, which threatens to ruin them both.
Twisty, dark and profoundly uncomfortable to watch in parts, this is a high-stakes drama with Dench and Blanchett paired superbly. Just don’t expect too many laughs….
When is it leaving?
June 15
Get Him To The Greek
Most people will pick out Forgetting Sarah Marshall as Russell Brand’s finest work, but for our money its spin-off, Get Him To The Greek, tops it.
Brand plays Aldous Snow, a formerly successful rockstar who has relapsed into drink and drug addiction after his latest single crashes and his girlfriend leaves him.
Meanwhile, Jonah Hill’s Aaron, a young record company executive at Pinnacle Records, is tasked with finding something that will make his failing label some money. His suggestion is to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Snow’s legendary gig at Los Angeles’ Greek Theater with a new show and live album. Now he just has to find Snow and get him there…
Brand and Hill have great chemistry and there are a lot of hilarious moments in a clever and funny comedy. The film is well and truly stolen though by P Diddy, who delivers a revelatory turn as Sergio Roma, the head of Pinnacle Records.
When is it leaving?
June 30
Little Miss Sunshine
A universally adored comedy-drama, Little Miss Sunshine had critics falling over themselves when it hit theaters in 2006.
The movie stars Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, who come together to play the Hoover family. The family finds themselves on a road trip to take their youngest member, Olive, to compete in a child beauty pageant.
Naturally, as with any road trip, the journey is long, bumpy and full of surprises.
Charming, wickedly funny, and, at times, very tense, it’s no wonder it ended up winning two Oscars, including one for Best Original Screenplay.
When is it leaving?
June 30
Drag Me To Hell
After generating billions of dollars with his Spider-Man trilogy, in 2009 Evil Dead director Sam Raimi returned to the genre that made him famous and made a good old-fashioned horror.
The film follows Alison Lohman's Christine Brown, who, eyeing a promotion at her banking job, decides to prove to her boss that she can be tough and chooses not to extend an elderly woman's mortgage. In retaliation, the woman places a curse on her that threatens to plunge her into the depths of Hell forever…
As with all Raimi’s horror work, this has a real slapstick element to go alongside the jump scares and wince-inducing gore, if you’re not easily scared, it’s very good fun.
When is it leaving?
June 30
