7 Must-Watch Movies on Peacock Right Now (April 2025)

It’s time to try defying gravity. Or at the very least, it’s time to try watching Wicked on Peacock. Cynthia Erivo stars as Elphaba, the green girl with strange powers who would go on to become the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. When Elphaba goes off to Shiz University and is made to room with the spoiled, popular Galinda (Ariana Grande), the two girls find an unexpected kinship that changes their lives forever.

Erivo and Grande’s Oscar-nominated performances are delightful, showcasing both of their phenomenal singing and acting chops. Jonathan Bailey (of Bridgerton fame) is particularly dreamy as devil-may-care Prince Fiyero, and it’s easy to see why both Elphaba and Galinda find themselves harboring feelings for him. 

The sets, which were built mostly using practical effects, are stunning. (Director Jon M. Chu says the production actually planted nine million tulips to create the colorful landscape of Munchkinland.) But despite the silly-sounding names and the magical setting, Wicked tells a story of a woman bravely standing up for what is right at the cost of her own reputation and happiness. Though Wicked looks like a sugary dessert of a film, it provides plenty of hearty food for thought.

In this animated feature film based on a popular series of children’s books, a helper robot named Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) becomes lost in the forest. Through a series of accidents, she becomes responsible for orphaned gosling Brightbill (Kit Connor) and goes from emotionless automaton to loving mother. With the help of a clever fox (Pedro Pascal) and an entertaining cast of forest creatures (Catherine O’Hara, Mark Hamill and Bill Nighy are a few of the other stars lending their voices to this film), Roz helps Brightbill learn to soar — both literally and metaphorically. 

It’s easy to see why this movie was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. The visuals in The Wild Robot will take your breath away — the backdrops resemble a watercolor painting while the animal and robot characters are expressive and lifelike. Roz’s devotion to her charge, as well as her frustration with the thankless task, are sure to resonate with parents, while the action and the comedy will certainly entertain kids. It will warm even the most robotic of hearts.

This 2020 adaptation of the Jane Austen novel is warm, stylized and witty. It stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular heroine and Bill Nighy as her doting, albeit neurotic, father. Director Autumn de Wilde plays up the quirkiness and the comedy of this story of matchmaking and miscommunication, adding new nuances to a classic tale. 

Taylor-Joy’s performance brings realism to Emma Woodhouse, whose insistence on meddling in the relationships of those around her masks a deep fear of showing any vulnerability herself. The sets and costumes are beautifully designed, full of whimsical pastels and floral motifs that transport you deep into the film’s romantic world. To paraphrase Emma’s love interest, Mr. Knightley (Johnny Flynn), “If we loved this movie less, we might be able to talk about it more.”

You better shape up — and watch Grease! Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) is the new kid at Rydell High School, a well-behaved “good girl” who would never drink, swear or get caught smoking a cigarette. But on the first day of school, she realizes that the guy she had a summer fling with, Danny (John Travolta), attends Rydell High as well. But unlike the sweet, sensitive guy she met at the beach, the school version of Danny is a bad boy, the leader of a rebellious gang called the T-birds. Will Sandy ever fit in with the cool kids?

This is one of the wackiest movie musicals of all time, starring actors who do not look nearly young enough to be high schoolers in a love story with a questionable message. (“Change yourself for the person you have a crush on” doesn’t hold up very well under scrutiny.) Yet somehow, the earworm songs and ‘50s aesthetics have made it a classic that’s jam-packed with nostalgia. It’s as sweet and frothy as a milkshake from your local soda shop.

While Disney has been churning out live-action remakes of their beloved properties like an assembly line over the past decade, it’s taken DreamWorks until 2025 to release their first live-action remake — a live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon is coming to theaters in June. 

After watching the original film, you’ll see why Universal chose it as their first remake. How To Train Your Dragon is an inspirational, moving animated movie about a boy named Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) who lives in the Viking village of Berk. Berk is constantly under attack from dragons, so the Vikings who live there all must train to fight the fearsome reptiles. But Hiccup, a creative out-of-the-box thinker who’d rather use his head than his small, wiry fists, discovers a secret about the dragons that will change his world forever.

With stellar performances from Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson (plus several more comedy stars in supporting roles), a soaring soundtrack and a heartwarming friendship at its core, How to Train Your Dragon is almost certainly DreamWorks’ best animated film. 

While Stranger Than Fiction certainly has its funny moments, it’s mostly a dramatic film, so it might surprise you to learn that Will Ferrell is the leading man — and that he wears the role very well. Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who abruptly begins hearing a mysterious voice (Emma Thompson) narrating his life. When the voice says that he is about to die, he begins doing all he can to change his fate.  With the help of a literature professor (Dustin Hoffman), he realizes he is the protagonist in a novel and begins seeking out the author who holds his life in her hands.

Stranger Than Fiction is a clever, surprising movie about the strange ways our lives are interconnected. Ferrell reveals a side of his talent that viewers have rarely seen from him before or since. The strange twists and turns of the story form a sweet, meaningful movie that leaves you questioning what makes a great “life story.”

Musical drama Dreamgirls launched Jennifer Hudson’s career after her American Idol run and even won her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Adapted from the Tony Award-winning stage musical, it tells the story of a Motown-esque group of black singers rising to stardom amid the civil rights movement. Heavily inspired by the stories of The Supremes and other Motown singers, it’s an emotional musical with a phenomenal cast and a great soundtrack. 

Beyoncé stars as Deena Jones, who becomes the lead singer of the Dreams because of her more “commercial” voice at the expense of Effie (Hudson). Jamie Foxx plays their ambitious and power-hungry manager, Curtis, and Eddie Murphy gives one of the best performances of his career as singer James “Thunder” Early, a troubled singer who has an affair with the youngest Dream, Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose). “You better move” and not miss this powerful musical.