Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To GeekAnd we’re off with July, and Netflix isn’t making it easy for U.S. subscribers to choose, with a solid lineup of movies on the way for the month. If you’ve been too preoccupied with the holiday weekend fun, then you might have missed that there’s a new Enola Holmes movie now streaming, and the July 1st movie dump is now there for the taking, stuffed with more classics than any reasonable person has evenings for.
That’s where we come in. For this week, I’ve pulled a few of the month’s greats: a period drama still glowing from Oscar night, a period sports comedy based during WWII, and a snowbound crime classic that’s equal parts grisly and polite.
Hamnet
The Oscar phenomenon is a gut-punch of Shakespearean proportions
Irish actress Jessie Buckley is undoubtedly still reeling from her Best Actress Oscar win for Hamnet (one of eight nominations it received, including Best Director and Best Picture), director Chloé Zhao’s gut-punch adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, which Zhao co-wrote with O’Farrell herself. The epic historical drama is the prestige heavyweight of Netflix’s July lineup.
In 1580s Stratford-upon-Avon, Agnes (Buckley), a free-spirited holistic healer, falls for a young Latin tutor named William (Paul Mescal)—yes, that William—though the famous surname is never spoken aloud. They marry and raise three children, but one of them, 11-year-old Hamnet, tragically dies of the plague, a loss that destroys the couple’s marriage. Agnes stays in Stratford while Will retreats to his London theatre. Years later, Agnes is drawn to London to see Will’s stage play—yep, Hamlet, which is said to be inspired by Shakespeare’s grief. The final act, with Agnes in the audience, has been dismantling viewers since the film’s Telluride premiere. Bring tissues. Then bring backup tissues. Hamnet has an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Cast
Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Jacobi Jupe, Noah Jupe, Joe Alwyn, David Wilmot, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Freya Hannan-Mills, Sam Woolf, Jack Shalloo, Justine Mitchell, Elliot Baxter, Louisa Harland, Effie Linnen, Matthew Tennyson, John Mackay, Clay Milner-Russell
Runtime
126 minutes
Director
Chloé Zhao
Writers
Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell
Producers
Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes, Steven Spielberg, Nicolas Gonda, Caroline Reynolds, Maggie O’Farrell
Main Genre
Drama
Executive Producer(s)
Chloé Zhao, Julie Pastor, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Laurie Borg, Nicholas Brown
A League of Their Own
There’s still no crying in baseball
More than three decades on, Penny Marshall’s 1992 crowd-pleaser, A League of Their Own, is still the highest-grossing baseball movie ever made—and home to one of the most quoted lines in film history. During the Second World War, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was created to help keep baseball alive while many of the sport’s players were shipped off to fight in the war.
Based on true events, A League of Their Own is the fictionalized story of one of the most successful teams in the AAGPBL, Illinois’ real-life Rockford Peaches, and its players, including catcher Dorothy “Dottie” Hinson (Geena Davis), her sister, pitcher Kit Keller (Lori Petty), center fielder “All the Way” Mae Mordabito (Madonna), and third baseman, Doris Murphy (Rosie O’Donnell).
Quiz
New Netflix movies and shows in July 2026
Trivia challenge
From Enola Holmes to Heartstopper Forever — how much do you know about
Netflix’s biggest July 2026 arrivals?
MysteriesDramaRomanceReality TVAdaptations
Mysteries
Enola Holmes 3 brings back Millie Bobby Brown as the young detective. Who plays her
famous older brother Sherlock Holmes in the Netflix film series?
Brown’s Enola in the Netflix film series. Cavill brings a warmer, more brotherly interpretation to the
iconic detective than many previous portrayals.
Holmes Netflix films. While Benedict Cumberbatch is famous for playing Sherlock in the BBC series,
Cavill takes on the role in this franchise.
Adaptations
Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie is a reimagining of a beloved classic. The
original television series, which ran from 1974 to 1983, was based on the autobiographical book
series written by whom?
based on her own childhood experiences settling on the American frontier. Her books have inspired
generations of readers and multiple screen adaptations.
childhood to write the Little House series. Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women, while L.M. Montgomery
is known for Anne of Green Gables — easy mix-ups!
Romance
Heartstopper Forever is the concluding chapter of the beloved Netflix series.
Heartstopper is based on a graphic novel series created by which author?
which began as a webcomic before becoming a bestselling book series and the basis for the hugely popular
Netflix show. Oseman also wrote the screenplay for the adaptation.
also serves as a writer on the Netflix adaptation. Rainbow Rowell and Becky Albertalli are both
celebrated LGBTQ+ YA authors, but this particular story belongs to Oseman.
Drama
Ransom Canyon is a Netflix drama adapted from a series of Western romance novels.
Which author wrote the Ransom Canyon book series on which the show is based?
Western romance novels set in the Texas Panhandle. Thomas is a New York Times bestselling author
celebrated for her richly drawn Texas settings and multigenerational stories.
Western romance author known for her Texas-set stories. Kristin Hannah and Nora Roberts are both
massively popular romance authors, but Ransom Canyon belongs to Thomas’s catalog.
Reality TV
Worst Neighbor Ever is a Netflix reality series. Based on its title and premise,
what type of content does the show focus on?
and extreme neighbor conflicts, exploring just how bad living next door to the wrong person can get. It
taps into a universally relatable fear with dramatic real-world cases.
of extreme and outrageous neighbor disputes — not pranks or renovation competitions. Neighbor conflict
content has proven hugely popular with streaming audiences drawn to real-life drama.
Survival
Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea is a Netflix survival documentary. What distinguishes
documentary survival content like this from scripted survival dramas on streaming platforms?
grounded in real events and typically feature the survivors themselves recounting their harrowing
experiences. This authenticity is a key part of their appeal compared to scripted survival dramas.
Nightmare at Sea is that it’s based on real events and features the actual people involved — not actors.
Documentaries reconstruct events after the fact rather than filming them live as they happen.
Thrillers
72 Hours is a Netflix thriller arriving in July 2026. Thriller titles using a
specific time frame — like 72 Hours — are a well-established genre convention. How many days does a
period of 72 hours represent?
specific time window in a thriller title like 72 Hours immediately signals urgency and a
race-against-the-clock narrative, a proven formula for keeping audiences on the edge of their seats.
countdown time frames are a classic genre device designed to signal urgency and tension from the very
first moment an audience sees the title.
Drama
The Hawk is a Netflix drama series arriving in July 2026. ‘The Hawk’ as a title or
nickname is often used in storytelling to suggest what kind of character archetype?
observation, speed, and predatory focus — qualities often assigned to intense protagonists, skilled
hunters, detectives, or dangerous antagonists in drama and thriller storytelling.
vigilance, and predatory focus — not warmth or vulnerability. It’s a title that immediately signals a
protagonist or central figure defined by intensity and acute awareness of their surroundings.
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Coached by washed-up Major Leaguer Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), the team struggles to get its act together while also dealing with the realities of being at home during wartime. A fierce rivalry brews between the Peaches and Wisconsin’s Racine Belles, but that pales in comparison to the sibling rivalry between Dottie and the younger Kit, who is traded to the Belles in an effort to get out from under the shadow of her all-star sister. The film never won any major awards, but it has a solid 82% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And there’s still no crying in baseball.
Cast
Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, Megan Cavanagh, Tracy Reiner, Bitty Schram, Ann Cusack, Anne Ramsay, Freddie Simpson, Renée Coleman, Robin Knight, Patti Pelton, Kelli Simpkins, Neezer Tarleton, Connie Pounds-Taylor, Kathleen Marshall, Sharon Szmidt, Pauline Brailsford, David Strathairn, Garry Marshall, Jon Lovitz, Bill Pullman, Justin Scheller
Runtime
128 minutes
Director
Penny Marshall
Writers
Babaloo Mandel, Lowell Ganz, Kelly Candaele, Kim Wilson
Producers
Elliot Abbott, Robert Greenhut, Bill Pace, Joseph Hartwick, Ronnie D. Clemmer
Main Genre
Comedy
Executive Producer(s)
Penny Marshall
Fargo
A grisly Minnesota murder, in the politest way possible
In this 1996 Coen Brothers’ masterpiece that spawned a whole franchise of critically-acclaimed TV seasons, Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is a sad and miserable Minneapolis car salesman who gets the not-so-bright idea of having his wife Jean (Kristin Rudrüd) kidnapped so he can collect the ransom from her wealthy father, Wade (Harve Presnell). Jerry learns all-too-quickly that he’s bit off way more than he can chew and that the henchmen he enlists—the scheming Carl (Steve Buscemi) and sociopathic Gaear (Peter Stormare)—are complete idiots.
When the plan takes a disastrous turn (let’s just say it involves a wood chipper), Jerry spirals out of control as the relentlessly polite and razor-sharp (and pregnant) local police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) zeroes in. Winner of two Oscars—Best Original Screenplay for Joel and Ethan Coen, Best Actress for McDormand’s incredible performance—Fargo is a crime classic that should be on any serious film buff’s bucket list. It has a 95% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Cast
Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell, John Carroll Lynch, Kristin Rudrüd, Bruce Bohne, Steve Reevis, Steve Park, Gary Houston, Sally Wingert, Larissa Kokernot, Melissa Peterman, Tony Denman, Larry Brandenburg, Michelle Hutchison, Bain Boehlke, Warren Keith, Michelle LeDoux, Sharon Anderson, Kurt Schweickhardt, James Gaulke, J. Todd Anderson, Wayne A. Evenson
Runtime
98 minutes
Director
Joel Coen
Writers
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Producers
Ethan Coen
Main Genre
Thriller
Executive Producer(s)
Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan
Dialed in to some great movies
Netflix has some fantastic movies and series on the way in July, including the much-anticipated Will Ferrell sports comedy The Hawk coming in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, the three highly-rated movies above should get you through the post-holiday work week. Check out more streaming suggestions in the Streaming section of How-To Geek.
Subscription with ads
Yes, $8/month
Simultaneous streams
Two or four
Live TV
No
Price
Starting at $8/month
