The 10 best apocalypse movies streaming on Netflix right now
The 10 best apocalypse movies streaming on Netflix right now
Ilana Gordon, Sara NetzleyThu, March 5, 2026 at 10:50 PM UTC
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Will Smith as Capt. Steven Hiller in 'Independence Day'; Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus in 'Zombieland'; Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Ian Kelson in '28 Years Later'Credit: 20th Century Fox; Glen Wilson/Columbia Pictures; Miya Mizuno/Columbia Pictures
Whether you watch apocalyptic movies to pick up tips for future worst-case scenarios, or just want to see happy endings amidst destruction, you'll find what you're looking for on Netflix. The streamer offers a bountiful supply of end times films, such as the zom-com Zombieland (2009) and the crowd pleaser Independence Day (1996).
It's okay to be anxious about current events, and it's okay to put on a movie about even worse disasters to soothe that anxiety. Entertainment Weekly recommends these 10 apocalyptic films as great options.
01 of 10
28 Years Later (2025)
Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Ian Kelson in '28 Years Later'Credit: Miya Mizuno/Columbia
Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later proves the franchise still has a lot to say. Released 18 years after 28 Weeks Later (2007), the third installment in the postapocalyptic horror series is set on one of the British Isles, where a community has flourished, isolated from the more evolved versions of the infected that still terrorize the region. The film follows 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), who must contend with his mother’s growing illness and his father’s inability to help her.
Writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle reunite for the first time since 28 Days Later (2002), and their collaboration meditates on British culture and isolationism in a post-Brexit, COVID-impacted world. Its own sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, premiered in January. —Ilana Gordon
Where to watch 28 Years Later: Netflix
EW grade: A–
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams, Ralph Fiennes
02 of 10
Bird Box (2018)
Sandra Bullock as Malorie Hayes in 'Bird Box'Credit: Merrick Morton/Netflix
This deeply unsettling Sandra Bullock film finds humanity blindly stumbling to survive after an unseen force drives the bulk of the population to suicide. “It's a thriller about motherhood,” director Susanne Bier tells EW. “[Bullock’s character is] very forceful, very uncompromising. She's a very contemporary female hero.”
EW’s critic calls Bird Box “taut and defiantly in the moment.” Watch it, and you’ll never take the luxury of driving without a blindfold for granted again. —Sara Netzley
Where to watch Bird Box: Netflix
EW grade: B
Director: Susanne Bier
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, Danielle Macdonald, Rosa Salazar, Sarah Paulson
03 of 10
Don't Look Up (2021)
Jonah Hill as Jason Orlean, Leonardo DiCaprio as Dr. Randall Mindy, Meryl Streep as President Orlean, and Jennifer Lawrence as Kate Dibiasky in 'Don't Look Up'Credit: Everett
The mega-comet is real, but it’s a fame and fake-news apocalypse that ultimately dooms the Earth in Don’t Look Up. EW’s critic calls the Adam McKay film a “winking indictment of climate-change deniers and alternative-fact peddlers” who are happy to ignore global existential threats as they chase a little more clout. As McKay tells EW, “This movie came from my terror about the climate crisis and the fact that we live in a society that tends to place it as the fourth or fifth news story, or even deny that it's happening, and how horrifying that is, but at the same time [how] preposterously funny.”
Don’t Look Up stars Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, and, conservatively, a billion other famous faces. (As tempting a target as Earth is for killer comets, McKay’s gravitational pull on actors is even stronger.) —S.N.
Where to watch Don’t Look Up: Netflix
EW grade: B
Director: Adam McKay
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill
04 of 10
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Kuranosuke Susaki as Seiji Akitsu and Godzilla in 'Godzilla Minus One'Credit: Toho International/Courtesy Everett Collection
Godzilla Minus One won the 2024 Oscar for Best Visual Effects, but the film is so much more than a monster movie with incredible CGI. Set in Japan, a country ravaged by the after-effects of World War II, the film follows a failed kamikaze pilot as he is haunted both by his performance during the war and a gargantuan monster with a heat ray capable of razing Tokyo.
A love story disguised as a horror movie, Godzilla Minus One offers stunning performances, a fascinating historical perspective, and — of course — the kind of city-trampling mayhem one would expect when selecting a Godzilla movie. You know they did a good job when the filmmaker has you sympathizing with both the monster and the citizens rallying to defeat it. —I.G.
Where to watch Godzilla Minus One: Netflix
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka
05 of 10
I Am Mother (2019)
Clara Rugaard as Daughter in 'I Am Mother'Credit: Ian Routledge/Sundance Institute
If you like a little sci-fi with your apocalypse, you should meet this Mother. After humanity’s extinction, a strange woman (Hilary Swank) upends the life of a teenager raised in an austere postapocalyptic bunker under the care of a maternal robot voiced by Rose Byrne.
Australian filmmaker Grant Sputore’s feature debut outing offers a heady mix of rich characters, shifting loyalties, and thought-provoking ideas, along with a fierce performance from Danish actress Clara Rugaard as a young woman grappling with the threat to the only life she’s ever known. —S.N.
Where to watch I Am Mother: Netflix
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Director: Grant Sputore
Cast: Clara Rugaard, Rose Byrne, Hilary Swank
06 of 10
Independence Day (1996)
Will Smith as Capt. Steven Hiller in 'Independence Day'Credit: 20th Century Fox
Two days before the Fourth of July, an alien mothership enters Earth’s atmosphere and dispatches envoys in the form of flying saucers across major cities worldwide. When the aliens attack, killing millions, it’s up to satellite engineer David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), Marine pilot Capt. Steven Hiller (Will Smith), and the President of the United States (Bill Pullman), to lead the world in fighting the alien forces in defense of our freedom — on Independence Day. The cinematic mid-'90s version of wearing an Old Navy American flag T-shirt, Independence Day is worth watching if only to hear the phrase “welcome to Earth,” uttered not as a cynical aside, but as a rallying cry. —I.G.
Where to watch Independence Day: Netflix
EW grade: B+
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch
07 of 10
The Midnight Sky (2020)
Felicity Jones as Sully in 'The Midnight Sky'Credit: Netflix
George Clooney directed, co-produced, and starred in The Midnight Sky, which finds his lushly bearded Arctic scientist attempting to prevent a crew of astronauts, including those played by Felicity Jones and David Oyelowo, from returning to Earth, where a global catastrophe awaits them.
Filming took place in Iceland, and the weather proved to be its own mini-catastrophe for Clooney. “It was like 40 below, 60-70-mile-an-hour winds, and it's tricky because you could get lost 15 feet away from the camera," he told EW. “I lost like 25 pounds [for the part], so I was pretty weak in general and I'm also directing a big film and you need energy. I was pretty beat up." —S.N.
Where to watch The Midnight Sky: Netflix
EW grade: B
Director: George Clooney
Cast: George Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone, Demián Bichir
08 of 10
Oxygen (2021)
Mélanie Laurent as Elizabeth 'Liz' Hansen in 'Oxygen'Credit: Netflix
A nightmare comes to life for claustrophobics everywhere, Oxygen is a French-language sci-fi film that thinks outside the box in terms of action. At the genesis, an unidentified woman (Mélanie Laurent) awakens in an airtight medical unit, unsure of who or where she is. Interactions with the system's AI — dubbed M.I.L.O. (Medical Interface Liaison Officer) — provide some clarity as to her identity, but no matter what she tries, she cannot escape her prison. As she seeks to understand who placed her in the box and why, truths about her personal life and the current state of the world come into focus — but her search for context is actually a race to outwit the slowly depleting oxygen levels. —I.G.
Where to watch Oxygen: Netflix
EW grade: B
Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Mélanie Laurent, Mathieu Amalric, Malik Zidi
09 of 10
Train to Busan (2016)
Gong Yoo as Seok-woo in 'Train to Busan'Credit: Everett Collection
The only thing faster than a bullet train is the zombie infection overtaking its passengers. In the South Korean action horror film Train to Busan, Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) is a work-obsessed hedge fund manager and absentee father who agrees to accompany his young daughter Soo-an (Kim Su-an) on a trip from Seoul to Busan so she can spend her birthday with her mother. As the train departs, a sick woman begins transitioning into a zombie — and infecting everyone around her.
Now barreling full-speed across the country, Seok-woo, Soo-an, and the other passengers must find a way to survive the apocalyptic journey. These zombies seem to have studied at the World War Z School of Swarming; they move at the same frenetic speed, aiming to infect everyone in their path. —I.G.
Where to watch Train to Busan: Netflix
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Cast: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee
10 of 10
Zombieland (2009)
Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus and Amber Heard as 406 in 'Zombieland'Credit: Glen Wilson/Columbia Pictures
A fusion of zombie rom-com and roadtrip movie, Zombieland offered a little something for everyone when it came out in 2009. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors of a national epidemic who meet up on the road and agree to head west together.
Known only to each other by their cities of origin, Columbus (Eisenberg), a former college student; Tallahassee (Harrelson), a zombie-killing aficionado; and sisters Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin) find themselves breaking all of their apocalypse rules and trusting each other as they head to California in search of a zombie-free space. As EW’s critic at the time writes, “Zombieland is a polished, very funny road picture shaped by wisenheimer cable-TV sensibilities.” —I.G.
Where to watch Zombieland: Netflix
EW grade: B+
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
on Entertainment Weekly
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