Wish to be a hero however don’t need to get off your sofa? No worries! You’ll be able to assist get extra films made by girls greenlit by the straightforward act of streaming nice female-helmed flicks out there to you proper now. OK, feminist icon, have you ever solved sexism now???
No, you haven’t. Nevertheless it’s truly not a nasty first step — streaming knowledge is a large a part of studio choices for future initiatives. That will help you begin saving the world, we’ve put collectively an inventory of the very best and most liked films on Disney+ written, directed, and/or produced by female-identifying creatives. Thanks on your service!
1. Black Widow
Credit score: Walt Disney Studios / Moviestore / Shutterstock
Earlier than her standalone film in 2021, Scarlett Johansson’s iconic ass-kicking Black Widow character had appeared in eight Marvel films: Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil Warfare, Avengers: Infinity Warfare, Avengers: Endgame, and a Captain Marvel finish credit scene. However in any case that point within the MCU, her origin story was nonetheless nebulous. How did she develop into a human that holds her personal alongside superpowered heroes? What led her to develop into a Black Widow murderer, and why did she defect? Does she have any household? Black Widow, directed by Cate Shortland, solutions all these questions and extra with a humorous, participating script and a knockout solid that features Florence Pugh and David Harbour.
The way to watch: Black Widow is now streaming on Disney+.
2. Inside Out
Inside Out takes all of the complexities of human consciousness and manifests them right into a bodily airplane. Our fundamental character, Riley, has 5 feelings — Pleasure, Disappointment, Concern, Disgust, and Anger — who every monitor and management Riley’s reactions all through the day from a futuristic management panel in her mind. For the previous 11 years of Riley’s life, Pleasure has been operating the present. However when Riley’s household strikes from Minnesota to San Francisco, Disappointment begins inserting herself extra. Pleasure can not stand this. Pleasure can not see the purpose of any emotion apart from Pleasure… and her stubbornness places Riley in danger.
Director Pete Docter got here up with the concept for Inside Out whereas noting how his daughter’s character modified as she received older, contending with extra emotional nuance than she did as a toddler. And whereas which will sound fairly dry, don’t concern, Inside Out is an journey and a half, a curler coaster via a pun-filled wonderland (Pleasure and Disappointment journey the literal prepare of thought). It is exhilarating, laugh-out-loud humorous, and deeply shifting. And due to an Academy Award-nominated script by Docter, Meg LeFauve, and Josh Cooley, it would even have you ever fascinated with your personal emotional depths.
The way to watch: Inside Out is now streaming on Disney+.
3. The Lion King (1994)
Who might have predicted Hamlet with lions can be the film reward that retains on giving? 1994’s The Lion King is one for the historical past books. The story of Simba, a younger lion making an attempt to save lots of his pleasure from his usurping Uncle Scar, gained two Academy Awards and spawned two sequels, a dwell motion remake AND prequel, a Beyoncé album, and a jaw-dropping Broadway musical — and it is as universally beloved as ever. Elton John and Tim Rice’s iconic soundtrack paired with Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton’s hermetic script created not only a film, however a second in cinema historical past.
The way to watch: The Lion King is now streaming on Disney+.
4. Turning Purple
Credit score: Disney / Pixar
Pixar’s Turning Red is one of its best. Like so many Pixar classics earlier than it, it completely explores the large emotions that include rising up — solely this time, there is a purple panda-shaped twist.
Meilin Lee could look like your common 13-year-old lady, however she’s received a secret: When her feelings develop too sturdy, she turns into an enormous, fluffy, lovable purple panda. As Mei balances gaining her mom’s approval and obsessing over boy band 4*City together with her associates, it will get more durable to maintain the panda underneath management. Written by Domee Shi and Julia Cho, directed by Shi herself, and produced by Lindsey Collins, Turning Purple is a thoughtful and groundbreaking take on puberty that’s relatable, hilarious, and sob-worthy unexpectedly. Plus, it is received some killer boy band tunes: Good luck getting “No one Like U” out of your head.* — Belen Edwards, Leisure Reporter
The way to watch: Turning Red is now streaming on Disney+.
5. Bend It Like Beckham
Jesminder “Jess” Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) is an 18-year-old in London whose solely outlet for her love of soccer is pickup video games within the park with a bunch of fellows. So when Jules (Keira Knightley’s breakthrough function) convinces her to check out for an novice girls’s soccer staff — coached by a good-looking Irishman (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) — Jess goes for it, though she is aware of her Punjabi household wouldn’t approve.
Directed by Gurinder Chadha and written by Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, and Guljit Bindra, 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham is an effortlessly charming sports activities flick about tradition conflict, sporting a soundtrack that boasts each bhangra and the Spice Ladies. The humor right here is lived-in, with palpable affection for its characters. That is pleasure in film kind.
The way to watch: Bend It Like Beckham is now streaming on Disney+.
6. 10 Issues I Hate About You
10 Issues I Hate About You, written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith, is teen movie perfection, placing a ’90s twist on The Taming of the Shrew with glorious outcomes.
The scholars at Padua Excessive College weave a tangled romantic net: Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is besotted with Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), however she will be able to’t date anybody till her clever but abrasive older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) begins courting. With a purpose to ask out the lady of his goals, Cameron enlists the assistance of dangerous boy Patrick (Heath Ledger) to woo Kat. What begins as a contentious courtship shortly evolves into one thing extra, with Stiles giving us an unbiased rom-com heroine for the ages and Ledger in full dreamboat mode.* — B.E.
The way to watch: 10 Things I Hate About You is now streaming on Disney+.
7. Black Is King
Credit score: Disney
Written, directed, and produced by Beyoncé, Black Is King is a surprising visible album and a companion to 2019’s The Lion King. However this immersive, shifting movie is greater than only a beautiful retelling of the story we all know and love — it’s an inventive triumph.
Mashable’s Alexis Nedd writes, “[Black Is King] recontextualizes the metaphor of Simba’s journey to that of the African diaspora — faraway from the homeland, denied the reminiscence of our royalty, and rising to retake our cultural legacy. Set with music from Beyoncé’s curated 2019 album The Lion King: The Present, Black Is King is an invite to revel within the range and fantastic thing about the African continent and a celebration of thriving via survival.”
The way to watch: Black Is King is now streaming on Disney+.
8. Free Solo
A really staggering feat in entrance of and behind the digital camera, Free Solo will deprive you of your fingernails — it is that nervous-making. This Oscar-winning documentary is a surprising portrait of free soloist climber Alex Honnold as he prepares to climb the three,000-feet-high El Capitan in Yosemite Nationwide Park, “essentially the most spectacular wall on Earth,” with no rope. His painstakingly deliberate journey is boldly captured by co-directors (and spouses) Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, together with a staff {of professional} climbers and filmmakers.
You will comply with Honnold as he plans each transfer earlier than heading up the wall of El Cap with out that all-important rope. “There’s no margin for error,” big-wall free climbing legend Tommy Caldwell says within the doc of his good friend’s process. “Think about an Olympic gold medal-level athletic achievement that, if you aren’t getting that golden medal, you are gonna die. That is just about what free soloing El Cap is like. It’s a must to do it completely.”* — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor
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The way to watch: Free Solo is now streaming on Disney+.
9. Saving Mr. Banks
There’s nothing Hollywood loves greater than films about making films — and 2013’s Saving Mr. Banks is likely one of the better of the bunch. Written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, Banks tells the surprisingly life-affirming story of how Disney, within the Nineteen Sixties, lastly secured the rights to Mary Poppins, then a wildly fashionable kids’s guide.
Emma Thompson is excellent because the cantankerous British creator P. L. Travers, who was deeply averse to any modifications made to her unique materials by any means. Tom Hanks exudes comforting appeal as Walt Disney himself, decided to comply with via on a promise to his youngsters to make a film from their favourite guide. Nevertheless totally different they might appear, these two inventive giants kind an unlikely bond after they uncover how their related upbringings are informing their lives within the current. Saving Mr. Banks hits all the proper notes for a light-hearted drama; it’s nostalgic, it’s touching, and it’s stuffed with pleasant British disdain for American cheeriness.
The way to watch: Saving Mr. Banks is now streaming on Disney+.
10. Freaky Friday
Credit score: Ron Batzdorff / Walt Disney / Kobal / Shutterstock
Anna is a rebellious teen, and that as a result of she has thick highlights, a choker necklace, and a crush on a man with a bike. Her band has an enormous audition arising, however she will be able to’t go as a result of it falls on the identical evening as her mom Tess’s wedding ceremony rehearsal — and Tess doesn’t approve of most of Anna’s selections. The 2 get in an enormous battle, and due to some reductive and vaguely racist, 2000s-era unique mysticism, they get up in one another’s our bodies! Uh oh! Appears like we’ll stroll a mile in one another’s sneakers, actually!
Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis are merely excellent right here, each embodying a headstrong teen and a reserved middle-aged mother with cheeky aplomb. Written by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon, 2002’s Freaky Friday is a heat and playful comedy that may delight the entire household.
The way to watch: Freaky Friday is now streaming on Disney+.
11. Encanto
We could not speak about Bruno, however we do speak about Encanto, written by Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush. This Disney animated movie introduces us to the magical Madrigal household, whose particular items transform burdens in addition to blessings. Encanto is a robust examination of familial bonds and generational trauma, accompanied by beautiful animation and catchy tunes courtesy of Lin-Manuel Miranda, together with “Surface Pressure” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”* — B.E.
The way to watch: Encanto is now streaming on Disney+.
12. The Rescue
Credit score: Nationwide Geographic
In 2018, a rescue mission captured the eye of the world when 12 boys and their soccer coach have been trapped deep inside a flooded collapse northern Thailand. Monsoon rains had reduce off the group, who have been stranded at the hours of darkness two kilometers into the cave — a labyrinth of tunnels utterly stuffed with water. In opposition to all odds, an extremely high-risk, difficult rescue effort was shaped, and The Rescue, from Free Solo administrators Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, tracks all of it.
“At its core, ‘The Rescue‘ is a narrative a couple of assortment of individuals of all totally different nationalities, languages, and cultures working collectively to realize a typical objective,” stated Vasarhelyi and Chin in a press assertion. “In making the movie, we have been reminded of the great thing about humanity, particularly after the final a number of years the place the world has appeared extra divided than ever earlier than.” It is a claustrophobic, annoying look ahead to essentially the most half, and for everybody glued to the information when it was occurring, it’s going to convey again all these feelings of anticipation, stress, and eventually, aid. The second when British divers Richard Stanton and John Volanthen first discover all 13 within the cave is astounding and deeply shifting. Nevertheless it’s only the start of a deadly mission.* — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor
The way to watch: The Rescue is now streaming on Disney+.
13. The Mother or father Lure
Do you know The Mother or father Lure is a Nancy Meyers film? Another reason to like the movie that launched Lindsay Lohan’s profession and despatched a era of children right into a feverish obsession with overly intricate handshakes. The Mother or father Lure, a remake of the 1961 traditional, tells the story of two ladies who meet at summer season camp and understand they’re twins separated at start by their now-divorced mother and father. Nothing left to do on this state of affairs however swap locations and attempt to get Mother and Dad again collectively, proper?
Lindsay Lohan is precocious and lovable, doing double-duty as each of the twins with the assistance of (now-commonplace) film magic. She suits proper in alongside the veteran solid, which features a glowing Natasha Richardson, Dennis Quaid at his dreamiest, and iconic ’90s villain Elaine Hendrix completely stealing the display. The Mother or father Lure is as charming now because it was 20 years in the past, although hopefully fewer kids of divorce can be utilizing it as a blueprint to lock their mother and father in a room collectively whereas laughing mischievously simply outdoors the door. It’s only a film, youngsters.*
The way to watch: The Parent Trap is now streaming on Disney+.
14. Queen of Katwe
For those who’re searching for an aspirational household movie, look no additional than Queen of Katwe, directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding ceremony, The Namesake). Phiona is a 10-year-old lady residing in Katwe, a poor city in Uganda. Her life is usually caring for her youthful siblings and serving to her mom (Lupita Nyong’o) on the market till she stumbles upon a chess class at a neighborhood mission. The instructor quickly acknowledges that Phiona is a particularly gifted chess participant, and she or he begins to pursue the sport, each for herself and as a potential avenue to elevate her household out of poverty. Primarily based on a real story, Queen of Katwe is a well-acted, deeply shifting, and in the end optimistic film that may stick with you for days.
The way to watch: Queen of Katwe is now streaming on Disney+.
15. Turning into Cousteau
Credit score: Nationwide Geographic
A deep dive by definition, Turning into Cousteau explores the depths of the legendary oceanic explorer and filmmaker. Director Liz Garbus delves into the lifetime of Jacques Cousteau, whose documentation of ocean creatures with newly tailored gear modified the sport — all aboard his boat, the Calypso. His work, together with 50 books, award-winning movies, and long-running tv exhibits, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and The Cousteau Odyssey, was extremely influential on aquatic exploration. For those who’ve seen Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic, you are gotten a style of the signature aesthetic. Garbus was granted entry to 550 hours of archival materials — together with over 100 hours of audio journal entries and interviews from collaborators and crew members — to create this documentary, and she or he brings to life his innovation and dedication to environmentalism, alongside his household life and creation of The Cousteau Society.* — S.C.
The way to watch: Becoming Cousteau is now streaming on Disney+.
16. The Princess Diaries
Anne Hathaway’s profession skyrocketed after her charismatic efficiency as Mia, a gawky excessive schooler in San Francisco who instantly discovers she’s the inheritor to the throne of Genovia, a fictional European nation stuffed with fairy story castles and makeover montages. Earlier than she will be able to ascend the throne, she’ll must impress her austere grandmother, the Queen, performed by a fully excellent Julie Andrews. Written by Gina Wendkos and tailored from the Meg Cabot novel of the identical identify, The Princess Diaries is a feel-good household comedy brimming with heat. An absolute winner.
The way to watch: The Princess Diaries is now streaming on Disney+.
17. Eternals
Marvel strayed a bit from its standard movie formula with 2021’s moody Eternals, which options celestial beings who’ve been caught on Earth for hundreds of years however have been forbidden to intervene in human dramas. They’ve just one mission: to battle mysterious area creatures referred to as Deviants. So, though the Eternals are technically extra highly effective than any being we’ve met earlier than within the MCU, they largely simply sat round whereas Thanos worn out half of existence.
Nevertheless, when the primary Deviant is seen after many years of peace, the now-scattered group should come collectively (and work via centuries’ price of luggage!) to save lots of the planet they have been sworn to guard. Directed by the Academy Award–profitable Chloé Zhao, Eternals boasts a sweeping, millennia-spanning story; an impossibly stunning solid (Angelia Jolie, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Equipment Harington, Salma Hayek, and Kumail Nanjiani, to call a number of); and the MCU’s first overtly homosexual superhero!
The way to watch: Eternals is now streaming on Disney+.
18. Guardians of the Galaxy
Credit score: Marvel Studios / Kobal / Shutterstock
Peter Quill is a charismatic and irreverent human being who grew up within the stars surrounded by aliens and spaceships — therefore his self-styled nickname, Star-Lord. The one factor he has from house is a Sony Walkman and a cassette combine tape of Eighties hits, which he commonly listens to whereas choosing up odd jobs like stealing an orb from an deserted planet. Sadly, this specific orb means rather a lot to somebody, and Peter is chased throughout the galaxy by a ragtag host of bounty hunters. However, Peter included, they quickly discover they every have one thing to realize by working collectively.
Guardians of the Galaxy, directed by James Gunn and written by Gunn and Nicole Perlman, broke the MCU mildew huge open on its 2014 launch. Right here was a superhero film that was genuinely humorous, that poked enjoyable at itself with out sacrificing plot complexity or a deep emotional core. It is why a decade and greater than 30 MCU films later, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 stays among the best entries within the canon.
The way to watch: Guardians of the Galaxy is now streaming on Disney+.
19. Magnificence and the Beast
It could be a “story as previous as time,” however Magnificence and the Beast stills rocks any day. Who can overlook Belle’s eager intelligence, the Beast’s compelling change of coronary heart, or Gaston’s tendency to eat far too many eggs? These characters stick to you, as do the numerous earworms they belt all through the film. For fairy story romance, dancing furnishings, and fascinating songs, you actually cannot go unsuitable with this traditional, written by Disney juggernaut Linda Woolverton.* — B.E.
The way to watch: Beauty and the Beast is now streaming on Disney+.
20. Frozen
Do not faux you do not know what Frozen is. Since its premiere in 2013, we have not been in a position to go every week with out somebody mentioning Olaf or Elsa or singing “Let it gooooooooo.” This excellent animated musical a couple of sister relationship, not a romantic relationship, modified the Disney princess sport altogether, and it has dominated the household film area ever since. And what? That is effective with us! Frozen is nice! It is each foolish and heartfelt, thrilling and affecting, magical and really, very human. Written by Jennifer Lee, and directed by Lee and Chris Buck, this story about two sisters, one burdened with secret icy powers, has captured the hearts and minds of the world. Is it time to construct a snowman?
The way to watch: Frozen is now streaming on Disney+.
* denotes that this blurb appeared in a earlier Mashable checklist.
UPDATE: Mar. 14, 2025, 3:04 p.m. EDT This text was initially printed on Oct. 8, 2022. It has been up to date to replicate the present streaming choices.
