As any Netflix viewer knows, with one hand the streamer may giveth movies and series, but with the other it taketh away… Steve Newall lets you know what’s leaving Netflix next month, so you can arrange some last-chance viewing accordingly.
My list of The 50 best movies on Netflix always requires a few adjustments each month—but May’s departing titles put a dent in the list. I’ll figure out suitable replacements soon enough, but for now, consider watching best 50 selections Catch Me If You Can (leaving May 1), Edge of Tomorrow (May 1), Fantastic Mr. Fox (May 15), Heathers (May 8), and Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy (May 1) before they leave Netflix.
One film that definitely deserves a watch is Shane Black’s excellent comic noir The Nice Guys, starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as a great odd-couple, comprising a comically hapless PI (Gosling) and a rough-as-guts enforcer (Crowe). Careening around 1970s Los Angeles, the duo try to track down a missing young woman whose trail will lead them into the pornography industry and conflict with the city’s bureaucracy (and of course some hoodlums and assorted cannon fodder).
Shane Black was back at his best here after his comeback with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and the chemistry between Gosling and Crowe is nothing short of magnificent. This is also a must-see for everyone who found Gosling hilarious in Barbie. The dude’s hilarious, the pic extremely rewatchable.
Read on for the full list of departing titles, and prepare yourself to farewell a large number of other faves, including the likes of Dirty Dancing, Fifty Shades of Grey, Jackass Forever, Magic Mike, Primal Fear, Scream 4 (and 2022 sequel Scream), as well as multiple entries in the Despicable Me, Shrek and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film series—just in time for the end of the school holidays!
Leaving Netflix May 1
7 Days in Entebbe
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Australian Rules
Catch Me If You Can
Coach Carter
Dirty Dancing
Dream House
Edge of Tomorrow
Einsatzgruppen: The Nazi Death Squads: Season 1
Erskineville Kings
Familiye
From Time to Time
Head On
Hollywood Homicide
It Could Happen to You
Kung Fu Panda 3
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
Last Holiday
Lockie Leonard: Season 1
Made of Honor
Pacific Rim
Primal Fear
Round the Twist: Series 1
Round the Twist: Series 2
Round the Twist: Series 3
Round the Twist: Series 4
Scream 4
Simon: Season 1
Sincerely Yours, Dhaka
Single White Female
Spellbinder: Series 1
Spellbinder: Series 2
Stir of Echoes
Sun Cry Moon
Sur Sapata
Survive the Night
The Hangover
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Quick and the Dead
The Tracker
Total Drama: All Stars
Total Drama: Pahkitew Island
Total Drama: Revenge of the Island
Total Drama: The Ridonculous Race
Total Drama: World Tour
Two Hands
Vice
Leaving Netflix May 2
Bennett’s War
Boys Over Flowers: Volume 1
Cry Babies Magic Tears: Season 1
Falling for Figaro
Iris: Season 1
Lady Driver
Munafik 2
Roped
Scream
The Stand at Paxton County
Leaving Netflix May 3
Despicable Me
Despicable Me 2
Despicable Me 3
Minions
School of Rock
Leaving Netflix May 4
Chris Distefano: Speshy Weshy
Leaving Netflix May 5
Angel Baby
Bad Boy Bubby
Cosi
Dating the Enemy
Divinyls Live: Jailhouse Rock
Eat Drink Man Woman
Lilian’s Story
Love Serenade
Shine
Sirens
Sniper: Ghost Shooter
Leaving Netflix May 6
In Our Mothers’ Gardens
Leaving Netflix May 7
City of God: 10 Years Later
Leaving Netflix May 8
Babette’s Feast
Have You Ever Seen Fireflies? – Theatre Play
Heart of Champions
Heathers
Malcolm
Playing with Fire
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
The Coca-Cola Kid
Leaving Netflix May 11
Illegal Woman
Leaving Netflix May 12
Assault on Precinct 13
BMX Bandits
Breaker Morant
Careful, He Might Hear You
Day of the Dead
Death Cheaters
Don’s Party
Monkey: Part 1
Monkey: Part 2
Puberty Blues
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
The Defected: Season 1
Watership Down
Leaving Netflix May 13
Downton Abbey: A New Era
Leaving Netflix May 14
42
Mere Pyare Prime Minister
Rencor tatuado
Leaving Netflix May 15
Alien: Covenant
A Simple Favor
Big Momma’s House
Brand New Day
Breath
Crackerjack
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fat Pizza
Hellboy
I Hear You: Season 1
Made in Chelsea: Season 20
Magic Mike
Mr. Church
Oddball
Pelé
Poms
San Andreas
Terminator Genisys
The Back of Beyond
The Last Exorcism
The Last Vermeer
The Lincoln Lawyer
The Nice Guys
The Right Kind of Wrong
The Spy Who Dumped Me
They’re a Weird Mob
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Walkabout
Wolf Creek 2
Leaving Netflix May 16
Ahaan
Bee Movie
Central Intelligence
Fifty Shades of Grey
Girls Trip
Instant Family
Long Live the Bonus Family
Pure as Snow
Shark Tale
Sleepless Society: Two Pillows & A Lost Soul: Season 1
Leaving Netflix May 17
Born in Gaza
Born in Syria
Hwarang: Season 1
Just Like Heaven
Love in the Moonlight: Season 1
Mokalik (Mechanic)
October 1
Phone Swap
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked!: Season 12
The Bridge
The CEO
The Figurine (Araromire)
The Producers: Season 1
Uncontrollably Fond: Season 1
Leaving Netflix May 18
Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
Dying to Tell
Shrek
Shrek 2
Shrek the Third
Well-Intended Love: Season 1
Well-Intended Love: Season 2
Leaving Netflix May 20
Laerte-se
Leaving Netflix May 21
678
Asmaa
Until Midnight
Leaving Netflix May 22
ONE PIECE: Sky Island: Skypiea
ONE PIECE: Sky Island: The Golden Bell
ONE PIECE: TV Original 1
Sam Smith: Love Goes – Live at Abbey Road Studios
Leaving Netflix May 23
Jackass Forever
Leaving Netflix May 24
The Perfect Storm
Leaving Netflix May 25
Numberblocks: Season 2
Numberblocks: Season 3
Numberblocks: Season 4
Numberblocks: Season 5
Numberblocks: Season 6
The Rover
Leaving Netflix May 28
The Day I Lost My Shadow
