30 Best War Movies on Netflix Now
In this article, we will list the 30 best war movies on Netflix now. We will begin by discussing the streaming market and Netflix's latest standing in the industry. If you want to head straight to the top of our list, go to 11 Best War Movies on Netflix Now.
The global streaming market is currently worth more than $500 billion, and it is projected to reach 1.9 trillion by 2030 at a compounding annual growth rate of 19.3%. In addition, more than 38% of all television usage is dedicated to streaming, according to the latest estimates in 2023.
The streaming market is also huge in terms of total consumers. Currently, 1.8 billion people, or more than five times the number of people in the United States, are subscribed to video streaming services. A considerable proportion of video streaming service subscribers admit to binge-watching at least once a week. The binge-watching segment represents 26% of the subscribers, translating to 467 million people, a figure that is considerably higher than the latest US population estimates.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is the world's largest on-demand media provider. The company started as a DVD rental service but eventually ended up disrupting the television industry. It drove cable companies to adjust their business models. The company entered the on-demand video streaming service market with a heavy focus on analyzing user data to better serve customers. In 2015, the streaming service updated its resume and became a production and distributor company.
At the time, the first-ever Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) original production, Beasts of No Nation had come out. The company then also started focusing on creating original content and has since then produced thousands of original TV series and movies. It also gave rise to the binge-watching culture. In 2013, Netflix started releasing all episodes of already trending shows at once, enticing people to watch multiple TV episodes in one sitting.
Covid brought a devastating blow to the film industry. According to the Motion Pictures Association (MPA), the Global Theatrical and home entertainment market was growing comfortably from 2016 to 2019. It was valued at $77.8 billion in 2016 and $98.3 billion in 2019. The market is segregated into the following three sectors: physical, digital, and theatrical. Each of these sectors stood at 47.2 billion, 42.3 billion, and 8.8 billion, respectively in 2019. However, the market saw an 18% decrease in the next year and reached a value of $80.8 billion. There was a shakeup in the market during this period. The theatrical segment was slaughtered to $12 billion, but the digital segment boomed to $61.8 billion.
Following the boom of the digital segment, many new players entered the market, including Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS)'s Disney Plus. Ever since this boom, top digital segment players have been in severe competition with each other, a phenomenon that many analysts label as the 'Streaming War'. However, as of recent results, many analysts have claimed that the streaming war is over, and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has emerged as a winner. The company recently had one of its best quarters.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, it acquired 13.1 million global subscribers, taking its overall count to more than 260 million. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is the leader in the market with a considerable margin. In the words of Polen Capital, an investment management company, Netflix remains the most advantaged and profitable streaming service with opportunities to continue adding subscribers and raising prices as it demonstrates more value to consumers over time.
The asset management company expressed these views in its Q4, 2023 investor letter. The second largest service in terms of subscriber count, Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS)'s Disney Plus, trails far behind with 150 million global subscribers. Data from Neilsen show us that Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) currently has an 8% share in the US, whereas Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS)'s Disney Plus has a 5% share. The third largest company by market share is Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s Prime Video, which currently has a 3% market share.
Photo by Thibault Penin on Unsplash
Methodology
To curate our list of the 30 best war movies on Netflix now, we gathered a list of the best war movies using four (1,2,3,4) sources. Then, for each movie, we noted its Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB ratings. Some movies did not have a Rotten Tomatoes rating, so we used Metacritic for those. We converted Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic ratings into a number out of 10. Then, we averaged the ratings to arrive at the Insider Monkey score. The higher this score, the higher the movie ranks on our list. As a tie-breaker, we used the ratings of movies on IMDB. For example, if the Insider Monkey score for movie A and movie B is the same, but movie A has a better IMDB rating, it ranks higher on our list.
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30 - Outside The Wire
Insider Monkey Score - 4.6
Outside The Wire is an American fiction movie set in the near future when a drone pilot is sent into a war zone, and he finds himself paired with a top-secret android officer on a mission to stop a nuclear attack. The film was released in 2021 and was directed by Mikael Håfström.
29 - War Machine
Insider Monkey Score - 5.4
Released in 2017, War Machine is a satirical movie based on the journalist Michael Hastings' book "The Operators: The Wild & Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan." It stars Brad Pitt, who plays a heightened macho caricature.
28 - Sand Castle
Insider Monkey Score - 5.5
Sand Castle is a 2017 film, which takes place in the year 2003. The setting of the movie is Iraq's invasion by the US, and the story is centered around a young soldier.
27 - The Silent War
Insider Monkey Score - 5.8
The Silent War is a 2019 movie about a rebel revolutionary who becomes deaf after failing a sabotage attempt and must evade capture by the military forces of Francisco Franco's regime. The movie is set in the era of the Spanish Civil War.
26 - Green Zone
Insider Monkey Score - 6.1
Directed by Paul Greengrass and written by Brian Helgeland, Green Zone is a 2010 action thriller film. It features Matt Damon and explores themes of political manipulation and the consequences of misinformation leading to war.
25 - Unbroken
Insider Monkey Score - 6.2
Unbroken is a biographical drama released in 2014. The movie is directed by Angelina Jolie and tells the remarkable true story of Olympic runner Louie Zamperini, who became a bombardier in World War II and was taken captive by the Japanese Navy.
24 - Outlaw King
Insider Monkey Score - 6.6
Released in 2018, Outlaw King is a historical action drama film directed by David Mackenzie. It stars Chris Pine, who plays a legendary Scottish warrior "Robert the Bruce".
23 - The Siege of Jadotville
Insider Monkey Score - 6.8
The Seige of Jadotville is 23rd on our list of the 30 best war movies on Netflix now. It is an Irish-South African action-war film based on Declan Power's non-fiction book, "The Siege at Jadotville: The Irish Army's Forgotten Battle". The Seige of Jadotville is directed by Richie Smyth and written by Kevin Brodbin.
22 - Thank You for Your Service
Insider Monkey Score - 7.1
Thank You for Your Service is based on the 2013 non-fictional book of the same name by David Finkel. The movie was released in 2017 and follows a group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq who struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life while dealing with the traumas of war.
21 - The King
Insider Monkey Score - 7.2
The King is 21st on our list of the best war movies on Netflix now. It is a 2019 historical drama that loosely follows the rise of Henry V as king after his father dies. It is based on several plays from William Shakespeare's Henriad.
20 - Blood and Gold
Insider Monkey Score - 7.5
Blood and Gold is a German war drama released in 2023. It centers around a German deserter named Heinrich and a young woman named Elsa who become entangled in a deadly confrontation with a group of SS officers during the last months of World War II.
19 - Heneral Luna
Insider Monkey Score - 7.5
Heneral Luna is 19th on our list of the 30 best war movies on Netflix now. It is a 2015 Filipino epic war film that depicts the life and death of Luna, a short-tempered Philippine Revolutionary Army general who led the Philippines.
18 - Munich: The Edge of War
Insider Monkey Score - 7.7
Released in 2021, Munich: The Edge of War is a German-British period spy thriller film directed by Christian Schwochow. It is based on the 2017 novel "Munich" by Robert Harris.
17 - Black Hawk Down
Insider Monkey Score - 7.7
Black Hawk Down is 17th on our list of the 30 best war movies on Netflix now. It follows a group of U.S. Army Special Operations Forces soldiers during the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993.
16 - The Photographer of Mauthausen
Insider Monkey Score - 7.8
The Photographer of Mauthausen is a Spanish biography drama historical film released in 2018. It is based on the true story of Francisco Boix, a Spanish press photographer and WWII prisoner of war, sent to the concentration camp of Mauthausen.
15 - Mosul
Insider Monkey Score - 7.8
Mosul is 15th on our list of the 30 Best War movies on Netflix now. It is a 2020 war drama film that follows the Nineveh SWAT team's efforts to fight the Islamic State.
14 - Da 5 Bloods
Insider Monkey Score - 7.9
Released in 2020, DA 5 Bloods is an American war drama film directed by Spike Lee. It follows a group of four aging Vietnam War veterans who return to Vietnam in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader.
13 - Darkest Hour
Insider Monkey Score - 7.9
Darkest Hour is a 2017 British War drama film. The film depicts Winston Churchill in his early days as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II and the May 1940 war cabinet crisis.
12 - First They Killed My Father
Insider Monkey Score - 8.0
First They Killed My Father is 12th on our list of the 30 best war movies on Netflix now. It is a 2017 Cambodian-American Khmer-language biographical historical thriller film. It depicts a 5-year-old Loung, who is forced to train as a child soldier while her siblings are sent to labor camps during the Khmer Rouge regime.
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Disclosure: none. 30 Best War Movies on Netflix Now is originally published on Insider Monkey.
