It was a year filled with plot twists, unexpected hits, and unstoppable blockbusters. To celebrate, JustWatch has released its list of the biggest films and series of 2025 so far, based on insights from more than 20 million U.S. streamers. From the best family films to the darkest horror thrillers, this detailed report covers thirteen individual data points revealing audience behavior and streaming preferences globally and across the United States.

Key Takeaways from JustWatch 2025 Rewind (U.S.)

• Long Awaited Returns: Several major series returned after hiatuses of two years or more, with the most notable being Severance Season 2 (Apple TV+), Squid Game Season 3 (Netflix), Stranger Things Season 5 (Netflix), and The Last of Us Season 2 (HBO Max).

 

• Vatican-themed Viewing: Conclave saw a significant spike in popularity in February around the Oscars, followed by a second surge in April when the Vatican convened to elect a new Pope.

 

• Horror Renaissance: The horror genre has seen a massive streaming surge, with Weapons, The Substance, Sinners, and Frankenstein all climbing to the top of the charts.

 

• Big Screen Hits Take Over Streaming: Theatrical releases led the way, nine of the ten most-streamed new movies this year premiered in cinemas before arriving on streaming platforms.

 

• Family-Friendly Entertainment: Streaming audiences flocked to titles like The Minecraft Movie, Lilo & Stitch, Wicked, Superman, and KPop Demon Hunters, making them standout family favorites of the year.

 

• Most Anticipated Series of 2026: Wednesday Season 3 (Netflix), Alien: Earth Season 2 (Hulu), and Euphoria Season 3 (HBO Max) top the list of upcoming series U.S. audiences are most excited to watch.

Most Popular Movies in the U.S. on Streaming in 2025

Key Movie Influences: Pope, Oscars & Theatrical Firsts

• Horror made major gains with Weapons, The Substance, Sinners, and Frankenstein topping the overall charts.
• Oscar-nominated favorites dominated overall rankings, with Conclave, The Substance, and Anora all landing in the top 5 overall.

Platform Highlights

• Netflix: Frankenstein and KPop Demon Hunters were among the top new releases.
• HBO Max: Scored 4 of the top 10 movies; Weapons ranked highest at #1 in new releases and #2 overall
• Hulu: Oscar favorite Anora (#3 overall) was its top performer, also the top comedy film overall (albeit, a dark romantic comedy-drama)
• Disney+: Top performing film was Thunderbolts* (#10 on the top new releases).

Conclave: A Cultural Moment

• Vatican events earlier this year drove major spikes in streaming for Conclave, The Young Pope, and other papal-themed titles.
• Conclave became the most-streamed movie of 2025 after premiering theatrically in late October 2024.

Bar Chart Race: The Top-Streaming Movies of 2025

See how weekly rankings shifted as titles battled for the #1 spot on the JustWatch charts.

Most Popular Series in the U.S. on Streaming in 2025

                                                     

Key Series Influences – Series Comebacks and the Emmy Effect

• The Emmy Effect: Emmy nominations in July and awards in September gave a big boost to several favorites, including Severance, Adolescence, The Bear, The Studio, and The Pitt

 

• Biggest Returns: 2025 was a major year for long-awaited returns. Based on streaming popularity for series that took a hiatus of more than two years between seasons, the top returning series  in the U.S. were: 1. Severance, 2. Squid Game The Last of Us, 4. Stranger Things (Not pictured at #11).

 

• High-Cost Productions Dominate: The continued influence of high-cost productions was evident in streaming, with “heavy hitters” leading the way.

 

• Provider Dominance: Both HBO Max and Netflix secured 3 out of 10 spots in the top 10 TV show rankings.

 

• Sci-Fi Resurgence: The genre surged with titles like Severance, The Last of Us, and Alien: Earth topping the charts.

 

• Future Trend: The strong performance of Pluribus, IT: Welcome to Derry, MurderBot, and Silo in the top 20 suggests that sci-fi is positioned to be the major breakout genre in 2026.

Bar Chart Race: The Top-Streaming Series of 2025

Visualization showing the week-by-week battle on the JustWatch U.S. Streaming Charts.

 

Genre Breakouts: Top Titles in Comedy, Drama, Action, and Horror

Gearing Up for 2026: What are the most Anticipated Series coming to streaming?

By analysing aggregated user interactions, we determined which upcoming series are capturing the most interest from our U.S. audience heading into 2026.

• Wednesday– Netflix (S3)
• Alien: Earth– Hulu (S2)
• Euphoria – HBO Max (S3)

Methodology

The analysis for the JustWatch Rewind 2025 End of Year Campaign examines comprehensive streaming consumption trends between 1 December 2024 and 9 December 2025. While the primary focus is the United States, additional insights were drawn from the UK, Germany (DE), France (FR), Italy (IT), and Spain (ES) for comparative and cross-market context.

All popularity metrics are based on JustWatch user interactions, aggregated and weighted to reflect meaningful intent to watch, discover, or engage with content.

Content Popularity (Films and Series)

Rankings are based on the maximum 30-day popularity score achieved between 1 December 2024 and 9 December 2025.

 

The streaming popularity score is a weighted composite metric based on user interactions, including:

• watchlist additions
• likelist additions
• title-page views
• click-outs to streaming providers (intent to stream)
• individual searches for titles

Weighting ensures that high-intent signals (e.g., click-outs) have a proportionally stronger influence than browsing behaviours.

The overall category includes titles regardless of release date while new releases or debut series include those that were released between December 1, 2024 and December 1, 2025.

Top Titles by Genre

We applied the maximum 30-day popularity score across the year to determine the strongest-performing genres — with a particular focus on drama, comedy, action, family, and horror.

Anticipated Titles

To measure anticipation for 2026 series releases, we generated a weighted anticipation score, combining:

• watchlist additions
• likelist additions
• title-page views
• trailer views

This weighted average highlights upcoming titles with the strongest early engagement and forward-looking audience interest among U.S. users.

About JustWatch

JustWatch is the world’s leading streaming guide, helping millions discover where to legally watch movies, series, and live sports across hundreds of global streaming platforms. The company serves over 60 million users per month in more than 140 countries. Headquartered in Berlin, JustWatch also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Munich, and London. In addition, JustWatch provides advertising and audience insights solutions for the entertainment industry. Follow our social media here: Youtube, Linkedin, Instagram