ViacomCBS decided in 2021 to relaunch and rebrand its CBS All Access streaming service to Paramount Plus, mainly because the Paramount studio name is well known around the world. Over the past several months, the service has added a number of major films from Paramount Pictures.
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In the future, you can expect to see more major Paramount Pictures films to debut exclusively on Paramount Plus, just a few weeks or months after they debut in theaters. In the meantime, here are our current picks for the best Paramount Plus movies.
Don’t have it yet? You can sign up for the service for as low as $4.99 a month at the link below:
Best Paramount Plus movies
Editor’s note: This list will be updated as more Paramount Plus movies are added to the service.
A Quiet Place/A Quiet Place Part II
One of the biggest recent hits from Paramount Pictures was 2018’s A Quiet Place. Co-written, directed, and starring John Krasinski, this film depicts a family sometime after an unknown species suddenly appears on Earth and proceeds to almost completely exterminate the human population. The creatures target their prey via sound and they are incredibly swift and deadly. The movie uses its audio design, and its performances by Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe, to show a family that has to stay silent in order to survive.
Three years later (delayed by a year due to the Covid-19 outbreak), we finally got A Quiet Place Part II. This sequel, which debuted on Paramount Plus 45 days after it was released in theaters, goes back in time to see the origins of the event, and then moves forward in time to just after the ending of the first film. The sequel concentrates on Simmonds’ character, as she tries to find food and water for her other family members, which leads to an expansion of this very different Earth. Both films are highly suspenseful, but also very emotional.
Mission Impossible 3
Tom Cruise helped to spearhead the idea of rebooting the 1960s Mission Impossible spy TV series into a movie franchise. As a result, Paramount now has six highly successful movies in the series (with at least two more planned). One of the best in the franchise is 2006’s Mission Impossible III, which humanizes IMP agent Ethan Hunt. He wants to marry a nurse, Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), who is blissfully unaware of his true past and current career. However, things get out of control when Hunt and his IMP team try to stop an evil arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who wants to get his hands on a mysterious, and dangerous, object known only as the “Rabbit’s Foot”.
J.J. Abrams, who helped to create successful TV shows like Felicity, Alias, and Lost, made his feature film directorial debut with this movie. However, the movie looks and moves like it was made by a director with decades of experience. There are some incredible action set pieces, and some nice twists and turns along the way as well. It’s certainly one of the best Paramount Plus movies.
You can also watch all of the rest of the Mission Impossible films on Paramount Plus.
Star Trek Beyond
This is easily the best of the “Kelvin timeline” Star Trek feature films. The 2016 release features the crew of the USS Enterprise in a story that could have been easily made as a standard Trek TV episode. The ship is dispatched to rescue a crashed ship on an unknown planet. However, Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew soon find themselves fighting for their lives, and ultimately for the lives of the nearby Federation space station Yorktown. Thanks to a big budget, some great space battles, and a bit of humor between the cast members, it elevates the material so that this film stands out from a typical Trek TV show.
Read more: Best Star Trek shows on Paramount Plus
Galaxy Quest
The best Star Trek movie ever made may not actually be a Star Trek film. Instead, it could be this 1999 sleeper hit, which serves as both a satire on Star Trek, as well as an examination of how fandom in Trek and other similar franchises actually affect people. Tim Allen leads the cast as an actor on a canceled sci-fi series that still has a small, but highly motivated, fan following. He and the show’s other actors spend their days going to conventions and store openings. However, when Allen’s character is contacted by an alien race, who believe the Galaxy Quest episodes are real, he and his other “crew members” have to save this race from extinction from another hostile alien force.
Yes, the movie is extremely funny and spot-on when it comes to exploring some of the aspects of sci-fi fandom. However, it also speaks to the fact that shows like Star Trek can really affect some people’s lives for the better.
World War Z
Brad Pitt stars in this movie, which offers a new take on the zombie genre. Pitt plays a former troubleshooter for the United Nations. When he and his family get caught in the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse, he’s recruited to go back to work to find the source of the outbreak. The visual effects of the zombie horde are still pretty spectacular, but the film gets really interested in the final third, as Pitt tries to come up with a way for humans to avoid being attacked by the undead.
Roman Holiday
Paramount Plus also has a few classic Paramount movies in its library. One of the best is this 1953 romantic comedy. Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in this movie. She plays a princess from an unnamed European country who is visiting Rome. She decides to ditch her minders and heads out on her own in the city, where she meets an American reporter, played by Gregory Peck, and they spend a very memorable day in Rome together.
This is an old-fashioned romance, in every sense of the word. This film has been referenced by other romantic comedies many times, and
The Wolf of Wall Street
This 2013 movie teamed up director Martin Scorsese with actor Leonardo DiCaprio once again. DiCaprio plays a version of Jordan Belfort, a real stockbroker who became rich by selling overvalued penny stocks to unsuspecting clients. However, the amount of fraud and other crimes caused by Belfort and his teammates soon get the attention of US federal agents. It’s a story about how corruption can get you in the end, no matter how rich you get. This film also has a star-making performance by Margot Robbie as Belfort’s wife.
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run
You have to have something for the kids on this best Paramount Plus movies list, and that’s why this film (a Paramount Plus original in the US) is here. Spongebob Squarepants continues to be a hit with children (and many adults as well). His third feature film, in full 3D CGI animation, sees Spongebob head to the ocean’s version of Las Vegas, along with some flashbacks to his childhood at Kamp Koral. You get some unique cameos from other actors in this film as well, including the always great Keanu Reeves.
Sunset Boulevard
This is truly one of the best films of all time. This 1950 classic was nominated for 11 Oscars, and won for best screenplay, best score, and best black and white art direction. It starts out memorably with the death of the main male lead, played by William Holden. However, he manages to narrate the rest of the movie in a flashback. Holden’s character is a screenwriter in search of work. He finds himself driving up to a big mansion, where Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) lives. She’s a former silent pictures actor, and she recruits Holden to write her a screenplay for her big comeback. Things get dark and complicated after that.
Console Wars
Another Paramount Plus original, this excellent 2020 documentary takes a look at the video game industry in the early 1990s. Before then, Nintendo ruled the console gaming world with its SNES, but Sega decided to come out with a rival console, the Genesis, that took the world by storm, and also introduced it to a great new game mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. This film details the battle between Nintendo and Sega in the early 1990s to rule the game console industry.
Paramount Plus movies – Honorable mentions
Here are a few Paramount Plus movies that didn’t quite make our top list
- The Addams Family – This feature film adaptation of the “crazy and kooky” family is still extremely funny.
- Election – Reese Witherspoon is perfect in this satire on school popularity.
- The School of Rock – Jack Black goes all out as an unemployed rock musician who stumbles his way into teaching kids how to rock themselves.
- Sin City – This is a stylish adaptation of Frank Miller’s crime comic books with some great performances.
- 28 Days Later – Yep, it’s another zombie movie, but it’s also not really a zombie movie. Just watch it.
Major Paramount Pictures movies coming soon
In the very near future, we will see some big upcoming Paramount films show up on Paramount Plus. One of them is Paw Patrol: The Movie. The kids animated film, based on the highly popular TV show, will be released in theaters August 20, and will debut on Paramount Plus on the same day. Also, Mission Impossible 7, the next movie in the Tom Cruise spy series, will debut in theaters May 27, 2022, and will drop on Paramount Plus 45 days later.
Thanks for checking out our list. These are just some of the best Paramount Plus movies, and we will add more to this list over the coming months.