The A.V. Club's franchise finder: Where to stream The Matrix, Indiana Jones, Fast & Furious, and more

In 1979, Ridley Scott sicced the “perfect organism” on the intergalactic long-haulers of the commercial towing vehicle Nostromo, and ’s fusion of science fiction and horror laid dozens of eggs across the pop culture landscape. Like the slimy, H.R. Geiger-designed predator (who would later fight the Predator) at its center, have a habit of picking up some DNA from whatever lifeform they’ve made their latest host, resulting in the high-octane bug hunt of ; the arrestingly photographed space prison of ; and, eventually, Scott coming full circle to probe the ghosts in Alien’s machines in . Who owns it? The Walt Disney Company, following its acquisition of 20th Century FoxWhere is it streaming? HBO Max—you’re not going to see a chestburster on Disney+ unless it’s Itchy popping out of Scratchy in How much of it is there? The original “quadrilogy”—Alien, Aliens, Alien³, and Alien: Resurrection—plus both Alien Vs. Predator movies and the first of Scott’s prequels, Prometheus. Alien: Covenant is streaming on FX Now and is available for purchase or rental from the major digital platforms.

35 years after Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) first ruptured the space-time continuum, we’ve all heard the jokes: The biggest film of 1985 is about a kid whose best friend is (apologies and gratitude to John Mulaney) a disgraced nuclear physicist, and that kid goes on the time-traveling adventure of a lifetime wherein he must secure his own future by successfully warding off the romantic advances of his own mother. It’s incredible that was made in the first place; it is an unrepeatable miracle that director Robert Zemeckis and his longtime screenwriting partner Bob Gale managed to make it so fleet and entertaining and engaging—and that they managed to do the same, with added mind-bending plots and genre homages—two more times. Who owns it? NBCUniversal and Amblin Entertainment, whose contracts with the screenwriters stipulate that Zemeckis and Gale must be consulted before any new Back To The Future projects can even be scripted—virtually preserving the franchise’s cinematic footprint as the original trilogy. (Looking to spend more time with Marty and Doc? Look to comics, games, and animated series—but not, sadly, the grounds of Universal Studios theme parks.)Where is it streaming? Netflix

It’s been said that the series of films that began with now play like the blockbusters of an entirely different era, but the nocturnal Gotham City exploits of Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney are all, in their own way, responsible for our ongoing age of heroes. Wherever there is a disproportionate reaction to superhero casting; an unexpected swerve into darkness (followed by an equal but opposite flying leap into camp); an onscreen murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne; or an actor earning untold riches and/or Oscar gold by playing the Crown Prince of Crime, the Bat-Signal of these wild, game-changing films still shines. Who owns it? WarnerMediaWhere is it streaming? HBO Max

Christopher Nolan coaxed Batman and company out of cinematic retreat with set in a Gotham that was grounded in post-9/11 realities and anxieties, but no less primed for fisticuffs between outrageously costumed adversaries.Who owns it? WarnerMediaWhere is it streaming? The first entry in the series, 2005’s globetrotting origin story , is currently available on HBO Max. For the month of November 2020, it’ll be joined by its superior sequel, ; the pretty decent trilogy-capper can be rented or purchased from the major digital platforms. In December, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight begin an exclusive run on Peacock.

What began as a humble heist film built around turn-of-the-21st-century interests in street racing has had increasingly large tanks of NOS strapped to it in recent years, bringing the likes of Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, and John Cena into the orbit of Dominic Toretto and his cherished family (biological and chosen) of gearheads-turned-international special ops agents. Who owns it? NBCUniversalWhere is it streaming? As of October 2020, you can watch (the no-longer-standalone threequel that once looked like the end of the road for a fading franchise) and (the 2009 jumpstart that connected Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin with the original cast and reset the whole series’ chronology) for free on Peacock. , which paved Dom and the gang’s path to international espionage, is now on HBO Max, along with the spin-off made possible by that shift in focus, . The remaining films are available for rental or purchase from the major digital platforms.

A warm, whimsical low-fantasy epic that, like its adolescent protagonists, grows incrementally mature and sophisticated over the course of eight films. Backed by engaging mysteries and immersive mythology, Harry Potter’s (Daniel Radcliffe) journey from orphan under the stairs to chosen conqueror of magical evil manages to espouse the virtues of compassion, tolerance, and doing the right thing in the face of insurmountable odds—.Who owns it? WarnerMediaWhere is it streaming? Nowhere, at the moment. As part of NBCUniversal’s —struck before either had an online platform to call their own—the Potter films will be bouncing around NBCU’s broadcast, cable, and streaming offerings until 2025. (Barring the type of wheeling and dealing that put all eight movies on HBO Max at launch.) As of November 2020, we’re in one of those periods where the Wizarding World belongs to E!, Syfy, and USA; , the films will return to Peacock in 2021. 

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) finds herself at the center of a rebellion against the authoritarian government of the post-apocalyptic dystopia Panem, which for years has forced young men and women from its 12 Districts to fight to the death in an annual, televised event called The Hunger Games.Who owns it? LionsgateWhere is it streaming? All four films are streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr. (Harrison Ford) is a professor of archaeology whose areas of expertise also allow him to be a roguish, adventurer and explorer in the mold of the heroes George Lucas and Steven Spielberg grew up cheering on in the Republic Pictures serials of the 1940s.Who owns it? Disney, which got Indy’s three rollicking ’80s features (and ) in its 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm.Where is it streaming? Netflix

Pulling from philosophy texts, cyberpunk literature, and classics of anime and Hong Kong action cinema, Lana and Lilly Wachowski created : A hacker (Keanu Reeves) learns he’s living in a simulation and joins with the human resistance against the intelligent machines responsible for this virtual reality. Amid all the wire-fu and“bullet time” action sequences, and took Neo, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) into headier territory—baffling to the audiences of 2003, but now viewed as worthy successors to the first film.Who owns it? WarnerMediaWhere is it streaming? With a fourth film somewhere out there on the post-COVID horizon, HBO Max added The Matrix, Reloaded, and Revolutions in October 2020.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Track Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and —the first four of which went through a directorial revolving door (Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, and Brad Bird) before Cruise’s zeal for death-defying stunt work found its ultimate match in Christopher McQuarrie.Who owns it? ParamountWhere is it streaming? The one where Cruise leads an aerial chase through mountainous territory from behind the stick of a helicopter ( and the one where he climbs up the side of the Burj Khalifa () are streaming on Hulu and Amazon. The remaining films are available for rental or purchase from the major digital platforms.

A road movie. A gloriously self-aware heist flick. A tribute to The Great White Way. Eye-popping, toe-tapping adaptations of Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson. A science-fiction comedy steeped in the cosmic imagery of 1970s funk. A loving reboot from the generation that grew up with the first three movies. Another gloriously self-aware heist flick. Thanks to the lovers, the dreams, and you, The Muppets have been able to do .Who owns it? If only things were as simples as that standard rich and famous contract Kermit The Frog and friends signed with World Wide Studio. When The Jim Henson Company sold the Muppets to Disney in 2004, the sale included some, but not all, of the character’s cinematic back catalog: , , , and (the last two of which were co-produced with Disney). (produced in association with TriStar Pictures) and (part of a fizzled development deal with Sony) stayed at Sony.Where is it streaming? To make matters more complicated, the two Muppet movies Disney made in-house following the acquisition, and , are over on Netflix right now. The Disney-owned features from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s are on Disney+, while Showtime subscribers can stream The Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppets From Space.

The voyages of the starship(s) Enterprise, from the Original Series crew’s Star Wars-abetted second life in cinemas to The Next Generation’s big screen face-off with The Borg (and adversaries who are not as interesting as The Borg) to the more action-oriented features of the Kelvin timeline.Who owns it? ParamountWhere is it streaming? Like their televised source material, the Star Trek movies are available on a wide range of subscription services: Amazon has the most comprehensive collection, spanning the first eight in the main continuity, from through . You can watch Insurrection on Hulu, which also has the six TOS movies minus ; if you’re craving that film’s whale-saving action, hop on over to CBS All Access, where you’ll also find the final Next Generation movie, . is on HBO Max, and its two sequels can be rented or purchased on the major digital platforms.

The romance between new-kid-in-town Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and curiously pale teen Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is at the center of a supernatural tempest involving vampire-werewolf-human love triangles; clashing clans of blood suckers; and, of course, that most beloved and well known pastime of creatures of the night, . Who owns it? LionsgateWhere is it streaming? Hulu has the complete saga.