Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

3 best Disney+ movies to watch instead of the Super Bowl 2024

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones staring at a golden idol in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Paramount Pictures

It’s February 11, and the question everyone is asking is this: How are you going to spend Super Bowl Sunday? If you’re not a big football fan or don’t care about Super Bowl halftime shows, then you may feel like you’re out of luck. After all, what else is there to watch?

Disney+ may seem like an odd solution to this problem, but it turns out that the House of Mouse streamer has some good options for anyone interested in some action, adventure, or good old-fashioned comedy. Here are some movies that are sure to entertain, and we promise that there won’t be a football in sight.

Still want more Super Bowl alternatives? Try the 5 best Netflix TV shows to watch instead of the 2024 Super Bowl, 10 great TV shows to stream instead of the 2024 Super Bowl, watch these 3 great TV shows instead of the Super Bowl, and 3 great Hulu shows to watch instead of the 2024 Super Bowl.

Need more Super Bowl 2024 recommendations? Check out who is performing in the Super Bowl halftime show, how to watch the Super Bowl for free, how long is the 2024 Super Bowl, and three great sports documentaries to watch.

Free Guy (2021)

A man looks at a guy with a gun in Free Guy.
20th Century Fox

It’s sometimes tough to remember that Ryan Reynolds is more than just Deadpool or a social media personality; he’s also an actor who can be occasionally charming. Shawn Levy’s Free Guy tells the story of a bank teller (Reynolds) discovering that he’s a non-playable character (or NPC for those gamers out there) in a massively multiplayer online video game, and he teams up with another player named Millie Rusk (Killing Eve‘s Jodie Comer) to help her find the source code that a game company’s CEO stole.

Free Guy succeeds by leaning into its delightfully nonsensical premise. The movie plays well to its creative premise thanks to its colorful video game-themed world, and it features Reynolds at his charmingly comedic best. It’s a good movie to watch to escape a world dominated by footballs and cold weather.

Free Guy is streaming on Disney+.

We Bought a Zoo (2011)

A man and a woman walk in a zoo in We Bought a Zoo.
20th Century Fox

Ignore the silly title and rediscover a surprisingly decent comedy drama from over a decade ago. Adapted from author Benjamin Mee’s memoir of the same name, director Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo follows a family as they take on a massive project. Widowed father Ben (Oppenheimers Matt Damon) and his family move into a new home for a fresh start as they struggle to cope with his wife’s passing.

However, they’re only allowed to buy the new house if they buy the dilapidated zoo that’s also on the property. Head zookeeper Kelly Foster (Asteroid City‘s Scarlett Johansson) helps lead the renovation efforts in hopes that they will be able to reopen to the public. We Bought a Zoo has a predictable story, but its charming star turns by Damon and Johansson and feel-good vibes make this a decent movie to watch with the entire family.

We Bought a Zoo is streaming on Disney+.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Indiana Jones stands in a burning building in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Paramount Pictures

You can’t go wrong with a classic. Directed by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark marks the debut of the fan-favorite adventurer with a fedora and bullwhip who tries to stop sinister Nazi forces from securing a dangerous treasure.

The movie was groundbreaking for its time, pushing the boundaries for action set pieces and the evolution of the pulpy adventure genre. Indiana Jones is still an iconic character (although you should ignore Dial of Destiny, the latest and last iteration in the franchise). Raiders is not only one of the best action movies ever made, but also one of the best films ever. Who needs football when you’ve got Indy?

Raiders of the Lost Ark is streaming on Disney+.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jason Struss
Section Editor, Entertainment
Jason is a writer, editor, and pop culture enthusiast whose love for cinema, television, and cheap comic books has led him to…
The 50 best movies on Netflix right now (May 2024)
Jenna Ortega in Miller's Girl.

It should come as no surprise that this year's hit rom-com Anyone But You has a stranglehold on the top slot of the list of the most popular movies on Netflix. But it is somewhat surprising to see Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver completely disappear from the list. That's going to make Rebel Moon – Part Three very unlikely to happen, and it may even discourage Netflix from committing extremely high budgets to its original sci-fi movies.

More tellingly, two of this week's new additions are modestly budget dramas: Miller's Girl and The Judge. The former features Wednesday's Jenna Ortega, while the latter has great lead performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall. So it's not a mystery as to why both of those films are two of the top performers of the week.

Read more
The best movies on Amazon Prime Video (May 2024)
Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You.

Amazon Prime Video is starting off strong in May with several new additions to its library of movies, including the premiere of the original romantic drama The Idea of You. Last year's underrated Christmas drama The Holdovers is also now streaming on Prime Video. And as far as we're concerned, a good drama is never out of season.

Prime Video lost a handful of movies at the end of April, and Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza is only sticking around through the end of the weekend. But everything else on our list of the best movies on Amazon Prime Video right now is still available. Just keep reading, and you can make plans to watch any of the films that you want to see this month.

Read more
The best movie and TV show trailers of the week of May 3
Freya Allan in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Unless you're super dialed in to the latest entertainment news every day of the week, it's really easy to miss a new trailer for your favorite movie or TV show. That's why we're bringing together the best movie and TV show trailers of the week of May 3 in one place. All you really have to do now is scroll down and hit play.

Just releasing a new trailer isn't enough to get it on our roundup. We believe that the best trailers are the ones that don't give away too much about the story, while also building up a sense of excitement for the film or TV series. Most of all, we still want to be surprised when we actually watch the programing in question. Keep this in mind as we go over this week's trailers.
From season 3

Read more