{"id":365712,"date":"2026-04-06T03:16:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/365712\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T03:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:16:18","slug":"the-7-best-new-movies-on-netflix-in-april-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/365712\/","title":{"rendered":"The 7 Best New Movies on Netflix in April 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fun assortment of movies arrived on Netflix<\/a> this month. Indeed, the streamer\u2019s April acquisitions include an underrated mid-2010s disaster thriller and an oft-forgotten crime drama from \u201cThe Martian\u201d and \u201cBlade Runner\u201d director Ridley Scott. Three entertaining, well-executed sequels arrived on the streaming platform this month as well, as did a 2007 romantic war epic that proves hard to forget and animated sequel that is smarter, funnier and more romantic than its slight reputation suggests.<\/p>\n

Here are the seven best movies new to Netflix in April.<\/p>\n

\"a-quiet-place-3-emily-blunt\"Emily Blunt in \u201cA Quiet Place 2\u201d (Paramount Pictures)<\/p>\n

\u201cA Quiet Place Part II\u201d (2021)<\/p>\n

2021\u2019s \u201cA Quiet Place Part II\u201d<\/a> may not have been able to replicate the ingenious, refreshing creativity of its parent film, but the sequel offers just as much of the nerve-shredding tension as fans of the franchise have come to expect from it. Directed, once again, by John Krasinski, the sequel opens with a show-stopping horror set piece and then goes on to expand its franchise\u2019s story and world in ways that feel genuinely worthwhile and compelling. Even better, the film ended up being \u2014 even if unintentionally so \u2014 a strong lead-in to its astonishing 2024 prequel \u201cA Quiet Place: Day One.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Everest"\u201cEverest\u201d (Universal Pictures)<\/p>\n

\u201cEverest\u201d (2015)<\/p>\n

Despite its star-studded, strong ensemble cast, 2015\u2019s \u201cEverest\u201d has been a bit lost to time. It deserves a better fate than that. Director Baltasar Korm\u00e1kur\u2019s well-staged, surprisingly understated survival thriller adapts the true story of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and follows a group of climbers who end up stranded in a bad storm while climbing the famous mountain and forced to fight for their survival while crews stationed lower than them stage a number of ambitious rescue attempts. Anchored by a cast that includes, among others, Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright, Keira Knightley and Emily Watson, \u201cEverest\u201d is a haunting and deeply immersive thriller.<\/p>\n

\""Atonement"\u201cAtonement\u201d (Focus Features)<\/p>\n

\u201cAtonement\u201d (2007)<\/p>\n

Speaking of Keira Knightley, the actress also stars in director Joe Wright\u2019s masterful, tragic 2007 romantic war drama \u201cAtonement.\u201d Based on Ian McEwan\u2019s acclaimed novel of the same name, \u201cAtonement\u201d follows a thirteen-year-old aspiring writer (Saoirse Ronan) as she unintentionally ends up interfering in a passionate romance between a housekeeper\u2019s son (James McAvoy) and her older sister (Keira Knightley), whose lives are forever changed by misunderstandings and the breakout of the Second World War. <\/p>\n

The most visually ravishing film that Wright has ever made, \u201cAtonement\u201d is an intensely felt drama full of enough style, romance, tragedy, regret and yearning to leave an indelible mark.<\/p>\n

\""Mission:\u201cMission: Impossible \u2013 Rogue Nation\u201d (Paramount Pictures)<\/p>\n

\u201cMission: Impossible \u2013 Rogue Nation\u201d (2015)<\/p>\n

When it comes to the best \u201cMission: Impossible\u201d film<\/a>, practically every one of the franchise\u2019s entries has its own, passionate base of defenders. But no conversation about that topic is complete without at least the mention of 2015\u2019s \u201cMission: Impossible \u2014 Rogue Nation.\u201d Frequent Tom Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie\u2019s first stint directing a \u201cMission\u201d film is a Hitchcockian action romp that injected fierce, invigorating new life into the franchise with the introduction of Rebecca Ferguson\u2019s scene-stealing, exiled MI6 agent Ilsa Faust. <\/p>\n

Punctuated by a number of thrilling action sequences, including one show-stopping, beautifully conducted opera house assassination, \u201cRogue Nation\u201d is as fun as it is artfully made, superficially entertaining as it is unforgettable.<\/p>\n

\"Scream\u201cScream\u201d (Paramount Pictures)<\/p>\n

\u201cScream\u201d (2022)<\/p>\n

It may seem hard now, four years and one truly unfortunate sequel later, to remember just how much of an achievement 2022\u2019s \u201cScream\u201d was, but the film deserves a spot on this list. The first \u201cScream\u201d film<\/a> not directed by horror master Wes Craven sees Radio Silence directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett reboot the franchise with a largely new cast of young stars but the same mix of blackly comic, meta humor and blood-soaked, ruthless violence that made it so beloved in the first place.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ghostface\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The result is a sequel-reboot that makes very few missteps, and which successfully gets back to the heart of what makes \u201cScream,\u201d against all odds, such an enduring and seemingly unkillable horror property.<\/p>\n

\"DenzelDenzel Washington in \u201cAmerican Gangster\u201d (Universal\/Paramount)<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican Gangster\u201d (2007)<\/p>\n

2007\u2019s \u201cAmerican Gangster\u201d is one of the most underrated movies that \u201cAlien\u201d director Ridley Scott has ever made. Written by \u201cRipley\u201d creator Steven Zaillian and based loosely on the life and criminal career of real-life gangster Frank Lucas, the film follows an ostracized New York City cop (Russell Crowe) in the late 1960s who is tasked with bringing down a Harlem drug lord (Denzel Washington) who has begun using returning Vietnam War servicemen to smuggle heroin into the States.<\/p>\n

Featuring a reliably commanding performance from Washington and made with some of Scott\u2019s signature directorial style, \u201cAmerican Gangster\u201d serves as both a fascinating crime drama and an unvarnished look at corruption both on the streets of America and within its governmental systems.<\/p>\n

\""Madagascar\u201cMadagascar 3: Europe\u2019s Most Wanted\u201d (Paramount Pictures)<\/p>\n

\u201cMadagascar 3: Europe\u2019s Most Wanted\u201d (2012)<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican Gangster\u201d and \u201cEverest\u201d are not the only underrated movies on this list. There is also 2012\u2019s \u201cMadagascar 3: Europe\u2019s Most Wanted.\u201d Featuring a screenplay famously co-written by \u201cMarriage Story\u201d filmmaker Noah Baumbach, this oft-forgotten \u201cMadagascar\u201d sequel follows the franchise\u2019s central group of wayward Central Park Zoo animals as they attempt to return to New York City by traveling across Europe as part of a circus. Bursting with color, absurdist humor and some surprising romance, \u201cEurope\u2019s Most Wanted\u201d is an animated adventure with the power and wit to entertain the whole family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fun assortment of movies arrived on Netflix this month. Indeed, the streamer\u2019s April acquisitions include an underrated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,1094,111,139,69,9912],"class_list":{"0":"post-365712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-netflix","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-what-to-watch"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}