YMovies

The YMovies design

This YMovies is rebuilt from two archived captures of ymovies.to: the home page of November 2021, which ran on a WordPress theme called yifybootstrap3, and the landing page of January 2022. The theme's style sheets were measured: a near-black page fading to pure black at the top and bottom, a dark menu bar with grey capital links, panels in deep charcoal with slightly lighter header bars, tab groups in mid grey with a pale underline and the active tab in a strong steel blue, bright blue links and sea-green Watch now buttons beneath each poster. The footer was a rounded charcoal panel with blue links and an italic blue tagline.

The original wordmark was a small image; this site uses an original one in the same spirit, YMovies in bold italic white letters with the Y in bright blue and a thin steel-blue line underneath. The original typeface was Lucida Grande; this site uses Open Sans, a clear, friendly face with a similar feel.

The menu bar

The menu bar is slim and dark, just like the original. The wordmark sits on the left behind a thin divider, followed by the menu in small grey capitals: Home, Movies, TV-Series, New Releases, Classics, Genres, A-Z and My List. Each link sits in its own cell, and pointing at one turns it white on a slightly lighter background. A compact search box sits on the right, with italic placeholder text as on the 2021 page. On phones and tablets the menu folds behind a single button, and the menu slides in with its own search box.

The search and the coloured labels

The top of the home page brings back the 2022 landing screen. A wide search bar sits in the middle of a dark panel, and beneath it comes the tag cloud, one of the most distinctive details of the original: a jumble of coloured labels in red, green, blue and orange, some large and some small. Here every label is a collection on YMovies, from New Releases, Classics and TV-Series to Popular Horror, Popular Action, Popular Comedy, Family, Animation, Thriller, Sci-Fi and Drama, and the size of each label grows with the number of titles inside it. Press any label to open that collection.

Panels and tabs

Below the introduction come the stacked panels, the heart of the Yify TV style. Each panel has a dark header bar with its title on the left, often starting with the faded words Watch Movies Online:, and a small group of tabs on the right, grey buttons with a pale underline, the active one filled with steel blue. Press a tab and the row of posters beneath it changes instantly on the same page; the tabs work with a keyboard too. Each row scrolls sideways and holds fourteen posters, each with a soft shadow, the title, the year and the main genre, and a small green Watch now button underneath.

The panels follow the order of the 2021 page. New Releases has tabs for All, Action, Comedy, Family and Horror; Featured has All, Comedy and Drama; Most popular switches between Movies and Series; Most Popular Classic Movies has Popular Horror, Popular Action, Popular Comedy and Popular Right Now, exactly as on the original; and a TV-Series panel adds All, Sci-Fi and Crime. The last panel, Most Popular Movies, uses the list style of the old Yify pages: a small poster beside each title, a sentence in blue such as Encanto is an Animation, Comedy, Family movie from 2021, 102 min., a short story and a Watch now link.

A title page

Every poster leads to a full title page. It shows the poster and the backdrop, the year, the running time or the number of seasons, the genres, the score, the story, the cast with their roles and the director or creators. The viewing panel lets you choose one of fifteen countries, from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand to India, the Philippines, South Africa, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Mexico. Pick yours and press Watch now to open the title on JustWatch, which lists every official service that carries it there. Series pages go further, with a page for every season and a list of every episode with its air date and a short summary.

New releases for the family

The New Releases collection gathers the films of 2020 to 2022, a remarkable period for animation. Encanto follows the Madrigal family, who live in a magical house in the mountains of Colombia, and Mirabel, the one member still waiting for a gift of her own, and its songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda became a worldwide sensation. Soul, from Pete Docter at Pixar, follows a jazz pianist on a journey to the realm where souls get their personalities, and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Luca is a sunny Pixar tale of two sea monsters who spend a summer as boys on the Italian Riviera, and Onward sends two elf brothers on a quest to spend one more day with their father.

Raya and the Last Dragon is a Disney adventure through the fantasy land of Kumandra, The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a hilarious road trip through a robot uprising, and The Sea Beast is a rousing sea adventure about a young stowaway and a monster hunter. Sing 2, Ron's Gone Wrong, Luck, The Croods: A New Age, Trolls World Tour and Minions: The Rise of Gru complete a shelf that keeps children and parents smiling. The family guide has more ideas.

New releases: big entertainment

The same years brought plenty of crowd-pleasers. Free Guy stars Ryan Reynolds as a cheerful background character in a video game who decides to become the hero, and Godzilla vs. Kong finally pits the two giants against each other. Jungle Cruise puts Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt on a riverboat through the Amazon, The Tomorrow War sends Chris Pratt into a future war against alien invaders, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, from Jason Reitman, takes the ghost-hunting family to a small town in Oklahoma. Nobody casts Bob Odenkirk as a mild-mannered suburban dad with a very dangerous past, and Tenet, from Christopher Nolan, is a mind-bending spy thriller built around time running backwards.

Uncharted brings the treasure-hunting video game to the screen with Tom Holland, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 adds Tails and Knuckles, and The Lost City is a jungle romp with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. Red Notice, The Gray Man and The Adam Project were three of the biggest films on streaming, Prey takes the Predator series to the Comanche Nation of 1719, and The Northman, from Robert Eggers, is a thunderous Viking revenge saga. Eternals, from Chloé Zhao, adds a family of immortal heroes to the Marvel universe. The new releases guide gathers the highlights.

New releases: awards and acclaim

Some of the most admired films of the period are here too. CODA, about the hearing daughter of a deaf family of fishermen who dreams of singing, won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and The Father earned Anthony Hopkins an Academy Award for his portrait of a man losing his grip on time. Elvis, from Baz Luhrmann, made a star of Austin Butler, The Last Duel, from Ridley Scott, retells a medieval trial by combat from three points of view, and The Green Knight is a dreamlike Arthurian fantasy with Dev Patel. Cruella gives Emma Stone a punk-rock fashion origin story, Enola Holmes introduces Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock's clever younger sister, and Where the Crawdads Sing and The Banker bring best-selling and true stories to the screen.

New horror

The New Releases panel has its own Horror tab, and these years were strong ones for scary films. A Quiet Place Part II continues the Abbott family's fight for survival in a world of creatures that hunt by sound, The Invisible Man, with Elisabeth Moss, reinvents a classic monster as a gripping modern thriller, and The Black Phone, with Ethan Hawke, is a chilling tale of a kidnapped boy who receives calls from a disconnected phone. Nope, from Jordan Peele, turns a California horse ranch into the scene of an spectacular sky-borne mystery, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It brings back Ed and Lorraine Warren, and Scream of 2022 returns to Woodsboro with the original survivors.

Classics: Popular Horror

The Most Popular Classic Movies panel opens on its Popular Horror tab, and the classic horror shelf is one of the richest on YMovies. It begins with Jaws, Steven Spielberg's 1975 shark thriller, which invented the summer blockbuster, and continues with Halloween, John Carpenter's low-budget masterpiece of 1978, and Alien, Ridley Scott's 1979 space horror with Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. The Shining, Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King, and The Thing, Carpenter's icy tale of a shape-shifting creature in Antarctica, are two of the most studied horror films ever made.

The 1980s bring A Nightmare on Elm Street, in which Wes Craven introduced Freddy Krueger, An American Werewolf in London, with its famous transformation scene, Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Child's Play, Pet Sematary and Friday the 13th. The 1990s add Tremors, a joyful creature feature, Scream of 1996, Wes Craven's clever self-aware slasher, The Blair Witch Project, which launched the found-footage craze, and Sleepy Hollow, Tim Burton's gothic take on the headless horseman. Carrie, Interview with the Vampire, Army of Darkness, The Craft, The Faculty and Deep Blue Sea complete a shelf for every kind of fright.

Classics: Popular Action

The Popular Action tab gathers the blockbusters that defined a generation. Star Wars, George Lucas's 1977 space adventure, changed cinema for good, and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace opened the prequel trilogy in 1999. Raiders of the Lost Ark introduced Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and The Terminator made Arnold Schwarzenegger a legend, as did Predator a few years later. First Blood introduced Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo, Beverly Hills Cop made Eddie Murphy an action star, and Men in Black paired Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents who police aliens on Earth. Batman Returns, Blade, End of Days and Scarface complete the shelf.

Classics: Popular Comedy

The Popular Comedy tab is pure joy. Airplane! is the gold standard of spoof comedy, packed with jokes from the first minute to the last, and Spaceballs, Mel Brooks's send-up of Star Wars, is just as quotable. Groundhog Day traps Bill Murray in the same February day over and over, and it is as wise as it is funny. Jim Carrey leads Dumb and Dumber and The Mask, two of the biggest comedies of 1994, and Death Becomes Her is a wicked comedy about eternal youth with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. For romance, You've Got Mail reunites Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as rivals who fall in love online.

Classics for the family

Families will find plenty of classics too. A Bug's Life, Pixar's second feature, follows an inventive ant who hires a troupe of circus bugs to save his colony, The Parent Trap of 1998 made a star of Lindsay Lohan as identical twins who swap places, and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York sends Kevin McCallister on a holiday adventure through Manhattan. They make a perfect bridge between the classics and the new releases for a family movie night.

TV-Series: Marvel, Star Wars and fantasy

The TV-Series collection gathers the series of the streaming boom, each with every season and episode. The Marvel series lead it: WandaVision begins as a loving tribute to classic American sitcoms and grows into a moving story about grief, Hawkeye pairs Jeremy Renner with Hailee Steinfeld as a young archer in a snowy New York at Christmas, and Moon Knight stars Oscar Isaac as a hero who shares his body with more than one identity. Star Wars: Visions invites Japanese anime studios to tell their own Star Wars stories, and Halo brings the Master Chief from the video games to television.

Fantasy fans will find Shadow and Bone, adapted from Leigh Bardugo's novels, His Dark Materials, from Philip Pullman's trilogy, and Vikings: Valhalla, set a century after the original Vikings. DC's Stargirl is a bright family superhero series, Invasion follows an alien arrival across several continents, and Upload imagines a digital afterlife with a comic twist.

TV-Series: drama

For drama, The Queen's Gambit is the headline: Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth Harmon, an orphan who becomes a chess champion in the 1960s, and the miniseries made chess fashionable again around the world. The Gilded Age, from Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey, is set among the rival fortunes of 1880s New York, and All Creatures Great & Small is a warm new adaptation of James Herriot's stories of a Yorkshire vet. Virgin River follows a nurse who starts again in a small Californian town, Good Trouble follows two sisters in Los Angeles, and Godfather of Harlem stars Forest Whitaker as the crime boss Bumpy Johnson in the 1960s.

TV-Series: crime and mystery

The Crime tab on the TV-Series panel opens a shelf of fine detective stories. Perry Mason reimagines the famous lawyer in 1930s Los Angeles, Bosch: Legacy continues the story of Michael Connelly's detective, and Dark Winds follows two Navajo police officers in the 1970s, adapted from Tony Hillerman's novels. The Capture is a sharp British thriller about doctored video evidence, Big Sky is set in the wide open spaces of Montana, and The Cleaning Lady follows a doctor drawn into the underworld of Las Vegas. FBI: International, NCIS: Hawaiʻi, CSI: Vegas and Walker bring familiar franchises to new places, and Why Women Kill is a stylish darkly comic mystery told across three decades.

TV-Series: comedy and animation

For lighter moments, Mythic Quest follows the team behind a hit online game, Loot stars Maya Rudolph as a billionaire learning to give her fortune away, and The Righteous Gemstones is a wild comedy about a family of televangelists. For younger viewers, The Owl House follows a teenager who stumbles into a world of witches, Monsters at Work continues the story of Monsters, Inc., and Looney Tunes Cartoons brings Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck back in fresh short cartoons. Horror fans will want Chucky, which continues the story of the doll from Child's Play. The TV-Series guide suggests where to begin.

How Watch now works

Every poster on YMovies has a green Watch now button beneath it, and every title page has a Watch now button of its own. Choose your country and press it, and JustWatch opens with every official service that carries the title in that country, with subscription, rental, purchase and free options side by side. You can see at a glance whether a new release is on a subscription you already have, whether a classic is ready to rent in 4K, or whether it is free with adverts. The how to watch guide walks through the steps.

Where the titles stream

The new releases of 2020 to 2022 appear on the major subscription services, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Max, Paramount+, Peacock and Apple TV+, depending on the studio and the country, and many of them were made for streaming in the first place. The classics move between services more often, and Apple TV, Google TV and Prime Video rent and sell most of them, often in restored 4K editions. The TV series sit mainly on the service that made them. Licences change from time to time, which is why the Watch now button checks JustWatch each time. The streaming services guide gives more detail.

Free and legal options

Plenty of the catalogue can be watched free and legally. Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel and Freevee carry many classic films and some newer ones free with adverts, depending on your country, and Kanopy and Hoopla offer free films with a library card in some countries. When you press Watch now, free options appear on JustWatch beside the paid ones. The free movies guide lists the best places to look.

Picture and sound

Many of the classics on YMovies have been beautifully restored, and they look better today than ever. Jaws, Alien, The Shining, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars stream in 4K with HDR on several services, and the new releases, from Tenet to Godzilla vs. Kong, were made for the biggest screens. Allow about 5 Mbps for HD and 25 Mbps for 4K, and connect a soundbar or good headphones for the thundering soundtracks. Subtitles, dubbed audio and audio description are available on most titles, chosen from the player menu. The subtitles and quality guide explains the settings.

Phones, laptops, consoles and TVs

YMovies works in every modern browser, on a phone, a tablet, a laptop or a desktop computer. On a phone the menu folds behind a single button, the coloured labels wrap neatly and the poster rows scroll sideways with a thumb. You can add YMovies to your home screen from the browser menu, where it opens like an app. The films and series play in each service's official app, installed from Google Play, the App Store, your console or your television's store, and Fire TV, Google TV, Apple TV, Roku, PlayStation, Xbox and most smart TVs run them. The apps and devices guide covers each option.

My List

Press Add to My List on any title page to save a film or a series, and on a season page mark the episode you reached, which is handy for long series such as Virgin River, The Righteous Gemstones or His Dark Materials. My List is stored in your own browser, works straight away and belongs to you alone. Export saves it to a small file, and Import restores it on another phone or computer. The My List guide has the details.

Finding a title

There are several ways to find what you want. The search bars at the top of the page and in the menu bar look through titles, cast and directors; press Enter for the full results page, where you can narrow the list to films or series. The coloured labels open every collection, the tabs on each panel switch between genres, films and series, and the menu leads straight to Movies, TV-Series, New Releases, Classics and Genres. The A-Z index lists everything alphabetically, and the finding titles guide explains each route. For a tour of every collection, see the genres guide.

Top rated

The Top rated collection gathers the titles with the highest scores from a large number of votes. Soul, CODA, The Father, Nobody and Cruella sit there with classics such as Alien, The Shining, The Thing, Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and series such as The Queen's Gambit, WandaVision and His Dark Materials.

Recognising YMovies

Many sites have borrowed the Yify look over the years, so it helps to know the real design. This YMovies has a black page, a slim menu bar with the italic YMovies wordmark and its blue Y, grey capital menu links, a wide search bar above a cloud of red, green, blue and orange labels, and stacked charcoal panels with grey tab groups whose active tab is steel blue. Every green Watch now button leads to JustWatch and from there to the official services. Bookmark the home page, or add it to your phone's home screen, and you will always return to the right place. The official site guide repeats these signs.

Streaming safely

A few habits keep streaming safe and simple. Install apps only from official stores, give each service its own strong password and switch on two-step sign-in where it is offered. Before entering payment details, check that the address bar shows the real name of the service. YMovies links only to JustWatch, and JustWatch links to the official services, so every step stays on trusted ground. The safety guide keeps the checklist short.

If a page is slow

If YMovies seems slow, load the home page and then any title; if both appear, the site is working. Refreshing the page, clearing the browser cache, trying another browser or switching between mobile data and Wi-Fi usually solves the rest. Playback itself happens on the streaming service, so its help centre is the right place for any playback question. The site status guide lists the quick fixes.

Privacy

YMovies keeps things light and ready to use at once. My List, your chosen country and the episodes you mark are stored in your own browser, on your own device. Posters and details load from TMDB, and the site font loads from Google Fonts. The privacy page explains each item in plain words.

How the catalogue is chosen

The catalogue follows the spirit of the 2021 site, whose panels mixed the newest releases with a panel of popular classic horror, action and comedy. It gathers the films of 2020 to 2022, the classics of 1975 to 1999 and the TV series of the same streaming years. Every title is chosen by hand for a general audience, and the whole catalogue is drawn from TMDB, which supplies the posters, stories, cast and episode lists. The sister guides YTS, YIFY and Vidjoy cover other favourites of these years, so YMovies leaves those titles to them and brings its own mix.

A short history of YMovies

YMovies grew out of the family of Yify TV sites of the late 2010s, simple pages built for browsing new films by genre and year. By 2021 its home page had settled into the stacked panels and blue tabs that this rebuild brings back, and in 2022 it added a landing page with a search bar and a colourful cloud of labels. That clean, dark design is the one this rebuild restores, with one important difference: every film and series now opens on the official services that carry it, in your country.

Where to start with the classics

If the classics are new to you, a few films make a perfect introduction. Start with Jaws, which is as gripping today as in 1975, then Raiders of the Lost Ark for pure adventure and Groundhog Day for a comedy with real heart. For something spookier, Halloween and Alien show how much can be done with shadows and suspense, and Scream of 1996 is a witty guide to the rules of the horror film. The classics guide suggests more titles for each mood.

Directors to know

A few directors shaped both halves of the catalogue. Steven Spielberg made Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, John Carpenter made Halloween and The Thing, and Ridley Scott made Alien and, forty years later, The Last Duel. Wes Craven made A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, Tim Burton made Batman Returns and Sleepy Hollow, and James Cameron made The Terminator. Among newer names, Jordan Peele made Nope, Christopher Nolan made Tenet and Robert Eggers made The Northman. Searching a director's name is a good way to discover more of their work.

Then and now

One of the pleasures of YMovies is pairing a classic with a new film that follows in its footsteps. Predator of 1987 and Prey of 2022 tell two very different stories about the same hunter, Scream of 1996 and Scream of 2022 bring the same survivors back to Woodsboro a generation later, and Child's Play leads naturally to the Chucky series. Alien and Alien Resurrection sit beside new science fiction such as The Tomorrow War, and the ghost-busting spirit of the 1980s lives on in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Made for streaming

Many of the new releases on YMovies were made for streaming from the start, a sign of how quickly viewing changed in these years. Red Notice, The Gray Man, The Adam Project, Enola Holmes, Day Shift and The Sea Beast were made for Netflix, The Tomorrow War went straight to Prime Video, and Luca and Soul premiered on Disney+. CODA became the first film from a streaming service to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, on Apple TV+. Pressing Watch now shows at once which service carries each of them where you live.

Ideas for a movie night

If you are planning an evening, a few pairings work beautifully. For a family night, try Encanto followed by Luca, or The Mitchells vs. the Machines with A Bug's Life. For a scary double bill, start with Halloween and finish with The Black Phone, or pair Alien with Prey. For laughter, Airplane! and Free Guy make a joyful mix of old and new, and for pure adventure, Raiders of the Lost Ark followed by Jungle Cruise is hard to beat. For something moving, CODA and The Father stay with you long after the credits.

Holiday viewing

The catalogue has something for every holiday. Halloween calls for the Popular Horror tab, from Halloween itself to the teenage witches of The Craft. Christmas brings Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, with its snowy Manhattan, and Hawkeye, set in New York during the holidays. Summer suits Jaws, Luca and Jungle Cruise, and Groundhog Day, on the second of February, is the perfect excuse to watch Groundhog Day once again.

Watching together

Many of these titles are made for a full room. The songs of Encanto and Sing 2 invite a sing-along, the jokes of Airplane! and Dumb and Dumber work best with friends, and a chess night after The Queen's Gambit is a lovely family tradition. For group viewing, cast the title to the television, choose the audio language everyone prefers and turn on subtitles for anyone who follows better in another language.

Watching from abroad

YMovies readers live all over the world, which is why the viewing panel covers fifteen countries. Choose the country where you are right now, since that is where the services will play, and JustWatch lists the services that carry the title there. A film on Netflix in one country can be on Prime Video or a free service in another, so it is always worth checking. Your country choice is remembered in your browser for the next visit.

Worth watching again

Some titles reward a second viewing even more than the first. The puzzles of Tenet make far more sense the second time, the details hidden in WandaVision come alive once you know the ending, and the craft of The Shining and The Thing reveals something new on every viewing. Keep a few favourites in My List for the evenings when an old friend is exactly what you need.

A first visit

On a first visit, try the coloured labels under the search bar, then scroll through the panels and switch their tabs to see the range of the catalogue. Open a few titles and read their stories. Press Watch now on one that appeals, choose your country and follow JustWatch to the service. Save a few titles to My List for later. Within a few minutes, YMovies will feel as familiar as it did in 2021.

Science fiction old and new

The Sci-Fi collection spans five decades. Star Wars and Alien set the standard in the late 1970s, The Terminator and Predator followed in the 1980s, and Men in Black and Event Horizon brought the genre into the late 1990s in very different moods. The new releases add Tenet, The Tomorrow War, Free Guy, The Adam Project and The Matrix Resurrections, which returns to the world of Neo and Trinity two decades later. On the series side, Halo, Invasion, Upload and His Dark Materials carry the same spirit of wonder.

Monsters and giants

Monster movies have a proud place on YMovies. Jaws made a great white shark the most famous monster in film, Tremors turned giant underground worms into pure fun, and Deep Blue Sea brought super-intelligent sharks to an ocean laboratory. Gremlins showed what happens when you break the rules of looking after a mogwai, and The Thing is the ultimate shape-shifter story. Among the new releases, Godzilla vs. Kong stages the biggest fight of all, The Sea Beast finds friendship with a sea monster, and Nope looks to the sky for its creature.

Heroes from Batman Returns to Eternals

Superheroes appear across the whole catalogue. Batman Returns, Tim Burton's gothic sequel of 1992, introduced Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman and Danny DeVito's Penguin, and Blade of 1998 showed that a darker hero could lead a hit. The new releases bring Wonder Woman 1984, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Eternals and The New Mutants, and the series add WandaVision, Hawkeye, Moon Knight and DC's Stargirl. Watching them side by side shows how much the genre changed in thirty years.

Comedy stars

A few stars carry the comedy shelf. Jim Carrey had one of the most remarkable years in comedy history in 1994, with Dumb and Dumber and The Mask both arriving that year. Eddie Murphy made Beverly Hills Cop a comedy as much as an action film, Bill Murray found his finest role in Groundhog Day, and Mel Brooks aimed his wit at science fiction in Spaceballs. Among the new releases, Ryan Reynolds leads Free Guy, Red Notice and The Adam Project, and Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum make The Lost City a breezy delight.

True stories

Several titles on YMovies are based on real events and people. Elvis follows the life of the King of Rock and Roll through the eyes of his manager, The Banker tells the story of two Black entrepreneurs who challenged segregation in 1960s real estate, and The Last Duel recreates the last legally sanctioned duel in medieval France. Godfather of Harlem on the series shelf is inspired by the life of the crime boss Bumpy Johnson. Each title page gives the year and the story, a good starting point before diving into the history.

For younger viewers

Families will find plenty to enjoy. The animated new releases, from Encanto and Onward to Sing 2, Ron's Gone Wrong, Luck, The Boss Baby: Family Business, PAW Patrol: The Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, suit every age, and the classics add A Bug's Life and The Parent Trap. On the series shelf, The Owl House, Monsters at Work and Looney Tunes Cartoons are perfect for younger viewers. Check the genres and the story on each title page to choose what suits your family.

Reading the scores

Every title page shows a score out of ten, the average rating given by TMDB members. Scores from many voters are the most reliable, which is why the Top rated collection lists titles with a large number of votes. A lower score can still hide a film that suits your mood perfectly, so read the story, check the genres and trust your own taste. The tabs and coloured labels are a good way to explore beyond the most famous names.

Soundtracks

Music is a big part of many films here. John Williams wrote the scores for Jaws, Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, three of the most famous themes in cinema, and John Carpenter composed his own eerie music for Halloween. Among the new releases, the songs of Encanto and Sing 2 were family favourites, Soul is filled with jazz, and Elvis brings the music of Elvis Presley back to the big screen. A good pair of headphones or a soundbar makes all the difference.

A trip to the 1980s

The 1980s are the heart of the Classics collection. In a single decade came Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Terminator, Predator, First Blood, Beverly Hills Cop, Gremlins, A Nightmare on Elm Street, An American Werewolf in London, The Thing, Airplane! and Spaceballs, a run of films that still shapes blockbusters, horror and comedy today. Many of them have been restored in 4K, and watching them now is a reminder of how much could be achieved with practical effects, bold music and a good story. The Popular Right Now tab on the classics panel is a quick way to start.

The 1990s on screen

The 1990s bring a different flavour. Groundhog Day, Dumb and Dumber and The Mask defined the decade's comedy, Men in Black, Batman Returns and Blade its big entertainment, and Scream, The Craft, The Faculty, Sleepy Hollow and The Blair Witch Project its fresh wave of horror. You've Got Mail captured the early days of email romance, and A Bug's Life and The Parent Trap were family favourites. Together they make a lively tour of the years just before the streaming age began.

Planning a binge

The TV-Series shelf offers everything from short miniseries to long-running shows. The Queen's Gambit tells its whole story in seven episodes, ideal for a weekend, while Hawkeye and Moon Knight each run for six. Longer series such as Virgin River, Good Trouble and The Righteous Gemstones run for several seasons, best enjoyed a few episodes at a time. The season pages show the number of episodes and their air dates, and My List keeps your place, so you can plan a binge as long or as short as you like.

Short and sweet

Some evenings call for something short. Looney Tunes Cartoons offers short, fast episodes, Star Wars: Visions tells a complete story in each episode, and classic comedies such as Airplane! and Spaceballs run for well under two hours. The running time on each title page helps you plan, whether you have twenty minutes or a whole afternoon.

Sequels and series

Film series are easy to follow on YMovies. The Alien story runs from Alien through Alien³ to Alien Resurrection, the Indiana Jones adventures begin with Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the Chucky saga runs from Child's Play and Bride of Chucky to the Chucky series. Friday the 13th fans will find Friday the 13th and Jason Lives - Friday the 13th Part VI, and the Scream films bookend a quarter of a century. Among the new releases, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sing 2, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It continue popular series. Searching a series name lists every part in the catalogue.

Films for every season

The catalogue has something for every time of year. Summer suits the seaside thrills of Jaws and the Italian sunshine of Luca, autumn evenings suit Sleepy Hollow and The Green Knight, and winter holidays suit Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and Hawkeye. Spring is a lovely time for All Creatures Great & Small, with its Yorkshire fields in bloom, and for Encanto, with its colourful house in the mountains. Whatever the weather, the coloured labels at the top of the home page will point the way.

A classic movie night at home

A classic film deserves a proper evening. Dim the lights, make some popcorn, silence the phones and pick a film from the Popular Right Now tab. Many viewers like to start with a short introduction, reading the story and the cast on the title page, and then settle in for the film itself. Afterwards, the other titles by the same director or star are only a search away.

Adventure in wild places

Several titles take viewers far from home. Jungle Cruise sails up the Amazon, Prey roams the Great Plains of 1719, The Northman storms across Viking-age Iceland, and Dark Winds follows its detectives across the deserts of the American Southwest. Big Sky is set among the mountains of Montana, Vikings: Valhalla sails the North Sea, and The Lost City ends up on a lush tropical island. Each one is a small holiday from the living room, best enjoyed on the biggest screen in the house.

Questions