iStockphoto / Tero Vesalainen
This week I was looking for a classic reaction GIF from 1994’s PCU starring Jeremy Piven, Jon Favreau, David Spade, and other stars. Then I got to thinking about how I haven’t seen that movie on TV or a streaming service in years.
That led me down the path of realizing that PCU is among a list of movies that aren’t available to be streamed anywhere, resulting in folks buying them on Blu-Ray or DVD off of eBay or Amazon. There are all sorts of rumors about why PCU is unavailable to be streamed. The most pervasive theory is that Jon Favreau has somehow wielded influence to bury it from streaming services after he went on to become a serious/important figure in Hollywood but there’s no real evidence to back that up. What’s wild is there aren’t even any Getty Images of the stars from the entire year the film was released!
The Best Movies That Cannot Be Streamed On Any Major Streaming Services
Unsurprisingly, most of the movie on the list are older. Any recent projects that are unavailable for streaming are typically older TV series that networks have tucked away for some reason another. But there are a decent amount of movies out there we wish we could stream so let’s check ’em out!
1. PCU (1994)
This film revolves around a high school senior, ‘Tom Lawrence’ played by Chris Young, who visits college for the weekend to see if the school would be a good fit for him.
He gets drawn into the heated culture wars of ‘PCU’ aka ‘Port Chester University’ full of jocks, hippies, burnouts, and a rivalry between ‘The Pit’ and ‘Balls and Shaft.’ The film was vaguely based on the experiences writers Adam Leff and Zak Penn went through at Wesleyan University. If you’ve ever been to Wesleyan or had a close friend that went there then you know this all makes a LOT more sense now.
Why is this film not available for streaming? I haven’t the slightest idea. But I posted about it on Threads yesterday and received multiple replies from people saying they’d purchased it on Blu-Ray because Hollywood was hiding it from us. Let’s figure out a way to change that, shall we?
2. Dogma
1999’s Dogman from Kevin Smith starring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and with a cameo by Alanis Morissette as God created nightmares for Miramax when the film was released into theaters. There were religious groups throughout the country protesting every screening of the film.
Eventually, the furor surrounding Dogman died out and it would make its way to TV but for whatever reason, Miramax / Harvey Weinstein who was previously head of Miramax held the film hostage from streaming services. And it’s a shame because Dogma isn’t just hilarious, it is great storytelling.
3. Kids
1995’s Kids is about live in New York City for teenagers in the mid-90s. For many, it is remembered as the first time they saw Rosario Dawson and Chloe Sevigny on the big screen.
It is in NO WAY an uplifting story and focuses more on how bad life can be whenever parents aren’t present in the raising of their children. There’s drug abuse, assault, spreading of diseases, and more. But it is believed to be a pretty accurate depiction of what life was like, for many, at that time in America and it remains a mystery that the film remains unavailable on streaming services.
4. Brave Little Toaster (1987)
This one is tricky… Brave Little Toaster is a Disney film, right? It should be on Disney+ and easily streamable, right? Well, yes and not.
Hyperion Pictures and Disney share the rights to this film making putting it on Disney+ complicated to the point that it’s only able to be streamed through non-legal channels on the Internet.
This 1987 film about outdated household appliances traveling to the big city was a popular choice of VHS rentals at Blockbuster for years among millennial children. These days, it is mostly remembered as a fever dream as it’s virtually disappeared from pop culture due to the rights dispute.
5. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
For a film as iconic as 1978’s Dawn of the Dead to not be available for streaming there has to be a great explanation, right??? Nope. Another example of disputed rights holding us all back from streaming a fantastic film.
This was the sequel to Night of the Living Dead and because there are multiple rights holders, namely Dario Argento, who all own a piece of this film it has never been put up on streaming in the modern era. Producer Richard P. Rubinstein is another player in this story and is believed to have set exorbitantly high licensing fees which scared off streaming services.
6. 200 Cigarettes (1999)
This 1999 film starring Ben and Casey Affleck, Dave Chappelle, Kate Hudson, Elvis Costello, and others was a bit of a cult classic about 20 somethings coming to grips with adulthood.
Putting this up for streaming should be a no-brainer but it’s quite complicated due to the incredible soundtrack. The film’s soundtrack has 49 songs including artists like Blondie, Elvis Costello, The English Beat, etc. Music licensing is not cheap and with 49 songs, it is believed to be cost prohibitive for any streaming service to pick this one up.
7. Super Mario Bros. (1993)
I still remember seeing this one in the theaters like it was yesterday. Super Mario Bros. was THE GAME of my childhood and this film rocked.
Apparently, this film has failed to ever land on a streaming service because Nintendo has no desire to manage the rights and the rights are held by multiple moving parts. The movie wasn’t received well by critics (kids loved it) and that turned Nintendo off from caring about it, according to the lore.
What other movies would you add to this list that aren’t available for streaming and 100% should be? Let us know in the Facebook comments!