YouTube Gets Free Movies: What You Need to Know

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YouTube now offers a small library of free, ad-supported movies, including The Terminator, Rocky and Legally Blonde.

YouTube just threw its hat into the free movies market. That's right, for the excellent price of zero dollars, you can watch one of the 99 movies that YouTube just put up for free (with ad-breaks) on its own site.

Credit: United Artists/Getty

(Image credit: United Artists/Getty)

Viewers may have a hard time finding these free movies on their own, though, as there's no mention of them on YouTube's homepage. Currently, the assortment includes hits such as The Terminator, Rocky 1 through 5, the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi and both Legally Blonde 1 and 2.

MORE: Streaming Netflix? Here's the Best Stuff to Watch

While YouTube has long offered movie rentals at a price, this new free option seems to show the platform is getting aggressive about holding onto users who might be clicking over to legal free movie sites like Crackle or watching some of the free films available on the Roku platform.

YouTube Premium subscribers will be happy to hear that their $12 per month subscription's ad-free perk extends to these new movies as well. 

Can this service, on its own, compete with Netflix? As much as the price is right, this double-digit batch of free content isn't going to land a solid punch on any other streaming service. But as streaming services are landing left and right, from the film-nerd heaven that Criterion is launching to the upcoming Disney+, it only makes sense that YouTube would seek to add more to its arsenal.

Henry T. Casey
Henry T. Casey

Henry was a managing editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.