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

Jason Struss
Guillermo Kurten
By and
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones staring at a golden idol in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Paramount Pictures / Image via LucasFilm

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.

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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 (Oppenheimer‘s 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+.

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Jason Struss
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…
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