The February slate at Netflix is packed, and the real challenge isn’t finding something new to watch—it’s determining what’s actually worth your time before it leaves in a few weeks. With Valentine’s Day, the Super Bowl, the Grammys, and even the Winter Olympics taking up space on the calendar, this week’s offerings are all about competition, romance, and high-stakes drama, on and off the screen.
February brings fresh Netflix originals alongside major movie departures
For those seeking something new to watch, the major crowd-pleasers are easy to spot. There’s a new season of Love Is Blind, ready to once again own all of your group chats, and Heartstopper Forever provides a more romantic counterbalance, following Nick and Charlie as they deal with strain in their relationship and face new challenges at school. But prestige dramas are also on hand.
One of the more interesting offerings is Queen of Chess, out on February 6th, a doc about Hungarian prodigy Judit Polgár, who broke into the elite world of competitive chess at just 12 years old. But it’s not just a sports movie—it’s a movie about ambition and pressure, and whether it’s ethical to create genius.
Another title worth checking out is the Polish drama “Lead Children” (Feb. 11), which is inspired by real events. The movie follows a doctor, played by Joanna Kulig, who discovers a massive outbreak of lead poisoning caused by a government-protected smelter and must contend with the Communist Party as a result. It’s a slow-burning, hard-hitting drama, and these types of shows are increasingly hard to find on the service.
If you’re a fan of thrillers, then the Taiwanese mystery “Million-Follower Detective” (Feb. 12) is a must-watch. The movie follows a viral fortune teller whose predictions are suspiciously accurate in their correlation to the deaths of social media influencers.
But Netflix is also bidding farewell to some big-name films in February, too. Some of the most popular movies departing the service in the coming weeks include “Parasite,” “Groundhog Day,” “Spencer,” and “28 Days Later.” Comfort food movies like “Mean Girls,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” and “Bride Wars” are also departing the service. If any of these movies have been lingering on your watchlist, now is the time to give them a spin.
Of course, as always, the date these movies are departing the service is subject to change, and the best way to find out for sure is to check the “Last day to watch” label in the Netflix app.
