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Warner Bros. Is Uploading Classic Movies to YouTube for Free

Watch anything from 1997's "Mr. Nice Guy" to 1975's "The Wind and the Lion."
A screenshot of Jackie Chan in the movie Mr. Nice Guy
Credit: ClipZone: High Octane Hits/YouTube

You can watch just about everything on YouTube, but if you want to watch a full-length Hollywood movie, you're either going to have to sit through a lot of ad breaks or pay a digital rental fee. But not all movies on YouTube are restricted like this.

Sometimes you'll come across feature films that you can watch in their entirety, without any limitations or roadblocks to hamper your viewing experience. While not all of them are, um, supposed to be available on YouTube, allow me to point you to an interesting playlist of movies uploaded by none other than Warner Bros. Discovery itself, via Warner Bros. Entertainment. As noted by Gizmodo, this playlist of 31 films is 100% legal, contains no ads, and is free to watch.

It seems that over the past month or so, Warner Bros. has been uploading films to this YouTube playlist, seemingly at random. Certainly the list of titles runs the gamut. At the top, there's The Wind and the Lion , a 1975 Sean Connery-starring historical drama about Theodore Roosevelt dealing with the kidnapping of an American citizen (to clarify, Connery does not play Roosevelt). Below that, there's Michael Collins, the 1996 thriller about the real-life Irish revolutionary starring Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, and Julia Roberts.

Also available: The 1997 marital arts flick Mr. Nice Guy, which features Jackie Chan as a chef caught in the middle of a dispute between a journalist and a gang of drug dealers. On the other end of the spectrum, there's The 11th Hour, a 2007 climate change documentary from Leonardo DiCaprio that gathers insights from scientists, politicians, and environmental activists. It's inspiring to see the climate progress we've made in the 18 years since the film was released (I'll pause while you laugh mirthlessly).

If The 11th Hour is a skip for you, there are a few dozen other movies you might be interested in checking out. Here's the full list:

You can find them all on by exploring various Warner Bros. channels, but it's easiest to peruse this playlist.

artist rendition of Jake Peterson
Jake Peterson
Senior Technology Editor

Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Senior Technology Editor. He has a BFA in Film & TV from NYU, where he specialized in writing. Jake has been helping people with their technology professionally since 2016, beginning as technical specialist at New York’s 5th Avenue Apple Store, then as a writer for the website Gadget Hacks. In that time, he wrote and edited thousands of news and how-to articles about iPhones and Androids, including reporting on live demos from product launches from Samsung and Google. In 2021, he moved to Lifehacker and covers everything from the best uses of AI in your daily life to which MacBook to buy. His team covers all things tech, including smartphones, computers, game consoles, and subscriptions. He lives in Connecticut.

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