INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

What’s New on Netflix in July? ‘Mean Girls’ & ‘Back to the Future’ Trilogy, For Starters

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 06:24 PST, Jun 30, 2016

Netflix is capitalizing on the summer slowdown of original television programming by dumping a load of new programming into the VOD streaming service on Friday, July 1. While waiting for an epic fireworks display on July 4, Netflix subscribers will have three days to take in some epic movies. There are even some good titles for serious Netflix-bingeing.

What follows is a look at the plethora of content Netflix is unleashing during the first weekend of July. Particularly of interest to millennials, both Back to the Future and Lethal Weapon come back from their runs in the 80s and 90s, with every movie available to stream back-to-back-to-back (with an extra “to-back” if you’re watching the Mel Gibson/Danny Glover series instead of Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd).

Films will also be available for those who run with a crew of Mean Girls or Bad Boys. The Big Trouble in Little China can be dealt with by a Beverly Hills Cop, and Batman and Catwoman jump from the pages of DC Comics while Blade visits from the world of Marvel Comics. Timeless classics like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes will be streamed, as well as content more currently relevant like a documentary of the election of Barack Obama and comedic social commentary from Australian superstar Jim Jefferies.

Back to the Future Trilogy

October 21, 2015 has long come and gone, and Chicago didn’t defeat Miami in 4 games at the World Series. People have tried and failed to invent usable hoverboards and society really isn’t that far from replacing the waitstaff with televisions. But what better way to get a grasp on time travel theory and the butterfly effect than to sit through all three Back to the Future offerings?

Lethal Weapon Tetralogy

Full disclosure: it wasn’t clear how to refer to a movie series of four. If three movies is a trilogy, wouldn’t four be a quadrilogy? Someone suggested “quartet,” but that didn’t feel right either. Google provided the answer with “tetralogy.”

The Lethal Weapon franchise was like the cinematic cousin of the Die Hard series, both making their greatest impact in the late 80s and early 90s. Even if viewers can’t make it through the disappointing Lethal Weapon 4 (or possibly even lose interest before the end of LW3), the buddy-cop combo of Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) is hard to beat. It was so good, FOX decided to make a television series based on the two heroes.

Batman And Catwoman

Fresh off the heels of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and in anticipation of August’s Suicide Squad, Netflix adds content for two of Gotham City’s favorite residents, Batman and Catwoman. They add Batman: The Movie, the one from 1966 that stars Adam West. The Netflix roster already includes Batman, the one from 1989 that stars Michael Keaton. While Catwoman didn’t appear alongside Michael Keaton until Batman Returns, Adam West’s version features Lee Meriwether as Miss Kitty. Thanks to Netflix, you’ll be able to easily compare Meriwether’s portrayal to Halle Berry’s in Catwoman from 2004.

If that’s still not enough Gotham City lore for you, Netflix already offers five seasons of the animated Batman series, a 22-minute Lego DC Comic Super Heroes special called Batman: Be-Leaguered and the animated special Son of Batman from 2014 rated PG-13. Of course, this animated content would be a great way for Batman fans to whet their appetites for the one-night-only release of Batman: The Killing Joke, set for select theaters on July 25.

Mean Girls

A movie that is widely considered to be one of the smartest and funniest teen comedies of its era, Mean Girls was an important film for the careers of Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Seyfried as actors and Tina Fey as a writer. The movie remains relevant as the issue of bullying has escalated since its release in 2004, and the use of the phrase “mean girl” as social classification is as common today as “valley girl” was in the 90s.

Jim Jefferies: FreeDumb

Jim Jefferies’ last stand-up special, Jim Jefferies: Bare was a Netflix-exclusive as well. FreeDumb will be available on Netflix four days before Jefferies begins a tour in the United Kingdom. On July 28, the Jim Jefferies tour hits North America, doing three dates in California and three dates in the Midwest before three more dates in Canada.

Television series

If the vast assortment of television offerings through Netflix has already been exhausted, then the July 1 weekend will do a little bit to replenish the options. With genres pulled directly from Netflix, Season 2 of Netflix Originals Between (TV Dramas, TV Teen Dramas) and Marco Polo (TV Action & Adventure, TV Dramas) debut on July 1. The second season of Raiders of the Lost Art comes to Netflix, a British TV Documentary series about famous stolen artwork. Having aired exclusively in the UK, the premiere season of Marcella (British Crime Noir) will be available, along with the premiere of a Netflix Original, Deep. The first season of MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles is also available on Netflix beginning Friday.

According to the list provided by Heavy, here is everything that Netflix will be releasing over the weekend.

  • 41 on 41 (2014)
  • A Long Way From Home (2013)
  • Back to the Future (1985)
  • Back to the Future Part II (1989)
  • Back to the Future Part III(1990)
  • Bad Boys II(2003)
  • Batman: The Movie(1966)
  • Beavis and Butt-head Do America(1996)
  • Between (Season 2)
  • Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
  • Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
  • Big Trouble in Little China(1986)
  • Blade 2 (2002)
  • By the People: The Election of Barack Obama (2009)
  • Catwoman(2004)
  • Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
  • Cinderella Man (2005)
  • Conflict(2015)
  • Death Race 2 (2010)
  • Death Race 3: Inferno (2013)
  • Deep (Season 1)
  • Dreamcatcher (2003)
  • Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
  • Gladiator (2000)
  • Hello, Dolly! (1969)
  • Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002)
  • Honey (2003)
  • Insomnia (2002)
  • The Italian Job (2003)
  • Jackass: Number Two (2006)
  • Jim Jefferies: FreeDumb (2016)
  • Lalaloopsy Ponies: The Big Show (2014)
  • Lethal Weapon (1987)
  • Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
  • Lethal Weapon 3(1992)
  • Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
  • The Longest Yard (2005)
  • The Lovely Bones (2009)
  • Making the American Man (2016)
  • Marcella (Season 1)
  • Marco Polo (Season 2)
  • Mean Girls (2004)
  • Nevada Smith (1966)
  • Nick of Time (1995)
  • The Painted Veil (2006)
  • Pandemic (2015)
  • Phenomenon (1996)
  • Raiders of the Lost Art (Season 2)
  • Scooby-Doo (2002)
  • The Shannara Chronicles (Season 1)
  • Rumor Has It (2005)
  • The Sting (1973)
  • Stomp the Yard: Homecoming (2010)
  • Talhotblond (2009)
  • Terminus (2016)
  • Turner and Hooch (1989)
  • Twisted (2004)
  • Watershed: Exploring A New Water Ethic for the New West (2012)
  • Well Wishes (2015)
  • Working Girl (1988)
  • Yours, Mine and Ours (2005)

Also new on Netflix later in July will be Todd Margaret (Season 3), DeGrassi: Next Class (Season 2) and The Big Short.

[Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Universal Pictures Home Entertainment]

Share this article: What’s New on Netflix in July? ‘Mean Girls’ & ‘Back to the Future’ Trilogy, For Starters
netflix Netflix Originals
More from Inquisitr