Editor’s note: this list was originally published in April 2023. It has since been updated with new entries. Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear reeeeaaaderrrrr.
Put this on your queue! Whether you’re a party animal fervently celebrating another spin around the sun — or an introvert quietly enjoying some well-earned Me Time — the day you were born should be wholly and unequivocally about you and what you want. Just ask the Princess Aurora: a babbling baby girl-turned-titular “Sleeping Beauty” whose 1st and 16th birthdays were notoriously ruined by a woodland fairy with self-esteem issues . Or consider the plight of Tree: a screamingly funny (albeit slightly self-obsessed) sorority girl whose birthday warps into a time-loop slasher flick in the Blumhouse-produced “Happy Death Day.
” The best birthday movies can only be defined by the birthday-havers watching them. If spending your special day endlessly rewatching an old favorite that has nothing to do with birthdays is what you want, then that makes it the perfect fit. Cue it up and crack open a cold one, sweet birthday baby ! But if you’re looking to make the most of the birthday theme or start a new annual tradition, you’ll find the best birthday movies take a variety of forms and offer a variety of experiences.
You’ve got the good birthday movies, as in “ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone .” These are the movies — typically coming-of-age movies — in which som.