Peacock Just Dropped Two Must-Watch Movies Starring Woody Harrelson and Morgan Freeman

Peacock just dropped a pair of heist movies that basically define the whole 'magicians doing elaborate crimes' subgenre—yeah, the Now You See Me films. If you never got around to these in theaters, or you just want to revisit some of the flashiest sleight-of-hand capers Hollywood cooked up in the last decade, they're both streaming now.

The Magic Is Back: Streaming Details

Starting today, you can watch Now You See Me (2013) and its sequel Now You See Me 2 (2016) on Peacock. These movies have already raked in over $686 million combined at the box office, so 'modest hits' is kind of an understatement.

The Cast: Star Power in Bulk

It's actually kind of ridiculous how stacked these movies are. Woody Harrelson and Morgan Freeman headline, but honestly, that barely scratches the surface. Jesse Eisenberg does his twitchy genius thing as J. Daniel Atlas, Isla Fisher and later Lizzy Caplan bring the chaos as the Four Horsemen’s resident illusionists, and Dave Franco rounds out the crew. Mark Ruffalo is the grumpy fed chasing them, and Mélanie Laurent tries to keep a straight face as the token Interpol detective. And because no blockbuster would be complete without at least one Knight or Boy Who Lived, Michael Caine and Daniel Radcliffe both show up to chew scenery and get bamboozled by fake magic.

• Woody Harrelson (the mind-reader/con artist Merritt McKinney)
• Morgan Freeman (legendary magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley)
• Jesse Eisenberg (main illusionist J. Daniel Atlas)
• Isla Fisher / Lizzy Caplan (the complicated Horsewomen: Henley Reeves and Lula May)
• Dave Franco (rookie magician/thief Jack Wilder)
• Mark Ruffalo (FBI agent Dylan Rhodes)
• Mélanie Laurent (Interpol’s Alma Dray)
• Michael Caine (unimpressed tycoon Arthur Tressler)
• Daniel Radcliffe (bitter tech billionaire Walter Mabry in the sequel)

What Are These Actually About?

If you've somehow avoided spoilers, here's the setup: Eisenberg's Atlas leads a squad called the Four Horsemen, who basically use magic shows as an excuse to rob crooked rich guys and distribute the loot to their audiences. They’re a sort of Robin Hood flash-mob with top hats. The feds (with a baffled Mark Ruffalo in the lead) and Interpol both want them taken down, and they’re so out of their depth they enlist Morgan Freeman's character—a guy who makes a living exposing magician tricks. It’s all very high-gloss, implausible, and frantic in a way that only a huge-budget summer movie can be.

Behind the Scenes

The first movie was directed by Louis Leterrier (yep, the Transporter guy), and the sequel was steered by Jon M. Chu—who later went on to take on big musicals and the Crazy Rich Asians juggernaut. Both entries did great business worldwide, but critics were... let’s say, unimpressed with their logic, which didn’t exactly slow down ticket sales.

But Wait—There’s More (Sort Of)

Here's where things get a little odd. After years of on-again, off-again development, a third movie finally happened: Now You See Me: Now You Don’t came out last year, with most of the original cast returning. It's not making the same kind of money as its predecessors, but weirdly, it’s now the highest-rated of the trilogy on Rotten Tomatoes. So apparently, critics have finally made peace with card tricks and goofy plot twists.

"Charismatic magician Atlas leads a team of talented illusionists called the Four Horsemen. Atlas and his comrades mesmerize audiences with a pair of amazing magic shows that drain the bank accounts of the corrupt and funnel the money to audience members. A federal agent and an Interpol detective intend to rein in the Horsemen before their next caper, and they turn to Thaddeus, a famous debunker, for help."

(That’s the official studio pitch for the first movie—if you think that makes things sound simple, trust me, the plot will tie your brain in knots.)

If you get a kick out of flashy magic, twisty heists, or seeing Morgan Freeman roll his eyes at everyone, you’ve now got zero excuse not to finally catch up—or rewatch—these movies on Peacock.