Tom Hanks’ Most Iconic Survival Film Is Finally Headed to Netflix

Tom Hanks is about to show up in your Netflix queue again. The survival classic that launched a thousand Wilson jokes is officially headed to the streamer in December, and yes, it is exactly the kind of holiday-season rewatch that sneaks up on you.

Cast Away lands on Netflix in December

Netflix’s December 2025 lineup confirms that Robert Zemeckis’s 2000 survival drama 'Cast Away' hits the platform on December 7. The film stars Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt and follows a FedEx systems analyst, Chuck Noland, who ends up stranded on a remote island after a plane crash in the South Pacific. Simple premise, quietly devastating execution.

The movie, the numbers, the oddly long shoot

'Cast Away' premiered on December 22, 2000. It was produced by ImageMovers and Playtone, had a reported $90 million budget, and went on to gross $429.6 million worldwide. If you remember it looking unusually grounded for a studio survival movie, that is because they really put in the work: filming ran January through March 1999, then paused and resumed from April to May 2000. Locations included Fiji, Texas, and actual FedEx facilities. It is one of those two-phase productions that make you do a double take when you see the dates.

What else is in Netflix’s December mix

Netflix is stuffing the month with licensed movies, holiday fare, dramas, and some big originals. Highlights include:

• Cast Away (2000) streams December 7
• The Abandons (Netflix original) on December 4
• Mean Girls (2024) on December 5
• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix original) on December 12
• Emily in Paris Season 5 on December 18
• Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 on December 25
• Films hitting the library: Big Mama's House, Money Monster, Rio, Rio 2, Brightburn
• New seasons arriving: CoComelon Lane, Grantchester, Victoria

Reception then and now

The movie was a major awards player. Tom Hanks won Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama at the 58th Golden Globes and scored an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Review-wise, it still holds strong: 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 73 on Metacritic.

Home release history

Home media releases began in 2001, and the film later streamed on Hulu in North America. Netflix is the latest stop for a title that just keeps finding new audiences whenever it pops back up.