Monty Python and the Holy Grail leaves SBS On Demand on 2 May. If that sentence doesn’t get you moving, nothing will.
This is the third month I’ve run the same process: feed Claude the SBS “what’s leaving” page, filter out series, cross-reference every standalone title against IMDB, keep anything rated 7.0 or above. Six parallel agents, four minutes, done. March had 57 qualifying films. April had 74. May has 71. Note: the numbers in brackets are IMDB ratings out of 10.
The big story this month is the final Ghibli departure. April’s mass exodus left a few stragglers that SBS held for one more month. They’re now definitively going: Princess Mononoke (8.3) on 8 May, Castle in the Sky (8.0) on 15 May, Spirited Away (8.6) on 22 May, The Boy and the Heron (7.3) on 1 May and Howl’s Moving Castle (8.2) on 31 May. If you missed the window last month, this is the last call.
It’s a strong action month. The John Wick double leaves 2 May and 11 May. Django Unchained (8.5) goes 17 May. Edge of Tomorrow (7.9) on 20 May. The Last Samurai (7.8) on the 31st. And In Bruges (7.9), which isn’t really an action film but involves enough gunfire in a medieval Belgian city to qualify.
The deeper cuts are where it gets interesting. The Crow’s Egg (8.3) is a Tamil comedy-drama about two kids obsessed with pizza that you’ve never heard of and should watch immediately. The Straight Story (8.0) is David Lynch’s gentlest film, about an old man driving a lawnmower across Iowa to visit his estranged brother. Phantom Thread (7.5) is Daniel Day-Lewis’s final performance. Moonlight (7.4) won Best Picture. Charade (7.8) is Hitchcock-style Audrey Hepburn. Walkabout (7.5) is Nicolas Roeg’s 1971 Australian outback masterpiece. An Angel at My Table (7.5) is early Jane Campion. Burning Days (7.4) is a tense Turkish political thriller that flew under most radars.
The full sortable, searchable list is here: movies-leaving-sbs-on-demand-may-2026-imdb-7.0-.html
New this month: hover over any title for a short AI-generated summary of the film.