Netflix Adding 'Out of Africa' to Its June 2026 Lineup

Your binge-watching experience on Netflix is about to get a dash of Streep. The platform is adding the 1985 period epic Out of Africa to its June 2026 lineup, starting on June 1. Starring Meryl Streep and the late Robert Redford, the classic film is loosely based on the titular 1937 book, an autobiography by Isak Dinesen, the pseudonym of Karen Blixen. The movie also pulled material from Dinesen's 1960 novel Shadows on the Grass.

Here's a synopsis: "In 20th-century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter." In addition to Streep as Karen Blixen and Redford as Denys Finch Hatton, the couple at the center of it all, the film also stars Klaus Maria Brandauer as Bror and Hans von Blixen-Finecke, Michael Kitchen as Berkeley Cole, Shane Rimmer as Belknap, and Malick Bowens as Farah. Sydney Pollack directed from a screenplay by Kurt Luedtke.

On the box office front, Out of Africa was quite successful, grossing $227.5 million worldwide on a $31 million budget. It rose through the ranks as the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year. Critically, reviews were mixed. While Streep and Redford's performances were praised, with Variety noting that it's the latter's best romance since The Way We Were, some found the film's "excessive length and glacial pacing" to be its shortcoming.

Still, the loose adaptation went on to snag 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Actress for Streep and Best Supporting Actor for Brandauer. It took home seven statues at the 1986 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director for Pollack, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Leudtke, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Sound, and Best Music, Original Score.

Out of Africa has been marred by controversy due to its depiction of colonial Kenya and the romanticizing of imperialism, along with its portrayal of Africa's Indigenous peoples. In 1986, The Weekly Review called out the movie for being racist. Retrospective pieces also note that it whitewashes history and narratively shoves Africans aside in their own country.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 10:03 AM.