$289 Million Hit Movie That Won 7 Oscars Is Leaving Netflix Soon

One of the iconic and celebrated romantic comedies of the late ’90s will leave Netflix soon. Shakespeare in Love came out in late 1998 and became a big critical and commercial hit. Set in late 16th-century England, the movie revolves around a fictional love story between William Shakespeare and Viola de Lesseps.

Shakespeare in Love leaves Netflix in February

Shakespeare in Love leaves Netflix on February 20, 2026. The Historical drama thriller Operation Finale (2018) and documentary Wave of Cinema: Surat dari Timur (2020) also leave the platform on the same day.

John Madden directed Shakespeare in Love from a script by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. The massive cast includes Joseph Fiennes as William Shakespeare, Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola de Lesseps, Geoffrey Rush as Philip Henslowe, Colin Firth as Lord Wessex, Ben Affleck as Ned Alleyn, Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth I, Simon Callow as Edmund Tilney, Jim Carter as Ralph Bashford, Martin Clunes as Richard Burbage, and Tom Wilkinson as Hugh Fennyman, among many others.

Upon release, the movie made $289.3 million at the global box office. It also currently has a 92% approval rating on the review-aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes after 147 reviews. Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote, “Scene after scene engages us as cheerful groundlings, tosses us jokes, toys with our expectations, then sweeps away the boundaries between film and stage, comedy and tragedy so we’re open to the power of language and the feelings behind it.”

Shakespeare in Love received 13 nominations at the 71st Academy Awards. It ended up winning seven awards. The movie received Best Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score accolades. Further, Paltrow received the Best Actress award for the movie, while Geoffrey Rush and Judie Dench got the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress prizes, respectively.

Source: Comingsoon.net