Tom Holland’s first two swings as Spider-Man just landed on a platform that costs exactly zero dollars, and if that doesn’t make you sit up a little, I don’t know what will. Tubi’s October lineup is here, and honestly? It’s one of the stronger months I’ve seen from the free-streaming underdog in a while.

Okay, So Why Does Tubi Even Matter Right Now

Let’s be real for a second. Everybody’s budget is getting squeezed. I’ve talked to friends who’ve canceled Netflix, friends who dropped HBO Max the second their show ended, people who are rationing Prime Video like it’s gas during a shortage. It’s rough out there. And look, I get the appeal of trimming subscriptions down to one or two “essential” ones.

But here’s the thing – Tubi doesn’t ask you to make that choice. It’s ad-supported, which means yeah, you’ll sit through a few commercial breaks, but you’re not handing over a credit card number to watch a movie. And this month, that free ride includes some genuinely great stuff. Not “free movie app filler,” actual hits.

The Spider-Man Situation

Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home are both streaming on Tubi now, and I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to see Tom Holland’s web-slinger show up on a free platform this fast. These aren’t throwaway Marvel movies either – Homecoming did the near-impossible job of making us forget the Andrew Garfield era existed, and Far From Home gave us Jake Gyllenhaal doing his absolute most as Mysterio. If you’ve never caught either one, or just want a rewatch before whatever Marvel’s cooking up next, now’s your shot. For nothing. Zero dollars.

Close Encounters Is Back, And That’s Kind Of a Big Deal

Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind is also part of the October drop, and I have to say – this one hits different than the superhero stuff. There’s something almost funny about watching a nearly 50-year-old UFO movie on the same app where you’d find a Spider-Man flick from 2017. But that’s Tubi’s whole thing, isn’t it? It’s not curating some pristine, cohesive catalog. It’s throwing decades of movies at you and letting you figure out what you’re in the mood for.

Close Encounters is one of those movies people namecheck constantly but haven’t actually sat down and watched start to finish in years. I’d put money on it. It’s slow in places (Spielberg was still figuring some things out pacing-wise early in his career, don’t fight me on this), but the final 20 minutes still work like a charm. Richard Dreyfuss staring up at that light show – it’s one of those scenes that just gets under your skin.

“You don’t need to sacrifice your streaming habits to save money – that’s basically the whole pitch here, and this month it’s backed up with actual quality.”

What Else Is Going On Here

Tubi’s October slate isn’t just the two headline grabs, obviously. The platform tends to roll out a mix every month – some newer catalog titles, a handful of classics, and usually a deep well of genre stuff for people who just want to put something on in the background on a Tuesday night. That’s kind of Tubi’s lane, if I’m being honest. It’s not trying to be the prestige TV destination. It’s the place you go when you want options and don’t want to think too hard about what you’re paying for (because you’re not paying for it).

What’s interesting here is how Tubi keeps landing bigger licensed titles even as the bigger paid platforms tighten up. A couple years ago I would’ve told you a Tom Holland Spider-Man movie showing up free, ad-supported, anywhere, was a long shot. Studios held onto that stuff tight. Now? The economics have clearly shifted enough that even recognizable blockbuster names are finding their way onto ad-supported platforms faster than I expected.

A Quick Word On the Ads

Not gonna pretend the commercial breaks aren’t a trade-off. They are. If you’ve got zero patience for interruptions, this isn’t going to feel like a seamless Netflix-style binge. But compared to what you’d pay elsewhere for the same two Spider-Man movies plus a Spielberg classic? It’s not even close. The math works out heavily in Tubi’s favor here.

What This Actually Means

I think the bigger story with Tubi this October isn’t really about any one title – it’s about what it signals. Free, ad-supported streaming used to feel like the bargain bin of entertainment options. Lately it’s starting to feel like a legitimate alternative, not just a backup plan for people who already canceled everything else.

Will Tubi ever fully replace a Netflix or a Max subscription? Probably not for most people, not yet anyway. But for a month where you can watch Tom Holland save New York twice and then watch Richard Dreyfuss lose his mind over alien lights, all without opening your wallet once… I don’t know, that’s a pretty solid deal. Keep an eye on what else trickles in before November hits, because if this is the pace Tubi’s setting, it’s worth checking back more than once a month.