“Fixed”
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, known for directing “Star Wars: Clone Wars,” “Fixed” is an unlikely adult animated romantic comedy. The film centers on an average, all-around good dog who discovers he will be neutered in the morning and tries to jam in one last adventure with his pack of bff canines to enjoy the last 24 hours with his balls. The principal voice cast members are Adam DeVine, Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, Fred Armisen, Bobby Moynihan, and Beck Bennett.
Release Date: August 13 via Netflix.
“Nobody 2”
From “John Wick” screenwriting architect Derek Kolstad and director David Leitch, “Nobody” turned “Better Call Saul” lead Bob Odenkirk into an unlikely leading action star. This time, the franchise gets an upgrade from Indonesian action auteur Timo Tjahjanto (“The Night Comes For Us”), and the action thriller sequel finds suburban dad/former assassin pulled back into his violent past one more time. The film stars Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Colin Hanks, John Ortiz, and RZA.
Release Date: August 15 via Universal.
“Highest 2 Lowest”
A loose remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic kidnapping/ransom moral thriller, “High and Low,” filmmaker Spike Lee flips the script with his New York-set modern update. This time, it’s Denzel Washington—his fifth collaboration with Lee—as a music mogul with the “best ears in the business” who is targeted for a ransom plot. The neo-noir crime thriller also stars Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, Ice Spice (in her film debut), and ASAP Rocky.
Release Date: August 22 via A24, but will premiere in Cannes first.
“Honey Don’t!”
Since the Coen Brothers “broke up,” Ethan Coen has been on a creative tear. Ethan’s third feature-length film in three years (though not many saw his 2022 Jerry Lee Lewis documentary). Written once again by his writing partner and wife, Tricia Cooke, “Honey Don’t!” is a detective comedy centering on a small-town private investigator delving into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church. The film stars Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Charlie Day, Billy Eichner, Gabby Beans, Talia Ryder, and more.
Release Date: August 22 via Focus Features.
“Americana”
Starring the eclectic cast of Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon, and Simon Rex, “Americana” debuted at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival and is finally getting released by Lionsgate this summer. Directed by Tony Tost, the crime thriller follows a group of characters whose lives violently intersect in a small town when a rare Lakota Ghost shirt falls onto the black market.
Release Date: August 15 via Lionsgate.
“Eden”
Directed by Ron Howard and premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, “Eden” is a survival thriller with quite the cast. The “Lord Of The Flies”-esque drama follows a disparate group of people who leave their lives behind to pursue their futures on the harsh landscape of the Galapagos. The film stars Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Sydney Sweeney, Daniel Brühl, Felix Kammerer, Toby Wallace, and Richard Roxburgh.
Release Date: August 22 via Vertical.
“Lurker”
Directed by Alex Russell, starring Théodore Pellerin and Archie Madekwe, and having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, the drama is the unlikely story of a twenty-something retail clerk who befriends the inner circle of an up-and-coming pop star. But as the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity become a matter of life and death. Havana Rose Liu, Sunny Suljic, Daniel Zolghadri and Zack Fox co-star.
Release Date: August 22, 2025, via MUBI.
“The Thursday Murder Club”
This crime comedy, directed by Chris Columbus (“Home Alone”), centers on a group of septuagenarian amateur sleuths who attempt to solve a murder. The film stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays, Paul Freeman, and Richard E. Grant.
Release Date: August 28 via Netflix.
“Caught Stealing”
Following up on 2022’s polarizing “The Whale,” director Darren Aronofsky (“Requiem For A Dream” returns with the crime thriller “Caught Stealing.” Starring It-boy Austin Butler and set in the ’90s, the drama centers on a burned-out ex-baseball player who suddenly finds himself immersed in New York’s criminal underworld. Zoë Kravitz, Vincent D’Onofrio, Liev Schreiber, Regina King, Matt Smith, Bad Bunny, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Griffin Dunne, and more co-star.
Release Date: August 29 via Sony Pictures.
“The Roses”
A reimagining of the 1989 film “The War of the Roses,” comedy director turned dramatist Jay Roach returns to his roots with a satirical black comedy. Instead of Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, however, it’s Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as the main couple who hold a tinderbox of resentments underneath the façade of a picture-perfect couple, ignited when the husband’s professional dreams come crashing down. The supporting cast includes Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Ncuti Gatwa, Zoë Chao, and Kate McKinnon.
Release Date: August 29 via Searchlight Pictures.
“The Toxic Avenger”
Delayed for over a year and seemingly not going to get released at all at one point, director Macon Blair’s “The Toxic Avenger” remake is finally coming out in August. A superhero black comedy, the film follows a janitor transformed into a hideously deformed creature with superhuman size and strength who fights crime after falling into a toxic waste. Peter Dinklage stars alongside Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Julia Davis, and Sarah Niles.
Release Date: August 29 via Cineverse.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
