Thus far, this summer has been light on new releases at the theater. Apparently, the studios were just saving everything for after the dinosaurs, remakes, and superheroes got out of the way. The dog days of summer ahead are barking with new, genre-spanning releases. Multiplexes are about to get an infusion of family comedies, such as The Bad Guys 2 and Freakier Friday, and action thrillers like Nobody 2 and Relay, while arthouses can enjoy new releases from international auteurs Hong Sang-soo and Olivier Assayas. The A.V. Club covered the bigger August releases, such as The Naked Gun, Weapons, and Highest 2 Lowest, in our comprehensive summer preview. But our August film preview has far more surprises in store.
The sequel to the quietly successful 2022 DreamWorks hit, The Bad Guys 2 picks up where the last one left off: After completing one last job, The Bad Guys go straight. Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell) and Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson) reenter society, but their reputations precede them. When a new crew of Bad Girls, led by Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks) and Susan (Natasha Lyonne), enlists them in another heist, the Bad Guys intend to sabotage their plan.
Pixar got you down? Animator Julian Glander’s directorial debut, Boys Go To Jupiter, brings pastel originality back to toontown. His 3D landscapes and top-down perspective make for an inviting aesthetic in this coming-of-age story about teen delivery boy Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett). The cast is teeming with new and established comedy stars, including Janeane Garofalo, Tavi Gevinson, Elsie Fisher, Grace Kuhlenschmidt, Julio Torres, Joe Pera, Sarah Sherman, Cole Escola, Chris Fleming, Eva Victor, River L. Ramirez, and Demi Adejuyigbe.
Freakier Friday (August 8)
A legacy sequel 22 years in the making, Disney’s Freakier Friday brings Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan back for another big-screen switcheroo. Tess (Curtis) and Anna Coleman (Lohan) undergo a later-in-life body swap the week before Anna’s marriage to Eric (Manny Jacinto). But this time, they’re not switching with each other. Anna swaps with her daughter Harper (Julia Butters), and Tess with Anna’s soon-to-be stepdaughter Lily (Sophia Hammons). Joining the party are Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, and Stephen Tobolowsky, who presumably stay in their bodies.
By The Stream (August 8)
Prolific South Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s By The Stream finally makes its way to America this August. The film sees a college professor named Jeonim (Kim Min-hee) asking her uncle, Choo Sieon (Kwon Hae-hyo), for help on a skit for her school. While sketching by the titular stream, Choo Sieon becomes implicated in a scandalous incident involving Jeonim’s students. That alone is already a lot of plot for Hong, who always brings patience and empathy to his usually spare human dramas.
Fixed (August 13)
After years in development hell, Warner Bros. Discovery dumped director Genndy Tartakovsky’s adult animated comedy, Fixed. Snipping its theatrical release, new distributor Netflix will now bring the surprisingly butthole-forward movie straight to streaming. Fixed follows Bull (Adam DeVine), a bloodhound enjoying one last night of testicle enjoyment with the boys, Rocco (Idris Elba) and Fetch (Fred Armisen), before he’s neutered in the morning. Joined by co-writer and Simpsons vet Jon Vitti, Tartakovsky has long been one of Hollywood’s top animators, and his hand-drawn style lends this would-be Fritz The Cat an even trashier attitude—and that’s a good thing.
Nobody 2 (August 15)
Bob Odenkirk returns as Hutch, the New Balance assassin, in Nobody 2. Set four years after the 2021 original, action helmer Timo Tjahjanto’s sequel sends Hutch on vacation with the family, only to have a crew of bad guys screw it up. Old habits die hard. Defending his family from a theme-park owner (John Ortiz) and a local sheriff (Colin Hanks), Hutch becomes the target of a crime boss played by Sharon Stone. Time to see if there’s any more juice in the idea of an unassuming schlub version of John Wick.
Suspended Time (August 15)
The new film from Personal Shopper and Irma Vep director Olivier Assayas pulls an Eddington and drops audiences back in 2020. Film director Paul (Vincent Macaigne) shacks up in his childhood home for the COVID lockdowns with his documentarian girlfriend (Nora Hamzawi), his music journalist brother (Micha Lescot), and his brother’s girlfriend (Nine d’Urso). While conflicts arise between the world they knew and the world they now know, Paul learns to appreciate the isolation of lockdown and the liberation of living through a screen.
Ne Zha 2 (August 22)
China’s record-breaking animated fantasy Ne Zha 2 is now heading to American theaters with an English-language dub. Based on a 16th-century tome of Chinese mythology, the movie follows the demonic child Ne Zha (Crystal Lee), who must face an ancient force threatening humanity. Although its brief U.S. opening earlier this year was virtually non-existent, Ne Zha 2 is now the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. A24 saw the money on the table, and is bringing a new dub (featuring Michelle Yeoh) to market, giving American audiences a chance to see what all the fuss is about.
Splitsville (August 22)
For all the press Pedro Pascal has been getting this summer for being prolific, his Materialists co-star Dakota Johnson hasn’t been slacking either. She stars in Splitsville, which follows two couples, one divorcing and the other opening, for a chaotic comedy of irreconcilable differences. After his wife (Adria Arjona) admits infidelity and calls for divorce, Carey (Kyle Marvin) runs into his swinger friends Julie (Johnson) and Paul (Michael Angelo Covino). When Carey joins their party, it kicks off a four-way grudge match between the fracturing couples.
Relay (August 22)
It has been far too long since we’ve heard from director David Mackenzie, director of one of the century’s best heist movies, Hell Or High Water. For Relay, Mackenzie moves the action to the city, where a regretful whistleblower (Lily James) enlists the help of a fixer (Riz Ahmed) to return evidence of a high-level cover-up. However, when the owners of the evidence catch the fixer in the act, they threaten to expose his entire business model.
Eden (August 22)
The latest from Ron Howard is a swerve for Hollywood’s steadiest hand. Eden is the true story of a Lord Of The Flies situation on the Galápagos Islands. After renouncing their bourgeois German lifestyle, Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and his wife Dora (Vanessa Kirby) settle into solitude. That is, until Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) and Heinz (Daniel Brühl) and Margret Wittmer (Sydney Sweeney) wash ashore, throwing off their plans for the settlement and plunging them into violence.
The Thursday Murder Club (August 28)
Director Chris Columbus’ latest for Netflix is a cozy mystery that follows four retirees (Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie, and Ben Kingsley) who spend their time solving cold cases. Based on Richard Osman’s bestseller, the movie is a septuagenarian Knives Out with a similarly killer cast that also includes David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, and Richard E. Grant.
The Roses (August 29)
Director Jay Roach’s remake of Danny DeVito’s 1989 black comedy The War Of The Roses gives the story of a violent, intolerable cruelty an update. Set in modern times, chef Ivy (Olivia Colman) and architect Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) enter an increasingly messy divorce as they attempt to divvy up their obscene wealth. That turns into a battle as they begin an escalating series of personal and physical attacks on each other. Who gets the family Bible is the least of their concerns—they want to see the other in pain.
