4 New Movies Streaming in August You Won’t Want to Miss

We recently gave you our top picks of new series releasing on streamers in August, and please don’t think we forgot about the features. Our selections of the films coming to home audiences during the month are sure to provide you with a varied watchlist full of promising performances. Keep reading for movies that run the gamut from comedy to drama and even include a genre you never knew you needed: the Sylvester Stallone superhero flick.

Wedding Season

What is more appropriate for your August viewing than a film about two people trying to survive a summer of weddings? And regardless of if your refrigerator door is filled to the brim with save-the-date cards or not, Wedding Season may just be the romantic comedy your watchlist needs. Netflix’s synopsis of its upcoming film details how Indian Americans Asha (Pallavi Sharda) and Ravi (Suraj Sharma) pretend to date after being pressured by their parents to find spouses, discovering some potential real feelings for each other “as they struggle to balance who they truly are with their families’ expectations.” The film’s trailer promises plenty of laughs along the way while it tackles the universal themes of love and identity. And Sharma shared with Variety his view on why the upcoming film is an important one. “Wedding Season is part of a much larger movement aimed at balancing global culture and giving a voice to the many minorities that make up the majority of the people of the world,” the actor noted. When Netflix releases its new rom com come August 4, you can also take in performances from names like Arianna Afsar, Rizwan Manji, Sean Kleier, Veena Sood, Manoj Sood, Sonia Dhillon Tully, Damian Thompson, Ruth Goodwin and Julius Cho.

Thirteen Lives

Buckle up for what looks to be a thrilling retelling of actual events in Thailand during the summer of 2018 when twelve boys on a soccer team and their coach became trapped in the Tham Luang cave after unexpected flooding occurred. A team of world-class divers — led by Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton in the film — had to navigate through miles of dangerous cave networks to make their rescue attempt, and actually finding the thirteen was just the beginning. The film’s trailer hints at a number of both figurative and literal twists and turns along the way. And besides the A-listers its cast boasts, you can also keep an eye out for actors like Sukollawat Kanarot, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Tom Bateman and Paul Gleason when Prime Video releases Thirteen Lives on August 5.

Luck

You can enjoy this animated fantasy adventure feature with the whole family while taking in the voice performances of a star-studded cast that includes an EGOT winner and a two-time Academy Award winner. Luck follows Sam Greenfield (Eva Noblezada), the unluckiest person in the world, who happens to discover a magical place called the Land of Luck thanks to a talking, black cat named Bob (Simon Pegg). Sam has to work together with the creatures she finds there if she ever wants to turn around her luckless life. And what a roster of talent makes up said creatures! Jane Fonda — the two-time Oscar winner — voices a dragon, and Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winner Whoopi Goldberg voices another creature called The Captain. Be sure to also keep an ear out for the articulation of Lil Rel Howery when Apple TV+ releases its original animated feature on August 5. In the meantime, you can catch its trailer here and see if you’re able to pick out any other voices of actors you know.

Samaritan

If what you need in your life is Sylvester Stallone portraying a superhero, look no further than Samaritan. The film’s director, Julius Avery, shared during one interview about his experience growing up in the ‘80s when “we only had action heroes” and “Sly was the closest thing we had to a superhero.” The director describes the casting choice of putting Stallone in a superhero movie as “fresh and cool and something that people will get a kick out of.” The heavy-hitting actor plays the titular superhero in Samaritan, who’s discovered by his 13-year-old neighbor Sam (Javon “Wanna” Walton) to be the super-powered vigilante. But twenty years have gone by since Samaritan went into hiding after his reported death, and Sam has to coax the aged superhero out of retirement if their city is to be saved from ruin. Besides Stallone and Walton, the film’s trailer teases performances from other names — like Pilou Asbæk and Dascha Polanco — that you can look forward to seeing when Samaritan drops on Prime Video come August 26.

So, whether you choose Wedding Season, Thirteen Lives, Luck or Samaritan for your viewing pleasure — or all four — you can enter into August with our varied top picks of the new films releasing on streamers that are full of notable performances to watch.