As we wrap up the summer months and get ready for back to school, it’s important to set aside time to hang out with family and friends. Whether you have kids heading back to school or not, you have to admit that the dynamics of the community change at this time of year. The freedom that summer offers is replaced by rigid schedules and the daily (and nightly) juggle to keep everyone in the family on the right track. A trip to the movie theater is a hybrid of quality time and an escape from reality. In addition to the 50th anniversary of Jaws and a reimagined version of The Toxic Avenger, there are plenty of other reboots and sequels releasing this month. But for original releases, the word of the month is Thriller. Check out the variety of features you’ll be able to enjoy this month at the movie theater:
The Naked Gun
Release Date: August 1, 2025 Genre: Comedy, Reboot Cast: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, with Danny Huston
Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world!
The Bad Guys 2
Release Date: August 1, 2025 Genre: Family, Animation, Sequel Cast: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Maria Bakalova, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh, Alex Borstein
In the new action-packed chapter from DreamWorks Animation’s acclaimed comedy smash about a crackerjack crew of animal outlaws, our now-reformed Bad Guys are trying (very, very hard) to be good, but instead find themselves hijacked into a high-stakes, globe-trotting heist, masterminded by a new team of criminals they never saw coming: The Bad Girls.
She Rides Shotgun
Release Date: August 1, 2025 Genre: Thriller Cast: Taron Egerton, Ana Sophia Heger, Rob Yang and John Carroll Lynch
Where can you run when there’s nowhere to hide? Taron Egerton stars as newly released ex-con Nate in this gritty, explosive action-thriller. Marked for death by unrelenting enemies, Nate must now protect his estranged 11-year-old daughter, Polly (Ana Sophia Heger) at all costs. Shy, precocious, and wary of her father, Polly is swept up in Nate’s dangerous plight as they flee to evade the corrupt sheriff and brutal leader of a gang who will stop at nothing to protect his criminal interests. With scant resources and no one to trust, Nate and Polly form a bond forged under fire as he shows her how to fight and survive — and she teaches him what unconditional love truly means in this intense, moving story about loyalty, strength, and redemption.
Weapons
Release Date: August 8, 2025 Genre: Thriller, Horror Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, with Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan
When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
Freakier Friday
Release Date: August 8, 2025 Genre: Comedy, Family, Sequel Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, Rosalind Chao
“Freakier Friday,” a sequel to the beloved 2003 film with a multigenerational twist starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, will be released in theaters nationwide in 2025. In the film, Curtis and Lohan reprise their roles as Tess and Anna Coleman. The story picks up years after Tess (Curtis) and Anna (Lohan) endured an identity crisis. Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice.
Nobody 2
Release Date: August 15, 2025 Genre: Thriller, Sequel Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Ortiz, RZA, Colin Hanks, with Christopher Lloyd and Sharon Stone
Sometimes the most dangerous place for a dad is a family vacation. Bob Odenkirk returns as suburban husband, father and workaholic assassin Hutch Mansell in the new chapter to Nobody, the hit 2021 bare-knuckle action-thriller that opened at number one at the U.S. box office.
Four years after he inadvertently took on the Russian mob, Hutch remains $30 million in debt to the criminal organization and is working it off with an unending string of hits on international thugs. Much as he likes the slam-bang action of his “job,” Hutch and his wife Becca find themselves overworked and drifting apart. So, they decide to take their kids on a short getaway to Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark, the one and only place where Hutch and his brother Harry went on a vacation as kids. With Hutch’s dad in tow, the family arrives in the small tourist town of Plummerville, eager for some fun in the sun. But when a minor encounter with some town bullies yanks the family into the crosshairs of a corrupt theme-park operator and his shady sheriff, Hutch finds himself the focus of the most unhinged, blood-thirsty crime boss he (or anyone) has ever encountered.
Americana
Release Date: August 15, 2025 Genre: Thriller Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Simon Rex, with Eric Dane, and Zahn McClarnon
A gallery of dynamic characters clash over the possession of a rare Native American artifact in this wildly entertaining modern-day western. After the artifact falls onto the black market, a shy waitress with big dreams (Sydney Sweeney) teams up with a lovelorn military veteran (Paul Walter Hauser) to gain possession of it, putting them in the crosshairs of a ruthless criminal (Eric Dane) working on behalf of a Western antiquities dealer (Simon Rex). Bloodshed ensues when others join the battle, including the leader of an indigenous group (Zahn McClarnon) and a desperate woman fleeing her mysterious past (Halsey).
Honey Don’t
Release Date: August 22, 2025 Genre: Drama Cast: Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Charlie Day, Billy Eichner, and Chris Evans
Honey Don’t! is a dark comedy about Honey O’Donahue, a small-town private investigator, who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.
Relay
Release Date: August 22, 2025 Genre: Action, Thriller Cast: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington
In RELAY, Riz Ahmed plays a world class “fixer” who specializes in brokering lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten their ruin. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. But when a message arrives one day from a potential client (Lily James), needing his protection just to stay alive, the rules quickly start to change.
Caught Stealing
Release Date: August 29, 2025 Genre: Crime, Drama Cast: Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Benito Martínez Ocasio, Griffin Dunne, and Carol Kane
Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) was a high-school baseball phenom who can’t play anymore, but everything else is going okay. He’s got a great girl (Zoë Kravitz), tends bar at a New York dive, and his favorite team is making an underdog run at the pennant.
When his punk-rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters. They all want a piece of him; the problem is he has no idea why. As Hank attempts to evade their ever-tightening grip, he’s got to use all his hustle to stay alive long enough to find out…
The Roses
Release Date: August 29, 2025 Genre: Dark Comedy, Reboot Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Belinda Bromilow, Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, and Kate McKinnon
Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy (Olivia Colman) and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch): successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo’s career nosedives while Ivy’s own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites. The Roses is a reimagining of the 1989 classic film The War of the Roses, based on the novel by Warren Adler.
Wrap up the summer months with something new, a reboot of a classic or a sequel. No matter what you decide to see, be sure to get popcorn!
Which of these new movie releases are on the top of your August list?
