After a pretty disappointing summer, our hopes are high (but not, like, too high) for August to swoop in and deliver at least one or two entertaining blockbusters before the season ends. Fueling that optimism is the release of Suicide Squad, David Ayer’s comic book villain team-up that promises to inject a little fun in the DC movie universe. Next month also brings a new stop-motion adventure from Laika, an R-rated animated movie about talking food (you know, for the grown-ups) and Meryl Streep’s latest Oscars power move. Read on for our complete guide to next month’s new movie releases.

August 5

Suicide Squad: Directed by David Ayer. Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto. A secret government agency recruits imprisoned super villains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency.

Nine Lives: Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Starring Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner and Christopher Walken. A stuffy businessman finds himself trapped inside the body of his family’s cat.

Little Men (Limited): Directed by Ira Sachs. Starring Jennifer Ehle, Alfred Molina and Greg Kinnear. A new pair of best friends have their bond tested by their parents’ battle over a dress shop lease.

Five Nights in Maine (Limited): Directed by Maris Curran. Starring David Oyelowo, Dianne Wiest and Rosie Perez. A young African American man, reeling from the tragic loss of his wife, travels to rural Maine to seek answers from his estranged mother-in-law, who is herself confronting guilt and grief over her daughter's death.

August 12

Pete’s Dragon: Directed by David Lowery. Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford and Karl Urban. The adventures of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a dragon.

Florence Foster Jenkins: Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant and Rebecca Ferguson. The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.

Sausage Party: Directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon. Starring Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig. An animated movie about one sausage’s quest to discover the truth about his existence.

Anthropoid (Limited): Directed by Sean Ellis. Starring Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan and Harry Lloyd.Based on the extraordinary true story of Operation Anthropoid, the WWII mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution and the Reich's third in command after Hitler and Himmler.

Joshy (Limited): Directed by Jeff Baena. Starring Thomas Middleditch, Adam Pally and Alex Ross Perry. Josh treats what would have been his bachelor party as an opportunity to reconnect with his friends.

The Hollars (Limited): Directed by John Krasinski. Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anna Kendrick and John Krasinski. A man returns to his small hometown after learning that his mother has fallen ill and is about to undergo surgery.

Hell or High Water (Limited): Directed by David Mackenzie. Starring Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster. A divorced dad and his ex-con brother resort to a desperate scheme in order to save their family’s farm in West Texas.

Ghost Team (Limited): Directed by Oliver Irving. Starring Jon Heder, Justin Long and David Krumholtz. A paranormal-obsessed man mounts his own investigation into the beyond with his depressed best friend, misfit nephew, a cable access medium and an overeager security guard.

Disorder (Limited): Directed by Alice Winocour. Starring Matthias Schoenaerts, Diane Kruger and Paul Hamy. Vincent is an ex-soldier with PTSD who is hired to protect the wife and child of a wealthy Lebanese businessman while he’s out of town. Despite the apparent tranquility on Maryland, Vincent perceives an external threat.

August 19

Kubo and the Two Strings: Directed by Travis Knight. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron and Rooney Mara. A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armor worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.

Ben-Hur: Directed by Timbur Bekmambetov. Starring Jack Huston, Nazanin Boniadi and Ayelet Zurer. A falsely accused Jewish nobleman survives years of slavery to take vengeance on his Roman best friend, who betrayed him.

War Dogs: Directed by Todd Phillips. Starring Miles Teller, Jonah Hill and Bradley Cooper. Based on the true story of two young men, David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli, who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America’s allies in Afghanistan.

Morris From America (Limited): Directed by Chad Hartigan. Starring Craig Robinson, Carla Juri and Lina Keller. The romantic and coming-of-age misadventures of a 13-year-old American living in Germany.

Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (Limited): Directed by Werner Herzog. Werner Herzog’s exploration of the Internet and the connected world.

Imperium (Limited): Directed by Daniel Ragussis. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Toni Collette and Burn Gorman. Nate Foster, a young, idealistic FBI agent, goes undercover to take down a radical white supremacy terrorist group. The bright up-and-coming analyst must confront the challenge of sticking to a new identity while maintaining his real principles as he navigates the dangerous underworld of white supremacy.

August 26

Don’t Breathe: Directed by Fede Alvarez. Starring Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette and Stephen Lang. A group of friends break into the house of a wealthy blind man, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect heist. They’re wrong.

Mechanic: Resurrection: Directed by Dennis Gansel. Starring Jason Statham, Jessica Alba and Tommy Lee Jones. Arthur Bishop thought he had put his murderous past behind him when his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life. Now he is forced to travel the globe to complete three impossible assassinations, and do what he does best, make them look like accidents.

Southside With You (Limited): Directed by Richard Tanne. Starring Tika Sumpter, Parker Sawyers and Vanessa Bell Calloway. Chronicles the summer 1989 afternoon when the future President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, wooed his future First Lady on an epic first date across Chicago’s South Side.

Hands of Stone (Limited): Directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz. Starring Robert De Niro, John Turturro and Ellen Barkin. The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other’s lives.

I Am Not a Serial Killer (Limited): Directed by Billy O’Brien. Starring Christopher Lloyd, Max Records and Laura Fraser. In a small Midwestern town, a troubled teen with homicidal tendencies must hunt down and destroy a supernatural killer whilst keeping his own inner demons at bay.

In Order of Disappearance (Limited): Directed by Hans Petter Moland. Starring Stellan Skarsgard, Peter Andersson and Kristofer Hivju. When his son is mistakenly kidnapped, a mild-mannered Norwegian citizen attempts to get him back — and unwittingly starts a crime war in the process.

 

More From Alt 101.7