The summer movie season is typically defined by big blockbuster spectacles that are best seen on the big screen, and the 2024 summer movie season looks to be no different, with new entries in the Planet of the Apes, Deadpool, and Mad Max franchises hitting theaters. Yet, ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, and more have gotten into the game by releasing their own films during the summer movie season. These choices provide a nice alternative to the big-screen blockbusters, often delivering sweet romances, thrilling scares, or family-friendly offerings that can be viewed at home.
While most of the streaming services will be putting the emphasis on big television shows during the summer season, they will still be offering plenty of great films that can be viewed from the comfort of your home. Netflix and AppleTV+ have one high-profile film each that they will also give a theatrical release to; they will release them on their streaming service the following week. There are also many smaller films that, while being given a limited theatrical release, might not play all over the country, so they are simultaneously released on PVOD, making them available for everyone to rent or buy on digital platforms.
So, on a hot summer day when you don't want to go out to the theaters or want a nice night in after a day at the pool, here is your summer movie season streaming movie guide for 2024.
May 2024 Movies
Movie | Release Date | Platform |
|---|---|---|
The Idea of You | May 2 | Prime Video |
Turtles All the Way Down | May 2 | Max |
Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story | May 3 | Netflix |
Prom Dates | May 3 | Hulu |
Mother of the Bride | May 9 | Netflix |
The Image of You | May 10 | PVOD |
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 | May 10 | PVOD |
The Last Stop in Yuma County | May 10 | PVOD |
Lazareth | May 10 | PVOD |
Thelma and the Unicorn | May 17 | Netflix |
Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever | May 17 | Shudder |
The Darkness of Man | May 21 | PVOD |
Atlas | May 24 | Netflix |
What You Wish For | May 31 | PVOD |
Jim Henson: Idea Man | May 31 | Disney+ |
33 The Idea of You - May 2 (Prime Video)
The streaming services get a head start on the summer movie season, with the first being The Idea of You. Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) is a 40-year-old single mom who takes her daughter Izza (Ella Rubin) to Coachella. There, she strikes up a romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of a famous boy band.
A Romantic Look at Double Standards
Directed by The Big Sick filmmaker Michael Showalter, The Idea of You was the closing night film at South by Southwest back in March and has gained positive reviews since its release. It will serve as a sweet romance and also an examination of the double standard in how society views older women with younger men than older men with a younger woman.
32 Turtles All the Way Down - May 2 (Max)
New Line Cinema
Competing with Prime Video for viewers will be Max's Turtles All the Way Down, based on the 2017 novel of the same name from The Fault in Our Stars author John Green. The movie follows Aza Holmes (Isabella Merced), a 16-year-old struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder. She reconnects with her childhood crush, and from there must confront the idea of being in a relationship with someone while also dealing with anxieties and self-doubt.
A Long Road to Development and Release
Directed by Hannah Marks, who previously directed 2018's After Everything and 2022's Don't Make Me Go, the movie had a long road to development, having originally been developed by Fox 2000 Pictures before being acquired by New Line Cinema after Disney bought 20th Century Fox and now is arriving as a Max exclusive.
31 Unfrosted - May 3 (Netflix)
Unfrosted marks the directorial debut of legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The Netflix Original film tells the story of the creation of Pop Tarts, but what on the surface sounded like another movie about a product (similar to Flammin Hot, Air, or Tetris) instead looks to be an over-the-top exaggerated comedy with the war between Kellogg's and Post Cereal to see if they can produce a revolutionary breakfast pastry in 1963.
A Star-Studded Cavalcade of Comedic Talent
Unfrosted takes the invention of a shelf-stable pasty to absurd degrees by even featuring Snap, Crackle, and Pop from Rice Krispy Treats as characters. Seinfeld also stars in the movie alongside Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Amy Schumer, Hugh Grant, Christian Slater, Jon Hamm, Peter Dinklage, Max Greenfield, and Bill Burr as President John F. Kennedy, just to name a few.
3:21
Hugh Grant Says Arguing with Jerry Seinfeld Got Overblown & Bridget Jones 4 Is 'Incredibly Moving'
The actor unpacks his working relationship with Jerry Seinfeld in Unfrosted and how he ended up crying in public while reading Bridget Jones 4.30 Prom Dates - May 3 (Hulu)
Hoping to cash in on the prom season, Hulu is releasing a coming-of-age film aptly titled Prom Dates by The Hummingbird Project director Kim Nguyen. The film revolves around two friends who make a pact to have the best prom ever. However, when they unexpectedly break up with their dates, they must find new partners before prom begins.
A Talented Young Cast Reflects Their Peers
With a talented cast that includes Julia Lester (High School Musical: The Musical) and Antonia Gentry (Ginny & Georgia), Prom Dates looks to be a promising entry in the high school film pantheon, particularly for the target demographic.
29 Mother of the Bride - May 9 (Netflix)
Mark Waters, best known for beloved classics like 2003's Freaky Friday and 2004's Mean Girls, looks to deliver another female-centric comedy with Mother of the Bride. After a year abroad in London, Emma (Miranda Cosgrove) returns home and stuns her mother, Lana (Brooke Shields), with the news that she's getting married in a month at a resort in Phuket, Thailand.
A Delightful Mother's Day
Things get worse when Lana discovers that the husband-to-be is the son of the man who broke her heart years earlier. In addition to Cosgrove and Shields, the cast also includes Chad Michael Murray as Emma's fiancée and Benjamin Bratt as his father. Netflix is releasing Mother of the Bride to coincide with the Mother's Day holiday weekend.
28 The Image of You - May 10 (Theaters and PVOD)
Not to be confused with the similarly titled The Idea of You, opening a week prior, The Image of You is an R-rated thriller from Jeff Fisher and a script by Chris Silverston based on the novel of the same name by Adele Parks. The story revolves around identical twins Anna and Zoe, who find their bond tested by Anna's new love, Nick.
A Great Cast Weaves a Web of Deception and Desire
While the trusting Anna is head over heels, her skeptical sister Zoe senses a web of deceit. But as Zoe digs for the truth, they're all pulled into a dangerous game where honesty could prove fatal. Sasha Pieterse (Pretty Little Liars), Parker Young (Imposters), Nestor Carbonell (The Dark Knight Rises), and Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite) star in this twisted tale of deception and desire. The movie will be in theaters and will be available for purchase on the same day.
27 Force of Nature: The Dry 2 - May 10 (Theaters and PVOD)
A sequel to the 2021 film The Dry, Force of Nature: The Dry 2 sees Eric Bana reprise his role as Aaron Falk. After receiving a distressing call from an informant, Federal Agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head deep into the Giralang Ranges to investigate the whereabouts of their corporate whistle-blower Alice after she mysteriously disappears on a company hiking retreat. The four women who recovered from the bush each seem to be hiding something about their traumatic experiences.
An Action Sequel with Eric Bana
As Falk and Cooper close in on the case, they uncover worrying details about the connections between these women and begin to fear for the safety of their missing informant as a storm threatens to halt the search. The film has already opened in Australia and will be in theaters, but will also be available for digital purchase on the same day of release.
26 The Last Stop in Yuma County - May 10 (Theaters and PVOD)
The Last Stop in Yuma County is a Western crime thriller which was written and directed by Francis Galluppi, anddebuted at Fantastic Fest in September 2023. While awaiting the next fuel truck at a middle-of-nowhere Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty — or cold, hard steel — to protect their bloodstained, ill-begotten fortune.
The Great Jim Cummings and Richard Blake Lead the Way
Richard Blake has been a great character actor, showing up in films like Batman Begins, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and Game of Thrones, but with The Last Stop in Yuma, his role as the main kidnapper looks to be the lead role he has so long deserved. The rest of the cast includes Jim Cummings (Halloween Kills), Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil), Faizon Love (Elf), Gene Jones (No Country for Old Men), and Sam Huntington (Superman Returns). The movie will be released in limited theaters and will be available for video-on-demand the same day.
25 Lazareth - May 10 (Theaters and PVOD)
Lazareth is a horror/thriller by director Alec Tibaldi. Following the death of their parents, Lee (Ashley Judd) adopts her nieces, Imogen (Katie Douglas) and Maeve (Sarah Pidgeon), and raises them in a remote cabin as a deadly pandemic rages on around them. For over a decade, the girls are raised to never leave the woods, to avoid any and all interaction with outsiders, and ultimately rely on Lee as their only connection to the outside world.
Ashley Judd Returns with a Bang
Lee has convinced the girls this is the key to survival in what is now an infectious and violent world. But when Imogen and Maeve discover an injured man in the nearby woods, Lee’s absolute control begins to disintegrate as their faith in her and everything they’ve ever known begins to unravel. Lazareth will be released on demand and in select theaters on May 10, 2024, and will hopefully start a renaissance for the underrated Ashley Judd.
24 Thelma and the Unicorn - May 17 (Netflix)
Thelma and the Unicorn is another colorful Netflix animated movie. It follows a pony named Thelma (Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes) who dreams of becoming a singer. In order to achieve her dream, she pretends to be a unicorn, which ultimately brings her fame and attention. The movie is based on the 2015 children's book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey and is directed by Napoleon Dynamite filmmaker Jared Hess with co-director Lynn Wang.
A Great Voice Cast of Comedic Talent
Rounding out an excellent cast are Will Forte, Jemaine Clement, Zach Galafankis, Edi Patterson, and Napoleon Dynamite himself, Jon Heder. Netflix acquired the rights to the book after a bidding war in 2019 and looks to have it as their first big family film of the summer movie season.
23 Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever - May 17 (Shudder)
Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever finds Emma, a 22-year-old medical student, following in the footsteps of her father and taking a job as the night watch in the same forensic department he previously worked in. It's the same facility where he and Emma's mother were almost killed by the famed psychopathic police inspector Wörmer (Ulf Pilgaard) years prior. Compelled to figure out the truth of what happened that night, Emma tracks down and confronts Wömer, only to unintentionally reawaken his bloodthirst.
A Sequel 30 Years Later
30 years after the original premiere Nightwatch, this sequel reunites director Ole Bornedal with original cast members Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kim Bodnia, and Ulf Pilgaard as they reprise their roles in this chilling follow-up to the original and passes on Bornedal's legacy to his daughter Fanny Bornedal as the sequel's star.
22 The Darkness of Man - May 21 (PVOD)
Jean-Claude Van Damme is a high-profile name in action movies, and here he teams up with Saban Entertainment to release The Darkness of Man. Russell Hatch (Van Damme) is a washed-up, former Interpol operative who vowed to protect the son of an informant killed years earlier in a raid gone wrong.
Van Damme Gets Revenge
When merciless street gangs start an all-out turf war, and the kid is caught in the middle, Hatch will stop at nothing to keep him safe and fight anyone who gets in his way. The movie will skip theaters and be available on PVOD.
Jean-Claude Van Damme Is Back in Action in Darkness of Man First Look
Action movie icon Jean-Claude Van Damme is back in the first look at the neo-noir thriller Darkness of Man.21 Atlas - May 24 (Netflix)
Netflix likes to have a major release for the holiday weekends, and for Memorial Day, they are releasing the sci-fi thriller Atlas. Directed by Brad Peyton (Rampage), Atlasstars Jennifer Lopez as Atlas Shepherd, a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence who joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past.
A J. Lo Blockbuster for Memorial Day
When plans go awry, her only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it. Co-starring Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu, This is Us' Sterling K. Brown, Kingsman's Mark Strong, and Once Upon a Time's Lana Parilla, Netflix is hoping Atlas can compete with the big theatrical releases for audiences' attention over the Memorial Day weekend holiday.
20 Hit Man - May 24 (Theaters) / June 7 (Netflix)
Richard Linklater's romantic comedy Hit Man premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023 to rave reviews, and following the Toronto International Film Festival screening, Netflix spent $20 million to acquire the movie. The film stars Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, an undercover police officer who poses as a hitman to arrest those trying to hire him before eventually getting involved with a case of a woman he has fallen for, Maddy Masters, played by Adria Arjona.
A Different Kind of Richard Linklater
Powell pulls double duty, as he not only stars in the movie but co-wrote the script with Linklater. It seems like an odd film for the great Richard Linklater, who has flirted with mainstream movies before (School of Rock) but is usually much more low-key, quietly funny, and ruminative. It should be interesting. The film will have a limited theatrical release on May 24 before its streaming release on Netflix on June 7, 2024.
19 What You Wish For - May 31 (Theaters and PVOD)
What You Wish For is a horror film starring Nick Stahl, Tamsin Topolski, Randy Vasquez, Penelope Mitchell, Juan Carlos Messier, and Brian Groh. It was written and directed by Nicholas Tomnay. The film focuses on a chef with gambling problems who is trying to get out of town and hide out.
A Culinary Thriller
He meets an old friend in a Latin American villa where he's been hired to cook an elaborate private meal for incoming guests. After assuming his friend's identity to take over the lucrative gig, the chef comes to realize he may have bitten off more than he can chew. The film takes the recent trend in culinary dramas to a tense new place. The movie will be released in theaters and available on PVOD on the same day.
18 Jim Henson: Idea Man - May 31 (Disney+)
Jim Henson: Idea Man chronicles the extraordinary journey of artist and visionary Jim Henson. In his 36-year career, Henson created some of the world’s most cherished characters, including classic Muppets like Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy and all of Sesame Street’s iconic residents, including Big Bird, Grover, Cookie Monster, and Bert and Ernie. Henson also directed beloved fantasy films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
Produced with the full participation and cooperation of the Henson family, Jim Henson: Idea Man is an unprecedented, intimate look at Henson’s illustrious, revolutionary career and complex personal life. Using never-before-seen personal archival home movies, photographs, sketches, and Henson’s personal diaries, as well as interviews with those who knew him best, the film is the definitive portrait of one of the world’s most inspiring and iconoclastic creators.
June 2024 Movies
Movie | Release Date | Platform |
|---|---|---|
Hit Man | June 7 | Netflix |
Ultraman: Rising | June 14 | Netflix |
I Used to Be Funny | June 18 | PVOD |
Bread & Roses | June 21 | Apple TV+ |
Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge | June 25 | Hulu |
Fancy Dance | June 28 | Apple TV+ |
Gassed Up | June 28 | PVOD |
A Family Affair | June 28 | Netflix |
The Devil's Bath | June 28 | Shudder |
17 Ultraman: Rising - June 14 (Netflix)
Ultraman: Rising is Netflix's attempt to adapt the beloved Ultraman franchise for Japan and bring it to a new generation of American audiences, particularly children, with a new animated film. The animation will be done by the revered Industrial Light and Magic and will follow Ken Sato, a famous but egotistical baseball player living a secret life as the giant superhero Ultraman.
An American Ultraman
Ken is forced to balance his career and hero duties, something that gets increasingly complicated when he reluctantly adopts a baby kaiju after defeating her mother. The film will premiere at the Annecy Animation Festival two days before it debuts on Netflix.
16 I Used to Be Funny - June 18 (PVOD)
Rachel Sennott has blown up into one of the funniest stars currently working. From Shiva Baby to Bottoms and now a role in the upcoming SNL1975, she has become a go-to voice in comedy, so she has drawn attention to I Used to Be Funny. In this comedy-drama, Sennott plays Sam, a stand-up comedian living in Toronto who is struggling with depression that has impacted her career after Brooke (Olga Petsa), a young girl for whom she previously served as a nanny, goes missing.
Rachel Sennott Is Still Very Funny
I Used to Be Funny premiered at the South by Southwest festival on March 13, 2023, and it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Inside Out Film and Video Festival that year. It continues Sennott's stratospheric rise through the acting world following films like the excellent Tahara, Shiva Baby, and Bodies Bodies Bodies. The movie will be released in digital format on June 18, 2024.
15 Bread & Roses - June 21 (Apple TV+)
From producer Jennifer Lawrence, Bread & Roses offers a powerful window into the seismic impact that the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021 had on women’s rights and livelihoods. The documentary film follows three women in real time as they fight to recover their autonomy.
A Heavy Portrait of the Taliban and Women's Resistance
Director Sahra Mani (who also made the intimate documentary A Thousand Girls Like Me) captures the spirit and resilience of Afghan women through a raw depiction of their harrowing plight. The film is said to be both a harrowing inside look at the Taliban takeover but also an inspiring and universal portrait of womanhood and individuality.
14 Fancy Dance - June 21 (Theaters) / June 28 (AppleTV+)
Following her breakout role in Killers of the Flower Moon, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, Lily Gladstone now leads the film Fancy Dance, which was actually filmed in 2022. Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow.
A Complicated Look at Equally Complex Indigenous Women
At the risk of Jax losing custody to Roki’s grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham), the pair hit the road and scour the backcountry to track down Roki’s mother in time for the powwow. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world while at the mercy of a failed justice system. Directed by Erica Tremblay, Fancy Dance will have a limited theatrical release on June 21st before streaming on Apple TV+ on June 28, 2024.
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