See What’s Coming to HBO Max in August for Theatrelovers | Playbill

Film & TV News See What’s Coming to HBO Max in August for Theatrelovers The First Wives Club, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Marvin's Room, and more will soon be available to stream.
Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler in The First Wives Club © 1996 Paramount Pictures

Next month, HBO Max will welcome a slew of titles sure to sate any theatrelover's thirst for content. From The First Wives Club (which was subsequently adapted into a stage musical) to over half a dozen toe-tapping musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and a slew of films based on stage properties, here are a few of the August highlights (and be sure to catch 42nd Street and Cabaret, among many other titles, before they leave the streamer August 31).

Astaire & Rogers
A total of seven movie musicals featuring the beloved Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire are dropping. Among the highlights are the dancing pair's first appearance together, Flying Down to Rio, based on the play of the same name, and The Gay Divorcee, nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Rounding out the list of titles are Roberta, Top Hat, Carefree, The Barkleys of Broadway, and Swing Time.

The First Wives Club (1996)
This laugh-out-loud favorite has already been adapted into a stage musical and a BET series, but go back to where it all began with Bette Midler, Diane Keaton, and Goldie Hawn. In addition to the lovable trio getting their well-earned payback against their ex husbands, the movie features Broadway favorites in scene-stealing roles, including Stockard Channing, Maggie Smith, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Marcia Gay Harden.

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Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio in Marvin's Room Miramax Films

Marvin's Room (1996)
Based on Scott McPherson's play (debuted Off-Broadway in 1991), this family drama follows Bessie and her sister Lee as they reunite after one of them receives a cancer diagnosis. The movie adaptation stars an Academy Award-nominated Diane Keaton as Bessie, Meryl Streep as Lee, and Leonardo DiCaprio as Lee's son Hank. The film also features Gwen Verdon as the eccentric Aunt Ruth.

Barefoot in the Park (1967)
This adaptation of Neil Simon's romantic comedy stars Jane Fonda and Robert Redford (reprising his role from the Broadway premiere) as possibly mismatched newlyweds Corie and Paul living in a tiny NYC apartment. The movie also stars Charles Boyer as their neighbor and Mildred Natwick (who earned an Oscar nod for her performance) as Corie's mother.

On Golden Pond (1981)
An elderly couple enjoy their summer in a cottage on a Maine lake as they come to terms with the husband's advancing age and his ongoing estrangement from his newly engaged daughter. Based on Ernest Thompson's 1979 play, the film stars Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn as the couple with Fonda's real-life daughter Jane as Chelsea in one of film history's more accurate portrayals of art imitating life. The movie took home three Oscars for the lead performances Fonda and Hepburn, along with Thompson's screenplay.

Biloxi Blues (1988)
Matthew Broderick and Penelope Ann Miller reprise their Broadway roles in this movie adaptation of Neil Simon's Tony-winning play, the second in his Eugene trilogy (following Brighton Beach Memoirs and before Broadway Bound). The semi-autobiographical comedy follows a young soldier as he goes into basic training to serve in World War II, finding romance and developing his writing talents by observing the diverse group of men he serves with—and the strange sergeant he serves under. Christopher Walker appears opposite Broderick as Sgt Merwin J. Toomey.

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Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy Warner Bros.

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama comes to life on screen in this Best Picture Oscar winner, featuring Jessica Tandy (who also scored an Academy Award) and Morgan Freeman (reprising his role from the Off-Broadway production). Set against a backdrop of changing world events between 1948 and 1973, a fiesty Southern widow and her proud but soft-spoken Black chauffeur journey from suspicion and mistrust to respect and deep-rooted affection.

Elf (2003)
August might not be the most festive time of year, but this instant holiday classic starring Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel was so beloved that it took less than a decade for its musical adaptation to hit the Main Stem. When Buddy the Elf realizes he's not from the North Pole, he journeys to NYC to find his dad—who turns out to be on the naughty list. Also in the cast are James Caan, Mary Steenbergen, Ed Asner, and Bob Newhart.

Lovecraft Country (2020)
A host of stage alums star in this new series (based on the novel by Matt Ruff), including Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Jonathan Majors, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Tony winner Courtney B. Vance. Set in the segregated 1950s, the supernatural thriller follows about a young man, along with his best friend and uncle, as they search for his father across southern America only to find unimaginable terrors on their quest.

The titles above will be available to stream starting August 1, except Lovecraft Country (August 16). Check out the full calendar of movies and TV series coming to (and leaving) HBO Max below.

August 1:
10,000 BC, 2008
All the President's Men, 1976
Altered States, 1980
Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, Season 1
Bad Influence, 1990
Barefoot in the Park, 1967
Barkleys of Broadway, 1949
Batman, 1989
Batman & Robin, 1997
Batman Begins, 2005
Batman Forever, 1995
Batman Returns, 1992
The Bear, 1989
Bee Season, 2005
Before Sunrise, 1995
Before Sunset, 2004
Biloxi Blues, 1988
Blade Runner: The Final Cut, 2007
Blue Crush, 2002
The Candidate, 1972
Carefree, 1938
The Change-Up (Unrated Version), 2011
Chariots of Fire, 1981
Contact, 1997
The Dark Knight, 2008
The Dishwasher, 2020
Driving Miss Daisy, 1989
Elf, 2003
The First Grader, 2011
The First Wives Club, 1996
Flipper, 1996
Flying Down to Rio, 1933
Flying Leathernecks, 1951
Fool's Gold, 2008
Fracture, 2007
The Fugitive, 1993
The Gay Divorcee, 1934
Get on Up, 2014
Go Tell It on the Mountain, 2004
Grace Unplugged, 2013
Hard to Kill, 1990
Harley Quinn, Seasons 1 & 2
Highlander: The Final Dimension, 1995
Highlander IV: Endgame, 2000
The Hindenburg, 1975
Hours, 2013
House of Wax, 2005
House Party, 1990
House Party 2, 1991
House Party: Tonight's the Night, 2013
How to Be a Player, 1997
Idiocracy (Extended Version), 2006
Interview with the Vampire, 1994
Jeremiah Johnson, 1972
Jim Thorpe: All-American, 1951
Jojo Rabbit, 2019
Kung Fu Panda, 2008
Kung Fu Panda 2, 2011
Leprechaun, 1993
Leprechaun 2, 1994
Leprechaun 3, 1995
Leprechaun 4: In Space, 1997
Leprechaun: Origins, 2014
The Long Kiss Goodnight, 1996
The Lost Boys: The Thirst, 2020
The Lost Boys: The Tribe (Unrated Version), 2020
Love Field, 1992
Lovelace, 2013
Lying And Stealing, 2019
The Marine (Unrated Version), 2006
Martha Marcy May Marlene, 2011
Marvin's Room, 1996
Maverick, 1994
Monkeybone, 2001
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, 2007
Murder at 1600, 1997
The Mustang, 2019
My Blue Heaven, 1990
My Sister's Keeper, 2009
Nell, 1994
New Year's Eve, 2011
Ocean's Eleven, 2001
On Dangerous Ground, 1952
On Golden Pond, 1981
Phantom, 2013
Pi, 1998
Raise the Titanic, 1980
Roberta, 1935
Romeo Must Die, 2000
Savages (Unrated Version), 2012
Say It Isn't So, 2001
Serendipity, 2001
Skyline, 2010
South Central, 1992
Spy Game, 2001
Steven Universe Movie
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, 1939
Striptease, 1996
Swing Time, 1936
They Live by Night, 1949
Things Never Said, 2020
Three Days of the Condor, 1975
Time Bandits, 1981
Top Hat, 1935
Two Minutes of Fame, 2020
Walk the Line (Extended Version), 2005
Wedding Crashers, 2005
Without Limits, 1998
Yes Man, 2008

August 3:
HBO Asia’s Invisible Stories

August 4:
Aldnoah.Zero 
Inuyasha
Mob Psycho, Season 1
Promised Neverland, Season 1
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
The Swamp, Documentary Premiere

August 6:
An American Pickle, Film Premiere
Doom Patrol, Season 2 Finale
Esme & Roy, Season 2B
On The Trail: Inside the 2020 Primaries, Documentary Premiere

August 7:
Habla Now, 2020

August 8:
Richard Jewell, 2019

August 11:
Hard Knocks '20: Los Angeles, Series Premiere

August 12:
Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn

August 13:
Infinity Train, Season 3 Premiere

August 14:
Carmen Y Lola (AKA Carmen And Lola), 2020

August 15:
Birds Of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), 2020

August 16:
Lovecraft Country, Series Premiere

August 18:
Looney Tunes, Batch 3
Smurfs, Season

August 20:
The Fungies, Season 1A
Singletown, Season 1

August 21:
No Quiero Ser Tu Hermano (AKA I Don't Want to Be Your Brother), 2020

August 22:
Queen & Slim, 2019

August 23:
Mia's Magic Playground

August 27:
Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness, Docuseries Premiere

August 28:
Seneca, 2019
Steven Universe Future, Season Six

August 29:
The Way Back, 2020

Titles Leaving HBO Max in August

August 25:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 2002
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, 2011
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2005
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 2009
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2007
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 2004
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 2001

August 28:
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Director's Cut), 200

August 31:
42nd Street, 1933
A Perfect World, 1993
Adam's Rib, 1949
Along Came Polly, 2004
Cabaret, 1972
Dumb & Dumber, 1994
Full Metal Jacket, 1987
Good Will Hunting, 1997
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 2003
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, 2019
Kill Bill: Volume 1, 2003
Kill Bill: Volume 2, 2004
Love Actually, 2003
Magic Mike, 2012
Megamind, 2010
Misery, 1990
Monsters Vs. Aliens, 2009
Mystic River, 2003
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, 1989
Pee-wee's Big Adventure, 1985
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, 1985
The Adjustment Bureau, 2011
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, 2004
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, 2005
Unforgiven, 1992
Veronica Mars, 2014
You've Got Mail, 1998

 
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