The 10 Best Movies in Theaters Right Now

August 2024 continues bringing some of this year’s biggest movies, and these, along with some of July’s most popular releases, are now playing in theaters. After some rough years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2023 was a big year for cinema, with massive, record-breaking box-office successes and critically acclaimed stories. Luckily, this continues in 2024, which has various highly-anticipated movies coming up, and some of them can currently be enjoyed in theaters.

July saw a variety of big movies released in theaters, such as Despicable Me 4, Ti West’s Maxxxine, the horror movie Longlegs, the disaster movie Twisters, and Deadpool’s debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Deadpool & Wolverine. August is also bringing exciting movies from different genres, and last week’s releases Borderlands, It Ends With Us, and Cuckoo are now joined by the latest entry in the Alien franchise, a crime thriller about a skincare company, and a biographical drama.

10 Alien: Romulus

Alien: Romulus was released on August 16, 2024

The Alien franchise continues with Alien: Romulus, the seventh installment in the franchise and a standalone interquel set between 1979’s Alien and 1986’s Aliens. Alien: Romulus follows a group of space colonists who, while scavenging an old space station, come face to face with a horrifying life form in space that has already created chaos and terror for other crews. Alien: Romulus was originally planned to be released on Hulu, but (thankfully) it was granted a theatrical release after entering production.

You can read Screen Rant’s Alien: Romulus review here.

9 Skincare

Skincare was released on August 16, 2024

Skincare is a crime thriller directed by Austin Peters. Skincare is the story of Hope Goldman, a celebrity aesthetician who takes her career to the next level with her own skincare line. However, she soon faces problems as her rival, Angel Vergara, opens a boutique across the street from hers. Hope begins to suspect someone is trying to sabotage her, and she’s determined to discover who’s trying to destroy her business.

8 Rob Peace

Rob Peace was released on August 16, 2024

Rob Peace

1.5

Release Date

January 22, 2024

Cast

Jay Will , Mary J. Blige , Chiwetel Ejiofor , Camila Cabello , Michael Kelly

Runtime

119 Minutes

Rob Peace is a biographical drama movie written and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor and based on the 2014 biography The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, by Jeff Hobbs. It’s the story of Rob Peace, a Yale University graduate whose father was arrested for crimes he might not have committed. Raised by his devoted but struggling mother, Rob decides to risk everything to free his father, and so he turns to drug dealing.

You can read Screen Rant’s Rob Peace review here.

7 Borderlands

Borderlands was released on August 9, 2024

Borderlands

3.5

Director

Eli Roth

Release Date

August 9, 2024

Runtime

102 Minutes

Borderlands is a sci-fi action comedy movie directed by Eli Roth. Based on the video game series of the same name developed by Gearbox Software, Borderlands follows Lilith, an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past who reluctantly returns to her home planet. Lilith is on a mission to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., and for that, she teams up with a former elite mercenary, a feral teenage demolitionist, her musclebound protector, a scientist, and a robot. Together, they fight monsters and bandits to find and protect the missing girl.

You can read Screen Rant’s Borderlands review here.

6 It Ends With Us

It Ends With Us was released on August 9, 2024

It Ends With Us

2.5

Director

Justin Baldoni

Release Date

August 9, 2024

Cast

Blake Lively , Justin Baldoni , Brandon Sklenar , Jenny Slate , Hasan Minhaj

Runtime

130 Minutes

It Ends With Us is a romantic drama movie directed by Justin Baldoni and based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover. It’s the story of Lily, who moves to Boston to chase her dreams and meets charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid. Lily and Ryle fall in love, but she soon discovers sides of him that remind her of her parents’ unhealthy relationship. To further complicate it, Lily comes across her first love, Atlas, and so she must rely on her inner strength to make a tough decision.

You can read Screen Rant’s It Ends With Us review here.

5 Cuckoo

Cuckoo was released on August 9, 2024

Cuckoo (2024)

3.5

Director

Tilman Singer

Release Date

August 9, 2024

Cast

Hunter Schafer , Dan Stevens , Jessica Henwick , Marton Csokas , Astrid Bergès-Frisbey , Greta Fernández , Kalin Morrow , Mila Lieu

Runtime

102 Minutes

Cuckoo is a sci-fi horror thriller written and directed by Tilman Singer. Cuckoo follows 17-year-old Gretchen, who is forced to move with her father and his new family to a resort in the German Alps. Once there, Gretchen realizes there’s something sinister in their new home, more so after her father’s boss, Mr. König, takes a strange interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister. Gretchen is then haunted by strange noises and violent visions and makes a horrifying discovery that involves her and her family.

You can read Screen Rant’s Cuckoo review here.

4 Trap

Trap was released on August 2, 2024

Trap is a psychological thriller directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and as expected, it has a big twist – but it was revealed in the trailers. Trap follows Cooper, who takes his teenage daughter to the concert of pop star Lady Raven. At the venue, he notices cameras everywhere and police officers at every door and outside. Cooper learns from an employee at the venue that the concert is a trap for a serial killer known as “The Butcher” – and Cooper is said killer. Trap has more twists than Cooper being “The Butcher”, staying true to Shyamalan’s movies.

3 Harold and the Purple Crayon

Harold and the Purple Crayon was released on August 2, 2024

Harold and the Purple Crayon is a live-action/animated fantasy-comedy directed by Carlos Saldanha. It follows Harold, a book character who is now a grown man. Harold has a magical purple crayon that brings to life whatever he draws, and he uses it to draw himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world. Luckily for Harold, the crayon still works in the human world, allowing him to create all sorts of things while learning everything he can about real life.

2 Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool & Wolverine was released on July 26, 2024

Deadpool & Wolverine

4.0

Director

Shawn Levy

Release Date

July 26, 2024

Cast

Ryan Reynolds , Hugh Jackman , Emma Corrin , Morena Baccarin , Rob Delaney , Leslie Uggams , Karan Soni , Matthew Macfadyen , Brianna Hildebrand , Shioli Kutsuna , Stefan Kapicic , Lewis Tan , Randal Reeder , Jennifer Garner , Aaron Stanford , Billy Clements , Ollie Palmer , Chris Hemsworth , Rob McElhenney

Runtime

127 Minutes

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The long-awaited MCU debut of The Merc with a Mouth is finally here. Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine is set six years after the events of Deadpool 2, and sees Wade Wilson living a quiet life after leaving his time as Deadpool behind him. His peace is interrupted by the Time Variance Authority, who pulls him into a new mission as his home universe faces an existential threat. This new mission forces Deadpool to join forces with Wolverine, and together, they will change the history of the MCU.

You can read Screen Rant’s Deadpool & Wolverine review here.

1 Longlegs

Longlegs was released on July 12, 2024

Longlegs

3.5

Release Date

July 12, 2024

Cast

Maika Monroe , Nicholas Cage , Alicia Witt , Blair Underwood

Runtime

101 Minutes

Longlegs is a horror thriller written and directed by Osgood Perkins. Set in the 1990s, Longlegs follows Lee Harker, a new FBI agent who is assigned to an unsolved case involving a Satanic serial killer known as “Longlegs”. The more Harker investigates and the more occult evidence is uncovered, the more complicated the case gets, and even more so when she realizes a personal link to the killer, prompting her to act fast to prevent another family murder.

You can read Screen Rant’s Longlegs review here.

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