Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 14 August 2026 - 20 August 2026

With the big July releases finally starting to lose a little steam, it's starting to look like a proper August at the movies, with summer-y looking things that the studios didn't feel confident opening on big weekends, things that could bridge the summer fun/fall prestige seasons, and three separate anniversary re-releases.

• The End of Oak Street looks like it could be big, with its high concept throwing a neighborhood out of its environment and into the age of dinosaurs (or something crazier) and leaving a family headed by Anne Hathaway & Ewan McGregor in the latest from David Robert Mitchell. It's at The Capitol Theatre, Fresh Pond, West Newton, CinemaSalem, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row (including Imax Laser), and Arsenal Yards.
  
  There are more kid-friendly dinosaurs in PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie, where the pups from the Nickelodeon cartoon franchise encounter the beasts on a mysterious island. It's at the Capitol, Fresh Pond, West Newton, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards, and Chestnut Hill.
  
  The Rivals of Amziah King has been kicking around since last year but seems well-regarded, starring Matthew McConaughey as a beekeeper whose hive is stolen and must work with his foster daughter (Angelina LookingGlass) to steal it back, I think from Kurt Russell. It's at Boston Common, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Dedham Community Theatre.
  
  Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat play The Wrong Girls in a stoner comedy featuring appearances from everybody between Seth Rogen and Geena Davis, with LaKeith Stanfield's presence assuring me that it meets a certain minimum standard of weird. It's at Boston Common, the Seaport, and CinemaSalem.
  
  Nimrods (not to be confused with Idiots) opens at Boston Common and South Bay with an unknown band road-tripping cross-country to open for Green Day. The (more famous) band produces and there's some interesting folks in the cast.
  
  Tony looks like it might be good enough to make it to fall-movie season through word of mouth; it stars Dominic Sessa as a young Anthony Bourdain at loose ends in Provincetown at the age of 19, taking a job in a kitchen that will change the direction of his life. Antonio Banderas co-stars as the chef who would become his mentor. It's at the Coolidge, Boston Common, and the Seaport (including Dolby Atmos); it expands to Causeway Street and the Kendall (and likely other spots) next weekend.
  
  The trailer for The Brink of War is weird; the Angel Studios production stars Jeff Daniels as Ronald Reagan and Jared Harris as Mikhail Gorbachev, in distracting makeup, plus J.K. Simmons as George Schultz, basically coming off as J.K. Simmons. It's at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Causeway Street, and South Bay. "Inspirational" musician story Elijah Peel plays Boston Common.
  
  Six: The Musical (a presentation of the stage show rather than an adaptation) plays the Lexington Venue (Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday), West Newton (Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday), Boston Common, Causeway Street, the Seaport, South Bay, and Assembly Row. Concert film Katseye: Wild Hearts has a weekend run at Boston Common and Assembly Row through Sunday.
  
  Wet Hot American Summer gets a 25th Anniversary re-release at West Newton (through Monday), Boston Common, the Seaport, and Arsenal Yards. There are 10th anniversary shows of La La Land in Dolby Cinema at Boston Common, South Bay, Assembly Row on Sunday through Wednesday (not every day at every site). Point Break gets anniversary shows at Boston Common on Sunday & Wednesday. Tuesday is the day that the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre takes place, and as such there are special screenings at Boston Common, South Bay, and Assembly Row.
• Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma opens at The Coolidge Corner Theatre and Boston Common, with the Coolidge getting a 35mm print when it's playing on screen 2 (check showtimes). The latest by Jane Schoenbrun is another in her series of looks at media obsession, with Hannah Einbinder as a young filmmaker charged with rebooting a slasher franchise and Gillian Anderson as the original star who has been consumed by the movie.
  
  Camp Coolidge midnights this weekend include a secret "Wicked VHS" screening on Friday and Sleepaway Camp on Saturday. The Coolidge also has their annual The Big Lebowski party on Monday, midsummer stick-up screenings of Heat on Tuesday and To Catch a Thief on Wednesday, and a "Rewind!" show of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery on Thursday.
• Plenty of Indian cinema at Apple Fresh Pond and elsewhere this weekend. Vishwanath & Sons is a Tamil-language film starring Suriya as a world-class "shooter" facing a life change as age and family duties plus a new romance catch up with him; it's in Tamil at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Causeway Street; with select Telugu-language screenings at Fresh Pond. Hindi-language historical action picture Batwara 1947 plays Fresh Pond, Boston Common; 20-years-later Hindi-language crime sequel Awarapan 2 plays Fresh Pond; Agadha is a Telugu-language fantasy thriller playing late at Fresh Pond. Tamil-language crime story DC continues at Causeway Street.
  
  Train to Busan is back for its 10th anniversary at Boston Common (and not a bad way to build excitement for the director's Colony in a week or two). The August Crunchyroll anime night show on Monday is Korean high-school drama Your Letter, playing at Boston Common, the Seaport, Assembly Row.
  
  Also celebrating ten years is a Makoto Shinkai's breakout anime Your Name, returning remastered at Boston Common. The Samurai and the Prisoner continues at the Coolidge.

• The Somerville Theatre is starting to move The Odyssey downstairs to accommodate live shows & rep and probably give projectionist David Kornfeld a bit of a break, so check if the 70mm print is important to you. Among the rep is Chopping Mall for the Saturday midnight special, Jeff Rapsis accompanying Rudolph Valentino is The Son of the Sheik on Sunday, The Last Picture Shows with director Rustin Thompson on hand later Sunday, restored documentary Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films Monday & Tuesday, and a new 35mm print of The Third Man on Wednesday & Thursday.
  
  
• The Brattle Theatre has a 35mm IB Technicolor print of Oliver! for the Friday Film Matinee, and then celebrates Alfred Hitchcock's birthday with double features: Strangers on a Train & Family Plot (his final film) are both on 35mm Friday and Saturday, while Sunday pairs a 35mm print of Vertigo with Brian De Palma's homage Obsession.
  
  The vertical calendar continues to offer alien encounters to start the week, with a twin bill of Forbidden Planet & This Island Earth on Monday and The Quatermass Xperiment & It! The Terror from Beyond Space on Tuesday. The "TV Goes to the Movies" shows on Wednesday are The Insider in the afternoon & evening and a late-ish show of The Howling.
• The Seaport Alamo has late shows of Gregg Akari's Mysterious Skin Friday/Saturday/Wednesday/Tuesday, and one of Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass on Saturday in hopes that the Wet Hot American Summer rerelease has folks wondering what its makers are up to now. Jane Campion's The Piano plays on Sunday and Elaine May's A New Leaf on Tuesday, with Pure Scum for Weird Wednesday and Phantom of the Paradise for De Palma Summer on Thursday.
• The Museum of Fine Arts continues their Boston French Film Festival with The Money Maker (Friday night), The Girl in the Snow (Saturday morning), A Private Life (sold out Saturday afternoon), Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Sunday morning), and Whatever It Takes (Sunday afternoon).
• Landmark Kendall Square has Bound on Tuesday for "Art House Essentials" (dang, is it that now?) and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (the final cut) on Wednesday for "Great Scotts".
• Outdoor screenings via Joe's Free Films (and elsewhere) this week show The Straight Story at the MIT Open Space, Wicked at CambridgeSide, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie at the Hatch Shell on Friday; Zoolander at Aeronaut Brewing on Saturday, Zootopia 2 at TimeOut Market on Monday; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl at the Allston Speedway (via the Coolidge) on Wednesday, and Cars at the Charlestown Hood Park on Thursday.
• The Museum of Science has The Odyssey on the Omnimax Screen at 7pm Friday & Saturday.
• The Lexington Venue is open all week but Monday with Spider-Man, Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World, Wild Inside (no show Wednesday), and HadesTown (no show Tuesday/Wednesday), and Six: The Musical (no show Friday/Tuesday/Thursday).
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens PAW Patrol and The End of Oak Street, holding over Wild Inside, Spider-Man, The Odyssey, The Invite, and Hadestown. Wet Hot American Summer plays through Monday, while Six: The Musical plays Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday.
  
  The Dedham Community Theatre opens The Rivals of Amziah King with The Odyssey ongoing.
  
  Cinema Salem has The End of Oak Street, The Wrong Girls,Spider-Man, and The Odyssey Friday to Monday. Friday's Night Light show is Park Chan-wook's Lady Vengeance, and Saturday features both Wretched Lydia hosting Demons 2 and Teseracte Players playing along with Rocky Horror (Full Body Cast, as always, are at Boston Common), while Sunday has Josie and the Pussycats plus a concert with five local bands performing the soundtrack. The Wednesday Classic is La Strada , with Weirdo Wednesday down the hall.
  
  Horror-comedy Namaslay, parodying the western appropriation of yoga, opens at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers.

Been easy to stay in lately, but The End of Oak Street, Tony, Rivals of Amziah King, The Wrong Girls, and 35mm Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a potentially packed week before you even get to the Hitchcock and good halves of the alien-invasion double features or the Your Name and Train to Busan reissues (plus it's probably last call for Toy Story 5 and I'm not sure whether it's more odd or apt that I haven't seen that yet). Updates on my Letterboxd page, hopefully.