Best Movies Streaming in August 2023: Super Mario, Guardians Vol. 3

By Zack Sharf

Digital News Director

As the summer movie season winds down in theaters this month, streaming is heating up as some of Hollywood’s biggest movies of 2023 make their debuts on various platforms. Families are in luck as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” arrives on Peacock after becoming a box office sensation in the spring with over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. It was the first movie of 2023 to reach that box office milestone. Marvel fans are also in luck as James Gunn’s acclaimed “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” arrives on Disney+ after an $845 million run at the box office this summer.

Netflix, meanwhile, is hoping to compete with these blockbuster titles by releasing its latest potential franchise-starter with “Heart of Stone,” a star vehicle for Gal Gadot. The espionage thriller aims to be Netflix’s next “The Grey Man.” Gadot already has one of Netflix’s most popular movies thanks to “Red Notice,” which co-starred Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson.

While Peacock has yet to announce the arrival of “Fast X,” the latest entry in the “Fast and Furious” franchise is also likely to hit streaming this month after completing its theatrical window. Below are the best new films to streaming in August.

Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was the first box office sensation of 2023, grossing $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office. The film features the voices of Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Jack Black and Anya-Taylor Joy and follows Mario as he ventures into the Mushroom Kingdom and other worlds on a mission to save his brother, Luigi. Variety critic Owen Gleiberman named the film a Critic’s Pick, writing, “It’s the rare video game movie that gives you a prankish video-game buzz…The film takes full advantage of the sculptural liquid zap of the computer-animation medium. Yet it also has a fairy-tale story that’s good enough to get you onto its wavelength.”

Although Marvel stumbled earlier this year with “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” flopping at the box office, leave it to James Gunn and his Guardians to put things back on track. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” was a box office hit with $845 million worldwide, and it was also a critical favorite as Gunn brought his beloved trilogy to a heartwarming conclusion. The film follows the Guardians as they set out to save Rocket Raccoon from his evil maker, the villainous High Evolutionary. From Variety’s review: “James Gunn brings the underdog superhero trilogy to a satisfying close…At a jam-packed, planet-hopping 150 minutes, it also feels less like a conventional moviegoing experience than the endorphin rush that comes from waiting years for the next season of your favorite TV series, then binge-watching all the new episodes in a single sitting.

Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” is debuting exclusively on Peacock this month after earning a healthy $27.7 million at the domestic box office this summer. The Focus Features release world premiered to mixed reviews at the Cannes Film Festival but Anderson’s passionate fanbase turned up in droves to theaters to see the ensemble comedy-drama. The film is set in a desert town forced into quarantine after an alien makes contact with the townspeople. Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzmann, Tom Hanks, Maya Rudolph, Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Hope Davis, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum and Margot Robbie make up the ensemble cast, among many others.

Gal Gadot is going from superhero to super spy in Netflix’s action-packed espionage thriller “Heart of Stone,” which is the streamer’s big original offering of August. Directed by Tom Harper from a script by Greg Rucka and Allison Schroeder, “Heart of Stone” stars Gadot as an international intelligence agent hired by a peacekeeping organization to keep a mysterious object safe from the wrong hands. Stone is joined in the film by Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, Sophie Okonedo and Matthias Schweighöfer. The film’s trailer showed off several high-stakes action set pieces, including a motorcycle chase through the Alps and a car chase through the streets of Lisbon. Gadot was also seen flying through the air twice — first, paragliding off a snowy embankment and later, doing some extreme skydiving.

Netflix’s biggest family offering of the month is the animated adventure “The Monkey King,” in which a stick-wielding monkey teams up with a young girl to battle demons, dragons and gods during an epic quest for immortality. The animated tentpole comes from actor and director Stephen Chow, best known for films such as “Kung Fu Hustle” and “Shaolin Soccer,” and features a voice cast that includes Jimmy O. Yang as The Monkey King and Bowen Yang as the Dragon King, plus Jo Koy, Stephanie Hsu and BD Wong. “The Monkey King” is based on Wu Cheng’en’s classic novel “Journey to the West,” published in the 1600s during the Ming Dynasty.

Before Sofia Coppola returns to the festival circuit this year with her A24-backed “Priscilla” (which premieres at the Venice Film Festival and is the centerpiece screening of the New York Film Festival), make sure to stream her Oscar winner “Lost in Translation” on Netflix. Bill Murray plays a washed up Hollywood movie star who arrives in Tokyo to film whiskey advertisements and befriends a young college graduate staying at his hotel (Scarlett Johansson). Murray was Oscar nominated for his performance, while Coppola won the Academy Award for best original screenplay. From Variety’s review: “A reflection on the way alienating environments can throw unlikely people together and forge unexpected, intense relationships, this teasing seductive drama displays perceptiveness and maturity.”

Paul King is taking the reins of a major studio tentpole as the director of Warner Bros.’ “Wonka,” starring Timothée Chalamet, but that gig wouldn’t have been possible without the breakout success of his “Paddington” movies. The first installment in the “Paddington” franchise comes to Netflix this month. Ben Whishaw voices the eponymous bear, who travels to London from the jungles of Peru in search of a new home. The film’s live-action cast includes Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi and Nicole Kidman. From Variety’s review: “’Harry Potter’ producer David Heyman scores again with a bright, breezy big-screen debut for the beloved literary bear.”

Directed by Emmy and BAFTA nominee Emma Cooper (“The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes”), Netflix’s upcoming documentary “Depp v. Heard” puts the testimonies of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard side by side in order to get to the truth behind the libel trial that dominated Hollywood news in 2022. The film also explores the social media fallout that ensued as Heard become a target of online harassment. Depp sued Heard for an op-ed she wrote in which she put in writing that she was “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Depp claimed Heard’s phrasing caused damage to his career and reputation. The jury ultimately ruled more in Depp’s favor, saying that Heard defamed him in the op-ed.

Spider-Man finally web-slinged onto Disney+ in April with the debuts of Tobey Maguire’s trilogy of “Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2” and “Spider-Man 3,” plus Andrew Garfield’s “The Amazing Spider-Man.” These films were the first batch of Sony-owned superhero movies to debut on the Disney streamer. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man then made his Disney+ debut when “Spider-Man: Homecoming” arrived May 12. Now even more Spider-Man is coming to Disney+ with the launch of Garfield’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” a polarizing superhero movie to say the least. The financial disappointment of the film led Sony to boot Garfield from the role and team up with Disney to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (hello, Tom Holland), but it’s arrival on Disney+ is still a cause for celebration as the streamer is now home to even more Spider-Man movie history.

Greta Gerwig is one of the biggest names in Hollywood right now thanks to “Barbie,” so here’s hoping the blockbuster success of her new comedy leads people to discover some of her wonderful indie efforts. Case in point: “Maggie’s Plane,” writer-director Rebecca Miller’s romantic dramedy starring Gerwig as a woman who is ready to have a baby on her own but ends up falling for a married man (Ethan Hawke) at the same time. From Variety’s review: “‘Maggie’s Plan’ is nicely crafted on all levels, from Sabine Hoffman’s brisk editorial pace and Sam Levy’s warm lensing palate to just-right design contributions…Gerwig’s dithering soft edges keep Maggie likable, even when her actions seem ill judged or just not very smart. Hawke likewise renders sympathetic another hapless, roguish man boy — this actor’s specialty — who keeps requiring women to ‘save’ him, then comes to resent the intervention.”

When it comes to big dumb August comedies, “We’re the Millers” is as close to perfect as you can get. The 2013 comedy earned $270 million worldwide amid a boom of R-rated comedies and the star power of Jennifer Aniston. She plays a stripper who teams up with a local pot dealer (Jason Sudeikis) to smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border in order to get a huge pay day. The duo convince their neighbors (Emma Roberts and Will Poulter) to pose as their children, and they all assume the role of a loving family on a road trip in order not to look suspicious. It’s vulgar, it’s ridiculous and it’s constantly funny.

IFC Films’ micro-budget horror film “Skinamarink” was an indie box office sensation earlier this year, grossing nearly $2 million at the domestic box office. It originally debuted on streaming in February via horror platform Shudder, but now it becomes available to stream at no extra cost for Amazon Prime Video subscribers. Directed by Kyle Edward Ball, the film centers on two children who wake up one night and discover their parents are missing and all the exits to their home no longer exist. Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman called the film “terrifying” in his review, adding, “It’s a demanding but visionary chiller that’s like a demon puzzle lit by a cathode-ray tube.” He named it one of the best films of 2023 so far.

A woman goes crazy on a remote 1970s island in gloriously psychedelic 16mm in Mark Jenkin’s folk horror movie “Enys Men.” From Variety’s review: “There are references to bygone British cult classics like ‘The Wicker Man’ and ‘The Blood on Satan’s Claw.’ There’s a definite ‘Don’t Look Now’ homage in the eye-popping bright red of the woman’s raincoat. There’s even a little Kubrickian ‘You have always been the caretaker’ vibe to some of the later twists, while Robert Eggers’ ‘The Lighthouse’ provides a more recent touchpoint for the people-going-crazy-with-isolation-on-an-island subgenre.”

“Argentine director Damian Szifon’s first English-language feature is an investigative thriller that’s expertly handled,” reads Variety’s review of “To Catch a Killer.” The film stars Shailene Woodley as a young Baltimore cop who is recruited by the FBI to track down a serial killer. The supporting cast includes Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo and Ralph Ineson. The review adds: “The film is the screen equivalent of a page-turner: a solid investigative procedural that breaks no new ground, but delivers sufficient suspense, character interest and action in confident fashion.”

Daniel Goldhaber’s buzzy climate change action thriller “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” centers on eight individuals who come together to perform the eponymous act at two locations in the name of climate activism. The indie features an ensemble cast that includes Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane, Jayme Lawson, Marcus Scribner, Jake Weary and Irene Bedard. From Variety’s review: “Whether their actions constitute ‘eco-terrorism’ and whether violence of any kind is ever justifiable in the service of progress are questions Daniel Goldhaber’s sophomore feature duly grapples with…It’s a strong, straightforward drama-cum-thriller about a divisive topic.”

A 10th “Saw” movie is on the way next month, featuring the return of franchise veteran Tobin Bell, so it’s fitting that Prime Video is making the first six “Saw” movies available to stream this month. Horror fans will want to catch up on the series ahead of “Saw X,” as the franchise is known for constantly twisting its ongoing mythology. The James Wan-directed original may still remain the series’ high point. Variety called the original a “crude concoction” and “a noisy, nasty feature debut” for Wan, who went on to direct blockbuster horror films such as “Insidious” and “The Conjuring.”

Prime Video’s upcoming political romance “Red, White & Royal Blue,” starring “The Kissing Booth” breakout Taylor Zakhar Perez and “Purple Hearts” actor Nicholas Galitzine, could be the streamer’s biggest original movie of the summer. The film is based on the hugely popular 2019 novel by Casey McQuiston and centers on the expected romance between the sons of the U.S. president and the British king. The two are enemies from across the pond, but an unexpected bond forms when they’re forced together to make peace on behalf of their parents. Alongside Perez and Galitzine, “Red, White & Royal Blue” also stars Uma Thurman, Stephen Fry, Sarah Shahi, Ellie Bamber, Clifton Collins Jr., Rachel Hilson and Thomas Flynn.

After making it streaming debut on Peacock in April, Elizabeth Bank’s gory comedy “Cocaine Bear” arrives on Prime Video this month at no extra cost to subscribers. The movie cooked up $85 million at the worldwide box office earlier this year, making it a spring hit for Universal Pictures following the studio’s early 2023 horror blockbuster “M3gan.” Inspired by a true story, “Cocaine Bear” follows several characters as they come face to face with a grizzly bear who consumed pounds of cocaine during a drug deal gone wrong. From Variety’s review: “Elizabeth Banks’ coked-up-bear-as-slasher comedy is better than ‘Snakes on a Plane.’ And we’re already cued to watch it as a wilderness thriller crossed with ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’….The line on ‘Cocaine Bear’ is that it’s so nutty, so luridly preposterous, so WTF-are-we-watching? that it’s all but irresistible.”

The box office returns on Paramount’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” were so-so, but the reviews were surprisingly strong for the Chris Pine-starring fantasy tentpole. Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, “Honor Among Thieves” stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith and Sophia Lillis as a group of bandits and con artists who team up to steal a fantastical relic from one of their former members. From Variety’s review: “The film turns pop-fantasy derivativeness into its own form of fun…There’s an intricacy to the staging of ‘Honor Among Thieves’ that helps balance out the roller-coaster derivativeness of the plot.”

‘There’s Something About Mary’ co-director Bobby Farrelly casts “White Men Can’t Jump” favorite Woody Harrelson as a prickly basketball coach for a team of disabled players in the well-intentioned sports comedy “Champions.” Harrelson’s character is a minor league basketball coach whose legal troubles land him with a court order to coach a Special Olympics team for 90 days. The film was a modest spring hit for Focus Features with nearly $20 million worldwide. “Had it come out three decades earlier, ‘Champions’ would have almost certainly been the feel-good film of 1993,” reads Variety’s review. “But as a whole, the movie makes memorable, three-dimensional characters of its players, and that’s a start.”

Sarah Polley won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay with “Women Talking,” which centers on the abused women of an isolated Mennonite community who gather to vote on whether they will stay in the colony or leave for a new home. Reviews were stellar for the movie and the awards buzz was strong, but “Women Talking” barely made it past the $5 million mark at the domestic box office and never cracked $10 million worldwide. Hopefully the film’s arrival on Prime Video this month brings it more eyeballs. Variety film critic Peter Debruge hailed “Women Talking” as a “powerful act of nonviolent protest” and a “tough, uncompromising drama.”