The 10 Best Movies in Theaters Right Now (2024)

The final days of August 2024 are bringing more movies for different audiences, and these, along with this month's biggest releases and some of July's most popular ones, 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.

August brought some exciting movies from different genres, such as M. Night Shyamalan's Trap, Eli Roth's Borderlands adaptation, the latest entry in the Alien franchise, the drama It Ends With Us, a new take on The Crow, and the thriller Blink Twice, among others. Now, closing August and preparing for the spooky season, are a biographical drama about a former US President, a sci-fi thriller, a sci-fi horror movie with a well-known premise, and a family sports drama based on a true story.

10 Reagan

Reagan was released on August 30, 2024

Reagan is a biographical drama movie directed by Sean McNamara. Based on the 2006 book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, by Paul Kengor, Reagan explores Ronald Reagan’s life from his childhood to his time as President of the United States. Reagan is told through a conversation between former KGB agents Andrew Novikov and Viktor Ivanov, whose lives became linked with Reagan’s after he caught the Soviets’ attention during his time as a Hollywood actor.

9 Afraid

Afraid was released on August 30, 2024

Afraid is a sci-fi horror film written and directed by Chris Weitz. Afraid follows Curtis Pike and his family, who are chosen to test a new smart home AI called AIA. Once it’s all installed at home, AIA learns all the behaviors of the Pile family and begins to actively participate in their needs. However, AIA starts to develop self-awareness, and it becomes a bit too involved in the lives of the Pikes, interfering with their daily activities and more.

8 Slingshot

Slingshot was released on August 30, 2024

Slingshot is a sci-fi psychological thriller by Mikael Håfström. It’s the story of John, an astronaut who wakes up from a hibernation cycle on the spacecraft Odyssey 1. John and his crew are on their way to Saturn’s moon, Titan, on a mission to collect different natural resources, so they have multiple awake/sleep cycles. However, on one of his awakenings, John finds that their mission might be compromised and he and his crew are in great danger, so he struggles to maintain his grip on reality during this chaotic event.

7 You Gotta Believe

You Gotta Believe was released on August 30, 2024

You Gotta Believe is a family sports film directed by Ty Roberts. You Gotta Believe is the story of a Little League baseball team of outcasts who dedicate their season to the ailing father of one of their players. The team ends up making it all the way to the 2002 Little League World Series finals, and the game became a record-breaking showdown and an instant ESPN classic.

6 The Crow

The Crow was released on August 23, 2024

The Crow is a superhero movie directed by Rupert Sanders and based on James O’Barr’s 1989 comic book of the same name. The Crow follows Eric, a musician who, along with his fiancée Shelly, is brutally murdered by the henchmen of demonic crime lord Vincent Roeg. Some time later, Eric is brought back to life by a crow, which guides him on his quest to avenge his and Shelly’s deaths, with the chance to save her by sacrificing himself – all this while also giving him some extra powers, such as immediate healing and enhanced strength.

5 Blink Twice

Blink Twice was released on August 23, 2024

Blink Twice

4.5

R

Director

Zoe Kravitz

Release Date

August 23, 2024

Cast

Naomi Ackie , Channing Tatum , Christian Slater , Simon Rex , Adria Arjona , Kyle MacLachlan , Haley Joel Osment , Geena Davis , Alia Shawkat , Levon Hawke , Trew Mullen , Saul Williams , Liz Caribel Sierra , Cris Costa , Julian Sedgwick

Runtime

102 Minutes

Blink Twice is a thriller directed by Zoë Kravitz in her directorial debut. It’s the story of Frida, a co*cktail waitress who meets tech billionaire Slater King at a fundraising gala. To her surprise, Frida and Slater immediately bond, and she becomes infatuated with him, so she agrees to travel with him to his private island for a luxurious party. Once there, Frida meets Slater’s friends, but what starts as a great time gradually becomes a nightmare as more and more strange things happen around her, making Frida question her reality.

You can read Screen Rant’s Blink Twice review here.

4 Strange Darling

Strange Darling was released on August 23, 2024

Strange Darling is a thriller written and directed by JT Mollner. Strange Darling takes the audience into a one-night stand that takes a twisted turn when The Lady asks a simple but important question to her date: “are you a serial killer?”. What follows is a cat-and-mouse thriller following what could be the last moments of The Lady and her dangerous date.

3 Alien: Romulus

Alien: Romulus was released on August 16, 2024

Alien: Romulus

3.5

R

Director

Fede Alvarez

Release Date

August 16, 2024

Cast

Cailee Spaeny , David Jonsson , Archie Renaux , Isabela Merced , Spike Fearn , Aileen Wu , Rosie Ede , Soma Simon , Bence Okeke , Viktor Orizu , Robert Bobroczkyi , Trevor Newlin , Annemarie Griggs , Daniel Betts

Franchise(s)

Alien

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.

2 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.

1 Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool & Wolverine was released on July 26, 2024

4.0

R

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

prequel(s)

Deadpool , Deadpool 2

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 here.