Ongoing Season 2 of House of the Dragon (new episodes drop every Monday at 3am) isn’t the only thing bringing the heat to streaming service Showmax this July. It’s an especially strong month for blockbuster movies making their small-screen debut, as well as many modern classics joining the Showmax library.
You can find absolutely everything coming to Showmax in July here. Below are our curated top picks for the month in the categories of Series, Film and Documentary.
Series
We’ve been looking forward to dark political satire The Regime, which comes packed with star power and filmmaking prestige. Oscar winner Kate Winslet stars as the autocratic ruler of a fictional modern European nation, seeking to maintain power even as things start to crumble around her. Created by The Menu and Succession’s Will Tracy and directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Jessica Hobbs (The Crown), The Regime’s cast also includes Andrea Riseborough, Hugh Grant and Martha Plimpton.
Binge all six episodes of limited series The Regime from Monday, 15 July.
Similarly offbeat, and starring an Oscar winner, is The Curse. In this acclaimed black comedy thriller, a newlywed couple (Poor Things’ Emma Stone and show co-creator Nathan Fielder) attempt to bring their vision for eco-conscious housing to the small struggling community of Española, New Mexico, with their efforts turned into a reality show by producer Dougie (other co-creator Benny Safdie). Making their problematic plan worse, they find themselves apparently cursed by the locals.
Catch all 10 episodes of The Curse from Monday, 22 July.
Films
Jason Statham in The Beekeeper (watch from Monday, 8 July). Joel Edgerton in Master Gardener (Thursday, 18 July). But if we had to pick one tough guy action thriller for July, we’re going to go with Silent Night, which marks the Hollywood return of action master John (Face/Off, Mission: Impossible 2) Woo. In this nearly dialogue-free film, Joel Kinnaman plays a father who loses his son, and his own voice, to gang crossfire on Christmas Eve. In response, the grieving everyman makes vengeance his mission.
Stream Silent Night from Monday, 22 July.
On the opposite end of the genre spectrum there’s this year’s Mean Girls remake… with a difference. You see, this razor-sharp teen comedy is a musical, adapting the stage play based on Tina Fey’s 2004 scripted film. Fey is back here as well, on and behind the camera, as audiences revisit the story of new high school student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice), who’s welcomed to the top of the social hierarchy by popular girls known as “The Plastics”… until she falls for the ex of queen bee Regina (Reneé Rapp).
Watch the new Mean Girls from today, Monday, 1 July.
Scratching a spiky romantic comedy itch this month is Anyone But You, a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, with up-and-coming stars Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, The White Lotus) and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man). The impossibly good-looking actors play Bea and Ben, a couple who dated once but saw their connection sour. When they’re thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia they pretend to be a couple for very different reasons.
Stream Anyone But You from Monday, 15 July.
It’s the school holidays, and Showmax has two new movie options for younger audiences. Streaming from Sunday, 14 July is animated adventure Migration, from the makers of Despicable Me, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets.
Then, there’s action-packed DC superhero tale, Blue Beetle. Xolo Maridueña stars as the title character as well as his alter ego, Jaime Reyes, a college graduate struggling to find his place in the world. Fate intervenes when an ancient relic of alien biotechnology, the Scarab, chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host. Suddenly Jaime can summon an incredible suit of armor with unpredictable powers, which puts him in the crosshairs of some very dangerous enemies. Also with Susan Sarandon and George Lopez.
Watch Blue Beetle from today, Monday, 1 July
Documentaries
Our most highly anticipated documentary for the month is a local true crime expose that comes from the makers of Devilsdorp and Tracking Thabo Bester. Four-part School Ties confronts the grooming and sexual abuse of learners in some of South Africa’s most prestigious boys’ schools, unravelling the trauma endured by victims and the culture of silence that allows this to happen, as well as the responses of authorities, schools, and society at large.
Covered are the suicide of 16-year-old Thomas Kruger at St Andrew’s College; how a former Parktown Boys’ High School educator normalised violent and sexual behaviour; Julio Mordoh’s suicide a decade after allegedly being abused by his school sports coach; and a police investigation into a ring of school authorities accused of sex offences.
Binge School Ties from Saturday, 13 July.