During the dog days of August, new book-to-screen adaptations provide welcome diversions. Watch for Kirkus’ upcoming, in-depth columns on Outlander: Blood of My Blood, a Starz spinoff prequel show based on Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling series of time-travel historical romance novels (premiering August 8), and The Thursday Murder Club, a Netflix film based on the Kirkus-starred mystery by Richard Osman and starring Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Celia Imrie (premiering August 28). Here are four other movies coming soon:

August 1: She Rides Shotgun (theatrical film premiere)

Taron Egerton first captured viewers’ attention with his portrayal of rocker Elton John in the acclaimed 2019 biopic Rocketman, but he’s equally notable in less-flashy roles, as when he played convicted drug dealer and undercover FBI operative James Keene in Black Bird, a 2022 Apple TV+ adaptation of Keene’s true-crime memoir, In with the Devil (co-written with Hillel Levin). In this new film, based on Jordan Harper’s Kirkus-starred 2017 suspense thriller, Egerton stars as Nate, an ex-con reuniting with his 11-year-old daughter, Polly, after a multiyear prison stint. As it turns out, the incarcerated leader of the Aryan Steel gang wants Nate dead, and he’s ordered his members to murder him, his ex-wife, and his daughter. After Polly’s mother is killed, Nate and the girl go on the run. Our reviewer noted the book’s “disturbingly raw violence” but also praised how “the characters’ loyalty, love, and struggle for redemption grip the reader and don’t let go.” Ana Sophia Heger (Things Heard and Seen) co-stars in this adaptation written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, who also wrote the excellent 2022 horror reboot Hellraiser.

August 8: Freakier Friday (theatrical film premiere)

Mary Rodgers’ classic 1972 middle-grade novel, Freaky Friday, follows the wild misadventures of a 13-year-old girl and her mother who inexplicably switch bodies for a day. It’s yielded multiple adaptations over the years, including a much-loved 1976 Disney film starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris, a now-forgotten 1995 TV movie with Gaby Hoffmann and Cheers’ Shelley Long, and a second theatrical film starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, which was a massive box-office hit in 2003. Lohan and Curtis return as Anna and Tess Coleman in this sequel, which ignores Rodgers’ own follow-ups: 1974’s A Billion for Boris, 1982’s Summer Switch, and 2009’s Freaky Monday(co-written with Heather Hach). Instead, it tells a new tale in which Anna and Tess switch bodies with Anna’s teenage daughter (Julia Butters) and the daughter of Anna’s fiancé (Sophia Hammons). Wackiness ensues, of course—this time helped along by new supporting players, including Manny Jacinto (The Good Place) as Anna’s betrothed and the always-entertaining Vanessa Bayer (I Love That for You) as a fortune teller.

August 15: Night Always Comes (film premiere, Netflix)

This movie version of Willy Vlautin’s Kirkus-starred 2021 novel, The Night Always Comes, stars Vanessa Kirby, who’s had a diverse career that’s included lively action films (such as 2023’s Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One and the just-released The Fantastic Four: First Steps) and quiet, intense dramas (2020’s The World to Come and Pieces of a Woman, for which she received an Oscar nomination). Her latest performance draws on both modes, as she plays Lynette, a troubled Oregon woman with an irresponsible mother and a developmentally challenged brother. When Lynette finds herself desperate for cash, it sets her on a grim quest to collect money she’s owed from shady characters—and she’s willing to do whatever it takes. This film also features a very promising supporting cast, including Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lynette’s mom and Zack Gottsagen (The Peanut Butter Falcon) as her brother, as well as Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk), Julia Fox (Uncut Gems), and Eli Roth of Hostel fame.

August 29: Caught Stealing (theatrical film premiere)

Kirkus’ reviewer described Charlie Huston’s 2004 debut crime thriller as delivering “blood in buckets, bodies in heaps. But the dialogue’s fresh, and the pages turn.” All these elements, including the breakneck pacing, seem to have transferred intact to this Darren Aronofsky–directed film adaptation, set in 1990s New York City. It stars Austin Butler (Elvis) as Hank Thompson, a bartender who was once a promising baseball player. He agrees to cat-sit for a shady acquaintance named Russ when the latter leaves town for a few days; while he’s gone, Hank unwillingly finds himself entangled in a dangerous situation involving brutal gangsters and a large cache of cash. The trailer promises a frenetically entertaining watch that calls to mind ’90s crime films such as Trainspotting and Pulp Fiction. The cast includes many fine actors, including Doctor Who’s Matt Smith, Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Liev Schrieber, Vincent D’Onofrio, and the great Carol Kane.

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.