The sweltering dog days of summer will soon be upon us in the northern hemisphere, and that means one thing: staying indoors with the fans blasting, curtains drawn, with one of the best streaming services pulled up on the TV.
While the cost of paying for every single streamer continues to steadily mount, with increased subscriptions biting deep into wallets everywhere, you can of course opt-out. Or, as it’s known now; subscription hopping. Instead of holding subscriptions to every platform, pick and choose each month depending on what’s available.
To help you figure out at least one of those, I’ve combed through the listings to see what’s hot and what’s not, and for August 2025? Hulu is toasty.
Why I want a Hulu subscription in August 2025
I love Hulu. It’s a platform I tend to keep *most* months due to its relationships with a lot of networks. Lots of current series drop weekly episodes on the platform from the likes of ABC, NBC, Fox, FX, CBS, and AMC and those same networks offer a glut of classic TV series, too.
So, before we’re even contemplating the newer offerings for August, I’m happy with comfort watches like 2000s soap opera supreme, Desperate Housewives and classic comedy, Golden Girls.
For this month, Hulu is adding a whopping 104 new movies and 68 TV shows, but for me there is only one.
Yep, it’s Alien: Earth. I’ve remained cautiously optimistic about this show since it was first announced, even outlining lessons it could learn from Prometheus a few years back. This FX series hails from Fargo‘s Noah Hawley, and I could not be happier to see the return of the acid-blooded beasties in his hands. While Alien Romulus fell short for me, I hold out hope that this first small-screen foray into the world of Weyland-Yutani will remedy that.
Based on the tidbits released so far, the show takes place almost entirely….on earth, and delves into the history of the corporation behind the cinematic franchise. We’ll meet the Yutani side of the business and discover an earth that’s ripe with cyborgs, synthetics, and the newly-developed hybrids which combine human consciousness and humanoid robots. Oh, and the xenomorphs, of course. This reworking of the franchise sounds, on the surface, to be purposefully steering away from the Ripley-era of Alien – as the FX chief himself has stated – and focusing on a new cast of characters and environs. While that may be the case, I suspect the show will pack in plenty of easter eggs for die-hards.
The show premieres on Hulu (US) on August 12 and Disney+ (UK and Australia) with a two-episode drop, followed by single episodes each week. I cannot wait. Ahead of its release, you can catch up with the entire Alien film series also on Hulu and see how they stack up in my ranking of the franchise.
Elsewhere, the streamer boasts a slew of highly-rated movies this month and starts off August strong with quite the volume of feel-good comedy gold. 10 Things I Hate About You, Coyote Ugly (which just turned 25?!), The Devil Wears Prada, Old School, Practical Magic, The Proposal, Raising Arizona… the list goes on. This is the perfect line-up for the end of summer and they’re all streaming now.
If you like your comedy bite-sized, then a title deserving of all the rewatches is of course Mike Judge and Greg Daniel’s King of The Hill. Not only are all 13 original seasons streaming but the 14th season set in the present day dropped August 4.
As we head toward spooky season, you might want more genre-tinged vibes, and in that case, you’re also in luck. August 1 finds Ready or Not joining the lineup as the sequel lands in cinemas next spring. Plenty of horror fans may need a refresher on the Radio Silence original before April. Also dropping at the start of the month are a couple of modern demonic possession flicks that are well worth a rewatch: Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
On the newer front, is Oz Perkins’ blood-splattered The Monkey, which is the best Final Destination movie that’s not a Final Destination movie, due to drop August 7. August 29 sees the release of Hell of A Summer, a camp-set slasher directed by and starring Stranger Things‘ Finn Wolfhard. What’s not to be excited for this month?
…and why I’m waving bye bye to Prime Video
Look, it’s not dire straits over on Prime Video this month. Among its new line up for August, there lie a few gems. 30 Rock and Hannibal – two of the best TV shows ever made – are joining the roster, but what about NEW titles?
That’s my rub with Prime Video. There’s seldom any must-see new offerings that warrant a subscription fee. If you didn’t catch Wolf Man during its stint on Peacock, maybe hold onto Prime Video? But I’d wait to see if that remains in September, when they might hopefully add some more exciting accompanying titles.
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