From Oscar-winning movies to arguably the hottest new medical drama in years, Showmax is treating home viewers in the last few weeks of winter. Below, we’ve singled our our recommendations for August, but if you want to explore further, you can find the month’s full release schedule here.

Series

Fans of Yellowstone will likely be thrilled that prequel series 1923, which stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, returns with its second season from Wednesday, 6 August, when you can binge all eight episodes. Apart for that highly anticipated returnee, these are the newbie series on Showmax:

Considered by many to a spiritual successor to ER (it comes from the executive producer of that series and The West Wing), The Pitt sees Noah Wyle back in emergency room scrubs as Dr Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, who is in the middle of a harrowing 15-hour shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, also known as The Pitt. Fifteen hours, fifteen episodes, you get the idea. The Pitt surged to sit among HBO Max’s most watched shows ever, and is up for 13 Emmy Awards this year.

Catch The Pitt S1 on Showmax every Tuesday from 12 August. It’s also on M-Net on Mondays at 9pm from 11 August.

On the homegrown drama front, there’s Queen Modjadji, which straddles the line between history and legend. Featuring loads of Game of Thrones-esque intrigue and family politics, this epic Mzansi Magic period piece is inspired by the legendary rainmaker, the first Queen Modjadji, whose bloodline has ruled Southern Africa’s Lobedu clan in Limpopo for centuries. Makoma Mohale and Ngele Ramulondi play the title character, who emerged as a prophetic figure many believed was sent to save a struggling kingdom.

Binge all of Queen Modjadji S1 from Monday, 4 August.

1923 isn’t the only series returning to Showmax in August. Express from the US, local superhero fans can catch eight-episode Season 2 of Peacemaker, starring John Cena, which continues the story kicked off with DC Comics ensemble The Suicide Squad. This season, the misguided vigilante struggles to reconcile his past with his newfound sense of purpose. Filmmaker James Gunn is back behind the camera too, writing all episodes (again) and directing three of the new set.

Watch episodes of Peacemaker Season 2 on Mondays from 25 August.

Film

Showmax’s August schedule includes loads of new movies beyond the four we’ve singled out below. If you missed it in cinemas and are keen to form your own opinion of maligned sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, that film arrives on 18 August. Alternatively, for more mainstream thrills, check out Flight Risk, starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace, from Monday, 25 August.

As for more “prestige” cinema, there’s acclaimed World War II drama and biopic Lee. Kate Winslet plays real-life photographer Elizabeth “Lee” Miller, a model who became a war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II, defying expectation and putting her life on the line to capture the horrors of the European front. Winslet appears alongside an unexpectedly serious Andy Samberg, as well as Marion Cotillard, Alexander Skarsgård and Josh O’Connor.

Stream Lee from Monday, 11 August.

MaXXXine wraps up Ti West and A24’s incredibly well-received X Trilogy, already comprising retro horror films X and Pearl. Set in 1980s Hollywood, MaXXXine sees adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) finally get her big break. However, that change in fortune aligns with the emergence of a vicious killer, and figures who have knowledge of Maxine’s troubled past. MaXXXine comes with some serious star power as the film features the likes of Elizabeth Debicki, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Sophie Thatcher and even Halsey in supporting roles.

Stream MaXXXine for the first time in South Africa from Thursday, 14 August.

Romantic drama Anora started its release run by winning the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024. Over 150 awards later, earlier this year it picked up Best Picture at the Oscars, along with four other Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Mikey Madison. In Pretty Woman-esque Anora, the title character is a streetwise stripper who meets and impulsively marries the young son of a Russian oligarch. Their bliss is threatened when his parents set out to have the marriage annulled.

Stream Anora from Friday, 22 August.

It feels like Nosferatu was just in cinemas, but as of this month you can watch the Gothic Horror at home on Showmax. The VVitch and The Northman filmmaker Robert Eggers directs the likes of Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult and Willem Dafoe in this Oscar-nominated remake of the seminal Silent Era film, which oozes style and unsettling atmosphere. The story? Heavily based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a fragile woman is haunted by the monstrous vampire obsessed with her, and is drawing ever nearer.

Stream Nosferatu from Thursday, 28 August.

Documentaries

Joining the ranks of intimate, film industry-centred documentaries like Super/Man: The Christoper Reeve Story (also on Showmax as of last month) is My Mom Jayne, centred on 50s and 60s sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, a contemporary of Marilyn Monrore. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s Mariska Hargitay directs and stars in this documentary film where the actress embarks on a journey to discover the mother she never knew – and reclaim Mansfield’s story beyond being simply a “blonde bombshell”.

Stream My Mom Jayne from Wednesday, 6 August.