Every month, all the major streaming services add a host of newly acquired (or just plain new) shows, movies, and documentaries into their ever-rotating libraries. So what’s a dedicated reader to watch? Well, whatever you want, of course, but the name of this website is Literary Hub, so we sort of have an angle. To that end, here’s a selection of the best (and most enjoyably bad) literary film and TV coming to streaming services this month. Have fun.
NEW:
My Oxford Year
Netflix, August 1
Literary bona fides: based on Julia Whelan’s My Oxford Year (2018)
Celebrated audiobook narrator Julia Whelan also writes novels; her debut, My Oxford Year, is a romance in which an American woman finally gets to live her dream of studying at (you guessed it) Oxford, but there’s a ticking clock—her real future awaits at the end of the year. Will her hot English literature professor derail everything? Probably!
Outlander: Blood Of My Blood
Starz, August 8
Literary bona fides: based on the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon (1991-2021)
Outlander is the gift that keeps on giving. The proper series adaptation of Gabaldon’s beloved books is still ticking, with season 8 slated for 2026, and also fans will now be treated to this prequel series, which concerns Jamie and Claire’s parents. For those who must know everything.
Butterfly
Prime Video, August 13
Literary bona fides: based on Butterfly by Arash Amel and Marguerite Bennett, illustrated by Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone (2015)
Daniel Dae Kim stars in and executive produces this spy thriller based on a graphic novel, in which a former US intelligence operative living in South Korea finds his past coming back to haunt him; for extra literary oomph, novelist Steph Cha is listed as co-creator along with Ken Woodruff.
Night Always Comes
Netflix, August 15
Literary bona fides: based on Willy Vlautin’s The Night Always Comes (2021)
Vanessa Kirby and Jennifer Jason Leigh star in this harrowing-looking adaptation of Vlautin’s novel, which follows a Portland woman desperate to find the money she needs to keep living in her own home—and fast.
The Thursday Murder Club
Netflix, August 28
Literary bona fides: based on Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club (2020)
Chris Columbus has adapted Osman’s beloved, bestselling debut—in which a group of retirees who amuse themselves solving cold cases inevitably turn their sights on some more contemporary local murders—into a film, and populated it with a delightful roster of sleuths, with Ben Kingsley, Dame Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie, and Pierce Brosnan in the principal roles. Should be fun.
THROWBACK:
Scarface (1983)
Hulu, Peacock, August 1
Literary bona fides: based on a 1932 movie, which was based on Armitage Trail’s Scarface (1930)
The novel on which Brian De Palma’s classic crime movie was based was a fictionalization of the life of Al Capone (whose nickname was “Scarface”), though you’d be forgiven for not remembering that—De Palma moves the action from Chicago to Miami and gives us a whole new Al: Al Pacino, in one of his most iconic roles.
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Hulu, August 1
Literary bona fides: based on Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress (1990)
This adaptation of Mosley’s first “Easy” Rawlins novel (his debut!) brings the people what they want: ’90s Denzel. Also ’90s Don Cheadle and ’90s Jennifer Beale, of course.
Clueless (1995)
Netflix, August 1
Literary bona fides: based on Jane Austen’s Emma (1815)
Still the best Jane Austen adaptation of all time.
Practical Magic (1998)
Hulu, August 1
Literary bona fides: based on Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic (1995)
Okay, it’s not really Practical Magic season yet, but it is Midnight Margarita season. You know what to do!
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Hulu, August 1
Literary bona fides: based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (c. 1592)
As this list makes clear, I miss the ’90s (at least when it comes to the literary adaptations). This one might be my actual favorite, though.
She’s All That (1999)
Peacock, August 1
Literary bona fides: based (sort of) on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (1913)
Another movie, another barely logical dating bet. This movie is probably going to feel problematic in 2025, but um, so does Pygmalion. To make us feel better about it, we’ve got peak Freddie Prinze Jr., Usher, and That Dance Sequence. They don’t make ’em like they used to.
Adaptation (2002)
Paramount +, August 1
Literary bona fides: based on Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief
No shade to Susan Orlean, but Adaptation leads our list of movies that are better than the books they’re based on.”It’s a hysterical and bizarre movie, upsetting and strange,” writes Emily Firetog. “It reminds us that books are not movies and movies are not books, and to create one based on the other is to reimagine something that never existed in the first place.”
The Friend (2024)
Paramount +, August 1
Literary bona fides: based on Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend (2018)
Watch for the Lit Hub cameo (and the dog).
