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:

Time and Water (streaming debut)
Disney+ / Hulu, August 1

Literary bona fides: concerning Icelandic poet and writer Andri Snær Magnason

In Sara Dosa’s documentary, Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason (who has both a book and a TED talk with nearly the same title) unpacks his family’s history and relationship to his homeland’s diminishing glaciers, through family photographs, films, and ephemera, along with traditional Icelandic songs and folktales. A film both intimate and epic.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, Part 2
Netflix, August 5

Literary bona fides: based on One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)

Gabriel García Márquez’s beloved family epic finally made it to the small screen in 2024, despite being notoriously unfilmable. That—part 1—was a remarkably faithful, gorgeous adaptation, so there’s no reason to think that the second half, plus the “grand finale” being saved for August 26, will be any different.

The Shards
Hulu, August 5

Literary bona fides: based on The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis (2023)

It’s only surprising it’s taken this long for Ryan Murphy to adapt one of Ellis’s books. “I’ve always loved, borderline worshiped, Bret’s work,” he told Vogue. “We’re pretty much the same age, and I grew up with [his books]. He’s interested in the things I’m interested in.” In this case: privileged teenagers at an elite prep school in 1980s Los Angeles, serial killers, and well, since the book is not only a work of horror but also a work of autofiction, Bret Easton Ellis himself.

The Last Sunrise
Prime Video, August 26

Literary bona fides: based on The Last Sunrise by Anna Todd (2025)

In this adaptation of Todd’s romance novel, a young woman with a chronic health condition spends a life-changing summer in Majorca, where she has accompanied her mother on a business trip (must be nice). She falls in love, of course, and clashes with her mother, of course, and grapples with her own sense of independence, of course. Summer!

The Whisper Man
Netflix, August 27

Literary bona fides: based on The Whisper Man by Alex North (2019)

Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, and Adam Scott star in this adaptation of North’s bestselling thriller, in which a recently widowed crime writer turns to his estranged father, a retired detective, for help after his son goes missing—in a way strangely reminiscent of a serial killer called the Whisper Man, put behind bars twenty years ago.

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THROWBACK:

Jurassic Park (1993)
Hulu, August 1

Literary bona fides: based on Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1990)

A nigh-unbeatable summer spectacle. (RIP, Sam Neill.)

Clueless (1995)
Netflix / Peacock, August 1

Literary bona fides: based on Emma by Jane Austen (1815)

Good for all seasons.

Sideways (2004)
Peacock, August 1

Literary bona fides: based on Sideways by Rex Pickett (2004)

A cult classic about snobs and wine and thwarted dreams (and also one of our contenders for the best literary adaptation of the last 50 years).

Marie Antoinette (2006)
Netflix, August 1

Literary bona fides: based on Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser (2001)

Sofia Coppola’s sumptuous, irreverent take on France’s most notorious queen. Come for the soundtrack, stay for the petit fours.

Women Talking (2022)
Prime Video, August 1

Literary bona fides: based on Women Talking by Miriam Toews (2018)

If you haven’t seen Sarah Polley’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Toews’s masterpiece, now’s as good a time as any.

Nickel Boys (2024)
Prime Video, August 27

Literary bona fides: based on The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (2019)

RaMell Ross’s radical adaptation of Whitehead’s harrowing novel was one of the best literary adaptations of 2024; it’s a tough watch, but it’s worth it. Read our interview with Ross here.