Summer is upon us, and HBO NOW in June is readying to scorch the cinematic and television landscape with a slew of new titles for your viewing pleasure. Three of HBO’s best shows right now are preparing to close out their recent chapters, Bill Simmons — former Grantland and ESPN contributor — is rolling out his new show, and a new documentary on Quincy Jones will teach you the ways of one of the most gifted music producers of all-time.
Here’s what you should be watching this June on HBO NOW.
The Wrestler (6/1)
After returning to Hollywood following a foray into boxing, Mickey Rourke rebounded in this story about a professional wrestler struggling in the twilight of his career. Both a searing drama and a true-life comeback tale for Rourke, the film is bolstered by fine performances from Marisa Tomei and Rourke, who won the Golden Globe for Best Actor, and came just shy of winning the Oscar.
Game of Thrones/Silicon Valley/VEEP: Season Finales (6/26)
We have finally arrived. After Red Weddings, complex dick jokes, and political pressure and hijinks, we will soon come to the finales of three of HBO’s best shows currently airing. All of these finales are dropping on the same day, which is to say that you’ll be calling in sick for parental duty and/or work on Monday if anything earth shattering occurs (looking at you Game of Thrones). How will the recount affect Selina and her campaign? What will come of Cersei and Glenna Tyrell’s pact? What does the future hold for Nucleus? These questions will be answered come late June.
The Martian (6/4)
Andy Weir famously was not able to get his book about an astronaut who becomes stranded on Mars bought by any of the big book publishers. So, he began releasing the chapters online — the major publishers scrambled in a bidding war to buy the book, and soon came Ridley Scott’s cinematic version, written by Drew Goddard. With strong performances by Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, and Kristen Wiig, The Martian serves as a gorgeous survival tale and a lesson in NASA engineering.
Here’s the list of titles arriving and leaving HBO NOW in June.
New Original Programming:
HBO First Look: Warcraft (6/1)
Quincy Jones: Burning the Light (6/2)
Suited (6/20)
Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons (6/22)
Game of Thrones: seasons six finale (6/26)
Silicon Valley: season three finale (6/26)
VEEP: season five finale (6/26)
After the Thrones: season one finale (6/27)
How to Let Go of the World (and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change) (6/27)
Theatrical Premieres:
Maps to the Stars, 2014 (6/1)
Black Sea, 2014 (6/1)
The Martian, 2015 (6/4)
Everest, 2015 (6/11)
The Boy Next Door, 2015 (6/15)
Ted 2, 2015 (6/18)
Freeheld, 2015 (6/20)
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, 2015 (6/25)
Estrenos en Español:
Quedate (aka Stay), 2014 (6/1)
El elefante desaparacido (aka The Vanished Elephant), 2014 (6/3)
Francisco, recen por mi (aka Francis, Pray For Me), 2015 (10)
Starting June 1:
101 Dalmatians, 1996
102 Dalmatians, 2000
American Gangster (extended cut), 2007
The Astronaut’s Wife, 1999
A Beautiful Mind, 2001
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, 1991
Dr. Dolittle 2, 2001
Eight Legged Freaks, 2002
High Fidelity, 2000
Igby Goes Down, 2002
Independence Day, 1996
Jet Li’s Fearless, 2006
Jumper, 2008
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, 2008
The Maze Runner, 2014
MI-5, 2015
Next Friday, 2000
Ocean’s Thirteen, 2007
Problem Child, 1990
Problem Child 2, 1991
Problem Child 3, 1995
The Transporter, 2002
Wall Street, 1987
The Wrestler, 2008
Ending June 30:
Fifty Shades of Gray, 2015
Get Hard, 2015
The Godfather Epic
The Hills Have Eyes II, 2007
Home Alone 2, 1992
Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2014
Knocked Up, 2007
Malcolm X, 2002
Music and Lyrics, 2007
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1978
Pretty in Pink, 1986
The Purge: Anarchy, 2014
The Rainmaker, 1997
Satisfaction, 1988
Scary Movie 2, 2001
She’s All That, 1999
