What to watch on Showmax in July 2024

This July, Showmax is raising the stakes with the highly anticipated new season of Killing It and HBO’s acclaimed series The Regime. Plus, don’t miss Sibongile and The Dlaminis, the most-watched show on Mzansi Wethu, ready to binge on Showmax from July.

Local series 

Sibongile & The Dlaminis | Binge from Tuesday, 30 July

Sibongile & The Dlaminis is the most watched show on Mzansi Wethu, attracting a record high of 2.6m live viewers. 

Luyanda Zwane stars as Sibongile Mbambo, a young woman from the rural village of Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal who becomes a domestic worker in the lavish mansion of the wealthy Dlamini family. 

Mzansi Wethu has already ordered a second season of the hit show, which also stars Vuyo Biyela (The River), Siyabonga Shibe (The Wife, Outlaws), Ayanda Borotho (Isibaya) and Slindile Nodangala (Generations).

International series

The Regime S1 | Binge from Monday, 15 July

Oscar winner Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown, Titanic) stars in The Regime as Chancellor Elena Vernham, who presides over a fictional modern European autocracy – for now – from within the walls of her luxurious palace. 

Look out for the likes of Oscar nominee Andrea Riseborough (Alice & Jack, To Leslie), Emmy nominee Hugh Grant (Love Actually), and Emmy winner Martha Plimpton (Mass).

Directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Jessica Hobbs (The Crown), the six-part limited series is already popping up in Best of the Year So Far lists, while Inverse calls the show, “An uncategorizable, oddly surreal political drama that is one of HBO’s grandest experiments yet — and one of its most outlandish successes in years.”

The Curse S1 | Binge from Monday, 22 July

The Curse explores how an alleged curse disturbs the relationship of a newly married couple as they try to conceive a child while co-starring in their own home improvement show. 

Oscar winner Emma Stone (Poor Things) stars alongside the show’s co-creators: Nathan Fielder (The Rehearsal) and Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems). 

The Curse has a 94% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Best of the Year mentions everywhere from Rolling Stone to Wired. Entertainment Weekly hailed it as “the weirdest, most unforgettable show of 2023.” 

Killing It S2 | First on Showmax | Binge from Monday, 1 July

Co-created by Emmy winner Dan Goor (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Killing It earned Craig Robinson (The Office,  Brooklyn Nine-Nine) a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actor as Craig. 

Season 2 continues the hilarious (mis)adventures of Craig and Jillian (Emmy-nominated Aussie comedian Claudia O’Doherty) as they attempt to get their farming business off the ground. But a series of unexpected visitors puts everything they’ve worked for in jeopardy, while a new employee proves to be a thorn in their sides.

It has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus calls it “scathing as ever and even funnier than before.”

All-American: Homecoming S3 | First On Showmax | Mondays from 22 July

All American: Homecoming continues the journey of a young tennis hopeful from Beverly Hills and an elite baseball player from Chicago as they contend with the high stakes of college sports while navigating the highs, lows and sexiness of unsupervised early adulthood at a prestigious, historically Black college.

Nigerian-American creator Nkechi Okoro Carroll won a 2024 Gracie Allen Award for the young adult sports drama, which Variety calls a “a big-hearted, worthy spinoff” of All American. 

Bookie S1 | First on Showmax | Binge from Friday, 12 July

From Chuck Lorre (The Big Bang Theory), Bookie follows a veteran bookie struggling to survive the looming legalisation of sports gambling, and his increasingly unstable clients, family and co-workers.

Sebastian Maniscalco (Green Book) stars as Danny, with Omar J Dorsey (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) as Ray, with a supporting cast that includes Andrea Anders (Michelle Lasso in Ted Lasso) and guest appearances from the likes of Charlie Sheen and his Two and a Half Men co-star Angus T Jones as themselves.

With a 90% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Max has already booked a second season. 

Alert: Missing Persons Unit S2 | Binge from Friday, 19 July

Co-created by Oscar winner Jaime Foxx, Alert: Missing Persons Unit centres on the dedicated detectives of Philadelphia Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit, where Detective Nikki Batista and her ex-husband, Detective Jason Grant, work tirelessly to save lives, having experienced their own child being kidnapped. 

As Season 2 starts, Nikki has been promoted to captain and is engaged to marry Mike Sherman, who’s now partnering with Jason. 

Dania Ramirez (Sweet Tooth) and Scott Caan (Hawaii Five-0) co-star, with Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal) as the new commissioner, Hollis Braun. 

The Irrational S1 | Binge from Friday, 12 July

Jesse L Martin (Law & Order) stars in The Irrational as Alec Mercer, a renowned behavioural scientist who lends his expertise to an array of high-stakes cases involving governments, law enforcement and corporations, using his unconventional approach to human psychology, body language, and emotions to solve illogical puzzles and perplexing mysteries.

Buscando a Frida S1 | Wednesdays from 24 July

Named Best Non-English Language US Primetime Program at the International Emmy Awards, Telemundo’s Buscando a Frida (aka The Search for Frida) follows the Pons family, whose lives are thrown into disarray when teenager Frida is kidnapped at a club on the night of her father’s birthday, triggering a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the kidnappers and unearthing the family’s darkest secrets.

Look out for Kenya-born multi-award-winner Arap Bethke as Martin Cabrera. 

100 Dias Para Enamorarnos S1 | Wednesdays from 24 July

100 Dias Para Enamorarnos (100 Days to Fall in Love) kicks off with Constanza, a successful lawyer, asking her husband Plutarco for a divorce on the eve of their 18th wedding anniversary. Plutarco has a counter-offer: a hundred days to see if they can rekindle their romance.  

Unfortunately, Constanza’s bid for freedom seems to have started a trend… 

Nominated for the Rose d’Or for Best Telenovela, the Telemundo favourite stars the likes of Mariana Treviño (Marisol in A Man Called Otto).

Bob Hearts Abishola S5 | First on Showmax | Binge from Monday, 29 July

Bob ❤️ Abishola is an Emmy-nominated romcom about Bob Wheeler, a middle-aged American sock businessman, and his Nigerian immigrant nurse Abishola Bolatito Doyinsola Oluwatoyin Odegbami. 

Nigerian actress Folake Olowofoyeku, who we’ll see in The Lion King prequel Mufasa later this year, was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series at the Image Awards as Abishola.

Now in its fifth and final season, Bob ❤️ Abishola is created by Chuck Lorre (The Big Bang Theory) and Alan J Higgins (The Kominsky Method), Emmy winner Eddie Gorodetsky (Two and a Half Men), and British-Nigerian comedian Gina Yashere, who also plays Abishola’s best friend, Kemi. 

Sullivan’s Crossing S1 |  Binge from Friday, 26 July

Sullivan’s Crossing centres on Boston neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan (Morgan Kohan, When Hope Calls), who decides to take a time out from her professional life following a scandal. She returns to her childhood home in Nova Scotia, where her estranged father, Sully, runs a picturesque campground called Sullivan’s Crossing. 

Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill) co-stars as an enigmatic newcomer, with Scott Patterson (Luke Danes in Gilmore Girls) as Maggie’s father.

Based on the novels by New York Times bestseller Robyn Carr (who also wrote the Virgin River novels), the show already has a second season on the way. 

International movies

The Beekeeper | Stream from Monday, 8 July 

Expose the corruption. Protect the hive.

The #13 biggest global blockbuster of the year (so far), The Beekeeper stars Jason Statham (The Transporter, Wrath of Man, Expend4bles) as a man whose brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organisation known as “Beekeepers.” 

As Globe and Mail says, “There is no anxiety in this increasingly stressful world that cannot be soothed by watching Jason Statham kick someone in the throat.”

Mean Girls | Stream from Monday, 1 July

From multiple-Emmy-winner Tina Fey (30 Rock) comes a new – musical – twist on the cult-favourite movie, Mean Girls, which was in turn based on Rosalind Wiseman’s book Queen Bees and Wannabes. Also watch the 2004 original on Showmax. 

Mean Girls follows new student Cady Heron, who’s welcomed in to the top of the social food chain by the elite popular girls known as “The Plastics”… until she falls for queen bee Regina’s ex, Aaron. 

Mean Girls stars Angourie Rice (the Spider-Man trilogy) as Cady, with singer Reneé Rapp (The Sex Lives of College Girls) reprising her role from the Broadway show as Regina. Also look out for Auli’i Cravalho (who voiced the animated Moana), Tony winner and Grammy nominee Jaquel Spivey, and Christopher Briney (The Summer I Turned Pretty) as Aaron, as well as a bunch of familiar faces from the original film, including lead Lindsay Lohan. 

As RogerEbert.com says, “Ultimately, the film is a vinegary cautionary tale, an angry screed against being mean for meanness sake, and a love letter to teens who are comfortable just being themselves. This time around it seems Fey and co actually made fetch happen.”

Anyone But You | Stream from Monday, 15 July 

Hot? Yes. Bothered? Also yes. 

The biggest romcom at the global box office since 2016, Anyone But You was up for Comedy Movie of the Year at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards, where co-stars Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria) and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) were both nominated for Comedy Movie Star of the Year. 

Bea and Ben look like they’d be the perfect couple. But after an amazing first date, something turns their fiery hot attraction ice cold – until they find themselves unexpectedly thrust together at a destination wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple.

GQ says, “Sweeney and Powell are delightful, as well as smokin’, in this loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, one of the most charming big screen rom-coms in years.”

Blue Beetle | Stream from Monday, 1 July 

In Blue Beetle, struggling college grad Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña from Cobra Kai and Parenthood) unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armour capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny.

Not only does the Warner Bros picture mark the DC character’s first time on the big screen, he’s also the DC Extended Universe’s first Latino superhero. Recommending the film for ages 12+, and listing it among the Best Movies of the Year: 2023, Common Sense Media calls it, “a breath of fresh air in a packed superhero market.”

Migration | Stream from Sunday, 14 July

Take flight into the thrill of the unknown in Migration, another #1 blockbuster from Illumination, the studio that gave us Despicable Me, Minions, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets. 

Overprotective Mallard duck dad Mack just wants to keep his family safe in their pond, but his family wants the holiday of a lifetime. The cast includes Oscar nominee Kumail Nanjiani and three-time Emmy nominee Elizabeth Banks, not to mention the likes of Emmy winner Keegan-Michael Key, Emmy nominee Awkwafina and Oscar nominee Danny DeVito.

Common Sense Media recommends Migration for ages 6+ in their 4/5-star review, calling the animation, “a charming choice for all ages to watch together.”

BlackBerry | Stream from Thursday, 18 July

Based on the true story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone, BlackBerry is a whirlwind ride through a ruthlessly competitive Silicon Valley.

The comedy stars Jay Baruchel (Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon films), Glenn Howerton (A.P. Bio), and Matt Johnson, who also wrote and directed. BlackBerry has earned a 98% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says: “With intelligence as sharp as its humour, BlackBerry takes a terrifically entertaining look at the rise and fall of a generation-defining gadget.”

Master Gardener | Stream from Thursday, 18 July

Master Gardener follows Narvel Roth, a meticulous horticulturist devoted to tending the grounds of a historic estate called Gracewood Gardens. When the wealthy owner, Mrs Haverhill, asks him to take on her wayward great-niece Maya as an apprentice, chaos enters Narvel’s spartan existence, unlocking dark secrets from a buried, violent past that threatens them all.  

Joel Edgerton (The Great Gatsby), Sigourney Weaver and Quintessa Swindell (Black Adam) co-star. In their 4/5-star review, Total Film praised director Paul Schrader as “an auteur operating at the top of the league.” 

Silent Night | Stream from Monday, 22 July

Joel Kinnaman (The Suicide Squad) stars in Silent Night as a father who witnesses his young son die in gang battle crossfire on Christmas Eve. While recovering from a wound that costs him his voice, he makes vengeance his life’s mission.

From legendary action director John Woo (Face/Off, Mission: Impossible 2), Silent Night was hailed by RogerEbert.com as “one of the most deliriously cinematic movies of the year.”

Classics on the couch

Showmax is also bringing back a wide range of classics this month, including:

• One of IMDb’s top-rated movies of all time, Groundhog Day (from 1 July), starring Bill Murray

• #1 box office hits like Space Jam (from 1 July), with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny; Dumb and Dumber (from 4 July), starring Jim Carrey; Neil Gaiman’s adaptation of Beowulf (from 8 July); Roland Emmerich’s 10, 000 BC (from 8 July); Jack the Giant Slayer (from 8 July), starring Nicholas Hoult; The Bone Collector (from 8 July), starring Denzel Washington; Four Christmases (from 11 July), starring Reese Witherspoon; Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (from 11 July); The Longest Yard (from 11 July), starring Adam Sandler; City of Angels (from 15 July), starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan; A League of Their Own (from 15 July), starring Geena Davis and Tom Hanks; Godzilla (from 15 July); Oceans 8 (from 18 July), starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway; Venom (from 18 July), starring Tom Hardy; He’s Just Not That Into You (from 22 July), starring Jennifer Aniston; New Year’s Eve (from 22 July), starring Sarah Jessica Parker; Valentine’s Day (from 22 July), starring Julia Roberts; Austin Powers in Goldmember (from 25 July), starring Mike Myers; Semi-Pro (from 25 July), starring Will Ferrell; Pineapple Express (from 25 July), starring Seth Rogen; Demolition Man (from 29 July), starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes; and Passenger 57 (from 29 July), starring Wesley Snipes

• Oscar nominees like Troy (from 8 July), starring Brad Pitt; Sherlock Holmes (from 11 July), starring Robert Downey Jnr; Donnie Brasco (from 11 July), starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp; Captain Phillips and Sully (both from 15 July), both starring Tom Hanks; My Best Friend’s Wedding (from 22 July), starring Julia Roberts; Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (from 25 July), starring Mike Myers; and Moneyball (from 29 July), starring Brad Pitt

• Critics Choice Best Action Movie nominee Spider-Man: Far From Home (from 18 July), and Critics Choice Best Comedy nominee Game Night (from 25 July), which also saw Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams up for Best Actor and Actress in a Comedy

• A Cinderella Story (from 4 July), which earned Hilary Duff, Jennifer Coolidge and Chad Michael Murray Teen Choice Awards for Blush Scene, Sleazebag and Breakout Movie Star – Male respectively; and The Dukes of Hazzard (from 18 July), which earned Jessica Simpson the Teen Choice Breakout Movie Star – Female award. 

Documentaries

School Ties | Binge from 13 July

From true-crime pioneers IdeaCandy (Devilsdorp, Tracking Thabo Bester) and Steinheist director Richard Gregory, School Ties confronts the grooming and sexual abuse of learners in some of South Africa’s most prestigious boys’ schools, unravelling the trauma endured by victims and the culture of silence that allows this to happen, as well as the responses of authorities, schools, and society at large.

The four-part series examines the tragic suicide of 16-year-old Thomas Kruger on the grounds of the elite St Andrew’s College in Grahamstown; looks at how a former Parktown Boys’ High School educator normalised violent and sexual behaviour; and delves into Julio Mordoh’s suicide a decade after allegedly experiencing abuse by his school sports coach. The final episode investigates a ring of school coaches accused of sex offences and speaks to South African Police Service Colonel Heila Niemand, who led the operation. 

School Ties highlights the red flags that could point to abuse and offers insights from child protection specialists and experts on children’s rights, including Childline South Africa CEO Dumisile Nala, Child Protection and Development specialist Luke Lamprecht, clinical psychologist Marita Rademeyer, child protection activist and journalist Robyn Wolfson Vorster, and Deon Wiggett, the author of My Only Story: The Hunt for a Serial Paedophile.

Cape Town Today says, “School Ties serves as an urgent call for action and a beacon of hope for the countless victims who have been silenced for far too long… We can only hope that this series will act as a catalyst for significant change.”

Endangered | Stream from Wednesday, 24 July

“As journalists, we can’t let the truth down.”

An official selection at Tribeca, Endangered chronicles a year in the life of four journalists living and working in democratic countries where freedom of the press has historically been considered a “given”. Yet, as online misinformation proliferates and world leaders brazenly denigrate the press, mistrust of traditional media is on the rise, and journalists are increasingly facing situations more typically encountered in war zones or autocratic states. 

The HBO documentary film is directed by Oscar nominees Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (The Boys of Baraka, Jesus Camp), and executive produced by Ronan Farrow, winner of the International Documentary Association’s Truth to Power Award, whose investigative reporting on Harvey Weinstein won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize.  

Endangered has a rare 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the Times (UK) calling it a “thoughtful, depressing and, if you’re a journalist, utterly enraging documentary.”

The Anarchists S1 | Binge from Wednesday, 10 July

From HBO and Blumhouse Productions, The Anarchists follows an eclectic cast of dreamers, fugitives, and crypto-enthusiasts whose annual gathering in Acapulco, Mexico, becomes a massive anarchist community. But what begins as a hopeful experiment to live out a radical new way of life proves to be more challenging and dangerous than anyone could have expected. 

Unfolding over six years, the six-part documentary series chronicles a strange and deadly series of events that began with an impulsive one-off gathering in 2015, called “Anarchapulco”, to promote anarchy in its purest form – an ideal espousing the absence of government with absolute individual self-rule. It features candid, first-hand accounts from the reluctant figurehead of the movement, including Canadian entrepreneur-turned-provocateur Jeff Berwick.

Shine | Stream from  Friday, 5 July

Against the background of a massive weekend football game in Ghana, Shine follows the journey of four fans in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania, who go above and beyond to make the beautiful game more enjoyable for others in their local communities.

Featuring the likes of SuperSport commentator Chief Suo Chapele, the 28-minute documentary is directed by Nigeria’s Nora Awolowo, who won Best Documentary at the AMVCAs last year for The Debut, about Nigeria’s first appearance at the FIFA World Cup in 1994.

Reality series

Southern Hospitality S1-2  | Binge from Wednesday, 24 July

A spin-off of the reality series Southern Charm, Southern Hospitality follows resident restaurant boss-lady Leva Bonaparte as she manages Charleston’s very own “it” crowd, otherwise known as her larger-than-life staff at Republic Garden & Lounge. Leva and her husband, Lamar, own four restaurants along the city’s famous King Street, but Republic is the crown jewel of their kingdom.

Moja Love channel favourites

8 July

Season 2 of the reality series Teenage Pregnancy continues to follow the lives of teenagers navigating the bumpy terrain of adolescence, growing pains, rebellion and coming of age, all while dealing with being pregnant, while Season 3 of Isencane Lengane picks up the struggles of teen parents Thando and Siyacela.

Polyamorous relationships take centre stage in the first season of a fresh series called Three Way, while on Season 3 of No Excuse Pay Papgeld, the team is on a mission to get parents to support their children and be involved in their lives. Meanwhile, X-Repo S5 follows the asset repossession team as they head out to seize big-ticket items from luxury cars to furniture and clothes in a bid to compensate victims.

22 July

The ever-popular Mamazala heads into its fifteenth season of raw and honest dialogue promoting love and respect in troubled in-law relationships, while Season 7 of Dloz’Lami helps families connect with their spiritual guides.  

Season 4 of the investigative series S’Kipha Amafiles continues to seek justice for community issues like fraud, malpractice, cults, and corruption where the public has struggled to get recourse on their own, and in Season 6 of Umndeni, the complex multi-partner Maseko family has their work cut out for them to try and achieve love and unity.

What else to watch on Showmax in July

1 July

Angry Birds Movie 2 | Free Willy 1-3

3 July

Herleef | The 2010s

4 July

Bewitched | Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd | Lyla | The Campaign

5 July

Shine

8 July

The Troubles: A Dublin Story

9 July

Our Perfect Wedding S14

11 July

Battle for Saipan | Black and Blue

15 July

American Carnage | Dangerous Waters | Into The Storm | The Tiger’s Apprentice

17 July

The Great Rhino Robbery

18 July

Observe and Report | Run All Night | Stars | The Amazing Spider-Man 1-2 | The Flood

22 July

Assassins | Tag | The Three Musketeers

24 July

Daniel | Falsa Identidad

25 July

Brian Banks | Last Man Down | Lucky Hearts | Rough Night | Sins In The Family | The Interview | Threats From The Inside

29 July

A Man Apart | Brightburn | Current | Head Count | Knockaround Guys | The Dive | Two Weeks Notice