Skip to main content

The best movie and show trailers of the week of August 9

Coming out of San Diego Comic-Con, there haven’t been as many trailers as usual for the past few weeks. But things are picking up with the best movie & show trailers of the week of August 8. This morning alone, we’ve had the debut of the new Saturday Night Live film, Saturday Night, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

From there, we’ve got a new horror trailer, the return of Paddington, a look at one of the biggest sports scandals ever, and even a Broadway play.

Recommended Videos

Saturday Night

The cast of Saturday Night.
Sony Pictures

Ahead of its 5oth anniversary next year, Saturday Night Live is getting a film devoted to the stories behind-the-scenes of the very first episode in 1975. Saturday Night will take place in real time over the course of 90 minutes as the countdown to the first taping begins. Jason Reitman directed the film, which he co-wrote with Gil Kenan.

There are a lot of familiar faces among the cast who are portraying legendary figures from the show, including J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle, Matthew Rhys as George Carlin, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Matt Wood as John Belushi, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, and Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels. Saturday Night will hit theaters on October 11.

SATURDAY NIGHT – Official Trailer (HD)

Presence

An image from Presence of a young girl sensing a supernatural entity.
Neon

Steven Soderbergh is doing a horror movie?! We’re excited to see what Presence holds for us when it arrives in theaters in January 2025. The preview doesn’t seem to commit fully to the idea that this is a haunted house flick, but we’ll see if Soderbergh is holding back some surprises. Lucy Liu, Julia Fox, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, and West Mulholland are the primary cast members.

PRESENCE - Official Teaser #1 - In Theaters January

American Sports Story

Josh Rivera as Aaron Hernandez in American Sports Story.
FX

Ryan Murphy has done over a decade of American Horror Story, and several years of American Crime Story. Now, Murphy is turning his attention to American Sports Story.

FX’s new series will debut on Hulu on September 17 with Josh Rivera starring as Aaron Hernandez, the wide receiver of the New England Patriots whose career ended with murder charges. It’s one of the darkest tales in the history of the NFL.

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez | Official Teaser | FX

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

A boy holds a blindfold and readies to put it around his eyes.
Netflix

We don’t often run trailers for stage plays, but Stranger Things‘ prequel story, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, is heading to Broadway early next year.

This play features hints about secrets that will be revealed in the fifth and final season, and now American fans can see it for themselves before Netflix brings the show back for its final bow in 2025.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow comes to Broadway

Paddington in Peru

Paddington Bear in Paddington.
StudioCanal

You may have a stone-cold heart if you don’t love Paddington Bear. It’s been seven years since Paddington 2 was in theaters, but the titular bear is finally going home for a visit in Paddington in Peru.

There’s not much in the way of new footage here, but Ben Whishaw is back as Paddington Brown. But because of the long gap between films, his adoptive human family, the Browns, have all been recast for this movie.

PADDINGTON IN PERU | Official US Teaser | STUDIOCANAL
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
The best movie and show trailers for the week of June 21
Lukas Gage in Smile.

Unless the studios warn us ahead of time, it's hard to predict which trailers will drop on any given day of the week. Fortunately, the best movie and show trailers for the week of June 21 have been very strong. But more so on the TV side than with films.

It's not often that two different Batman-related series release videos in the same week. And HBO/Max is responsible for two out of the three shows represented here. It could have been a complete sweep for Max if Warner Bros. Discovery hadn't dropped its next Batman animated series in the name of cutting the budget to make the company look good in the eyes of Wall Street.

Read more
The best movie and show trailers for the week of June 7
The cast of Alien: Romulus.

Some weeks are better than others for trailers. But the week of June 7 was wild, and the three major theatrical trailers released in that time span delivered thrilling previews for their respective movies. Some of the low-budget movie trailers of the week were less impressive, and that's why they didn't make the list.

Rounding out this week's selection of the best movie and show trailers are two Netflix previews. The first Netflix trailer looks like it could be another sleeper hit, while an animated trailer is giving us a peek at a video game adaptation that we've wanted to see done right for the last two decades.
Alien: Romulus

Read more
Stranger Things: The First Shadow trailer teases the rise of Henry Creel
A boy holds a blindfold and readies to put it around his eyes.

You can witness the rise of the sinister Henry Creel in the trailer for Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the stage play based on Netflix's hit sci-fi series.

It's 1959, and the Creel family is looking for a fresh start in Hawkins, Indiana. “It’s not real. I’m normal,” Henry ominously says in the footage. As the trailer progresses, Henry remains tormented by his telekinesis, eventually winding up at the Hawkins National Laboratory, the site where he will transform into 001, aka Vecna.

Read more