HBO Max drops Sandra Bullock heist, Stephen King horror and more must-watch picks this week
HBO Max is mixing slick thrills with bleak chills this week: Sandra Bullock’s heist flick drops alongside Stephen King’s The Long Walk, the dystopian survival thriller arriving July 10, with more fresh releases rolling in July 6–12.
If you thought this week on HBO Max was going to be a snooze, think again. There are a couple of new arrivals worth flagging—one that’s pure dystopian Stephen King misery with teens forced to march literally to the death, and the other a glitzy, all-female heist flick set in the absurd glamour of the Met Gala. Wildly different moods, same streaming service.
The Long Walk: Stephen King’s Bleakest Race
Turning up on HBO Max on the 10th of July: The Long Walk. This one’s adapted from King’s 1979 novel, and if you haven’t read it, the setup is frankly brutal. We’re in some nasty near-future America, where fifty lads—teenagers, mind—enter a state-sanctioned walking contest broadcast to the whole country. Sounds daft? Not really. You’ve got to keep moving, literally non-stop, because the only way out is winning. If you stop, you’re out for good, and it’s as grim as it sounds.
Over the miles (and miles, and bloody miles), these kids do actually start to form friendships and look out for each other, which is peak King—abject horror with a dash of heart. The cast is a pretty intriguing mix: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, and, almost inevitably these days, Mark Hamill pops up as well. Guess there’s nowhere he won’t turn up.
Ocean’s Eight: Glitter, Diamonds, and Dodgy Accents
Dropping on the 12th is Ocean’s Eight, which is the glossy, female-driven spin-off of the whole Ocean’s caper saga. Sandra Bullock stars as Debbie Ocean—yes, related to Danny—fresh out of prison and ready to repay society with a ludicrously ambitious jewellery heist. The target: a $150 million diamond necklace at the Met Gala, because apparently the Metropolitan Museum of Art doesn’t do security very well in Hollywood Land.
The cast is one of those so-stacked-it’s-almost-daft type jobs: Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, and Helena Bonham Carter, all just casually knocking about. Neither the plot nor the accents are going to win prizes for realism, but if you want to watch very famous women nicking jewels in nice frocks, this one’s squarely in your lane.
This Week on HBO Max—Everything New, in Order
- Wednesday, July 8: 'UFC at the White House' (with Sara Sidner), The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (CNN Originals)
- Thursday, July 9: Kitchen Chaos, Season 1 (Food Network), On The Case with Paul Zahn, Season 29 (ID), The Man Will Burn (HBO Original)
- Friday, July 10: House Hunters International: Volume 9, Season 214 (HGTV), The Long Walk (Lionsgate)
- Sunday, July 12: Iyanu: The War of Twin Princes, Season 2B, Ocean’s Eight
As an odd little programming side note, if you’re the sort of person who wonders what ‘UFC at the White House’ is actually doing on a fictional president’s schedule right after a series on international property viewing, believe me, you aren’t the only one.
For those still mourning the lack of new wizardry, HBO Max is still teasing which Harry Potter characters might get a look-in for the planned live-action series. But for this coming week, it’s all about fatal games and diamond-crazed heists.