The Los Angeles cinema calendar in August 2026 splits between the season's big tentpoles and a deep bench of revival screenings - the two halves of a city that watches new releases and forty-year-old classics with equal seriousness. This is a month-by-month look at what is actually on the city's screens, drawn from the screenings listed on Mood, and it updates at the start of each month.
The scale is the backdrop. In Mood's data, 13,390 screenings run across 157 LA cinemas between 6 and 31 August, from first-run multiplexes to single-screen revival houses. What follows is what is drawing the crowds and what is worth seeking out.
The tentpoles
One film dominates the month. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is by a wide margin the most-screened title in Mood's LA data - 5,334 showings across 104 cinemas, roughly two of every five screenings in the city, the kind of saturation only a Spider-Man film manages. Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey", July's leader, still runs 1,642 showings and actually plays at more cinemas - 107 - than any other title on the calendar.
Behind them, the late-summer slate fills the multiplexes: the romantic comedy One Night Only and Super Troopers 3 each pass 800 showings, while Toy Story 5, Minions & Monsters and Moana carry the family end of the wide-release calendar. These are the films playing on the most screens, at most times, across the city.
The revival calendar
The more interesting half of the month is the repertory programming, and it runs regardless of the season. The unlikely headline is Ice Cream Man, the 1995 cult horror, back on 52 LA screens with 309 August showings - a wider re-release than most new indies get. Alongside it, "The Fast and the Furious" - 25 years old in 2026 - returns for 148 showings, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day holds over from July on ten screens.
The arthouse and anime end runs just as deep: La La Land, Makoto Shinkai's Your Name. and Train to Busan each play dozens of August dates, Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky takes over the Ghibli slot from July's Totoro run, and Muppet Treasure Island and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone cover the family-nostalgia strand. In Mood's data these older titles recur across the month alongside the new releases, which is the clearest sign of how LA differs from a typical market: the classics are not a one-off event here, they are standing programming, spread across enough revival houses to be a nightly option.
The month in short
August 2026 is a Spider-Man month at the top, a cult-revival month underneath - from a 1995 ice-cream slasher to Ghibli - and a full slate everywhere in between, including the filmed stage production Hadestown: The Musical on 41 screens. For anyone in the city, the useful move is to decide whether the night is a tentpole on the biggest screen or a classic in a revival house - both are running, most nights, somewhere within reach.
Mood pulls the whole month into one place, so the full list of LA cinemas and what each is showing sit together rather than scattered across theatre pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
What movies are playing in Los Angeles this month?
In August 2026, the LA calendar is led by "Spider-Man: Brand New Day", the most-screened film in Mood's data, with Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey", the comedy "One Night Only" and "Super Troopers 3" behind it. Underneath the new releases, revival houses run classics such as "The Fast and the Furious", "Terminator 2" and Studio Ghibli's "Castle in the Sky". 13,390 screenings are listed across 157 LA cinemas this month on Mood.
What is the most popular film in LA right now?
By screening volume, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is the most-programmed film on the LA calendar this month in Mood's data, with 5,334 showings across 104 cinemas. "The Odyssey" plays at more individual cinemas - 107 - but the tentpoles dominate the first-run multiplexes while the revival houses run their own parallel calendar of classics and cult titles.
Where can I see classic movies in LA this month?
LA's revival houses program classics year-round. This month the calendar includes the 1995 cult horror "Ice Cream Man" on 52 screens, "The Fast and the Furious" for its 25th anniversary, plus "Terminator 2", "La La Land", "Your Name." and "Train to Busan". In Mood's data these recur across the month rather than as single events. Mood lists which cinema is showing each and when.
How often is this guide updated?
This is a monthly guide - the LA cinema line-up changes with each new release slate, so it is refreshed at the start of every month with the current month's screenings. Mood tracks the calendar continuously, so the underlying listings stay current between updates.
Los Angeles gives you a tentpole and a classic on the same night, most nights. The full month - every cinema, every film - lives on Mood's Los Angeles cinema page.
