The 10 most essential streaming releases in June 2024
These days, big TV series and exclusive movie releases on major streaming platforms are as hotly anticipated as what’s coming out in cinemas. While video streaming is still behind cinema in terms of overall value, with a market worth $67billion as opposed to cinema’s $104bn, streaming is projected to overtake the big screen’s value in the next five years and be worth a whopping $282bn in ten years’ time.
And that’s leaving aside the number of films and TV shows now watched via streaming services. Last year, around 860 million cinema tickets were sold in Europe, and 825m were sold in the United States and Canada. Both numbers are up on previous years. However, when you consider that there are over one billion subscribers to streaming platforms around the world, and each of those subscribers watches at least one movie per month on average, it’s obvious that the big streamers dominate the market in terms of viewing figures.
So, with that in mind, to accompany our guide to the month’s ten most essential movie releases, Far Out is bringing you our countdown of the ten shows and film streaming services that are making available in the coming weeks. Spoiler alert: Emily in Paris will never be making one of these lists. Nor will any cartoonishly low-budget documentaries narrated by Peter Dinklage.
We’ll also have to leave out any movies or series making a return to streaming platforms, having previously been available to stream or syndicated from terrestrial television—with rare exceptions, of course, for special re-releases worthy of recommendation. We will, though, include films that have previously been released in cinemas but are making their streaming debuts. In fact, we have one in this month’s list.
Without further ado, here’s what Netflix, HBO, Amazon, Apple and co have to offer us over the next 30 days.
10 essential streaming releases in June 2024:
Belfast (Netflix) – June 1st
Kenneth Branagh’s intimate, moving, and deeply personal portrayal of a family living through the Troubles in Northern Ireland’s capital is finally available to stream from the beginning of next month. Those who might have missed the chance to see Belfast on the big screen are in for a treat.
Not only does the film cleverly refract its view of a country torn apart by sectarian violence through the lens of childhood naivety. It also gets to the heart of what it means to face life struggles beyond your means of reckoning as a young child, showing a profound empathy comparable to Richard Linklater’s Boyhood or Robert Mulligan’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
Mayor of Kingstown, Season 3 (Paramount+) – June 2nd
Jeremy Renner is back, suitably stitched up and ready to preside over America’s biggest prison town once again. Except this time, as well as local gangs, prisoners and cops, he has to contend with the Russian mob, too.
As Renner’s character Mike McClusky is told, “It’s always been a war zone, Mike. This is next level.” Michigan’s answer to Peaky Blinders is about to get bigger and bolder than ever before. Will it overreach or continue to be a hit with audiences around the world?
Am I OK? (HBO Max) – June 6th
Comedian couple Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne team up to direct this sharp-edged comedy-drama starring Dakota Johnson about a woman grappling with her sexuality in her 30s. The movie made waves at the Sundance Film Festival over two years ago but is only being released to the public now, exclusively on Max.
If you want something fun to cosy up with on the couch this June, you can’t go wrong with this. Am I OK? Sonoya Mizuno shines as the voice of reason and inspiration for Johnson’s character, and the rhythms of the comedic dialogue are executed to perfection.
Presumed Innocent (Apple TV) – June 12th
The most talked-about first-time series release of the month, Presumed Innocent stars Jake Gyllenhaal in an extended remake of the 1990 legal thriller featuring Harrison Ford. The show’s trailer has ramped up the tension and excitement for its release, with Gyllenhaal delivering his usual blend of pressure-cooker suspense and puppy-faced innocence.
His character, Rusty Sabich, is a criminal prosecutor accused of killing one of his lawyer colleagues. Since Presumed Innocent is a limited series, if you’re feeling up to it, you can watch the story all the way through to the end in one sitting and find out whether he did it.
The Boys, Season 4 (Amazon Prime) – June 13th
Since its debut in 2019, The Boys has developed a cult following thanks to its wonderfully mischievous side-swipes at the superhero genre. And many of its dystopian themes and satirical portrayals of toxic masculinity ring true.
Season 4 is set to pick up where Season 3 left things. Protagonist Butcher is said to be terminally ill, the villainous Vic Neumann’s presidential campaign is in full swing, and chief antagonist Homelander is backing her with violence. How will The Boys manage to rescue this grave situation?
Queendom (HBO Max, Amazon Prime) – June 14th
This stirring documentary follows a queer artist and activist in Russia as she undertakes a series of radical protest performances in public centres around Moscow. Gena’s artivism focuses on discriminatory LGBTQ+ laws in Russia, as well as protests against the war in Ukraine. Her performances put her in danger of violent arrest and imprisonment and even leave her life under threat.
Queendom was screened at various film festivals and independent cinemas last year. It now debuts on streaming services and will hopefully attract the wider audience its inspirational story deserves.
House of the Dragon, Season 2 (HBO) – June 16th
After the huge success of this Game of Thrones prequel’s first season, fans have been waiting almost two years for this follow-up. Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy reprise their lead roles as Prince Daemon and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, respectively.
The new season’s trailer is full to the brim with flying dragons, clashing swords, portentous declarations and percussively theatrically music, as you’d expect. But one quote stands out, and seems to hint at a key theme in its prospective narrative arc: “The enemy without may be fought with swords. The enemy within is more insidious.”
Regardless of what the coining of that particular proverb implies, we can definitely expect plenty more fighting with swords as Queen Rhaenyra is forced into war with King Aegon II.
The Bear, Season 3 (Hulu) – June 27th
FX’s The Bear has been praised for the originality of its idea. The show isn’t the first kitchen-based comedy in history, but it certainly makes for an inventive spin on the big-budget, character-driven streaming series. Lead actor Jeremy Allen White has suggested Season 3 will be going back to the show’s basic approach, with “that functioning kitchen atmosphere that we had in the first [season]”.
Season 2 of The Bear ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, as White’s character Carmy realised he’d missed a voicemail from his childhood crush Claire in which she told him she loved him. Let’s see how Carmy juggles the kitchen duties of his family’s restaurant with this will-they-won’t-they romance in upcoming episodes, and if you want to re-familiarise yourself with the story, seasons one and two are available to watch right now on Disney+.
Revival69: The Concert That Rocked the World (Apple TV, Amazon Prime) – June 28th
Woodstock wasn’t the only legendary gig in town back in 1969, and this documentary feature film is keen to prove it. Its first general release at the end of next month will acquaint us with the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, a one-off concert featuring John Lennon fresh from his secret Beatles departure, as well as Eric Clapton, The Doors, and a whole host of rock and roll legends. Among these were Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley and Jerry Lee Lewis. And let’s not forget Alice Cooper at the scene of his infamous chicken incident.
Revival69 charts the organisation of the festival via interviews with some of its big-name players, includes snippets of their performances and captures a sense of what it was like to be there. It’s worth checking out the only show in history to have brought together so many of rock and roll’s founding musicians alongside some of the most important artists of the 1960s.
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Netflix) – June-Sept
For decades, Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez railed against his magnum opus, the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, being turned into a film. Finally, in 2019, Márquez’s son granted Netflix the rights to turn the book into a series instead.
We don’t glean much from the trailer and early previews of the series, but what we do know is that painstaking effort has gone into producing a work both faithful to Márquez’s novel and visually appealing. The clips available do suggest that this adaptation will be worthy of its connection to the source material provided by arguably South America’s greatest writer of prose.
The series is currently listed among the first few titles in Netflix’s ‘Worth the Wait’ list, and reports have claimed a June release date is likely. However, depending on the platform’s scheduling plans, we may have to wait a little longer for it.
