Get your binge on: Everything dropping and departing Hulu this August

August brings its usual chorus of complaints about the heat, but Hulu’s 2018 slate offered plenty of reasons to stay indoors. The lineup mixed original documentaries, returning series, and catalog titles that kept viewers occupied through the dog days. The month also highlighted Hulu’s growing investment in originals, a strategy that would shape the platform’s direction for years.

Streaming Landscape Changes Since 2018

Hulu has since folded more Disney+ and ESPN+ content into its bundles, shifting the service away from the standalone slate that defined August 2018. Many originals from that period, including Animals, ended after their final season and never returned. The 2018 schedule now reads as a snapshot of a platform still carving out its identity before the larger corporate integration that followed.

Documentary Impact and Legacy

Minding the Gap earned widespread praise for its honest look at masculinity, family tension, and the escape that skateboarding provided three young men in a Rust Belt town. Crime + Punishment exposed illegal NYPD quota systems and followed the minority officers who risked their careers to speak out. Both films continue to surface in conversations about youth culture and policing reform, keeping their 2018 Hulu debuts relevant long after release.

Reality TV Evolution: From Bachelor in Paradise S5

Season 5 premiered August 7, 2018, continuing the familiar format of former Bachelor contestants competing for new romances under constant scrutiny. The franchise has now reached season 10, and full seasons remain available on Hulu. The show’s endurance reflects how little the core formula has changed even as the cast rotates through new cycles of drama and reconciliation.

Hulu Originals Pipeline in 2018

Two major documentaries anchored the month: Minding the Gap and Crime + Punishment. Both arrived after Sundance acquisitions, underscoring Hulu’s push to secure timely nonfiction titles. Returning series such as Animals supplied the comedy side of the slate, while the platform also secured post-festival films that gave subscribers first access outside theaters.

Minding the Gap

Hulu’s taken the lead in its original content push with two new documentaries hitting the streamer this month, one of which being the skateboarding doc Minding the Gap. Hulu snapped up Bing Liu’s “different kind of skate film” at this year’s Sundance, which not only focuses on the sport, but also presents a personal story of three young men who are reaching those kidulthood milestones together while escaping volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown through friendship and skating. The great thing about Minding the Gap is you don’t even have to like or know much about skating to enjoy it – part skate film, part exploration of the challenges and power of youth, this film will hit you right in the feels whether you want it to or not.

Animals: S3 Premiere

The Duplass Brothers’ adult cartoon Animals returns to Hulu for a third season, bringing with it more genre-bending, satirical, sardonic fun delivered by its anthropomorphic characters who are voiced by a butt ton of Hollywood heavyweights, including Jameela Jamil, Lucy Liu, Johnny Knoxville, John Leguizamo, Anthony Mackie, Demi Moore, Moby, Tracy Morgan, John Mulaney, Aisha Tyler, and many more. HBO canceled the series after season 3, making the August 3, 2018 Hulu premiere its final run.

Mother! (2017)

Did you figure out Darren Aronofsky’s environmental, Biblical allegory? Is Jennifer Lawrence Mother Earth? What’s that orange stuff she’s drinking? Where can we buy some? And why is her husband so obsessed with those tiny little pictures of himself? Mother! is a mind-bending mind-fuck of a film, one that you’ll either love or hate depending on whether you enjoy body horrors in which the subtext is laid on thick and heavy. We can only describe it as a bit like watching Westworld if Westworld were a film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Ballers: S4 Premiere

Season 4 premiered August 12, 2018 on HBO with Dwayne Johnson at the center of the sports dramedy. The renewal had been announced alongside Insecure’s third season the previous year, giving both shows simultaneous summer returns. Viewers looking for light entertainment found plenty of familiar faces and locker-room banter across the new episodes.

Urban Legend (1998)

Trashy 90s slasher alert! Urban Legend felt a little overshadowed by such heavyweights of the genre as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, but the film is certainly deserving of merit, ticking all the boxes of everything you could ever ask for in a slasher revival flick. Young hot cast members who are ready for a-stabbing? Check! Generic male killer with scary mask? Check! Storyline that allows for numerous inventive and gory deaths? Double check! Yep, Urban Legend is pure garbage and we love it!

Insecure: S3 Premiere

Season 3 debuted August 12, 2018 on HBO. Issa Rae’s portrayal of Issa Dee continued to capture the awkward and racy experiences of a modern-day African-American woman, and the series would run for five seasons total before concluding in 2021. The August arrival gave subscribers another strong comedy option alongside Ballers.

Baby Driver (2017)

Director Edgar Wright took a turn with his filmmaking talents when he released the awe-inspiring Baby Driver last year, about a talented, young getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) who relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game. We’re not going to lie – we’re bigger fans of Wright’s more modest comedic style seen in Brit hits Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and we found Baby Driver to be a little bit too slick. But people seemed to like it, so we’ll let you make your own mind up about it.

Bachelor in Paradise: S5 Premiere

Hello there, trashy reality show – we’ve been waiting for you! This absolute crap heap of a show in which the cast comprised of former fan favorites from The Bachelor return to battle it out and find someone to help ease their fear of dying alone is back for a fifth season. Check it out on August 8 (just make sure no one finds out or else that’s your reputation over and done with). Season 5 premiered August 7, 2018 on ABC and the franchise has continued with later seasons into the 2020s.

Crime + Punishment

The second film in Hulu’s original documentary push is the Sundance hit Crime + Punishment, which goes behind the scenes and undercover to expose discriminatory policing practices, intimidation, and corruption within the New York Police Department. It follows a group of minority whistleblower officers known as The NYPD 12, as well as the efforts of cop-turned-private investigator Manuel Gomez, as they seek to expose the illegal doings of the department they’re exploring.

Tim & Eric Bedtime Stories: S2

Only recommended to watch before bed if you’re hoping for some dark and surrealist dreams. Season two of Tim & Eric Bedtime Stories is hitting Hulu, bringing with it the distinct humor of the Adult Swim veterans as they pack horrifying and insane tales into 15-minute episodes.

The full August 2018 lineup included Heartland: Complete Season 10, 10 Things I Hate About You, A Conspiracy To Rule: The Illuminati, American Gigolo, American Ninja, American Ninja III: Blood Hunt, Babe, Be Cool, The Beatles: Made On Merseyside, Black Hawk Down, Black Mask, Black Rain, Bluefin, Boomerang, The Brady Bunch Movie, Bratz: The Movie, Bring It On: In It to Win It, Bring It On: Fight To The Finish, Cheri, Cold War, CSNY/Deja Vu, Curse Of The Starving Class, Double Whammy, The Elephant Man, Extract, Fled, G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, Get Shorty, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Heartbreakers, Hey Arnold! The Movie, Hidalgo, High Noon, Hoosiers, The Hunt For Red October, The Hurricane, The Hurt Locker, I Went Down, In & Out, Jackie Brown, Jacob’s Ladder, Joe, John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, Kazaam, Leaving Las Vegas, Loser, Lost In Translation, The Nasty Girl, The Ninth Gate, No Way Out, Original Sin, Out Of Time, Point Break, Pretty Woman, Private Parts, The Rock, Scary Movie 3, Shanghai Knights, Shaun Of The Dead, Sheep And Wolves, Species, Species II, Species III, Stir Of Echoes, Stir Of Echoes 2: The Homecoming, The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale, The Swan Princess: Princess Tomorrow, Pirate Today, Swan Princess: Royally Undercover, Teen Wolf, Teen Wolf Too, The Time Machine, The Thomas Crown Affair, True Colors, Urban Legend, The Usual Suspects, Young Guns, and Young Guns II on August 1. August 2 brought All At Once, America Divided: 201, The China Hustle, and Ismael’s Ghost. August 3 added Animals season 3 premiere, En Otra Piel: Complete Series, and Sharp Edges. August 4 delivered Marshall. August 7 featured Dating My Mother, Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much, and Wraith. August 8 included Bachelor In Paradise season 5 premiere, Castaways series premiere, and Blood Ties. August 9 brought America Divided: 202, Baskin, Desolation, and Terminal. August 10 added Rosa Diamante: Complete series, Tim & Eric Bedtime Stories: Complete Season 2, and Borg Vs McEnroe. August 11 featured Baby Driver and The Cage Fighter. August 12 added Ballers season 4 premiere, Insecure season 3 premiere, and Very Good Girls. August 13 brought The Powerpuff Girls: Complete season 2. August 15 included The Actors, America’s Sweethearts, Duplex, and The Monkey King 3. August 16 added 11 Minutes, America Divided: 203, Marrowbone, and Role Models. August 17 brought Minding The Gap, Perro Amor: Complete series, and Stan Against Evil: Complete season 2. August 21 featured Eva La Trailera: Complete series and To The Moon And Back. August 23 added America Divided: 204 and Jiro Dreams Of Sushi. August 24 delivered Crime & Punishment. August 26 included Captain Fantastic, Gangs Of New York, and Mother!. August 28 brought Pasion Pohibida: Complete series. August 30 added Deuces Wild. August 31 closed the month with The Terminator.

Titles leaving Hulu this August included 1492: Conquest Of Paradise, 2 Days In the Valley, 52 Pick-Up, A Beautiful Mind, A Guy Thing, Across The Universe, Analyze That, Analyze This, Baby Mama, Bad Influence, Barnyard, Beer For My Horse, Blue Like Jazz, Bowfinger, Brokeback Mountain, The Brothers Grimm, The Burbs, Chinese Box, Clue, Criminal Law, Dead Man Walking, Doctor Dolittle, Drive Me Crazy, Drop Zone, East Is East, End Of Days, Escape From Alcatraz, Event Horizon, Fatal Instinct, The Frozen Ground, Hard Rain, Hellboy, Hot Boyz, House Of D, Immigration Tango, Into The West, Men With Brooms, Mindhunters, Mr. Majestyk, Mutant Species, My Left Foot, Nanny Mcphee, Nurse 3D, Over the Top, Panic, Prancer, Primal Fear, Rain Man, Remember The Goal, Restoration, Revenge Of The Pink Panther, Spawn, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Tamara, Trainspotting, and You Don’t Mess With The Zohan.