Director Ridley Scott's post-apocalyptic sci-fi feature The Dog Stars leads the lineup of major film releases arriving in Ukrainian cinemas this week, alongside new action thrillers starring Jason Statham and Aaron Eckhart.
The week's cultural schedule also features the opening of the 17th Odesa International Film Festival in Kyiv, while Netflix prepares to launch the crime thriller The Whisper Man starring Robert De Niro and Adam Scott.
The Dog Stars, a 2026 co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom, combines elements of adventure, science fiction, drama, and action. Set in a desolate world where a lethal flu virus has eradicated most of humanity, the plot centres on Hig, a former civil aviation pilot who lost his wife to the disease. Living alongside his loyal dog, Hig eventually unites with fellow survivors to protect themselves against the Reapers, a hostile gang of roving marauders.
Australian actor Jacob Elordi takes the lead role as Hig, following his appearances in Priscilla, Saltburn, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, and the drama series Euphoria.
The film features an ensemble cast including Josh Brolin, known for the Avengers franchise, No Country for Old Men, Sicario, Deadpool 2, Weapons, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Margaret Qualley, whose credits include Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, The Substance, Poor Things, and The Mastermind, also stars. Guy Pearce, featured in Memento, Iron Man 3, Prometheus, and The Brutalist, appears alongside Allison Janney, known for American Beauty, The Hours, Juno, The Help, and Rozy. Benedict Wong, whose screen credits include The Martian, Doctor Strange, Weapons, and the series 3 Body Problem, completes the principal cast.
Cult English filmmaker Ridley Scott, director of Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, G.I. Jane, Hannibal, The Martian, The Last Duel, House of Gucci, Napoleon, and Gladiator II, helmed the production. Screenwriter Mark L. Smith, known for Vacancy, Martyrs, The Revenant, Overlord, Twisters, and the television series American Primeval and Untamed, adapted the screenplay from the 2012 novel of the same name by American author Peter Heller.
High-seas thriller Mutiny
Action star Jason Statham returns to movie screens in Mutiny, a 2026 action thriller co-produced by the United States and the United Kingdom. Statham, whose career includes roles in Wrath of Man, The Mechanic, The Beekeeper, A Working Man, and the Transporter, Fast and Furious, and The Expendables franchises, portrays former special forces operative Cole Reed.
When his boss, Thai billionaire Tibu, is murdered, Reed sets out to find the killer. His investigation leads him onto a massive container ship, where his effort to clear his name and expose the culprits turns into a struggle for survival against an international criminal conspiracy.
The supporting cast includes Annabelle Wallis, known for X-Men: First Class, Annabelle, The Mummy, and the series Peaky Blinders, alongside Jason Wong of The Gentlemen and Wrath of Man. Arnas Fedaravičius, seen in the series The Last Kingdom, The Wheel of Time, and The White Lotus, also stars alongside Roland Møller, whose credits include Papillon, Skyscraper, and Riders of Justice.
French director and screenwriter Jean-François Richet, known for Assault on Precinct 13, Mesrine, and Plane, directed the feature. Mutiny launched in United States cinemas on August 21, 2026, receiving mixed reviews from critics and audiences.
The film currently holds a rating of 5.7 out of 10 on IMDb. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 50 percent approval score from critics and an 86 percent rating from viewers. Review aggregator Metacritic lists a score of 52 out of 100 from film critics and 5.6 out of 10 from general audiences, both reflecting mixed or average reviews.
Shark survival drama Deep Water
Deep Water, a 2026 thriller produced across the United States, Spain, and New Zealand, centres on a group of air passengers struggling to survive in open water. After a passenger airliner travelling from Los Angeles to Shanghai makes an emergency ocean landing, survivors cling to aircraft wreckage in freezing conditions with no immediate rescue in sight. The situation escalates as a school of aggressive sharks circles the wreckage.
The film stars Aaron Eckhart, known for Erin Brockovich, The Dark Knight, Olympus Has Fallen, and Midway, alongside Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, whose filmography includes Schindler's List, Gandhi, Shutter Island, Iron Man 3, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Angus Sampson, featured in Mad Max: Fury Road, the Insidious franchise, and the series The Lincoln Lawyer, also stars, alongside Kelly Gale of Plane, Uglies, and the series Harry Hole, and Molly Wright of Nine Perfect Strangers.
Finnish-American director Renny Harlin, whose previous work includes Die Hard 2, Deep Blue Sea, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Mindhunters, and The Strangers franchise, directed the film. Deep Water held its world premiere at the Sarasota Film Festival in the United States in April 2026, receiving mixed-to-positive feedback.
The movie currently holds a 5.4 out of 10 score on IMDb. On Rotten Tomatoes, it records a 68 percent rating from film critics and a 71 percent score from audiences. Metacritic lists a critic score of 53 out of 100, representing mixed or average reviews, alongside an audience score of 6.1 out of 10, indicating generally positive user reviews.
Odesa Film Festival in Kyiv
The 17th Odesa International Film Festival takes place from August 27 to September 4, 2026. Following the start of the full-scale war, organizers relocated the annual event from its home city of Odesa to Kyiv.
Academy Award-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanović, best known for No Man's Land, serves as the main star and jury member for this year's festival. The festival schedule includes the screening of Rescue, a joint Ukrainian and American documentary focusing on animals evacuated from frontline war zones. Full festival scheduling is published on the event's official website.
Crime thriller The Whisper Man
Netflix debuts the 2026 American crime thriller The Whisper Man on August 28, 2026. Adapted from the 2019 bestselling novel of the same name by Alex North, the story focuses on widowed author Tom Kennedy. Following the disappearance of his eight-year-old son, Kennedy turns for help to his father, retired detective Pete Willis, who previously imprisoned a serial killer known as The Whisper Man connected to the case.
Robert De Niro, whose career includes Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Casino, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon, stars in the feature alongside Adam Scott of Madame Web, Hokum, and the series Severance. Michelle Monaghan, known for Mission: Impossible III, Gone Baby Gone, MaXXXine, True Detective, and The White Lotus, also holds a lead role.
The cast also features Michael Keaton, known for Night Shift, Batman, Birdman, The Flash, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, alongside John Carroll Lynch of Fargo, Face/Off, Zodiac, Shutter Island, and American Horror Story. Hamish Linklater, featured in Fargo, Legion, Midnight Mass, and Gen V, also appears. New Zealand director James Ashcroft, who helmed the 2021 horror thriller Coming Home in the Dark and the 2024 crime horror The Rule of Jenny Pen, directed the project.
For home viewers tracking television releases this week, the sci-fi thriller series Dark Matter also debuts on Apple TV+.
