AceShowbiz - Hot Spot is the upcoming AI-themed sci-fi thriller directed by Agnieszka Smoczy?ska, known for The Silent Twins, that Focus Features will release in North American theaters on August 21.

The film is poised to compete with several notable releases, including Black Bear’s crime thriller The Rivals featuring Amziah King, the comedy Spa Weekend, Screen Gems’ horror entry Insidious: Out of the Further, and Lionsgate’s action thriller Mutiny starring Jason Statham.

Set in a near-future world dominated by sentient artificial intelligence, Hot Spot follows a private investigator who delves into a murder case. As the story unfolds, he uncovers a rebel faction aiming to challenge the authority of the digital overlord controlling society.

This Polish-Greek co-production was written by Robert Bolesto and produced on the Polish side by Madants and its partners, while Neda Film and its collaborators handled the Greek co-production aspects. The project’s producers include Bogna Szewczyk-Skupie? and Klaudia ?mieja-Rostworowska for Madants, alongside Gregory Jankilevitsch.

The cast is led by Noomi Rapace, Reika Kirishima, and Andrzej Konopka, who bring life to the film’s complex characters within this futuristic narrative.

Focus Features has recently debuted documentaries such as The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist and the authorized Lorne, about SNL’s Lorne Michaels. Their upcoming schedule for the remainder of the year also includes a range of diverse films: the horror movie Obsession by Curry Barker releasing May 15, Anthony Maras’ D-Day thriller Pressure on May 29, Hayley Kiyoko’s Girls Like Girls on June 19, Paul Greengrass’ The Uprising starring Andrew Garfield set for September 11, a fresh adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility on October 16 featuring Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Robert Egger’s Werwulf arriving December 25.