‘The Lure’ Director’s AI Thriller “Hot Spot” Set for September Theatrical Release

Artificial intelligence awakens this summer in Hot Spot, the latest dystopian sci-fi thriller from The Lure director Agnieszka Smoczyńska.

The film is set to hit North American theaters on August 21 via Focus Features, placing it in a crowded late-summer release window alongside Insidious: Out of the Further, action thriller Mutiny, comedy Spa Weekend, and crime drama The Rivals of Amziah King.

Set in a near-future world governed by a sentient AI system, Hot Spot follows a private investigator drawn into a murder case that quickly spirals into something far larger. As the investigation deepens, he uncovers a shadowy resistance group with the ability to disrupt—and potentially dismantle—the digital overlord controlling society.

The film stars Andrzej Konopka (The Lure), Noomi Rapace (Prometheus), and Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car). The screenplay comes from Robert Bolesto, who also collaborated with Smoczyńska on The Lure.

A Polish-Greek co-production, Hot Spot is produced by Poland’s Madants alongside Neda Film of Greece and their respective partners.

Focus Features’ genre slate continues to expand, with upcoming releases including Obsession on May 15 and Robert Eggers’ Werwulf arriving on December 25.