This year has been an exciting one for movies. Not only are people going to theaters like they mean it – this summer season will rank among the best ever at the domestic box office – but the films that break through are really breaking through. And the good times won't stop when schools reopen. This especially crowded blockbuster corridor may be coming to an end, but the fall is just as packed, maybe even more so. ScreenRant has the exclusive early looks to prove it.
In the film world, fall is famously the launchpad for many an awards season hopeful, and this year is no different. You'll find some of those festival titles represented here. But, like the summer, it feels like the next few months will bring something for just about everyone. Franchise films and artful indies. Low-budget horror and ambitious animation. Tom Cruise in a cowboy hat. Austin Abrams getting chased by infected. Even more Anne Hathaway. All that and plenty more await you in SR's 2026 Fall Movie Preview.
After unveiling our Fall TV Preview earlier this week, you'll find exclusive new images from over 60 films releasing in September, October, November, and even December below, arranged first by date and then alphabetically. Some you'll have been anticipating for months, maybe even years. Some you'll never have heard of until this moment. Either way, consider this a perfect opportunity to build out your fall watchlist.
Just Play Dead
In Limited Theaters August 28 & VOD September 1
In this twisty little thriller from director Martin Campbell, Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Green are engaged in a deadly battle of wits. Jackson's career criminal knows his time playing with embezzled money is running out, so he enlists his wife (Green) in a plan to fake his death, blame it on her lover, and cash in on the insurance payout. But when she decides she'd prefer to kill him for real, Just Play Dead suddenly becomes a race to see who can outwit the other.
The Sun Never Sets
In Limited Theaters August 28 & Nationwide September 4
When it premiered at this year's South by Southwest, The Sun Never Sets scored some of the best reviews of director Joe Swanberg's career. This rom-com of sorts sees Wendy (Dakota Fanning) go on a break from her older boyfriend Jack (Jake Johnson) to try and figure out what she really wants from her life. Unexpectedly, that path leads her back to her ex (Cory Michael Smith), and things suddenly get far more complicated than she'd bargained for.
Fall 2: Deadpoint
In Theaters September 2
Poor decision-making runs in some families, it seems. After her sister Shiloh's death in the 2022 original film, Jax (Harriet Slater) is convinced by Shiloh's friend Luce (Arsema Thomas) that the best way to honor her passing is with a daring climb of her own. But as might be clear from our exclusive image of Fall 2: Fall 2: Deadpoint, Jax's attempt to do the plank walk on Thailand's Mount Kwan doesn't go as planned, and she and Luce end up stranded 3,000 feet in the air.
Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour - Live From Paris
In Theaters September 2
Another pop star joins the recent wave of theatrical concert docs, which have proven a welcome addition to the box office. As it sounds like, Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour - Live from Parisis a filmed version of Katy Perry's 2025 concert tour, more specifically the performances at Paris' Accor Arena. Concert doc regular Paul Dugdale directs, with footage compiled from over 60 different camera angles. Couldn't get tickets to The Lifetimes Tour? This is the next-best way to share in that experience.
The Runner
Streaming On Prime Video September 2
Prime Video's The Runner stars Gal Gadot as an ordinary woman thrust into a deadly race against time. Maia (Gadot), a lawyer, starts receiving messages from a mystery man who has kidnapped her son. She must follow his instructions and, ultimately, kill her client before he can testify, or her son dies.
By Any Means
In Theaters September 4
From director Elegance Bratton, By Any Means is inspired by true events and pairs two unlikely people against a common enemy. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays an FBI agent eager to show what he can do; Mark Wahlberg is a mafia hitman and FBI informant. When the former is tasked with investigating a series of brutal, unsolved murders of civil rights leaders deep in Klan territory, he ends up partnering with the latter, who isn't too concerned with breaking the law if it means getting results.
Mayday
Streaming On Apple TV September 4
Ryan Reynolds stars in Mayday, a late '80s-set action comedy from writer-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the pair behind Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, coming soon to Apple TV. He plays US Air Force Pilot Troy “Assassin” Kelly, who ends up deep in the Soviet Union after his mission goes sideways. There, he meets Kenneth Branagh's Nikolai, who is a carpenter, ex-KGB, and (luckily for Troy) a deep admirer of American culture. Nikolai agrees to help him escape from behind enemy lines, and they might even become friends in the process.
Onslaught
In Theaters September 4
Director Adam Wingard has spent some time in the big franchise playgrounds, but after two Godzilla-Kong movies, he's returning to his original action-slasher roots. Onslaught stars Adria Arjona as an army sniper who must protect her daughter from a team of experimental super soldiers. Fans of Wingard's 2014 film The Guest will be happy to know: This new film takes place directly in the same continuity.
Hope
In Theaters September 9
When this South Korean sci-fi action film premiered in competition at Cannes, it inspired just about every reaction under the sun. Soon, audiences will get to see for themselves what Hope has in store for them, as a small village finds itself beset by a deadly beast of unknown origin. Police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) and his rookie deputy Sung-ae (Hoyeon) set out to hunt it down – only to find themselves the targets of a threat that is not of this Earth. As the above image suggests, expect plenty of carnage.
The Fix
In Theaters September 11
The Fixis a tale of men in need of redemption. Under the tutelage of Larry (Liam Neeson), Tucker (Zachary Levi) once led a specialized team of CIA operators, until their mission in Afghanistan ended in tragedy. In an effort to make good, Larry and Tucker get the gang back together to pull off a risky extraction: Recover $25 million from the wall of a Tehran hotel room, stashed there when the embassy fell in '81. But when the situation proves even more difficult than expected, it becomes clear that the truth of their mission may be something very different.
If I Go Will They Miss Me
In Limited Theaters September 11 & Nationwide September 18
A poetic family drama that impressed critics at Sundance, If I Go Will They Miss Me centers on a twelve-year-old boy (Bodhi Dell) who looks up to his father (J. Alphonse Nicholson) as a god, in the mythological sense, and is taken to imagining him that way. But their struggle to connect is reaching a breaking point, as is his father's relationship with his mother (Danielle Brooks), who may not be getting what she needs out of this life. They must all find a way to pull together again, or risk drifting apart.
Practical Magic 2
In Theaters September 11
Practical Magic wasn't a success when it released in 1998, but over time, audiences found it. Today, the cult fandom around this story of sister witches is big enough that Warner Bros. put its weight behind a splashy sequel. The original cast return to their roles, including Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian, but Practical Magic 2 also centers the next generation of Owens sisters: Joey King's Kylie and Maisie Williams' Antonia, whose attempt to undo the family curse risks tearing them all apart.
The Uprising
In Theaters September 11
How often do we get period action thrillers, let alone medieval-set ones? The Uprising is director Paul Greengrass' take on the English Peasants' Revolt of 1318, which, if you believe the unexpected twist in the film's marketing campaign, serves as a real-life origin story of sorts for the legend of Robin Hood. Andrew Garfield stars as the rebellion's firebrand leader, while Thomasin McKenzie and Jamie Bell, pictured above amid the fray, play Alyce and John Ball, respectively.
Bad Apples
In Limited Theaters September 18
Bad Apples first played the festival circuit in fall 2025, and its release returns Saoirse Ronan to the silver screen after a two-year absence – in a potentially tricky role. An elementary school teacher in England grows so tired of one ten-year-old boy disrupting her class that she ends up kidnapping him and locking him in her basement. As things on the outside start to get better, the hole she's dug for herself just keeps getting harder to climb out of.
Best Of The Best
Streaming On Netflix September 18
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who starred in four seasons of Never Have I Ever for Netflix, is now headlining one of the streamer's new fall films. She stars alongside Priyanka Kedia in Best of the Best as two college students who have been best friends since childhood and decide to join UCLA's Bollywood-fusion dance team together. In this comedy, they soon learn that becoming national champions is a much more intense process than they imagined.
The History Of Concrete
In Theaters September 18
Sounds exciting, eh? Well, it's better introduced as John Wilson's The History of Concrete. The documentary filmmaker behind HBO's comedic series How To with John Wilson, which won diehard loyalty from critics and its audience over three seasons, has made his first feature. The jumping-off point sees Wilson attempt to apply what he's learned at a workshop on making Hallmark movies to a documentary on the history of concrete. There's no telling where this journey will end up taking him.
The Musical
In Theaters September 18
After having premiered at this year's Sundance, this new comedy from first-time feature director Giselle Bonilla makes its way to audiences this fall. Will Brill stars in The Musical as middle school theater teacher Doug Leibowitz, whose frustrations as a playwright boil over when his ex (Gillian Jacobs) starts dating Principal Brady (Rob Lowe), his nemesis. Doug's plan? Write and stage the most inappropriate school musical he can to ruin Brady's reputation.
Resident Evil
In Theaters September 18
There have been quite a few Resident Evil movies before – but not like this one. Writer-director Zach Cregger attempts to continue his post-Weapons momentum not by adapting an individual Resident Evil video game, but by crafting an original story based on how it feels to play the games. Austin Abrams stars as a medical courier sent to Raccoon City General hospital, only to end up waylaid by the gruesome consequences of an outbreak. Chaos ensues.
Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom
In Theaters September 18
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, the latest stop-motion animated film from Aardman Animations, returns to one of their most enduring characters to tell a Halloween-themed story. As he tries to fix the farmer's destruction of the flock's pumpkin patch in time for the holiday, the sheep are also out to catch the mysterious creature that's roaming the area and disrupting the township. Our exclusive image above makes clear the locals are no fans of the Beast.
Tiny Fugitives
In Theaters September 18
Jackass' Johnny Knoxville is usually the one encouraging irresponsible antics, but in Tiny Fugitives, he's the sole obstacle to a group of tweens living out their dream. These friends love their summer camp more than their daily lives, and they hatch a plan to just... stay. Doing so will require evading the only counselor left on site, Bob (Knoxville), who has been working there for over two decades.
The Weight
In Theaters September 18
The Weight played both Sundance and Berlin before holding out for a fall release date, and it comes in with some critical heat. Set in 1933 Oregon, the movie stars Ethan Hawke as a man separated from his family and imprisoned in a brutal work camp, where he receives an offer from Russell Crowe's warden. Smuggle gold across treacherous land, and he'll secure an early release. But, as is often the case when gold is involved, things don't stay civil between the crew for long.
Take Me Home
In Limited Theaters September 23
Another movie that moved through both Sundance and Berlin, Take Me Home expands director Liz Sargent's short film and draws on her own family's experience to tell a moving drama. Sargent truly gets close to home by casting her real-life sister, Anna, as a daughter with a cognitive disability caring for her aging parents, as they, too, care for her. But their delicate balance is set to rupture, and, alongside her sister Emily (Ali Ahn), she must discover what a changed future will look like for all of them.
Bloody Tennis
Streaming On Shudder September 25
Some movies are just what it says on the box. This new horror movie coming to Shudder sees Sophie (Sandra Guldberg Kampp) invited to attend an elite, secretive tennis academy, where the competition gets seriously intense. By the sound of it, Bloody Tennis might try to do to this sport what Suspiria did for dance.
Charlie Harper
In Theaters September 25
This new romance movie from directors Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean premiered nearly a year ago at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, and the wait may have been worth it. Stars Nick Robinson and Emilia Jones are coming off two hotly reviewed 2026 releases, in Voicemails for Isabelle and Tony, respectively, and the chance to see them together in Charlie Harper could be extra enticing. But Harper (Jones) and Charlie's (Robinson) love story is no cakewalk, and they'll have to discover whether their relationship can survive the early stages of growing apart.
The Deputy
In Theaters & On VOD September 25
In The Deputy, it's hard to do the right thing. The titular rookie cop, Deputy Toby Sawyer (Duke Nicholson), is tasked with guarding a dead body by Chief Krueger (William H. Macy), but the corpse ends up going missing. When Toby determines to find out what happened to it, he discovers his small town has a long, dark history of corruption, and the pressure to forget what he's seen is significant. Instead, with the help of Deputy Amanda Jackson (Tiffany Haddish), he keeps digging to clear his name.
Forgotten Island
In Theaters September 25
The latest Dreamworks Animation feature generated some excitement when its trailer confirmed a continuation of the exciting animation style explored in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the previous film from director Joel Crawford. Here, writing and directing alongside Januel Mercado, that artful visual approach is being applied to a story set in 1990s Philippines, in which two best friends get stuck in the mystical land of Nakali and must escape before they forget each other. ScreenRant's exclusive new image of Forgotten Island reveals one of many creatures from Philippine mythology they encounter: the Duwende. They look pretty cute, but are they friendly?
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!
In Theaters September 25
Another Sundance 2026 premiere, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! won its co-writer and director, Josef Kubota Wladyka, the festival's Directing Award Dramatic. It stars Rinko Kikuchi as Haru, a competitive ballroom dancer in Tokyo who is knocked back by tragedy and has to be convinced by friends to return to the studio. When she develops feelings for her new instructor, however, life starts to regain its color.
Heart Of The Beast
In Theaters September 25
It's been a while, but after last working together on the hit World War 2 tank movie Fury, Brad Pitt and David Ayer have made another film, this time a survival thriller. In Heart of the Beast, Pitt's Special Forces officer crashes in the Alaskan wilderness with Odin, his retired combat dog. Their peaceful existence suddenly becomes a struggle against the terrain, weather, and other dangers that will truly test the bond between them.
The Incomer
In Theaters September 25
The Incomeris a comedy of collisions. Scottish siblings Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O'Rourke), pictured above, live together on a remote island, and have for years since their parents' disappearance. That changes when Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson) arrives with orders to relocate them to the mainland. Writer-director Louis Paxton drew on his Orcadian heritage for the movie, which also features John Hannah as a mythical Finman trying to draw Isla into the sea.
Never After Dark
In Theaters September 25
With all due respect to the festival prizes it has racked up so far, including the SXSW Midnighter Audience Award, Never After Dark has secured the horror community's ultimate seal of approval: a thumbs up from Stephen King. Shogun's Moeka Hoshi stars as a medium named Airi who has dedicated her life to helping restless spirits leave the world of the living. Her journey brings her to an isolated country house, where the new owner has called her to exorcise a spirit. The threat that awaits her there is like nothing she's ever faced.
Primetime
In Theaters September 25
Robert Pattinson’s stellar 2026 continues with what may be his most intense movie of the year (and that’s saying something). Primetime dramatizes the rise and fall of To Catch a Predator, the reality TV series hosted by Chris Hansen that would conduct stings to lure and surprise adult men who arrive expecting to meet a minor for sex. Want a preview of what you’re in for? The Esquire article this movie is based on is called “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die.”
Unabomber
Streaming On Netflix September 25
This new film from director Janus Metz centers on the real-life domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, whose mail bombing campaign wreaked havoc for two decades as the FBI scrambled to catch him. In a clever bit of casting, Kaczynski is played by Jacob Tremblay, whose prolific career as a child actor will make it as difficult to see him as the Unabomber as it was the real Harvard math prodigy. Russell Crowe plays his former professor, while Shailene Woodley is the FBI agent leading the effort to track him down.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
In Limited Theaters September 25 & Nationwide October 9
The failure of Marvel's Blade movie to get off the ground has been well-publicized, but the collaboration of star Mahershala Ali and director Bassam Tariq didn't prove fruitless. In Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, instead of a half-vampire vampire hunter, Ali plays a deeply religious hit man, whose life is turned upside-down by the death of his wife. His scrambling to protect his children exposes him to both physical and spiritual dangers.
Appofeniacs
In Theaters October 2
Deepfake technology is the driving force of Appofeniacs, a horror-thriller from writer-director Chris Marrs Piliero. Duke (Aaron Holliday) enjoys making them, and the trouble they cause, far too casually, and the consequences put three separate storylines on a collision course. Simran Jehani (above), Sean Gunn, and Paige Searcy star alongside Holliday.
Atonement
In Theaters October 2
Atonement sees Oscar-nominated short film director Reed Van Dyk make the leap to features for the first time, and he's tackling some intense subject matter. Based on a 2012 New Yorker article of the same name, the film follows a US marine haunted by his role in devastating an Iraqi family during the war in 2003. Years later, with the help of a journalist, he seeks out the survivors in an attempt to reconcile.
Beware Boiúna
In Theaters October 2
Many of us harbor deep, irrational fears of what would happen if we ever came across a deadly snake in the jungle. But Beware Boiúna asks, what if that snake was also a giant, angry god? Kiana Madeira (pictured above), Jessica Rothe, and Logan Marshall-Green star as members of a humanitarian medical mission in the Amazon who accidentally awaken Boiúna, the mythical serpent whose land they're supposedly standing on. Things don't go too well for them.
Digger
In Theaters October 2
Yes, that tired-looking old man holding a decrepit cat is Tom Cruise. Digger casts him against type as the guy everyone shouldn't expect to save the world, but do anyway – even though he's the reason it's in peril in the first place. Oscar-winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu directs this star-studded satire, which also features John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
The Influencer Project
In Theaters October 2
Leave it to the creators of The Blair Witch Project to try and find a new spin on found-footage horror for the social media era. The Influencer Project stars real-life influencer Chiara King as a fictionalized version of herself, travelling to Copenhagen to film a documentary on the true nature of being internet famous. But the cameras reveal that her fans and the filmmakers aren't the only ones watching her. As a stalker pursues her, the documentary starts to change in unsettling ways.
Verity
In Theaters October 2
2026 has been a year to remember for Anne Hathaway, but her fifth feature film still has yet to release, and it could be a doozy. Adapted from a Colleen Hoover novel, Verity casts Hathaway as a successful author who is left unable to finish her hit book series after a mysterious accident. Her husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) reaches out to Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) to ghostwrite for her, but inviting the writer into their home unearths some dangerous secrets.
A Prayer For The Dying
In Theaters October 9
This dark period drama takes place in the town of Friendship, Wisconsin in 1870, in the aftermath of the Civil War. Jacob Hansen (Johnny Flynn) sees his new life among the Scandinavian emigrant community there turn nightmarish, as Friendship is beset by both a deadly contagion and a wildfire. Aside from Flynn, A Prayer for the Dying stars John C. Reilly as Doc and Kristine Kujath Thorp (pictured) as Marta.
Double Trouble
In Theaters October 9
After their extensive work as child actors, real-life sisters Madeleine and Violet McGraw are sure to be familiar faces, and they're now teaming up for Double Trouble, a new, Las Vegas-set heist comedy. While their parents go on an excursion, Willow (Violet) and Charlotte (Madeleine) unexpectedly find themselves entangled in a high-stakes jewelry heist. They team up with a hapless security guard (Andrew Koji) to stop the master thief before it's too late (and before their parents notice).
Matchbox: The Movie
Streaming On Apple TV October 9
The blockbuster success of Barbie prompted a gold rush on toy and board game IP, one of which was Matchbox, the legacy toy brand now owned by Mattel. The result is Matchbox: The Movie, an action comedy from Extraction director Sam Hargrave about a group of childhood friends whose reunion as adults is spoiled when one of them, John Cena's Sean Walker, turns out to be a spy with powerful enemies. The other normies, played by Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson, Arturo Castro, and Teyonah Parris, suddenly find themselves part of this high-stakes action world when they are believed to have conspired with Sean to steal a nuclear warhead.
Other Mommy
In Theaters October 9
Jessica Chastain has been many things in movies, and with Other Mommy, she's primed to add "utterly terrifying" to the list. The supernatural horror film from director Rob Savage sees a young girl haunted by an entity that looks exactly like her mother. Chastain plays both the mother desperate to protect her daughter and the evil she's protecting her from, which will surely leave audiences feeling pretty conflicted every time she's on-screen.
The Social Reckoning
In Theaters October 9
It's been 16 years since The Social Network explored the rise of Facebook, and original screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, this time stepping into the director's chair, felt there was a new story to tell. The Social Reckoning dramatizes the 2021 leak of an internal document about the social media platform's harmful effects, and the reporting that followed. Jeremy Strong steps into the role of Mark Zuckerberg, and as SR's exclusive image might suggest, he's already attracting attention for the specificity of his portrayal.
La Bola Negra
In Theaters October 16 & Streaming On Netflix December 2
La bola negra was one of the breakout hits of this year's Cannes Film Festival, where filmmaking duo Los Javis were awarded the Best Director Award. With the full weight of Netflix's FYC team behind it, that's unlikely to be its last major prize. The queer epic stretches across time to intertwine the lives of three gay men, with sections set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. The image above is of the last of those, Alberto, played by Carlos González.
Breeder
In Theaters October 16
Breeder, a new horror film from writer, director, and editor Alex Goyette goes to exactly the uncomfortable places you might expect. College student Russell (Daniel Doheny) agrees to meet with Patti (Dot-Marie Jones), a breeder of miniature poodles, to secure funding for his research. In return, she'd like him to help kickstart her new venture: breeding people. And, as Russell unfortunately learns, she takes her work very seriously.
Crawlers
In Theaters October 16
Arachnophobes, consider yourselves warned – you won't like what's lurking beyond the frame of this image. Crawlers is set in an apartment building that, after a resident mysteriously dies, is placed under strict quarantine. When manager Serena (Matilda Lutz) discovers an infestation of deadly spiders, the trapped residents must fight their way through the building to survive.
Hallowarrior
Streaming On Shudder October 16
Hallowarrior is a spooky season story with a post-apocalyptic twist. Pumpkin (Milly Shapiro) is the last girl on Earth, after a humanity-ending plague left her the sole survivor. On the night before Halloween, as she prepares her usual holiday ritual, she gets some unexpected guests who are more interested in tricks than treats: a gang of raiders following Shannyn Sossamon's Thalia. Pumpkin is in for a vicious fight if she hopes to survive.
Whalefall
In Theaters October 16
Bad things happening to Austin Abrams is a trend of fall 2026 – but the claustrophobic nightmare scenario in Whalefall is a little more grounded in reality. Abrams plays Jay, a scuba diver searching the ocean for the remains of his father, Mitt (Josh Brolin). He ends up seeing a sperm whale hunt a giant squid from way too close, and gets caught up in the fray. Then, he gets swallowed. He has just an hour to find a way to escape before his oxygen runs out.
The Cycle
Streaming On Shudder October 23
The Cycle offers a compelling horror-mystery just in time for the scariest month of year. Deborah Ann Woll stars as a woman unexpectedly called into a police station when her father's body is found at a crime scene. Only, that body didn't quite belong with the two other victims – it had been missing for 36 years. Digging into his past to get to the bottom of what happened puts her in the path of a frightening evil.
Klara And The Sun
In Theaters October 23
Klara and the Sun, Taika Waititi's latest movie, which he co-wrote with Dahvi Waller, is an adaptation of the 2021 novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. Jenna Ortega stars as Klara, an Artificial Friend companion android who, in a world of advanced genetic engineering, has seemingly outlived her utility. But when she's reluctantly purchased by Chrissie (Amy Adams) for her sick daughter Josie (Mia Tharia), she gets an unexpected opportunity to make the connection she's always craved.
The Only Living Pickpocket In New York
In Limited Theaters October 23 & Nationwide October 30
Another arrival from the festival circuit, having played both Sundance and Berlin, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York gives John Turturro his latest plum role. Directed by frequent Rian Johnson collaborator Noah Segan, the movie follows a career pickpocket struggling to make ends meet in a New York City that is increasingly cashless. One day, he accidentally steals from the wrong people, and he's desperate to avoid finding out what happens if he doesn't recover the already-fenced goods in time.
Possible Love
In Select Theaters October 23 & Streaming On Netflix November 6
Celebrated Korean director Lee Chang-dong is back with his first film since 2018’s Burning, and ahead of its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, it’s already been named South Korea’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. Possible Love explores the complex relationships that develop between two couples as they come into each other’s orbit. The more time they spend together, the more cracks appear in their current lives.
Wicker
In Theaters October 23
This isn't your parents' Wicker Man. A romantic comedy of sorts, Wicker sees Olivia Colman's lonely, ostracized fisherwoman ask Peter Dinklage's basket weaver to make her a husband from wicker. He over-delivers. When she shows up at the chapel, as agreed, to meet her Wicker Husband, the weaver's creation lives, breathes, and looks like Alexander Skarsgård. Their dedicated, passionate love soon turns the whole village's hierarchy on its head.
Wildwood
In Theaters October 23
Wildwood has been in the works at Laika for more than a decade, and through Fathom Entertainment, the stop-motion animation adventure will finally have the chance to enchant audiences in theaters this fall. This fantasy epic follows teen protagonist Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) and her classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) on their quest to rescue her infant brother, who was kidnapped by the menacing crows seen in SR's exclusive early look. That journey takes them from the bustling city of Portland into a hidden magical forest, where a whole new world awaits.
Christmas At The Kringles
In Theaters October 30
This Christmas horror movie's Halloween weekend release is perfectly timed, since it's partially about how unsettling it is that it's not actually Christmastime. In Christmas at the Kringles, the Severson family move into a suburban neighborhood looking to start fresh, only to be gradually put off by their neighbors, the Kringles, who celebrate Christmas year-round. As their son grows more attached to them, Mark (Ron Livingston) and Julie (Rachel Bilson) eventually decide to head over and confront them – only to learn the Kringles' true intentions aren't so jolly.
The Mongoose
In Theaters October 30
Liam Neeson's self-aware send-up of his action hero persona in The Naked Gun was by no means a sign he was done being an actual action hero. In The Mongoose, he plays a war hero falsely accused of a crime, who would rather take off in his car than ever let himself be caught. As his high-speed chase with law enforcement becomes national news, he finds plenty of fellow veterans and sympathetic civilians willing to help.
Being Heumann
In Limited Theaters November 6 & Streaming On Apple TV November 13
Director Siân Heder's first movie since CODA won Best Picture is a biopic of Judy Heumann, one of the most important voices in the Disability Rights Movement. Ruth Madeley stars in Being Heumann, an adaptation of Heumann's memoir, and more specifically her efforts to push the government to enshrine civil right protections for people with disabilities, resulting in a 1977 sit-in of regional Health, Education, and Welfare offices across the country. Mark Ruffalo, Dylan O'Brien, and Ray Fisher are among Madeley's castmates.
Godzilla Minus Zero
In Theaters November 6
After Godzilla Minus One's incredible success in 2023, director Takashi Yamazaki was given more resources for the sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero. "We have received a bigger budget than the previous film, for which we are also very thankful," Yamazaki-san told ScreenRant in an exclusive preview interview. That budget went into crafting a bigger, more immersive cinematic experience, filmed for IMAX. "I tried to put as much of that additional budget on to the screen and into the experience audiences would feel when they go into movie theaters."
For example, there were several sequences within one scene where I tried to capture the intensity of a kaiju attack from the human perspective and there’s an added level of terror we were able to achieve because of that. Especially if people go see the film in theaters. There’s a lot of entertainment factor that the budget has translated to.
At the same time, the IMAX version of the film adds a whole new layer of immersion. The idea being making kaiju feel [like] they actually exist and putting the audience on ground level, face to face, with the kaiju. That was a large area where I deployed additional budget. It really unlocked and expanded what we could do and what kind of visual expression we could put on the screen.
I Play Rocky
In Limited Theaters November 6 & Nationwide Later In November
Rocky is one of the ultimate underdog stories; I Play Rocky explores how the making of that movie is another. Anthony Ippolito stars as a young Sylvester Stallone, who has written a great script about a small-time boxer's surprise opportunity to be in the spotlight and is determined to force Hollywood to let him play the lead. In SR's exclusive preview image, he can be seen next to AnnaSophia Robb as Stallone's wife, Sasha Czack, and in front of the actors playing Rocky's producers and director. This scene can only be a screening of the finished product. Stallone's reaction? It's honestly tough to say.
Wild Horse Nine
In Theaters November 6
Irish filmmaker Martin McDonagh returns with another well-cast dark comedy, this time centered on the CIA. In 1970s Chile, CIA officers Chris (John Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell) are sent by their bureau chief (Steve Buscemi) from Santiago to Easter Island, where their attempt to keep a low profile goes very wrong. Wild Horse Nine will premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival before making its way to general audiences in November.
Bitter Christmas
In Limited Theaters November 13 & Nationwide November 25
After releasing his first English-language feature in 2024, Pedro Almodóvar returns to his native Spanish in Amarga Navidad ( Bitter Christmas), a thorny metafictional tale. The film interweaves two storylines: one set in 2004 and focused on Elsa (Bárbara Lennie), a commercial director reeling from a terrible migraine; and one in 2025, when celebrated filmmaker Raúl (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is writing his next screenplay. Elsa is Raúl's fictional creation, a representation of himself and his experiences – just as Raúl is a clear stand-in of sorts for Almodóvar. These layers collide to tell a clever story about the cost of artistic inspiration.
How To Rob A Bank
In Theaters November 13
Continuing his run of original action comedies, David Leitch returns with How to Rob a Bank, a tech-forward heist movie that should give a bunch of talented actors some really fun roles. Nicholas Hoult leads a crew of bank robbers who film and upload their crimes to social media, becoming Robin Hood-style heroes of the people in the process. John C. Reilly is the FBI agent determined to hunt them down, with the help of Zoë Kravitz's Reagan Gardner, a gifted hacker under house arrest. As the two groups come closer to colliding, the crew approach their biggest, most personal score yet.
Paper Tiger
In Limited Theaters November 13 & Nationwide November 20
After premiering at Cannes, writer-director James Gray's latest film is making its way back stateside, and will open the New York Film Festival before its theatrical release. The 1980s-set Paper Tiger casts Miles Teller and Adam Driver as brothers Irwin and Gary, respectively, who pursue a business opportunity in Queens, only to find themselves entangled with the Russian mafia. The more involved they get, the greater the cost to them and to Irwin's suburban family.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping
In Theaters November 20
The world of The Hunger Games returns with the biggest tournament yet put on screen. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping serves as a prequel to the original films, focused on Haymitch, memorably portrayed by Woody Harrelson. Here, Joseph Zada will play Katniss' future mentor during his games, the infamous 50th Hunger Games, for which each District was required to send twice the number of tributes. ScreenRant's exclusive image reveals a new look at the four tributes representing District 12: Lou Lou (Iona Bell); Wyatt Callow (Ben Wang); Zada's Haymitch; and Maysilee Donner (Mckenna Grace).
Josephine
In Theaters November 20
Josephine won big at this year's Sundance, earning both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, but it's no easy watch. Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum star as parents of the titular eight-year-old, who one day witnesses a horrific assault in Golden Gate Park. The film, inspired by a real experience from writer-director Beth de Araújo's childhood, grapples with how the aftermath shapes Josephine, and shakes her family.
Focker-In-Law
In Theaters November 25
Ariana Grande, already a former TV star and a current pop star, announced herself as a bona fide movie star with her Oscar-nominated role as Glinda in Wicked. Her next move was to double-down on her comedic talent and join Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro for a revival of the Meet the Parents film series. In Focker-In-Law, it's now Greg's son Henry's (Skyler Gisondo) turn to bring someone home to meet the family: Olivia (Grande), a former FBI hostage negotiator. The hard-to-please Jack (De Niro) warms to her right away. Greg? Not so much.
Hershey
In Theaters November 25
Hershey's Chocolate is one of those brands that's quintessentially American, and a new biopic of its founders is arriving just in time for the most American of holidays. Hershey explores how Milton (Finn Wittrock) and Kitty Hershey (Alexandra Daddario) turned his history of business failures into a chocolate empire that has stood the test of time. Alan Ruck, Richard Kind, and David Costabile also star.
Hexed
In Theaters November 25
Walt Disney Animation Studios is back with a new original this Thanksgiving, Hexed, about a teenage girl named Billie (Hailee Steinfeld) who discovers that she has magical powers. She travels to Hexe, a world of witches – where, among many other things, she meets Beef. The three-eyed, green, magical feline pictured above, full name Beef Roger Crumbchuck, is voiced by Walton Goggins. From the early footage of him shown at D23 in August, he seems like the trailer park version of the Cheshire Cat.
Behemoth!
In Theaters December 4
After an extended time in the Star Wars universe, Tony Gilroy has returned to adult dramas with Behemoth!, his first feature directing credit since 2012. Not much is known about the story, except that Pedro Pascal stars as a gifted cellist returning to Los Angeles after two decades, where a life-changing journey awaits him. Eva Victor, Olivia Wilde, and Will Arnett also star. Behemoth! will premiere at the New York Film Festival in October before later releasing in theaters on December 4.
Violent Night 2
In Theaters December 4
Tommy Wirkola and David Harbour's Santa action movie went over so well in 2022 that it's earned a sequel, and this time, Kristen Bell's Mrs. Claus is getting in on the action. In Violent Night 2, when Santa finds himself stripped of his powers after ending up on the naughty list for "forgetting the meaning of Christmas," he wonders if maybe he's gone a little overboard on the violence. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't get much of a chance to slow down, as the gangster Mason (Jared Harris) is determined to take the opportunity to wipe out Old Saint Nick once and for all.
In Waves
Streaming On Netflix December 11
Based on the graphic novel by AJ Dungo, this animated film from director Phuong Mai Nguyen takes a stylized look at a challenged romance. High schooler AJ (Rio Vega), a skateboarder and artist, meets Kristen (Lyna Khoudri), a passionate surfer. They fall in love and plan a future together. Then, Kristen gets sick. In Waves captures their story of enduring love in the face of adversity, fueled by their shared relationship with the sea.
Ray Gunn
Streaming On Netflix December 18
Brad Bird has wanted to make Ray Gunn for a long time – so long, in fact, that when Skydance Animation finally greenlit the project, he chose to pass off directing duties for The Incredibles 3 rather than miss the opportunity. The animated, neo-noir, sci-fi mystery centers on Ray (Sam Rockwell), the last human private detective in the alien-filled, retro-futuristic city of Metropia. He finds himself entangled in a case involving Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson), a pop star dealing with a potential career-ruining scandal.
Mr. Irrelevant
In Theaters December 25
In NFL football, the term Mr. Irrelevant is used to describe the last player selected in that year's draft; historically, their odds of making the final roster by that season's start are not good. In this movie, David Corenswet plays one such player: John Tuggle, selected as the final pick in the 1983 draft by the New York Giants. Expect some inspiring underdog sports drama to be waiting for you in theaters this Christmas Day.