With the notable exceptions of Top Gun: Maverick and Everything Everywhere All at Once, this has been a pretty disappointing year at the cinema. But that may be about to change.
This fall brings with it a number of intriguing films across all genres. There are psychological thrillers like Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling and Anya Taylor-Joy starrer The Menu. Superhero epics such as The Rock’s DC antihero saga Black Adam and Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Oscar-courting dramedies from Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) and David O. Russell (Amsterdam), and the studio romcoms Bros—the first gay romcom from a major studio—and the George Clooney-Julia Roberts vehicle Ticket to Paradise. Oh, and a stop-motion animated fantasy flick from the duo of Henry Selick and Jordan Peele.
And so, without further ado, here are the most anticipated movies of the fall.
HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL (Sept. 2 in Theaters/Peacock)
The feature directorial debut of Adamma Ebo—produced by Jordan Peele and Daniel Kaluuya—is a satire of Southern Baptist megachurches that sees Trinitie Childs’ (Regina Hall) life turned upside down when her pastor-husband, Lee-Curtis (Sterling K. Brown), is accused of sexual misconduct by a number of young male congregants. Come for Hall’s riveting turn as the suffering wife in thousand-dollar hats, stay for Hall and Brown’s performance of “Knuck If You Buck.”
DISNEY’S PINOCCHIO (Sept. 8 on Disney+)
Tom Hanks apparently spent the pandemic burying himself in prosthetics. And here, he follows his wild turn as Machiavellian manager Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis with more makeup as Geppetto, the elderly woodcarver who brings Pinocchio (voiced by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) to life. The live-action film reunites Hanks with his Polar Express director Robert Zemeckis, who’s best known for helming Back to the Future and the underrated masterpiece Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
CLERKS III (Sept. 13 in Theaters)
Filmmaker Kevin Smith is (maybe?) closing out his Clerks saga with this third chapter that sees Randal (Jeff Anderson) and Dante (Brian O’Halloran) try to make a movie about their life at the Quick Stop. And yes, plenty of Smith regulars return, including Jay and Silent Bob, Rosario Dawson, Justin Long, and… Ben Affleck.
THE WOMAN KING (Sept. 16 in Theaters)
Gina Prince-Bythewood has decided to follow up her Netflix superhero hit The Old Guard with this adventure epic about the Agojie, an army of female warriors who protected Dahomey, an African kingdom. They are led by General Nanisca (Viola Davis), and joining in on the action are Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Adrienne Warren, and John Boyega.
GOODNIGHT MOMMY (Sept. 16 on Prime)
Naomi Watts is the undisputed queen of horror remakes (see: The Ring, King Kong, Funny Games), and here she’s chosen to put her own spin on the 2014 Austrian flick of the same name. She plays a mother who undergoes cosmetic surgery and returns to her two 9-year-old twin boys with bandages obscuring her face. Is she their mother—or somebody else?
SEE HOW THEY RUN (Sept. 16 in Theaters)
No, this fun little period whodunit is not helmed by Wes Anderson, though it does feature a number of actors who’ve popped up in his films. Tom George, the man behind the hilarious BBC comedy This Country, is steering this murder-mystery about a 1950s London play whose crew members start getting murdered. Sam Rockwell plays the inspector tasked with investigating the murders and Saoirse Ronan is his right-hand woman. Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson, and David Oyelowo also star.
THE SILENT TWINS (Sept. 16 in Theaters)
Acclaimed Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczyńska makes her English-language debut with this dramatization of the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons, two real-life identical twins—and fiction writers—in Wales who only communicated with each other and were cruelly detained in a mental hospital for over a decade where they were pumped full of antipsychotic meds. Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance bring June and Jennifer to thrilling life.
PEARL (Sept. 16 in Theaters)
Actress Mia Goth wowed as both hunter and hunted in X, filmmaker Ti West’s grindhouse slasher that saw an elderly couple terrorize a ‘70s porno crew. She returns in its prequel Pearl, tracing her character’s origins during World War I as she grows to become the bloodthirsty killer she is. There will, most certainly, be blood.
GOD’S COUNTRY (Sept. 16 in Theaters)
This slow-boil thriller is more than anything a showcase for Thandiwe Newton, who delivers one of the finest performances of her career as a Black college professor living out in the wilderness who becomes locked in a war of wills with two white trespassers on her property.
MOONAGE DAYDREAM (Sept. 16 in Theaters)
Much as he did to Kurt Cobain in Montage of Heck, documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen uses a combination of never-before-seen footage, performances, music, and animation to take viewers on a surrealist journey into the mind of late music legend David Bowie.
DON’T WORRY DARLING (Sept. 23 in Theaters)
Olivia Wilde’s highly anticipated follow-up to Booksmart has already become the most talked-about movie of the year for its off-screen shenanigans, but what of the film itself? This 1950s-set psychological thriller sees a young couple (Florence Pugh, Harry Styles) in a picture-perfect town that hides many secrets. Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, and Chris Pine round out the cast.
CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY (Sept. 23 in Theaters, Oct. 7 on Prime)
Marking the second feature from Lena Dunham to be released this year (after Sharp Stick), this adaptation of Karen Cushman’s novel Catherine, Called Birdy is set in 13th-century England and explores the life of Birdy (Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey), a young noblewoman whose parents (Andrew Scott, Billie Piper) are trying to wed her off to an older man of means, much to her chagrin. Joe Alwyn, Ralph Ineson, and Dunham also star.
BLONDE (Sept. 28 on Netflix)
Ana de Armas is a talented, terribly attractive actress. She also looks (and sounds) nothing like Marilyn Monroe. Whether she’ll be able to suspend our disbelief remains to be seen, but director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) will do his best to steer this Monroe biopic home. The film, which has been rated NC-17 for graphic sex, also features Adrien Brody as Arthur Miller, Bobby Cannavale as Joe DiMaggio, and Julianne Nicholson as Monroe’s mother, Gladys Pearl Baker.
BROS (Sept. 30 in Theaters)
Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), produced by Judd Apatow, and co-written by and starring Billy Eichner, this film is groundbreaking for being the first gay studio romcom—and with an all-LGBTQ cast, no less. Eichner and Luke Macfarlane star as two commitment-phobe men who try to date each other, and they’re joined in the fun by Ts Madison, Guillermo Diaz, Monica Raymund, Debra Messing, Harvey Fierstein, Kristin Chenoweth, and Bowen Yang.
THE GREATEST BEER RUN EVER (Sept. 30 on Apple TV+)
After inexplicably winning the Best Picture Oscar for Green Book, Peter Farrelly is back with this action-comedy starring Zac Efron as a Marine Corps veteran and merchant seaman in 1967 New York City who follows a wild idea: to track down his buddies in the Vietnam War and deliver them beer. Russell Crowe plays a war photographer who helps him in his mission, while Bill Murray is the bartender that helped inspire the bizarre journey.
HOCUS POCUS 2 (Sept. 30 on Disney+)
Nearly thirty years after the 1993 original comes this spooky sequel from romcom expert Anne Fletcher (The Proposal) that sees the original Sanderson sisters (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker) return to Salem for more witchcraft—only to run into a trio of high school girls who agree to stop them. The Sandersons must also square off against The Witch (Hannah Waddingham), an evil entity hell-bent on destruction.
MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM (Sept. 30 on Prime)
Elsie Fisher blew audiences away as an awkward middle schooler in Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade, and continued to impress as a stunned actress on HBO’s Barry. Here, she plays a high schooler who suspects that her best friend (Amiah Miller), who occasionally disappears into the woods, might be possessed by a demon.
TÁR (Oct. 7 in Theaters)
It’s been 16 years since filmmaker Todd Fields’ last feature, Little Children. Well, he’s back with this drama about the life of Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett), a renowned German conductor of classical music who’s considered the best in her field. She’s joined by Nina Hoss, Noemie Merlant, and Mark Strong. Early buzz says this could be a potential Oscar-worthy turn from Blanchett as the dynamic maestro.
LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE (Oct. 7 in Theaters)
It’s a live-action children’s film with a weird-looking animated crocodile (voiced by Shawn Mendes), and based on a beloved children’s book. The singing croc finds some allies in his owner, Hector P. Valenti (Javier Bardem), and the Primms (Constance Wu, Winslow Fegley, Scoot McNairy), and an enemy in his diabolical neighbor Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman). Something to take the kids to.
HALLOWEEN ENDS (Oct. 14 in Theaters and Peacock)
The 13th and final (maybe?) film in the Halloween franchise features David Gordon Green returning in the director’s chair, and Jamie Lee Curtis once again locked in a war against serial killer Michael Myers. Hopefully she won’t spend the entire film in the hospital this time, as in last year’s disappointing Halloween Kills.
DECISION TO LEAVE (Oct. 14 in Theaters)
From Oldboy to The Handmaiden, few filmmakers can do stylish suspense quite like South Korean master Park Chan-wook. This erotic thriller sees a world-weary detective (Park Hae-il) be seduced by the lead suspect (Tang Wei) in his murder investigation. The film received raves out of Cannes, and is arguably my most anticipated movie of the fall season.
TILL (Oct. 14 in Theaters)
Just this month, a grand jury declined to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman whose false allegation led to the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till. This timely historical drama from Chinonye Chukwu (Clemency) tells the story of Mamie-Till Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler), who fought like hell for justice after the murder of her son, Emmett (Jalyn Hall). Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett, and Whoopi Goldberg also star.
THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL (Oct. on Netflix)
Let’s be real: Netflix doesn’t exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to cinema epics. But Paul Feig, the director of this sprawling fantasy film, does have a heck of a resume (see: Bridesmaids, Spy, A Simple Favor). The premise here involves kidnapped children who attend the School for Good and Evil, where they’re trained to become fairy tale heroes or villains, and boasts the likes of Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Kerry Washington, and Charlize Theron as the faculty.
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (Oct. 21 in Theaters)
The In Bruges team of director Martin McDonagh and stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson have reunited for this Irish-set tale about two lifelong friends who become engaged in a cold war of sorts when one of them (Gleeson) abruptly ends their friendship. Expect loads of chemistry between Farrell and Gleeson, who got on like a house on fire in In Bruges. Supporting turns come from Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan, aka The Joker in the new Batman.
BLACK ADAM (Oct. 21 in Theaters)
In an effort to work down their $47 billion debt load, Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to release only two feature films for the rest of the year—Don’t Worry Darling and Black Adam—pushing the rest of their slate to 2023 and beyond. That they chose this as their big superhero tentpole may be due in part to the chaos Ezra Miller hath wrought, but is also a vote of confidence for this action-adventure from Jaume Collet-Serra starring The Rock as the titular antihero (and Shazam’s archenemy). Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Pierce Brosnan, and Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller also do battle.
TICKET TO PARADISE (Oct. 21 in Theaters)
Listen, it’s a big studio romcom from the director of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts as a pair divorced parents trying to sabotage their daughter’s (Kaitlyn Dever) wedding. Oh, and they play beer pong in the trailer. I am in.
MY POLICEMAN (Oct. 21 in Theaters, Nov. 4 on Prime)
Based on the romance novel by Bethan Roberts, this romantic drama features Harry Style as a closeted cop in 1950s Brighton who is love with a man (David Dawson) yet marries a woman (Emma Corrin) in order to keep his sexuality a secret at a time when being out could be met with grave consequences.
ARMAGEDDON TIME (Oct. 28 in Theaters)
Filmmaker James Gray (Two Lovers, The Lost City of Z, Ad Astra) is either underrated or overrated, depending on who you ask. In this writer’s opinion, he fares better with character-driven dramas—which is why you should be intrigued by this bildungsroman set in 1980s Queens (and based on Gray’s youth) that stars Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, and Succession’s Jeremy Strong.
WENDELL & WILD (Oct. on Netflix)
Who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas? If your answer is “Tim Burton,” well, you are terribly mistaken. That was none other than Henry Selick, the stop-motion master who’s teamed with Jordan Peele (!) for his first film since 2009’s Coraline. Peele and his partner in crime Keegan-Michael Key voice two demon brothers who hatch a plan to venture to the Land of the Living.
AMSTERDAM (Nov. 4 in Theaters)
It’s been seven years since David O. Russell’s last film, 2015’s Joy. Perhaps this is due to the disturbing allegation that he groped his transgender niece. This 1930s-set mystery-comedy follows a trio of friends (Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington) who find themselves suspected of murder. The stacked cast is a who’s-who of Hollywood, including Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mike Myers, Zoe Saldana, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, and… Taylor Swift.
WEIRD: THE AL YANKOVIC STORY (Nov. 4 on Roku)
It’s Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al! In a crazy wig! I’m not sure what channel Roku is on, but this wacky biopic may make me try to figure that out.
FALLING FOR CHRISTMAS (Fall on Netflix)
This Overboard-style fish-out-of-water comedy stars Lindsay Lohan as a spoiled heiress who loses her memory after a skiing accident and ends up in the care of a blue-collar guy (Chord Overstreet) in the days leading up to Christmas. The main draw here, of course, is Lohan’s return to the romcom territory that was once her bread and butter. She’s been through a lot, that Lindsay! Here’s hoping this is the start of a nice comeback.
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (Nov. 11 in Theaters)
Filmmaker Ryan Coogler absolutely does not miss, and while this sequel to the game-changing superhero epic Black Panther is sadly without its late star, Chadwick Boseman, the trailer is one of the best I’ve ever seen.
THE FABELMANS (Nov. 11 in Theaters)
The latest from legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg is arguably his most personal project yet: a film based on his childhood in post-WWII Arizona. Sammy Fableman (Gabriel LaBelle) wishes to drown out the turmoil between his mother (Michelle Williams) and father (Paul Dano), so he disappears into the magic of film—with the help of his favorite uncle (Seth Rogen).
SHE SAID (Nov. 18 in Theaters)
Based on the book of the same name by New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, this Oscar-bait drama traces the Kantor (Zoe Kazan) and Twohey (Carey Mulligan) as they piece together the story of the sexual-assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein—one that would change their lives, and the world. Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, and Samantha Morton also star, while Orange Is the New Black’s Mike Houston plays Harvey Weinstein.
THE MENU (Nov. 18 in Theaters)
Mark Mylod has directed episodes of some of the best TV series of the past two decades, including The Affair, Game of Thrones, and Succession. Now, he’s at the helm of this thriller about a young couple (Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult) who travel to a far-off island to dine at a five-star restaurant overseen by Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). Only the molecular gastronomy menu… may not be what they think it is.
NANNY (Nov. 23 in Theaters, Dec. 16 on Prime)
One of the major surprises of this year’s Sundance Film Festival was this taut horror film—the first feature from Nikyatu Jusu. The film stars Anna Diop as an undocumented Senagalese woman working as a nanny for a wealthy Manhattan couple (Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Spector) who is haunted by visions of a life being slowly stripped from her.
DEVOTION (Nov. 23 in Theaters)
This war drama from J.D. Dillard (Sleight) tells the true story of two fighter pilots (Jonathan Majors, Glen Powell) who became two of the most decorated wingmen during the Korean War. The film surely hopes it’ll attract some of that sweet, sweet Top Gun: Maverick box office, and also features Joe Jonas, Thomas Sadoski, and Christina Jackson.
CAUSEWAY (Fall on Apple TV+)
It’s been years since Jennifer Lawrence starred in anything remotely interesting—the last was probably 2017’s Mother!, though it had its considerable faults—so she’s on the comeback trail here as a U.S. soldier who suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life away from the battlefield. Brian Tyree Henry, Linda Emond, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Jayne Houdyshell also star.
THE WONDER (Fall on Netflix)
While next year is going to be a huge one for Florence Pugh—with the Zach Braff drama A Good Person, the Christopher Nolan biopic Oppenheimer, and the blockbuster epic Dune: Part Two—this year is a pretty substantial one as well, what with Don’t Worry Darling and this period drama pairing her with Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Lelio, who knows a thing or two about coaxing excellent performances from his women leads (see: Gloria, A Fantastic Woman, Disobedience).
