Two Stephen King adaptations, two Richard Linklater movies, the end of Downton Abbey, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s biggest movie budget yet? I’m not complaining. This fall’s film slate may have its fair share of unnecessary sequels and reboots, but there’s a lot on offer for fans of any genre. Here are the most exciting movies to look out for as we head toward chillier weather.
Twinless (Sep. 5)
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James Sweeney wrote, directed, and starred in the underrated comedy-drama Straight Up back in 2019. But his follow-up could be a real breakout; after all, it already won the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Sweeney and Dylan O’Brien play two young men who begin filling a void in each other’s lives after meeting at a support group for people whose twins died.
The History of Sound (Sept. 12)
Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor play lovers in Oliver Hermanus’ historical melodrama set during and after World War I. Based on screenwriter Ben Shattuck’s short story of the same name, the film follows two men who fall in love at the Boston Music Conservatory—and reconnect after the war ends, traveling through rural Maine to record the folk songs of their fellow countrymen.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (Sept. 12)
At last, the Downton Abbey franchise is coming to a close. The third and final film takes place in the 1930s, so the Crawley family and their staff will be grappling with social change, alongside public scandal and financial difficulties. This last chapter features the return of most of the main cast alongside new additions Joely Richardson, Alessandro Nivola, Simon Russell Beale, and Arty Froushan.
The Long Walk (Sept. 12)
Having directed four of the five Hunger Games movies so far, Francis Lawrence is familiar with dystopian worlds and deadly games where only one player makes it out alive. So he’s a natural fit for an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1979 novel, published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. The story follows 100 young men in a walking contest where they must maintain a rate of at least four miles per hour—or die.
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (Sept. 12)
Over 40 years ago, Rob Reiner directed and co-wrote the original This Is Spinal Tap, a mockumentary comedy also written by its starring trio: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer, playing members of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. Now the whole gang is back together for an unlikely sequel about the band’s reunion and final show, with big-name cameos including Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brooks, and Lars Ulrich.
The Lost Bus (Sept. 19, on Apple TV+ Oct. 3)
Matthew McConaughey plays a heroic real-life bus driver in this intense survival drama based on a book about the deadliest wildfire in California history: the 2018 Camp Fire, which led to 85 deaths. Paul Greengrass’ take on the disaster follows the story of the bus driver, tasked with getting a teacher (America Ferrera) and 22 students to safety.
Predators (Sept. 19)
Nearly 18 years after NBC’s To Catch a Predator went off the air, the TV show has a complex legacy. Did Chris Hansen’s televised sting operations actually do any good? Is it even ethical to juice thrills out of attempted sex crimes to begin with? David Osit’s documentary, which earned acclaim at Sundance this year, explores these questions and more.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Sept. 19)
Seth Reiss’ script for this romantic fantasy was originally featured on the Blacklist, but now it’s coming to theaters with South Korean-born director and video essayist Kogonada (Columbus, After Yang) on board. Starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell on a surreal adventure through memories and dreams, it’s likely to be Kogonada’s most commercial and accessible tear-jerker yet.
Him (Sept. 19)
“What would you sacrifice to become the greatest of all time?” asks this sports horror film from director Justin Tipping and producer Jordan Peele. Like Whiplash for football players, the movie centers on a retiring star athlete (Marlon Wayans) who trains a younger talent, pushing him to risk everything.
One Battle After Another (Sept. 26)
It’s almost shocking that Paul Thomas Anderson hasn’t worked with Leonardo DiCaprio before now. PTA’s second movie inspired by Thomas Pynchon—he previously adapted Inherent Vice—is an action thriller that borrows elements from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland while shifting the story to the present day. PTA was given his largest budget yet for this one, which also stars Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Benicio Del Toro, and Presumed Innocent breakout Chase Infiniti.
The Smashing Machine (Oct. 3)
Benny Safdie’s first film without his brother Josh’s involvement is, in some ways, a change of pace. It’s a biographical sports drama about former wrestler and MMA fighter Mark Kerr, here played by an unrecognizable Dwayne Johnson in his most ambitious role in years. Could this herald a new prestige era for the Rock?
Anemone (Oct. 3)
Daniel Day-Lewis has retired from acting twice now, and thankfully, neither time has stuck. His first role since Phantom Thread comes courtesy of a script he co-wrote with his son Ronan Day-Lewis, here directing his father in a complex, intergenerational family drama.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Oct. 10)
Rose Byrne has turned out consistently great performances throughout her career, most recently in comedic fare like the Apple TV+ series Physical and Platonic. But her lead role as a working mom in this stress-inducing psychological comedy drama could provide her best performance yet. Even better: The supporting cast includes ASAP Rocky, tagging along for his second big role of the year, and Conan O’Brien as an uncharacteristically serious passive-aggressive therapist.
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Oct. 10)
Based on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel of the same name and the Tony-winning stage musical, Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon’s musical drama stars Diego Luna and Tonatiuh as Valentin and Molina, two cellmates under Argentina’s military dictatorship who unexpectedly connect. Jennifer Lopez also stars as Ingrid Luna, the luminous star of Molina’s favorite movie—a story represented as a film within the film, recounted to Valentin to pass the time.
Roofman (Oct. 10)
Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) hasn’t directed a movie since 2016’s The Light Between Oceans, and this one is far different than anything he has done before. It’s a crime comedy-drama based on the life of fugitive Jeffrey Manchester (here played by Channing Tatum), a real-life spree-robber who stole from McDonald’s locations in the early 2000s by drilling and dropping through the rooftops—then escaped from prison and hid in the wall of a Toys “R” Us to avoid being found.
Tron: Ares (Oct. 10)
The third installment in the Tron series comes 15 years after Tron: Legacy. The plot hits especially close to home in the age of A.I.: Ares is the name of an advanced program sent into the real world on a dangerous mission, making direct contact with humans for the first time. Jared Leto plays the regenerating super-soldier embodiment of Ares.
After the Hunt (Oct. 10)
The latest from Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers) is also a star vehicle for Julia Roberts, playing a respected philosophy professor at Yale left with a moral dilemma when her colleague and close friend (Andrew Garfield) is accused of sexual assault by a student (Ayo Edebiri).
A House of Dynamite (Oct. 10, on Netflix Oct. 24)
Kathryn Bigelow’s first movie since the polarizing Detroit is a political thriller for Netflix about a group of White House officials dealing with an incoming missile attack. The stacked ensemble includes Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Greta Lee, and Renée Elise Goldsberry, among others.
Ballad of a Small Player (Oct. 15, on Netflix Oct. 29)
Director Edward Berger’s movie All Quiet on the Western Front won the Best International Feature Film Oscar two years ago, and his recent pope drama Conclave got even more attention. Now he’s back to adapt another novel: Lawrence Osborne’s Ballad of a Small Player, which follows Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell), a gambler hiding from his past in Macau, China.
It Was Just an Accident (Oct. 15)
Like many of Jafar Panahi’s films, which deal with political oppression and injustice in Iran, his latest was made without official filming permission from the government. Filmed in secret, the movie features actresses without their compulsory hijabs—and it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, a result that Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof called “a powerful blow to the machinery of repression in the Islamic Republic.”
Frankenstein (Oct. 17, on Netflix Nov. 7)
Adaptations of Mary Shelley’s iconic Gothic novel are a dime a dozen, but writer-director Guillermo del Toro could present a genuinely new vision with his take for Netflix. Oscar Isaac plays the mad scientist himself, with Jacob Elordi playing Frankenstein’s monster.
The Mastermind (Oct. 17)
Josh O’Connor plays a ’70s family man getting by as an art thief in the new heist film from Kelly Reichardt. It’s an unusual genre for a filmmaker known best for her naturalistic, slice-of-life dramas, but she puts her own stamp on it. This is also Alana Haim’s first major screen role since Licorice Pizza, which is reason enough to check it out (though you can also catch her in a small part in that director’s latest, One Battle After Another).
Black Phone 2 (Oct. 17)
Scott Derrickson drew heavily from Joe Hill’s horror short story of the same name for the first Black Phone movie, which followed a teenage boy named Finney (Mason Thames) who survived an encounter with a serial child killer called the Grabber (Ethan Hawke) through communicating with his other victims on a mysterious phone. Much of the same cast (and the phone) returns for the sequel, which involves a dangerous stalker at a winter camp called Alpine Lake.
Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (Oct. 17)
In the years following the death of Ben Stiller’s parents, comedy legends Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, he sought a way of honoring and celebrating them. So he made this documentary about the mark they left on Hollywood, pop culture, and Stiller himself.
Good Fortune (Oct. 17)
Aziz Ansari’s career as a screenwriter really took off with Master of None, the Netflix series he co-created with Alan Yang. But now he’s graduating to the big leagues with his feature directorial debut, a comedy about a “budget guardian angel” (Keanu Reeves) who body-swaps a man (Aziz Ansari) and his boss (Seth Rogen), only to lose his wings when his lesson fails.
Blue Moon (Oct. 17)
The first of two Richard Linklater releases this fall unfolds on a single evening: March 31, 1943, the opening night for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! The protagonist here, though, is the depressed and alcoholic songwriter Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke, who else?), waiting to congratulate his former creative partner Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) and grappling with his own jealousy and insecurities.
Hedda (Oct. 22, on Prime Video Oct. 29)
Nia DaCosta has directed one indie crime drama, one horror sequel, and one Marvel movie, with an announced 28 Years Later sequel to come. But her newest is something totally different from any of those: a reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, with Tessa Thompson in the titular role.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (Oct. 24)
Jeremy Allen White sports a pair of brown contact lenses for his role as the Boss in Scott Cooper’s new musical biopic. Structured around the making of Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska, the movie explores a turning point in the man’s life—and as White’s first real lead role on the big screen, it could be big for him, too. Jeremy Strong plays his longtime manager Jon Landau.
Bugonia (Oct. 24)
Yorgos Lanthimos’s streak of Emma Stone collabs continues with this sci-fi black comedy, an English-language remake of the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet! In Lanthimos’s version, two conspiracy theorists (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) kidnap a powerful CEO (Emma Stone), convinced she’s an alien here to destroy the planet Earth.
Nouvelle Vague (Oct. 31, on Netflix Nov. 14)
The first of Richard Linklater’s two fall movies, Blue Moon, largely takes place in a single location on a single night. His second one also takes us behind the scenes of famous artists—in this case, director Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) and Breathless stars Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin). Linklater has crafted a celebration of an early and deeply influential film of the Nouvelle Vague era, but also a pleasant hangout comedy.
Read more: Richard Linklater’s Breathless Tribute Nouvelle Vague Is an Inside Baseball Movie for Everyone
Wake Up Dead Man (November TBA)
The third installment in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series will feature a darker, more Gothic aesthetic and tone following the idyllic Greek isles setting of Glass Onion. Daniel Craig returns as the ever-reliable detective Benoit Blanc, this time joined by Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
Peter Hujar’s Day (Nov. 7)
Ira Sachs coaxed out one of Ben Whishaw’s best performances in 2023’s Passages. In Sachs’ latest, Whishaw is playing the title role: the photographer Peter Hujar, whose black-and-white portraits received public recognition after his death in 1987. Set in New York City in 1974, the biopic particularly focuses on Hujar’s friendship with writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall), who once published a transcription of Hujar describing a single day in his life.
Sentimental Value (Nov. 7)
Renate Reinsve broke out internationally with her lead role in Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, a decade after her debut in Trier’s Oslo, August 31st. Her third collaboration with the director, a big hit out of Cannes this year, centers on two estranged sisters, Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), who confront their washed-up film director father (Stellan Skarsgård) after their mother dies.
Predator: Badlands (Nov. 7)
Dan Trachtenberg directed one of the best ever Predator movies with 2022’s Prey—so it’s no surprise he was chosen to spearhead two more films this year, including the animated Predator: Killer of Killers and now the live-action Badlands. This one, which stars Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as a young Predator outcast named Dek and Elle Fanning as a “synthetic” named Thia, takes place on the Predators’ home world.
Die, My Love (Nov. 7)
Jennifer Lawrence’s first movie role since No Hard Feelings could be a meaty one, based on director Lynne Ramsay’s track record as a director of psychological dramas. She and Robert Pattinson star as a passionate, happy couple whose marriage starts to fall apart after a cross-country move and a pregnancy upset their delicate balance.
Read more: Jennifer Lawrence Gives Her Best Performance Yet in the Postpartum Fever Dream Die, My Love
Train Dreams (Nov. 7, on Netflix Nov. 21)
Joel Edgerton plays a logger in this thoughtful, philosophical drama based on the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson. It earned strong acclaim at Sundance, including comparisons to Terrence Malick.
Jay Kelly (Nov. 14, on Netflix Dec. 5)
Noah Baumbach teamed up with Emily Mortimer to write this comedy-drama about the friendship between a global superstar actor (George Clooney) and his loyal manager (Adam Sandler) during an impromptu trip to Europe. Laura Dern, Riley Keough, and Greta Gerwig are just a few of the big names making up the rest of the ensemble.
Keeper (Nov. 14)
Osgood Perkins has been churning out the horror movies lately, this one anchored by the always-reliable Tatiana Maslany. She’s playing a wife who encounters an evil presence while on a romantic anniversary trip to a remote cabin with her husband (Rossif Sutherland).
Eternity (Nov. 14)
What if, once we die, we get to choose whom to spend eternity with? That’s the premise of this fantasy romantic comedy set in heaven. Elizabeth Olsen plays Joan, who must make a tough decision: live forever with the husband (Miles Teller) she knew best and longest, or go back to the first love (Callum Turner) she lost in the war?
The Running Man (Nov. 14)
This is the second film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 dystopian novel of the same name, and it’s also the second King adaptation this fall—along with being Edgar Wright’s first flick since the polarizing Last Night in Soho. Glen Powell plays Ben Richards, a contestant on the titular game show who must spend 30 days running from hitmen to earn a billion dollars.
Rental Family (Nov. 21)
The Japanese filmmaker Hikari directed this comedy-drama about an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who works for a rental family service in Tokyo and plays stand-in roles in other people’s lives.
Wicked: For Good (Nov. 21)
Last year’s box office-breaking film adaptation of the famous stage musical Wicked (itself based on a 1995 novel) only covered the first act, ending with a cliffhanger following the “Defying Gravity” performance. For Good, also directed by Jon M. Chu, will pick up the story of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda (Ariana Grande) five years later, as their new roles of Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good challenge their close friendship.
Zootopia 2 (Nov. 26)
Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) are working on a new case together in this sequel to the 2016 buddy cop comedy. This time, they’re pursuing a pit viper named Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), and they’ll need to go undercover to find him.
The Secret Agent (Nov. 26)
The title might make this one sound like a classic spy movie, but it’s nothing of the sort. The fourth feature film by Kleber Mendonça Filho (Bacurau), which received universal acclaim at Cannes this year, is a political thriller set in the final years of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Wagner Moura plays a teacher fleeing persecution in 1977 Recife.
Hamnet (Nov. 27)
Chloé Zhao took a break from heavy dramas to direct a poorly received Marvel movie, but this one could be her return to form—especially thanks to co-writer Maggie O’Farrell, adapting her own 2020 novel. The story tells a fictional account of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) grieving their 11-year-old son Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe).
Father Mother Sister Brother (TBA)
Adam Driver delivered arguably his best performance in Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, and offered his deadpan comedic chops to The Dead Don’t Die. So it’s exciting to see him in the cast for Jarmusch’s upcoming anthology film, which also stars Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, and Mayim Bialik.