Movie theaters will have plenty to offer this fall: The winner of the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and another trip to Pandora. The return of Kathryn Bigelow after nearly a decade and the finale of “Wicked.” The following is a select list. (All dates and platforms are subject to change.)
September
A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY No, it’s not a drama about how the Republicans’ “big beautiful” bill became law, but rather a romance from Kogonada, director of the lovely “Columbus” (2017). Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell play strangers who meet at a wedding and get the chance to experience moments from each other’s pasts. (Sept. 19; in theaters)
CHAIN REACTIONS Nobody churns out documentaries about movies more regularly than Alexandre O. Philippe (“78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene,” “Lynch/Oz”). This time, his subject is the enduring influence of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” (Sept. 19; in theaters)
HIM Jordan Peele is one of the producers of this football-themed horror film, starring Tyriq Withers as a quarterback who accepts the unconventional tutelage of one of the sport’s star players (Marlon Wayans). Justin Tipping directed. (Sept. 19; in theaters)
THE LOST BUS Paul Greengrass, continuing his habit of dramatizing the headlines (“United 93,” “Captain Phillips”), directed this thriller set against the backdrop of the Camp Fire that ravaged Paradise, Calif., in 2018. Matthew McConaughey plays a bus driver, America Ferrera a teacher. (Sept. 19; in theaters )
MEGADOC When Francis Ford Coppola finally got to realize “Megalopolis,” a passion project more than 40 years in the making, the director Mike Figgis (“Leaving Las Vegas”) was on set to watch him do it. This documentary is the result. (Sept. 19; in theaters)
PREDATORS The documentarian David Osit (“Mayor”) directed this provocative examination of the show “To Catch a Predator,” and how it served up an ethically thorny combination of crime prevention and voyeurism. (Sept. 19; in theaters)
STEVE Cillian Murphy plays a reform school teacher who’s reaching his limit and Jay Lycurgo plays a student in this adaptation of Max Porter’s novel “Shy.” The author wrote the screenplay. Emily Watson also stars. (Sept. 19 in theaters; Oct. 3 on Netflix)
SWIPED Even those who normally swipe left on biopics may be intrigued by this one about Whitney Wolfe Herd (Lily James), a co-founder of the dating app Tinder who went on to create Bumble, which let women start the conversations. Rachel Lee Goldenberg directed. (Sept. 19 on Hulu)
LILITH FAIR: BUILDING A MYSTERY Ally Pankiw directed this documentary about Lilith Fair, the all-female concert tour that Sarah McLachlan created in the late 1990s. Bonnie Raitt, Erykah Badu and Sheryl Crow, among others, appear in the film. (Sept. 21 on Hulu)
ELEANOR THE GREAT In Scarlett Johansson’s debut feature as a director, June Squibb plays a woman who co-opts a dead friend’s Holocaust experiences. (Sept. 26 in theaters)
GABBY’S DOLLHOUSE: THE MOVIE The hybrid animation and live action children’s series gets a big-screen outing. With Laila Lockhart Kraner, Kristen Wiig, Gloria Estefan and a whole lot of cartoon cats. (Sept. 26; in theaters)
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER The unpredictable Paul Thomas Anderson directs Leonardo DiCaprio as a man who has dabbled in political violence. Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Chase Infiniti also star in this drama filmed in VistaVision, the great 1950s format that was recently revived in “The Brutalist.” (Sept. 26; in theaters)
RUTH & BOAZ A promising hip-hop musician in Atlanta gets a change of pace when she moves to Tennessee in this modern spin on the Book of Ruth. Serayah, Tyler Lepley and Phylicia Rashad star; Tyler Perry is a producer. (Sept. 26 on Netflix)
October
ARE WE GOOD? This documentary on the comedian and podcaster Marc Maron visits with him a year after the death of his partner, the director Lynn Shelton, as he considers his life and career. (Oct. 3 in theaters)
ANEMONE Daniel Day-Lewis won’t act for just anyone, but it’s his son Ronan Day-Lewis’s first feature as a director. He and Ronan together wrote the screenplay for this film, which stars the elder Day-Lewis as a hermit who is visited by his brother (Sean Bean). (Oct. 3; in theaters)
GOOD BOY A retriever is the star of this horror film, in which a city dog has to protect his owner from a haunted country house. The twist? The action unfolds from the dog’s point of view. (Oct. 3; in theaters)
THE LIBRARIANS Kim A. Snyder directed this documentary about librarians in Texas fighting censorship. (Oct. 3; in theaters)
ORWELL: 2+2=5 In this essay documentary, the filmmaker Raoul Peck (“I Am Not Your Negro”) uses the writing of George Orwell as a lens for viewing the political present — and finds a chilling degree of alignment. Damian Lewis narrates. (Oct. 3; in theaters)
THE SMASHING MACHINE The brothers Josh and Benny Safdie, who in the past have generally directed together (“Uncut Gems”), each have solo movies this fall. First up is Benny, who wrote and directed this biopic of the mixed martial arts sensation Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson). Emily Blunt also stars. (Oct. 3; in theaters)
AFTER THE HUNT A Yale philosophy professor (Julia Roberts) encounters a series of professional and personal quandaries when her colleague (Andrew Garfield) is accused of sexual assault by her student (Ayo Edebiri). Luca Guadagnino (“Challengers”), with his third feature in three years, directed. (Oct. 10; in theaters)
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE Kathryn Bigelow’s first feature in eight years sounds nearly Strangelovian: It chronicles the high-stakes reactions throughout the U.S. government after the news that a missile is headed toward the country. Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson and Tracy Letts star. (Oct. 10 in theaters, Oct. 24 on Netflix)
IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU Mary Bronstein’s second feature charts the whirlwind of stresses and anxieties engulfing Linda (Rose Byrne), a therapist and parent with an M.I.A. husband. It’s not often you get a supporting cast that includes Conan O’Brien, Christian Slater and ASAP Rocky. (Oct. 10; in theaters)
JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME Colin Hanks directed this documentary ode to the beloved comic actor who gave us Uncle Buck and Barf, the mawg from “Spaceballs.” (Oct. 10 on Amazon Prime)
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN Three decades after it played on Broadway, the Kander and Ebb musical version of Manuel Puig’s novel gets the big-screen treatment. Diego Luna plays a political prisoner whose cellmate (Tonatiuh) has been locked up on a public indecency charge. Jennifer Lopez has the role originated by Chita Rivera. Bill Condon directed. (Oct. 10; in theaters)
ROOFMAN An escaped convict (Channing Tatum) successfully holes up in a Toys “R” Us for six months — only to begin a romance that threatens his improbable stealthiness. Kirsten Dunst plays the love interest. Derek Cianfrance directed. (Oct. 10; in theaters)
TRON: ARES The “Tron” franchise appears to get its wires crossed with “Terminator” and “Blade Runner” in this latest reboot, which stars Jared Leto as an artificial being who is trained as a soldier but, per the trailer, wants to live. (Oct. 10; in theaters)
THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 When a travel writer (Keira Knightley) sees a woman tossed overboard from a yacht, the authorities aboard deny it happened. It sounds like a remake of Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes,” but it’s based on a novel by Ruth Ware. (Oct. 10 on Netflix)
BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER Just a year after “Conclave,” the director Edward Berger returns with this story of a gambler on the run in Macau. Colin Farrell stars. (Oct. 15 in theaters, Oct. 29 on Netflix)
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT In May, the Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, no longer subject to a travel ban, returned to the Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d’Or for this feature about a mechanic who kidnaps a man he believes tortured him in prison. With a handful of other victims, he must weigh what to do with the man. (Oct. 15; in theaters)
BLACK PHONE 2 Though dead, The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) isn’t done with the survivors of the first “Black Phone” (2022). Scott Derrickson directed. (Oct. 17; in theaters)
BLUE MOON Set on the night of the premiere of “Oklahoma!,” the first musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, “Blue Moon” revolves around the lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke), the collaborator Rodgers had left behind. Margaret Qualley plays Hart’s foil for the evening; Andrew Scott plays Rodgers. Richard Linklater directed. (Oct. 17; in theaters)
FRANKENSTEIN Guillermo del Toro revivifies Mary Shelley’s oft-revivified classic, with Oscar Isaac as the mad scientist and Jacob Elordi — already an imposing 6 feet 5 inches tall — as the monster. Mia Goth also stars. (Oct. 17 in theaters, Nov. 7 on Netflix)
GOOD FORTUNE An angel (Keanu Reeves) pulls a “Trading Places”–style life swap on two men at opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum: a cash-strapped gig economy worker (Aziz Ansari) and a wealthy tech bro (Seth Rogen). Ansari wrote and directed. (Oct. 17; in theaters)
KÖLN 75 This drama tells the story of how the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett’s landmark 1975 performance in Cologne, West Germany, came to be. Mala Emde and John Magaro star. (Oct. 17; in theaters)
THE MASTERMIND After depicting the life of an artist in “Showing Up” (2023), Kelly Reichardt turns to the life of an art thief in this dark, politically charged and dryly funny take on the caper movies of the 1970s. Josh O’Connor stars as the (non)mastermind, who conspires to lift paintings from a small-time Massachusetts museum. (Oct. 17 in theaters)
MR. SCORSESE The title “Marty” was already taken. In this five-part documentary directed by Rebecca Miller, Scorsese and a wide array of his collaborators reflect on his career, his life and his boundless love of cinema. (Oct. 17 on Apple TV+)
THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR Drawing on body-cam and interrogation footage, Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary traces the growing tension between the multiracial families on a Florida block and a white neighbor who keeps calling 911. Manohla Dargis called it one of the standouts this year at the Sundance Film Festival. (Oct. 17 on Netflix)
STILLER & MEARA: NOTHING IS LOST Ben Stiller directed this documentary about his father and mother, the comedy legends Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. (Oct. 17 in theaters, Oct. 24 on Apple TV+)
HEDDA Tessa Thompson stars as a semi-modernized Hedda Gabler in a version that’s been relocated to 20th-century Britain. Imogen Poots and Nina Hoss also star. Nia DaCosta (the “Candyman” remake) directed. (Oct. 22 in theaters, Oct. 29 on Amazon Prime)
BUGONIA The Emma Stone–Yorgos Lanthimos juggernaut (“The Favourite,” “Bleat,” “Poor Things,” “Kinds of Kindness”) continues. Stone plays an executive kidnapped by men who think she’s an alien. (Oct. 24; in theaters)
LAST DAYS In 2018, an American, John Allen Chau, was killed trying to introduce Christianity to North Sentinel Island, whose inhabitants have long resisted contact from the outside world. Sky Yang plays Chau in this biopic, directed by Justin Lin. (Oct. 24; in theaters)
REGRETTING YOU This big-time weepie stars Allison Williams and Mckenna Grace as a mother and daughter grieving after losing two relatives in a car accident. It’s based on a novel by Colleen Hoover (“It Ends With Us”). (Oct. 24; in theaters)
SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE It’s hard to believe movies haven’t given us a Bruce Springsteen biopic yet. Jeremy Allen White plays the Boss in a film that focuses on the creation of the 1982 album “Nebraska.” Jeremy Strong is the musician’s manager, Jon Landau. Scott Cooper directed. (Oct. 24; in theaters)
QUEENS OF THE DEAD Tina Romero grabs the baton from her father, George A. Romero, to make a zombie picture set against the backdrop of the Brooklyn dance scene. “It’s a departure but still rooted in loyalty to the Romero legacy,” Jason Zinoman wrote in The New York Times in June. (Oct. 24; in theaters)
COEXISTENCE, MY ASS! Amber Fares directed this portrait of the multilingual Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi, who turns comedy into peace activism. (Oct. 29; in theaters)
LOVE+WAR The renowned photojournalist Lynsey Addario — a frequent contributor to The New York Times who has covered conflicts across the globe — shares insights from her life and career in this documentary by E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (“Free Solo”). (Oct. 29 in theaters, Nov. 4 on Disney+)
NOUVELLE VAGUE In this French-language feature, Richard Linklater memorializes one of the eureka moments in film history: the making of “Breathless” (1960). Guillaume Marbeck plays the young Jean-Luc Godard, and Zoey Deutch is his lead actress, Jean Seberg. (Oct. 31 in theaters, Nov. 14 on Netflix)
November
PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK Sepideh Farsi’s documentary depicts life in Gaza through video conversations between the filmmaker and the photojournalist and poet Fatma Hassona, who was killed in an airstrike in April, one month before the film’s premiere in Cannes. (Nov. 5; in theaters)
DIE MY LOVE Jennifer Lawrence won plaudits at Cannes for the sheer abandon of her performance as a young mother in a tumultuously unhappy marriage (to a husband played by Robert Pattinson). The Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay creates an almost hallucinatory portrait of postpartum depression. (Nov. 7; in theaters)
NUREMBERG The “Zodiac” screenwriter James Vanderbilt wrote and directed this drama about the Nuremberg trials, with Rami Malek as Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, the psychiatrist who examined the defendants, and Russell Crowe as Hermann Goering. (Nov. 7; in theaters)
PETER HUJAR’S DAY The director Ira Sachs casts Ben Whishaw as the New York photographer Peter Hujar, seen on one day in 1974 as he converses with the writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall). (Nov. 7; in theaters)
SENTIMENTAL VALUE After their great work on “The Worst Person in the World,” Renate Reinsve reunites with the director Joachim Trier to play the actress daughter of a filmmaker (Stellan Skarsgard) who was an absent father but now wants to cast her in a project inspired by their family history. It won the Grand Prix — second place — at Cannes. (Nov. 7; in theaters)
COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT The documentarian Ryan White captures the lives of the spoken-word poet Andrea Gibson and their wife, Megan Falley, as the two contend with Gibson’s diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The film had its premiere at Sundance in January, before Gibson’s death in July. (Nov. 14 on Apple TV+)
JAY KELLY Noah Baumbach’s latest concerns a movie star (George Clooney) taking stock of his life as he travels to Europe for a tribute. Adam Sandler plays his manager. The cast includes previous Baumbach collaborators (Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig) and Emily Mortimer, with whom Baumbach wrote the screenplay. (Nov. 14 in theaters, Dec. 5 on Netflix)
LEFT-HANDED GIRL Sean Baker’s longtime collaborator Shih-Ching Tsou makes her first solo feature as a director with this story of a family returning to Taipei. Baker wrote the screenplay with Tsou and also edited the film. (Nov. 14 in theaters, Nov. 28 on Netflix)
NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T After nine years in which we, um, did not see them, the magicians who pull heists are back for another score. Jesse Eisenberg stars. (Nov. 14; in theaters)
REBUILDING The ubiquitous Josh O’Connor stars as a Colorado rancher who gets his life back on track after a fire. Writing about the film from Sundance, Manohla Dargis praised its “deeply rooted sense of place.” (Nov. 14; in theaters)
THE RUNNING MAN Glen Powell steps into Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoes — will they fit? — to play a contestant on a televised variant of “The Most Dangerous Game.” Like the 1987 “Running Man,” it is based on a story by Stephen King. Edgar Wright directed. (Nov. 14; in theaters)
SIRAT One of the great discoveries of Cannes was this unclassifiable road movie from Oliver Laxe, starring Sergi López as a father looking for his daughter in the Moroccan desert; she’s disappeared into the most remote extremes of rave culture. Soon he and his son (Brúno Nuñez) join a group that’s crossing forbidding terrain to get to yet another rave, on a trip that recalls “Mad Max” and “The Wages of Fear.” (Nov. 14; in theaters)
RENTAL FAMILY An American in Japan (Brendan Fraser) takes work role-playing relatives in the homes of strangers. This is a real industry in Japan, as documented in The New Yorker and the Werner Herzog film “Family Romance, LLC.” (Nov. 21; in theaters)
WICKED: FOR GOOD How many Broadway shows make you wait a year for the ending? This musical adaptation did, and it’s a safe bet that more memes involving Ariana Grande delicately holding Cynthia Erivo’s finger are coming, too. (Nov. 21; in theaters)
ETERNITY After dying, a woman — re-embodied as a youthful Elizabeth Olsen — must choose a partner for the afterlife. Will it be her husband of 50 years (Miles Teller), or an earlier husband (Callum Turner) killed at war? (Nov. 26; in theaters)
THE SECRET AGENT Wagner Moura and Kleber Mendonça Filho won acting and directing prizes, respectively, at Cannes for this densely structured thriller and memory piece, set in Brazil in 1977 during the military dictatorship. (Nov. 26; in theaters)
ZOOTOPIA 2 The investigative partners from the first “Zootopia” — Judy (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), a rabbit, and Nick (Jason Bateman), a fox — hunt down a reptilian bad guy. (Nov. 26; in theaters)
HAMNET In an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, the director Chloé Zhao ponders how Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) — called Agnes here — and the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet, may have inspired “Hamlet.” Paul Mescal is Shakespeare, and Emily Watson also stars. (Nov. 27; in theaters)
December
ALL THAT’S LEFT OF YOU The actress and filmmaker Cherien Dabis (“Amreeka”) directs the saga of three generations in a Palestinian family. (Dec. 5; in theaters)
FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2 At Freddy’s, a Chuck E. Cheese-type pizza-and-entertainment joint, the animatronic figures are possessed. And it sounds like they escape in this sequel. Josh Hutcherson and Elizabeth Lail return to the cast of this video-game-inspired franchise. (Dec. 5; in theaters)
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG For anyone who missed the acclaimed 2023 Broadway staging of Stephen Sondheim’s musical, starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, this recording of the production will be hitting theaters. (Dec. 5; in theaters)
ELLA MCCAY James L. Brooks doesn’t often return to the director’s chair, but in his first feature in 15 years, Emma Mackey plays a lawyer and politician grappling with an abundance of family drama. Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson and Kumail Nanjiani are in the sprawling cast. (Dec. 12; in theaters)
WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) and his exaggerated drawl stumble into another case, described as his most dangerous yet. Josh O’Connor and Glenn Close are among the stars. Rian Johnson wrote and directed. (Nov. 26; in theaters; Dec. 12 on Netflix)
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH James Cameron returns from Pandora — that’s a real place, right, where he’s been living and making these “Avatar” documentaries? — to deliver the latest news from the Naʼvi. Series regulars (Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña) will be joined by some newcomers (Oona Chaplin). (Dec. 19; in theaters)
COVER-UP The storied career of Seymour M. Hersh — winner of a Pulitzer Prize in 1970 for his reporting on the My Lai massacre and a dogged investigative journalist whose career included stops at The New York Times and The New Yorker — is the subject of this documentary profile, directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus. (Dec. 19; in theaters)
IS THIS THING ON? As a couple (Laura Dern and Will Arnett) deal with the fallout from the end of their marriage, one of them decides to take up stand-up comedy. Bradley Cooper directed. (Dec. 19; in theaters)
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS Our porous, absorbent hero goes on the trail of a “ghost pirate” in his latest cinematic adventure. (Dec. 19; in theaters)
FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER Jim Jarmusch directed this triptych about children and their parents in New Jersey, Dublin and Paris. Adam Driver, Vicky Krieps, Charlotte Rampling and the Jarmusch mainstay Tom Waits all turn up. (Dec. 24; in theaters)
ANACONDA Jack Black and Paul Rudd star as friends who set out to remake “Anaconda” (1997), and then encounter an actual anaconda when they go to shoot the movie in the Amazon. So it’s less a reboot than a meta-reboot — or perhaps an ouroboros. Tom Gormican (“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”) directed. (Dec. 25; in theaters)
THE CHORAL Ralph Fiennes plays a man hired to be a choral master for a group whose ranks have been depleted by World War I enlistment. Nicholas Hytner directed. (Dec. 25 in theaters)
THE HOUSEMAID Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried star in this adaptation of Freida McFadden’s best-selling novel, about a former criminal hired as a maid by a wealthy family. Paul Feig directed. (Dec. 25; in theaters)
MARTY SUPREME Josh Safdie’s solo feature casts Timothée Chalamet as a table-tennis champion at a time when the sport was new. Gwyneth Paltrow and Odessa A’zion co-star. (Dec. 25; in theaters)
SONG SUNG BLUE Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson star as musicians who start a Neil Diamond tribute group. Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”) directed. (Dec. 25; in theaters)