Grab your popcorn and get ready for a season filled with thrillers, sequels, period pieces and spells, because there is a little something for everyone who is ready to cozy up at home or be absolutely spooked while sitting on the edge of their theater seat.
For those already preparing for spooky season to blow in with the rustle of falling leaves, the wait is almost over. Whether you’re craving the spellbinding return of the Owens sisters in Practical Magic 2, the heart-pounding panic of Resident Evil or a dystopian trip back to District 12 with The Hunger Games: Sunrise on The Reaping, this big-screen lineup is completely stacked and ready to deliver.
The movie theater is also doubling as a library this season with several page-to-screen adaptations of fan-favorite books. Colleen Hoover returns to bring her bestseller Verity to the theaters, perfectly balanced by director Georgia Oakley’s romantic take on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Rounding out the literary lineup, Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams star in the tender sci-fi tale Klara and the Sun, while Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård lead the eccentric, dark comedic fable Wicker.
Beyond the creature feature and page-turners brought to life, the cinema gets equal parts shadowy and cerebral. Moviegoers can brace for the satirical thriller Digger, starring Tom Cruise, watch Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White tackle adapting the 2021 Facebook Files leak in Aaron Sorkin’s whistleblower biopic The Social Reckoning or charge into the battlefield with Andrew Garfield in Paul Greengrass’ medieval piece The Uprising.
Keep scrolling to learn more about this fall’s most anticipated movies:
Practical Magic 2
The witchy Owens sisters, Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman), are back and in crisis mode when Sally’s daughter Kylie (Joey King) discovers dark secrets in the family’s history. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest also reprise their roles in this sequel (out September 11), set 25 years after the events of the beloved first film.
Digger
Could this finally be Tom Cruise’s Oscar moment? The actor is unrecognizable as the titular billionaire, who goes on a frantic mission to prove he’s humanity’s savior after accidentally unleashing a world-ending cataclysm. Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant) directs the dark comedy (October 2).
Verity
It’s another Colleen Hoover adaptation (October 2)! Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett) hires ghostwriter Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) to help his wife, Verity (Anne Hathaway), finish her book after an accident. But all is not as it seems, and soon it’s hard to distinguish fiction from reality.
Resident Evil
The intense early-aughts Resident Evil franchise is reinvented (September 18), this time in the hands of filmmaker Zach Cregger (Weapons). Meet Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in a race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him. Uh-oh.
The Social Reckoning
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) is back on the Mark Zuckerberg beat, this time with Jeremy Strong playing the founder in the lead-up to the Wall Street Journal’s 2021 Facebook Files. The film (October 9) stars Mikey Madison as engineer-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen and Jeremy Allen White as reporter Jeff Horwitz.
Sense and Sensibility
Get ready to swoon. The latest adaptation (October 16) of Jane Austen’s enduring tale — 31 years after the Emma Thompson classic! — stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, George MacKay and Caitríona Balfe in the story of the down-on-their-luck Dashwood sisters.
Klara and the Sun
Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian bestseller, this moving, offbeat adaptation from Taika Waititi (October 23) follows Klara (Jenna Ortega), a robot companion for a sick teenager in a world in which gifted children are genetically altered for success. Amy Adams and Natasha Lyonne also star. Bring tissues.
The Uprising
In this based-on-a-true-story drama (September 11) from director Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips), Andrew Garfield leads the 1381 English Peasants’ Revolt. Jamie Bell and Tom Hollander also star.
Wicker
This sexy fable (October 23) based on the Ursula Wills-Jones story follows a village outcast (Olivia Colman) who hires a craftsman (Peter Dinklage) to create a husband made of wicker (Alexander Skarsgård). He may just be her perfect match!
Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Set 24 years before the events of the original Hunger Games, the latest installment (November 20), based on the books by Suzanne Collins, lets us see some of our favorite characters when they were young, with some of our favorite actors playing them! Elle Fanning is Effie Trinket, Kieran Culkin is Caesar Flickerman and Jesse Plemons is Plutarch Heavensbee.
