Fall 2026 Movies: The Shocking Surprises Hitting The Big Screen That Everyone’s Sleeping On!

Ever get the feeling that movie seasons are like a box of chocolates—and sometimes, someone sneaks in a weird one that has you questioning reality? Well, buckle up, because this fall’s lineup doesn’t just nudge weird; it dives headfirst into the bizarre, the beautiful, and the downright baffling. Remember when I called last summer’s movies “weird”? Guess what—the fall slate cranks it up a notch with mind-bending sci-fi, offbeat artist portraits, and coming-of-age tales that break every rule in the book. From Palme d’Or winners like Fjord to the brutal, stylish Minotaur, these films aren’t just up for grabs at Cannes, Toronto, Venice, and New York festivals—they’re set to wreck your expectations. Think you’re ready for magic, mystery, and mayhem served with a side of playful romance and, well, Olivia Colman having a rather unconventional rendezvous with a basket man? Yeah, me neither. But hey, that’s what makes it so damn exciting. Get ready to dive deep into a wild season where every film is a new adventure in storytelling. Curious about the flicks you absolutely can’t miss this fall? Let’s get into it. LEARN MORE

16 min read

A few months ago, I described the summer slate of movies as “weird.” The sentiment hasn’t waned at all since then; in fact, I’d venture to say the fall release calendar doubles down on bizarre titles, brimming with strange sci-fi, bizarre portraits of artists, and tender (yet unconventional) coming-of-age stories.

Many of the titles coming out this fall first landed on our radar at Cannes this June, including the Palme d’Or winner Fjord and the Grand Prix winner Minotaur. Several more will first screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!), Venice Film Festival (Primetime), and the New York Film Festival (Paper Tiger) before theatrical releases in the United States. Our watchlist this year spans ludicrous titles with synopses that feel too hard to believe; dramas that arraign humanity, indicting anything and everyone from Scandinavian utopia to the American news machine; and playful reprieves filled with familiar magic (Practical Magic 2) and scientific romance (The Love Hypothesis). Oh, and Olivia Colman has sex with a basket man played by Alexander Skarsgård, wherever that one fits in. We hope you’re ready for a wild season of moviegoing. Below are all the movies to watch out for this fall.

Barbara Forever

Premiering September 4

The late artist Barbara Hammer left behind some 400 hours of archival film footage when she died at 79 in 2019. She first picked up the camera in 1968, crafting a Super 8 experiment called “Schizy.” From then on, she never put down the camera, documenting even the most mundane passing moments of her life, ranging from encounters with lovers to lingering shots of her in the mirror. This compulsive filmmaking continued for 50 years, persisting even as she came to terms with her cancer diagnosis in the 2000s. From these extensive archives, filmmaker Brydie O’Connor crafted Barbara Forever, a tender, honest portrait of the artist. In perhaps the most poignant artist documentary of the decade, O’Connor underscores how Hammer’s distinctive, compulsive filmmaking represents an endeavor to capture the full, sweeping scale of queer life on film, down to each passing second. For 50 years, Hammer collapsed the divide between her art and her life—and now, O’Connor masterfully distills the artist’s library of queer life to celebrate a pioneer of lesbian filmmaking.

Hope

Premiering September 9

The first hour of Na Hong-jin’s Hope ranks among the greatest monster movie openings. The local police chief, played by Hwang Jung-min, arrives to investigate the death of a cow … strewn out in the middle of the road with massive claw marks slashed through its side. A bear? A lost Siberian tiger? The locals can’t imagine an animal with claws large enough to inflict the damage. Only moments later, the town is ravaged by a beast strong enough to throw cars and smash buildings. The chief and his rookie deputy, played by Jung Ho-yeon, frantically chase the monsters through the town, only to unravel an increasingly bizarre, fantastical mystery in the surrounding forest. What I can say about this movie is that the story is one of a kind, with some of the most unpredictable turns—and best cinematography—of the year.

Practical Magic 2

Premiering September 11

In Practical Magic 2, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock reprise their roles as the magical Owens sisters, whose shared fatal flaw is that everyone they love … dies. At the end of Practical Magic (1998), Sally Owens (Bullock) eventually decides to let herself love again. But let’s just say, it doesn’t end very well. That means, in Practical Magic 2, we find Sally in a familiar place, swearing off love and magic yet again. This time, she’s also intent on making sure her two daughters, Kylie and Antonia (Joey King and Maisie Williams), don’t find out about their own magical abilities. That (obviously) backfires just in time for the Owens family to suddenly get confronted with some very dark forces. Can the Owens women ever love? We will see if Kylie and Antonia can break the curse. We didn’t necessarily need this sequel, but we’re happy it exists.

If I Go Will They Miss Me

Premiering September 11

If I Go Will They Miss Me tells a lyrical story about a son’s fruitless effort to connect with his father. Lil Ant (Bodhi Dell) lives under an LAX flight path in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. He frequently daydreams about Greek mythology, seeing his mother Lozita (Danielle Brooks) as Medusa and his father as the trident-toting Poseidon. While he vies for the attention of his emotionally distant dad, Big Ant (J. Alphonse Nicholson), these daydreams slowly seep into the real world, with mysterious, spectral boys and men starting to appear around the neighborhood. Rounded out by a soft, dreamy piano score by Malcolm Parson, this is a tender portrait of a fraught father-son relationship.

The History of Concrete

Premiering September 18

Only one director is capable of crafting a documentary that imbues literal concrete (and its history) with verve and wonder: John Wilson. Much like in his beloved HBO show, How to with John Wilson, Wilson endeavors to explain a seemingly mundane topic, only to uncork his boundless ruminations about the world around us. Here, Wilson begins this undertaking at a workshop on writing Hallmark movies, before applying the lessons he learns there to create a documentary about, well, concrete. As Wilson traverses the strange corners of the concrete industry, he leads us into asides about DMX Christmas singles and the ongoing decay of American infrastructure. In this cinematic voyage, you will never anticipate where Wilson is taking you next.

The Love Hypothesis

Premiering September 23

Claire Scanlon’s adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s romance novel The Love Hypothesis casts Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman as star-crossed academics Olive and Adam. Olive is a PhD candidate whose best friend (Rachel Marsh) attracts the attention of Olive’s longtime crush (Nicholas Duvernay). In an attempt to prove she’s moved on, Olive impulsively kisses Adam, one of the university’s most unapproachable professors (known to her friends as Dr. Evil). The encounter mutates into a peculiar fake relationship, each side with their own reason for embarking on the romantic facade. But of course, the charade morphs into a romantic experiment testing whether true love actually exists. This is The Proposal (2000) for the college campus.

Primetime

Premiering September 25

“You see how this looks, right?” For many, this rhetorical dagger immediately conjures Chris Hansen, the host of NBC’s controversial To Catch a Predator from 2004 to 2007. The journalist tracked down countless online child predators during his tenure running the television program, drawing criticism and praise from viewers and peers. This year, director Lance Oppenheim casts Robert Pattinson (an inspired choice!) as the infamous and morally gray television pundit in his debut feature film, Primetime. The partially fictionalized retelling of Hansen’s reign questions the legacy of this show, offering a barbed reflection on how the sensational program changed the way we consume media, particularly our endless appetite for true crime stories. Pattinson is joined by an all-star cast that includes Anna Faris and Phoebe Bridgers.

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!

Premiering September 25

How do you keep going when you feel you’ve lost everything? In Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty, Haru (Rinko Kikuchi) and her husband Luis (Alejandro Edda) are joined at the hip, especially because they share one true love: dance. Then, out of nowhere, death swoops in and steals Luis away, leaving Haru drowning in an ocean of grief, and causing her to let go of the only other thing she loves. But when her friends pull her out of her pit of despair and push her to join a dance class, she meets Fedir (Alberto Guerra), a smoldering instructor who, she learns, has an open marriage (enticing!). Fedir offers Haru a chance to reclaim her ability to love dance … and others. Oh, and this occasionally surreal film features a bulbous, anthropomorphic crow as a manifestation of grief, so that’s something!

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

Premiering September 25

Lovers of The Pacifier can rejoice! Bassam Tariq’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother features Mahershala Ali as a hit man with a BabyBjörn. This film, whose title refers to the Islamic hadith about undying love for one’s mother, reframes the killer-with-a-heart story in a much graver tone. Ali is Latif, a devout killer who needs to protect his three children after his wife suddenly passes away. At first, the premise may sound more apt for a comedy than a drama. But Ali’s meticulous portrayal of an austere yet tender assassin promises one of the best crime thrillers of the season. John Cho steps in as a cowboy-hat-wearing Christian religious leader with golden grills and a heart of stone. The cast is rounded out by Giancarlo Esposito and Tramell Tillman.

Verity

Premiering October 2

An erotic thriller orbiting a messed-up love triangle between Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett? I’m seated. Verity, adapted from the Colleen Hoover novel by the same name, takes its name from Verity Crawford (Hathaway), a bestselling novelist left paralyzed after a mysterious car accident, which (according to the novel) also took the lives of her young twin daughters. Her husband, Jeremy (Hartnett), decides to appease her fans and hire a ghostwriter, Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson), to complete Verity’s remaining manuscript. Lowen, however, uncovers troubling info while sifting through Verity’s leftover writings, revealing her true intentions leading up to the crash. What follows is a weird, psychosexual triangle, perhaps actually lacking the love.

Digger

Premiering October 3

Tom Cruise, donning cowboy boots and a bolo tie, embodies the chaotic oil tycoon Digger Rockwell in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger. The eccentric, cat-loving industry titan accidentally causes an environmental disaster (something about a glacier-related incident) by neglecting any warnings from scientists or, well, people who know what they’re talking about (we’ve seen this before…). Digger and President Compson (John Goodman) try their best to dig everyone out of the mess. This bizarre black comedy indicts American neglect, ranging from political indeterminacy to radical climate change. Goodman and Cruise lead a cast comprising Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, and Emma D’Arcy, among others. Cruise, in my humble opinion, is gearing up for his Oscar.

Fjord

Premiering October 9

Cristian Mungia pits hyper-progressive Scandinavian society against an Evangelical Romanian family in Fjord. The story, inspired by real-life events, follows the religious Gheorghiu family as they arrive in a small town near where Lisbet (Renate Reinsve) grew up. Soon after they arrive, the initially welcoming community becomes increasingly skeptical of the family, particularly when the two children (who are not allowed phones or much freedom to socialize) arrive at school with bruises. Scrutiny befalls Lisbet and her husband, Mihai (Sebastian Stan), as child services quickly descends upon the family to take away their kids. Fjord emerges as a delicate investigation of Scandinavian society, often lauded for its progressive ideals, underscoring how those same ideals can backfire for cultures deemed outsiders to the country’s strict mores and customs. At Cannes, the film took home the Palme d’Or after receiving a 12-minute standing ovation.

Misty Green

Premiering October 9

Misty Green (Rosalind Eleazar) can’t even get booked for Law & Order, according to her manager, played by Topher Grace. But the protagonist of Chris Rock’s Misty Green is not exactly an unknown. In fact, she totes around her Academy Award as she bounces from apartment to apartment, chewed up and spit out by the town that once loved her. But this is, in part, her fault. She lives on her own terms: she sleeps when she wants to sleep, gets high when she wants to get high, and “fucks when [she] wants to fuck.” Oh, and she has punched at least one castmate. When the actress connects with her former agent (Rock), she is presented with another chance—only if she can overcome the tremendous pressures in her life, namely her troubled brother, played by Daniel Kaluuya. This tremendous cast also features Adam Driver and Anna Kendrick in supporting roles.

The Social Reckoning

Premiering October 9

Some 16 years after David Fincher’s The Social Network, Jeremy Strong picks up the Mark Zuckerberg torch from Jesse Eisenberg in Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning. This time, the story centers on Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), the former employee who leaked the Facebook Files to journalist Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) in 2021. What was so important about this leak? Haugen revealed thousands of internal research documents that indicted Facebook and its executives, particularly for how the website contributed to the mental health crisis and the exacerbation of violence around the world. These revelations nearly destroyed Facebook and Zuckerberg, eventually forcing the company to rebrand to Meta. There is perhaps no better casting choice than Strong, portraying the stilted, easily aggravated billionaire who, as White’s Horwitz states, played “an unprecedented role in our lives.”

La Bola Negra

Premiering October 16

Federico García Lorca and Alberto Conejero’s unfinished play La Bola Negra receives cinematic treatment this fall. Filmmakers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi teamed up with Conejero to finish the nearly forgotten manuscript, an epic chronicle weaving together the lives of three gay men in 1932, 1937, and 2017. One man (Milo Quifes) is ostracized by his father and their aristocratic club when his sexuality is questioned. Another man (Guitarricadelafuente) confronts his sexuality on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, particularly when he becomes enamored with a prisoner of war. The final man (Carlos Gonzaléz), a historian living in 2017, combs through his family history and uncovers a troubled legacy tied to the civil war. A standout from Cannes Film Festival, La Bola Negra pays homage to Lorca while investigating desire and repression chiseled into the annals of Spanish history. It also features supporting performances from Julio Torres and Penélope Cruz.

Sense and Sensibility

Premiering October 16

Is it possible to compete with Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility? Yes—and Georgia Oakley’s iteration imbues the Jane Austen story with new life, carried by Daisy Edgar-Jones and (especially) Esmé Creed-Miles. Any true romantic is bound to already know the plot of Sense and Sensibility, but we will repeat it for good measure. Soon after the humble Dashwoods lose their patriarch, the four women are forced from their estate by their twisted sister-in-law (and spineless half-brother). The four women relocate to the modest Barton cottage, very far from their home; there, they must look after one another as they (try to) fall in and (try not to) fall out of love. The story narrows in on the two sisters, Elinor (Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Creed-Miles), whose tastes in men, simply put, differ. This remake imbues the timeless story with new energy, less concerned with the historical posturing typical of period pieces, instead giving its characters relatable, if I must say, sensibilities.

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

Premiering October 23

John Turturro plays the aging thief Harry Lehman in Noah Segan’s The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. He spent his life snatching purses, jewelry, and anything of value sticking out of strangers’ pockets. But how does a pickpocket survive in the age of surveillance, where smartphones are traceable, and everything is on camera? He faces the music after stealing a special platinum card from a kid named Dylan Diamond, a brat who, unfortunately, is connected to a crime family that now ruthlessly targets Harry. Turturro is the prize gem in a cast that includes Giancarlo Esposito, Steve Buscemi, and Jamie Lee Curtis, among others.

Klara and the Sun

Premiering October 23

This fall, Jenna Ortega will boot up as Klara, the titular solar-powered android at the center of Klara and the Sun. Taika Waititi, the satire specialist behind Jojo Rabbit (2019) and What We Do in the Shadows (2014), has adapted Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel by the same name. This dystopian future resembles ours, where new technologies come and go as new models quickly render older iterations useless. (Or, at least, put them on sale.) That’s the case for Klara, who is eventually sold by Natasha Lyonne (playing someone) to a family during a clearance sale. Josie (Mia Tharia) believes Klara is special, convincing her mother (Amy Adams) to buy her. Ishiguro’s novel probes moral questions around artificial intelligence, investigating themes of human intelligence and the cost of technological progress. We expect the cinematic counterpart to do the same, and if we know anything about Waititi, he will push the uncanny elements to their limit (and perhaps beyond).

Wicker

Premiering October 23

Bear with me on this one. Wicker, inspired by the short story The Wicker Husband by Ursula Wills-Jones, revolves around a strange, ostracized fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) living in a medieval town. The town looks the other way toward her because, well, she smells like fish and she often criticizes traditional romance. She’s taunted by the town, pushing her to ask (sarcastically) the basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to craft a husband for her. Um, be careful what you wish for. … The Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgård), complete with woven muscles, is “strong as a tree and just as hard.” The two fall madly in love, despite the absolute mayhem it stirs among the townspeople. Go into this one with an open heart, and you will not be disappointed. The absurd concept succeeds through sheer, high-caliber performances from Colman and Skarsgård, who, in turn, craft a heartening, albeit strange, romantic fairy tale.

Fatherland

Premiering October 23

Pawel Pawlikowski’s Fatherland stars German legend Hanns Zischler and the impeccable Sandra Hüller as a father-daughter duo, Erika and Thomas Mann, on a road trip. This family road trip movie is far from what the subgenre typically suggests. Thomas is an exiled writer, living in the United States for more than a decade, but he’s invited to return to Frankfurt, West Germany, to receive a Goethe Prize. There, he learns he will need to travel to Weimar, East Germany, for another Goethe Prize; however, this likely means he will be arrested by the United States. This father-daughter road trip is a vehicle for Pawlikowski’s exploration of Soviet and American tensions, with Hüller and Zischler delivering deftly calibrated performances with enough festival buzz to generate Oscar-contending rumors.

Gentle Monster

Premiering October 30

In Marie Kreutzer’s Gentle Monster, Lucy Weiss (Lea Seydoux) sacrifices her career as a master-class pianist to spare the feelings of her (loser) boyfriend, Philip (Laurence Rupp). Soon after they move to the countryside, police come knocking on their door to arrest Philip. We soon learn that Philip is running from something far worse than burnout: distributing pedophilic videos online. This, obviously, devastates Lucy, who now contends with the reality of her husband’s evils and the investigator leading the case against Philip, Elsa (Jella Haase). The movie forks here, diving into Elsa’s life, particularly as she learns her ailing father often attempts to sexually assault his nurse. The two women grapple with the monstrous realities of the men in their lives in one of the year’s most gut-wrenching releases.

Club Kid

Premiering November 6

Peter (Jordan Firstman) lives his life as a nightlife fanatic—a party promoter who spends his days asleep and his evenings preparing for the club. Club Kid, Firstman’s directorial debut, chronicles how the irresponsible Peter learns he fathered a child 10 years prior, Arlo (Reggie Absolom). The premise closely resembles Adam Sandler’s Big Daddy; this time, tailor-made for young millennials in Brooklyn. This unconventional story offers a shockingly tender coming-of-age tale that applies to both the young, irresponsible father and the bright-eyed son. The trailer alone elicits tears as Peter and Arlo sit together singing at the piano. We’re excited for Firstman to join a long, long line of sad dads.

Avedon

Premiering November 11

Photo by Susan Middleton

Richard Avedon in his studio

Richard Avedon brought life to fashion photography. Netflix’s documentary Avedon, directed by Ron Howard, chronicles the photographer’s 60-year career, drawing on unseen archives and behind-the-scenes footage. “Richard Avedon was an artist whose work continues to resonate not only because of the extraordinary images he created, but because of the humanity and curiosity behind them,” Howard said in a statement. This documentary shows how Avedon managed to forge culture from behind the lens, spanning from his first photographs to his time at Harper’s Bazaar and The New Yorker.

Paper Tiger

Premiering November 13

Two brothers, played by Miles Teller and Adam Driver, get tangled up in the Russian mob in James Gray’s Paper Tiger. Driver plays a cocky former cop named Gary, who ropes his brother, a hardworking family man and engineer named Irwin, into a lucrative business opportunity. This Brooklyn-bound pursuit of the American dream leads them into the hands of the menacing Russian mafia. This implicates Irwin’s entire family, including his sons Gavin and Roman, as well as his wife, played by Scarlett Johansson. This is Gray’s first film since his hyper-personal childhood reflection, Armageddon Time, in 2022.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

Premiering November 20

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping plunges into the life of beloved Hunger Games character Haymitch Abernathy, once played by Woody Harrelson and now brought to life by Joseph Zada. We first learned a little about Haymitch’s Hunger Games in the original trilogy, and it’s not pretty. If throwing 24 teens together in a death match wasn’t enough, every 25 years, Panem (the ruling country in this universe) heightens the stakes by adding more death traps to the games. For the 50th year (Haymitch’s Games featured in this movie), the Capitol demands that each district send twice as many teens, meaning 48 young adults fend for their lives. Here, we see how Haymitch managed to win his Games (brutal enough to eventually lead him to alcoholism). Sunrise on the Reaping features younger versions of several fan-favorite characters and is filled out by an all-star cast: Jesse Plemons, Kieran Culkin, Maya Hawke, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lili Taylor, Ralph Fiennes, and Elle Fanning. Some of the new tributes are played by rising stars, including McKenna Grace and Ben Wang.

Josephine

Premiering November 20

In Beth de Araujo’s Josephine, Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum play the loving parents of 8-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves), who witnesses a horrific sexual assault in the park. Damien (Tatum), a fitness-addicted father, often runs with his daughter in Golden Gate Park, helping her train for her soccer matches. That is, until one morning, when the two witness the crime. This dreadful incident rattles the entire family, as Damien and Claire (Chan) struggle to protect their daughter. Meanwhile, Josephine grapples with the boundless emotional trauma, particularly as she’s pulled into the criminal proceedings to testify against the rapist. All three actors deliver razor-sharp performances, with Chan and Tatum standing out as they intricately map the emotional journey of two parents who seek to protect their daughter—at any cost.

Minotaur

Premiering November 20

Three people enjoying a dinner together at a table in a softly lit setting with wine glasses and food.

Anna Matveeva

Dmitriy Mazurov as Gleb (on the left) in Minotaur

Andrey Zvyagintsev’s adaptation of Claude Chabrol’s The Unfaithful Wife wowed Cannes audiences, snagging the Grand Prix at this year’s festival. A Russian executive, Gleb (Dmitriy Mazurov), prepares to fire tons of his employees amid escalating political pressure on his company. The corporate squeeze arises from the war in Ukraine—in particular, the government’s demand that he meet a draft quota from his workforce. This is his biggest problem, that is, until he discovers his wife Galina (Iris Lebedeva) is having an affair. (Oop!) What follows is a story of betrayal and violence within a country plagued by corruption and war. Zvyagintsev delivers a barbed indictment of Putin’s Russia, channeled into the life of one family under tremendous pressure.

All of a Sudden

Premiering November 25

Two individuals embracing in a warm and emotional moment indoors.

NEON

Virginia Efira as Marie and Tao Okamoto as Mari

Ryusuke Hamaguchi crafts his characters carefully. Often with runtimes over three hours, he forces his audiences to spend considered time with these people, whether it’s the listless stage director in Drive My Car (2021) or the widower living in a rural Japanese village in Evil Does Not Exist (2023). All of a Sudden, a loose adaptation of the 2019 book When Life Suddenly Takes a Turn: Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher With Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist, focuses on two characters: a nursing home director, Marie (Virginia Efira), and a terminally ill theater director, Mari (Tao Okamoto). The two develop a strong relationship before, suddenly, Mari’s health worsens. From there, the two form a powerful bond. Prepare yourself for another devastating but good cry.