“Collateral Beauty”
Director: David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada,” “Marley and Me”)
Cast: Will Smith, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Edward Norton, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris
Synopsis: A tragic event sends a New York advertising executive into a surreal downward spiral.
What You Need To Know: Warner Brothers must have quite some faith in the counter-programming allure of this prestige release, seeing as they’re putting it out the same day that ‘Rogue One’ hits. But really with that heavyweight a cast, why wouldn’t they? The only possible kinks in that narrative are that it had quite a few stumbles on its journey through preproduction, with “Me & Earl & The Dying Girl” director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon dropping out shortly before filming began, and a carousel of actors signing on (Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara, Johnny Depp and Jason Segel) then bailing before Will Smith came aboard as the lead. And it comes from screenwriter Allan Loeb (“Just Go With It,” “Rock of Ages,” “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps“), who has, to put it kindly, yet to wow. But with Smith’s own comeback arc working out nicely (whatever you think of “Suicide Squad,” it’s been a boost to his profile), an awards-friendly date and a very awards-friendly ensemble around him, it could well be that Frankel’s film will make a major Oscar play.
Release Date: December 16th
“Assassin’s Creed”
Director: Justin Kurzel (“Macbeth”)
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Ariane Labed, Jeremy Irons, Michael K Williams
Synopsis: Death row inmate Callum Lynch is saved from execution by a mysterious corporation, who need him to relive the memories of his ancestors, members of a secret organization of assassins during the Spanish Inquisition.
What You Need To Know: With Duncan Jones’ “Warcraft” resolutely failing to be the first good video game movie, hopes now rest on this adaptation of the huge Ubisoft franchise. The series is among the more artful and interesting (albeit sometimes maddening) to have emerged from the game world in the last decade or so, and there’s reason to be hopeful here. Michael Fassbender’s been developing it as producer for years at this point, and is reteaming with the director of his striking “Macbeth,” Justin Kurzel, also bringing co-star Marion Cotillard along for the ride. The film isn’t a direct adaptation of a game — instead, it’s a spin-off of sorts, with the setting here being 15th Century Spain, but the trailer suggests that this is a relatively faithful take on what people love about it. Can they make it engaging as a story, though, particularly with apparently most of the film being set in the present day?… If so, a new franchise could be born.
Release Date: December 21st
“Passengers”
Director: Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”)
Cast: Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Aurora Perrineau
Synopsis: Thirty years into a 120-year spaceship journey to a distant planet, two people, a man and a woman, are woken up by a malfunction.
What You Need To Know: As hellish as the development process can be, a good script will always win out. And while it’s stalled multiple times over the years (Keanu Reeves was attached for a long time), Jon Spaihts’ script for “Passengers” endured and finally reaches screens this Christmas. And it couldn’t have asked for a hotter team behind it, with Morten Tyldum a recent Oscar nominee for “The Imitation Game,” directing, and seemingly bulletproof A-listers Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt teamed up as the leads. The film’s going to be a tricky one to pull off, with an interesting mash up of genres that don’t always work together for audiences. But with good buzz, a good trailer behind it, and Sony positively bullish on the movie (though they hesitated to greenlight it at first), maybe the space movie that everyone will be talking about at Christmas won’t be the Star Wars one?
Release Date: December 21st
“Sing”
Director: Garth Jennings (“Son Of Rambow”)
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton
Synopsis: In order to keep his crumbling theatre open, a koala holds a singing competition.
What You Need To Know: Given some of the mediocrities that regularly get to make movies, it’s kind of a disgrace that we haven’t seen a film from Garth Jennings since his wonderful “Son Of Rambow” a decade ago. But thankfully, he’s back, and teamed with the bulletproof Illumination Entertainment, who’ve up-ended the animation world with “Despicable Me” and “Secret Life Of Pets” recently. It’s Jennings’ first animated film, and trailers make it look pretty charming and very kid-friendly (it’s almost certain to be one of the biggest hits of the season), but perhaps not as artful as we’d like from Jennings, and maybe a little passe, given the prime of “American Idol” and co. seemed to pass a while ago. But it bodes well that Universal are premiering the film at TIFF, three months early, suggesting a real level of confidence in the movie. Fingers crossed this turns out to be a hidden gem.
Release Date: December 21st
“Julieta”
Director: Pedro Almodovar (“All About My Mother”)
Cast: Emma Suarez, Adriana Ugarte, Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta, Michelle Jenner
Synopsis: When she learns that her estranged daughter is living in Switzerland, Julieta attempts to reconnect with her, while recollecting her life as a young woman.
What You Need To Know: On the whole, Pedro Almodovar is one of the most reliable filmmakers out there, but his last film, ill-conceived sitcom-ish comedy “I’m So Excited,” was a rare misfire from one of our greatest living filmmakers. Fortunately, he’s right back on form with his latest, “Julieta,” a loose adaptation of some stories by Alice Munro. It’s not perfect — as Jess put it in her Cannes review, “it feels like a wild beast caged and grinding its teeth on too little meal,” and is a bit wispy by the standards of his best work. But it’s still Almodovar, and as such, has some top-flight performances from its leads, and “so much knotty pleasure” to be found, even if it’s a little more restrained than we’d like. Oh, and Alberto Iglesias’ score is one of the year’s best. Even if it’s not top-tier Almodovar, that still makes it a must-see.
Release Date: December 21st
“Patriot’s Day”
Director: Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights”)
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon
Synopsis: The story of the hunt for the men who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
What You Need To Know: The second of the two Peter Berg/Mark Wahlberg re-teams of the season and arguably the most intriguing of the two, “Patriot’s Day” (which follows the “Lone Survivor” pattern of a limited release in December before expanding wide in January) is another based-in-fact docudrama. This time, the disaster is of a terrorist nature, with Berg (working from a script co-written by “Bridge Of Spies” scribe Matt Charman) telling the story of the bombing of the Boston Marathon in April 2013, and the subsequent manhunt for the Tsarnaev Brothers who carried it out. It would be hard not to make that story gripping, and it definitely plays into Berg’s strengths (and, again, his patriotism), but don’t expect a literally factual translation — Wahlberg plays a Boston Police Sergeant who’s a composite of several characters, though Goodman, Simmons and Bacon all play real figures (Nickelodeon star, and brother of “Faults In Our Stars” actor Nat Wolff, Alex Wolff plays Dzhokhar Tsarnaev). If it’s more Paul Greengrass than “Battleship,” we’re in.
Release Date: December 21st
“Gold”
Director: Stephen Gaghan (“Syriana”)
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell
Synopsis: An man plagued by bad luck teams up with a geologist to attempt to find gold in Indonesia.
What You Need To Know: With the McConaissance faltering slightly of late with the awful “Sea Of Trees” and the underperforming “Free State Of Jones,” the actor could use something to get him back on track, and it could arrive with the mysterious, but very intriguing “Gold.” The return of “Traffic” Oscar-winning writer and “Syriana” director Stephen Gaghan with his first big-screen credit in a decade, this Weinstein Company release has been kept pretty firmly under wraps, to the extent that we don’t quite know what it is. An “Indiana Jones”-style adventure? A comedy? An Oscar-bait drama (it’s based on a true story, has a prime Christmas release, and apparently has some Wall Street-related elements)? Some combination of all three and a bunch more besides? We’re hoping some kind of festival bow will clear things up at some point, but we’re certainly intrigued and rooting for this to work out.
Release Date: December 25th
“Toni Erdmann”
Director: Maren Ade (“Everyone Else”)
Cast: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Huller, Lucy Russell
Synopsis: An aging man attempts to reconnect with his daughter, now living in Bucharest, by playing a series of pranks on her.
What You Need To Know: Austrian director Maren Ade won praise for her last film, 2009’s “Everyone Else,” but having been away for a while, her newest movie wasn’t the most high-profile in the Cannes line-up this year (in fact, it was only promoted from Un Certain Regard at the last minute). But as soon as it bowed, that changed: “Toni Erdmann” won the kind of raves a filmmaker usually can only dream of, and though the film didn’t win any awards from the jury, the rapturous response surely put at the top of many people’s lists. Jess’s review called it “ridiculously funny at times,” while adding that “The funny comes from the same place as the sad,” and though it’s perhaps it’s overlong, “never has a movie’s overlength been so easy to instantly and wholeheartedly forgive.” Expect this to be the arthouse talking point of the fall, and with fart gags to boot!
Release Date: December 25th
“The Founder”
Director: John Lee Hancock (“The Blind Side”)
Cast: Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Patrick Wilson
Synopsis: The true story of how Ray Kroc helped to expand McDonald’s into a worldwide empire, then took the company from the brothers that founded it.
What You Need To Know: If things had stuck to the original plan, we’d have already seen “The Founder.” John Lee Hancock’s new film, penned by “The Wrestler” writer Robert Siegel and a sort of fast-food “Social Network” seemingly, was until only a few weeks ago set to be released by The Weinstein Company at the start of August, when movies like “The Butler” and “The Help” had done well (the company had delayed it from the original November release they planned). But quite suddenly, it was pushed back significantly, and will now get a qualifying run in December before opening in January. This means one of three things: 1) the Weinsteins decided it was better placed for awards if it opened then, 2) they don’t think it’s an awards play, but feel it would have gotten crushed in the summer or 3) they didn’t have enough cash to release the movie as planned. With no festival dates yet planned for the movie, it’s hard to say, but we should find out in December.
Release Date: December 16th in limited, expanding in January.
“20th Century Women”
Director: Mike Mills (“Beginners”)
Cast: Annette Bening, Lucas Jade Zumann, Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning
Synopsis: The story of a single mother raising her teenage son in a bohemian house in 1979.
What You Need To Know: Music video veteran Mike Mills was always clearly a talent, and his feature debut “Thumbsucker” backed that up. But even then, we weren’t prepared for the greatness of his second movie, “Beginners,” an utterly lovely, very personal, incredibly fresh-feeling little film that went on to win Christopher Plummer an Oscar. It’s taken nearly six years for Mills to come back, but he looks to be coming back in force: “20th Century Women” is a period comedy, again seemingly quite personal, with a very fine cast and backing from indie heavyweights Megan Ellison and A24. It’s premiering as the centerpiece of the New York Film Festival, which is a big deal, and with a December release planned, this could be A24’s big awards hope for the year.
Release Date: December, though the exact date is still TBD.
We’ve tried to keep this list exclusively to films that have a solid release date — or at least a month — which is the only reason James Gray‘s “Lost City of Z” which will close the New York Film Festival but is currently otherwise undated, does not appear (thanks to the commenter who prompted us to clarify that). But even among titles with solid dates, there’s still plenty more to come that might be worth checking out. To name some of the more intriguing, there’s “Ex Machina”-like sci-fi “Morgan” starring Kate Mara (Sept 2nd), Sundance-approved indie “White Girl” (Sept 2nd), gripping documentary “Author: The JT Leroy Story” (Sept 9th), indie “Kicks” (Sept 9th), docu-musical “London Road” (Sept 9th), dance-doc “Dancer” (Sept 9th) amazing experimental documentary memoir “Cameraperson” (Sept 9th), the return of a rom-com favorite with “Bridget Jones’ Baby” (Sept 16th), moon-landing-faking found footage pic “Operation Avalanche” (Sept 16th) and Kate Winslet in “The Dressmaker” (Sept 23rd).
Plus there’s also North Korean-themed doc “The Lovers & The Despot” (Sept 23rd), frat-hazing drama “Goat” (Sept 23rd), appealing animation “Storks” from “Neighbors” helmer Nicholas Stoller (Sept 23rd), James L Brooks-produced coming-of-ager “The Edge Of Seventeen” (Sept 30th), long-delayed comedy “Masterminds” (Sept 30th), Rachel Weisz in Holocaust-themed courtroom drama “Denial” (Sept 30th), Tim Roth in Cannes-approved “Chronic” (Sept 30th), Kim A. Snyder‘s harrowing doc “Newtown” (Oct 7th) and future cult classic “The Greasy Strangler” (Oct 7th) .
There’s also Kelly Reichardt’s return with “Certain Women” (Oct 14th), Rebecca Hall giving the performance of her career in “Christine” (Oct 14th), Tom Cruise kicking ass again in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” (Oct 21st), Jon Hamm, Gal Gadot, Zach Galafianakis and Isla Fisher in Greg Mottola’s action comedy “Keeping Up With The Joneses” (Oct 21st), Ti West’s enjoyable Western “In A Valley Of Violence” (Oct 21st), Berlin Golden Bear winner “Fire At Sea” from Gianfranco Rosi (Oct 21st), brilliant Kleber Mendonça Filho Cannes favorite “Aquarius” (Oct 21st), cult curio “The Love Witch” (Oct 28th), Jim Jarmusch‘s Stooges documentary “Gimme Danger” (Oct 28th), Ron Howard and Tom Hanks‘ 3rd go-round at their Dan Brown franchise with “Inferno” (Oct 28th) and Dreamworks Animation’s latest “Trolls” (Nov 4th), starring Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick. Plus the October/November season will see no fewer than 3 projects shepherded by powerhouse indie producers The Duplass Brothers — Alex Lehmann‘s narrative film “Blue Jay,” his documentary “Aspergers Are Us” and Linas Phillips‘ “Rainbow Time” starring Melanie Lynskey, the latter two being Netflix co-productions. Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk‘s (“The Island President,” “The Rape of Europa“)”Audrie & Daisy” also sounds like a compelling drama.
And finally, there’s Miles Teller in boxing biopic “Bleed For This” (Nov 4th), all-star family pic “Almost Christmas” (Nov 11th), Naomi Watts horror “Shut In” (Nov 11th), Sundance-approved arthouse horror “Eyes Of My Mother” (Nov 18th), Billy Bob Thornton in belated comedy sequel “Bad Santa 2” (Nov 23rd), Sophia Takal‘s “Always Shine” with Mackenzie Davis (Dec 2nd), holiday-themed comedy “Office Christmas Party” (Dec 9th), sci-fi/teen romance hybrid “The Space Between Us” (Dec 21st) and James Franco and Bryan Cranston in comedy “Why Him?” (Dec 25th).
And potentially some surprises too — remember, last year “The Big Short” wasn’t meant to have a 2016 release date, and so we could see some bump-ups like Ben Affleck in “Live By Night” or Tom Cruise in “American Made” (formerly “Mena”) or festival movies like “Jackie,” “The Bad Batch” or Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom” land Oscar qualifying dates or more. For more updates, keep your eyes peeled on The Playlist, and let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments.