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There’s no official announcement or ceremony. But every year without fail—when pumpkin spice latte season is in full swing—movie lovers start to hear the buzz around all the new films about to hit screens. For those hoping to get an Oscar nod, the fall timing is strategic, says Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman. “It’s to a movie’s advantage to come out in the last few months of the year so it can really have a presence,” he says, adding that the tradition dates back to the late 1980s with pedigreed offerings such as Working Girl, Rain Man and Driving Miss Daisy. “People are in awards mode and really thinking about what they’re going to vote for.”
Those of us who’re aren’t voting members of the Academy are just happy to have some blockbuster movie choices. (Top Gun: Maverick seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?) Here is Parade’s Must-Watch List.
Related: Love to Laugh? These Are the Most Anticipated Upcoming Comedy Movies
Fall movies 2022
Best History Lesson: Till (in theaters Oct. 14)
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till’s lynching in Mississippi in 1955 was one of the most pivotal—and tragic—chapters in the civil rights movement. This drama focuses on his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler), and her fight for justice in the wake of his shocking murder. “To say it was an honor to play her is an understatement,” says Deadwyler (Station Eleven). “Her reckoning continues to be an enduring education on the taut nature of love.”
Behind the Scenes: Before stepping into Mamie’s shoes, the actress did a “deep dive” into historical archives. “I read academic papers, saw public footage and documentaries, engaged with scholars of the civil rights movement and read Mamie Till’s memoir [2003’s Death of Innocence],” she says.
Why It’s Golden: The story of Mamie and Emmett Till “clarifies how we have gotten to this current America,” Deadwyler says. “There is something to be learned from seeing Mamie’s perspective and resistance.” Whoopi Goldberg also stars as Emmett’s grandmother.
Bonus for History Buffs: Time’s Up: In 2017, two female New York Times journalists (Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan) doggedly report on the gross misdeeds of famed movie executive Harvey Weinstein in She Said (in theaters November 18).
Best Comedy: Ticket to Paradise (in theaters Oct. 21)
Let’s go to Bali with Julia Roberts and George Clooney! They play squabbling exes who hatch a plan to the stop the nuptials of their lovestruck daughter (Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick). “Her wedding is very important and she wants both her parents to support her,” Dever says. “But the trip opens her eyes in so many ways.”
Behind the Scenes: Though Clooney and Roberts have teamed up in four previous films, this marks their first joint foray into rom-com territory. (In fact, the actress hasn’t flashed her smile in her signature genre since 2016’s Mother’s Day.) “They are both so amazing in every aspect and I love them both so much,” says Dever. “Obviously, coming onto a project like this was a big deal, but they were completely familial right away.” She adds that the beautiful on-location shoot “didn’t even feel like work.”
Why It’s Golden: Talk about the ultimate cinematic escape! “It really is a nod to all the rom-coms we know and love and I think that’s why we need it,” Dever says. “It’s a movie filled with joy and laughs and will be really fun to watch.”
Bonus for Comedy Lovers: Two siblings (Kristen Bell and Ben Platt) reluctantly agree to attend the wedding of an estranged half-sister (The Rings of Power’s Cynthia Addai-Robinson) in The People We Hate at the Wedding (November 18 on Prime Video).
Best Musical Biopic: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Nov. 4 on Roku)
“Weird” Al Yankovic, the master of genius song parodies for the past 40 years, reveals his twisted, hysterical history…sort of. “The filmmakers took a kernel of truth from Al’s life and turned it into something insane,” says Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), who plays Weird Al. Translation? A traveling salesman really did come to his parents’ home and offer a young Yankovic the chance to learn the accordion, but “I feel like it’s important to say the real Al Yankovic never killed multiple people, like he does here!”
Behind the Scenes: Though Radcliffe performed in a Broadway musical after his run as moviedom’s most famous kid wizard, he lip-syncs Yankovic’s hits such as “Eat It” and “My Balogna.” With a quick 18-day shooting schedule, “My focus was learning the choreography for the dance numbers,” he says. (He also learned to play the accordion well enough “to get by.”)
Why It’s Golden: “It’s everything you would expect out of a Weird Al biopic,” Radcliffe says. “Making this film was one delightful, surreal moment after the other.”
Biopic Bonus: Whitney Houston’s rise and tragic fall is depicted in I Wanna Dance With Somebody (in theaters December 21).
Best Superhero: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (in theaters Nov. 11)
Following the death of King T’Challa, the nation of Wakanda goes to war against an army of Atlanteans. Many warriors must step up in his place. “Wakanda is trying to move forward, but it’s extremely difficult,” says Letitia Wright, who returns in the sequel as T’Challa’s grieving sister, Princess Shuri. “Our movie unpacks this in a way our audience can relate to.”
Behind the Scenes: The cast and crew were dealt an unimaginable loss when Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman died from cancer in 2020 at age 43. To deal with the grief, Wright says that everyone came together for a day of remembrance on the first day of production. “We were able to share our thoughts and memories of him,” she says.
Why It’s Golden: It’s the follow-up to Marvel’s Oscar-nominated global phenomenon, for starters. And in this installment, Wright adds, “we’re exploring the world of Wakanda and unlocking more layers of the characters, especially with Princess Shuri.”
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Superhero Bonus: Dwayne Johnson unleashes ancient wizardry powers—for good and evil—in the modern world in DC Universe’s Black Adam (in theaters October 21).
Best Tearjerker: The Fabelmans (in theaters Nov. 11)
An aspiring young filmmaker named Sammy (Gabriel LaBelle) growing up in post–World War II America copes with a devastating family secret by escaping into the power of movies.
Behind the Scenes: Director Steven Spielberg based this emotional comedy-drama on his own formative years. (He even takes a rare co-screenplay credit on the film.) Michelle Williams and Paul Dano play his parents; Seth Rogen is a beloved family friend; and Jeannie Berlin and Judd Hirsch represent the older generation.
Why It’s Golden: “A Spielberg movie is almost always an awards contender on paper—and this one is certainly alluring because he’s drawn on his own life, which is very rare for him,” Gleiberman says. “For a master like him to do that is very exciting.” Indeed, this marks Spielberg’s first-ever film to premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival.
Teary Bonus: The new marriage between a journalist (Jim Parsons) and a photographer (Ben Aldridge) is rocked by a terminal cancer diagnosis in Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies (in theaters December 2).
Best Family Film: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Dec. 9 on Netflix)
The whimsical stop-motion animated film follows the mischievous adventures of a disobedient wooden marionette turned real boy, Pinocchio, and his pursuit of his place in the world.
Behind the Scenes: This marks the second retelling this fall of Carlo Collodi’s classic, following the Disney+ edition with Tom Hanks. But this Pinocchio film is the work of innovative Oscar-winning director Guillermo de Toro (The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth), known for drawing out the darkness hiding beneath the light. Ewan McGregor, Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz and John Turturro all lend their voices.
Why It’s Golden: “Del Toro has always been a filmmaker who brings fantasy to life with a human touch,” Gleiberman says. “That makes him, in theory, the perfect director to tell the Pinocchio story.”
Family Bonus: Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol gets the comedy musical treatment—courtesy of Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell!—in Spirited (November 18 on Apple TV+).
Best Sequel: Avatar: The Way of Water (in theaters Dec. 16)
On the planet of Pandora, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife, Princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), work together to help protect their race against a familiar threat.
Behind the Scenes: Director James Cameron has spent the better part of a decade crafting his second installment to the Oscar-winning 2009 sci-fi epic, which is the highest-grossing movie of all time with $2.84 billion—and along the way played a large role in pioneering state-of-the-art digital 3D production techniques. To that end, though Sigourney Weaver’s character died in the original, she returns here as a new character: Jake and Neytiri’s adopted teen daughter!
Why It’s Golden: Put it this way: Back in 2019, Weaver had just finished up filming her CGI work for The Way of Water and raved to Parade about the not-yet-finished product. “It’s a great adventure movie,” she said. “And it’s about so many things because the script is so rich.” And with more sequels on the way, she joked that Cameron planned to keep her working in the studio for many years to come.
Sequel Bonus: Daniel Craig’s sardonic, Southern-fried private investigator Benoit Blanc is on a new case in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (December 23 on Netflix). And now he’s joined by Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista.
Best Period Piece: Babylon (in theaters Dec. 25)
Picture Hollywood in the late 1920s. The spotlight is on a silent film star (Brad Pitt) trying to adapt to the industry’s evolution of sound. Margot Robbie plays a Roaring ’20s icon not so worried about her place in showbiz. “You don’t become a star,” she says. “You either are one, or you ain’t.”
Behind the Scenes: Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle (La La Land) is set to deliver more razzle-dazzle to Hollywood’s early golden age. Based on first-look footage, this is a glittering mashup of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Great Gatsby featuring jazz music, eye-popping costumes and over-the-top makeup.
Why It’s Golden: “This is an epic version of early Hollywood that unites the premise of Singin’ in the Rain with a portrait of this industry as it actually was, which was this completely wild and debaucherous place,” Gleiberman says. “This kind of history is really fascinating.”
Bonus for Period Lovers: In My Policeman, the married titular character (Harry Styles) engages in an illegal affair with a museum curator (David Dawson) in 1950s England (November 4 on Prime Video). Set in and around a movie theater in the early 1980s, Empire of Light is an unconventional love story starring Oscar darling Olivia Colman (in theaters December 9).
Related: How to Watch and Stream All of 2022’s Oscar-Winning and Nominated Movies!
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