What We Think Will Be Big

It: Chapter Two

(9/6)

Splitting the interwoven time lines of Stephen King’s 1986 tome into two movies was a risky move, but the first film, released in 2017, was a huge hit. Now the characters are grown up and played by name actors, Jessica Chastain and Bill Hader among them. Can they vanquish King’s eternal evil for good? Or are we looking at more sequels?

Pain and Glory

(10/4)

Pedro Almodóvar’s most autobiographical film in decades looks at the many regrets of an aging filmmaker, played by the great Antonio Banderas (who won the Best Actor award at Cannes in May).

Dolemite Is My Name

(10/4)

For decades, people have longed to make a biopic of Rudy Ray Moore—the comic, blaxploitation star, and indiefilm pioneer known as the Godfather of Rap. It’s finally here, as Eddie Murphy’s potential comeback vehicle.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

(10/18)

The first was a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty from the supposedly evil witch’s point of view and gave Angelina Jolie one of her most indelible roles. It’ll be interesting to see in what new direction this followup will take the story.

Jojo Rabbit

(10/18)

Director Taika Waititi has taken all the goodwill produced by Thor: Ragnarok’s success and parlayed it into a playful comedy about … an eager young German boy in the Hitler Youth. Oh, and Waititi himself plays Hitler.

Terminator: Dark Fate

(11/1)

We’ve been burned by Terminator sequels before, but dare we hope that this one— which returns Linda Hamilton to the role of Sarah Connor and boasts James Cameron himself as a producer—might break the curse?

Doctor Sleep

(11/8)

Stephen King’s 2013 sequel to The Shining was well liked as a novel, but as a film it’ll have to contend with the legacy of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror masterpiece, which the author (who has an executiveproducer credit on this one) famously detests.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

(11/22)

The nicest man in film, Tom Hanks, stars in this film about the nicest man on TV, Mr. Fred Rogers.

Frozen II

(11/22)

The first was not just the highest-grossing animated film of all time; it was a cultural phenomenon with its Hans Christian Andersen– meets–girl-power story line and viral soundtrack. It even turned Josh Gad into a star. The sequel will surely add to Disney’s run of billion-dollar hits this year; fingers crossed that it also recaptures some of the original’s magic.

Queen & Slim

(11/27)

A first date (between Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie TurnerSmith) goes off the rails when a cop pulls the couple over. Described as a Bonnie and

Clyde–style thriller, this was cowritten by Lena Waithe (who calls the film “protest art”) and directed by Grammy-winning music-video director Melina Matsoukas. It could be one of the breakout hits of the season.

Uncut Gems

(12/13)

Adam Sandler plays a Diamond District jeweler racing against the clock to pay off his debts in this thriller from Josh and Benny Safdie, indie poets of breakneck grit. (They made 2017’s acclaimed Robert Pattinson thriller Good Time.)

Cats

(12/20)

Sure, the trailer was ridiculous. Sure, digital fur on human actors looks weird. Sure, it’s one of the strangest musicals ever made. Counterpoint: It’s Cats. You’ll still see it out of morbid curiosity.

Star Wars:

Episode 9—The Rise of Skywalker

(12/20)

The big question with the final installment of the Skywalker saga isn’t how much it’ll make but whether J.J. Abrams will undo the idiosyncratic narrative revelations of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, the most entertaining Star Wars movie in decades. bilge ebiri