2017 Fall Movie Preview: Superheroes and Spies, Bad Moms and the Very Last Jedi, Oh, My!

Fall Movie Preview 2017
ET Online

ET's list of 35 movies you will want to look out for this fall, some of which are in theaters now for your viewing pleasure.

Summer movie season has ended, taking with it all the sexy onscreen lifeguards, bridesmaids gone wild and action movie explosions. (There were so many action movie explosions this summer.) In its place, we have a lineup that includes some things scary, some things sweet, more superheroes, two sequels that fans have been waiting decades for, and countless films that are "Based on a True Story." Here are 35 movies you will want to look out for this fall, some of which are in theaters now for your viewing pleasure.

Open Road Films

Home Again

Who: Reese Witherspoon, Michael Sheen, Nat Wolff, Pico Alexander, Jon Rudnitsky

What: Nancy Meyers' daughter, Hallie Meyers-Shyer, makes her directorial debut with a "sweet and lightly funny" (and very Nancy Meyers-y) rom-com about a recently separated single mother of two (Witherspoon) who invites three aspiring filmmakers to move into her guest house. Hijinks and a bit of romance ensues.

When: Sept. 8

Warner Bros. Pictures

It

Who: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs

What: The most "outright scary" adaptation of Stephen King's iconic 1986 horror story yet, this remake has everything you'd expect from an It movie: Pennywise the Clown (played by Alexander Skarsgård's younger brother, Bill), a bunch of terrorized children (including one Stranger Things star) and, of course, red balloons.

When: Sept. 8

Paramount Pictures

mother!

Who: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer

What: Nearly everything about Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky's latest film has been shrouded in secrecy. Here's what we do know: Lawrence and Bardem play a married couple whose lives begins to unravel with the arrival of uninvited visitors. What happens next is maddeningly consuming -- and must be seen to be believed.

When: Sept. 15

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Battle of the Sexes

Who: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming, Andrea Riseborough

What: There's something particularly timely about Battle of the Sexes. Stone plays world No. 1 tennis player Billie Jean King, a feminist who fought for gender equality in the sport in the '70s, while Carell plays Bobby Riggs, the media-hungry, self-proclaimed male chauvinistic pig who challenges her to the titular match. (Sound vaguely familiar?)

When: Sept. 22

20th Century Fox

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Who: Taron Egerton, Channing Tatum, Colin Firth, Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry

What: There's been much ado about the next James Bond movie lately, as if everyone had forgotten that another British playboy secret agent already had a sequel on the way. Eggsy (Egerton) and his fellow Kingsmen are heading Stateside to meet a whole new cast of characters in director Matthew Vaughn's second installment.

When: Sept. 22

Warner Bros. Pictures

The LEGO Ninjago Movie

Who: Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Kumail Nanjiani, Michael Peña, Olivia Munn, Jackie Chan

What: Whether two different LEGO movies in one calendar year -- The LEGO Batman Movie only just came out in February -- is a gift or a curse depends on how amusing you find those yellow, plastic people. In this installment, a high school student by day, ninja by night takes on his dad, the evil warlord Garmadon.

When: Sept. 22

Lionsgate / Roadside Attractions

Stronger

Who: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson

What: There are so many ways a based-on-a-true-story movie of real-life heroics can go wrong, especially one that revisits a national tragedy not even five years after the fact. Stronger, about how Jeff Bauman became the embodiment of "Boston Strong" following 2013's marathon bombing, avoids exploitation and melodramatics and offers Gyllenhaal an Oscar-worthy role.

When: Sept. 22

Universal Pictures

American Made

Who: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright

What: Whether it's Ethan Hunt or Jack Reacher or even The Mummy's Nick Morton, you know the brand of action and adventure you're going to get from a Tom Cruise movie these days. Here, he plays Barry Seal, a pilot-turned-drug smuggler-turned-DEA informant in a biopic directed by Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow and the Bourne movies).

When: Sept. 29

Sony Pictures / Screen Gems

Flatliners

Who: Ellen Page, Diego Luna, James Norton, Kiersey Clemons, Nina Dobrev

What: Despite all appearances, this is not a remake of the 1990 sci-fi thriller; it’s actually a sequel. Like Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland before them, Page and her co-stars play medical students who conduct near-death experiments in order to research what occurs in the afterlife, with Sutherland reprising his role from the original. Think of it as Flatliners 2: Almost Die Another Day.

When: Sept. 29

Warner Bros. Pictures

Blade Runner 2049

Who: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, Mackenzie Davis, Robin Wright

What: Blade Runner opted not to go the reboot route either. Instead, more than three decades after Ridley Scott's original, Ford returns as Rick Deckard in this sequel, albeit opposite new blood (Gosling plays a young blade runner), a new baddie (Leto) and a new director (Arrival's Denis Villeneuve, with Scott serving as executive producer).

When: Oct. 6

Universal Pictures

Happy Death Day

Who: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine

What: 2017 has provided plenty of scares, courtesy of Pennywise the Dancing Clown in It, demonic xenomorphs in Alien: Covenant and racism in Get Out. Happy Death Day -- about a college co-ed who races to identify her killer as she relives the day of her murder -- comes via Blumhouse and director Christopher Landon (writer of Paranormal Activity 2-4 and The Marked Ones), practically guaranteeing pre-Halloween frights.

When: Oct. 13

Open Road Films

Marshall

Who: Chadwick Boseman, Sterling K. Brown, Josh Gad, Jussie Smollett, Dan Stevens, Kate Hudson

What: We won't see Boseman suit up for Marvel's Black Panther until 2018, but in the interim, he stars as Thurgood Marshall in this biopic about the first African-American Supreme Court justice. The People v. O. J. Simpson Emmy winner Brown co-stars as defendant Joseph Spell, with Empire's Smollett playing Langston Hughes.

When: Oct. 13

Netflix

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

Who: Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Elizabeth Marvel, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson

What: If there's one topic director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, While We're Young) knows, it's New York City dysfunction. His latest -- which leaves behind indie cinemas for Netflix -- is about the three Meyerowitz children coming to terms with the family's difficult artist patriarch (Hoffman) and hippie-dippie matriarch (Thompson).

When: Oct. 13

Amazon Studios / Roadside Attractions

Wonderstruck

Who: Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Millicent Simmonds, Oakes Fegley

What: Academy Award winner Todd Haynes reunites with his Far From Heaven star, Moore, for a film that appears as wondrous as the title suggests. But after the very adult Carol, Haynes is doing something more family-friendly, about the parallel journeys of a young, deaf girl in 1927 and boy in 1977.

When: Oct. 20

Open Road Films

All I See Is You

Who: Blake Lively, Jason Clarke, Danny Huston

What: How does one follow up a cinematic masterpiece like The Shallows, last summer's Criterion-worthy hit in which Lively literally fights a shark? By playing a blind woman who regains her sight, it appears. If that sounds like the plot of a heartwarming YouTube video, though, be warned that this is from the same director who did World War Z and Machine Gun Preacher.

When: Oct. 27

A24

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Who: Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman

What: If you enjoyed The Lobster, last year's artsy, romantic thriller starring Farrell, it's a safe bet that you'll enjoy Yorgos Lanthimos' latest: an artsy, psychological thriller starring Farrell. Alternatively, for people who didn't get nearly enough Farrell-Kidman sparring in this summer's The Beguiled, this should more than satisfy.

When: Oct. 27

Paramount Pictures

Suburbicon

Who: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac

What: There's a Coen Brothers movie buried somewhere within Suburbicon, a satire of the '50s that combines a vintage script by Joel and Ethan with additional plotting by director George Clooney and Grant Heslov. The end product is part noir, part caper, part indictment of racism in America? It is...a lot, and that's before you find out Moore plays dual roles.

When: Oct. 27

STX Entertainment

A Bad Moms Christmas

Who: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, Susan Sarandon

What: The Bad Moms are back to put the bad in Christmas! (Christbadmas?) The sequel promises to be bigger, bawdier and bad mom-ier, as Amy (Kunis), Kiki (Bell) and Carla (Hahn) face off with their own bad moms, played by Baranski, Hines and Sarandon, respectively. Plus, Justin Hartley from This Is Us is naked in this.

When: Nov. 3

Marvel Studios

Thor: Ragnarok

Who: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson

What: The most anticipated Marvel movie since...well, since Spider-Man: Homecoming. The Thor threequel is bringing back all the Asgardians you know and love, alongside new additions like the Hulk, Valkyrie, Dr. Strange and baddie Hela, the goddess of death (a perfectly-cast Cate Blanchett). Plus, with Taika Waititi (writer-director of the wonderful Hunt for the Wilderpeople) at the helm, Thor is funny now!

When: Nov. 3

Paramount Pictures

Daddy's Home 2

Who: Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell, Mel Gibson, John Lithgow, John Cena

What: Aka A Bad Dads Christmas. The original Daddy's Home was about a too-cool-for-school dad (Wahlberg) and a lovingly dopey stepdad (Ferrell) putting aside their differences and learning to be friends. The sequel is about the arrival of their respective dads, too-cool-for-school Gibson and the lovingly dopey Lithgow.

When: Nov. 10

A24

Lady Bird

Who: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet

What: Greta Gerwig, so charming in front of the camera in movies like Frances Ha and 20th Century Women, makes her directorial debut with this semiautobiographical coming-of-age dramedy about Christine McPherson, self-nicknamed "Lady Bird," as she navigates her last year of high school.

When: Nov. 10

20th Century Fox

Murder on the Orient Express

Who: Kenneth Branagh, Josh Gad, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penélope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, Judi Dench

What: Branagh, who has directed everything from Shakespeare to superheroes to Cinderella, is behind the camera on this remake of the 1974 whodunit (itself an adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel) and has cast himself as Hercule Poirot, the self-proclaimed "greatest detective in the world." The mystery? Who killed Johnny Depp. The suspects? A bunch of famous faces filling roles like the butler, the professor and the princess.

When: Nov. 10

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Who: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Peter Dinklage, John Hawkes

What: There's enough story in this pitch-black comedy to warrant the mouthful of a title: Seven months after her daughter is murdered and no justice has been served, a mother uses the titular billboards to taunt the chief of police, inciting chaos in the process. (Hello, Frances McDormand's fifth Oscar nomination!)

When: Nov. 10

Warner Bros. Pictures

Justice League

Who: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Henry Cavill

What: Or, if we are likeminded moviegoers, Wonder Woman 1.5 -- y'know, to hold you over till the proper sequel in December 2019. As foretold by a PowerPoint presentation in Batman v Superman, the metahumans -- Batman! Wonder Woman! Aquaman! The Flash! Cyborg! Dead-but-not-dead Superman! -- are teaming up to save the world. As directed by Zack Snyder with an assist from Joss Whedon, we're cautiously hopeful it won't disappoint us.

When: Nov. 17

Lionsgate

Wonder

Who: Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay

What: Based on the best-selling novel by R. J. Palacio and directed by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Wonder centers on Auggie (Tremblay), a fifth grader with facial deformity, who is attending public school for the first time. Roberts plays his mom, and we're already crying.

When: Nov. 17

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Coco

Who: Benjamin Bratt, Gael García Bernal, Anthony Gonzalez, Jaime Camil

What: Pixar's Día de los Muertos movie follows a 12-year-old boy, Miguel, on a musical adventure into the Land of the Dead. This is one of Pixar's lighter romps for the kiddos, co-directed by Adrian Molina and Lee Unkrich (the latter of whom you may recognize as director of Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3).

When: Nov. 22

STX Entertainment

Molly's Game

Who: Jessica Chastain, Kevin Costner, Idris Elba, Michael Cera

What: We know what to expect from an Aaron Sorkin screenplay -- powerful people monologuing about power dynamics -- but Molly’s Game marks the debut of Aaron Sorkin the director, when he goes behind the camera to tell the true story of Molly Bloom (Chastain), an Olympic skiing hopeful-turned-grande dame of the multimillion-dollar international poker world.

When: Nov. 22

Sony Pictures Classics

Call Me By Your Name

Who: Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet

What: Newcomer Timothée Chalamet is having a moment and, if this film’s reception on the festival circuit is any indication, you will be hearing his name more come awards season. Director Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash) adapts André Aciman’s novel about the bond between a 17-year-old (Chalamet) and the graduate student (Hammer) who comes to Italy to live with his family for the summer.

When: Nov. 24

A24

The Disaster Artist

Who: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, Ari Graynor, Paul Scheer

What: Come for director-producer-star James Franco's insane (yet insanely accurate) accent. Stay for the truly wild story -- about Tommy Wiseau and the making of the "greatest bad movie ever," The Room -- and even wilder casting: Zac Efron! Melanie Griffith! Josh Hutcherson! Sharon Stone!

When: Dec. 1

Amazon Studios

Wonder Wheel

Who: Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, James Belushi, Juno Temple

What: There are plenty of reasons not to see the new Woody Allen movie -- the obvious, sure, but also the fact that most of his recent work (Magic in the Moonlight, Café Society) has been critically meh-ed. If you so choose, what’s known about his latest is that it's set on Coney Island in the '50s.

When: Dec. 1

Fox Searchlight Pictures

The Shape of Water

Who: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins

What: Guillermo del Toro has introduced the world to haunted houses and kaiji-fighting robots, Hellboy and other fantastical realms of reality, and his new project is just as magical: a creature feature of yesteryear, about a mute woman (Hawkins) who falls in love with a hardboiled egg-eating sea creature held in a secret government laboratory.

When: Dec. 8

20th Century Fox

Ferdinand

Who: John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Bobby Cannavale, Gina Rodriguez, Anthony Anderson

What: The title, in conjunction with the awards season release date, may have the highfalutin whiff of prestige Oscar bait -- perhaps some saga of love and heartache in the Spanish countryside -- but this is about the bull, Ferdinand (voiced by former wrestler Cena), and his big heart.

When: Dec. 15

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Who: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher

What: Now that J.J. Abrams is returning to direct Episode IX, this is the sole Star Wars episode of the new trilogy that will be directed by someone else: Looper's Rian Johnson. It will also mark the late Fischer’s final portrayal of General Leia Organa, as well as introduce a cast of new characters: Laura Dern's Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, Benicio Del Toro's "DJ" and Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico.

When: Dec. 15

Sony Pictures

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Who: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Nick Jonas

What: Once upon a time, there was a magical board game that trapped a man, Alan Parrish (Robin Williams), inside it. More than 20 years later, that game is back, though this time it’s a video game -- and the movie, Welcome to the Jungle, comes with 100 percent more Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. (And better CGI animals, we’re assuming.)

When: Dec. 20

Netflix

Bright

Who: Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace, Edgar Ramírez, Lucy Fry

What: Bright could make Netflix a bona fide home for popcorn-worthy blockbusters -- plus redeem director David Ayer after the much-maligned Suicide Squad. It might also be the first installment in a franchise about a fantastical world that looks a lot like modern-day L.A., where the police force is composed of humans and orcs, magic is outlawed and fairies are on the run.

When: Dec. 22

Paramount Pictures

Downsizing

Who: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau

What: Two-time Academy Award winner Alexander Payne (Sideways and The Descendants) is going the sci-fi route for his latest film -- in the future of Downsizing, scientists have discovered a way to shrink human beings to five inches tall to combat overpopulation -- but with its zany vibe steeped in satire, it still feels very Alexander Payne.

When: Dec. 22

Universal Pictures

Pitch Perfect 3

Who: Anna Kendrick, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld, Rebel Wilson, Ruby Rose

What: Three movies in, the Bellas have proven they can do aca-anything. Now, they have set their sights on world peace -- or, y’know, a reunion to perform at an overseas USO tour. PP3 is billed as the last hoorah for the ladies, and what better way to honor the milestone than by introducing John Lithgow as Fat Amy’s dad?

When: Dec. 22

20th Century Fox

The Post

Who: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bradley Whitford, Carrie Coon

What: This movie just screams Oscars: Directed by three-time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg, starring three-time Academy Award winner Streep and two-time winner Hanks, it’s a based-on-a-true-story period piece about one newspaper’s role in exposing the Pentagon Papers cover-up. It’s an honor to already be nominated.

When: Dec. 22

20th Century Fox

The Greatest Showman

Who: Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zac Efron, Zendaya

What: Visual effects artist Michael Gracey is taking on quite a lot for directorial debut: the rise of P.T. Barnum, of Barnum & Bailey's Circus, told as a musical. Fortunately, he has a lot in his corner, including a screenplay co-written by Bill Condon (who is responsible for Disney's massive Beauty and the Beast) and one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood.

When: Dec. 25

Focus Features

Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Film

Who: Daniel Day-Lewis

What: Day-Lewis, widely regarded as one of the greatest living actors, will "no longer be working as an actor" following the release of this, his final film. Neither the title nor plot have been confirmed -- it is "set in the couture world of 1950s London" and speculation says he plays fashion designer Charles James. More importantly, it is an anxiously awaited reunion for director Anderson and Day-Lewis after their Academy Award-winning masterpiece, There Will Be Blood.

When: Dec. 25