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Okay, movie lovers! Now that we’ve had a chance to settle into another Award Season, it’s time to check out the months when the award race really heats up: November and December. Sure, a few contenders have started trickling in—and we’ve been hearing the buzz from the fall film festivals—but this is when things start getting serious.
Once again, here’s the fine print: keep in mind that, especially during this time of year, release dates can (and most likely will) change—and other releases will open gradually, over a number of weeks or months. Also, I list films here by the week of release, typically using Friday as the standard release day—but, especially on holiday weekends, films may open earlier in the week. So, as always, keep an eye on your local listings for exact release dates.
And now…let’s kick this Award Season party into high gear!
November 2:
The holidays are coming—and that means that the holiday movies will start flooding in, too! Up this week, a holiday classic gets a big-screen update in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.
This time of year is also about biopics, and there are several this week—starting with the story of Queen, starring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, in Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Joel Edgerton directs the story of a boy forced to go through a church-run gay conversion program in Boy Erased. And Rosamund Pike stars as war correspondent Marie Colvin in A Private War.
Also this week, comedy golden girl Tiffany Haddish stars in Tyler Perry’s latest dramedy, Nobody’s Fool, about an ex-con who sets out to find answers about her sister’s boyfriend. Or, some something scarier, Dakota Johnson stars in the remake of 1977’s Suspiria. And, finally, a young boxer experiences racism and profiling in Tiger
Kristin’s Pick: There are so many options this week—but I’m most excited to check out Bohemian Rhapsody. Just be prepared to have Queen’s songs stuck in your head for the rest of Award Season.
NOVEMBER 9:
The holiday picks continue this week with the newest adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic about a grumpy, green beast, The Grinch.
Meanwhile, the saga of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist continues in director Fede Alvarez’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web, based on the book by David Lagercrantz. In the thriller Overlord, a pair of American soldiers find themselves battling unexpected forces behind enemy lines on D-Day. Jason Reitman’s The Front Runner tells the story of Senator Gary Hart’s 1988 presidential campaign, which was disrupted by scandal. And Mike Leigh’s latest, Peterloo tells the story of a British rally turned massacre in 1819.
Kristin’s Pick: This week’s offerings are all so different. But as much as I’m looking forward to checking out The Grinch, my pick this week goes to Jason Reitman and The Front Runner.
NOVEMBER 16:
This week, Harry Potter fans can return to the Wizarding World for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, once again starring Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Newt Scamander.
Though no one really wants to go up against Harry Potter and Co. at the box office, director Steve McQueen also returns this week with Widows, following four different widows who decide to work together to take control of their futures.
Kristin’s Pick: This week offers two very different—but very interesting—options. But while I’m always happy to return to the Wizarding World, I’m going to give Widows my pick.
NOVEMBER 23:
Last week may have been a quiet one, but Thanksgiving weekend makes up for it!
First up, we have Disney’s fall release, Ralph Breaks the Internet, which follows lovable video game bad guy Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) as he wanders through a wifi router at the arcade and into a whole new world.
Another sequel, Creed II follows Michael B. Jordan’s light heavyweight champ Adonis Creed as, with help from his mentor, Rocky Balboa, takes on the son of Ivan Drago.
For more action, there’s the latest retelling of Robin Hood, starring Kingsman’s Taron Egerton.
And for the girls, there’s Jennifer Lopez’s latest rom-com, Second Act, about an uneducated big box store employee who uses lies and her own street smarts to get a fabulous job on Madison Avenue.
This week is also full of biographies—including Green Book, starring Viggo Mortensen as an Italian-American bouncer who takes a job as a driver for an African-American pianist’s tour of the South during the 1960s. The Favourite explores the relationship between ailing Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and her friend, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz). And Becoming Astrid tells the story of Astrid Lindgren, the creator of Pippi Longstocking.
Kristin’s Pick: This week is another tough one. But, because my daughter is so excited to see it, I’ll give Ralph Breaks the Internet my pick.
NOVEMBER 30:
The week after Thanksgiving is notoriously light on new releases—and this one is no different. This week offers just one option: Anna and the Apocalypse, the comic thriller about a woman who fights (and sings) her way through the zombie apocalypse that threatens her small town at Christmastime.
Kristin’s Pick: Do I actually need to mention a pick this week? No. But I’ll admit that Anna and the Apocalypse sounds so completely wacky that I truly hope I get a chance to see it.
DECEMBER 7:
This week’s movies are all about strong women. In Mary Queen of Scots, Saoirse Ronan stars as the woman who attempted to overthrow Margot Robbie’s Queen Elizabeth I. In Ben Is Back, Julia Roberts plays a mother who’s fighting to protect her family. And in Vox Lux, Natalie Portman stars as a pop superstar who’s navigated nearly two decades of rises and falls and is building up to her comeback.
Also this week, in Under the Silver Lake, Andrew Garfield discovers a woman swimming in his apartment’s pool, and after she disappears, he sets off on a mission to find her back. And in the horror flick The Silence, a family takes shelter from the deadly species that’s taken over the planet while fearing what will be left after the invasion is over.
Kristin’s Pick: There are so many great picks—and powerful women—this week. But I’m going to give my pick to Natalie Portman in Vox Lux.
DECEMBER 14:
This week, Award Season kicks it up a notch, with a couple of new releases from som familiar directors. Adam McKay follows up Oscar winner The Big Short with Vice, starring Christian Bale as Dick Cheney. Clint Eastwood returns with The Mule, in which he stars as a WWII veteran who’s caught transporting cocaine for a drug cartel. And author Philip Reeve’s dystopian sci-fi novel comes to the big screen in the Peter Jackson-produced Mortal Engines, following the story of a young woman who joins with a band of outlaws to stop a gigantic city on wheels that destroys everything in its way.
Meanwhile, a new kind of Spider-Man story hits theaters in the animated adventure Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, following Spider-Man through different dimensions to join forces with different Spider-Men. Hopefully, it isn’t nearly as complicated as it sounds.
Kristin’s Pick: I cannot not pick Clint Eastwood. So The Mule gets my pick for this week.
DECEMBER 21:
As Christmas approaches, so do the big holiday movies—movies like DC’s Aquaman, a splashy fantasy starring Jason Momoa as the hunky heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. Meanwhile, director Travis Knight joins Michael Bay’s brainless but explosive Transformers franchise for Bumblebee, starring Hailee Steinfeld as a California teen who discovers the beaten-up yellow car in the ‘80s.
For some silliness, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly reunite for Holmes & Watson, a comic take on the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
For some music and fantasy, Emily Blunt stars in Rob Marshall’s Mary Poppins Returns, which finds the beloved nanny returning to the Banks family decades after her first visit, to help Jane, Michael, and Michael’s children through a difficult time.
And, for something completely different, there’s the latest from Robert Zemeckis, Welcome to Marwen, based on the true story of a man who survives a violent attack and attempts to recovery by creating his only miniature town.
Kristin’s Pick: Where do I even begin here? There are so many interesting options this week, but I’m going to give my pick to what looks like a moving and imaginative film, Welcome to Marwen.
DECEMBER 28:
After the Christmas rush, there’s not a whole lot left to say—but we still have a couple of films to close out the year. In Destroyer, the latest from director Karyn Kusama, Nicole Kidman stars as an LAPD detective trying to reconnect with people associated with an old undercover assignment. And director Mimi Leder’s On the Basis of Sex stars Felicity Jones as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the story of her battle to earn a place in the country’s highest court.
Kristin’s Pick: The last few years have been ground-breaking years in Hollywood—and I love that it means that we now get to see so many films by female directors. While both of this week’s releases sound fascinating, RBG gets my pick.
And there you have it…all of the highs and lows, the drama and laughter, and the sheer cinematic overload of another Award Season! It’s time to cast your ballots! Which of this year’s contenders will be getting your vote (or at least your box office dollars)?
