The film and streaming industries have been struggling with a myriad of turmoil and problems.
Cineworld, the owner of Britain's No. 2 multiplex chain Regal, is flirting with bankruptcy amid its nearly $5 billion debt load. Warner Bros. Discovery has taken to cutting its perceived staff and programming expendables.
Nearly 200 episodes of “Sesame Street” yanked off HBO Max? Even with a merger debt load of $53 billion to $55 billion, somebody needs to put down the ducky and rethink that one.
This fall is shaping up to be a battle of reality versus fantasy. The reality is a business that continues to unlearn lessons never easily learned in Hollywood: how to create and simultaneously point stockholders toward new work, new intellectual properties, new storytelling for a sustainable future.
The fantasy part, the creative part: That’s what may just get us through.
This fall’s releases hold plenty of promise in different directions and varying degrees of new. Here are 14 titles to consider. And here’s hoping “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is even a fraction as effective as its trailer. All release dates are subject to change.
“The Woman King” is set to be releases on Sept. 16 in U.S. cinemas. Viola Davis wields the righteous weaponry as the general of the Agojie female warriors, fighting for their African homeland kingdom of Dahomey. Based in fact and, fingers crossed, it rouses in execution. The production is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.
In “Don’t Worry Darling," which will hit U.S. cinemas on Sept. 23, Harry Styles, aka many people’s idea of the most interesting man in the world, stars with Florence Pugh. In director Olivia Wilde’s psychological thriller set in a mysterious, cultlike 1950s utopian suburb, Chris Pine and KiKi Layne also co-star.
“Blonde” will debut on Sept. 23 on Netflix. Joyce Carol Oates’ poetically, tragically speculative Marilyn Monroe novel becomes a vehicle for Ana de Armas and, judging from the trailers, a stylistic workout for director Andrew Dominik (“The Assassination of Jesse James”).
Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane star in "Bros," the latest from director Nicholas Stoller (”Forgetting Sarah Marshall”). "Bros" will have its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 8 and is scheduled to be released in the United States on Sept. 30 by Universal Pictures.
“Amsterdam” is the return of David O. Russell (”American Hustle,” “Silver Linings Playbook”) in a fictional/factual hybrid of a cockeyed ‘30s murder story. The movie, set to be released on Oct. 7 in U.S. cinemas, features a cast big enough to fill out a disaster movie or three: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rami Malek and Russell’s go-to, Robert De Niro.
The horrific 1955 Mississippi lynching of 14-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till has been dramatized before. In "Till," which will hit the big screen in U.S. cinemas on Oct. 14, director Chinonye Chukwu (”Clemency”) and the screenwriters focus their account on Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler), Till’s educator and activist mother, and her drive to bring the killers to justice.
“Ticket to Paradise” will be in U.S. cinemas on Oct. 21. It promises to be a great combo of Julia Roberts, George Clooney, rom-com and Bali. In the movie, the divorced couple of Roberts and Clooney teams up and travels to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years ago.
"Black Adam," which will hit U.S. cinemas on Oct. 21, is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Can Dwayne Johnson, who plays the DC Comics character initially designed to be shoehorned into “Shazam!”, elevate the insanely up and down DC film roster? Nearly 5,000 years after being bestowed with the omnipotent powers of the ancient gods, Black Adam (Johnson) emerges from his grave on earth and is ready to unleash his unique form of justice into the modern world.
“Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” is on Netflix on Oct. 25. It is a tantalizing eight-episode horror anthology, featuring a murderer’s row of contemporary masters of the macabre.
Anthony Hopkins won his second Oscar for “The Father,” also from playwright/screenwriter Florian Zeller. “The Son” is part of Zeller’s trilogy, starring a similarly prestigious cast of Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby – and Hopkins once again. The movie will be in U.S. cinemas on Nov. 11.
“The Fabelmans” will also meet spectators in U.S. cinemas on Nov. 11. The collaboration between director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner continues, enticingly, with this seriocomic semi-autobiographical portrait of a great American filmmaker’s early years. The cast includes Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and, yes, David Lynch as John Ford.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is another movie to hit U.S. cinemas on Nov. 11. Forever is a long time, but the devotion to the first “Black Panther” starring the late Chadwick Boseman is ardent indeed. The sequel in this Marvel franchise, directed by Ryan Coogler, sets Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and others against interlopers in a battle for Wakanda.
“The Menu," to be released on Nov. 18 in U.S. cinemas, is an eerie dark-comic premise. Ralph Fiennes portrays the world-class-est of world-class chefs, inviting a select handful of foodies to his remote island resort for the meal of a lifetime.
“She Said" is set to debut on the same day with "The Menu" in U.S. cinemas. It details how reporters got the story and brought the formerly untouchable movie mogul Harvey Weinstein to justice. In this true-life tale of investigative journalism, Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan play New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
