The 10 Most Important Movies Coming This Fall

When you think of fall, you may imagine the cozy comfort of staying at home with your covers up to your chin, cup of hot cider in your hand, and watching something nostalgic, kooky, scary, or all three. After all, fall signals the arrival of Halloween and the early, chilly days of winter just around the corner. However, as we discovered curating our Fall 2026 Preview there are just as many reasons to grab a drink and popcorn at your local movie theater in the coming months.

For moviegoers who want to get a bit naughty on the silver screen, there’s the return of foul-mouthed Santa (and his equally profane wife) in Violent Night 2, and splinters in all the wrong places in Wicker. Disney’s latest animated adventure, Hexed, might be enough to pull in the KPop Demon Hunters crowd. Meanwhile, video game fans have plenty to look forward to this fall, with adaptations like Resident Evil and Street Fighter.

We’ve rounded up and ranked the most exciting movies coming up between now and the end of 2026, highlighting which films on the silver screen is worth the trip out of your warm home and into the theater.

10 Hexed (Nov. 27)

Animation is the ultimate playground for showing off the wonders of magic, whether that be through the power of song or the fantastical gleam of a sword. Disney's Hexed takes the thrill of magic to the next level by following rebellious teen girl Billie (Hailee Steinfeld) whose magical abilities transport her to Hexe, a realm of witches. With director Fawn Veerasunthorn (Raya and the Last Dragon) at the helm, Hexed looks as though it will be the perfect alternative for KPop Demon Hunters fans looking for a story about female relationships and family secrets, presented in showstopping, stylish animation.

9 Wicker (Oct. 30)

There’s always kooky shenanigans in small medieval towns, but Wicker, directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, takes it to another level. Based on a short story by Ursula Wills, Wicker follows a reclusive fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) who, after years of ostracism from her village for not being married, decides to get back at the townspeople by commissioning a husband constructed from wicker. However, her Wicker husband (Alexander Skarsgård) is so honest and romantic that their relationship drives the townspeople into chaos. Colman and Skarsgård are also joined by Richard E. Grant and Peter Dinklage.

8 Violent Night 2 (Dec. 4)

If you're looking for a ho-ho-whole lot of festive fun, horror and satire director Tommy Wirkola's sequel to his mercenary Santa film will hit the spot. Having settled into his role as Santa Claus, Saint Nick (David Harbour) faces another problem: he's on the naughty list. With his job at risk, Santa has to rediscover the meaning of Christmas while taking on a new gang of thugs terrorizing a small community. Kris Kringle won’t be alone in facing this new threat — he’ll be joined by Mrs. Claus (Kristen Bell), who seems even more chaotic and vengeful than her husband. Is the new meaning of Christmas just incredible violence? We’ll find out when Violent Night 2 debuts this December.

7 Street Fighter (Oct. 16)

Video game adaptations have always been a hot commodity in entertainment, and Street Fighter is no exception. The original 1994 film, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia, was gloriously campy, even if it wasn’t exactly accurate to Capcom’s various Street Fighter games. Kitao Sakurai’s 2026 action-comedy adaptation seems poised to capture that same tone while offering a deeper look at individual characters on the roster, such as Chun-Li (Callina Liang), Ken Masters (Noah Centineo), and Ryu (Andrew Koji). It’s also got a rather surprising star-studded cast for a video game movie, including Jason Momoa as Blanka, professional wrestler Cody Rhodes as Guile, and rapper Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson as Balrog.

6 The Hunger Games - Sunrise on the Reaping (Nov. 26)

Desperate to see young adults put through the meat grinder again for the entertainment of the masses? The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping has that and more. Based on the book of the same name, the film is a prequel set 24 years before the main trilogy and follows Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada) as a tribute. However, because Haymitch is selected during the 50th Hunger Games, there’s an additional twist: double the number of tributes, and thus, double the deaths.

5 Avengers: Doomsday (Dec. 18)

Marvel and Disney have filled movie theaters with superhero shenanigans since Iron Man in 2008. Now, 18 years later, the returning Russo brothers (Anthony and Joe) hope to do the same with Avengers: Doomsday, a superhero team-up movie that spans the multiverse and pits superheroes against the villainous Doctor Doom. The colliding universes will feature actors from previous MCU films, such as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America (Anthony Mackie), as well as the stars of Fox’s X-Men movies like Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). If you’re fond of anything that brings the Avengers and X-Men together, Doomsday is the film you’ll want to watch.

4 Clayface (Oct. 23)

With a director like James Watkins (Eden Lake, The Woman in Black) and involvement from modern horror master Mike Flanagan, DC Studios' upcoming body horror film Clayface is likely to unsettle viewers. The film follows Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a movie star who undergoes experimental surgery to restore his original face — only to discover horrifying side effects that turn him into clay. While Batman fans will definitely get a kick out of this film, especially since it's set in the grim city of Gotham and seems to riff on one of the greatest episodes of Batman: The Animated Series of all time, the focus on tthe emotional and physical toll of no longer recognizing your own face or body is compelling enough to draw in horror fans, too.

3 Resident Evil (Sept. 18)

Capcom's Resident Evil is a staple of video game entertainment, and if Weapons director Zach Cregger has any say in it, it may just end up being just as successful on the silver screen. A fresh reboot of the Resident Evil film series, Cregger's take on the franchise runs parallel to Resident Evil 2. However, instead of following Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield during the T-virus outbreak in Raccoon City, audiences will follow medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams). A cast of original characters may disappoint game fans, but it does allow Cregger more room to put his own spin on the 30-year-old franchise. Considering how poorly its film adaptations have been received in the past, Resident Evil needs that win.

2 Godzilla Minus Zero (Nov. 6)

Following the international success of Godzilla Minus One, director and writer Takashi Yamazaki returns with the sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero. The film centers on the Shikishima family, first introduced in Minus One, and is set in 1949, two years after the catastrophic events that nearly destroyed them and Japan. With Japan still struggling to recover what it lost when Godzilla first arrived, the reveal of a new threat on the horizon threatens to crush the hope of all who remain. Luckily, Godzilla seems to have his sights set on another location this time: New York City.

1 Dune: Part 3 (Dec. 18)

Denis Villeneuve ensnared us all with the first two films of his space-opera based on Frank Herbert’s Dune, and we don’t doubt he’ll do so again with the epic conclusion to what's since become an epic sci-fi trilogy. Set 17 years after Dune: Part 2 (a change from 12 years in the novels), Part 3 doesn't mess around, challenging the perception that Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is a selfless liberator and instead portraying him as a ruthless, imperialist dictator. Paul’s jihad has practically conquered the entire universe, but that power brings severe consequences — consequences that even Paul and the people he cares about might not survive.