Leonardo DiCaprio

2015 Fall Movie Preview

Though the fall movie season is traditionally the time of year when Hollywood gets serious, this fall is stuffed with spectacles.

Alongside the seasonal biopics, true-life tales and period dramas that will surely contend for Oscars, some of the biggest franchises around are set to add a whiff of popcorn to awards season.

James Bond returns in "Spectre" (Nov. 6), "The Hunger Games" comes to a close with "Mockingjay, Part 2" (Nov. 20) and a little movie called "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" lands Dec. 18.

Here's a monthly rundown of a few highlights to the upcoming movie season:

SEPTEMBER

"Everest" (Sept. 18) — Jake Gylenhaal and Josh Brolin star in this thriller about climbers from two different expeditions fighting for survival during a fierce snowstorm on Mount Everest.

“Everest,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke and Josh Brolin, climbs into theaters September 18, 2015.

"Sicario" (Sept. 18) — Emily Blunt stars in Denis Villeneuve's grim and muscular drug war thriller on the U.S.-Mexican border.

"Black Mass" (Sept. 18) — Johnny Depp takes on the role of Whitey Bulger, the Boston mobster who inspired Jack Nicholson's gangster in "The Departed," in an engrossing true-life crime story.

"The Walk" (Sept. 30) — The French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, whose walk between the Twin Towers in 1974 inspired the 2008 documentary "Man on Wire," gets Robert Zemeckis' 3-D treatment, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt starring.

OCTOBER

"Steve Jobs" (Oct. 9) — Danny Boyle directs Aaron Sorkin's script of the Apple co-founder, played by Michael Fassbender.

"Truth" (Oct. 16) — A starry cast of Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford dive back into the CBS News scandal over the network's report on President George W. Bush's Vietnam service.

"Bridge of Spies" (Oct. 16) — Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks reunite for their fourth film together in a Cold War spy thriller about the negotiated release of a U.S. pilot shot down in the Soviet Union.

NOVEMBER

"Spectre" (Nov. 6 — Daniel Craig returns as British secret agent 007. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, a cryptic message from Bond's past leads him to an encounter with a global crime syndicate. 

James Bond (Daniel Craig) returns in “Spectre,” which hits theaters November 6, 2015.

"Spotlight" (Nov. 6) — Thomas McCarthy dramatizes the reporting of the Boston Globe's "Spotlight" investigative reporting team and their Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Catholic sex abuse scandal.

"By the Sea" (Nov. 13) — Angelina Jolie Pitt stars with husband Brad Pitt in her third directorial effort, a marital drama set in 1970s France.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt reunite on screen in “By the Sea,” a new drama written and directed by Jolie. It hits theaters November 13.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2" (Nov. 20) — Jennifer Lawrence takes her bow as Katniss Everdeen in this, the final chapter of the "Hunger Games" story. Also starring Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson.

“The Hunger Games” movie franchise comes to a thrilling conclusion with “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2,” in theaters November 20.

"The Good Dinosaur" (Nov. 25) — Pixar returns with its second film of the year, a dino-and-boy tale that imagines Earth had the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs never struck.

"The Danish Girl" (Nov. 27) — Eddie Redmayne vies for another Oscar with his portrayal of Einar Wegener, a Danish painter who changed her name to Lili Elbe after becoming the first man to have sexual reassignment surgery in 1931.

DECEMBER

"Krampus" (Dec. 4) — Adam Scott and Toni Collette star in this fright fest about a demon who terrorizes naughty people at Christmas time. 

"Sisters" (Dec. 18) — Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are together again as grown-up siblings who decide to throw one last party before their parents sell the family home. 

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler star in the new comedy, “Sisters,” in theaters Christmas 2015.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (Dec. 18) — Journey once again to a galaxy far, far away as director J.J. Abrams brings together original trilogy stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill with new franchise players Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega for a new installment set 30 years after "Return of the Jedi."

Return to a galaxy far, far away in the second teaser trailer for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which lands in theaters on December 18, 2015.

"Joy" (Dec. 25) — David O. Russell's latest is a family drama across generations that reteams him with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.

"The Hateful Eight" (Dec. 25) — Quentin Tarantino initially bagged this wintery Western after his script leaked online. He eventually capitulated and will release the movie first only in theaters projecting it in 70mm film.

"The Revenant" (Dec. 25) — A year after his Oscar triumph, Alejandro G. Inarritu is back with this gritty frontier Western starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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