1. I REALLY LOVE MY HUSBAND (Night Breeze Productions)
RELEASE DATE: September 26th
DIRECTOR: G.G. Hawkins (You Feeling This?, Desert Like a Witch)
What is it about? Newlywed couple Teresa (Madison Lanesey) and Drew (Travis Quentin Young) take a delayed honeymoon in Panama. A year into their marriage, the new relationship energy has faded and Teresa finds herself drawn to Paz (Arta Gee), the non-binary expat who manages their vacation rental. It’s relatable, funny, and thought-provoking, and ultimately willing to delve into the messiness of loving another human being.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? What could be more fun than a hot non-binary person igniting messy sapphic chaos?
Who would love this? Anyone on the heels of a hot bisexual summer; chaotic queers; people who would enjoy a twist on the typical relationship vacation story; anyone with yearning as a personality trait.
2. ELEANOR THE GREAT (Sony Pictures Classics)
RELEASE DATE: September 26th
DIRECTOR: Scarlett Johansson
What is it about? ScarJo’s directorial debut stars a 94-year-old Floridian (June Squibb) who moves to New York City for a fresh start after the death of her best friend of seventy years. She wanders into a support group for Holocaust survivors at the local Jewish Community Center, where she tells her best friend’s survival story as her own and befriends a nineteen-year-old journalism student who wants to share her tale with the world.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? June Squibb is at her best here—witty and loudmouthed, troublesome and funny. It’s always exciting to see a movie starring an older woman in youth-obsessed Hollywood—who knew that women don’t actually disappear once we start losing our collagen! Plus, it’s equal parts tender and funny as it navigates themes of loss and transition.
Who would love this? Character-driven movie buffs; sitcom fans; romanticizers of New York; people who love intergenerational friendship stories.
3. AFTER THE HUNT (Amazon MGM Studios)
RELEASE DATE: October 10th
DIRECTOR: Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Challengers)
What is it about? Alma Olsson (Julia Roberts) is a professor at Yale on her way to becoming tenured. After her star student (Ayo Edebri) makes a serious accusation against a close friend and colleague, she’s forced to grapple with a dark secret from her own past. Post-Me Too, the film grapples with the layers of dynamics campus sexual violence can involve, from gender to race to class to what different generations of women have been taught to expect (and accept).
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? We’re interested to see how a famously risk-taking director tackles all these complexities around human relationships, power, and morality—and how Ayo Edebri, who we loved in Bottoms and on The Bear, will bring both rage and tenderness to her role.
Who would love this? Recovering and/or aspiring academics; readers of campus novels; people who refer to Julia Roberts as “Mommy”; anyone looking for a thought-provoking film that may ask more questions than it answers.
Credit: Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved.
4. BUGONIA (Focus Features)
RELEASE DATE: October 24th
DIRECTOR: Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer)
What is it about? In this twisted and darkly funny sci-fi movie, two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the CEO of a major company, played by Emma Stone, convinced that she’s an alien intent on destroying the planet.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? Emma Stone’s evolution from girl-next-door roles to strange and experimental films continues, and we’re here for it. Bugonia is the latest of her collaborations with Yorgos Lanthimos, and hopefully she and the director will continue to have the incredible artistic chemistry they’ve brought to previous successes like Poor Things. Also, Emma shaved her head for this film and you just really shouldn’t miss seeing that.
Who would love this? Critics of girlboss culture; Emma Stone fans; lovers of social satire; your capitalist-critical bestie.
5. A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (Netflix)
RELEASE DATE: October 24th
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker,Cartel Land, Zero Dark Thirty)
What is it about? After starring in both Dune films, Rebecca Ferguson returns alongside Idris Elba in this political thriller about a group of White House officials. When an anonymous missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to stop them.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? No one makes a political thriller like Kathryn Bigelow. She was the first woman to win the Academy Award for best director. This movie is her return to the big screen after seven years, and she’s coming back right in her wheelhouse to do what she does best.
Who would love this? Fans of House of Cards and 24; thrill seekers; wanna-be detectives; anyone who wants to dissociate from the current state of U.S. politics and enter an imaginary one.
6. DIE, MY LOVE (Mubi)
RELEASE DATE: November 7th
DIRECTOR: Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
What is it about? Adapted from Ariana Harwicz’s 2017 novel, psychological thriller Die, My Love stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson as young lovers. Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) moves with her husband (Robert Pattinson) back to his rural Montana hometown, where they have their first baby. Under the stress of postpartum depression, isolation, and an emotionally absent husband, she starts to develop psychosis.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? Die, My Love protests the impossible standards for women and highlights the lack of support systems for mothers. Jennifer Lawrence delivers an epic performance, worth seeing whether you’re particularly drawn to the film’s content or not.
Who would love this? Anyone who’s said they’re in their villain era; lovers of stories about “unlikeable” women; women frustrated by the good/bad binary the world tries to force them into; people with complicated feelings about parenthood; anyone who feels like the wrong kind of woman, wife, or partner.
7. COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT (AppleTV+)
RELEASE DATE: November 14th
DIRECTOR: Ryan White (Pamela, A Love Story; The Keepers; Visible: Out on Television)
What is it about? The audience-voted Festival Favorite at Sundance 2025, Come See Me in the Good Light is a love story about poets Andrea Gibson and Meg Falley. Andrea, a famous spoken word artist, was diagnosed with incurable cancer and given two years to live. The documentary explores how Andrea and their partner Meg navigate life in the wake of the diagnosis, finding joy, purpose, and resilience in the time they have left together. It’s a moving and unexpectedly funny story of queer love, art making, and the fragility of human life—plus it’s produced by a star-studded crew of queer celebs including Tig Nataro, Glennon Doyle, and Abby Wambach.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? Andrea Gibson passed away this summer after living with cancer two years longer than doctors said they would. Tune in as a celebration of their life and legacy.
Who would love this? Romantics; anyone who needs a cathartic cry; your friend who’s said “reading Untamed changed my life”; poetry lovers; anyone looking for reason to believe in love.
8. WICKED: FOR GOOD (Universal Pictures)
RELEASE DATE: November 21st
DIRECTOR: John Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, Wicked: Part 1)
What is it about? Wicked: Part 1 ended with the banger that is “Defying Gravity” and left us all desperate for Part 2. Now demonized by Emerald City as the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) lives as a fugitive, continuing to fight for justice. Glinda (Ariana Grande) is now known as Glinda the Good Witch and serves the Wizard’s administration. The film follows the estranged women as they deal with the consequences of their choices and events—like Dorothy’s arrival from Kansas—that will change Oz forever.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? Both Wicked films are timely movies that explore what’s gained and lost when you stay true to yourself and fight for what you believe is right. Part 2 continues to be relevant to our cultural moment as both Oz’s government and ours use the same tired playbook of dividing people by giving them a group to demonize and scapegoat. Elphaba isn’t having it, and neither should we. Plus, you won’t want to miss Cynthia Erivo’s songs, Ariana Grande’s hair flips, and the sure-to-be stunning cinematography.
Who would love this? Fans of Wicked: Part 1 and/or the Broadway musical; people who love reading homoerotic tension onto female friendships aka your Gaylor-obsessed friend; anyone who’s had to leave something or someone behind in order to be who they are.
9. MOTHER MARY (A24)
RELEASE DATE: November 27th
DIRECTOR: David Lowery (The Green Night, A Ghost Story)
What is it about? Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel star in this experimental film following the relationship between a musician and a famous fashion designer. At a crisis point in her life, the moody pop diva (Hathaway) flees her tour and seeks out the old friend (Coel) who originally helped her craft her star persona.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? Anne Hathaway called her role the most challenging of her career, requiring a willingness to be a beginner and be completely remade. She had to transform herself into a global pop star, able to perform the songs Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX wrote for her alongside complex choreography. The movie needed her to be something different than her usual enthusiastic, easygoing vibe: messy, imperfect, vulgar, temperamental.
Who would love this? Scorpios; Swifties and pop music fans; lovers of sapphic romances; literary fiction readers; Princess Diaries-obsessed millennials who want to see Hathaway’s latest evolution.
10. HAMNET (Focus Features)
RELEASE DATE: November 27th
DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, Nomadland)
What is it about? A historical drama exploring grief, love, and loss, Hamnet follows the story of Agnes (the wife of William Shakespeare) as she struggles to come to terms with the death of her eleven-year-old son Hamnet. Inflamed by fierce maternal love, the story is the backdrop to Shakespeare’s creation of Hamlet. It’s based on a novel by Maggie O’Farrell, and she says it’s her way of reclaiming the narrative for Hamnet’s mother—a woman misogynistically vilified for hundreds of years.
Reasons you should BUST out the popcorn? Women’s stories are so often eclipsed by that of the men they were attached to, so it’s always exciting to see those stories brought to the forefront. And, stories about family, regret, and forgiveness are Chloé Zhao’s speciality, so we’re expecting big things from this one.
Who would love this? Feminist avengers; English majors; family drama fans.
