After the lull of September, the October movie lineup starts rolling out some of the heaviest hitters of the year as we head into the always busy holiday season. This month sees the release of a few of the most anticipated movies in years, from Denis Villeneuve’s sweeping adaptation of one of the most influential sci-fi books of all time to Daniel Craig’s last ride as 007 to the bonkers sequel of a superhero symbiote and his best friend. Toss in a few excellent horror movies and thrillers, a pair of family-friendly animated films, one big historical epic and more, and you have a recipe for a most excellent month in theaters.
Here’s every wide and major limited release hitting theaters in October 2021.
The Many Saints of Newark – Release Date: Friday, October 1
Cast: Alessandro Nivola, Vera Farmiga, Ray Liotta, Leslie Odom, Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Michael Gandolfini, Billy Magnussen, Michela De Rossi, John Magaro
Director: Alan Taylor
The late, great James Gandolfini might be gone too soon but it doesn’t mean Tony Soprano has left us. Instead, The Many Saints of Newark finds his son, Michael Gandolfini, will be stepping in to play a younger version of the character his father made iconic. In 1970s Newark, young Tony Soprano is growing up and learning what it means to become a man right as rival crime families are threatening to break the DiMeo family’s hold on the criminal underbelly of the city. Making – or breaking – Tony is Dickie Moltisanti, his criminal uncle whose influence will pull Tony deeper into the Mafia world and shape him into the eventual powerful mob boss we know from The Sopranos.
The Addams Family 2 – Release Date: Friday, October 1
Voice Cast: Charlize Theron, Oscar Isaac, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Kroll, Bette Midler, Snoop Dogg, Bill Hader, Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton
Director: Greg Tiernan
Everyone’s favorite creepy, kooky, scary, spooky family is back in The Addams Family 2. In the sequel, Morticia and Gomez are distraught that Wednesday and Pugsley are growing up and have no interest in good old-fashioned family time. To bring the family back together, they decide to cram Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester and the rest into their family camper for a miserable family vacation. Their cross-country adventure finds them having all sorts of spooky run-ins with strange oddballs and their famous cousin.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage – Release Date: Friday, October 1
Cast: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, William W. Barbour, Peggy Lu
Director: Andy Serkis
The legendary Andy Serkis steps into the director’s ring in his first big-budget feature film for Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The sequel picks up at least a year after the events of the first movie. Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote have found a sort of balance in life, though they do still occasionally drive each other crazy. That all changes when Woody Harrelson’s vicious serial killer, Cletus Kasady, is infected with a different, far more malevolent symbiote by the name of Carnage. It’s up to Eddie and Venom to stop it – though it’s not clear if they’ll be killed or kill each other first.
No Time To Die – Release Date: Friday, October 8
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Léa Seydoux, Rory Kinnear, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah
Director: Cary Fukunaga
No Time to Die comes out swinging in one last mission for Daniel Craig’s 007. James Bond has left Her Majesty’s Service in an attempt to put his past behind him and make a life with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux). As is always the case with Bond, however, the past catches up to him in the form of CIA agent and friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), who comes to him with a desperate plea for Bond to locate and rescue a kidnapped scientist who has the key to a dangerous new technology that has been warped into a weapon of genocide. James Bond’s past, present, and future all grow entangled as he and the team race to stop a technological virus that threatens to upend the world.
The Last Duel – Release Date: Friday, October 15
Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Marton Csokas, Harriet Walter, Nathaniel Parker, Alex Lawther, Clare Dunne
Director: Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott’s latest historical epic arrives in the form of The Last Duel, which tells the true story of a late-14th century legal dispute that ended in a way no one anticipated. Matt Damon stars as Sir Jean de Carrouges, a knight whose wife, Marguerite de Thibouville (Jodie Comer) accuses de Carrouges’ friend and squire, Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) of raping her while her husband is away. As the situation escalates and no one backs down from their story, King Charles VI decrees de Carrouges and Le Gris will duel to the death in the last-ever legally sanctioned duel in France. If de Carrouges loses, Marguerite will be burned at the stake. Death is certain and lives are changed forever in one of the highest-profile trials in medieval history.
Halloween Kills – Release Date: Friday, October 15
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Anthony Michael Hall, Nick Castle, James Jude Courtney, Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards, Robert Longstreet
Director: David Gordon Green
The next chapter in the four-decade-long Halloween franchise is back with Halloween Kills. The action picks up right after 2018’s Halloween ends, with Laurie rushed to the hospital with the grievous injuries she sustained during the final battle she believes finally killed her lifelong tormentor, Michael Myers. But Michael manages to free himself from Laurie’s trap and resumes his killing. As Laurie fights her pain and prepares to defend herself against him, she inspires all of Haddonfield to rise up against their unstoppable monster. Old meets new as the Strode women join a group of other survivors of Michael’s first rampage who decide to take matters into their own hands, forming a vigilante mob that sets out to hunt Michael down and end it for good.
Dune – Release Date: Friday, October 22
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, Dave Bautista, Javier Bardem, Stephen McKinley Henderson, David Dastmalchian
Director: Denis Villeneuve
The last great epic adventure of the year arrives in the form of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, based on the seminal sci-fi novels by Frank Herbert. It revolves around Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), scion of the House Atreides, who is gifted with powers beyond his understanding and destined for a fate beyond his control. Paul must conquer his fears and the most inhospitable planet in the galaxy in order to save his family and the people in their care as various factions explode into a war over, spice, the most precious resource in existence. Soon, Paul discovers a strength within him he never knew he possessed and undergoes a universe-shaking transformation.
Last Night In Soho – Release Date: Friday, October 22
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Matt Smith, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, Synnøve Karlsen, James Phelps, Andrew Bicknell
Director: Edgar Wright
In acclaimed director Edgar Wright’s psychological thriller, Last Night in Soho, Eloise, an aspiring fashion designer, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer, Sandie. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something far darker when she discovers Sandie was murdered. Soon, the lines between the past and present blur as Eloise gets sucked further and further into unraveling the mystery.
Ron’s Gone Wrong – Release Date: Friday, October 22
Voice Cast: Zach Galifianakis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Olivia Colman, Ed Helms, Rob Delaney, Kylie Cantrall, Ricardo Hurtado, Marcus Scribner
Director: Sarah Smith
The final family film of October is Ron’s Gone Wrong, the first theatrical release from UK studio Locksmith Animation. It tells the story of Barney, a socially awkward middle-schooler who gets Ron, a digitally-connected A.I. device that’s meant to be Barney’s “Best Friend Out of the Box.” But Ron still has some kinks in his system, and his malfunctions launch the pair on an unintended adventure. Along the way, Barney and Ron learn what it truly means to be friends, quirks, messiness, complications and all.
Antlers – Release Date: Friday, October 29
Cast: Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, Amy Madigan, Cody Davis
Director: Scott Cooper
In Antlers, a small-town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff, discover that a young boy is harboring a dangerous secret with frightening consequences. When strange things start happening around the town, they become convinced he’s hiding a supernatural creature in his house, and things are about to turn sinister and deadly.
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