‘Digger’
Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu
Starring: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman
In cinemas: Oct. 1
Early buzz suggests this satirical black comedy might provide us with Cruise’s best performance in a couple of decades. He plays oil tycoon Digger Rockwell, billed as “the most powerful man in the world” and he’s on a quest to save the world from a looming ecological disaster — a disaster caused by the extreme deep-earth drilling his company has been carrying out. Inarritu’s latest feature has already drawn comparisons with Stanley Kubrick’s satirical classic “Dr. Strangelove,” and it seems Digger is an equally delusional character.
‘Coyote vs Acme’
Director: Dave Green
Starring: Will Forte, Lana Condor, John Cena
In cinemas: Aug. 27
Live-action animation in which Wile E. Coyote — the hapless nemesis of the Road Runner in the Looney Tunes franchise — decides to sue the Acme Corporation, whose products he as repeatedly tried, and failed, to use to catch his fleet-footed prey. To take on one of the world’s biggest corporations, he enlists the help of down-and-out attorney Kevin Avery (Forte), and their lawsuit sees Avery having to take on his old boss, the intimidating Buddy Crane (Cena). The film nearly disappeared without ever being seen when Warner Bros. Discovery shelved it in 2023 to obtain a tax write-off. But a public backlash against that decision meant the company allowed the filmmakers to seek alternative distributors.
‘Practical Magic 2’
Director: Susanne Bier
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sandra Bullock, Dianne Wiest
In cinemas: Sept. 10
This romantic fantasy is a sequel to 1998’s “Practical Magic.” Twenty-five years on, the Owens family — including sisters Sally (Bullock) and Gillian (Kidman) — face a new crisis when they uncover new details about their history and the origins of their magic capabilities. And when Sally’s daughter begins to develop dark powers of her own, the family is, according to the blurb, “plunged into a multi-generational struggle to finally break the curse that has haunted their lineage for centuries.” They travel from Massachusetts to the UK to find the source of their magic and lift the curse.
‘The Weight’
Director: Padraic McKinley
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Russell Crowe, Julia Jones
In cinemas: Sept. 17
Historical drama set in 1930s America. Desperate to be reunited with his young daughter before she becomes a ward of the state, work-camp inmate Samuel Murphy (Hawke) agrees to lead a team of fellow incarcerated men to smuggle stolen gold through the wilderness at the behest of the camp’s warden (Crowe). But can he hold his ragtag crew together for long enough to carry out his task, or will the lure of life-changing wealth cause them to betray each other? The film, particularly Hawke’s performance, has been well-received critically since its debut at Sundance.
‘Verity’
Director: Michael Showalter
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett
In cinemas: Oct. 1
Psychological thriller based on Colleen Hoover’s novel. Struggling writer Lowen (Johnson) thinks she’s landed a way out of her financial straits when she is contacted by Jeremy Crawford (Hartnett), the husband of bestselling writer Verity (Hathaway). Verity, it seems, has had a mysterious accident and is unable to finish her hugely successful book series. Lowen is asked to complete the work. While doing so, she discovers a manuscript that suggests all is not well with Verity’s mental health.
‘The Social Reckoning’
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong
In cinemas: Oct. 8
Billed as “a companion piece” to David Fincher’s acclaimed 2010 biographical drama about Facebook’s origins (which was written by Sorkin), “The Social Reckoning” dramatizes the 2021 Facebook leak by whistleblower Frances Haugen (Oscar-winner Madison) and journalist Jeff Horwitz (White) that showed that Mark Zuckerberg’s company — now called Meta — was aware of harmful societal effects from its platforms but prioritized profit over solving those issues.
‘Klara and the Sun’
Director: Taika Waititi
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia
In cinemas: Oct. 23
Dystopian sci-fi feature based on the 2021 novel by Nobel-winning Japanese-British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro. Set in a future where genetic engineering advances have divided humans into isolated social classes, it centers on an all-but-obsolete ‘companion android’ called Klara (Ortega) as she attempts to bond with Josie (Tharia), the seriously ill young girl living in a remote location for whom she was purchased. The solar-powered android comes to believe that the Sun is a living entity with the power to cure Josie’s illness.
