The biggest new movies to watch out for this fall

01.09.2023 - 13:33 / polygon.com / Denzel Washington / New

2023 has been a great year in movies so far, and the fall schedule promises even more excitement.

Think back on the first eight months at the movies this year. Barbenheimer happened! Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse blew minds and broke hearts! John Wick: Chapter 4 reminded us franchises can end. (Well, sort of.) Superhero box office domination is… maybe over? (Don’t worry, superhero movie fans, there are still good ones out there if you know where to look.)

The next three months are packed with promising movies, both theatrical releases and straight-to-streaming. Long-running franchises continue, beloved filmmakers return with long-awaited projects, and unexpected new favorites are sure to spring up, Dune delays be damned. (If it means a fair deal for the striking writers and actors, it’s more than worth the wait).

Here are the biggest and most exciting movies slated to come out between now and the end of 2023.

In select theaters Sept. 1

Genre: Kid-friendly animated adventure
Director: Julien Chheng, Jean-Christophe Roger
Cast: Lambert Wilson, Pauline Brunner

The sequel to 2012’s sunny, funny French animated feature Ernest & Celestine (based very loosely on a popular series of French picture books) isn’t as innovative and cleverly staged as the original, but it’s still absolutely charming, as grumpy old bear Ernest and young, idealistic, energetic mouse Celestine continue their adventures together in a manic, frantic world that finds their friendship baffling. Directors Julien Chheng (writer-director of the Star Wars: Visions short The Spy Dancer)and Jean-Christophe Roger send the duo off to Ernest’s homeland to repair his beloved violin. (It’s a “Stradibearius.”) There, they find music has been outlawed, for reasons very personal to Ernest.

Much like the first film, this one features a great deal of silly racing around, with Ernest and Celestine running afoul of authority figures who enforce ridiculous rules with unquestioning moral superiority. And much like the first film, it takes place in a watercolor paradise that’s lush and lovely to look at — there’s always something interesting on screen, no matter what else is happening. —Tasha Robinson

In theaters Sept. 1

Genre: Action
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, David Denman

Denzel Washington has managed to be both one of the great movie actors to ever grace our screens, and one of the greatest ever action stars. This has been seen most cleanly in his excellent collaborations with the late, great Tony Scott, and more recently in the popcorn-fun Equalizer series.

The third installment sees Denzel’s Robert McCall travel to Italy and face off with the Sicilian Mafia. Antoine Fuqua is back in the director’s chair, and