Tonight’s Screen Wrap moves from the anxieties of Artificial to Disney’s world of witches, with new trailers, a box-office milestone and television renewals along the way. Here are the developments that matter, and what they mean for your next cinema trip or evening’s viewing.
The News That Matters
Artificial puts the AI race under an unsettling spotlight
- Director: Luca Guadagnino
- Starring: Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov
- Festival: BFI London Film Festival
Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial is bringing the race to develop artificial intelligence into the cinema. Andrew Garfield plays Sam Altman, with Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever, in a drama whose London Film Festival arrival has prompted strikingly different critical reactions.
Robbie Collin’s review singles out Garfield’s chilling performance and sees the film as a frightening account of technological ambition. Other early responses have been less convinced by its mixture of satire and warning. That disagreement is part of the interest: a story about who controls a transformative technology is likely to provoke arguments long after the screening ends.
Animals draws a large Netflix audience despite a cooler critical response
- Director and star: Ben Affleck
- Also starring: Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun
- Streaming: Netflix, available now
Ben Affleck’s Animals has quickly climbed Netflix’s country charts since its 9 October release. Reports published on 12 October place it at number one in 79 countries. That is a strong indication of its reach, although country-chart positions are not the same thing as a published global viewing total.
Affleck directs, co-writes and stars in the Los Angeles thriller, in which a mayoral candidate and his wife face their son’s kidnapping. Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun join him. The contrast between that early audience interest and a less enthusiastic critical reception makes it a useful reminder that popularity and recommendation are different questions.
Being Heumann’s first full trailer introduces a fight for access
- Director: Siân Heder
- Starring: Ruth Madeley
- Select US cinemas: 6 November 2026
- Apple TV: 13 November 2026
The first full trailer for Being Heumann brings Judy Heumann’s fight for disability rights into focus. Siân Heder directs Ruth Madeley as the activist, whose campaign takes her and fellow protesters into a San Francisco federal building in 1977.
The occupation centres on enforcing the civil-rights protections of Section 504. Heder’s film makes collective action its subject: people organising, holding their ground and demanding access that has been withheld. Mark Ruffalo and Dylan O’Brien also feature. The US theatrical run begins on 6 November, before the film reaches Apple TV on 13 November.
The Mosquito Bowl takes football players from the field to war
- Director: Peter Berg
- Starring: Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson and Tom Francis
- Select US cinemas: 30 October 2026
- Netflix: 25 November 2026
Netflix’s new full trailer for The Mosquito Bowl follows four college football stars who enlist in the Marines after Pearl Harbor. Peter Berg directs Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson and Tom Francis in a wartime drama based on a true story.
The link between sport and military service gives the film a clear dramatic starting point: young men accustomed to playing for a team face a conflict with very different stakes. The trailer offers a first substantial look at that transition. Netflix lists a select US cinema release on 30 October and a streaming debut on 25 November.
Hexed opens the door to Disney’s world of witches
- Directors: Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand
- Voices: Hailee Steinfeld and Rashida Jones
- US cinemas: 25 November 2026
- UK cinemas: 27 November 2026
Disney’s new Hexed trailer follows Billie, a teenager whose unexpected magical powers carry her out of suburbia and into a world of witches. Hailee Steinfeld voices Billie, with Rashida Jones as her cautious mother, Alice. Jodie Foster, Walton Goggins and Tracey Ullman are among the supporting voices.
The mother-and-daughter relationship gives the fantasy an appealing point of tension: discovering a new world also means learning more about the person closest to you. This is Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 65th feature. Its cinema dates differ by territory, with the US opening on 25 November and the UK following on 27 November.
Frank and Percy finds romance in an everyday encounter
- Director: Sean Mathias
- Starring: Ian McKellen and Roger Allam
- London Film Festival premiere: 13 October 2026
- UK cinema release: 2027; exact date unannounced
Ian McKellen and Roger Allam reunite in the first trailer for Frank and Percy. Sean Mathias directs the adaptation of Ben Weatherill’s play, about two men whose conversations while walking their dogs on Hampstead Heath develop into friendship and romance.
Its appeal rests on a modest but durable idea: an ordinary meeting can still change a life. The film has its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on 13 October. Allam’s official website places the UK cinema release in 2027, with an exact date still to come.
Jailer 2 confirms its Hindi cinema release
- Director: Nelson Dilipkumar
- Starring: Rajinikanth
- India cinema release: 15 October 2026
- North India distributor: Pen Marudhar
Jailer 2’s makers have confirmed that the Hindi version will reach cinemas on 15 October alongside the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada releases. The announcement follows reports questioning whether a dispute over the theatrical-to-streaming window would affect Hindi screenings.
Pen Marudhar is handling distribution in North India, and advance bookings are open. That confirmation does not establish that every cinema chain will show the film, so viewers should check their local listings and the advertised language before booking. Nelson Dilipkumar directs Rajinikanth’s return as Tiger Muthuvel Pandian.
Drishyam: The Conclusion reaches a major India box-office milestone
- Starring: Ajay Devgn
- Reporting period: first ten days
- India net takings: more than ₹300 crore
Drishyam: The Conclusion has passed ₹300 crore in India net takings over its first ten days, according to box-office tracker Sacnilk. It marks a new domestic milestone for an Ajay Devgn-led film and a strong second-weekend result for the crime franchise.
The territory and measure matter here: India net takings exclude taxes and should not be treated as interchangeable with worldwide gross. The clearest story is the film’s sustained domestic momentum. Its next challenge is holding that audience as a fresh group of releases arrives for the festive period.
Baywatch adds an Italian television home ahead of its return
- Lead: Stephen Amell
- Showrunner: Matt Nix
- US broadcaster: Fox
- Italian rights: Rai 2 after Prime Video
The Baywatch reboot has added Rai 2 as its Italian second-window broadcaster, following Prime Video. The deal was reported as the MIPCOM television market opened in Cannes, giving the revived series another route to audiences beyond its US home at Fox.
Stephen Amell leads the cast and Matt Nix is showrunner, with the series heading towards a 2027 launch. For viewers, the useful detail is the sequence of availability: this Italian agreement covers a later television window, rather than a simultaneous worldwide premiere. Exact local transmission dates still need to be announced.
Karen Pirie returns for a third cold-case investigation
- Broadcaster: ITV
- Lead: Lauren Lyle
- Adaptation: Val McDermid’s The Skeleton Road
- Writer: Gillian Roger Park
ITV has commissioned a third series of Karen Pirie, with Lauren Lyle returning as the Scottish cold-case detective. Gillian Roger Park will adapt Val McDermid’s The Skeleton Road for World Productions, taking over from Emer Kenny. Filming is due to begin next year.
The renewal gives the drama room to explore another investigation shaped by the distance between an old crime and the people still living with it. A commission confirms that the next series is moving ahead; it does not yet provide a premiere date. That is the next announcement for viewers to watch for.
Heart of a Killer secures a second season as international sales begin
- Lead: Niv Sultan
- Original platform: HOT, Israel
- First season: seven episodes
- Status: renewed for season two
The Israeli medical thriller Heart of a Killer has been renewed for a second season, Variety reports. Niv Sultan leads the seven-episode first series, which comes from Sipur and North Road and found a substantial audience on Israel’s HOT.
Federation International is launching global sales for the first season at MIPCOM. That creates an opportunity for the programme to travel, but a sales launch is not a confirmed UK or US viewing arrangement. International buyers and local release dates will determine when audiences elsewhere can see it.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
There is something here for very different viewing moods: Animals is available now, Hexed and The Mosquito Bowl are building towards November, and Frank and Percy offers a quieter change of pace. The television announcements are worth watching too, but renewals and sales deals are the beginning of the journey to our screens, rather than dates to put in the diary just yet.
Which of tonight’s films or returning series are you most looking forward to?