Gotham gets its most grotesque villain yet, Taika Waititi brings Kazuo Ishiguro’s gentlest novel to the screen and LAIKA opens the door to a dark, enchanted forest. Friday 23 October is one of the busiest days of the cinema year, with 40 new and returning films across the UK and US: Halloween horror, half-term family adventures, Cannes prizewinners, Bollywood and Malayalam premieres, and Scream and Back to the Future back on the big screen. Here is everything opening, and where you can see it.
Featured Releases
Every film below has its UK availability up front. Tap Trailer under any title to watch it on the page.
The Big Openers
Clayface (2026)
- UK availability: In cinemas nationwide from Friday 23 October
- US release: Nationwide from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Warner Bros. (DC Studios)
- Certificate: 18 (UK), R (US)
- Running time: 108 minutes
- Director: James Watkins
- Starring: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan and David Dencik
Viewer Match
- Best for: Horror fans who like their comic-book stories grim, grounded and very adult.
- Maybe skip if: Body horror and an 18 certificate are deal-breakers.
- Mood and pace: Dark, tense and transformation-heavy.
- Worth the ticket? Yes. This is the week’s biggest event release and it is built for a dark auditorium.
DC Studios turns one of Gotham’s strangest villains into a full-blooded horror film. Matt Hagen is a street kid turned Hollywood leading man until a crime boss leaves him horribly disfigured; an experimental treatment gives him his face back, along with a slipping grip on reality and an appetite for revenge. James Watkins, who made Eden Lake and Speak No Evil, directs from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Start here if you want the Friday everyone will be talking about. Catch up first with our Clayface trailer breakdown and the second trailer.
Klara and the Sun (2026)
- UK availability: In cinemas nationwide from Friday 23 October
- US release: Nationwide from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Sony Pictures
- Certificate: 12A (UK), PG-13 (US)
- Running time: 116 minutes
- Director: Taika Waititi
- Starring: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne
Viewer Match
- Best for: Readers of Kazuo Ishiguro and anyone after a gentle, thoughtful story about love and loyalty.
- Maybe skip if: You want Waititi at his most anarchic; this is a softer, sadder register.
- Mood and pace: Warm, wistful and quietly melancholy.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, for its light and colour, though it will play well at home later too.
Taika Waititi adapts Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel with Jenna Ortega as Klara, an Artificial Friend who wants nothing more than a family to belong to. She finds one with Josie (Mia Tharia), a girl with a fraught relationship with her mother (Amy Adams) and a household shaped by loss, and Klara’s innocent faith in the Sun begins to change all of them.
Movieversalfilm watch note: The week’s most tender big-studio release, and a strong choice for older teens and adults together.
Wildwood (2026)
- UK availability: In cinemas nationwide from Friday 23 October
- US release: Nationwide from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Black Bear Pictures (UK), Fathom Entertainment (US)
- Certificate: 12A (UK), PG-13 (US)
- Running time: 132 minutes
- Director: Travis Knight
- Voice cast: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina and Richard E. Grant
Viewer Match
- Best for: Families with older children and fans of LAIKA’s handmade stop-motion worlds.
- Maybe skip if: Younger children may find the darker forest scenes and the 132-minute running time a stretch.
- Mood and pace: Sweeping, eerie and adventurous.
- Worth the ticket? Yes. Stop-motion detail on this scale deserves the biggest screen you can find.
From the studio behind Coraline, Wildwood follows Prue, a young girl who heads into a hidden forest to rescue her little brother and finds warring factions, extraordinary creatures and a world unlike anything she has known. Travis Knight, who directed Kubo and the Two Strings, adapts Colin Meloy’s novel with a starry voice cast.
Movieversalfilm watch note: The half-term family pick for anyone over ten, and an easy recommendation for animation fans of any age.
Ali G: Who Iz I? (2026)
- UK availability: In cinemas for one weekend only from Friday 23 October
- US release: One weekend only from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios
- Certificate: 15 (UK), R (US)
- Running time: 89 minutes
- Director: Sacha Baron Cohen
- Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen and Morgana Robinson
Viewer Match
- Best for: Anyone who quoted Da Ali G Show in the playground and wants one more go-round.
- Maybe skip if: Crude, deliberately offensive comedy has never been your thing.
- Mood and pace: Loud, rude and fast.
- Worth the ticket? Only if you go this weekend: the run is deliberately short and no streaming date has been announced.
After twenty years of chillin’, Ali G discovers that his long-term girlfriend Julie is eight months pregnant. Needing money for the baby, he heads to America to reclaim his former glory and soon runs into adversaries who threaten him and his child. It is Sacha Baron Cohen’s first film as director.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Book early or miss it. Look back at the first trailer and the second trailer before you go.
Ghosts: The Possession of Button House (2026)
- UK availability: In cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Friday 23 October
- US release: No US release announced
- Distributor: Lionsgate UK
- Certificate: PG
- Running time: 97 minutes
- Director: Simon Hynd
- Starring: Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Mathew Baynton and Simon Farnaby
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of the BBC sitcom and families looking for a Halloween-week laugh.
- Maybe skip if: You have never seen the series; it rewards existing affection for the ghosts.
- Mood and pace: Cosy, silly and warm-hearted.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, especially with a crowd that knows the characters.
The big-screen spin-off of the hit BBC sitcom finds the residents of Button House adjusting to life without Alison and Mike. When protesters disrupt work on the planned hotel, the ghosts need to reach their living friends, and a botched séance lets Julian escape the grounds in the body of a teenage ghost hunter, Jack. A temporary swap soon looks dangerously permanent.
Movieversalfilm watch note: The UK’s homegrown crowd-pleaser of the week, and a PG certificate makes it an easy family outing.
Tad and the Magic Lamp (2026)
- UK availability: In cinemas nationwide from Friday 23 October
- US release: No US release announced
- Distributor: Paramount Pictures UK
- Certificate: U
- Director: Enrique Gato
Viewer Match
- Best for: Younger children who like slapstick, mummies and treasure hunts.
- Maybe skip if: You are hoping for an animated film with crossover appeal for adults.
- Mood and pace: Bright, busy and breezy.
- Worth the ticket? A solid half-term matinée for families with under-tens.
The bumbling adventurer is back. Tad is now an over-protective father to two-year-old Oli, and Mummy feels sidelined. When a magic lamp turns up in Buckingham Palace, Mummy uses it to travel back to Peru in 1502, and Tad, Sara and the team have to follow him through history, across the Atlantic and on to the cave of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
Movieversalfilm watch note: The safest bet this week for the youngest cinema-goers.
Monster Mia (2026)
- UK availability: In cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Friday 23 October
- US release: No US release announced
- Distributor: Kazoo Films
- Certificate: U
- Director: Verena Fels
Viewer Match
- Best for: Children who love friendly monsters and stories about fitting in.
- Maybe skip if: Your family has already maxed out on Halloween animation this month.
- Mood and pace: Playful, spooky-lite and upbeat.
- Worth the ticket? A good-value family trip, and a gentler Halloween option than most.
Mia feels totally out of place in her picture-perfect hometown of Primrose. After one too many problems at school she is sent to the mysterious Rotwood Academy, where her new classmates turn out to be vampires, mummies, ghosts and werewolves. Realising the monsters are as afraid of humans as humans are of them, Mia sets out to bring the two worlds together before the scheming headmaster, Van Vlad, causes disaster.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Pair it with Tad and the Magic Lamp for a two-film half-term weekend.
A Talent for Murder (2026)
- UK availability: In UK cinemas from Friday 20 November (Universal)
- US release: In cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Bleecker Street (US), Universal (UK)
- Certificate: R (US)
- Running time: 106 minutes
- Director: Anton Corbijn
- Starring: Helen Mirren, Olivia Cooke, Alden Ehrenreich and Juliet Stevenson
Viewer Match
- Best for: Literary-thriller fans and anyone who has followed Tom Ripley on page or screen.
- Maybe skip if: You prefer your thrillers fast and action-led.
- Mood and pace: Cool, elegant and slow-burning.
- Worth the ticket? For US readers, yes; UK readers have four weeks to wait.
Helen Mirren plays Patricia Highsmith in Anton Corbijn’s thriller. A mysterious young man from a New York publisher, played by Alden Ehrenreich, is sent to Switzerland to persuade the famously difficult writer to deliver one last Ripley novel, and the visit does not stay polite for long.
Movieversalfilm watch note: One to diarise for 20 November if you are in the UK.
Arthouse and Festival Favourites
Fatherland (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October
- US release: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: MUBI
- Certificate: 12A (UK)
- Running time: 82 minutes
- Director: Paweł Pawlikowski
- Starring: Sandra Hüller, Hanns Zischler and August Diehl
Viewer Match
- Best for: Admirers of Ida and Cold War, and anyone drawn to post-war European history.
- Maybe skip if: Austere black-and-white drama is a hard sell for you.
- Mood and pace: Precise, cool and quietly charged.
- Worth the ticket? Yes. Pawlikowski’s images are made for a big, dark room.
Paweł Pawlikowski won Best Director at Cannes for this black-and-white drama about Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika on a 1949 journey from West Germany into Soviet-occupied Weimar. Hanns Zischler plays the novelist and Sandra Hüller plays Erika, a role critics singled out from the festival onwards.
Movieversalfilm watch note: At 82 minutes, it is the week’s most concentrated arthouse experience.
Possible Love (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October, before its Netflix premiere on 6 November
- US release: In select theatres from Friday 23 October; on Netflix from 6 November
- Distributor: Netflix
- Certificate: 15 (UK), R (US)
- Running time: 164 minutes
- Director: Lee Chang-dong
- Starring: Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of Burning and anyone who likes patient, adult relationship drama.
- Maybe skip if: Nearly three hours of slow-building tension is too much of an ask.
- Mood and pace: Slow, simmering and emotionally knotty.
- Worth the ticket? Worth it for the chance to see a Lee Chang-dong film on a cinema screen before it lands on Netflix.
Lee Chang-dong’s first feature since Burning follows a laid-off worker and his wife whose lives cross with a documentary film-maker and her husband, forcing all four to confront desires they have kept hidden.
Movieversalfilm watch note: If you have Netflix, you can wait two weeks; if you love cinema, go now.
Wicker (2026)
- UK availability: In cinemas nationwide from Friday 30 October
- US release: Select theatres from Friday 23 October, nationwide from 30 October
- Distributor: Black Bear
- Certificate: R (US)
- Running time: 105 minutes
- Directors: Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson
- Starring: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki and Richard E. Grant
Viewer Match
- Best for: Lovers of off-kilter fables and Olivia Colman at her most fearless.
- Maybe skip if: You want a straightforward romance.
- Mood and pace: Strange, funny and folkloric.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, when it reaches you: an ensemble this odd plays best with an audience.
On the edge of a seaside village lives a fisherwoman, smelly, single and endlessly mocked. Fed up with her small-minded neighbours, she commissions a husband made of wicker, and the unconventional romance sparks outrage, jealousy and chaos in a deeply conservative town.
Movieversalfilm watch note: US readers get it first; UK audiences have one more week to wait.
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: New York and Los Angeles from Friday 23 October, expanding nationwide on 30 October
- Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
- Certificate: R (US)
- Running time: 88 minutes
- Director: Noah Segan
- Starring: John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Tatiana Maslany, Steve Buscemi and Jamie Lee Curtis
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of character-driven New York crime stories and John Turturro’s hangdog charm.
- Maybe skip if: You need a big set-piece thriller.
- Mood and pace: Wry, scrappy and affectionate.
- Worth the ticket? A lean 88 minutes that suits a weeknight.
Harry Lehman is an ageing pickpocket in a New York where fat wallets have given way to easily cancelled cards. Caring for his disabled wife and struggling to get by, he lifts and fences a valuable USB stick and finds himself racing to return it before a vengeful crime family catches up with him.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A love letter to the city from Noah Segan, best known as an actor in Rian Johnson’s films.
Making Marie Antoinette (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October; streaming on MUBI from 6 November
- US release: In select theatres from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: MUBI
- Certificate: 12A (UK)
- Director: Eleanor Coppola
- Featuring: Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst
Viewer Match
- Best for: Sofia Coppola devotees and anyone fascinated by how films are made.
- Maybe skip if: Behind-the-scenes documentaries leave you cold.
- Mood and pace: Intimate, candid and stylish.
- Worth the ticket? Best as a double bill with the 4K restoration of Marie Antoinette.
Eleanor Coppola turned her camera on her daughter Sofia as she made Marie Antoinette at 34. The result is an access-all-areas look behind the scenes of a once-divisive film, and a portrait of a director finding her voice through her mother’s eyes.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A rare chance to see a family of film-makers through its own lens.
All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea (2026)
- UK availability: In selected UK cinemas from Friday 23 October
- US release: No US release announced
- Distributor: Glimmerama
- Certificate: 12A
- Director: Jeanie Finlay
Viewer Match
- Best for: Documentary lovers and anyone who cares about Britain’s coastline.
- Maybe skip if: You are after escapism this week.
- Mood and pace: Angry, moving and community-driven.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, particularly at a Q&A screening.
When a mysterious tide of dead and poisoned sea life washes up on England’s north-east coast, grief turns into a determined search for answers, led by the unlikeliest of campaigners. Jeanie Finlay, director of Seahorse and Your Fat Friend, follows the fight.
Movieversalfilm watch note: An urgent home-grown documentary that deserves an audience.
These Violent Delights (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Wednesday 21 October
- US release: No US release announced
- Distributor: Tull Stories
- Certificate: 15
- Running time: 70 minutes
- Directors: Christopher Hampson and Oscar Sansom
- Starring: Kayla-Maree Tarantolo and Ishan Mahabir-Stokes
Viewer Match
- Best for: Dance fans and anyone curious about Romeo and Juliet told without words.
- Maybe skip if: A dialogue-free film is not for you.
- Mood and pace: Hypnotic, kinetic and dreamlike.
- Worth the ticket? Yes. Movement and music this bold belong on a big screen.
Scottish Ballet’s first major feature film opens with Juliet waking from a fever dream. Hallucination and memory blur as cinema and dance collide in a kaleidoscopic, wordless retelling in which fate is rewritten on the dance floor.
Movieversalfilm watch note: The week’s most unusual opener, and already in cinemas from Wednesday.
One in a Million (2026)
- UK availability: In UK cinemas from Friday 6 November (Dogwoof)
- US release: Limited release from Wednesday 21 October
- Distributor: Frontline Features (US), Dogwoof (UK)
- Directors: Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes
Viewer Match
- Best for: Viewers drawn to long-form, character-led documentary.
- Maybe skip if: You are looking for something light.
- Mood and pace: Intimate, patient and affecting.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, if it is playing near you; UK readers can plan for 6 November.
Filmed over ten years, One in a Million follows Israa from the age of 11, when her family prepares to cross the sea in a dinghy, to adulthood in Germany and back again. It is a personal chronicle of war, exile and growing up between two cultures.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Put a reminder in for its UK opening on 6 November.
5 Centimeters per Second (2025)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In select theatres from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: GKIDS
- Director: Yoshiyuki Okuyama
- Starring: Hokuto Matsumura and Mitsuki Takahata
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of Makoto Shinkai’s animated original and anyone who loves a bittersweet romance.
- Maybe skip if: You want the animation, not a live-action reimagining.
- Mood and pace: Gentle, aching and seasonal.
- Worth the ticket? A lovely date-night choice where it is playing.
Yoshiyuki Okuyama’s live-action version of Makoto Shinkai’s animated film follows Takaki and Akari, who become close friends after joining the same school. Just as their feelings grow, their families move apart, and as the seasons change they wonder whether they will ever see each other again.
Movieversalfilm watch note: The North American release of a film that opened in Japan last year.
Genre Picks and Indie Discoveries
Love Language (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In select cinemas and on digital from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Vertical
- Running time: 104 minutes
- Director: Joey Power
- Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Manny Jacinto, Anthony Ramos, Isabel May, Billie Lourd and Lukas Gage
Viewer Match
- Best for: Romantic-comedy fans looking for a cosy night in.
- Maybe skip if: Love triangles make you roll your eyes.
- Mood and pace: Light, warm and breezy.
- Worth the ticket? Its same-day digital release makes this a natural sofa watch.
Aspiring author Louisa falls into a side hustle writing wedding vows for other people. Just as the charming Dash starts to show an interest, she reconnects with her college crush, Warren.
Movieversalfilm watch note: An easy-going alternative to the week’s darker releases.
Terrestrial (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In cinemas across the US and Canada from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Aero Films
- Running time: 94 minutes
- Director: Steve Pink
- Starring: Jermaine Fowler, James Morosini, Pauline Chalamet and Edy Modica
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of offbeat sci-fi comedy.
- Maybe skip if: You like your science fiction serious.
- Mood and pace: Quirky, funny and a little unsettling.
- Worth the ticket? A fun midweek gamble for genre fans.
Something strange is landing. Hot Tub Time Machine director Steve Pink’s sci-fi comedy, starring Jermaine Fowler and James Morosini, is the first theatrical release from new distributor Aero Films.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Keep an eye out for a UK date.
Human (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In select cinemas and at home from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Dark Sky Films
- Running time: 107 minutes
- Director: Matt Stuertz
- Starring: Jackie Kelly, Jeffrey Decker, Cecily Dowd and Jazmin Ortiz
Viewer Match
- Best for: Horror fans who like a blackly comic, gory twist.
- Maybe skip if: Blood-soaked supernatural horror is not your idea of a fun night.
- Mood and pace: Gruesome, darkly funny and heartbroken.
- Worth the ticket? A Halloween-week streamer more than a cinema trip.
All she wanted was a little late-night sexting. What she gets is a blood-drenched supernatural nightmare of horror and heartbreak in Matt Stuertz’s film from Dark Sky Films.
Movieversalfilm watch note: One for the Halloween horror marathon.
Seniors (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Collide Distribution
- Running time: 103 minutes
- Director: Lance Clark
- Starring: John Rhys-Davies, Paris Brosnan, Bethany Anne Lind and Eric Mendenhall
Viewer Match
- Best for: Audiences who enjoy uplifting, cross-generational friendship stories.
- Maybe skip if: Heart-on-sleeve drama is not your style.
- Mood and pace: Earnest, warm and hopeful.
- Worth the ticket? A good choice for a multigenerational family outing.
A rebellious high-school senior is sentenced to community service at a retirement home, where a chance encounter with a troubled war veteran played by John Rhys-Davies grows into an unlikely friendship that forces both of them to face the pasts they have been running from.
Movieversalfilm watch note: An old-fashioned feel-good drama for a mixed-age audience.
The Weird Kidz (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: Touring select US cinemas since August, listed from Friday 23 October; on US digital from Tuesday 27 October
- Distributor: Antenna Releasing
- Running time: 81 minutes
- Director: Zach Passero
Viewer Match
- Best for: Adult animation fans and anyone who grew up on 1980s creature features.
- Maybe skip if: You assume animation means family-friendly; this one does not.
- Mood and pace: Gross-out, nostalgic and spooky.
- Worth the ticket? A cult-in-the-making best enjoyed with a rowdy crowd.
Written, directed and single-handedly animated by Zach Passero over eight years, The Weird Kidz sends three pre-teen boys, an older brother and his girlfriend on a desert camping trip that turns into a night of misdemeanours, monsters and ritual sacrifice.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A remarkable one-person labour of love, and a perfect Halloween oddity.
The Renaissance of Oddity Todd (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In select cinemas from Friday 23 October; on digital from 1 December
- Distributor: Seismic Releasing and Epic Pictures
- Running time: 110 minutes
- Director: Noah Marks
- Starring: Franko Cruz, Darrin Hickok, Tamara Fay and Piper Verbrick
Viewer Match
- Best for: Indie sci-fi fans who like big ideas on a modest budget.
- Maybe skip if: You prefer studio-scale spectacle.
- Mood and pace: Mysterious and myth-heavy.
- Worth the ticket? Most viewers will find it easier to catch on digital in December.
The Sonus, masters of vibration, are being hunted by the World Collective, and only one person with a cryptic past can save humanity from a dark reckoning.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A curiosity for adventurous genre fans.
World Cinema
Kung Fu Soccer (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October
- US release: In select cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Encore Films
- Certificate: 12A (UK)
- Running time: 106 minutes
- From: Stephen Chow
- Starring: Zhang Xiaofei, Dilraba Dilmurat and Lay Zhang
Viewer Match
- Best for: Anyone who loved Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle.
- Maybe skip if: Cartoonish slapstick wears you out.
- Mood and pace: Daft, kinetic and big-hearted.
- Worth the ticket? Yes. Stephen Chow comedies play best with a laughing crowd.
Stephen Chow returns to the pitch with a story about an underdog women’s football team armed with legendary kung fu, outrageous moves and his trademark comedy, with special appearances from Carina Lau and Takeru Satoh.
Movieversalfilm watch note: The week’s most purely fun world-cinema choice.
Udta Teer (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October
- US release: In select cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Moviegoers Entertainment
- Director: Akash A Kaushik
- Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan
Viewer Match
- Best for: Bollywood comedy fans and followers of Ayushmann Khurrana.
- Maybe skip if: Chaotic farce is not your cup of tea.
- Mood and pace: Madcap and high-energy.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, with friends.
Dharma Productions bills Udta Teer as a rollercoaster of a comedy: a mission, one arrow and a hundred confusions, led by Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan and written and directed by Akash A Kaushik.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A worldwide release on Friday, so UK fans see it at the same time as India.
Always Yours, Never Mine (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In select cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Star Cinema
- Director: Cathy Garcia-Sampana
- Starring: Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of Filipino romantic drama and its two stars.
- Maybe skip if: Big, aching romance is not for you.
- Mood and pace: Yearning, emotional and lush.
- Worth the ticket? Bring tissues.
How do you let go of a love that was never yours? Cathy Garcia-Sampana’s romance, which opened in the Philippines on 30 September, reaches US screens with Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto in the leads.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A big hit at home now crossing the Pacific.
Bohurupi: The Golden Daku (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In select cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Prathyangira Cinemas (US)
- Directors: Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee
Viewer Match
- Best for: Bengali cinema fans and anyone who enjoyed Bohurupi in 2024.
- Maybe skip if: You have not seen the first film and want a stand-alone story.
- Mood and pace: Big, bold and action-packed.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, for fans of the original.
The sequel to the 2024 Bengali blockbuster Bohurupi, which opened in India for the Puja season on 15 October, now reaches US screens, promising a bigger and bolder adventure from directors Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Festival-season crowd-pleaser for Bengali audiences abroad.
Go For Broke 2 (2026)
- UK availability: Already in UK cinemas since Friday 16 October
- US release: In select cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: CMC Pictures
- Director: Ma Yuke
Viewer Match
- Best for: Action fans who enjoyed the first Go For Broke.
- Maybe skip if: Gritty revenge thrillers are not your thing.
- Mood and pace: Hard-hitting and relentless.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, for the fight scenes.
The Chinese action sequel arrives in North America a week after its UK opening. Pain becomes a weapon, there is no way out of the game, and the stage is set for a final showdown.
Movieversalfilm watch note: UK readers can already catch it in selected cinemas.
Titans (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In select cinemas from Thursday 22 October
- Distributor: Prathyangira Cinemas (US)
- Director: Prince Joy
- Starring: Jayasurya, Vinayakan, Nihal Nizam and Indrans
Viewer Match
- Best for: Malayalam cinema fans and followers of Jayasurya and Vinayakan.
- Maybe skip if: You are looking for something low-key.
- Mood and pace: Energetic and star-driven.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, for its opening-weekend buzz.
Prince Joy’s Malayalam film opens in India and in selected US cinemas on Thursday 22 October, with Jayasurya and Vinayakan heading an ensemble that also includes Nihal Nizam, Sunny Wayne and Indrans.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A Thursday opener for US audiences.
Little Thomas (2026)
- UK availability: No UK release date announced yet
- US release: In select cinemas from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: Times Music
- Running time: 125 minutes
- Director: Kaushal Oza
- Starring: Gulshan Devaiah, Rasika Dugal and Hridansh Parekh
Viewer Match
- Best for: Families and anyone with a soft spot for nostalgic childhood stories.
- Maybe skip if: Gentle family comedy is not your pace.
- Mood and pace: Warm, funny and nostalgic.
- Worth the ticket? A sweet family outing.
Thomas Miranda desperately wants a little brother, but nobody will tell him where babies come from. When he learns that his parents need to kiss, he takes it upon himself to make them do the yucky deed, in a gentle comedy that wears its love of Malgudi Days and Ruskin Bond on its sleeve.
Movieversalfilm watch note: One of the week’s gentlest surprises.
Daudaak (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October
- US release: No US release announced
- Distributor: Shree Entertainment (UK)
- Director: Garry Khatrao
- Starring: Hardeep Grewal, Mintu Kapa and Malkeet Rauni
Viewer Match
- Best for: Punjabi cinema fans and followers of Hardeep Grewal.
- Maybe skip if: You are not a fan of rural action drama.
- Mood and pace: Rugged and rousing.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, with a home crowd.
Hardeep Grewal leads and co-produces this Punjabi film from director Garry Khatrao, which opens in UK cinemas on the same day as its home release.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Check local listings: screenings are concentrated in cities with large Punjabi communities.
418 (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October
- US release: No US release announced
- Distributor: Prathyangira Cinemas (UK)
- Director: Kirtan Nadagouda
- Starring: Preethi Pagadala and Charan Lakkaraju
Viewer Match
- Best for: Horror fans curious about Indian genre cinema.
- Maybe skip if: Jump scares are not for you.
- Mood and pace: Ominous and atmospheric.
- Worth the ticket? A good Halloween-week fright.
Presented by Prashanth Neel and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, Kirtan Nadagouda’s horror film comes with a simple warning in its trailer: this is the last one you will get.
Movieversalfilm watch note: The week’s Indian horror pick.
Damru (2026)
- UK availability: In selected cinemas from Friday 23 October
- US release: No US release announced
- Distributor: OMG Pictures (UK)
- Director: Hardik Pareekh
- Starring: Sanjay Goradia, NakshRaaj, Nirav Vaidya and Niralii Oza
Viewer Match
- Best for: Gujarati comedy fans.
- Maybe skip if: Broad comedy is not your thing.
- Mood and pace: Mischievous and light.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, for a laugh with family.
Who is looking for whom, who is trapping whom, and who is really in charge at the resort? Hardik Pareekh’s Gujarati comedy, led by Sanjay Goradia, opens in the UK alongside its home release.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A light-hearted world-cinema option for the weekend.
Classics Back on the Big Screen
Scream (1996): 30th Anniversary 4K Restoration
- UK availability: Back in more than 100 UK cinemas from Friday 23 October
- US release: No US re-release this week
- Distributor: Park Circus (UK)
- Certificate: 18 (original classification)
- Director: Wes Craven
- Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Drew Barrymore, Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard
Viewer Match
- Best for: Horror fans who have only seen it on the small screen.
- Maybe skip if: You have long since memorised every rule.
- Mood and pace: Sharp, scary and very funny.
- Worth the ticket? Absolutely: Halloween week with a full audience is the ideal way to see it.
Thirty years on, Wes Craven’s slasher returns in 4K. After a series of killings in a small town, Sidney Prescott and her friends become the targets of a masked killer and turn to the rules of horror films to survive.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Make it a franchise night with our Scream 7 review.
Back to the Future (1985)
- UK availability: No nationwide UK re-release; a few local cinemas are holding Back to the Future Day screenings on 21 October
- US release: One night only, Wednesday 21 October, including D-BOX and 4DX screens
- Distributor: Universal
- Certificate: PG (US)
- Running time: 116 minutes
- Director: Robert Zemeckis
- Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover
Viewer Match
- Best for: Everyone. Really.
- Maybe skip if: You somehow dislike fun.
- Mood and pace: Breathless, funny and joyful.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, if you can get to a screening on the night.
Robert Zemeckis’s time-travel classic returns for Back to the Future Day, 21 October, the date Marty and Doc visit in the second film. Marty McFly’s accidental trip to 1955 still plays like a perfectly wound watch.
Movieversalfilm watch note: Check your local independent for one-off UK screenings.
Chatrapathi (2005)
- UK availability: No UK re-release date announced
- US release: 4K re-release in select cinemas from Thursday 22 October
- Distributor: Prathyangira Cinemas (US)
- Director: S. S. Rajamouli
- Starring: Prabhas and Shriya Saran
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of Baahubali who want to see where the Rajamouli and Prabhas partnership began.
- Maybe skip if: Old-school masala action is not your thing.
- Mood and pace: Operatic and thunderous.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, for the restored big-screen spectacle.
S. S. Rajamouli’s Telugu action drama, starring Prabhas, returns in 4K two decades after its first release.
Movieversalfilm watch note: A chance to see an early Rajamouli landmark as it was meant to be seen.
Marie Antoinette (2006): 20th Anniversary 4K
- UK availability: Back in UK cinemas from Friday 13 November (Park Circus)
- US release: In select US cinemas and on MUBI from Friday 23 October
- Distributor: MUBI (US), Park Circus (UK)
- Director: Sofia Coppola
- Starring: Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman
Viewer Match
- Best for: Anyone who loved it the first time, and anyone who dismissed it.
- Maybe skip if: Period drama with a pop soundtrack still sounds wrong to you.
- Mood and pace: Lush, playful and melancholy.
- Worth the ticket? Yes, ideally as a double bill with Making Marie Antoinette.
Twenty years after it divided critics, Sofia Coppola’s candy-coloured portrait of the young queen returns in 4K, now widely seen as a pop-culture touchstone.
Movieversalfilm watch note: UK readers can see the companion documentary now and the restoration from 13 November.
Also Opening
This Is Buzz (2026)
Mark Pellington’s documentary revisits Buzz, the avant-garde MTV magazine series of the early 1990s, through archive footage and interviews. It has been touring select US cinemas with director Q&As since early October, with a week-long run in North Hollywood from Friday 23 October. UK availability: no UK release date announced yet.
MANA (2026)
A Japanese drama from HumanPictures, listed for release on Friday 23 October. UK availability: no UK release date announced yet.
Children of the Wicker Man (2024)
Justin Hardy and Dominic Hardy’s documentary about their father, Robin Hardy, and the making of The Wicker Man, released by Exposure. UK availability: Q&A screenings in selected UK cinemas from Friday 23 October. No US cinema release has been announced.
Movieversalfilm Weekly Selection
Clayface is the week’s event film and the one most likely to dominate conversation, while Klara and the Sun and Wildwood offer two very different kinds of wonder. In the UK, Ghosts: The Possession of Button House is the home-grown crowd-pleaser and Fatherland the arthouse essential. Families have Tad and the Magic Lamp and Monster Mia for half term, and Halloween purists should not miss Scream back in cinemas. If you only see one, make it the film that matches your mood: fear, tenderness, adventure or a big laugh with Ali G before his weekend is up.
Clayface, Klara, Wildwood or Button House: which one are you booking first this Friday?