October 2023: all the new movies to watch in theaters this month, from Killers of the Flower Moon to anticipated hits, upcoming films, hidden gems and new releases!
The wait is over: so many highly anticipated new movies are about to be released in theaters in October 2023! This month will give us festival gems like Killers of the Flower Moon and The Killer, promising new films like Foe, the new Exorcist movie, and some great new flicks that will be out on Netflix, Prime, and Apple TV+ soon too!
We made a list of all the new movies coming to theaters in October 2023: here is what to watch this month! Find all the films below, in order of release and divided by films you’ll be able to see in U.S. theaters and in U.K. cinemas; we also included global release dates where available. Enjoy!
- October 2023: New Movies in U.S. Theaters
- October 2023: New Movies in U.K. Cinemas
OCTOBER 2023 MOVIES: IN U.S. THEATERS
A SONG FILM BY KISHI BASHI: “OMOIYARI” (LIMITED)
Directors: Justin Taylor Smith & Kaoru Ishibashi
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Internationally acclaimed composer and songwriter K Ishibashi (professionally known as “Kishi Bashi”) embarks on a personal quest by creating his music in locations relevant to the Japanese American Incarceration during WWII. It is on this journey in which Kishi Bashi comes to terms with his own Japanese American identity and uncovers a myriad of social issues that have gripping modern relevance.
THE BURIAL (LIMITED)
Director: Maggie Betts
U.S. Release: October 6
Global Release: October 13 on Prime Video
Official synopsis: Inspired by true events, when a handshake deal goes sour, funeral homeowner Jeremiah O’Keefe (Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones) enlists charismatic, smooth-talking attorney Willie E. Gary (Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. Tempers flare and laughter ensues as the unlikely pair bond while exposing corporate corruption and racial injustice in this inspirational, triumphant story.
CAT PERSON
Director: Susanna Fogel
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: When Margot, a college sophomore (Emilia Jones) goes on a date with the older Robert (Nicholas Braun), she finds that IRL Robert doesn’t live up to the Robert she has been flirting with over texts. Cat Person is a razor-sharp exploration of the gender divide, the quagmire of navigating modern dating and the dangerous projections we make in our minds about the person at the other end of our phones.
THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER
Director: David Gordon Green
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: October 13
Official synopsis: Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar® nominee Leslie Odom, Jr.; One Night in Miami, Hamilton) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, Good Girls) on his own.
But when Angela and her friend Katherine (newcomer Olivia Marcum), disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.
FOE
Director: Garth Davis
U.S. Release: October 6
Canadian Release: October 13
Australian Release: October 19
U.K. & Irish Release: October 20
Official synopsis: Academy Award nominees Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal star in Foe, a haunting exploration of marriage and identity set in an uncertain world. Hen and Junior farm a secluded piece of land that has been in Junior’s family for generations, but their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger (Aaron Pierre) shows up at their door with a startling proposal. Based on best-selling author Iain Reid’s novel, directed by Garth Davis, and co-written by Davis and Reid, Foe’s mesmerizing imagery and persistent questions about the nature of humanity (and artificial humanity) bring the not-too-distant future to luminous life.
FREELANCE
Director: Pierre Morel
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Ex-special forces operative Mason Pettis (John Cena) is stuck in a dead-end desk job when he reluctantly takes on a freelance gig to provide private security for washed-up journalist Claire Wellington (Alison Brie) as she interviews the ruthless—but impeccably dressed—dictator, Juan Venegas (Juan Pablo Raba). When a military coup breaks out just as she’s about to get the scoop of a lifetime, the unlikely trio must figure out how to survive the jungle AND each other in order to make it out alive!
JOAN BAEZ I AM A NOISE (LIMITED)
Directors: Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky& Maeve O’Boyle
U.S. Release: October 6 in NY, October 13 in LA & additional markets
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: A raw and intimate portrait of the legendary folk singer and activist that shifts back and forth through time as it follows Joan on her final tour and delves into her extraordinary archive, including newly discovered home movies, diaries, artwork, therapy tapes, and audio recordings.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Director: Martin Scorsese
U.S. Release: October 6 (limited), October 20 (nationwide)
Global Release: in theaters October 20, then on Apple TV+
Official synopsis: When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one—until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.
THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER
Director: Neil Burger
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: In the tense thriller The Marsh King’s Daughter, a woman with a secret past will venture into the wilderness she left behind to confront the most dangerous man she’s ever met: her father. In the film, Helena’s (Daisy Ridley) seemingly ordinary life hides a dark and dangerous truth: her estranged father is the infamous Marsh King (Ben Mendelsohn), the man who kept her and her mother captive in the wilderness for years. When her father escapes from prison, Helena will need to confront her past. Knowing that he will hunt for her and her family, Helena must find the strength to face her demons and outmaneuver the man who taught her everything she knows about surviving in the wild.
MERCY ROAD
Director: John Curran
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Set almost entirely in a moving vehicle, Mercy Road is an unrelentingly tense psychological thriller in real time: A man covered in blood leaps into his work truck and races against the clock to save his daughter. Who is he? What are his sins? Where is he going and what will he find when he gets there?
MISTER ORGAN (LIMITED)
Director: David Farrier
U.S. Release: October 6 (limited), October 13 (nationwide & Canada)
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Intrepid journalist and filmmaker David Farrier, whose previous film Tickled became a global sensation for exposing the dark underbelly of competitive endurance tickling, faces off against his greatest foe yet in MISTER ORGAN, an enthralling and bizarre tale that finds Farrier in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a mysterious con man who is wreaking havoc on his neighborhood.
THE ROYAL HOTEL
Director: Kitty Green
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Americans Hanna and Liv are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ’The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Bar owner Billy and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
STRANGE WAY OF LIFE (LIMITED)
Director: Pedro Almodovar
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: September 25
Official synopsis: A man rides a horse across the desert that separates him from Bitter Creek. He comes to visit Sheriff Jake. Twenty-five years earlier, both the sheriff and Silva, the rancher who rides out to meet him, worked together as hired gunmen. Silva visits him with the excuse of reuniting with his friend from his youth, and they do indeed celebrate their meeting, but the next morning Sheriff Jake tells him that the reason for his trip is not to go down the memory lane of their old friendship….
VINDICTA (LIMITED)
Director: Sean McNamara
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: When a city is terrorized by a sadistic serial killer, a seasoned detective and a newly recruited paramedic are forced into a deadly game of vengeance, only to discover the key to stopping the bloodshed lies in unlocking the truth of their own haunted pasts. Elena Kampouris (Children of the Corn), Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings franchise), and Jeremy Piven (Entourage) star in this edge-of-your-seat thriller from the director of On a Wing and a Prayer.
WAITING FOR THE LIGHT TO CHANGE (LIMITED)
Director: Linh Tran
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Over the course of a week-long beach side getaway, Amy, having recently undergone dramatic weigh loss, finds herself wrestling between loyalty to her best friend Kim and her attraction to Kim’s new boyfriend.
YOUR FRIEND, MEMPHIS
Director: David Zucker
U.S. Release: October 6
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Memphis is exuberant, headstrong, and wild at heart. As a young man living with cerebral palsy, he is used to being looked at with skepticism when it comes to achieving his dreams, but he refuses to back down. He lives on the edge, pursuing them with grit and passion. Although Memphis believes to his core that he’s meant for greatness, he finds himself stuck in Austin with dead-end jobs, a claustrophobic apartment, and no government assistance.
His parents struggle to be there for him: they have baggage of their own. They waver between supporting Memphis’ desire for independence and pushing him towards a more pragmatic reality. His best friend Seneca, an aspiring performer, struggles to reconcile her own big ambitions with her small town life. Memphis, as always, pushes on.
THE LATENT IMAGE
Director: Alexander McGregor Birrell
Global Release: October 8
Official synopsis: A handsome stranger appears at a young thriller writer’s cabin deep in the American wilderness. Mysterious, intriguing, attractive and terrifying, has he found the perfect inspiration for his new book or are his darkest fantasies about to come to life?
ANATOMY OF A FALL (LIMITED)
Director: Justine Triet
U.S. Release: October 13
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: For the past year, Sandra, her husband Samuel, and their eleven-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether he was murdered or committed suicide. Samuel’s suspicious death is presumed murder, and Sandra becomes the main suspect. What follows is not just an investigation into the circumstances of Samuel’s death but an unsettling psychological journey into the depths of Sandra and Samuel’s conflicted relationship.
DANGEROUS WATERS
Director: John Barr
U.S. Release: October 13
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: A sailing adventure spirals out of control in this tightly wound-survival thriller. 19-year-old Rose (Odeya Rush) lives a tough, small-town life in Florida with her single mother Alma (Saffron Burrows). Their luck seems to take a turn when Alma’s new businessman boyfriend, Derek (Eric Dane), whisks them away on a sailing adventure to Bermuda. While at sea, Derek’s “business” is revealed to be less than legitimate when their boat is attacked by savage villains, set on fire, and Alma is viciously killed. Distraught and persecuted by Derek and The Captain (Ray Liotta), Rose unearths a primal instinct of survival and a terrifying need for vengeance. She will not yield until those responsible for her mother’s murder are dead.
THE MISSION
Directors: Amanda McBaine & Jesse Moss
U.S. Release: October 13
U.K. Release: November 17
Official synopsis: In 2018, a shocking event made headlines around the world: a young American missionary, John Chau, was killed by arrows while attempting to contact one of the world’s most isolated Indigenous peoples on remote North Sentinel Island. THE MISSION uncovers the gripping story beyond the headlines. Through exclusive interviews and with unprecedented access to Chau’s secret plans, personal diaries, and video archives, THE MISSION examines the mythology of exploration that inspired him, the evangelical community that supported his quest, and reveals his own father’s heartbreak as Chau’s youthful thirst for adventure became a fatal obsession.
ORDINARY ANGELS
Director: Jon Gunn
U.S. Release: October 13
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Based on a remarkable true story, ORDINARY ANGELS centers on Sharon (Hilary Swank), a fierce but struggling hairdresser in small-town Kentucky who discovers a renewed sense of purpose when she meets Ed (Alan Ritchson), a widower working hard to make ends meet for his two daughters. With his youngest daughter waiting for a liver transplant, Sharon sets her mind to helping the family and will move mountains to do it. What unfolds is the inspiring tale of faith, everyday miracles, and ordinary angels.
TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR
Director: Sam Wrench
U.S. Release: October 13
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: The cultural phenomenon continues on the big screen! Immerse yourself in this once-in-a-lifetime concert film experience with a breathtaking, cinematic view of the history-making tour. Taylor Swift Eras attire and friendship bracelets are strongly encouraged!
WHAT HAPPENS LATER
Director: Meg Ryan
U.S. Release: October 13
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Two ex lovers, Bill (David Duchovny) and Willa (Meg Ryan) get snowed in at a regional airport overnight. Indefinitely delayed, Willa, a magical thinker, and Bill, a catastrophic one, find themselves just as attracted to and annoyed by one another as they did decades earlier. But as they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is mere coincidence, or something more enchanted.
ONYX THE FORTUITOUS AND THE TALISMAN OF SOULS
Director: Andrew Bowser
U.S. Release: October 19
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Misunderstood by all who know him, Marcus J. Trillbury (Bowser), aka Onyx the Fortuitous, is struggling to find purpose in his soul-devouring side gig. But just when it seems he’s ready to throw in the towel, he receives a coveted invitation to the mansion of his idol Bartok the Great (Jeffrey Combs; Re-Animator) for a ritual to raise the spirit of an ancient demon. Ecstatic, he joins Bartok, his mysterious delegate Farrah (Olivia Taylor Dudley; “The Magicians,” Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension) and a collection of fellow devotees as they prepare for the ceremony, but quickly it becomes apparent things are not what they seem. As Onyx and his new friends fight to keep their souls, he must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in order to meet his destiny.
FULL CIRCLE
Director: Josh Berman
U.S. Release: October 20
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: Faced with a traumatic injury that renders you permanently disabled; how would you reinvent yourself? In 2014, Trevor Kennison’s life was forever altered by a broken back – for worse and for better, in equal measures. Barry Corbet, an intrepid skier, mountaineer, explorer, filmmaker, and Jackson Hole legend, broke his back in a helicopter crash in 1968. Frustrated by a pre-ADA culture that did not accept or support the disabled, Barry reinvented himself, becoming a seminal leader in the disability community. Full Circle follows Trevor on a path towards post-traumatic growth in parallel with Barry, 50 years later.
NYAD (LIMITED)
Directors: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin
U.S. Release: October 20 (limited)
U.K. Release: October 20 (limited)
Global Release: November 3 on Netflix
Official synopsis: A remarkable true story of tenacity, friendship and the triumph of the human spirit, NYAD recounts a riveting chapter in the life of world-class athlete Diana Nyad. Three decades after giving up marathon swimming in exchange for a prominent career as a sports journalist, at the age of 60, Diana (Annette Bening) becomes obsessed with completing an epic swim that always eluded her: the 110 mile trek from Cuba to Florida, often referred to as the “Mount Everest” of swims.
Determined to become the first person to finish the swim without a shark cage, Diana goes on a thrilling, four-year journey with her best friend and coach Bonnie Stoll (two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster) and a dedicated sailing team.
THE OTHER ZOEY
Director: Sara Zandieh
U.S. Release: October 20
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: When Zoey (Josephine Langford), a smart computer nerd inexperienced with love, causes Zach (Drew Starkey) to get a concussion, he mistakes Zoey for his girlfriend. Before she reveals the truth, she meets Zach’s cousin Miles (Archie Renaux), with whom she has a lot in common. Pretending to be Zach’s girlfriend, she realizes she has feelings for both of them and is forced to confront her fears and to make an impossible decision!
PAIN HUSTLERS (LIMITED)
Director: David Yates
U.S. Release: October 20 (limited)
Global Release: October 27 on Netflix
Official synopsis: Dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter, Liza (Emily Blunt) lands a job from Pete (Chris Evans) at a failing pharma start-up, where Liza’s charm, drive, and guts catapult her into the high life and the company into the center of a criminal conspiracy with dire consequences.
THE PIGEON TUNNEL
Director: Errol Morris
U.S. Release: October 20 (limited)
Global Release: October 20 on Apple TV+
Official synopsis: Academy Award® winner Errol Morris pulls back the curtain on the storied life and career of David Cornwell, the former spy known to the literary world as John le Carré.
JUNE ZERO
Director: Jake Paltrow
U.S. Release: October 27
U.K. Release: TBA
Official synopsis: The 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, architect of the mass murder of the Jews during World War II, is revisited in a gripping and surprising new vision from American filmmaker Jake Paltrow (THE GOOD NIGHT). This Hebrew-language drama—based on true accounts—tells its story from the intertwined perspectives of three largely unrelated figures: Eichmann’s Jewish Moroccan prison guard; an Israeli police investigator for the prosecution and a Holocaust survivor; and a 13-year-old Jewish Libyan immigrant.
Largely shot on 16mm film, Paltrow’s vividly textured work uses these disparate points of view to paint an image of the diasporic Jewish people and, in its unorthodox narrative approach, reminds us that the same histories are experienced differently by people all over the world, and we are connected through shared traumatic pasts.
THE KILLER (LIMITED)
Director: David Fincher
U.S. Release: October 27
Global Release: November 10 on Netflix
Official synopsis: After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers and himself on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
SUITABLE FLESH
Director: Joe Lynch
Global Release: October 27
Official synopsis: Suitable Flesh sees Psychiatrist Elizabeth Derby become obsessed with helping a young patient suffering extreme personality disorder. But it leads her into dark occult danger as she tries to escape a horrific fate.
OCTOBER 2023 MOVIES: IN U.K. CINEMAS
BLACKBERRY
Director: Matt Johnson
U.K. Release: October 6
U.S. Release: out now on digital and on demand! Watch Blackberry!
Official synopsis: Every era has its visionaries, and BLACKBERRY, co-written by Director Matt Johnson and Producer Matthew Miller, investigates the brilliance of the individuals that invented the world’s first smartphone. Recounting the Canadian company’s humble yet chaotic rise to market dominance, BLACKBERRY is a darkly comedic telling of the tragic tale of a Canadian company that revolutionised the way we communicate, before swiftly plummeting into obsolescence.
FAIR PLAY (LIMITED)
Director: Chloe Domont
U.K. Release: October 6
U.S. Release: September 29 (limited)
Global Release: October 13 on Netflix
Official synopsis: An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple’s relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel far more than their recent engagement.
SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD
Director: Anna Hints
U.K. & Irish Release: October 13
U.S. Release: TBA
