Fall Films Worth Leaving the House For

Ten theatrical releases from now to late November, with Canadian dates checked against each distributor, so the big-screen nights go to the films built for them.

By Casie Stewart October 10, 2026 5 min read

Photo: LAIKA

Trailer: The Social Reckoning. Cast, where to watch and more on the title page.

The fall calendar is crowded, and not every title needs a ticket. This slate is the shortlist: 10 films reaching Canadian theatres between now and late November, each with a date checked against the company releasing it. Where the Canadian date differs from the American one, both are noted.

Already playing, or nearly

The Social Reckoning opens today, 9 Oct, and Sony Pictures is billing it as exclusively in theatres. Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed it as a companion piece to The Social Network. Mikey Madison plays Frances Haugen, the Facebook engineer turned whistleblower, and Jeremy Allen White plays Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, with Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Bill Burr and Jeremy Strong also in the cast.

Fjord arrives in Canada on 16 Oct through Elevation Pictures, a week after NEON put it in American theatres. It won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, and NEON notes it is Cristian Mungiu’s second. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve play a devout Romanian man and his Norwegian wife who move their five children to a remote coastal town, where allegations of abuse turn the community against them.

For families, and for anyone who loved the book

Two adaptations land on 23 Oct. Klara and the Sun is Taika Waititi‘s version of the novel by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro, written with Dahvi Waller. Jenna Ortega plays Klara, an Artificial Friend who finds a kindred spirit in Josie (Mia Tharia), a girl with a fraught relationship with her mother (Amy Adams). Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne round out the cast. Sony lists it as only in theatres.

Wildwood is the new stop-motion feature from LAIKA, directed by the studio’s president and CEO, Travis Knight, from Colin Meloy’s novel. Peyton Elizabeth Lee plays Prue McKeel, who follows a murder of crows into an enchanted forest outside Portland to rescue her baby brother; Jacob Tremblay voices her classmate Curtis. The voice cast also includes Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina and Tantoo Cardinal. LAIKA lists it as in theatres everywhere on 23 Oct, with Fathom Entertainment handling the American release.

For the grown-up drama crowd

Wild Horse Nine opens 6 Nov, according to Searchlight Pictures. Martin McDonagh wrote and directed it. It follows two longtime CIA partners sent from Santiago to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup. John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi lead a cast that includes Tom Waits and Parker Posey.

I Play Rocky reaches Canadian screens on 13 Nov, per Elevation Pictures. Peter Farrelly, an Academy Award winner for Green Book, directs Anthony Ippolito as a young, unknown Sylvester Stallone, holding out to star in the script he wrote. Stephan James, Matt Dillon and AnnaSophia Robb co-star. Audiences at TIFF voted it first runner-up for the 2026 People’s Choice Award. In the US, Amazon MGM Studios opens it in select theatres on 6 Nov before going wider later in the month.

Paper Tiger follows in Canada on 20 Nov, again through Elevation, a week after NEON’s American release on 13 Nov. James Gray directs Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller in a drama about two brothers drawn into a scheme with the Russian mafia.

For the biggest screen you can find

Godzilla Minus Zero opens across North America on 6 Nov, according to GKIDS, which is releasing it with Toho. Takashi Yamazaki wrote and directed it and served as visual effects supervisor. His previous film, Godzilla Minus One, won the Academy Award for visual effects, the first Asian film to do so, GKIDS notes. Plot details are still under wraps.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is dated for 20 Nov in North American theatres, per Lionsgate. Adapted from Suzanne Collins’s novel, it is set 24 years before the first film, on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell. Lionsgate says the earlier five films grossed more than US$3.3 billion worldwide.

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth is a Netflix film with a theatrical window. David Fincher directs a new Quentin Tarantino script, with Brad Pitt back as Cliff Booth and Elizabeth Debicki, Carla Gugino, Scott Caan and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II alongside him. Netflix says it plays an exclusive two-week run in IMAX theatres globally from 25 Nov, then streams on Netflix from 23 Dec. If you want it on a big screen, those two weeks are the window.

How to plan it

If you only go out three times this fall: one festival title (Fjord or I Play Rocky), one family outing (Wildwood), and one event screening (Godzilla Minus Zero or the Cliff Booth IMAX run). The others can wait for a quieter night out, or for home release.

Where to watch

The Social Reckoning: in theatres, CA US, 9 Oct
Fjord: in theatres, CA 16 Oct (US already playing)
Klara and the Sun: in theatres, CA US, 23 Oct
Wildwood: in theatres, CA US, 23 Oct
Wild Horse Nine: in theatres, CA US, 6 Nov
Godzilla Minus Zero: in theatres, CA US, 6 Nov
I Play Rocky: in theatres, CA 13 Nov (US select theatres 6 Nov, wider later in November)
Paper Tiger: in theatres, CA 20 Nov (US 13 Nov)
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping: in theatres, CA US, 20 Nov
The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth: IMAX theatres, CA US, 25 Nov for two weeks; Netflix, 23 Dec