The hot summer months are behind us, signaling the time of year when studios get serious and unleash their dramas. The closer we draw to December, the more potential award-winners hit theaters. But unlike years past, this fall movie season doesn't contain many clear-cut Oscar nominees and has more than the usual number of comedies. As of the end of August, no one film has broken out and generated any real Oscar buzz. Of course that's likely to change, and undoubtedly some unexpected film will sneak up on us the way Slumdog Millionaire did in '08.
Here's the scoop on 2009's fall releases, listed in release date order.
Here's the scoop on 2009's fall releases, listed in release date order.
1. '9'
© Focus Features
Release Date: September 9, 2009
The Story: Elijah Wood heads the voice cast of this visually stunning animated film from first time feature film director Shane Acker. 9 is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which humans no longer exist. Unusual-looking rag dolls must band together in this treacherous new world to take down the machines that want to destroy everything.
Featuring the Voices of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly and Christopher Plummer
The Story: Elijah Wood heads the voice cast of this visually stunning animated film from first time feature film director Shane Acker. 9 is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which humans no longer exist. Unusual-looking rag dolls must band together in this treacherous new world to take down the machines that want to destroy everything.
Featuring the Voices of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly and Christopher Plummer
2. 'Whiteout'
© Warner Bros Pictures
Release Date: September 11, 2009
The Story: Whiteout is - finally - getting its theatrical release, after being pushed back a couple of times. Based on the comic book by Greg Rucka, Whiteout finds Kate Beckinsale up to her ears in trouble (and snow) as the only US Marshal covering Antarctica. Beckinsale battles the elements, and the impending extended period of darkness, to find a murderer.
Starring Kate Beckinsale and Gabriel Macht
The Story: Whiteout is - finally - getting its theatrical release, after being pushed back a couple of times. Based on the comic book by Greg Rucka, Whiteout finds Kate Beckinsale up to her ears in trouble (and snow) as the only US Marshal covering Antarctica. Beckinsale battles the elements, and the impending extended period of darkness, to find a murderer.
Starring Kate Beckinsale and Gabriel Macht
3. 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'
© Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation
Release Date: September 18, 2009
The Story: What if cheeseburgers and fries and other assorted food items fell from the sky instead of rain? That's the premise of this animated family-friendly film based on the best-selling children's book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett.
Starring Anna Faris and Andy Samberg
The Story: What if cheeseburgers and fries and other assorted food items fell from the sky instead of rain? That's the premise of this animated family-friendly film based on the best-selling children's book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett.
Starring Anna Faris and Andy Samberg
4. 'The Informant!'
© Warner Bros Pictures
Release Date: September 18, 2009
The Story: Matt Damon reunites with Steven Soderbergh (the Ocean's film franchise) for this tale of an unstable whistleblower who worked with the FBI to take down agri-industry power player Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Based on a true story, The Informant! focuses on ADM executive Mark Whitacre (Damon) and his bizarre behavior as he imagines himself a hero while spying on his company for the government.
Starring Matt Damon and Scott Bakula
The Story: Matt Damon reunites with Steven Soderbergh (the Ocean's film franchise) for this tale of an unstable whistleblower who worked with the FBI to take down agri-industry power player Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Based on a true story, The Informant! focuses on ADM executive Mark Whitacre (Damon) and his bizarre behavior as he imagines himself a hero while spying on his company for the government.
Starring Matt Damon and Scott Bakula
5. 'Jennifer's Body'
© 20th Century Fox
Release Date: September 18, 2009
The Story: Megan Fox of Transformers fame is the 'body' in this horror comedy from Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody. Fox plays a cheerleader who starts killing off boys after being possessed by a demon.
Cody had this to say about the film: "I was simultaneously trying to pay tribute to some of the conventions that we've already seen in horror, yet, at the same time, kind of turn them on their ear. So it was truly like a post-modern thriller in that, on the one hand, I grew up watching these amazing '80s genre movies like The Lost Boys and this and that, and I wanted to honor that and, at the same time, I had never really seen this particular subgenre done with girls."
Starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried
The Story: Megan Fox of Transformers fame is the 'body' in this horror comedy from Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody. Fox plays a cheerleader who starts killing off boys after being possessed by a demon.
Cody had this to say about the film: "I was simultaneously trying to pay tribute to some of the conventions that we've already seen in horror, yet, at the same time, kind of turn them on their ear. So it was truly like a post-modern thriller in that, on the one hand, I grew up watching these amazing '80s genre movies like The Lost Boys and this and that, and I wanted to honor that and, at the same time, I had never really seen this particular subgenre done with girls."
Starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried
6. 'Love Happens'
© Universal Pictures
Release Date: September 18, 2009
The Story: It's not a romantic comedy, but it is a story about love. That's stating the obvious, right, given that the title of this Universal Pictures drama is Love Happens? Two actors who are no strangers to falling in love on screen pair up for the first time in this love story from first-time director Brandon Camp.
Starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart
The Story: It's not a romantic comedy, but it is a story about love. That's stating the obvious, right, given that the title of this Universal Pictures drama is Love Happens? Two actors who are no strangers to falling in love on screen pair up for the first time in this love story from first-time director Brandon Camp.
Starring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart
7. 'Fame'
© MGM
Release Date: September 25, 2009
The Story: Everyone hum along: "I'm gonna live forever. Baby remember my name..." Fame is back with a new cast but the same basic storyline as the 1980 musical starring Irene Cara and Debbie Allen. Talented kids sing, dance, and come of age while enrolled in a school for the performing arts.
Starring Kay Panabaker and Kherington Payne
The Story: Everyone hum along: "I'm gonna live forever. Baby remember my name..." Fame is back with a new cast but the same basic storyline as the 1980 musical starring Irene Cara and Debbie Allen. Talented kids sing, dance, and come of age while enrolled in a school for the performing arts.
Starring Kay Panabaker and Kherington Payne
8. 'Surrogates'
© Touchstone Pictures
Release Date: September 25, 2009
The Story: Bruce Willis is back in action with Surrogates, a sci-fi thriller from Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). In this weird new world of the future, people no longer leave their homes. Instead, their robotic surrogates take on all the day-to-day tasks we would normally perform. Willis plays an FBI agent charged with investigating a murder in this relatively crime-free world.
Starring Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell
The Story: Bruce Willis is back in action with Surrogates, a sci-fi thriller from Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). In this weird new world of the future, people no longer leave their homes. Instead, their robotic surrogates take on all the day-to-day tasks we would normally perform. Willis plays an FBI agent charged with investigating a murder in this relatively crime-free world.
Starring Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell
9. 'The Invention of Lying'
© Warner Bros Pictures
Release Date: October 2, 2009
The Story: How long would you last in a world in which everyone told the truth all the time, no matter what the circumstances, no matter who it hurt? Ricky Gervais co-wrote, co-directed and co-stars in a film where no one lies...until one day 'Mark' (Gervais) develops the ability to lie and discovers he can use this newfound ability to get what he wants.
Starring Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervais
The Story: How long would you last in a world in which everyone told the truth all the time, no matter what the circumstances, no matter who it hurt? Ricky Gervais co-wrote, co-directed and co-stars in a film where no one lies...until one day 'Mark' (Gervais) develops the ability to lie and discovers he can use this newfound ability to get what he wants.
Starring Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervais
10. 'A Serious Man'
© Focus Features
Release Date: October 2, 2009
The Story: Described as a black comedy, A Serious Man is the latest brainchild of writer/director/producers Ethan and Joel Coen (Burn After Reading, No Country for Old Men). Set in 1976, the film tells the story of a physics professor with a hapless brother, a son who's a discipline problem, a daughter who steals, and a wife who's leaving him for one of his fellow professors.
Starring Michael Stuhlberg and Adam Arkin
The Story: Described as a black comedy, A Serious Man is the latest brainchild of writer/director/producers Ethan and Joel Coen (Burn After Reading, No Country for Old Men). Set in 1976, the film tells the story of a physics professor with a hapless brother, a son who's a discipline problem, a daughter who steals, and a wife who's leaving him for one of his fellow professors.
Starring Michael Stuhlberg and Adam Arkin
