Holiday Movie Guide 2024: The Movies Heating Up the Oscar Race

It's Thanksgiving weekend, and Christmas is not far off, which means only one thing — all the best movies are coming out right now. With awards season heating up, studios big and small are putting up their best contenders for the Oscars, the Golden Globes, and whatever measly critics' association prize they can scoop up along the way.

It can be quite a lot to deal with, which is why New Times has devised this convenient guide to all the biggest movies coming out this awards season, along with where to see them, how likely they are to contend for those high-profile categories at the Academy Awards (roughly, Best Picture, Best Director, and the acting categories). Dive in below.

The Substance

Faded movie star Elizabeth (Demi Moore), recently fired from her last remaining gig, learns of a mysterious treatment designed to create a better version of herself. The Substance, in fact, creates a younger clone, Sue (Margaret Qualley), and her consciousness inhabits each body for one week. Tensions between the two personas quickly erupt in this body-horror spectacle.

Our Take: Read our full review of the film here.
Awards Watch: The film won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival; it may compete for the equivalent at the Oscars. Demi Moore is a contender for Best Actress.
Where to Watch: The Substance is streaming on Mubi.

Conclave

The pope is dead, and the cardinals of the Vatican must elect a new one. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) leads the papal conclave while investigating the secrets left behind by the dead pontiff, as well as those kept by his potential successors.

Our Take: Read our full review of the film here.
Awards Watch: The film is a likely contender in multiple categories, including Best Picture, but Ralph Fiennes' career-best performance will surely attract Best Actor consideration. Isabella Rossellini may also attract Best Supporting Actress attention for her part as Sister Agnes.
Where to Watch: Conclave is currently in theaters.

Anora

In this modern-day Cinderella story set in the Russian-American enclave of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, stripper Ani (Mikey Madison) falls in love with one of her clients, the spoiled son of the oligarch, Vanya (Mark Eydelshtein). When their whirlwind romance results in a Vegas elopement, a bumbling goon squad employed by the boy's parents intervenes to break up the marriage.

Our Take: Read our full review of the film here.
Awards Watch: The film has already won the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the most prestigious award in cinema. It's potentially a Best Picture competitor as well, but Mikey Madison is a serious contender for Best Actress for her powerful, committed portrayal of the titular exotic dancer. Sean Baker and Yura Borisov are dark horses for Best Director and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.
Where to Watch: Anora is currently in theaters.

Juror No. 2

A journalist (Nicolas Hoult) is called up for jury duty in a murder trial. During the case, he realizes that he himself, not the accused man, may have been responsible for the victim's death.

Our Take: Directed by 94-year-old Clint Eastwood in what will likely be his final film, Juror No. 2 is a movie like the ones they used to make, redolent of classic Hollywood style. Yet it's also a troubling, dark examination of the state of American morality, asking us how far one's ideals and self-conception as a good, decent person go when confronted by a flawed justice system and one's sense of self-preservation.
Awards Watch: The film has become a flashpoint in the ongoing public backlash against Warner Bros. and its frequently derided CEO, David Zaslav. After the studio dumped the film in only 48 theaters nationwide, a combination of wide acclaim from critics and anger at the disrespect shown to Eastwood, the studio will now mount an awards campaign for the film. Hoult may compete for Best Actor, Eastwood for Director, and Toni Collette, who plays the prosecutor in the murder trial, for Best Supporting Actress.
Where to Watch: Juror No. 2 is currently in theaters and will soon stream on Max.

Emilia Pérez

In this star-studded, Mexico-set musical thriller, jaded lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña) is recruited by a cartel boss (Karla Sofia Gascón) with a secret: She's a transgender woman, and she wants to hire the attorney to help her complete her fake her own death, make arrangements for her wife (Selena Gomez), and complete her transformation. And that's only the beginning.

Our Take: Read our full review of the film here.
Awards Watch: Director Jacques Audiard is a two-time Palme d'Or winner; at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the movie took home Best Actress for its entire female ensemble. The film is a contender in multiple Oscar races, including Best Picture and the acting categories; it is France's entry into the Best International Feature Film category.
Where to Watch: Emilia Pérez is streaming on Netflix.

Blitz

A young single mother (Saoirse Ronan) searches for her biracial son (Elliott Heffernan), lost amidst the chaos and destruction of the German bombardment of London in 1940.

Our Take: Read here.
Awards Watch: Ronan is a contender for Best Actress. Director Steve McQueen may compete for Best Director and the film for Best Picture.
Where to Watch: Blitz is streaming on Apple TV+.

Gladiator II

In this sequel to Ridley Scott's 2000 sword-and-sandal epic, Lucius (Paul Mescal), the son of legendary gladiator Maximus (played by Russell Crowe in the first film), must rise through the ranks as a Roman colosseum combatant in order to take revenge on General Acacius (Pedro Pascal), who killed his family. He joins forces with the ambitious, crafty arms dealer Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a former slave who dreams of ruling the Roman Empire.

Our Take: Read our review here.
Awards Watch: Aside from some notable exceptions, the Oscars generally don't like sequels. Even so, one could imagine a scenario where the film gets at least a Best Picture nod, possibly a Best Director nod for Scott and acting nods for Mescal and Washington. The original Gladiator won five Oscars, including Best Picture.
Where to Watch: It's currently screening in theaters.

Wicked

This adaptation of the first act of the mega-hit Broadway musical tells the origin story of the witches of the Land of Oz. Outcast Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and popular girl Galinda (Ariana Grande) become unlikely friends after they arrive at Shiz University to study magic. But as the two begin to discover the darkness that lurks beneath the surface of Oz and the Wonderful Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) that rules it, one becomes villainized for her attempt to change the status quo. A second part covering the musical's second act will be released next November.

Our Take: Read our review here.
Awards Watch: Although not initially tipped as anything beyond a crowd pleaser — and indeed, the film just earned the third biggest theatrical opening of the year — Wicked is now a potential awards season spoiler. It's likely to be a contender in the technical awards, with production design, costume, and hair/makeup all there for the taking. But could it prove "popular" enough to win Best Picture? And can Cynthia Erivo's Wicked Witch of the West compete for Best Actress? We'll see.
Where to Watch: Wicked is in theaters now.

Maria

Angelina Jolie stars as legendary opera diva Maria Callas in the final days of her life. Living in Paris away from the spotlight, she struggles to regain her voice and mount a comeback.

Our Take: Jolie reverses her ice queen reputation to deliver an astonishing, mournful performance as the faded diva, made all the more impressive by her skills emulating Callas' divine voice. Larraín's stylish direction impresses as well.
Awards Watch: Jolie is a frontrunner for Best Actress. Larraín may be in the hunt for Best Director.
Where to Watch: Maria is screening in select and will stream exclusively on Netflix starting December 11.

Queer

Adapted from the novel by William S. Burroughs, the film follows William Lee (Daniel Craig), a gay, middle-aged American expat with a heroin problem living in Mexico City. He falls for young ex-Navy serviceman Eugene (Drew Starkey) and manages to convince him to travel through South America together in search of a certain psychedelic plant.

Our Take: A stunning, sad tale of unrequited love thrown into cosmic, continent-spanning dimensions, Queer is a very strange yet undeniably lovely film that may just change your life in unexpected ways. It's director Luca Guadagnino's second film of the year after the equally excellent Challengers, but it's very different. There's no tennis and no threesomes, but there are explicit gay sex scenes, insane sequences of dreams and hallucinations, and a totally brave, emotionally (and physically) naked performance from the one-time James Bond actor Craig.
Awards Watch: It's hard to say how Oscar voters might interpret the film, but Craig's performance is genuinely stunning and deserves consideration for Best Actor.
Where to Watch: Queer is screening in select theaters, expanding to more cities in the coming weeks.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Set during the Mahsa Amini protests in 2023, this thriller follows the family of Iman, a judge in Tehran, as they find their lives upheaved by the uprisings. Tensions and political differences between the patriarch and his two daughters escalate when Iman's government-issued handgun goes missing.

Our Take: Director Mohammad Rasoulof had to flee Iran after defying the country's draconian censorship mandates, and the film, which incorporates protest footage from the uprisings in 2023, is certainly a brave piece of filmmaking. That doesn't necessarily make it a great one – although the rising tension and generational conflict that define the film's character relationships are compelling to start, by the third and final hour, the film takes a bizarre left turn that replaces all the sophistication and nuance that came before with a ridiculous cat-and-mouse chase of an ending.
Awards Watch: Germany, the country Rasoulof fled to, has selected the film as its Best International Feature submission to the Oscars. It will likely be a frontrunner in that category.
Where to Watch: Screening in select theaters.

September 5

A dramatization of the Black September hostage crisis during the 1972 Munich Olympics, seen from the control room of the ABC Sports TV crew covering the events as they unfolded.

Our Take: Regretfully, I had to skip a press screening of the film due to illness and have not seen it. Yet I would be remiss if I did not point out the fact that this film, which depicts a Palestinian terror organization killing Israeli athletes, is being released amid a two-front war waged by Israel that has already resulted in more than 40,000 confirmed deaths in Gaza alone. The timing of a film that casts Palestinians as vicious killers when they are being murdered en masse by Israel, whose execution of their war against Hamas has led to an accusation of genocide against the country, cannot be ignored, nor can the propagandistic function, intended or not, of such a film. I will also note that the film was rejected from the Toronto International Film Festival for similar reasons, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Awards Watch: The film will likely compete for Best Picture.
Where to Watch: Screening in select theaters with a wide release to follow.

Nickel Boys

Two young Black men in Jim Crow-era Florida, idealistic activist Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and cynical Turner (Brandon Wilson), bond as they attempt to survive Nickel Academy, a reform school rife with racist abuse.

Our Take: Nickel Boys isn't simply one of the most important films of the year but one of the most formally innovative. Its POV cinematography puts us directly in the heads of its lead characters in a way that has never been accomplished before, giving us full access to their memories and experiences. That such a technique is being used for a film that explores a facet of Florida (and American) history that figures like Ron DeSantis have attempted to stifle makes the film even more of an achievement and even more damning of this country's legacy of racism.
Awards Watch: Although it's certainly one of the best films of the year, because of its experimental cinematography and subject matter, it's likely the film may struggle to connect with awards voters. Still, at least look for it to get a Best Picture nod.
Where to Watch: Nickel Boys will be released in select theaters on December 13 and will expand gradually; it will likely be released in Miami in late December or January.

The Brutalist

Jewish-Hungarian architect Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody), newly arrived in America after surviving the Holocaust, struggles to make a living until he meets Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a wealthy industrialist. Enticed by the immigrant's modernist style, he becomes Toth's patron and hires him to build an ambitious community center.

Our Take: So much happens over The Brutalist's nearly four-hour runtime that it makes the film feel half as long. Anchored by the unbelievably committed performances of Brody and Pearce, Brady Corbet's immigrant story is an engrossing, devastating tale about survival, power, and the maddening relationship between artistry and patronage — and much more than that. We can't boil it down to just a few sentences.
Awards Watch: The film will likely compete for Best Picture, with Brady Corbet and Adrien Brody going for Best Director and Best Actor, respectively; Corbet already won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival. However, don't count out Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce in the supporting categories.
Where to Watch: The Brutalist will be released in select theaters on December 20.

The Room Next Door

In this English-language feature debut for legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, a photojournalist (Tilda Swinton) with terminal cancer asks a long-lost friend (Julianne Moore) to help her face her final days.

Our Take: With strong performances from the two leads and typically colorful yet reserved direction from Almodóvar, the film is a solid, classy, yet not particularly thrilling exploration of grief, death with dignity, and the bonds of female friendship.
Awards Watch: The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival; Swinton and Moore are likely for the acting prizes.
Where to Watch: In select theaters on December 20 and will expand nationwide on January 17.

Nosferatu

Director Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse) follows up The Northman with this remake of the silent horror classic, itself a retelling of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Bill Skarsgard will play the vampire Count Orlock, with Nicolas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp as unwitting real estate agents Thomas Hutter (Jonathan Harker in the book) and his wife Ellen (Mina), respectively.

Awards Watch: We'll see. Awards bodies tend to shun horror, but if the film is classy enough, à la Get Out or The Exorcist, it has the chance to break through.
Where to Watch: In theaters on Christmas Day.

A Complete Unknown

Timothée Chalamet plays Bob Dylan. The biopic centers around the iconic folk singer-songwriter's switch to electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

Awards Watch: The film skipped the major fall festivals, so there's no news on this front. A Complete Unknown indeed.
Where to Watch: A Complete Unknown will be released in theaters nationwide on Christmas Day.

Babygirl

A married female executive (Nicole Kidman) and a younger male intern (Harris Dickinson) engage in a torrid affair that could jeopardize her career and family. If you thought the age gap discourse on social media was bad already, wait until this comes out.

Awards Watch: Kidman won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her performance.
Where to Watch: Babygirl will release in theaters nationwide on Christmas Day.

No Other Land

Made by a collective of two Israeli and two Palestinian filmmakers, No Other Land follows the efforts of Palestinian villagers in the West Bank region of Masafer Yatta to resist their forced displacement by Israeli occupation forces and settlers. The film documents aggressive actions by Israelis, including the demolition of homes and schools and even shootings of Palestinian residents, while also following the growing bond between co-directors Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist, and Basel Adra, an activist, and Masafer Yatta resident.

Our Take: Taking place before and after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that initiated the current war, No Other Land powerfully captures a small microcosm of the Israel-Palestine conflict, yet it nevertheless serves as a scathing indictment of the Israeli occupation. Where it may prove most subversive, however, is through its depiction of friendship and camaraderie, against all odds, between Jews and Arabs, showing that a future in which the country is not divided into oppressors and oppressed may be possible.
Awards Watch: The film earned the Documentary Film Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and as the season goes on, it may be considered for documentary feature awards.
Where to Watch: No Other Land is currently without U.S. distribution, aside from an awards-qualifying run in New York; if the film is released, it will likely be in 2025.