Big-budget movies and tentpole releases are increasingly becoming a year-round affair, with everything from major superhero movie events to Disney animated feature-films arriving outside of the traditional blockbuster months in recent years. Currently, four of the top ten films at the U.S. box office in 2016 were released between February and April (DeadpoolZootopiaBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Jungle Book) and there are a handful of contenders arriving in the last four months of this year that could easily find their way into the top ten too, when all is said and done.

September through December also brings with it an eclectic and varied assortment of entertainment offerings to choose from, be they A-lister driven vehicles, popular franchise installments, potential franchise starters and/or the expected slate of prestigious titles being positioned as awards season contenders. With so much to choose from - a new Wizarding World adventure, a Star Wars movie and the latest films by acclaimed directors like Clint Eastwood and Ang Lee, among them - we've whittled down the massive roster of remaining 2016 movies to 20 "must-see" films (and a handful of honorary mentions too).

These movies are listed in the order of their release date, so we leave it to your discretion to decide which ones are personally your most anticipated flicks. Furthermore, although we have included a couple of movies arriving on either the first day of winter (or shortly thereafter), this list doesn't include the films getting limited, late-December, "Oscar qualifying" theatrical runs [UPDATE: A Monster Calls has now been disqualified for that reason.] Don't worry though - we'll be revisiting those movies when 2017 rolls around.

So, with all that in mind, here is Screen Rant's 2016 Fall Movie Preview: The 20 Films to See.

Sully (September 9th)

Sully (2016) - Tom Hanks

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Tom Hanks has worked alongside many a celebrated director over the course of his career, with Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis being among his frequent collaborators. However, Clint Eastwood has never been one of them - until now.

Eastwood is behind the camera on the Hanks-starring Sully, a biographical drama about one Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger: the real-life pilot responsible for the "Miracle on the Hudson", wherein Sully safely landed his disabled plane upon the waters of the Hudson River, saying the lives of more than 150 people in the process. Intriguing real-life subject matter and an Oscar-winning actor/director team is enough to recommend Sully on its own - though with a couple of caveats.

For starters, American Sniper aside, many of Eastwood's directorial efforts from the past decade have failed to leave a lasting impression, good or bad. Beyond that, it's difficult to overlook the similarities in plot between Sully and Zemeckis' 2012 film, Flight. Yes, Sully is based on events that really happened and Flight is fictional; whether could this be a case where fiction is actually stranger than fact (and whether enough moviegoers will make the distinction and give Sully a fair shot), is the question.

Blair Witch (September 16th)

Blair Witch (2016) trailers and posters

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Adam's Wingard's latest film probably would have made our list of must-see fall movies even if it had turned out to just be a found-footage project titled The Woods. Wingard is a filmmaker to watch nowadays after all, having garnered a cult following over the past few years among horror buffs and cinephiles alike, thanks to his acclaimed horror/thriller throwbacks You're Next and The Guest, as well his work on the V/H/S anthology film series.

However, his next film isn't a one-off project titled The Woods; it's a Blair Witch Project sequel, simply titled Blair Witch. In a marketing twist that rivals (and in some ways, exceeds) the one pulled by 10 Cloverfield Lane earlier this year, Wingard and his collaborators (including frequent screenwriter, Simon Barrett) kept a lid on Blair Witch until San Diego Comic-Con, even after having shown the film at previous events/festivals.

Now, instead of having to win over fans who have had several months to sour on the prospect of a new Blair Witch, the film is riding high on a tide of positive buzz out of Comic-Con, two months ahead of its release. Who knows, Wingard and Barrett may yet breathe new life into the found-footage genre like the original Blair Witch Project did, all the way back in 1999.

The Magnificent Seven (September 23rd)

The Magnificent Seven (2016) trailers and posters

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The Magnificent Seven is a remake of John Sturges' 1960 western of the same name - itself, a re-imagining of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film, Seven Samurai, that swaps in seven hired gunslingers for the samurai (and a 19th century Old West setting for 16th century Japan) hired to protect a small town from exploitation in the story.

Whereas the western genre was somewhat saturated around the time that Sturges' film was released, Magnificent Seven (2016) arrives at a time when westerns aren't being made so often (by filmmakers who are not named Quentin Tarantino, anyway). That gives the 21st century version of the tale both an advantage and disadvantage at the box office, in certain ways. Helping the cause is the fact that Magnificent Seven reunites Denzel Washington with his Training Day and The Equalizer director, Antoine Fuqua, for what promises to be another solid mix of character drama and visceral action/thrills.

Add to that a script co-written by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto and a talented ensemble cast that includes Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Byung-hun Lee and Peter Sarsgaard, among others, and there's enough potential here to suggest that we may yet go 3-for-3, when it comes to worthwhile re-tellings of the Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai narrative.

Deepwater Horizon (September 30th)

Mark Wahlberg from Deepwater Horizon

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Deepwater Horizon reunites Lone Survivor director Peter Berg and star Mark Wahlberg for another intense-looking, true story-based, dramatic thriller: a cinematic take on the real-life 2010 oil spill disaster involving the offshore drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon. Berg and Wahlberg's newest collaboration boasts an impressive cast full of up and coming youngsters (Dylan O'Brien, Gina Rodriguez) and seasoned character actors alike (Kurt Russell, John Malkovich).

On top of all that, the film's terse and visually-striking trailers suggest its depiction of the Deepwater Horizon disaster will make for a visceral and horrifying viewing experience on the big screen. Of course, this also raises the question: are larger numbers of moviegoers going to be interested in watching this real-world disaster story dramatized on the big screen?

Lone Survivor was a grisly piece of storytelling too, but it was also a military tale of sacrifice and heroism; an easier sell, compared to a story about an oil rig literally crashing and burning to the ground. Deepwater Horizon appears to have themes of bravery and selflessness in the face of death similar to those in Lone Survivor though, so it may yet prove to be a hit in multiple respects.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (September 30th)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Characters

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Tim Burton was once considered a visually-innovative storyteller with a style that puts a quirky twist on the world (and recalls 1920s German Expressionism). Unfortunately, over the past decade especially, Burton's filmmaking approach has become something of a mainstream brand - for bette or worse.

While Burton's Alice in Wonderland was a commercial smash success in 2010 (despite its lukewarm reception), his Dark Shadows movie reboot in 2012 was something of a dud - and his two films thereafter (Frankenweenie and Big Eyes) were generally politely-received, but failed to big waves in either the film buff community or at the box office. Enter Burton's potential "comeback" project, in the form of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

The eponymous school from Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's source novel is itself a Burton-esque spin on Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters from the X-Men franchise. Hence, it's not only fitting that Burton be the director to bring the story to the big screen, but that X-Men: First Class co-writer Jane Goldman is the one in charge of scriptwriting. Add Penny Dreadful star (and Dark Shadows highlight) Eva Green as a twisted Mary Poppins-like caretaker and you have what could end up being one of Burton's best films in some time.

The Birth of a Nation (October 7th)

The Birth of a Nation

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Writer, director and star Nate Parker's film The Birth of a Nation - a biographical drama about the real-life rebellion in the antebellum South led by slave/preacher Nat Turner - was easily the film that generated the most buzz when it premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, on its way to winning both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at the event. The awards season buzz has been strong with this movie ever since then, all the more so thanks to the film's powerful and well-crafted theatrical trailers.

Suffice it to say, there shouldn't be a repeat of last year's #OscarsSoWhite controversy at the 2017 Academy Awards ceremony,  if The Birth of a Nation has anything to say about. Between all that and the film's impressive ensemble cast (Colman Domingo, Armie Hammer, Anjanue Ellis, Jackie Earle Haley, and so forth), there's no reason not to look forward to Birth of a Nation... right?

Well, that seemed to be the case for a while - until the discussion surrounding Parker's movie shifted from the film's artistic merits and significance to Parker's personal life and specifically, his history. It's a highly sensitive situation for certain (you can read more about it HERE), but one that film buffs should be aware of heading into the fall season. Seeing as Birth of a Nation should only continue to make waves once it reaches theaters, the discussion about its star/director isn't going away anytime soon, either.

The Girl on the Train (October 7th)

The Girl on the Train trailer and poster with Emily Blunt

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The trailer marketing for The Girl on the Train hasn't exactly been subtle about drawing parallels between this film - itself, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Paula Hawkins - and Gillian Flynn's best-selling book-turned hit 2014 movie (from director David Fincher), Gone Girl.

Both of those stories revolve around the disappearance of a woman and a protagonist (here, played by Emily Blunt) who may either be complicit in a crime or a pawn in a larger and more twisted scheme. Beyond that, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train are very different mysteries/psychological thrillers and possibly for the best - lest Girl on the Train be dismissed as just a knock-off.

With an impressive cast that includes Rebecca Ferguson, Allison Janney, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans and Haley Bennett (also appearing in Magnificent Seven, as it were), there's fair reason to think that Girl on the Train will be worth checking out, similarities and/or lack thereof to Gone Girl aside. Director Tate Taylor has earned acclaim for his previous work on a very different type of literary adaptation (The Help) and a musician biopic to boot (Get on Up), so he might yet find success working in another genre altogether.

The Accountant (October 14th)

The Accountant (2016) trailers and posters

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Batfleck himself, Ben Affleck stars in The Accountant as a very different type of "superhero"; namely, a mathematics savant with a long history of working for the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. The film is directed by Gavin O'Connor of Miracle and Warrior fame and boasts an impressive cast of character actors: Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey Tambor among them.

The Accountant, by the look of it, is very much the sort of thought-provoking, mature, dramatic thriller that has often thrived when released during the fall (and the early portion of awards season), each year. So far though, the discussion among film buffs surrounding The Accountant has focused in no small amount on the film's portrayal of its namesake: a character who, judging by the movie's trailers, isn't strictly autistic but is presumed to fall somewhere on the autism spectrum (as a quick Google search for "The Accountant autism" will tell you).

Whatever the end result is, The Accountant seems worth checking out based solely on O'Connor's track record as a director. Plus, it should be interesting to see how he, Affleck and screenwriter Bill Dubuque (The Judge) have gone about trying to put a more realistic and grounded spin on the "superhero" trope, as seems to be the intention in this case.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (October 21st)

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - Tom Cruise and Cobie Smulders

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Jack Reacher was no Mission: Impossible at the box office in 2012. Nevertheless, it did provide its star Tom Cruise with something else quite valuable: a solid lower-budgeted and comparatively grounded action/thriller franchise with installments that offer an alternative to the flashier, over the top nature of Cruise's IMF adventures.

This year's sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, is missing some of the key players that made the first Jack Reacher memorable (in particular, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie and Werner Herzog as the villain). At the same time though, Never Go Back incorporates some new elements that could make it different, yet in some ways as equally good as its predecessor. Never Go Back, for starters, adds an interesting subplot to the mix - forcing Jack to do more than solve a dangerous mystery that involves the new head of his old military police unit (Cobie Smulders).

Indeed, in Never Go Back, Jack must also deal with the possibility that he may be the father to a young woman (Danika Yarosh) who he never even knew about before. The combination of a more character-driven Jack Reacher movie storyline, coupled with Oscar-winner Edward Zwick (Cruise's Last Samurai director) calling the shots, could be enough to make the Jack Reacher franchise (forgive the wording) worth going back to and revisiting for a second time.

Doctor Strange (November 4th)

Doctor Strange Trailer

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Marvel Studios takes a walk on the mystical and otherwise "weird" side with this fall's Doctor Strange, the Marvel Cinematic Universe debut and origin story for Benedict Cumberbatch's version of Stephen Vincent Strange: the man who would be the Sorcerer Supreme.

Doctor Strange not only promises to deliver more trippy visuals and imagery than any MCU film that has come before, it should also have an intriguingly dark supernatural element - courtesy of director Scott Derrickson, a longtime horror specialist (see Hellraiser: InfernoThe Exorcism of Emily RoseSinister) - that no MCU movie before it has broached, much less featured. Even with that and talented cast (see: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen) taken into account, there are some questions hanging over Doctor Strange's head right now.

For starters, the mythos of the Doctor Strange source comics is beloved for being so imaginative and, for lack of a better description, strange - enough so that there's reason to be concerned that it had to be watered down too much to fit the MCU "brand". Doctor Strange has also courted some controversy ahead of its release (see the casting of The Ancient One); depending on how the actual film is received, that controversy may soon be forgotten... or may give rise to even more debates.

Hacksaw Ridge (November 4th)

Poster for Hacksaw Ridge (2016). Andrew Garfield's Desmond Doss runs into the Battle of Okinawa as debris is kicked up by artillery.

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Save for his appearance in The Expendables 3, Mel Gibson has been quietly acting on the fringes of Hollywood for the past several years, with roles in such lower budgeted B-movies as Get the Gringo and Blood Father. The Oscar-winning actor/filmmaker will be back behind the camera for the first time in a decade (following the release of Apocalypto in 2006) on Hacksaw Ridge.

Gibson's true story-based project tells the story of one Desmond T. Doss: a conscientious objector back during WWII. Andrew Garfield stars in the film as Demond Doss, appearing alongside Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving and Vince Vaughn, among others. And all talk of Gibson's now-infamous personal life problems in the late 2000s aside, Hacksaw Ridge is shaping up to be a worthy addition to the long list of noteworthy films made about the second World War.

Still, Gibson's involvement may affect the amount of traction (or lack thereof) that the movie gains during the impending awards season race, no matter how the critical reception goes. Regardless, Hacksaw Ridge is shaping up to be a well-acted and captivating look back at history and a nice counter-option for the genre flicks and tentpoles that will be playing in theaters around the same time that it arrives.

Arrival (November 11th)

Amy Adams in Arrival

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Director Denis Villeneuve has quickly become a well-known name in the cinephile community over the past few years, in particular for his work on the acclaimed kidnapping drama Prisoners and drug crime drama/thriller Sicario in 2013 and 2015, respectively. This year's offering from the filmmaker is Arrival, a sci-fi drama about first contact being made between humanity and extraterrestrials who might (or might not) come in peace.

Leading the charge is an impressive cast that includes Amy Adams as the film's protagonist (the linguist who attempts to communicate with the aliens), as well as Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker and Michael Stuhlbarg. Arrival appears to have more of a conventional outlook and design than Villeneuve's lesser-known 2014 sci-fi mystery/drama Enemy, while at the same time being just as cerebral and visually-striking in its construction.

That, in turn, could be the key that allows Arrival to reach a wider audience than Villeneuve's previous films have, without sacrificing the creativity quality of his filmmaking in the process. There's certainly a sizable market for high minded, yet accessible, sci-fi cinema in the fall too, as evidenced by the critical and commercial success alike of GravityInterstellar, and The Martin over the last three years alone.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (November 11th)

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

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Ang Lee is widely recognized as one of the most versatile (and talented) filmmakers currently active, with everything from superhero movies to Jane Austen novel adaptations and martial arts epics under his belt at this stage. Lee is exploring yet another genre with his latest offering, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: a story about a young Iraq War military veteran, who flashes back to his time on the battlefield even as he participates in a "victory" tour across the U.S. in the present-day.

Similar to Lee's last film, Life of PiBilly Lynn's is based on a best-selling book (here, by Ben Fountain) and stars a newcomer as its protagonist (Joe Alwyn). Billy Lynn's is also similar to Lee's Life of Pi adaptation in that it too was filmed in 3D - not only that, but at a whopping 120 frames per second, adding a heightened sense of visual realism to the proceedings (early test screening audiences responded strongly to the film's combat sequences in particular).

The vast majority of theaters are not equipped to show Billy Lynn's at anything but the standard frame rate presentation, so for many filmgoers this aspect of Lee's flick won't be all that important. Fortunately, Billy Lynn's should have more to offer in entertainment value (not to mention, creative merit) than high frame rate trickery.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (November 18th)

Fantastic Beasts movie Comic-Con poster

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Five years have passed since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 concluded the saga of The Boy Who Lived on the big screen. Yet, already in 2016 J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World has returned to the spotlight of mainstream pop culture thanks to the release of the play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

That bodes well for the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a movie that goes back in time in the cinematic version of the Wizarding World to 1920s New York - for an adventure with eccentric "Magizoologist" and future Hogwarts textbook author, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). Armed with a script by Rowling, David Yates (the last four Harry Potter films) as director and an Oscar-winning star (Redmayne), Fantastic Beasts has a lot going for it right off the bat.

Fantastic Beasts also appears to be a darkly whimsical, yet family-friendly, romp in the vein of the middle chapters of Harry Potter's story (think Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire) and could attract not only longtime Wizarding World fans, but also a younger generation new to the Harry Potter universe too, as a result. Suffice it to say: there's a good reason that Rowling has wasted no time getting started on a Fantastic Beasts sequel (with a trilogy being the end game).

Allied (November 23rd)

Allied (2016) - Marion Cotillard and Brad Pitt

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Oscar-winning filmmaker and ground-breaking cinematic storyteller Robert Zemeckis (Back to the FutureWho Framed Roger RabbitForrest Gump) has quietly, but surely, been turning out quality movies since his return to live-action directing, after he spent the 2000s focused on making motion-capture animated films instead.

Both the Zemeckis-helmed Flight and The Walk were critically well-received in 2012 and 2015, respectively, and this year he returns with Allied: a WWII drama/thriller featuring two noteworthy leads in Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, playing agents who form a relationship that is strained by (naturally) the war around them. Allied is written by Steven Knight, a screenwriter who - similar to Zemeckis - has more impressive hits than misses to his name (see: Eastern PromisesLocke and the TV show Peaky Blinders).

So far, like Zemeckis' last two directorial efforts before it, the pre-release buzz surrounding Allied (and its awards season potential) has been relatively subdued. At the same time though, Zemeckis' recent work has arguably been some of his most subtle and mature output as a filmmaker - something that could also hold true for Allied, at that.

Moana (November 23rd)

Disney Moana trailer and poster

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2016 has already been a stand-out year for Disney, thanks to critical/commercials smash hits like Zootopia and The Jungle Book as well as the equally-successful releases from its subsidiaries, Pixar and Marvel Studios. However, Walt Disney Animation Studios' second film release of the year, Moana, is shaping up to be more than the cherry on top of that sundae.

The animated fantasy adventure about a young South Pacific sailor's adventures on the high seas (with her demigod sidekick) could wind up standing alongside Zootopia as one of the studio's finest animated films released in recent memory, if everything comes together the right way. Case in point: Moana is directed by legendary Disney animation directors Ron Clements and John Musker of The Little MermaidAladdin and The Princess and the Frog fame (among other Disney classics).

Moana also features a script co-written by What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople filmmaker, Taika Waititi; the music and songs were co-written (and partly performed) by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton; and the voice cast includes Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Moana's (Auli'i Cravalho) demigod pal, Maui. If anything, it'll (arguably) be more of a surprise if Moana doesn't turn out to be something special.

La La Land (December 2nd; Wide on the 16th)

la la land 2016 trailers posters

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Damien Chazelle made a name for himself as a filmmaker with his Oscar-winning Whiplash, a movie that examines the dark side of creative ambition through the story of an young aspiring musician. Chazelle's next directorial effort, La La Land, has some of the same element as Whiplash, but appears to trade in that film's intensity for something more romantic, if also wistful and poignant.

La La Land is also a full-blown musical and a throwback to Technicolor musicals of the mid-20th century (if the trailers are any indication), with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling playing, in turn, an aspiring actress and jazz pianist who fall in love. The combination of La La Land's dreamy atmosphere with Stone and Gosling's strong screen chemistry (as evidenced by their previous work together on Crazy, Stupid, Love and Gangster Squad) - not to mention, their singing abilities - has made for some great trailers for the film alone.

The fact that Lionsgate decided to move La La Land back from its original July 2016 theatrical release date and instead unleash it right in the heart of awards season in December also bodes well. Indeed, that the studio feels this is one film that will be able to live up to the increasingly-upbeat buzz and expectations surrounding it.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (December 16th)

Rogue One Poster

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For many filmgoers, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was their most anticipated movie of the year heading into 2016 - and it still might well be, based on the enthusiastic responses to the film's marketing and trailers so far. Rogue One is also an event for fan(atic)s of a galaxy far, far away in general, as it could be the first of many Star Wars Anthology or spinoffs movies that will explore stories outside the main Episode installments in the franchise.

These spinoff films will also have more room to stray from the space opera vibe of the Star Wars Episodes and explore things like gritty war stories (see Rogue One) and playful buddy adventures (see the young Han Solo film that's planned for 2018), instead. With Gareth Edwards (Godzilla (2014)) directing a cast that includes a talented and eclectic cast of character actors (Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Forest Whitaker, Donnie Yen, and so on), Rogue One certainly has a lot working in its favor.

Rogue One also has the freedom to go darker than other Star Wars movies, as it explores how the Rebel Alliance stole the plans to the original Death Star - and who gave their life to the Rebels' cause, in the process. It may not scale the same heights as Episode VII - The Force Awakens did last year; though, if Rogue One even comes close to that level of success, it will definitely qualify as another win for Disney/Lucasfilm.

Assassin's Creed (December 21st)

Assassin's Creed - 2016 Movie Poster

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Warcraft has now come and gone - and while the Ducan Jones-helmed fantasy adventure didn't break the video game film "curse" as far as critical reactions go, it did make bank at the international box office (China in particular). Thus, it has now fallen to Assassin's Creed to become that rare video game adaptation that is both well-received and a commercial hit.

Assassin's Creed is also the first release from Ubisoft Motion Pictures, the Ubisoft film production studio that aims to faithfully adapt the company's gaming IPs and replicate the success that Marvel Studios has enjoyed, adapting its own Marvel Comics properties for the big screen. On paper, Assassin's Creed sounds pretty great: a film that blends a cool sci-fi concept (technology that allows users to relive their ancestor's memories) with historical adventure.

Bring that premise to life are many of the same people who were responsible for the critically-acclaimed (and stylish) 2015 film version of Macbeth - stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, as well as director Justin Kurzel, among them. Whether Assassin's Creed can live up to its potential and/or thrive as it hits the marketplace less than a week after Rogue One arrives on the scene, that's another matter.

Passengers (December 21st)

Passengers (2016) trailers and posters

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Passengers is the one film on this list that, at the time of writing this, has yet to get an official trailer. Nevertheless, the movie's credentials speak for themselves.

Case in point: Passengers stars two of the biggest (and respected) names in Hollywood right now, in Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt; Morten Tyldum, fresh off his Oscar-nominated work on the acclaimed biopic The Imitation Game, is calling the shots here; and the script from Jon Spaihts (writer of the original version of Prometheus, known as Alien: Engineers, and screen story co-writer for Doctor Strange) is an original character-driven story presented through the lens of a big-budget sci-fi movie.

The film takes place in the distant future, where as spacecraft is traveling from Earth to a distant colony planet - carrying along many a human (you guessed it) passenger on a trip that will take more than 100 years. However, when one of the hibernation chambers onboard malfunctions, its inhabitant (Pratt) is left stranded with several decades to go before the ship reaches its destination. Passengers thus has the makings of an emotionally-charged and philosophical human drama - one brought to life with striking production values too. Not a bad way to round out the year, right?

Honorable Mentions

Inferno (2016) movie posters with Tom Hanks

Morgan (September 2nd) - Ridley Scott's sci-fi/horror film Alien remains a touchstone for the sub-genre. Now, with the Ex Machina-esque film Morgan, we'll find out how his son Luke Scott fares while working in those same genres.

Queen of Katwe (September 23rd) - A true story-based, Disney-backed, inspirational drama from an acclaimed director (Mira Nair) and starring such celebrated actors as David Oyelowo and Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o? It may not prove to be a big hit and/or awards season contender, but Queen of Katwe certainly has potential on paper.

Inferno (October 28th) - Director Ron Howard and star Tom Hank's previous Robert Langdon adventures (The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons) were commercial hits, with more than their fair share of fans. However, with both Langdon creator Dan Brown having waned in popularity and seven years having passed between films, do enough moviegoers still care about this franchise to make Inferno a hit too?

Bad Santa 2 (November 23rd) - The Bad Santa sequel looks as raunchy and badly-behaved as fans of the original Billy Bob Thornton comedy cult hit could ask for. Question is, will this be one of the exceptions to the rule that belated comedy sequels are a bad idea?

Sing (December 21st) - After The Secret Life of Pets, can Illumination Entertainment go two-for-two when it comes to original animated offerings in 2016, with Sing? The film's "American Idol but with animals" premise has potential, if nothing else.