Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 2 October 2026 - 8 October 2026

Happy birthday to me and a surprising number of folks in my extended family! What'd you get me, studios?

• Mainly, Digger, the new Alejandro G. Iñárritu film starring Tom Cruise as an oil billionaire whose operations have apparently caused and environmental disaster and brought the world to the brink of World War III. It kind of looks like a cautionary tale about trying to make Doctor Strangelove without Kubrick and Sellers, but we'll see. Playing at the Coolidge (VistaVision!), the Somerville, Fresh Pond, Jordan's Furniture (Imax Friday to Sunday), the Lexington Venue, West Newton, Dedham Community Theatre, Boston Common (including Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), Causeway Street (including XL), Kendall Square, the Seaport, South bay (including Imax Xenon & Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (Imax Laser & Dolby Cinema), and Arsenal Yards (including CWX).
  
  Also opening is Verity, Anne Hathaway's fifth movie of the year, this time starring her as a paralyzed writer who chooses Dakota Johnson's up-and-comer to ghost-write her final novel, although is she as powerless as she seems? The film also features Josh Hartnett as her husband, directed by Michael Showalter, who will always be The Baxter and the host of a NESN game show to me. It's at the Capitol, Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including Dolby Cinema & XL), Causeway Street (including XL), Kendall Square, the Seaport (including Dolby Atmos), South Bay (including Dolby Cinema), Assembly Row (including Dolby Cinema), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill.
  
  The Influencer Project, which claims to be "from the creators of The Blair Witch Project" but basically has two of the filmmakers acting as producers, has an online personality being stalked in Copenhagen; it's at Fresh Pond and Boston Common. Another internet horror story, the messy but surprisingly watchable Appofeniacs, plays Boston Common. Meanwhile, in the Amazon (via Boston Common and South Bay), Beware Boiúna pits Logan Marshall-Green and Jessic Rothe against some sort of giant animal.
  
  Comedy The Incomer stars Domhnall Gleeson as a man sent to relocate two siblings from the Scottish island where they've been on their own since their parents died when they were children, playing Boston Common, West Newton, and Dedham Community Theatre. Rolling Loud: The Movie has Owen Wilson as a father who gives into his son's pleading to go to the titular hip-hop festival, gets separated, and has misadventures trying to reconnect; it opens at Boston Common.
  
  Love of Your Life, a romance directed by Rachel Morrison and starring Margaret Qualley, opens at Boston Common on Wednesday about a week and a half ahead of hitting Prime.
  
  Two or three major re-releases this week: The Nightmare Before Christmas shows in RealD 3D at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, and Assembly Row; Moonlight is at Boston Common and the Seaport; Donnie Darko plays Boston Common (presumably the original version as it's a "25th anniversary" release) Friday to Sunday. The Hispanic Heritage Month feature at Boston Common is Stand and Deliver. Hostel plays Boston Common and, Assembly Row Friday & Tuesday.
  
  Concert film Linkin Park: Unshatter has encore presentations at Boston Common and Kendall Square on Saturday; the restored Queen Budapest plays Boston Common (Imax Laser) and Kendall Square Wednesday; and Filipino concert SB19 Wakas at Simula: The Trilogy Concert Finale plays Boston Common Thursday. There's a mystery preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards Monday. Scottish comedy-drama The North has a preview at Boston Common (Dolby Cinema) on Monday; Other Mommy gets "fan event" screenings as part of its early start Thursday at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, Causeway Street, and Assembly Row.
• South Asian films at Apple Fresh Pond (and elsewhere) include Hindi-language thriller Drishyam: The Conclusion (a remake of a Malayalam film and also the sequel to a Hindi remake of the original), which also plays Boston Common; Malayalam-language comedy Don't Trouble the Trouble, where a kidnapper discovers the little girl he's taken has supernatural powers (plays in Telugu on Friday/Monday/Wednesday and in Telugu at South Bay); Tamil-language adventure Sigma; Tamil-language crime comedy Baththa with Vijay Sethupathi as a criminal trapped in an elementary school bathroom from Friday to Monday; and Tamil-language fantasy Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai ("Seven Seas Seven Hills") on Friday & Saturday.
  
  Indonesia horror-comedy Ghost in the Cell plays Boston Common all week and the Seaport Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday.
  
  1993 anime Ninja Scroll plays subtitled Sunday/Monday/Wednesday at Boston Common, the Seaport (no show Monday), Assembly Row.
• The big deal at The Coolidge Corner Theatre is that they've once again pulled VistaVision projectors from a museum so that they can be one of five theaters in the world showing Digger in that format, so it's living on screen #1 for at least the first week.
  
  Midnight movies for October are all about horror in the suburbs, starting off with Bob Balaban's Parents on Friday and Joe Dante's The 'Burbs on Saturday, which also features documentary Rozz Williams: Romeo's Distress. There's a "Relaxed Screening" (lights up, sound down a bit, open captions) of Back to the Future Sunday morning, a "Stage & Screen" presentation of A Few Good Men on Monday, and "Prints of Darkness" shows of Heaven Can Wait (Tuesday), Jennifer's Body (Wednesday with Kay Lynch seminar), and Little Nicky (35mm Thursday in the later "Cult Classics" slot). Mystery Train plays in 35mm for Cinema Jukebox on Thursday with pre-show performance by Fortuna 500.
• Landmark Kendall Square seems to really be deep in renovation this week - I only count five of nine (soon to be eight) screens showing movies Friday to Sunday, nothing on Monday, and only special presentations Tuesday to Thursday. That includes the new rep series for October: Universal Monster Matinees every Saturday, starting with Dracula, Tuesday vampire Retro replays starting with The Lost Boys, and John Carpenter Wednesdays kicking off with Halloween. The Social Reckoning is listed for Thursday but no regular screenings after that yet.

• The Brattle Theatre has The Witches of Eastwick on 35mm for their Friday Film Matinee this weekend and keeps the early Halloween train rolling with the restored, uncut Japanese version of Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan from Friday to Monday, with the Vinegar Syndrome original Night of the Vamp-Friars on 35mm late Friday & Saturday.
  
  There's an RPM Festival presentation of the films of Marjorie Keller ("Intimate observer") on Sunday, and they pair with neighbor Lovestruck Books to host author Alice Hoffman for screenings of Practical Magic on Tuesday (though she'll be autographing copies of the sequel, and may only be present for the 6pm show, heading next door for the after-party rather than attending the 9pm). On Thursday, they partner with Independent Film Festival Boston to start the first leg of their annual Fall Focus with Possible Love, the new drama from Burning director Lee Chang-dong, which is headed to Netflix and may not hit theaters here because of how things are in flux at the Kendall.
• Speaking of Masaki Kobayashi, The Harvard Film Archive has his entire nearly-ten-hour The Human Condition Trilogy on new 35mm prints this weekend, with No Greater Love Friday evening, Road to Eternity Saturday afternoon, and A Soldier's Prayer Saturday evening (they will also screen two weeks later if you can't make both that and Kwaidan work this weekend). A couple more from the João César Monteiro series play after that, with Silvestre Sunday afternoon and The Last Dive Monday evening.
• The Somerville Theatre has coming of age comedy Edie Arnold Is a Loser on Sunday evening, with directors Megan Rico & Kade Atwood and star Adi Madden Cabrera on-hand for a Q&A afterward. Monday's F— the Nazis show is Dead Snow, with Freaks on 35mm film for Cult Classics Tuesday This week's 70mm presentation of The Odyssey is on Wednesday.
  
  The Capitol picks up Verity and Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!.
• The Seaport Alamo has Blue Velvet on Sunday, Casino Royale Monday & Tuesday, and Union County Tuesday & Wednesday, plus a free screening for Victory Club members of Addams Family Values on Tuesday (technically the second feature to a CBS sitcom preview).
• The Museum of Science has Jurassic Park on the Omnimax dome Friday & Saturday evening for Sci-Fi Supersized.
• The Regent Theatre has one more screening of the 2026 edition of the Manhattan Short Film Festival on Sunday.
• CineFest Latino 2025 continues this weekend with shorts at the Boston Public Library Friday afternoon, Freeing Juanita (Friday), Scarlet Girls (Saturday afternoon), Sana y Salva (Saturday afternoon), and spotlight film Runa Simi (Saturday evening) at ArtsEmerson's Paramount Theater; It's Still Night in Caracas (Friday) at the The Museum of Fine Arts; Libertad (Saturday) and Puerto Rican shorts (Sunday afternoon) at the Brattle; and closing night film La Bola Negra at the Coolidge Sunday.
• The virtual leg of The Taiwan Film Festival of Boston continues through 11 October (the website is a bit confusing; go to the ticketing page).
• The Lexington Venue has is open Friday to Sunday and Thursday with Primetime and Digger.
  
  The West Newton Cinema gets Digger, The History of Concrete, The Incomer, holding over Forgotten Island, Primetime ("Behind the Screen" show Tuesday), and Coyote vs. Acme,. Independent film Situations plays Friday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. They're also the latest stop for local doc The Airwaves Belonged to the People: WBCN and the American Revolution on Friday, with filmmakers Bill Lichtenstein and Robert F. Sennott on hand. Bipolar syndrome documentary BrainStorm plays Wednesday with a post-screening panel with the filmmakers and experts, and Ty Burr's Film Club meets on Thursday for Bringing Up Baby.
  
  The Embassy Cinema has a few films over the next month, with cult documentary Winnebago Man playing Saturday & Sunday.
  
  The Dedham Community Theatre opens Digger and The Incomer.
  
  October means Halloween all the time at Cinema Salem, with Hocus Pocus and John Carpenter's Halloween every day but Monday & Tuesday, Practical Magic 2 Friday to Sunday and Thursday; The Craft Friday to Sunday and Wednesday; Scream Saturday/Sunday/Wednesday; and a bevy of Universal Monsters movies: The Wolf Man (Friday), Frankenstein (Friday & Sunday), The Creature from the Black Lagoon (Friday & Saturday), Bride of Frankenstein (Saturday & Sunday), The Invisible Man (Saturday & Sunday), Dracula (Saturday & Sunday). The Wednesday Classic joins in with the 1925 The Phantom of the Opera, and probably Weirdo Wednesday as well.
  
  Futuristic thriller April X opens at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers and has one random screening at Boston Common Tuesday afternoon. There is a sing-along version of Buddy opening at the Showcases in Woburn & Dedham plus the Liberty Tree Mall

Might go for a long night on Friday with Kwaidan and Night of the Vamp-Friars at the Brattle, but will hold off on seeing Digger in VistaVision until at least Monday, when the Green Line is running southwest of North Station (I idly wonder if the work would have been rescheduled if the Red Sox had hosted the Wild Card Series). Between/after,Verity a little catch-up, and maybe some horror or some of the wave of very specifically Scottish films coming out. Updates on my Letterboxd page.